had destroyed this relationship with me and kelsey, and she s gotten into this new marriage, telling me that she just wasn t as happy as she should have been. lots of circumstantial evidence, almost enough. not quite. and then the antique rugs. i was searching the kitchen area and found in the washing machine two small size rugs. and the rugs were still very wet. and they were balled up to one side. but when ralph saw the rugs during a walk-through with the police, he didn t seem to recognize them. i mean, i ve never seen these rugs. the minute we heard he had never seen them, we knew the russian had importance. we just didn t know how. they sent the rugs to the lab. and months later they heard back. what did you find when you tested them? pam s blood was found on the rugs. they had caught ralph in an obvious lie. he must have put those rugs into the machine himself, hoping to wash away the evidence. finally they had enough. almost nine months after pam s death, officer
motives for murder they d ever heard. so his religious beliefs were more important than somebody else s life? ralph candelario s life was more important than anyone else s life. reporter: so the jury got the case. and they worked till the end of the day and then through a second and then a third. tick tock. whether they convict him or they don t is going to be a different set of emotions. reporter: and then in the middle of the third day we the jury find the defendant, ralph leroy candelario, guilty of count number one of first degree murder. reporter: guilty. but the end of ralph s story? oh, no. on the day set aside for his sentencing ralph decided the plot needed one more twist. the jail issued him a safety razor to clean up for court. ralph used it to slash his wrists and throat. his own son was not sympathetic.
what did that feel like? it was a crush. you were crushed. what happened? no one knew. except that now these two had one more thing in common. both products of broken homes. the wedding day approached, just a few days to go, when shannon s mother, pam, and aaron s dad, ralph, invited the bride and groom-to-be for dinner and a talk. ralph was every bit a devout a believer as pam. so some premarital guidance perhaps? oh, no. nothing like that. they told us, we ran off, we eloped and got married. wait, what? your mother and aaron s father? yes. who does that? i don t know. but i can t tell you how much it felt like i got hit by a bus. do you know what that meant? it meant that by the time you got married, you were marrying your stepbrother.
she walks in on a burglary. burglaries aren t uncommon in walsenburg especially with all the drugs around. reporter: then, said the defense, one of the bad guys saw pam and he hits pam in the head hard. he s standing there in the kitchen, fire poker in his hand, wondering what to do. reporter: the robbers must have thought pam and ralph had already left on vacation. this family was supposed to be gone. that was the talk around town. reporter: so, for the jury it came down to whose story to believe. prosecutors said the police cleared those suspects right back at the beginning. but nothing could clear ralph. and nothing could soften a truly shocking allegation ralph murdered pam because divorce would get him disfellowshipped, cast out, from his church. pam wasn t leaving. and so he had only one option left. reporter: if he became a widower, he d be free to marry again. it was, said the prosecutors, one of the more disturbing
evidence to arrest ralph candelario for the murder of his wife pam, but they d have to find him first. ralph was on vacation or maybe on the run. i initiated some phone calls with ralph so that we could try to track him down. they tracked his cell phone and caught up with him. driver, get your hands in the air. in northern california. walk back to the sound of my voice. back to me. you all right? yeah. charged him with first degree murder. pam s daughters were relieved when they got the news. all i could think to myself was finally. what was that like? it was like yea, then it was like this is reality all over again. it s starting. meaning, of course, reliving the crime at the trial. i m antsy. i m eager. you want to go and testify? yeah. i want this to be over. and i know that i need to cope with whatever answer comes.