this grandmother, widow, penitent. what story would she tell? the main thing going through my mind is to tell the truth. and let the chips fall where they may. reporter: the truth. such a difficult word. especially when it bubbles up from a past which mary ann mcfarland must have believed was buried forever. where was your husband? he was still in the house. reporter: men. trouble was, there were two, which was the one central fact. the inconvenient truth that caused all the trouble. and might have been forgotten had it not been for this inquisitive d.a. and this long, lean cop, jim wallace, looking on so intently. this is a case, a true love story. between three people. one woman who was loved intensely over the top by two
friend. here is keith morrison. reporter: the phone calls did not stop. mary ann mcfarland moved back home to archie, but her spurned lover wouldn t move on. my dad is like, why does he keep calling? she s like, i don t know. the whole ora of this guy was that he wasn t accepting it. reporter: in fact, as the d.a. and the detective reviewed the evidence, they encountered a man who seemed obsessed, who first pleaded with mary ann, then began using language that sounded more threatening. i want you to come back to me kind of statements. and then, you better come back. she was afraid he would skin her alive. reporter: skin her alive? if she didn t come back to him.
him. so under oath what would mary ann mcfarland say about janos kulcsar. the da didn t believe she was involved in the murder but now would she help protect her lover or prosecutor. for two days, the two duals over the relationship with janos. let me make it very simple. are you in love with him? no. you re not? over the past 30 years have you been involved with anybody else? no. we re friends and companions. ma am, during that 30 years you were having sex with him, correct? yes. i assume you have friends and companions you don t have sexual relationships with, right? no. so he s the man in your life, is that correct? mary ann, now 75 years old, seemed evasive, her usually
it was just relief. it was like a big weight was lifted off my shoulder. janos got a free 25-year ticket that most people that commit a murder don t get. con speck lousily absent on the day that finally brought justice for her late husband and a conviction for her lover was mary ann mcfarland. she does not want want to believe he did this, for a lot of reasons. if mary ann were to accept he committed this crime, she admitted that she would hold herself morally responsible. so some people decide i m not going to accept reality unless it absolutely punches me in the face. and i guess we didn t punch hard enough. reality for janos kulcsar, the man she loved, the man now convicted of murdering her
and now here she was, 2011, in a courtroom of all places. forced to confess her forbidden love, account for her sins. this grandmother, widow, penitent. what story would she tell? the main thing going through my mind is to tell the truth. and let the chips fall where they may. reporter: the truth. such a difficult word. especially when it bubbles up from a past which mary ann mcfarland must have believed was buried forever. where was your husband? he was still in the house. reporter: men. trouble was, there were two, which was the one central fact. the inconvenient truth that caused all the trouble. and might have been forgotten had it not been for this