ballpark, $1-1.5 billion. reporter: and then, halloween eve, 2009. more than a year had passed since melissa s murder with tony villegas still sitting in jail awaiting trial, and another twist to the story. scott rothstein has disappeared. reporter: unlike melissa, scott was not a murder victim. but he was a fugitive, a bernie madoff figure on the run. he had left the country in a private jet for morocco with $16 million in cash and his collections of watches and jewelry, fleeing after learning unhappy investors had gone to the fbi. one month later, he was back in florida, but not under arrest. what no one knew was that scott had cut a deal with the fbi to act as an informant. this is scott rothstein, november 16th, monday, 1:43 p.m. reporter: he wore a wire and helped convict 26 people involved in his ponzi scheme. and despite his cooperation, in
all told by thursday, the day after the murder, the phone or whoever had it travelled a distance of about 60 miles. so obviously, who s with that cell phone, was most likely the last person that was with with melissa. reporter: detectives also focused on those five hours the phone was stationary in miami gardens. was the killer home in bed? we have to identify if melissa knows somebody that lives in this area. reporter: does anything come up at that point? no. we have no reason to believe anybody she s dating, anybody she knows lives there. reporter: melissa s family confirmed that. police asked everyone remotely involved in the case and the answer kept coming up no. by now, police had also cleared the ex-husband of melissa s sister. he had no connection to the area either. but when they asked debra if she knew anyone who lived around there, her jaw dropped. she said she did know someone. i was like, i just do not think it was him. reporter: but cops are funny, they
said, detectives thought the crude comment had a broader meaning, speaking to the bff relationship of debra and melissa. does he feel like he s been tossed out of the house because melissa has taken his place? i think he definitely believes that melissa was a catalyst to enable debbie to go forward with the divorce. he kills melissa lewis to get back at debra for divorcing him. reporter: but if you re lethally angry about an impending divorce, why not kill the wife? if he kills melissa and he s caught, debbie s still there to raise their kids. reporter: although tony would later deny it, debra told detectives he had been violent with her and her kids in the past. because of that, debra said she had decided on her own that tony had to go. you thought he was physically gonna hurt the kids? no, he was already physically hurting them. i thought he was gonna going to go too far. debbie was scared of tony. but didn t raise any suspicion as to why he would wanna ever harm meliss
did he tell you that it was melissa s fault. he believed that she had a part in it, yes. did he tell you that he was mad at melissa about this? yeah, he was mad about the whole situation. oh, and there was one more thing. remember melissa s jacket the one found in her suv, tests showed tony s dna on the jacket. prosecutors believed tony wiped his nose with it after being peoplered sprayed. the odds of finding an unrelated individual with that profile are 1 in 30 billion. the defense had been dealt a poor hand to play but the attorney chipped away at each state witness starting with tony s housemate. the defense said he had 250,000 reasons to make his story up. there was a reward offered and who offered that reward.
of all investigations went unanswered who and why? coming up, a person of interest, very close to home. i said, no, he better not have done anything to her. a missing cell phone of great interest to police. who is with that cell phone was most likely the last person that was with melissa. when dateline continues. liked to style my dog as a kid. loved motherhood, rain or shine. and were pumped to open my own salon. but i couldn t bear my diabetic nerve pain any longer. so i talked to my doctor and she prescribed lyrica. nerve damage from diabetes causes diabetic nerve pain. lyrica is fda approved to treat this pain from moderate to even severe diabetic nerve pain. lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions, suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worse depression, unusual changes in mood or behavior, swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling or blurry vision. common side effects: d