served or nothing at all. what did you think when you heard what he wanted in order to get his cooperation? i thought it was outrageous. but it s not a perfect world. and the people who are likely to have some of the best, most detailed information about what takes place inside a conspiracy is a coconspirator. we needed brett schrauben. so what was the story? the story was a pretty pretty detailed and amazing story. reporter: schrauben described the whole affair on tape, laid it out in all its chilling tale. anatomy of a murder. the conspiracy was launched with a phone call from tom. he told me he d offer $50,000 to kill his dad. reporter: he met with sandra in a parking lot. she gave him a $5,000 deposit. she wanted jack dead and she wanted it at the house and to look like a robbery. she told me she would leave for x amount of time and that s when it would need to be done. reporter: schrauben said he hired his good friend, a local drifter, to be the getaway driver.
13th, 1998, while sandra was out having her nails done, schrauben claimed he and his friend drove to the jessee house to murder jack. i was already having a cold feeling on the way there. by the time i was walking down the street i was really having cold feet. i got in the house, i m standing in the garage now. i put on a rubber glove. and reach inside the door and unlock the it and shut it. i was chicken. i couldn t do it. i called tom. i told tom, the door s locked. and he said he would call his mom and get back to me. reporter: and according to schrauben, tom called back within minutes with a backup plan. he told me his mom was going to go out that night and that they needed it to happen tonight because his mom can t take it anymore. he said we didn t do it tonight, his mom was going to do it. reporter: they returned that night about 9:00. schrauben s stor by was he dropped his friend off and drove around the neighborhood while his friend snuck inside and
tomorrow elizabeth warren holds a rally to make a formal announcement about her presidential plans and senator amy klobuchar has her own 2020 rally scheduled for sunday. we re going to see a lot of news coming out of this weekend. that does it for trying to solve this murder. we were going to set a trap for three people, and i wasn t sure if it was going to work or not. it had to be perfect. he was a family man who didn t seem to have an enemy in the world. right up until the night he was murdered. there was evidence of a violent struggle between jack and his killer. someone was keeping secrets, and police thought they knew who. her tone was just scary. they thought they knew the motive, too. but matter of proving it is a different story.
after years of relentless police work, brett schrauben and sandra jessee were arrested for the murder of jack jessee. brett was in jail awaiting trial. but in a devastating blow for jack s loved ones, the judge released sandra citing a lack of evidence. then detectives got a lucky break. someone had a story to tell. and it would send this case into overdrive. once again, keith morrison. reporter: sitting in a cell, month after month, can do a lot to alter a person s take on the world. even more so if the inmate is looking at a possible life sentence. and that s when brett schrauben had an epiphany. just days before his murder trial was to begin, he said he was finally willing to testify against tom and sandra. but he wanted out now. the deal had to be for time
welcome back. it had been 11 years since jack jessee s death. his wife, sandra, and her son, tom, were on trial for his murder. but a co-conspirator had struck a deal with prosecutors. in exchange for his release, he took the stand to detail how sandra and tom orchestrated the plot to kill jack. now the case was in the jury s hands, but the jessee family s fight for justice was far from over. with the conclusion of our story, here s keith morrison. when the jury went into seclusion to deliberate, the jessee family thought justice was just hours away. but as the sun set on the courthouse, nothing. no word. same thing again next day. and the day after that. the problem? there was a holdout.