he said, i m on my way. i m probably, you know, two hours away. i said, are you all right? he goes, yeah, yeah. i could tell he was in shock. 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
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, and looking over at keith, just watching him for a while. and finally i just said, you can t even grieve, can you? and he said, no, they ve taken it all away. the friends working theory was a botched break-in. they had heard about the neighborhood s recent rash of burglaries. maybe that s what happened to julie. they come in, and they startled cleo.
cause. there would be a probe into the deepest roots of a treachery beyond most people s comprehension. 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 a firecracker like his mom. there was the time, for instance, in the sixth grade zach grabbed a shovel and
that they thought he did that 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. anything this their relationship as far as any problems or anything like that that you are aware of or anything no. nothing. was there any money troubles? was there any relationship things that we knew of? but to a person the griffith s 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 and looking over at keith and just watching him for a while, and then finally i just said you can t even grieve, can you? he said no, they re taking it all away. the friends working theory was a botched break-in. they had heard about the neighborhood s recent rash of blaersz. maybe that s what happened to
it does. that wouldn t look good to a jury. the development brought aaron to a tipping point. were you no longer wavering at this point? had you come down on the side of, oh my god, my father killed my mother? yeah. yeah. now aaron, too, wrote his dad a letter. if he was guilty it s time. it s time to man up and do what you should have done two years ago. keith s defense attorneys went to the prosecutor 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. there s nothing i can do about it. temple bradley who works near the courthouse was there. my heart is breaking. that the person that i have that w