reporter: wow. that does make the hair on your neck stand up? it does. reporter: that wouldn t look good to a jury. the development brought aaron to a tipping point. were you no longer wavering at this point, aaron? had you come down on the side of, oh, my god? yeah. reporter: my father killed my mother? yeah. reporter: now, aaron, too, wrote his dad a letter. if he was guilty it s time. it s time to man up and and do what you should ve done two years ago. reporter: keith s defense attorneys went to the prosecutors to hammer out a plea deal. they agreed on 30 years in prison for the murder and for soliciting the hit. moments later, keith was standing in a paducah courtroom, speaking the words his family and friends never in a million years thought they d hear him say yes, he murdered julie. there s no excuse for what i did, and i can t take it back, and she was my best friend and i don t know what happened to me, but i did it, and there s nothing i can do
reporter: daughter-in-law, ali. i couldn t imagine anyone that would ever want to hurt her, much less set the house on fire, the dogs perished, i i had no idea what could have happened. no enemies. i mean, it made no sense. it just who would wanna kill her? reporter: after keith was released the night of his interview with detectives, he headed straight to his friends, the bradleys. they were floored to hear the line of questioning that he recounted. what was up with his marriage, his alibi, the gun he owned? he had been questioned to the point that he almost felt like that they thought he did some that he had done this. reporter: son aaron also got called down to the station that same evening and he, too, was questioned about his parents marriage. noticed anything lately in their relationship as far as any problems or anything like that? no. that you re aware of? no, no, nothing. was there any money troubles? was there any relationship things that we knew o
the news hit zach griffith particularly hard. since coming out to his mother, his relationship with her had been strained. and now this. i guess you re just beating yourself up something terrible that you had been sideways with her. yeah. and i know that if we were just given more time, that we would have been close again. that we would have been, you know, that mom and son duo that we were. but we just we didn t have the time. it was ripped away from us. and we never get it back. aaron, the elder son, had more of a take-charge reaction. got to take care of my brother, i got take care of my dad. you ve got logistics. before the grief that you can absorb. yeah, for me, it s just kind of the way my brain is wired i guess. within hours, the griffiths would head from all directions toward what used to be an anchor in their lives, the family home. just gave my dad a big hug and we were both crying.
i mean, it made no sense. just who would want to kill her. after keith was released the night of his interview with detectives, he headed straight to his friends, the bradleys. they were floored to hear the line of questioning that he recounted. what was up with his marriage, his alibi, the gun he owned? he had been questioned to the point that he almost felt like they thought he had done this. son aaron also got called down to the station that same evening. and he, too, was questioned about his parents marriage. notice anything lately in their relationship as far as any problems or anything like that? that you re aware of anything? no. nothing. was there any money troubles? was there any relationship, things that we knew of? but to a person in the griffiths circle, the very idea that keith might know something about julie s death was, well, just flat-out crazy. i knew he didn t do it. there wasn t any way that keith was involved in this. i remember sitting there, a
it s not true. no way. what had they all missed? a monster. a liar. a cheater. he s destroyed my entire family. before it became charred rubble, the house was home to a long-time paducah couple, keith and julie griffith, church going, golf playing, high school sweethearts, 36 years into a marriage that had produced two sons. aaron the older. they were very supportive parents. they were loving. they loved my kids. aaron took after his dad, athletic, easy going, level headed. younger brother zach was more of