and while there was no physical evidence tying pam phillips or ron young to the car bomb that killed gary triano, and nothing placing either one of them in tucson at the time of the murder, prosecutors urged the jury to listen carefully to those phone calls between ron and pam that were recorded after the murder. there is talk of an agreement. i m not going to keep sending you more and more and more money, unless i know that you can honor our agreement. and doing something for pam, no one else would do. you know, and i also hope to on something that was, you know, beyond what anybody else in the world would probably do. neither pam, nor ron explicitly says those payments were for a murder. the defense argument was
the cops came? correct. but despite pam s startling to the question to the ron young issue, the cops had nothing on her. nothing placing them in tucson on the day of the murder. and nothing connecting either one of them to the bomb that killed gary triano. after three interviews, other than this thing with ron young, and we didn t have him to talk to, there wasn t anything that i thought that made her rise to the level of a suspect. reporter: and ron young was still somewhere in the wind. so safe to say this goes cold? yes. reporter: in january of 1997, pam phillips received her life insurance payment. $2 million. plus interest. did that insurance money give panda lifestyle back that she had lost? for a short while, yes. $2 million does not go far in aspen. reporter: pam bought herself a house, 1 million dollar fixer upper. and with her exquisite taste, she turned it into a beautiful house. reporter: in fact, her deck was featured in the glossy
months before gary triano was killed? yeah. and what was interesting about his choice of hotels, it was geographically almost halfway between where gary triano and the la paloma country club. where he played golf every day? yes. and even more suspicious, ron young stayed under a phony name. the name of one of the people he was accused of defrauding in aspen. but that was well before the murder. and there was no evidence that ron young was in tucson when the bomb went off. reporter: anything in ron young s record or possession that suggested he either knew how to or was involved in building a remote control bomb? no. and he s got no history of working with explosives? that s correct. reporter: still, detective james gamber desperately wanted to talk with ron young. aspen police was looking for him, it was an active fugitive case going on, because they had a fraud warrant. but he basically just fell off
it s a case we investigated for more than five years. now a stunning new end. we are going back up under a rollercoaster. spend a little time in tucson, arizona and here, in the shadows of the majestic saguaros you will find a thriving metropolis of 1 million people, with a surprising small town feel. it s the kind of place where everyone seems to know everyone. and if you ask anyone from tucson where they were on november 1st, 1996, they will tell you it was the day of a murder. so dramatic, so horrific they will never forget it. it was the story that everyone talked about. the explosive end of a man who had been larger than life.
there is nothing on those tapes which says, ron young says, you hired me for this money to bomb your husband s car. it s not said directly. but when you piece the conversations together, that is said. i helped you on something that was beyond what anybody else in the world would do. reporter: perhaps the most damning piece of evidence? would you sit in a women s prison for murdering? would you sit in a women s prisons for murder? i m going to hang up. as far as i know, the only murder in pam phillips life was the murder of gary triano. reporter: coming up . a brand-new mystery. where was pam phillips? pam s disappeared. she could be anywhere in the world. but ask me to pull a rabbit out of my hat, i don t think i have any more rabbits. you were feeling defeated? yes. when dateline continues.