call, waiting for a break. nothing was coming in. >> then, one month later, another shooting. the victim? the dead man's partner. and no question this time who the killer was. >> i panicked because i thought he was reaching for his gun and that's when i shot. >> was it self-defense? >> the lead detective kept telling us, everyone's life is in danger. >> or was it something else? >> it's a lousy excuse to kill somebody. >> what secrets were stored on this tape? >> when he come out, i was ready. >> villain? >> i just couldn't believe what i heard. >> or victim? >> hug your family. kiss your children. you don't know when you're going to lose them. >> hello, and welcome to dateline. as day to turn tonight, a dog mystery unfolded on a stretch of sidewalk in miami, when a car pulled up and opened fire on a father and his infant son. a widow was wrecked with grief. desperate for justice. the shooting was caught on a security camera, but detectives soon learned that the pictures only revealed a small glimpse into this twisted tale. here's keith morrison with "miami heat". >> it was dusk in miami. the days heat retreated. parks filled up. soccer games were called to order. orlando mesa loved the evening ritual. he and his 18 month old son, noah. orlando doted on the boy. >> he was a hands-on dad. >> and noah's mom, cindy, was there to record it all. >> my husband was an outdoor person, so he was always doing things with noah. >> and so, on a spring evening in the gathering dusk, orlando walked behind noah, who rolled along on his toy car. a security camera watched them toddle down the sidewalk. they disappeared around the corner. >> that was the worst day of my life. >> what happened? well, that still being debated in a way. a chain of events certainly, of which a father - son evening stroll may have been the first, but certainly not the last. but, a moment first to fill you in. cindy or "janepsy", the name she was born with in cuba, came to miami as a teenager. she was bright and ambitious. she learned english pretty much from scratch. became a hairdresser. experimented with her own quite frequently, as you've seen. it was back in 2006, cindy carballo had been invited to a super bowl party. lots of people there. in the crowd, in the noise, she didn't notice orlando mesa, but he noticed her. >> according to him, it was love at first sight. [laughs] >> did you feel that way, too? >> not at first. >> but then after that super bowl party, she got very interested in that funny, handsome guy named orlando. the mechanic with the wild, curly hair. >> he definitely was a jokester. so, he made me laugh. >> orly, as she called him, was as ambitious as she was. he didn't just fix cars. he bought a couple of lunch trucks. and then he branched out into real estate development. having tried marriage once, cindy was reluctant to try again. but orlando? not a man inclined to entertain doubts. and one weekend he invited cindy to a barbecue party. >> he surprised me. he knew that i loved mariachis. then all of a sudden, all these mariachis, they come in singing, and he gets on his knees and he proposed. so, it was exciting. >> that's a day you don't forget. >> never. >> so, in short order they got married and had a baby. and became a family. why'd you pick noah as a name? >> they had a book on baby names and i saw the name "noah" and it said it meant "new beginning, " so i loved it. >> so, it was a new beginning. as amply recorded as any new parents could make it. but if this was the beginning, then what was this? that early evening in april 2008, orlando and noah, heading down the street with his toy car. they turned a corner. out of camera range now. but then -- >> i heard shots. very loud shots. and i went outside. that's when i saw my husband full of blood, crying for help. i'm sorry. it's an image that is never gonna go away. i didn't see my son at first, so i thought the worst. i went crazy because i thought my son was kidnapped. >> then from the front yard, near where orlando fell, a neighbor called out. >> she said, "i have your son." my brave neighbor, she took my son from my husband's arms. when i ran to grab my son, my son was shot, full of blood. >> neighbors called 9-1-1. >> a baby's been shot. >> in the distance, as the caller spoke to 9-1-1, a woman screamed. it was cindy. >> how old is the baby? >> oh, my god. oh, my god. oh, my god. >> cindy held her son for dear life. orlando tried to speak. >> all he was asking was, "honey, tell me how's the baby? is the baby okay? " >> then an agonizing decision. ride in the ambulance with her baby? or stay by her dying husband? >> of course, i was torn in two, but my main concern was my baby. so, i jumped immediately in the ambulance. >> as cindy sped away to the hospital with noah, the paramedics worked on orlando where he fell, but it was too late. they could not save him. detective felix guadarrama of the north miami police department went to the hospital to check on the boy and deliver the bad news. >> that's the toughest part of my job. >> how did she take it? >> she obviously became even more upset. everybody started crying. it was just horrible to hear news like that. >> but little noah would make it. would be okay. thanks to his father's selflessness. >> my son was shot in his arm and in his leg, but his father protected him. >> held him and covered him? >> when they were shooting at him, he just lifted my son up. >> keep him away from his body? what do you miss most about him? >> being with him all the time. >> that was when your life made sense? >> that's what i knew. us, together, with our baby. >> but now, orlando was gone. and little noah was wounded and suffering. and so, she took him home to care for him there, in a house that felt empty. >> i couldn't sleep seeing my baby suffer with the wounds. losing my husband. he was very loved by everyone in my family. >> clearly however, there was someone who didn't feel the same way about orlando mesa. and before long, said cindy, she and the north miami police came to the very same conclusion about who that might be. >> coming up -- cindy points to someone if she thinks is a possible suspect and bags for help in bringing her husband's killer to justice. >> hug your family. kiss your children. you don't know when you're gonna lose them. >> when miami heat continues. nurse mariyam sabo knows a moment this pure... ...demands a lotion this pure. new gold bond pure moisture lotion. 24-hour hydration. no parabens, dyes, or fragrances. gold bond. champion your skin. we're carvana, the company who invented car vending machines and buying a car 100% online. now we've created a brand-new way for you to sell your car. whether it's a year old or a few years old. we wanna buy your car. so go to carvana and enter your license plate answer a few questions. and our techno wizardry calculates your car's value and gives you a real offer in seconds. when you're ready, we'll come to you, pay you on the spot and pick up your car, that's it. so ditch the old way of selling your car, and say hello to the new way at carvana. find your rhythm. your happy place. find your breaking point. then break it. every emergen-c gives you a potent blend of nutrients so you can emerge your best with emergen-c. >> they were just going for a walk on a pleasant miami evening. and yet, when her husband was gunned down and killed, her 18 month old son wounded, cindy carballo didn't quite get it right away. that hers was a particular kind of nightmare. this was an execution. what does it do to your head when you think that? somebody wanted him dead? >> i couldn't comprehend what was happening. i was just in pain that i had lost my husband. >> three days after the shooting, cindy went before tv cameras at police headquarters. >> hug your family. kiss your children. you don't know when you're gonna lose them. >> holding her son noah, his injured arm wrapped in bandages, she appealed for help to find the killers. >> what little information that you know, please just forward. >> police had urged her to make the appeal, hoping that all that emotion would help generate some much needed leads. though there was one lead both amazing and ultimately frustrating. right there, just below the roof line of cindy and orlando 's house was a security camera. north miami police major, trevor shinn. >> we had video footage that we obtained from the victim's home. >> that's the camera that captured father and son heading out of the house and down the street on that last walk they took together. then watch this. a car barrels up to the curb. two men burst out, guns drawn. run around the corner out of camera range. that's where they opened fire on orlando and noah. within 15 seconds, they're back in the car, speeding away. but they're not done. >> he was on the ground. they come back by and now you have a second rally of shots. >> it was an execution? >> yes. >> nobody could identify the two you can see on the video. best witnesses could say was they were african american males with dreadlocks. one caller said she thought she saw a third man in the car besides the two shooters. >> i think there were three people in the car. >> they found the car eventually. abandoned. it had been stolen. and the evidence trail cooled dramatically. as for what the motive was, no one seemed to know. >> it was shocking because my husband was very much liked. he didn't have any known enemies. >> was that true? detectives at the north miami police department threw out a wide net and they got some help from cindy. >> when you're working a homicide, you want to reach out to people who are close to the victim. >> yes, of course. >> spouses, best friends, businesses associates. you want to get as much information. are there beefs? are there bad businesses? >> that's when cindy thought about her husband's new business partner. a man named illam nissim. the guy he got involved with in real estate development. >> when the police questioned me and they said who are his friends and partners, did he have any incident, that's when i said, "well, you know, there was an incident with this business venture." >> cindy met illam nissim and his girlfriend, nikita, at a birthday party for their daughter who was noah's age. and then, said cindy, orlando told her later, not long before he was murdered, that illam lost a big packet of cash orlando entrusted him with. >> my husband gave illam nissim money to purchase lots to get in the business. >> a lot of money? >> my knowledge was $180,000 and there was a robbery and the money was gone. >> $180,000 lost? in cash? that's the sort of thing makes the cops sit up and take notice. tell me about the links between nissim and orlando? what were they doing together? >> some small real estate, from what we understand. >> but all these sound like businesses on the up and up. >> yes. >> cindy began to suspect that nissim must have had a reason to want her husband dead. but as for what he may have done -- >> i don't think she could say. she just kept saying that he had to be involved. there was an issue over money. it was just like her gut feeling this guy was involved. >> and then, the 20th of may. one month to the day after the murder. the investigation had stalled. cindy was at home, alone, packing to move out of the house she shared with orlando. what happened? well, sometimes it can take a while to figure out who did what to whom. >> coming up -- a knock, a shot and a mystery. >> he made a move and i panicked because i thought he was reaching for his gun. when miami heat continues. miami heat continues. the only eggs with more fresh and delicious taste. plus, superior nutrition. which matters now more than ever. because the way we care... is anything but ordinary. eggland's best. cage free and organic. ♪♪ i have dreamt at performing cage free and organic. in redshore city since i was a little kid. we've got 3 weeks to get this show in the best shape ever. that is rubbish, really bad. i'm having second thoughts about this. i can't do this. whatever podunk town they crawled out of that's where they belong. guts. stamina. faith. these are the things you need now. ♪ i think i saw you ♪ mr. crystal, moon's taking over the theater and he's putting on a show. he's what? ahhh! >> burying a loved one is never easy. barry in a loved one who was murdered, incomprehensible. and to make it somehow worse, said cindy, police told her that her suspicions about that guy illam nissim were well placed. and they gave her a warning. >> the lead detective, she kept telling us, this is a dangerous individual. >> then this was pretty terrifying, said cindy,. after the murder nissim called her on the phone, incessantly. >> you always inquire about the investigation, so i thought he wanted to keep me close for information. if he was maybe a suspect. >> and on the day of orlando's funeral, who should show up that newsom himself. that's got to be pretty bizarre to have him at the funeral when you're thinking that your husband was killed. >> it was. it was. i immediately told the lead detective in that case. >> the lead detective came to the funeral also. >> and she instructed us to act natural. not to let him suspect that we knew that he was the person. >> and to keep taking nissim's calls. cindy thought she could help the police solve the case. but there was a little more involved than a pure murder investigation. the feds were in on it now. said abbe rifkin, the prosecutor assigned to the murder case. >> they were looking at mr. nissim as they were looking at her husband as they were looking at other people who were allegedly in the drug business. >> the drug business? yes. all that missing cash and orlando's three part convictions for marijuana and cocaine possession. those things gave the crime a the whiff of a classic drug hit. >> my husband unfortunately had a past before i met him, before i married him. >> mind you, orlando's crimes were not exactly big time. he pleaded guilty to all of those charges and served a few days in jail. and though nissim also had a record, several assault convictions years earlier when he was not yet 20, none of them had a thing to do with the drug trade. still, the question was, had something happened to support their partnership? just over three weeks after the murder, the police asked cindy to do more than just keep an eye on nissim. >> i was asked by the lead detective to maintain communication with him, so i could work with them wearing a wire and help them catch this individual. >> a potentially dangerous thing to do, of course, wearing a wire. secretly recorded conversations. still, cindy said she would do it. and on the advice of the lead investigator, said cindy, she bought a gun. for the first time in her life. she also decided to move out of her house. but the wire? >> she never wore the wire. >> no. she did not. and the reason? it was me 20th. exactly one month after that hit on orlando mesa. cindy was home alone, packing to move. then suddenly, an unexpected guest was at her door, said cindy. not just any guest. illam nissim. practically forced his way in, she said. peppered her with questions about her husband's business. >> he started asking me about my husband's warehouse. if i had my husband keys. and i said, i don't know where he keeps his keys. that's when he became aggressive and he said that i knew more than what i was telling him. >> she watched him in terror she said, as he walked around the house. as he looked outside and saw that her dogs were securely leashed, unable to help her. then, she said, it got very scary indeed. >> and he grabbed me. that's when he attacked me. i was able to get away from him. he reached out to grab me again. he scratched my neck. he ripped my shirt. he chased me through the house. >> cindy said she ran to the living room, where she kept her newly purchased gun. and nissim, right behind our, tripped on some bags she was packing. >> and when i turned around, he made a move, and i panicked because i thought he was reaching for his gun. and that's when i shot. and i ran out of the house and i call 9-1-1. >> somebody just tried to kill me. and i fired. and i ran to the street. hurry up. >> i need you to try to calm down, so i can understand you. >> somebody tried to kill me. >> had she stopped it? were there others with him? she kept running. >> and she's frantically saying they're chasing me. they're chasing. >> back at the house, police found nissim on the floor. he was very dead. they finally caught up with cindy a few blocks away. drove her to headquarters. >> how did they treat you that day? >> they treated me very well. they were very nice. after my statement, they told me that it was a justifiable, self-defense. >> afterwards, the lead detective dropped cindy at her parents house. >> then she told my family that i did the police a favor by taking out the trash. >> the next day, news reports quoted the police as saying, nissim was a suspect in orlando 's murder and that cindy was justified. shot him in self-defense. but now, regardless of that, you had just killed somebody. had taken another human life. >> yes. >> that can't be easy to deal with? >> no, and it felt unreal. it felt unreal. >> however, as you say, the police told you you had taken out the trash. and did they essentially leave you alone after that? >> they drove me dropped me off at my house and they told my family members i had nothing to worry about. >> so he went on rebuilding your life? >> correct. >> but as they see, don't count your chickens. >> and don't judge a book by its cover. was this a story of self-defense or revenge? >> i can't let the. school i will let it go. i four and i. >> i just couldn't believe what i heard. >> when miami heat continues. forty percent of people with type 2 diabetes will develop chronic kidney disease, or ckd. did you know ckd can lead to kidney failure and dialysis? kidney alert! ckd often has no symptoms until it's too late! help protect your kidneys. call your doctor for a uacr test. it shows one of the earliest signs for ckd. visit kidneyalert.com! derriere discomfort. we try to soothe it with this. it shows one of the earliest signs for ckd. cool it with this. and relieve it with this. but new preparation h soothing relief spray is the 21st century way to do all three. even touch free. preparation h. get comfortable with it. ♪ ♪ cases of anxiety in young adults are rising as experts warn of the effects on well-being caused by the pandemic. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ hey, angie! you forgot your phone! hey lou! angie forget her phone again? yep. lou! mom said she could save up to $400 on her wireless bill by switching to xfinity internet and mobile. with nationwide 5g at no extra cost. and lou! on the most reliable network, lou! smart kid, bill. oh oh so true. and now, the moon christmas special. gotta go! take the savings challenge at xfinitymobile.com/mysavings or visit an xfinity store to learn how our switch squad makes switching fast >> hello, i'm dara brown. and easy this holiday season. here is what is happening. kentucky is in a state of emergency after a series of tornadoes swept through six states, including parts of the midwest and the tennessee river valley. president biden spoke to the governor, andy beshear on saturday night to get the latest on recovery efforts and reaffirm support from the federal government. governor beshear stated in a press conference there are at least 70 storm related deaths. he says there's a chance of reaching over 100 storm and related fatalities. now, back to dateline. w, back to dateline. >> welcome back to dateline. i am natalie morales. a grieving widow admitted to shooting a man she suspected of murdering her husband. but, the question remained. was it self-defense, or cold blooded revenge? a clue was about to surface, from an unexpected source. here is keith morrison with more miami heat. >> cindy carballo's husband had been murdered, her son wounded, and she had just killed the man she believed was responsible. it wasn't an easy load to put in the rearview mirror. but a few months after she killed illam nissim, it was noah's second birthday. and cindy decided his happiness would come first. so, she organized a party. pony rides, a piñata, a cake. cindy, remember, had always been an ambitious person. now that she was a family breadwinner, in 2010, two years after the murder, she and a partner opened a clinic that specialized in managing pain, located in nearby broward county, just north of miami. she hired this man to help get the business going. his name is john friskey. >> i was selling her computers and helping her get set up. >> pain management clinics were popping up all over south florida just about then, and some of them were suspected of being so called "pill mills", where unethical doctors got rich writing prescriptions for narcotics like oxycontin. >> in broward county, i think there was 100 and some odd pain clinics, which is more than mcdonald's. >> detective rob weir was part of a dea task force set up to investigate these pill mills. and while cindy insisted she ran her clinic by the books, it came to the attention of the dea task force. >> we had received complaints on it. so, we sent somebody in to see what we could do. >> and guess who the task force sent? john friskey, the computer expert. he also happened to be a dea informant. >> every time i went in there, i wore a wire from the dea. >> when you wore the wire, what were you assigned to do? >> my main goal was to get anything that would piece it together and prove it was a pill mill. >> he talked to cindy a lot. fishing, really, for what might be evidence of medical fraud. and then one day, it was just over two years after cindy shot nissim, friskey got a very big surprise. >> it made me very uncomfortable and i just wanted to leave. >> what happened? friskey asked cindy about her family and she launched into an amazing story about the shooting of illam nissim. >> so, i went through hell and back, you know? >> it was the story of how her husband was murdered and her son wounded. and how she suspected her husband's business partner, illam nissim, arranged it all. and then, she said, when she decided the police were never going to arrest him -- >> i was like, i have to do something... i can't let this go. i won't let it go. an eye for an eye. i want his daughter to grow up without a father just like my son. >> and that's when a completely different story emerged, about the day she shot nissim. a far cry from the one she told the police. nissim didn't barge into her house uninvited, she said. she lured him there. >> i knew what was going to happen and -- you know, i was shaking inside. but outside i was calm. >> she told friskey she asked nissim to take down some speakers in her bedroom. then she went to the living room and got her gun. >> then when he come out, i was ready. he came out of that room... he said oh, [bleep] >> one, two, five... shots -- and he fell on the floor. his phone was still in his hand. "help." orly asked for help, too. >> she didn't shoot him just once. she emptied her gun into him. john friskey simply wanted to find out if cindy was operating a pill mill. instead, it sounded like she had confessed to a much, much more serious crime. >> i went in the restroom. i called rob weir, the dea agent. and i told him, "she just confessed to murder and she wants to go to lunch." and he said, "just get out of there. make any excuse. you're not going to lunch with her." >> friskey gave the tape to weir. and i'm like, nobody can just flat out confess like that. i just couldn't believe what i heard. >> detective weir contacted north miami police and prosecutor abbe rifkin, who it turned out, had her doubts all along about the story cindy told the cops. >> the persona that she tries to portray of being this poor, little widow, is completely belied by those tapes. >> i want his daughter to grow up without a father just like my son. >> nissim's daughter is a little girl named imani. >> he really did love her. >> ever since nissim was shot, imani's mother, nikita roberts, had been hearing people say the man she loved was a killer. >> i couldn't see this person hurting anybody or being whoever they said he was. that's not the person that i knew. >> prosecutors put their case together. >> miami - dade state attorney, katherine fernandez rundle, had to sign off, and she did so without hesitation. >> revenge isn't tolerated anywhere in the system, even if it's understandable and somebody might have some sympathy. >> there's a kind of a push in that direction, isn't there? you ought to be able to act out in your own defense? >> sometimes revenge is just an excuse, but it's a lousy excuse to kill somebody. you cannot do it. you will be held accountable. >> and the state of florida did hold cindy accountable. just before christmas, 2010, she was charged with first degree murder. >> coming up -- there was a dead man, an apparent confession and a motive. but under florida law, was it murder? >> and it was at that point in time that you shot him to protect yourself? >> yes, i did. i was in fear for my life. in my mind, he was there to kill me. >> when "dateline" continues. firefighter maggie gronewald knows how to handle dry weather... ...and dry, cracked skin. new gold bond advanced healing ointment. restore healthy skin, with no sticky feeling. gold bond. champion your skin. ♪ ♪ cases of anxiety in young adults are rising as experts warn of the effects on well-being caused by the pandemic. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ before discovering nexium 24hr to treat her frequent heartburn... claire could only imagine enjoying chocolate cake. now, she can have her cake and eat it too. nexium 24hr stops acid before it starts for all-day, all-night protection. can you imagine 24 hours without heartburn? do you take aspirin? plain aspirin could be hurting your stomach. new vazalore is the first liquid-filled aspirin capsule clinically shown to cause fewer ulcers than plain aspirin. vazalore is designed to help protect... releasing aspirin after it leaves your stomach... where it is absorbed to give you the benefits of life saving aspirin... to help prevent another heart attack or stroke. heart protection with your stomach in mind. try new liquid-filled vazalore. aspirin made amazing! >> words. what a lot of trouble they can be. >> he played my husband. and he got played better. >> cindy carballo's words, recorded by dea informant john friskey, could put her away for life for first degree murder. but this being florida, she had a shot at getting the charge thrown out. the controversial stand-your-ground law. >> both sides are ready to proceed? >> if cindy could satisfy this judge that she had to use lethal force to protect herself from illam nissim, she'd walk away free as a bird. if she couldn't? she'd go on trial for murder. watching in the gallery, nissim's girlfriend, nikita roberts, and their daughter, imani. >> are there any witnesses the defense needs to call this time? >> cindy would be the first, telling the judge that yes indeed, a tape would tell the story of what happened. but not the undercover dea tape. that was nonsense, she said. the true tape, the one that told the honest story of what she went through that day back in 2008, was her recorded 9-1-1 call after she shot nissim. >> oh, my god. oh, my god. oh, my god. >> that was the true cindy, the defense said. tearing out of the house, hysterical. panic stricken. telling the operator she was sure he was going to shoot her. >> i thought he was gonna fire at me. so i fired. and then i ran. i panicked. i panicked. please help me. >> sitting here on the witness stand, cindy swore her story was the same now as the one she told the cops from the start. that she was home alone when nissim showed up uninvited and attacked her. >> he got aggravated and aggressive with me and he grabbed me by my shirt. >> and it was at that point in time that you shot him to protect yourself? >> yes, i did. i was in fear for my life. in my mind, he was there to kill me. >> cindy turned to the judge, fighting back tears, and explained that she fired because it looked like nissim was about to shoot her. >> he turns with his left hand towards his right, and at that moment, i just started shooting and shooting, like there was no tomorrow. because in my mind, he was reaching out for the gun i seen him with, and he was going to shoot at me. it was so scary. >> cindy's attorneys reminded the judge that after the shooting, the police announced cindy was would not be charged. >> after the detectives interviewed her, they felt at the time that this could be a case of self-defense. >> and the defense pointed out news stories of the time, in which police were quoting nissim as a suspect in orlando's murder. >> at the time, he was the person the police was investigating and the only suspect in my husband's murder. >> and as for that dea undercover tape, which so faithfully recorded what she told friskey, about planning in vengeance, an eye for an eye. >> this is me telling him how i felt. my embellishment on the story. >> it was all pure theater, she said. she was trying to impress friskey, not confess to him. >> i made myself to look tougher than i was because i -- >> why'd you do that? >> because i'm a single mom, living in a man's world. so, i wanted to sound like i'm tough. you can't mess with me. >> cindy asked the judge to look to one statement on that tape that was all true and consistent with the fear cindy showed on the 9-1-1 call. >> you told friskey that you had to defend yourself against illam, correct? >> yes, i told him that i was very scared. i told him that i had to defend myself against illam. >> cindy's testimony appeared to be a powerful performance, but there was one person not impressed. lead prosecutor, abbe rifkin. what was your impression of her testimony at the stand-your-ground hearing? >> that she was an actress and she was putting on an act. >> and the act began with that 9-1-1 call. was that the real cindy? not a chance, said prosecutor rifkin. the real cindy was the one on that friskey tape, speaking freely when she thought nobody else was listening. and during cross examination, prosecutors said police were never as suspicious of nissim as cindy claimed they were. instead, they said, it was she who pushed him as the number one suspect. >> at the time, you were telling the police to investigate him, isn't it? >> he was being investigated for the murder of my husband, at the time. that is correct. >> so, was nissim a murder suspect or not? we put the question to these two detectives. in the paper it says that she shot in self-defense, the number one suspect in her husband's killing. so, is that what the police were thinking? >> no. he was never our number one suspect. >> he was never a number one suspect. >> words. words in court. words on tape. which words would the judge believe? >> coming up -- in a case full of twists and turns, one more. >> that blew my mind. how do they assert that i was pregnant by this man? it was just disgusting. >> when miami heat continues. 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she bought a gun and then, the prosecutor said, she invited nissim to her home. miami-dade county medical examiner, dr. emma lew, demonstrated the path of bullets from cindy's gun into nissim's body. five shots, mostly in the back. >> gunshot wound a was on the right of his back. >> the day cindy shot nissim he wasn't even armed. and if she was as frightened of him as she claimed to be, then how to explain this? phone records that show the two were in constant contact 30 times in the weeks after orlando was killed. >> we're talking about somebody who was clearly having a relationship with this person. >> come on, that's a pretty thin thread. clearly having a relationship. i mean, that's your speculation -- >> absolutely not. this was someone who was calling the victim equal number of times that he called her. >> and then, prosecutor rifkin went a step further. she discovered, she said, that cindy got pregnant after her husband was killed. miscarried at three weeks. and who did she text from the hospital? >> the person that she texted from the hospital, a little after 6:00 in the morning, was the victim. >> it was clear what the prosecutor was implying. that nissim might have been the father. cindy seemed stunned by the whole idea. >> that blew my mind. how do they come and can assert that i was pregnant by this man? it was just disgusting. >> and simply untrue, said defense co-counsel, bruce fleisher. >> for them to suggest that she was pregnant from nissim was ludicrous. >> in fact, said the defense, the state's whole case was ludicrous. this was clearly an act of self-defense. just listen to cindy's sister describe the time she saw nissim talking to cindy right after her husband was murdered, to understand why she was so afraid. >> then the next thing i see is him lifting up his shirt and he had a gun. i saw my sister looking a little frightened about it. >> one of the detectives had told her this person has a long rap sheet and that she should arm herself. >> and after cindy shot nissim, her sister said she saw proof that cindy had been attacked. >> she had bruises on her arm. she had scratch or bruises on her neck. >> and that shot him in the back thing? the defense called a medical expert of its own, who said the first bullet was in nissim's side, when he turned his body as if to reach for a gun. >> within a fraction of a second, he would fall forward, and during that period of time he gets all the rest of the gunshot wounds. >> the defense wanted to ask the lead detective, diana roman, just what she told cindy after her husband was murdered. roman has denied ever telling cindy to buy a gun, or congratulating her for taking out the trash when she killed nissim. but here in court, the judge would not let the defense ask about those things. though she did allow questions about all those texts and calls. >> you told janepsy to stay close to him? >> i asked her to maintain a communication that already existed there. >> but the big issue of course was that dea audiotape. >> i knew what was gonna happen. >> this tape is the one in which she seems to confess. >> she's not confessing. she said that i shot that man in self-defense. i thought he was armed. it's not a confession. >> did he have a weapon on him when they found him? >> i think he did. >> remember, the defense argued that cindy was exaggerating wildly when she talked to the dea's friskey. embellishing to make herself look tough. but if you listen carefully, they said, you can hear one thing cindy did say on that tape that was true. the one thing prosecutors ignored. five, big words. >> i had to defend myself. >> i had to defend myself. now that, said the defense, was true. >> somebody tried to kill me. >> just like the 9-1-1 call was true. to all of which the prosecutors said, nonsense. that 9-1-1 call? that was all an act. and their proof of that was something cindy said to dea informant friskey on his tape. >> what does she say when she thinks no one's listening? i was really nervous, but i made it look authentic. >> and the judge agreed with the prosecution. dismissed the 9-1-1 call. ruled it inadmissible. which was a very big problem for cindy. and perhaps the reason that in her trial she chose not to take the witness stand. >> we couldn't let her do it because we saw that we were not being treated fairly in the rulings. >> and his closing, defense attorney nathan diamond insisted that cindy was within her rights when she shot nissim. >> the shots are being pulled off in rapid fire. consistent with the fear of the attack that was being placed on janepsy in her home. >> so now, the big wait. one day, two days. on the third day, jurors said they were deadlocked. the judge sent them back. >> please be seated. >> and and hours later -- >> we the jury find the defendant guilty of first degree murder. >> i never imagined that i was going to go to trial, and would be able to tell my side and actually how the event occurred. >> the sentence was swift, ordained by law. life, no parole. cindy told us she isn't done. she will appeal. she tells her son noah, now eight years old, that she will fight the lies that put her here. >> he told me that he understands because sometimes in school, there's boys that tell lies about him and try to get him in trouble with the teachers. so, he said, "i understand, mommy." >> ask state attorney katherine fernandez rundle about what happened to young noah, now living with relatives, and she calls it a tragedy. >> that is really the heart of this case, because that's the person who really has suffered and lost everything. when we talk to cindy, >> it's been seven years since the tumultuous events that put cindy carballo behind bars. seven years since her husband was murdered, in a case that still hasn't been solved. seven years to contemplate the act that put her here, and whether she'd do it again. >> yes. because i was attacked, and i -- that moment i felt that he was going to kill me. and if not having remorse makes me guilty, i don't think it should be that way. >> perhaps not. but certainly, cindy carballo has years to rethink the question and her answer. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm natalie morales, thank you for watching. >> good morning, everybody. i'm lindsay reiser. msnbc headquarters. a it's been more than 24 hours since those historic storms brought death and destruction to several states across the central u.s.. we know at least 14 people have died in arkansas, illinois, tennessee and missouri. but in kentucky alone, officials say more than 70 people have died. and that death toll is is expected to exceed 100. four tornadoes touched down in kentucky. the most devastating hitting a

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