decision. >> the hardest thing i've ever had to do was to write off on the exhumation of our birth mother. >> reporter: but ultimately, they agreed. >> and i signed off on it because we wanted to be, like, "there is no way this could've happened." like, please look at the evidence. i will do this to -- to free our dad of these accusations. >> reporter: on a beautiful blue sky day, the remains of elizabeth ratliff were exhumed from their resting place in texas. >> ratliff's bodies -- >> reporter: julia sims, of nbc's raleigh-durham affiliate, wral-tv, has been covering the story since the beginning. >> and the bells started tolling right as they started pulling that casket out of the -- the ground. >> hmm. >> a lot of people were very antsy about that, about what they were gonna find. >> reporter: her body was driven to north carolina where it would be studied by the same medical examiner who'd ruled kathleen peterson's death a homicide.