wendy s heartbroken mother, miriam benitez. speaking through an interpreter, the mother said she was shocked when she learned the couple had taken life insurance policies out on one another just before their marriage. translator: i did not feel good. i expressed to her, why insurance, they re not even married, they didn t have children. why insurance? on the stand, detective maria medero said she zeroed in on that insurance policy when she questioned escoto a day after the murder. i told him if he couldn t muster up a tear for his wife of four days to muster up a tear for the million dollars he was never going to see. what was his reaction? that lack of emotion was an
but there was someone the family felt had gotten away with murder, escoto s girlfriend yolanda cerrillo. her immunity deal meant she would never spend a day in jail. they re both monsters. they re both psychopaths. i don t care at all how desperate, how insecure, how lacking in self respect you have. you re a mother. and you went ahead and planned out the death of another mother s daughter. but investigators said without yolanda things might have turned out differently. people are going to be throwing their shoes at the tv screen at this point, detective. she gave us the additional thing that we needed to charge and keep and bring michel escoto to justice in this case. he gets a life sentence and she gets have a nice day.
that s how it appears. but in lieu of not having anybody held accountable for this, i ll take that. the family wasn t going to let yolanda off so easily. they sued her for the wrongful death of wendy and were awarded a $44 million judgment. though they had no expectations of ever seeing that kind of money. if she has to pay one cent a week, it s well worth it. as a reminder for the rest of her life how she assisted that monster. two weeks after his conviction michel escoto was sentenced for wendy s murder. at the hearing he proclaimed his innocence to her family. no matter how much satisfaction this verdict has given any of you, an innocent person was convicted in this case. finally the family had an opportunity to address the man who killed wendy. justice served. off to hell with you and good riddance. when wendy s mother, miriam, spoke through a translator, there wasn t a dry eye in the courtroom. translator: sunday is mother s day.
took his bloody clothes and threw them in a dumpster. happy with yourself? no. i am worthless. that s how i feel right now. is this about you? no, it s not. there s a mother who loves her daughter and i had something to do with it. and yolanda s time on the witness stand would get tougher still. two old lovers were about to face off in court. one defending himself and the other testifying against him. a roiling, boiling drama in real time. coming up, michel escoto s ex-lover now the star witness against him in wendy s murder. did you wish she was dead? i wished he would go away. when dateline continues. a when dateline continues a when dateline continues against certain hpv-related cancers, can start then too. for most, hpv clears on its own.
for the first time in this trial escoto s backup counsel terry lenamon, a seasoned defense attorney, would take over and urge the jurors to find reasonable doubt in the state s case. lenamon jumped in, attacking what he called the prosecutor s overselling of a mostly circumstantial case. this is a court of law. and no matter how much i scream as an advocate, no matter how much i wave my hands or say villain, villain, villain, bad, villain, it doesn t make it so. his strategy was to plant a seed of doubt in just one juror s mind. if there s a hung jury, we may have to start over again. then the case went to the jury. wendy s family, as they had done throughout the trial, gathered together once again and prayed. her mother hugged prosecutor gail levine, who pursued escoto so ferociously. she is my hero. she is without a doubt my hero. 2 1/2 hours after the jury went out, cell phones started buzzing in the courthouse.