history of bad blood between melissa and her clients or people she had sued. detectives talked to the ex-husband, but his alibi was solid. and then they looked at the current men in her life. what about boyfriends? she was a single woman who had been dating some guys. we assigned detectives to go out there, talk to them, and they were alibied out pretty quickly. reporter: of course, they also wanted to talk to melissa s co-worker and best friend, debra. who better to talk to than someone s best friend to find out what their habits are, what they like to do? did she have strange men come to her home? reporter: far from it, debra told detectives. most nights, melissa was either at debra s house cooking dinner for her and her kids, or home with her dogs, george and gracie. still, they continued to pick debra s brain. it s just a million you just can t even imagine, like, the questions that they ask you. reporter: detectives also talked to melissa s sister, carrie. when asked
brought us right to this parking lot. reporter: the car was about a half mile from melissa s house in this medical office parking lot that melissa never went to. and through onstar, you could remotely open the vehicle, huh? they were able to unlock the vehicle for us. reporter: inside the suv, disturbing clues. what do you find? we find a suit jacket that she was wearing the night before and on the suit jacket, there was a missing button. and that s significant because the corresponding button was found on her garage floor. reporter: the jacket smelled of pepper spray, too. there were two shoes found in the car, but nothing else. melissa had been wearing a sterling silver ring, diamond earrings and a $5,000 watch. she also had an expensive prada handbag and an iphone. could very well be a target of some opportunistic grab and run. at the point we find her vehicle, we have no clues, no leads, and we don t have any suspects identified. reporter: police did find a
wouldn t let anything fall through the cracks. she volunteered her time with battered women and victims rights and also worked on building a memorial garden for crime victims. she was always a champion for the underdog. melissa eventually met a lawyer from a different firm and married. deborah was a brides maid. but after five years her best friend s marriage had come undone and ended in a messy divorce. that divorce just devastated her. after lewis divorce she tock toon on a second full time job, best aunt ever. missy didn t have children herself. no, she didn t want to have children. she wanted her career. and when her best friend s own marriage was having trouble and hitting the rocks during separation melissa was there for her, too. the two became inseparable at work and outside the office. she s cooking for me and the
were in a panic. she hadn t responded to phone calls, and didn t show up for work. she s not one to take a mental health day? no. uh-uh, no. reporter: this was going to be a high profile case. melissa s boss, scott rothstein, was a power broker attorney who had a little extra juice with local police. plantation police detective brian kendall. he was our union attorney, they knew him, they were friends of his. reporter: at melissa s house the mysteries piled up. her car was gone, and there was pepper spray all over her garage. melissa also had a dog, and there was pepper spray on the dog s face as well. you re in foul play country with this investigation. our concern is raised greatly at this point that she is in some sort of danger. reporter: detectives wanted to know what melissa had been wearing the previous day at work. debra knew exactly: a new brown pants suit with pink pinstripes. sure enough, there she was captured on security cameras in her office lobby talking wi
and, why? because she was a friend. reporter: but the residue of pepper spray all over the garage was evidence that melissa had fought back and some had apparently gotten on the killer. tony s housemate testified the night of the murder, he saw his roomie scrubbing his arms. he said that, um, he got pepper spray on him and that his hands were burning and itching. reporter: then, an expert on cellphone tracking told the jury tony had both melissa s phone and his own personal phone with him the night of the murder and the next day when he was driving his train. they moved north and then back south along the railroad. reporter: but now prosecutors had to tackle the head scratching question of motive. why would tony kill melissa in the first place? debra villegas testified that tony became very jealous and angry with melissa because she d virtually replaced him in the household. was melissa helping you through this difficult time in your life now, through this