gossipers pointed the fingers at melissa, ben s best friends told each other. everything in me said dawn had something to do with it. a few years back that, thinking would be unimaginable to their best friends, scott and cindy graham. not dawn. dawn the force of nature, the center of any room she was in. i don t know if it s manipulating or what, but everybody agreed with dawn. as long as dawn was happy, we are all happy. after five years of marriage, neither den nor dawn was happy and the marriage went up in flame. ben cheated on dawn. i could see that. this probably was not going to be something she was ever going to get over. dawn changed after that. didn t seem to want to act like a parent anymore. she met a guy and she would stay the night at his house. when her kids are calling saying
welcome back. dawn oxley agreed to testify that james killed her ex-husband, ben. in exchange, dawn received limited immunity and james was charged with first-degree murder. in court, there would be a couple of surprises, including a terrifying detail about the night ben was killed. turns out ben was not the only one in danger. here s keith morrison with the conclusion of our story. it s a rare thing to sit in a jail house room such as this while a murderer confesses, chapter and verse. denial the more common language here. i pulled the trigger. james did not shrink from it. he murdered ben oxley in his sleep and must live with what he did with for the rest of his days. i m afraid to deal with what
to the display of james attorney, she may never face a murder charge. the prosecutor made a deal with the devil. a deal with the devil. without dawn s testimony at the preliminary hearing, the murder charge would never have stuck. but dawn was not totally off the hook. there was one possibility still. if the da could find hard evidence that dawn lied for implicating james it s an open book on dawn oxley for murder. if someone showed she did go, we could prosecute her. dawn was sent to prison on another offense. she pleaded guilty to using her teenage daughter to sell prescription drugs. was she employing you as her assistant? i was driving, yes.
hopes that dawn will find it acceptable. he didn t do this as a surprise gift. dawn declined a request for an interview, but her mom, the retired sheriff remained in her corner. i know a lot of people believe that it was a blatant conspiracy on her part. but i don t think dawn really wanted ben dead. i don t think dawn was there. you are trying to hold it all together. all the way along and even now. you got to understand. ben was a good guy. they had their problems. everybody loved him. he didn t deserve to die. so for the time being, it s a he said she said story. and the da s deal with dawn?
it. here s what dawn s mother, sherry thought. i could see her saying i wish he was dead and james saying want me to kill him for her? her saying whatever. it was more of a disbelief ann affirmation. that s the story dawn told, too. she did not want james to kill her ex-husband. you want to talk about this case? you know i do. it was the fall of 2009. dawn was in jail for a dui and agreed to talk in more detail about the night of ben oxley s murder. he said do you want me to go do that? i m sitting there going are you serious. are you kidding me? he was on the phone and asking me if i wanted him to go take care of ben and i was saying no. she went to sleep, she said. the next thing she knew, james was back. here woke me up and said it s done. i was totally drunk and turned