warn them that shirley s life was in grave danger. when it came up, todd reine wants to kill shirley reine. the first thing out of their mouth was, do you know he is a federal witness? i just looked at them. basically didn t say much mr. after that, man. reporter: while cnn has been unable to confirm or deny todd s ties to federal law enforcement. he was at one time an informant for the local police department. he was protected by the police. he had the police. if you are not worried about the police. who are you worried about. an allegation that police have adamantly denied. but then why does the written report from john s 2003 meet make no mention of shirley or todd reine, anywhere? rams insists that he told
that s all the jury heard was reine, todd, todd, to the through the whole thing. reporter: despite our attempts to interview todd and brother melvin, they refused. neither has spoken publicly about their step mother s murder. i have tried many times to ask todd to talk about the murder of shirley reine. he just won t do it. the best i have gotten out of him is sort of a wry smile. reporter: what that smile meant, if anything, we may never know. they got the wrong guy in the beginning. i think they should have arrested todd. todd told people he wanted her dead. shirley told a long list of people she feared that todd and his brother just might to do it. she was definitely living in fear. her attorney, her accountant, her hair dresser and her best friend. shirley warned them all. if anything happens to me,
the family business seemingly frozen in time. what was it like working there? we had fun. we really did. it was a lot of fun. shirley was the clerk at the company. i took care of the accounts payable. and accounts receivables. shirley s husband melvin reine started the trash removal company five star enterprises in the 1970s. it was really very much a family business. shirley reine worked in the business. reporter: his sons took part in it? his sons took part in it. reporter: but over the years as the company expanded the lucrative business that once united the reine family quickly became the root of its unraveling. i am told that, the sons did not work their territories,
mr. rams, what do you have to say? i m thankful for the jury s decision. america s wonderful. after two weeks of trial, and less than two hours of deliberation, john rams jr. heard the two words he d been waiting for not guilty. what did you think when you heard those two words? get to go home. reporter: the cloud of suspicion that had followed john rams ever since shirley reine s death in 2005 has finally lifted. so you are an innocent man. absolutely. walking out here, your life start over again? what happens? it starts over, it starts over. reporter: but starting over is exactly what shirley s loved
shirley warned them all. if anything ever happens to me, make sure they know that the boys did it. what i can say is since shirley raney s death, todd raney and melvin rerksaney, jr.t what they wanted. would you say there s any other suspect sns. there s lots of talk about other potential suspects. people who owed shirley money and didn t want to pay it back. i don t know what shirlly was doing with those sex tapes. could she have been trying to extract money from people with she had relations? i don t know, but it s a possibility. more than a decade later,