wolfe and harry britton, barbara s father, rented a motel room on that long ago july night, invited david to a meeting there. when he gets at the hotel, they have a very small conversation and michael shot david in the head. he told me he had to get so drunk to do it. and that the first shot didn t kill him. he had to shoot him again. reporter: after which, as nancy relayed the story they did take his car to the airport and left it there. then they took him over to i mean there was an empty lot there. and that s where they buried him. reporter: he did not spare the detail, said nancy. he did tell me he poured some corrosive, and i think it was lye, is what he said, over the body. and sure enough, that was consistent with the investigation. reporter: and along with that story came what sounded like a
middle? i had no doubt in my mind that reporter: based on what? she was the catalyst. reporter: barbara, meanwhile, maintained her innocence, claimed there was a certain reason michael wolfe lied about her that way. it was payback, she said, for something that happened when they were married. and here came another one of those odd stories. earlier, remember, there was the one suggesting drug running on david s delivery truck. now, a story about michael and gun running. i was putting away laundry one day, and i saw a bulge in a dress shirt pocket. and there was quite a bit of money there. and when he got home from work that night, i confronted him on it. and he told me he was doing gun runs to haiti. reporter: barbara said she told the police about wolfe s alleged gun running. and he got mad and he even told a cell mate of his that that s it, you know? reporter: i ll make you pay
thing. we were just too young. and to have a baby all the time, i you know, he was it was difficult for him. and it was difficult for me. reporter: so who was the first person to say, you got to get a divorce? my dad. reporter: how d david take it? so he was just kind of, like, let s just reporter: get it over with let s just find somebody, some lawyers and, you know, see what we have to do. and that was it. reporter: the two divorced in 1985. david arranged weekend visits with john. how were they together? oh, wonderful. johnny just clung to him. they loved each other. reporter: and they all moved on. couple of years later, barbara married again, michael wolfe, an ex-military man like her dad, about the same age as her dad, too. your dad and your new husband probably saw eye-to-eye a lot? they sure did. they had a lot in common. they would talk a lot. reporter: wolfe took barbara and john to live with him in arizona. but david wanted to be a part of h
another ex-wife told police virtually the same story. he told me he shot him in the head. and he told me that he had a silencer on the gun. reporter: now she too was called to the stand. that was enough. the jury was out less than a hour. the verdict was guilty. at the sentencing, life in prison, david jackson s family confronted michael wolfe. not just to condemn him, but to ask a question because there was still a piece missing. something that still didn t make sense. what was david doing in that motel room the night they killed him? why did he walk into that trap? why would he go to a motel to meet mr. britton when mr. britton was ten minutes down the road? i mean, david is not a stupid child at 24. why would mr. britton want to see him in a motel? reporter: tell what you know, they demanded. there would be no justice, they told wolfe, unless everyone involved was held accountable.
motive. david disappeared, remember, as he was preparing for a visit from his five year old son, john. they decided that david needed to be gotten rid of because they never wanted david to be in johnny s life. reporter: david was murdered in cold blood just to keep him out of his son s life? and boom, it clicked for me all of a sudden. i said, wow. i said, that s over child custody. that s why he s not here today. reporter: that was the motive? that was the motive. reporter: but was wolfe s confession to an ex-wife a true story, or just alcohol fueled bravado? there was no way to know for sure. but it was enough at least to bring about the arrest, in october of 2004, of michael wolfe, now living in ohio. but, an arrest does not a conviction make.