out there. >> police then an ambulance. >> what could be -- but the bitter taste of -- >> he is evil. he is not the kind of person that he has the public convinced that he is. >> jonesboro as both a college town, and a farming town. it tends to the needs of young minds, and rice farmers on the vast plains of sticky fertile -- western mississippi river. it is where don marc despain went through school with this is the charm. -- is his mother. >> he was the only freshman that we know of who was chosen by a senior to go to the senior prom. >> marc became a high school football star, his sister watched him bring trophies home to lay at the feet of his father, -- >> and then, while it's, an old story really. >> when i was 18 he was 19. we just bumped into each other. >> pretty michelle, she was sitting on top of the car when mark spotted her one night. before, along pregnant. >> the way i was brought up, if you got to go pregnant, you married her. that was just what you did. >> so, there was a shotgun wedding. two families thrown together, marc and his parents jack and dana. michelle with her mom kathy and her dad karl. i michelle also brought along baby from another relationship. >> and he never treated her like she was not his. >> together they had two boys. >> he loved his kids. anything they ever dreamed of he would do. anything. >> the little family lived into a trailer that his parents bought them, and he studied hard to become a real estate appraiser like his mom. he went into business with his parents, which, said michelle, is about when things began to go wrong. >> mark didn't like to be -- he was an independent person. >> the growing tensions spilled over at the kitchen table. mark demanded a bigger share of the money. they argued, and then michel chimed in. >> oh my goodness. when she opened her mouth, that just flipped off the handle and mark just you know stepped in as a husband, like a husband should do. >> that is how it began. the charm between father and son, the trouble that was going to get so much worse. mark split away from the family business, michel i have tim with bookkeeping. >> i was just amazed at what they were able to accomplish. >> they were a good team said michele's mother. >> they both just had the ability to work together, to make money. >> mark got into real estate investment, his first a trailer park no one else would touch. >> i couldn't believe he bought that. what are you thinking? have you lost your mind? he flipped the. made about 100,000 dollar profit. >> so we did it once he figured he could do it again and again? >> absolutely. >> and the money seemed to roll in. mark moved his family to an upscale neighborhood in the southern part of town. he spent more and more time with michelle, taking them on family chips, even hired muscles that to be his rent collector. >> i remember a lot of times walking in and crawl would be sitting at the table and 50s, hundreds, 20s, he was counting like a drug dealer. >> piles of money? >> piles of money. >> and then, one august afternoon, michelle came home from work early. >> when i walked in, there weren't any lights on, everything was knocked to the floor. >> then she got to the kitchen. and there he was. >> he was lying on the floor. and there was blood coming out from behind him. and i shook his leg, i said his name, i looked around, and there was stuff on the floor everywhere. i got scared. >> she ran outside, terrified, and called 9-1-1. >> 9-1-1 what is your emergency? >> my -- my -- my husband. i just came home. >> ma'am, i need you to take a deep breath, okay. tell me what's going on. >> i don't know. >> michelle ran across the street to a neighbor's high desperate to hide. >> she's not answering the door. >> you are minister on the phone with? you >> know i need someone. okay, call your mom. >> it was it's grown me. you pick up the phone, you hear one of your kids on the phone, you hear her crying. >> kathy raced over there, found michel on the curb. >> she's going to have to get to, him i have to get him. i grabbed her by the shoulders, and i said michelle he is gone. he is gone. >> so he was, that, on his own kitchen floor. >> a young wife is now a widow, and the horror of what you witnessed is unforgettable. coming up -- >> lives in your mind a lot? >> -- >> her family's good life suddenly gone, or maybe, it hadn't been so good. >> he was kind of embarrassed to have to get money from me. >> when the rule of all evil continues. l evil continues. for romance. your home for big savings. 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(vo) for me, one of the best things about life is that we keep moving forward. we discover exciting new technologies. redefine who we are and how we want to lead our lives. basically, choose what we want our future to look like. so what's yours going to be? >> it's an unpleasant thing to think about, parents murdering their own children, but it happens. an old story, frankly. some awful -- in the human recipe, add it happened here in jonesboro? suspicion fell quickly on mark's dad, jack. michelle's mom heard about it when she called to tell relatives that mark was dead. >> he was like oh my god, he said, have they found jack? >> he thought right away it was jack. >> -- >> because anyone close to jack and his family knew, that a poison far more potent than money had come between father and son. >> i never saw it coming, i think mark never saw coming. >> it began, said michelle, one her 13-year-old daughter told them an ugly story. that her grandpa jack asked her to take nude photos of herself on his phone. mark called a family meeting. >> there is a problem, we want to help you, we are not here to point fingers at, you or judge you. >> jack swore he did nothing wrong. >> mark called in the police. jackson's wife of more than 30 years left him, moved in with mark and michelle. >> how do you prepare for things? that >> you don't. you don't. >> your mind isn't overdrive, trying to think, oh my god, could this have possibly happened? >> but, after the police interviewed the girl, and jack, and the girl again, heard her story change and become more elaborate, the investigation was dropped. ten riven with guilt forever suspecting jack abused his granddaughter, went back, and begged for forgiveness. >> the man i have been married to for over 30 years, that i went to high school with, and then doubting him, and knowing i shouldn't have. >> but mark and michelle believing the girl never spoke to him again. cut them off from the grandkids, disowned -- when she took jack's side. >> i believe that 100%. i don't think he had anything to do with it. >> so that was the ugly backdrop to the murder investigation. the fact of brooks would have to figure out if this year's old unproven allegation had eaten away at mark stat that it pushed him over the edge. time to meet potential suspect number one. >> i'm gonna close that door. >> detective brooks sat down with jack in an investigation. and watch the men fall apart. >> i can't. >> was this true grief the -- guilt that something jack had done -- >> i was too late. >> too late? what did he mean? jack didn't shy away from discussing his abuse allegation, here's how it happened he said. >> she had taken some nude photos of herself and sent it to her boyfriends. >> jack said he found out the girl was texting, confronted her, told her he was going to tell her parents, she got to them before he did, jack said. a story to get out of trouble. >> so they took her side i guess? >> they took her side. so that i was the bad person. >> jack told us the same story, eager he said to finally set the record straight. >> you never asked her to take pictures of herself? >> no. >> but the accusation, said jack, almost destroyed him. >> i was at home, i could've opened my own -- two months and typically i don't drink. just to kill the pain. >> because everybody assumed that you were abusing your own granddaughter? >> yes. yes. >> the detective wondered, the jacques payne drive him to seek revenge on his own son? no, said jack. no. he wanted to reconcile with mark, not kill him. >> i know i -- but i love them dearly. >> anyway, mark was murdered, said jack, he was miles away at his own house. >> i was on the roof trying to put some shingles on. >> that alibi would have to be checked out. but even before detective brooks had a chance to do that, other members of the family came down to the police station and told them, don't be fooled by jacques tiers. he was angry, and possibly violent man. >> he said i will ruin you and your family. he said, for y'all accusing me of this. he said, i will see you burned. this is michele's that carl, the man had been cursing jack out on the street right at the murder scene. >> if that's what you're, asking i'd point it at jack. >> detective brooks could point litzy this was a family with a troubled history. so they made a decision, to attend marc des plaines visitation, take a look around, see what's his got would tell him. >> as i know in your case while, it's that this has to be one of the strangest visitations i ever attended. >> yes. it was just a cold feeling. it did not feel right. >> was the killer sitting among the mourners, planning a next move? >> coming up, a family feud at the funeral. >> she calls the police on us. >> and somebody else calls the police with a tip that could crack the case. >> that was a nice little gift? >> it was. >> when the root of all evil continues. continues. i had been giving him kibble. it never looked or felt like real food. but with the farmer's dog you can see the pieces of turkey. it smells like actual food. i saw a difference almost overnight. healthy poops, healthy dog, right? as he's aged, he's still quite energetic and youthful. i really attribute that to diet. you know, he's my buddy. my job is to keep my buddy safe and happy. ♪♪ get started at longlivedogs.com ♪ ♪ fight fleas and ticks with seresto. eight months continuous protection against fleas and ticks. it's effective and vet recommended. seresto. learn more at seresto.com. ♪ ♪ doris, did i tell you i got our car from carvana? learn more at seresto.com. i found the perfect car in no time. i thought online meant no one to help me but susan from carvana, she had all the answers. it was so easy. [laughs] we'll drive you happy at carvana. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ voltaren. the joy of movement. no what's happening? two people were killed at a house party in pittsburgh. according to police [inaudible] to jump out of the windows to escape. authorities are searching for multiple suspects. and the suspect in the south carolina mall shooting has been under house arrest after a judge that a 25,000-dollar bond. at least nine people were wounded by gunshots. now, back to dateline. michelle and mark, just children, really, when they got married. now, mark was dead. gun down in the family kitchen. michelle had to plan his funeral. she was barely functioning, she said. >> i couldn't even tell you who was there. it's just a blur. it feels like a blur. >> but there was one thing she was clear about. mark's parents and sister were not welcome at his funeral. it was the same at the cemetery. >> she is literally trying to get him in the ground before we can evenly walk up. >> get him in the ground. >> yes. we just immediately jumped out of her car, rushed out to the grave site. she calls the police on us. she calls the police and my brother's funeral. >> and yet, for all the chatter about jack, that he might have killed his own some ... detective brooks instincts said, no. jacks alibi checked out. he was fixing his roof after the murder. those tears in the interrogation room ... >> i did not feel anything as being fake. he appeared to be a broken man at the time. >> so, what to make by the fractured family and all the bad blood now tangled up with so much grief? detective brooks got back to his interview with michelle's dad, the man who pointed a finger at jack on day one. >> carl said he had been to mark's house, not to long before the murder. dropped awesome rent money. interesting timing. coincidence? or as productive -- did karl have something of the murder? well, maybe not. charles alibi checked out. surveillance cameras, in fact, scott carl right where he said he was around the time mark was gunned down. meeting his daughter the bank. he could not have shot marc. while the investigation continued, mark's parents spent time it cemetery. finally able to do with they couldn't when their son was still alive. >> we talked him. talk to marc. >> the rainy days with worse. i don't like rainy days. >> what do you mean, rainy days? >> i didn't like him getting wet. he was in heaven. but i didn't like the rain on him. >> and then, [inaudible] remember how neighbors reported seeing an african-american stranger in the neighborhood? now, someone's not called the cops with the tip. someone who marcia script and was actually boasting about shooting marc despain. >> that was a nice gift. >> it was. >> it wasn't long to find the guy. straight name? quayle oh. real name? terrence parker. he was nervous. >> i can see your heart being through the shirt right now. i know you're scared. >> he denied everything. >> detective birx wasn't buying it because by then, detect active tracked down the blue mercedes scene before the murder. he told the cops that he took cuellar to meet the man at a church parking lot. that man wanted a job. there with that jab murder? by now, detective birx had been working night and day. his story patients ran out. >> was it that angry speech or another long night in the cell? the next day, quayle came clean. for a promise of seven to $10, 000, still unpaid, he said, you took the job to shoot and kill marc despain. he didn't know marc from adam. it was the man from the parking lot that took him to marc's house. told him where to lie in wait for marc. gave him again. and then quayle said something quite surprising. the shooter who got the stranger for the promise of a few grand said that he was appalled, not at himself, at the man who hired him. if the hitmen was telling the truth, detective brooks hunch was right. someone who claimed to love marc also plotted his death. but who? coming up, michelle confesses to an affair. >> and there was another surprise. >> there were two insurance policies, each for the amount of $500,000. >> when the root of all evil continues. ur life. so we offer a complete exam and x-rays free to new patients without insurance - everyday. plus, patients get 20% off their treatment plan. we're on your corner and in your corner every step of the way. because your anything is our everything. aspen dental. anything to make you smile. book today at aspendental.com, walk in, or call 1-800-aspendental. itchy allergens coming right at your eyes. and pills and nasal sprays don't target the source of the itch. but 24 hour pataday once daily relief extra strength does. it works right on the cells that make your eyes itch. with a single drop. it's the only over-the-counter, once-daily, eye allergy itch relief that works fast and lasts 24 hours. discover pataday. and discover eye itch relief beyond belief. make every day a pataday. see for yourself. did i tell you i bought our car from carvana? 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that man did it for free. and the name? >> someone called me and said, have you heard? carl has just gotten arrested. i was like, oh my god! he did this! >> carl, kathy's ex husband, michelle's dad. but mark gave him a house, a job, took him on family vacations. once again, said michelle, she was stunned. >> i thought that he cared for marc, the father of my kids. >> but michele's mom, kathy, was not so surprised. she knew what carl was capable of. she divorced him years earlier, she said, to ex-scape his explosions of temper. >> he never would hit me because he didn't want to leave a mark. >> but would he do? >> he would hold it down to my head. >> hold a gun to your head? >> yes. >> threaten you? >> yes. >> still, what would make him mad enough to have mark killed? confronted, carl space turned to stone. but as investigators discovered, carl had been talking to other people. told them that marc had been physically abusing michelle. that he was tired of it. >> did you investigate whether any abuse actually occurred? >> there was not any abuse ever found happened. >> so, if the abuse story was not his lie, why did carl do it? mark's parents were certain that he didn't come up with the idea on his own. the real mastermind, they believed, someone else very close to mark. his wife, marcia. >> as a mom, i could see carl taking my son's life with outmuscled being involved. >> michelle was far from a loving, doting wife, he said. the woman they knew was pure self interest, would do anything to get what she wanted. exhibit a? >> so, what was it that just turned marc against you? >> michele's manipulation. >> it was michele who pushed mark to break away from the family business, they said. michelle who tore the family apart by stoking her own daughter's allegations of abuse. drive a permanent wedge between mark and his dad and get mark and his money also herself. they could easily see her coating her father into planning a murder. >> michelle is a sociopath. she's absolutely cares nothing about anyone or anything but my shell. >> what an allegation, if true. as it happened, detective brooks was pretty sure he saw an effort by the grieving widow to manipulate him. in the interview room, of course, right after the murder. all that emotion in her voice ... it seemed like an act to him. >> there were no tears. no tears. >> but her voice suggests position captured on the 9-1-1 call, surely that was real. maybe not. one of michel's neighbor saw her standing calmly in the middle of the lawn. >> they see women standing out there talking on her phone. didn't appear to be in a grievous situation, for sure. >> didn't look like he was calling the neighborhood for help. >> now. >> mark's sister still remembered how cool michel seemed at the crime scene. >> i think what bothers me the most is how clean she was. like, her hair was still perfect, her nails were still perfect. >> what would you've expected? >> well, as brutal as it sounds, some blood underneath her fingernails, or something. >> like she got down there tried to revive him. >> something. >> although detective brooks took a look at michelle story. inviting mark from home to have her with lunch -- and to buy ice cream across the street. mark had literally minutes to live. it showed that in the hours leading up to mark's death, there were calls in a flurry of text messages between michelle and her dad. >> what the investigators found was that there was an enormous amount of tax missing. there are chunks of checks missing from carl's phone and from shell spawn. >> anything is truly -- interesting or suspicions that there is something missing from both phones? >> immediately was suspicious. >> on the day that her dad was arrested, detective brooks invited michelle back to the police station and asked her point blank. but she admitted it was hiding something. seeing a guy? an affair. that all tumbled out. how michelle was dipping in to find finances to paper her love his apartment, his groceries. maybe mark was on to her. was about to find out what michel was doing behind his back. mark's parents believed that the michel they knew would rather see her husband dead then risk her being on the losing end of a messy divorce. >> so it was gonna fall apart. >> yeah. >> from trailer trash to a rich woman, so she thought in her mind. she didn't want to go back to the trailer trash again. just couldn't stand the thought. >> if mark that? >> we found there were two insurance policies. huge for the amount of $500,000. >> that is a healthy chunk of change. >> yes, sir. >> a whole notch of stew. none with actual proof. months went by. michelle went on with her life. -- pushed back to get to see it going. they even posted a billboard asking the public for help. the idea that michelle might get away with murder was eating jack alive. >> you have a whole lot of-ing are in there. >> if i could take her life and bring my son back, i would do it. i would do it in a heartbeat. >> sometimes it is overwhelming, that anger. >> it is. it is. >> coming up. one more twist. >> i never dreamed he would get me. >> and justice for mark? maybe. >> i kept thinking of the children. i wanted answers for the children. >> when the root of all evil continues. continues. under control? hide my skin? not me. because dupixent targets a root cause of eczema, it helps heal your skin from within, keeping you one step ahead of it. hide my skin? not me. and for kids ages 6 and up that means clearer skin, and noticeably less itch. with dupixent, you can change how their skin looks and feels. and that's the kind of change you notice. hide my skin? 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>> he asks if she can get him away for lunch. >> yes. >> she says she can. >> she can. and he replies, okay. i will let you know the time. >> my review of some of the text messages say mark wasn't interested in going to lunch that day, but she begged him to take her to lunch. >> after the lunch, you remember, she asked mark to linger for an ice cream treat. all the while texting her dad, said the prosecutor. tipping him up to mark's whereabouts, as carl placed a killer in their home. >> it sent chills up my back. what kind of person have you got to be to let your husband walk away from you, knowing what he's going to walk into when you -- he gets home? >> with new evidence, police arrested michelle. she was charged capital murder, planning in orchestrating the crime. she denied it, said she could explain everything. and agreed to tell us. >> why people should believe that you had nothing to do with the plot to kill mark? >> because i didn't. he was such a good dad. such a good dad. anyone who knows me knows that my kids are so important to me. the most important thing. and i would never want them to not have their dad. >> but she did want out of the marriage, she said. so, those back and forth text with her dad that day did involve a plot. just not murder. >> what did you think he was looking into? >> leave. >> how is he going to help you lead? >> by getting things while we were gone. >> so, should keep market lunch walk carl and heart has moved her stuff out of the house. but her dad changed the plan on her, she said. use those men to kill her husband. she supported as she had no idea when she met her dad in the bank that they would get just done. >> you're this close to each other, father daughter. you're looking in his eyes, talking to him. he gives no hint that he just killed your husband? >> not at all. >> then michelle, you see the expression? through her father under the bus. carl killed mark, she said, not because he thought mark was abusing her, but for many. for a piece of the insurance. >> but you are gonna get the insurance. >> correct. >> so, even if it was his idea, it makes you look pretty guilty. >> right. one thing that he always told me and my sister growing up was that, use people for what you can get out of them, you know? >> that is what he told you? >> i never dreamed he would do it to me. use me. >> did he? or was my shell the clever user? and our interview, michelle denied being a master manipulator. she denied she stopped those sex abuse allegations, or that she endured mark split with the parents. for that, she blamed jacking tanner. >> i never would have a lot with my kids in the first place. i never would have. >> in the end, they didn't walk away from their kid either. who was pushing from day one? to solve the murder? who kept pushing month after month after month? >> my opinion and that is their hatred toward me. it wasn't anything to do with mark. it didn't have anything to do with mark. he was all about jack's hatred towards me. >> you seriously believe? that >> idea. >> rachelle, out of the bill, waited for trial. her mother, kathy, defended her around town. >> did you ever let yourself think she was involved? >> the daughter i know? that daughter i helped raise? no. >> meanwhile, michele's attorney's take a closer look at those recovered text messages. filed a motion. arguing that investigators didn't obtain them properly. >> they didn't get a search warrant every time they service or phone. we're talking about, i think, 15 searches of michelle and karl's phones. they didn't have 15 search warrants. >> their arguments about improper search warrants may have had some traction. with the trial looming, the prosecutor was worried. >> where the high stakes poker game where it is all or nothing when that judge fools the next day on whether to admit the evidence were not to admit it. >> the prosecutor agreed to start talking about a plea deal. the defense played a top, said that michele was only able to admit that she had learned about her father's plot after the murder. >> she is admitting to having knowledge of someone being in bold and not disclosing that to the police. >> she would agree to plead guilty to a charge of hindering apprehension, so the defense. >> after some prayer, mark's mother said she could live with that. >> i'm not a gambling person. you know, even if we'd went to one sympathetic juror to haveen set her free. >> it was more than three years after the death of her husband when michelle to spain walked into the courtroom to be re-sentenced. in handcuffs, mouthing i love you to her mom. her dad and the shooter got 35 years. but michelle? she got sentenced to 30 -- could be on pearl's latest five. until then, her mother raised the kids. jack antenna hope one day those kids will want to know them. but they will want to hear about their dad and their love for him that came before all this hate. >> mark's friends told us that you were his hero, jack. >> yeah. >> you knew that. >> god, i loved. >> i'm sorry, jack. >> they set up a charity to help other victims of crimes it's called mark's place. >> we are going to try to move forward, something positive that i think mark would be very proud of. >> and on a false sunset, they gathered family and friends together to remember their son and finally say goodbye. >> i tell people all the time, the ones you love. let them know. you never know the moment they may be gone. >> that is all for this edition of dateline. i'm