reporter: dave dave s parentk over custody of their grandchildren. he made some mistakes but nothing of the scope that is generally accepted in the community. stan established those trusts for his grandchildren and says dave had the right to use the money how he saw fit to benefit the children. were you surprised to discover how it was used? his financial situation was worse than i knew. a year past in 2008, after two years her body still has not been found. there is no new evidence tieing dave to her murder. larry crouch heard this report
theory. debbie worked in pharmaceutical sales. all of the pharmaceuticals in her van were missing. somebody took it. reporter: that was a ludicrous idea. why didn t thieves take any jewelry or electronics. it all comes down to dave, his behavior and characters and own words like the conversation with a friend police reported which they speculate on what may have happened to debbie. the defense in court as an unguard he basically offered that i don t think she s ever going to be found. did it work? listen to prosecutor larry
from investigators. this was getting pretty concerning out there. reporter: on may 29th, dave hawk was arrested and charged with first degree murder and special circumstances, murder for financial gain. he pleaded not guilty. when the trial finally began, dave faced murder and earlier embezzlement charges together. larry crouch offered the jury this theory. . dave snuck out of his house without waking up his children. maybe he could use a ladder and got someone to give him a ride to debbie s house. i think he tried the stun gun on her and she screamed very loudly. he struck her with something more than once.
debbie s wife killed her. why? they learned that he took $3,000 from their children s pension. dave hawk s action were about to force the decision. here is keith morris. they kept pushing and pushing. we kept on sitting back. reporter: the prosecutor at the time, larry crouch, told investigators he would not charge hawk even after it is obvious that this single mother had been murdered. after months searching around hanford, california, turns out no signs of her anywhere. prosecutor crouch would not budge, not yet anyway. we ll wait until we find the body, more time to come up. instead a year after debbie
still hadn t been found. there was no new evidence tied dave to her murder. they start surveilling our office, eventually starts driving by an investigator s home. it was getting pretty concerning. dave was arrested and charged. murder for financial gain. he pleaded not guilty. when the trial began, dave faced murder and the earlier embezzlement charges together. prosecutor larry crouch offered this theory that dave snuck out of the house, got someone to give her a ride to