good night forensic evidence found in taglianetti s car. in the case under the driver seat lay a .357 revolver. it was wrapped in a printout of the wife s steamy e-mail. and on the gun itself? we had keith reed s blood, not only on the barrel but in the barrel, that was the gun pressed up against keith reed s back. reporter: and a big surprise found on taglianetti s laptop, the prosecution said, an exit strategy. hours before his arrest, rob taglianetti bought a one-way ticket to israel. his ultimate idea was to get out of the country. reporter: but as convincing as the prosecution s case appeared, the defense attorney, ned barone, told the jury it was not at all what it seemed. this is a story about manipulation and exploitation. reporter: rob taglianetti, he said, was a u.s. marine with a sterling record, a devoted husband who loved his wife and you wanted nothing more than to keep his family together.
i was lonely and just needed someone to talk to, friend. reporter: mary says she was intrigued by the superintendent and responded when he sent her a message saying hello. and i said, you know, you re really good looking but we started talking and we had some things in common and then he asked if he could call me. reporter: they talked on and off for a couple of months, she says. keith, who always had a soft spot for someone in need, provided emotional support as she struggled to find her footing as a newly separated woman. i kind of felt lost, you know? i didn t know what to do or where to go next and he was great. he was he was really encouraging. reporter: it was sometime in the summer of 2010, she told the detectives, that she met her online match for their one and only date. he took me to dinner and we had a night together. reporter: it was little more than a one-night stand. mary says she decided to try to
daughters now face a future without their dad. he won t be there to walk the two younger girls down the aisle or be a loving granddad to their children or take their daily phone calls. when do you miss your dad the most, megan? when i drive home from work, i always grab my phone to call him. it s just hard without that person there that i talked to so often. reporter: it has been close to impossible for his family to understand it, a devoted educator who did so much good for so many students, ripped from their lives for something so mundane, some online flirtation, a single dinner date, more flirtation two years later, and then three quick shots. it was a complete waste. lives of kids he could have helped. who knows what path they would have taken if they had contact with him. reporter: the homicide brewed in cyberspace may sound
she gets very upset in her text messages back, like, i can t believe you re not talking to me. you know, and they are like half-violent, like why are you why are you not calling me? really flaming stuff, huh? yeah. reporter: and something else. in keith s bedroom upstairs, crime scene analysts noticed this picture frame. it was toppled over and taken apart on a bookcase. whatever picture had been in it was gone. you can put a story together with that pretty easily, huh? the pieces of the puzzle were just starting to come together. reporter: investigator boland brought kimberly in for a formal taped interview. she was read her rights. i m still in shock. i barely have my head around that he was killed and now i feel like i m going right from that into are you the one that killed him? i just found out that he was dead this morning and then i show up and i found out he was shot. and now i feel like i m a suspect. reporter: kimberly told
you can t calm people down, can you? no. reporter: but then wednesday afternoon, something totally out of the blue happened that turned the investigation upside down. the sheriff was in a closed-door meeting when his secretary interrupted. i thought it was a family emergency. her face looked like she had seen a ghost. she said, sheriff, you have a phone call that i think you need to take. reporter: a panic-stricken woman was on the phone, she needed to talk to the sheriff immediately. the sheriff returned to his office so he could take the phone call. i don t know. i don t okay. just relax. i m so scared. reporter: her name was mary taglianetti, she was calling from virginia. no one in keith reed s life, including her daughter, megan, had ever heard of her. that name mean anything to you, mary? no. that name didn t ring a bell? no.