what a happy couple they were. a happy family. for her to be my wife is a blessing. that s what you wait for all your life. reporter: what were your plans? to buy a house and to have babies and have a family. reporter: they eventually moved here, a three bedroom ranch in the carson valley looking up towards the sierra nevadas. alyssa spent half her time with ben and melissa. the other time with her birth mom, ben s ex-wife, dawn. but above all, what ben really wanted was to have his little girl permanently. he never thought that he could have his daughter. i was like yeah, you can. you could. reporter: and he did. he won custody. it was him and his daughter and that s what he always wanted. reporter: and then the little household grew. melissa s teenage brother craig moved in. and then winter came. and the wind. and on february 20th, 2008, the moon rose full over the carson
melissa s teenage brother craig moved in. and then winter came and the wind. on february 20th, 2008, the moon rose full over the carson valley. after dinner, ben, melissa, her teenage brother craig and little alyssa settled in the den to watch a movie. melissa remembers falling asleep on the couch, waking up with a start. thinking i was late for work. it was like 2:30 in the morning. i was like, oh, i m not late. so i went and got into bed. crawled in with ben, she said. moonlight on the covers, warm inside. about an hour later i was woke up by the smell and a loud noise. my ears were ringing. at first i thought i was dreaming. a smell? yeah. it was a smell of the gun powder. as she told it, she looked over to ben, saw by the light of the moon he appeared to have slept through whatever it was.