so his religious beliefs were more important than somebody else s life? ralph candelario s life was more important than anyone else s life. reporter: so the jury got the case. and they worked till the end of the day and then through a second and then a third. tick tock. whether they convict him or they don t is going to be a different set of emotions. reporter: and then in the middle of the third day we the jury find the defendant, ralph leroy candelario, guilty of count number one of first degree murder. reporter: guilty. but the end of ralph s story? oh, no. on the day set aside for his sentencing ralph decided the plot needed one more twist. the jail issued him a safety razor to clean up for court. ralph used it to slash his wrists and throat. his own son was not sympathetic. well, you know, the sucker
going through her papers. just going through her stuff. whatever little bit and pieces he had left of his mother he couldn t even handle. just it wrecked him. and when aaron heard pam was dead my first response was, how did he do it. and then he told the cops about his mother. now, you may have a serial killer on your hands. serial killer of spouses. something like that. that was the thought. two wives, one missing, the other dead. and the one thing they had in common was ralph candelario. but suspicion alone wasn t enough. it wasn t proof. so the investigation continued? yes. in an effort to shake him, or maybe even get a confession, they sought help from the one person whose presence back at the hospital made ralph break down and cry. shannon. cbi had me call him, bugged my phone and tried to get him to tell me what happened.
i had never seen anything like this. in through the front door marched ralph candelario with an open letter to the whole town. it was him explaining what he can remember after he had been treated up in pueblo for his injury, and interviewed by the cbi. this is my story. this is my story, this is what happened to me. to whom it may concern, he began. and we re including his typos exactly as they appeared in his letter. his memory was coming back. he wanted to explain, and maybe shannon was right, he felt guilty. i am angry at myself for not finding a way to do more, or just getting myself killed, too. now, he wrote, he had an image of who his attackers were. i got a glimpse of that person, a tall dark man with yellow glasses, short, curly hair, wide nose, large lips and marks on the sides of his face. the tall guy was talking on the phone in spanish, he said. one of the two fellows the tipster called about?
stories. an ice storm is making travel dangerous in the central underfrom tundeited states. oklahoma, missouri up to an inch of ice there. officials are urging motorists to stay off the roads. ahead of next week s inauguration, thousands took to the streets in d.c. for the we sha sha shall not be moved rally. now back to dateline extra. welcome back to dateline extra. i m tamron hall. when ralph candelario s account of the home invasion was published, it became the talk of the town. everyone wondered, could this story be true? ralph said yes. and police wondered if the truth was in there, somewhere. returning to tangled, here s keith morrison.
possible lead. she brought up individual names that he believed were involved in this homicide. ramon bear rose and jose nino, known drug users, both had rap sheets, a history of breaking and entering and assault. they were trying to sell jewelry the day after the murders. you have a responsibility to check into that? yeah. pam s daughter shannon found her blaming ralph for not preventing what happened. i was angry at him. in my mind i was like, why didn t you protect my mother. that s your role as her husband. and right about then the biggest scoop of eric mullen s career landed right in the lap of the huerfano world journal. i ve been in news since i was 15 years old. i ve seen a lot of things walk in the newsroom. i had never seen anything like this. in through the front door marched ralph candelario with an open letter to the whole town. it was him explaining what he