>> also tonight, we take you on one extreme adventure that you haveot to see to believe. >> bam, just crazy. >> strap yourself in. and hold on to every body part you want to keep. >> it felt like something from a movie. >> they are going to extremes. >> let's go. >> thrill seeking, death defying, adrenaline addicted. skydivers in free fall after a mid-air free fall. >> who survives that. >> he said hold on tight or we're both going to die. >> a man trapped under a burn car. >> oh, my gosh! >> it will take super powers to save them. >> no freaking way. >> you'll be wondering, how did they survive this? >> there was a guardian angel over every single one of them. >> extreme escapes. >> welcome to "dateline," everyone. i'm lester holt. you think you get wild on the weekends? you're about to see some of the most incredible adventures ever caught on tape, like this first one we're going to show you, a high speed crash, but not on a highway, up in the air. >> it was very unfortunate. it was a chance in one in a billion, i think. >> we jumped four of us together. that's the whole idea. that's very difficult. we jumped out. we were flying. all four of us had our hands in the middle. we're all holding each other. as we let go and we were probably going straight down at about 140 miles per hour, when we broke off, two guys went to one side. me and another guy to another side. i had no idea where the other two guys were. so i started going towards my friend, the only one that i saw. i keep facing him so i'm turning. that's when i completely did a 180, and i kept drifting backwards. bam, it was just crazy. it crossed my mind that maybe i hit a plane. oh, my god, what is this? i couldn't breathe. i'm trying to be aware of the altitude, like is my parachute okay, did i rip anything there? the pain was so hard on me. i'm like, i made it this far, now i'm going to get that impact. then i waited to the last second to open the parachute. i honestly didn't want to. when i opened the parachute, i kind of relaxed. i remember just hitting the ground and then blacked out. next thing i remember, it's two of the guys with me, two of the jumpers. i'm lucky to go through all of that and the end result was nothing really happened, i didn't break one bone. the other guy was fine. >> a visit to the zoo may not seem high on the list of extreme things to do until you see what happened in alaska. there's a good reason for all those cages and fences. it's not just to keep the animals in. it's also to keep the people out. >> we have about 100, 120 animals, 36 different species. we take in orphaned rescued animals. >> i was just walking through the zoo on a lovely, warm july day. >> binky was an orphaned polar bear. katherine warburton, an australian tourist, decided to get a picture and climbed over two fences to get up to the polar bear fence which he could reach through. once katherine climbed over that second fence, he jumped up and grabbed her. >> all of a sudden from a distance, i heard terrible, terrible screams. >> i'll never forget her scream. it was definitely someone who needed help. >> oh, my god! oh, my god! >> i ran to the direction of the screams and i happened to have my video camera with me. >> i saw katherine being held by the hip by the polar bear. he had her off the ground. >> it was the largest animal i had ever seen in my life. he had his teeth wrapped around katherine's body. >> when i arrived there and saw her like that, i just thought i got to get her free. >> in all of my experiences as a physician, i had never ever seen anything as frightening. had the polar bear severed her femoral artery, she would have blood to death in a matter of seconds. >> i jumped over the first fence and threw my radio at him. it just bounced off his head. then i grabbed ahold of katherine and it was just like playing tug o'war. >> get a gun! trank liedser gun! >> the bear would pull her towards him, the zoo keepers would pull her back towards them. >> she must have felt like a rag dog being tossed around like that. >> they kept hitting him on the head. it did no good. >> she did make a couple pleas, don't let go, just don't let go of me. >> the polar bear tried to get a different grip on her leg by pulling on her. i'd get a little more of her every time, and then katherine's shoe slipped off and her foot just slid through the polar bear's mouth and then she was free. >> i just felt the crunching in my leg. >> i believe it was almost two weeks that she was in the hospital. she had some open wounds, a lot of bruising. she also had a broken leg. >> very lucky. >> katherine never blamed the polar bear. there was no one who even suggested putting him down. >> i think the bear was innocent in all this. >> there's a picture of him 408ding the tennis shoe. it ended up being on a t-shirt that the zoo sold. i remember walking away thinking, did that just happen? >> yeah, looking back, it was the dumbest thing i've ever done in my life. >> coming up -- >> let's go! >> a jump off an 800-foot cliff. what could go wrong? >> the ground was coming at me incredibly fast. >> just about everything. >> gets the pair chutd out, you got it, you got it, live, live, live. >> and -- >> this can't be happening. bam, he hits the cage. i've got my hands on his nose and looking into his mouth. >> a terrifying face-to-face ♪ fight with a hungry great white, when extreme escapes continues. . a full synthetic that starts pure. ♪ born from natural gas. ♪ it's the next revolution in synthetics. ♪ pennzoil platinum with pureplus technology. motor oil reimagined. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] great rates for great rides. geico motorcycle, see how much you could save. it's hard to describe, because you have a numbness, but yet you have the pain like thousands of needles sticking in your foot. it was progressively getting worse, and at that point i knew i had to do something. once i started taking the lyrica the pain started subsiding. [ male announcer ] it's known that diabetes damages nerves. lyrica is fda approved to treat diabetic nerve pain. lyrica is not for everyone. it may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior. or swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, changes in eyesight including blurry vision, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling, or skin sores from diabetes. common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain and swelling of hands, legs and feet. don't drink alcohol while taking lyrica. don't drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. those who have had a drug or alcohol problem may be more likely to misuse lyrica. ask your doctor about lyrica today. it's specific treatment for diabetic nerve pain. >> this next guy is a b.a.s.e. jumper. on this days he decided to try a new trick off a sheer ledge and it turned out to be one crazy cliff hanger. >> ready, set, let's go! >> my name is ted davenport. i'm a professional skier and b.a.s.e. jumper. i've jumped all over the world, in europe, united states, new zealand. the thrill of it is hard to describe. i mean, you're falling towards the earth. it's just that surreal of not being in control but being in control. there's kind of a balance. you're really close to possibly not living, but you are living. sports that involve a high amount of risk usually have a really high payoff. they're usually incredibly exciting and give you a lot of thrill and put a big smile on your face. i was in rifle, colorado with two very close friends and we were going to jump off one of our most favorite spots, an 800-foot cliff that has a really flat takeoff. >> you're there, you're there. i'm right here. >> we had everything planned out days before. we talked about this jump, what we were going to do. we even practiced what kind of trick i would do. >> how far behind us are you going? >> a second or two. >> what kind of separation we would have, what order we would land and all that. we were very safe in our planning. >> you got this? >> let's do this. >> we all had a great feeling, high fives, getting excited, you know, before every jump we're always big smiles, feeling stoked and just ready to go. >> let's do it. ready, set, let's go! >> i was attempting a trick that i had never done before on a cliff. the trick i was doing was called the sashimo roll. this is basically an off axis double front flip. i knew something was wrong within a couple seconds. i started to go upside down backwards facing the fall, completely unsafe body position to deploy my parachute. a lot of things were going through my head, mainly just make it through this, get through this, get the parachute out. you got it, you got it, live, live, live. so i flipped back over, turned away from the wall. the ground was coming at me incredibly fast. i was pretty sure that this was going to end badly, and right as the ground is coming right up to me, i opened my parachute and within about one second, before i could even really know what is happening, bang, i hit the ground. i hit with such force, even with my body armor, i knew that something could be potentially wrong. something felt internally messed up. >> i'm alive. i think i'm pretty hurt though! >> i started to cough up blood. i had a lot of pain in my stomach and my lower back. i realized i might have a serious injury and we need to call for rescue. >> i'm coughing up a lot of blood. >> luckily there was a team of black hawk helicopters that were in the area doing a training exercise. they responded to the call, and within about 40 minutes they were on the scene, lowering a soldier down, lifting me into the helicopter. fortunately, i only sustained a couple of broken ribs, severely bruised lungs. that's why i was coughing up the blood. a bruised back and i walked out of the hospital the next day. i've jumped all over the world since that accident. i'm more focused on really doing stable jumps. in hindsight, i was incredibly lucky. >> no surprise that danger was involved in this next adventure when you head out to a place like shark alley you know what you are in for. the surprise came later for skub wa diver jerry lowman, a cage fight with a great white, that's extreme. >> i had noticed an ad in the paper, extreme adrenaline junky type thing, shark cage diving in africa. i had to do this. i got down there. having this be kind of my real first vacation, pull out all the stops. so we get in this boat and we get out to what's called shark alley. you see them swimming along. they're just gliding along so graceful and then you're like, okay, this is it. you're not turning around. i get in the cage and suddenly you get this six meter shark, about 17 or 18 feet long swimming around outside. it looked like a submarine. it was huge. they are really inquisitive. i remember slowly exhaling my bubbles out and the shark came right up to the cage. you were a few inches away from the shark and his nose. it was really koolt. at this point, this was the ultimate script. you couldn't have scripted it better. the crew had a fish head tied onto a string. they would toss it out and coax the shark closer to the cage so you can get some really good shots. usually they yanked it away and the shark would swim off. in one circumstance, he tossed out the fish head and the shark managed to get ahold of it so he couldn't pull it away. he was thrashing around, thrashing around, the guy couldn't pull the fish head out and then the next thing you know, bam, he hits the cage, right in the opening. all of a sudden you see this huge head with teeth inching its way closer and closer. it was crazy. the next thing you know, we're on the bottom of the stage staring up. it was just thrashing back and forth. you could feel the whole cage swaying, the bars bending a little bit. i'm surprised it just doesn't break apart. it hit my wet suit. i've got my hands on his nose and looking into his mouth. you just see the meat hanging off the teeth. this can't be happening. man, this is so surreal. the next thing i know, boom, he gets close enough and knocks my regulator out of my mouth. i'm looking up at this shark, no regulator in my mouth, and i realize that sooner or later i was going to die. i knew it was decision time. there was no doubt about it. i had to get out of the cage or i'm going to drown or the shark is going to bite me. so i just maged to kind of push him off and he turned the right way. i shot out of the cage. this other drive says, you saved my life. i was going to say out of there. you actually managed to get out the side and it worked for you so i thought i would try it. the reason why the shark was able to kind of get his nose in the cage was on a prior dive, some film crew was there and they had pulled the bar out so they can kind of swim in and swim out, and they didn't put it back. they said, oh, you know, don't worry about it, the shark is not going to get in the cage. i can't believe that i'm still alive today basically after that. i had nightmares reliving this thing over and over again. just waking up you're just like, wow. it was very close call. >> coming up -- >> he screams out, i won't let you go! >> a trio of kayaker trapped and so is the guy who came to save them. >> probably the scariest moment in my whole life. >> when extreme escape escape continues. for the people you love. get 5% off every single day with your debit or credit redcard. golive garden'svorites asignature favorites, just $10 including creamy fettuccine alfredo, and our classic lasagna. plus unlimited soup or salad and warm breadsticks. signature favorites, just $10 all week long, at olive garden. it was a mother's day, like today. and single mom lisa costello headed out for a swim. she had come home with a whale of a tale to tell. >> i grew up in the florida keys. i swam with whales and dolphins quite a bit. i was diving since i was 6. i was in hawaii, on holiday, and spent more time swimming with the whales and dolphins. it was mother's day. >> i had mostly been doing underwater photography for quite a few years. i met lisa at a party and she found out what i was doing and she volunteered to go out in my boat with me. >> it was a really calm day, really clear. we were out, filming dolphins and having fun. we saw some activity, maybe ten miles out. we went out there. >> as we got closer, it turned out it was a group of pilot whales. >> oh, they're very playful right now. >> i'd like to get in with the camera, too. >> lisa was very anxious to go in the water. she went in the water very shortly before i did. as soon as i entered the water a very large pilot whale swam up to my camera. when i looked at lisa, she and a pilot whale were approaching each other. >> one male came right up to me and stopped and i said oh, what the heck? so i extended my arm and slowly drifted next to him and i started touching him. >> she had her body right up against it. they came right together and this is something i had never seen before, because pilot whales are wild animals. as soon as i saw her make contact, i got really very concerned. the second pilot whale actually charged at her, grabbed her leg in its mouth. >> it happened very fast. but i started swimming away and he came around to my right side and grabbed my ankle. and then all of a sudden i realized i couldn't breathe. he was doing a dive with me in his mouth, went down 40 feet. >> i was thinking, my god, she's in the whale's mouth. >> i looked up and i saw how deep i was. i knew that there's no way, even if he let go, i was going to make it to the surface in time to get a breath. >> i thought she was going to die at that point. she was actually struggling in the whale's mouth and i was praying that the whale would let her go. >> i'm a single parent, thinking of my son, matt, who is going to take care of him? i was down to the second and i looked at him right in the eye and said i'm really in trouble. well, little did i know, when i was going through that, he was heading toward the surface but i couldn't tell the surface was going to be there quick enough for me to live. about the last 15 feet, his whole body bolts to the surface, as though he goes, okay, she's going to drown. i'm getting her up. when i came up to the surface and started breathing, it was such a relief. i couldn't get enough air in my lungs. >> as i pulled her out, i was quite lucky she wasn't missing any parts. >> just really glad to be alive. >> the moral of the story is you don't really want to pet pilot whales. lisa was very luck toy survive. how is this for extreme? three kayakers trapped beneath the bridge with barely any air to breathe. the current was swirling, the tide was rising and the danger was off the hook, because this time even the rescuer needed rescuing. >> it was probably the most beautiful day of the whole year, and i was taking photographs. i looked behind me and saw what looked like the bridge pretty far away and then all of a sudden, i was slammed up against the bridge and being sucked down underneath. >> dennis was with me in the kayak. >> i heard her cry help. >> so we made a bee line for her as fast as we could, and all of a sudden i'm out of the kayak, in the water. >> the pressure of the current, when i was face up to the post, i couldn't move. i was afraid my bones were going to snap. my first thought was, this may not end well. >> we got a report of boaters in distress. i made a decision that i had to go in the water right there and then and i was sucked in. >> he grabs ahold of me and he says, i'm firefighter joe. hold on tight or we're both going to die. >> the first question i asked the police officer on the scene, where is the firefighter? he pointed to the river and said he's in the water. >> the water is coming in, it felt like, 100 miles an hour. >> the water was continuing to pour in. i thought the tide was going to change, but it just kept rising. >> we needed to act very quickly, very organized to make sure this rescue was effective. >> it's going to be okay. ta's going to be okay. >> i was pretty tired at that point. and then, like from heaven, the ladder came down right in front of me. and i just reached out. stuck my hand up. somebody grabbed me immediately. >> hold on. hold on. >> once i got out of the water, i was in shock. i was just taking it all in viscerally that i was still breathing, that i was alive. >> hold on. >> i got down lower nt on the ladder and saw there were people beneath me, trapped further. >> i was pretty prepared, because i knew i was not going to be able to survive this. >> from my view standing on the ladder, you could see the water was rising and i could see firefighter king and the other victim with their heads just above the water. >> i was in contact with just serena. it was just us. we were the only ones left. >> everything happens very quickly and jay says, they can't pull both of us. and i'm still thinking, i'm going to drown and, um, chris, chris is on the ladder and he says -- he screams out, i won't let you go! >> i won't let you go. >> after she was extricated, when i was alone, that was probably the scariest part of all of it. that was the scariest moment in my whole life. >> the last thing i want to do being this successful is leaving a firefighter trapped in a culvert at the end of the day. >> just realizing how close it was and how lucky i was and how many people were trying to help. when i think about the experience, it ended up, you know, pretty good. coming up, don't try this at home. five friends jump off a giant bridge. then, their cable snaps. >> right in the middle of our pendulum. >> it was just, snap. and, a race straight in to danger. >> she really was thinking, maybe i could die. >> two women in the run of their lives. will they have the steel to survive the iron man? when "extreme escapes" continues. >> here's an extreme thing to ask a friend to do, jump off a bridge with you. a stunt man from florida managed to convince four friends to do just that. big mistake. >> i've done a lot of these bridge jumps. george washington bridge, manhattan. the golden gate in san francisco. after all these bridges i've done i saw the tampa sky way and i was like, this is what i want. it's an awesome bridge, 200 plus feet. i want to do it two, three, four times if i could do it, just for that rush. i went up and did the bridge myself. three years later, i did the bridge again, but with three people. you know what? we could do five off this. >> a pendulum swing. a bunk bungee goes up and down. this pendulum swing is like an axis. little preparation in the parking lot before the stunt. we were all in a line, glenn, myself, lori, sarg, and steve. >> i'll go, one, two, three. wing it, man! >> from the car ride up to the bridge, i wasn't even in reality at that point. i was just scared. i was really, really, really scared. we ran 200 feet of cable out on the bridge. >> tangle. >> we had to do this really quickly because the state of florida, jumping off bridges is a no-no. so, we didn't have a lot of time. >> everyone has their harnesses in their hand. hook up, hook up, hook up. five hookups. i'm like, just check all your harnesses. >> check all your harnesses. >> it was insanity at that point. >> i'm taking five people off a bridge and could kill us all. so, the last check. stand up. one, two, three. go! >> domino, all off. the wind is going by. you're going 80 plus miles an hour. >> having your buddies next to you and you can hear everybody yelling. and you could hear that cable just -- >> and right in the middle of our pendulum -- >> it just snaps. >> the cable comes flying down. it snaps. >> and about two seconds of silence. >> we're going at the water. bam! it splashes like 35 feet high. >> we hit the water with such force, it really just drove us down. >> we all sink. >> we get to the surface, you look to your left. you look to your right. and you just see people unconscious, not breathing. >> try to get lori on her back. trying to resuscitate her. >> don't do this to me! >> all i could think about was making sure that lori and sergeant were okay. i thought they were dead. i really thought they were dead. >> watching your friends die -- i mean, they're dying right in front of you. and i'm going, oh, my god, you can't have this day. >> they pulled lori over the side and pulled sergeant over the side. >> we were going to the hospital. i just didn't know how bad everybody was hurt. >> glenn broke a neck. kennebunker, unscathed. sergeant was knocked out conscious. lori martin, the most damaged. she had an operation done. she had blood on her brain and memory loss. and myself, i broke like three ribs, couple of cracked ribs. all those injuries, how traumatic they might be, guess what, ladies and gentlemen, no one got killed. that was a god day. i was blessed that day. >> here is the moral of the story. if your friends tell you to jump off a bridge, don't do it. they don't call it iron man because it's a cake walk. a two-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride, then a 26-mile run. the ultimate triathlon, 140 miles of extreme punishment. so what happens when you're this close to the finish line, your will is still iron, your nerves are still steel, but your body is pure jell-o? this is what happens. >> i was always an athlete, growing up. sport, to me, was something that i always aspired to be doing in my life. i wanted to do something to keep fit. i never, in my wildest dreams ever thought i would become a professional athlete. >> as an athlete, you really have these goals and you want to win something. 1997 was that year for me. for the first time, i really believed i could win the hawaii iron man. it's really the holy grail of triathlons. >> i put a huge effort into the event for '97. my day started like in amazement because i had broken this 15-year-old swim record. i was like, i can't believe, i think i might actually win the iron man. >> the day of the race, i knew that something was wrong with my body. anything that went in went back out. i was just trying to drink as much as i could each eight stations. >> when i got the report that i was leading by 22 minutes or so, i got chills and i kind of got a grin on my face like, wow, i think i can actually do this. i can hold on. and around mile 13 or 16, it's hot and windy and it's the hardest part of the race for a lot of people. and i could feel the cramping coming on in my quads, and that's kind of when the mental state starts taking over and l you're like, one step at a time. don't panic. breathe. just keep moving forward. >> 10k to go, i felt stronger than i did all day. i started running pretty hard. at the time i was in fourth place and wendy was in third place and i actually caught wendy at mile 25. i got to about half a mile and all of a sudden, when i turned right to go down the drive, i fell and my legs just gave out on me. >> and when i came around that corner and i saw her falling, i'm like, now i have to make my move. >> i can say it was just a panic when i looked behind and saw her coming. >> my brother has the camera rolling and my mom is standing right next to him and i come toward the finish line and then i fall right in front of the camera. my mom, her voice becomes panicked. she really was thinking maybe i could die. >> oh, my gosh, i'm going to be able to pass her. she's down. i need to go faster. i went to sidestep her and my body wasn't able to react and that's when i fell down. >> i'm like, okay, stand up. go. stand up, go. but my body was so cramped, it couldn't respond to what i was telling it to do. you just crawl like when you are a baby. you want that ball. you just crawl to it. >> i just looked at her and thought that's what i need to do. you're not really pulling your legs up. you're dragging your knees. i think that's what was so bizarre about it, how two people at the same time could be at that exhaustion level. >> getting across that line, pure joy, exhaustion, excitement. so happy it was done. and then look back and watching shawn still crawling was painful. i just wanted to pull her and get her across that line so she could feel the relief that i was feeling, that it's over. >> when i come across the line, wendy puts her hand on my hand and just is like, we did it, you know. it wasn't that, oh, good, i beat you. it's, we did it. coming up, two planes packed with skydivers collide in midair. >> just deafening sound. debris flying everywhere. >> 11 people, 12,000 feet up. >> it felt like something from a movie. >> when "extreme escapes" continues. man: we know when parents and teachers work together... woman: our schools get stronger. man: as superintendent of public education, that's been tom torlakson's approach. woman: torlakson has supported legislation to guarantee spending decisions about our education tax dollars are made by parents, teachers and the local community... and not by sacramento politicians. and we need to keep that legislation on track. man: so tell tom torlakson to keep fighting for local control of school funding decisions. a broader mix of energies, world needs which is why we are supplying natural gas, to generate cleaner electricity, that has around 50% fewer co2 emissions than coal. and why with our partner in brazil, we are producing a biofuel made from renewable sugarcane to fuel cars. let's broaden the world's energy mix, let's go. you they were saving the best 'til last. nine skydivers and two pilots heading up in two planes for a synchronized dive at sunset. they were 12,000 feet in the air when it happened. that final flight of the day was almost the final flight of their lives. blue sky. it was gorgeous. >> amazing day out. it was beautiful. nice sky, nice weather. >> we just went out and tried to make a couple jumps. >> it was my sixth jump of the day, very normal. two planes side by side, four in the first plane. and then the plan is to come together and form a larger group skydive than you can do with one plane. the pilot usually gives you a two-minute call to get your helmet ready and get your goggles on. the pilot opens the door and we wait for instructions to climb out. when i looked out of the plane it was directly below us and going at each other rapidly. it kind of looked fake at first. you knew that is not supposed to be happening. >> the plane kept getting closer and closer. i know we're supposed to be close, but it's too close. too close. >> the sound of the crowd just grinding through metal. i kept thinking i'm going to die. and then the explosion. >> i was still pinned when the 182 exploded against me and i felt the heat. >> we thought it was our plane blowing up. just deafening sounds. debris flying everywhere, the sound of the glass breaking. >> it felt like something from a movie. the pilot yelled, get out. >> telling us to go. >> i watched amy work her way out of the plane and i saw her dive out and get away from the plane. i did my best as well. and it was a fireball of people and parts of the plane. i thought both planes were done. >> i heard the loud bang and windshield shatter and then an uncontrolled spin. i took the seat belt off. i looked to my right and saw that the door was open. it was actually gone. it was gone with the wing. i reached out with my right hand to hold onto the outside part of the door and i just jumped head first. >> it was a long free fall. longest 47 seconds in my life. i didn't know where anyone was including chad. i didn't see anyone until parachutes started opening. he was the first one on the ground. >> and i immediately looked up. and just where everybody was. what an airplane should sound like. >> that ground felt real good. >> behind me i heard an airplane but not what an airplane should sound like. >> everybody was on the ground and coming in with this broken plane, we knew it wasn't right because the engine was making funny noises. >> how the hell can he fly that airplane? >> my first thought is what does my airplane look like? do i have both wings, all my control surfaces? i looked at all of them. they were all there. >> come on, you got it! >> beautiful landing. just like you would see a normal plane land. and as soon as he touched down, it was -- >> we cheered. we cheered. >> oh, my god. >> no doubt in my mind that there was a guardian angel over every single one of us. >> like we all just survived that. it doesn't seem like, you know, is this real? did this really just happen? >> it's a miracle that it didn't turn out worse. a miracle after a miracle after a miracle after a miracle. coming up, a burning bmw. and an o-m-g moment. >> oh, my gosh! >> someone is pinned underneath. >> i was like, okay, we'll get you out of here. it was scary. >> sudden super heroes, when "extreme escapes" continues. cameraman chris garf wasn't expecting anything extreme when he was setting up for a video lecture at utah state. then he looked out the window and did a double take. a car on fire, a man in danger and a whole crowd with superhero courage. >> nine floors up, in a closed room. no windows open. i didn't hear anything. i just saw smoke. >> i had just come back from classes. i was eating lunch, and my roommate heard the crash. >> when i looked out the window, i noticed that there was a motorcycle engulfed in flames and the car was actually starting to catch on fire. that's when i started recording. the first man on the scene is up in the top right corner of the video. he starts looking under the car and i see he gets a little panicked and that's kind of when we realized in the room that someone was underneath the car. >> oh, my gosh. >> all i did was quickly run down. >> it kind of seemed like you could take it two ways, count on other people to do it or you could take initiative. and that's when i ducked down to see if i could see him. and i did think that the car had potential to blow up. but his life takes priority, not yours, at that point. right when i got down, his eyes were right across from mine and they were wide open. there's sort of a connection. you just don't back down after you see something like that. >> it's a pretty frightening experience. >> oh, my gosh! >> as more and more people started to show up, this amazing thing happened where people just start helping. >> the guy next to me said we need to move this car. by that time, there were probably five of us around it. we only lifted it a couple of inches maybe. it was scary. not because of the flame, but because you could feel that you weren't going anywhere, that we didn't get anywhere. and so i went back down to check to see if we could get a response. hey, can you hear me? i didn't get a response and i was like, okay, we'll get you out of here. >> come on! >> we were absolutely rooting for them to lift that car and get the person out. >> i looked back up, more people arrived and we had 10 or 12 bodies by that time. >> come on. you can do it. >> the second time, we were able to lift the car a little bit, that's when we quickly jumped in because we were able to lift it. >> i wasn't worried because it didn't seem like they had a plan. they were just lifting the car. they could have possibly dropped the car back on top of him but they didn't. >> the police wanted to clear the scene so they could take charge and, you know, do their job. >> i couldn't tell if he was breathing, i couldn't tell if he was moving. it was very -- it was a low moment in the room, to say the least. >> oh, my gosh. >> i was just praying to myself that he should live. within a few seconds i saw him moving. >> he's moving. >> yes, he is. >> when you start to see him move, you can hear me going, oh, my gosh, he's moving. he's moving. holy crap! no freaking way. >> so, it was a pretty remarkable thing to see that happen and to kind of see that unfold. >> just wanted to thank all the heroes that put their life on the line to save mine. >> the rider was under the car. >> i'm so grateful that brandon is okay. it's an honor to be a part of that. and now a "dateline" mystery. it started as a honeymoon. it ended in a murder. >> my question is why. i didn't need who. my only question was why? >> they were beautiful people in miami's sizzling south beach, singles who became lovers. >> you may kiss the bride. >> and then newlyweds. >> congratulations. >> they were still on their honeymoon, only married four days when this young bride was murdered. >> i get a phone call, screaming, crying. >> no murder weapon, no dna, but no shortage of suspects. >> you have to prove it to me. have you to prove it. >> did the red-hot miami lifestyle have something to do with her death? >> what's going on in these club scenes? >> he did admit to having encounters with other couples there. >> or was it simple jealousy? >> are you still intimate with yolanda? >> yes, we are. >> state that again. >> objection, your honor. >> betrayal. >> he didn't love her. he loved me. >> and finally a verdict. >> years of waiting, the years of mourning her. we needed justice. >> here is dennis murphy with mystery in south beach. >> if you spent any time down here, you probably sense there are really two miami beaches. you know this one by reputation anyway. south beach. a pulsating playground with energy that surges out of the ocean and exhausts itself in the all-night clubs. and then there's the old miami beach. here are the sunburned back streets of apartment blocks, where old people used to sit out in aluminum chairs. and that's where a young couple, wendy and michel, were trying to make a go of it. the rent was cheap. air conditioning was good enough. but if you have thought beautiful people catch all the breaks, then listen to this story of 21-year-old wendy trapaga, because she may be the most gorgeous doomed young woman to ever walk these streets. >> she was model pretty. >> i don't think that she thought of herself as anything spectacular. >> didn't become the central part of her personality. i am pretty? >> it wasn't what she was about. >> her much older sisters and brother ralph never used to qualifier as a step sister. they'll tell you she was a little bit of a daddy's girl, international airline pilot who died, sadly, in a crash when wendy was just 6. her mother, miriam, raised her. and big sister rita always pitched in. >> i was pretty much there by miriam's side, raising her. >> the love of animals was always a part of wendy. >> she was always rescuing some animal, dog, puppy, kitten, anything. >> she wanted to be a vet for a while? >> yes. >> but allergies would end her ambitions to become a vet. >> i kept telling her, don't give up your passion. don't give it up. >> but wendy did have another passion. it was for fashion and makeovers. >> pretty girl. >> at easter, she memorably dolled up her nieces for a living room talent show. >> here is the director of the entire operation. >> how nice a kid was this church-going, slightly sheltered girl? there's this story of the classmate without a dress. >> one girl couldn't afford to go to the prom and wendy got this girl prettied up, got her a dress, everything. that was the heart she had. >> after graduation, two cousins who owned their own salons urged wendy to follow in their footsteps. >> she had a flare for it and you can do very well in that field? >> yes, she did. >> at 21 she enrolled in beauty school, and in 2002 is when she first saw michel escoto rev up on a red motorcycle. self-taught web designer and sometimes teacher of computing. by his early 30s he was looking for a career change. he thought he would try hairstyling. so he enrolled, as fate would have it, in the same cosmetology school as wendy. michel, who fancied himself a sensitive guy poet had a string of girlfriends. wendy, younger by ten years and prettier than most any other woman was clearly a prize catch. his friend, ramon santa cruz. >> when i met wendy, he was on a motorcycle with her. i told myself, it's a beautiful girl. i don't know what he did to get this girl. >> whatever he did, it worked. the pair, falling quickly and deeply. >> they were like high school sweethearts. she was totally in love, sparkle in the eye. he said i'm going to buy her a motorcycle. it's going to be great. >> within six months, they were living together on south beach. wendy gave michel a makeover, dyeing his hair blond, perfect for the club scene. they lived for the day and then came unexpected news for these two butterflies. wendy was pregnant. her mother, miriam, had mixed feelings. how did she feel about the fact that her baby was having a baby? >> delighted with the fact of being a grandmother, but not delighted with the circumstances. >> wendy had had the big church wedding for her first marriage. this time around, she and michel got hitched at miami beach city hall. >> you may kiss the bride. congratulations. >> the next day, wendy and michel set out for a brief weekend honeymoon, a drive down to the florida keys to key west where the road ran out. sunset drinks, dinner and a hotel. three days after the wedding, they were back in miami beach, sunday evening. wendy called her mother to say they were going to a movie and dancing later at a club. her mother urged her pregnant daughter not to drink. then in the middle of the night, the wee hours of monday morning, wendy's mother got an unexpected call from her new son-in-law, michel, saying they've had an argument. wendy stormed off, saying she was going to her mother's house. since then, the bridegroom says he repeatedly called wendy without success. right around then, in a bleak warehouse district, miles and miles from the after-hours bars of miami, a sanitation worker was startled to see the body of a young woman in a blue dress slumped between two vehicles. it was the nully newlywed, wendy. news travels fast. >> i get a call from my stepmother, screaming, crying. wendy's dead. they took her from me. it's on the news. there's my sweet little sister being put on a gurney. and it's just so surreal. >> desolate warehouse place. >> all i kept thinking about was her being alone there, by herself, praying to god that she didn't suffer. >> the killer, who bludgeoned her to death, also erased the beauty from her young face. a honeymoon weekend for the new bride had ended behind yellow police tape. coming up, who killed wendy and why? was it a kidnapping, a carjacking gone bad, or did it have something to do with miami's wild night life? >> what's been going on with michel in the club scene? >> he did admit to having encounters with other couples there. >> the dark side of life in sunny miami. 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>> correct. >> her head had been bashed in. but there was no weapon fob to be found. >> what type of a crime is this, a robbery? >> she doesn't have her shoes on which was unusual. why is this young girl in an industrial parking lot --? >> no reason to be in this part of the county? >> no. unless she met up with someone. >> so the detectives headed out to do the part of the job that never gets easier. >> so you're delivering terrible news? >> horrible news. >> amid the shock and tears, they piece together from their mother a sense of who the victim was and what her final hours and days had been about. sunday evening, the phone call, wendy sound okay, the detectives were told, but that next call at 5:48 am, the one from michel, asking if she was at her mom's, was worrisome. a few hours later, he was waiting for her at her work. >> he met her at her job. he was very worried about where she could be. >> he was about to get an official answer as to where she was. >> as we're talking, the phone rings and it's michel escoto calling. >> again asking his mother-in-law if she had heard from wendy. they head over to where he was. they head over to deliver the news of his girlfriend of eight months, his bride of four days. >> we walked into his apartment and when he blunted out is she dead and we explain we're investigating the death of wendy, he started throwing up, doubling over. >> doubled over, crying. police gave him a few minutes to compose himself before asking him to come down to headquarters to answer some more questions. michael told the detectives that wendy had the idea of adding a little more spice before rejoining their workweek lives. >> well, we haven't had much of a neymoon this weekend. let's extend our honeymoon. >> so as michel escoto told it, around midnight they checked into a miami hotel that features fantasy suites with a private pool and jacuzzi. he says they had sex, slept a little and wendy dosed off in the jacuzzi. around 4:00 am, michel says, they checked out and headed home. that's when, he said, the newlyweds had their first argument. michel says he walked into the apartment, leaving wendy in the car. >> three minutes later, he comes out. he says when he comes out, the car is gone. wendy is gone. >> he spoke with detectives for 14 hours. they asked him repeatedly if he could identify anyone with a motive. he said he couldn't. after leaving police headquarters, he saw his friend ramon. >> he was looking depressed. he looked down, maybe tired. >> five days after her murder, wendy was laid to rest. and then friends and family gathered at her parents' home. detective bias was there as well as and he learned something about the couple that would send the investigation down another path. a thread of this investigation takes you into the swinger lifestyle. what's been going on with michel and wendy and the club scene? >> after i'm informed of this, that wendy was part of a swingers club, a place called the miami velvet down here in south miami. the first thing i did was i called michel. he did admit to having encounters with other couples there. >> now you got to wonder did somebody with a thing they developed about wendy and is that the killer? >> the turned out the club is within a mile and a half of the scene so i wand to explore that. >> the swingers club was cooperative and detectives took dna samples from a few employees and members. in the meantime the investigation was turning up a new lead, a former girlfriend of his, yolanda sirrio. >> she had a relationship with him before he met the victim. according to her, michelle left her for wendy. she loved him and was very much in love with him. >> a single mother, was she also a woman scorned. he left her six months earlier and to add insult to injury, asked her to take care of his dog while he was on a honeymoon. >> as a woman, that's very strange to me. >> does yolanda become a suspect? a woman who feels she was fired because of a younger woman and nobody gets away with that. >> there's a lot to yolanda. >> a lot of bad if you ask ramon. >> i didn't like her from the beginning. she was very evasive. the apartment was always dirty. she was never a good person to begin with. >> detectives met with yolanda who freely admitted that she was devastated when michelle left her. >> she said she didn't know anything about it. >> but the detectives noted something else about yolanda. she lived just a few minutes from the parking lot where she found wendy. >> when you started adding up things, her proximity to the crime scene, i'm very interested. >> no one knew what yolanda was hiding and so would the revelation of a motive that would seem to explain every violent little thing. >> coming up, a million reasons why someone wanted wendy dead. >> i asked him, how much is the life insurance policy and he said $1 million. >> when "dateline" continues. ♪ holla at me, hater, i'm a holla back ♪ ♪ see me cut a dread in a disco track ♪ i got my paws in the air and i don't care! ♪ roll up a shrink, now my beer is cold ♪ [ male announcer ] introducing the htc harmon kardon edition with revolutionary clari-fi sound. now with 6 months free spotify premium streaming music when you sign up for a sprint framily plan. happy connecting from sprint. when you sign up for a sprint framily plan. they reflect what is you give them... that's why their nutrition is so important. see the difference the right food can make. rethink mealtime, at petsmart. right now, save on your cat's favorite brands of wet food. ♪ afghanistan, in 2009. orbiting the moon in 1971. [ male announcer ] once it's earned, usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection. and because usaa's commitment to serve current and former military members and their families is without equal. begin your legacy. get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve. who would want to murder what about yolanda, the husband's ex-girlfriend, enraged perhaps for being traded in to wendy, the younger model. police thought she knew more than she was saying but how to crack her? then there was the husband himself. they kept going back over their notes from the 14-hour interview with him. at times it had been pulling teeth. >> we asked him over and over again, is there anybody with a motive, anything at all, anything you can tell us? i bring up a point, don't you have a life insurance policy? he says, yeah, we do. >> a hefty one, it would seem. for a healthy 21-year-old woman he wasn't even married to at the time of purchase. >> i asked him, how much is the life insurance policy? and he said a million dollars and i said a million dollars? and you don't think that's a motive. you don't think that's important to tell us? and he said no, i don't, because i have a million dollar life insurance policy on myself, too. i said that's not in question because you're here. you're alive. >> one thing he did reveal, wendy was not pregnant. he said that was the cause of their argument that night. he said wendy had lied to him about the whole thing. as the detective's questions got sharper that day, michel shut down. would you take a polygraph? no. can we photograph those bruises on your arm? no. take a dna swab? again, no. >> he didn't talk himself off your list? >> he did not. he did not. >> the working theory of the crime was as simple as it was brutal. he bashed in her skull with a million dollar insurance payout, a tire iron was missing from her car, a likely weapon, but nowhere to be found. >> so you two go to the prosecutor, state attorney say we've got it. let's go. grand wrir. >> no. >> we're done? >> no. >> why not? >> you have to prove it. >> so police let the person of interest go. in the meantime, wendy's family had huge suspicions about michel. sister rita wasn't crazy about him from the moment she first met him. >> call it bad energy. i shook that man's hand and i was wiping it away as soon as i let go. it was eerie. >> this guy definitely did not pass the sniff test? >> no. >> two months after wendy's death, michel filed for his beneficiary payout. the insurer, metlife, fought, saying the case was an unsolved homicide and her murder would remain unsolved for a long time. >> we would be frustrated, the family of the victim. we're sitting there, waiting and waiting. >> then michel actually sued the insurance company to pay him his million dollars. would a guilty man be so brazen as to try that? absolutely, the family said. and by then, they had had enough. the family got a lawyer, jorge barone, and together they went after michel escoto. >> we believed he was the killer. >> two years after the murder, the family filed a wrongful death suit against michel. met life put the insurance money in escrow and waited on the sidelines as michel and wendy's family fought it out in civil court. if he wanted to see as much as one cent of that money, he would have to do something he never did before. >> he would have to testify, he could not plead the fifth. especially since he's pursuing the claim. he has to testify. >> police and prosecutors were happy to help the family's attorney prepare his case. sharing those statements michel had made to detectives after wendy's death. >> they call you and say take a look at what we've got, is that right? >> we ask if we would be allowed to look at the statements he had given them. we were. >> michel was videotaped as he gave a sworn deposition. >> we took his deposition and his story kept changing. >> so the story about a fight and she takes a hike -- >> it doesn't add up. he testified that wendy was -- it was her idea all of a sudden that night to go to the miami executive hotel. >> however, back in 2002, yolanda, the ex-girlfriend, told police michel asked her to make the hotel reservation. it wasn't wendy's idea at all. a factual discrepancy also known as a lie. during the deposition, michel also admitted that yolanda was no longer his ex. he had moved back in with her not long after wendy's death. >> are you still intimate with yolanda? >> yes, we are. >> do you have any plans of marrying yolanda? >> plans of such, no. >> there had been one question about michel and yolanda that had nagged detectives since 2002. they learned through phone records that on the night of the murder, michel paged yolanda at three in the morning. but why? they said at the time he wanted to check on her sick daughter. >> he claims that he deeps her because he thought her daughter, yolanda's daughter, was sick. we later find out that her daughter is not sick. >> so there's no reason for a middle of the night communication? >> no reason whatsoever. >> when the civil case finally went to trial, escoto got so roughed up that on the second day he was a no-show in court. wendy's mother got the insurance money and they got to hear firsthand about the constantly shifting stories. >> the state attorney sat in the courtroom and was taking notes. >> did you have a little chit-chat in the hallway outside? >> we did. >> what did you say? >> this is your case. you have all the evidence right now. of course, we gave them the deposition testimony and everything. we had everything outlined. >> michel escoto was arrested three days after his court no show and was charged with the murder of his bride, wendy trapaga. police still thought they needed more and fixed their eyes on the girlfriend, yolanda sirrio. >> i knew eventually as time goes by that that relationship would deteriorate. >> why did you think that? >> if they have that secret amongst each other, that was going to be a friction point in their relationship. >> to corrupt it? >> yes. >> how do you reel her in? >> time. time. time changes relationships. >> and it did. in 2006, one year after michel was arrested, yolanda and her attorney went to prosecutors and said, let's make a deal. she got full immunity in exchange for telling how she helped michel that night. >> she came into the state attorney's office and explained that she did take him away from the crime scene. >> so that's a great story to tell a jury. >> yes. that's it. >> police may not have had a murder weapon or helpful forensic clues but now they had yolanda, who was about to give her version of that night. it was cold hearted and calculating. >> coming up, an arrest, and a witness who was there. it's not the end of the story but the beginning of a whole new drama that would play out in court. every story has two sides, especially when it's a lover's triangle. >> i don't put it past her as being a person who would have committed this crime. >> and should a spurned lover be believed anyway? >> he said calm down. it was all a plan, that he didn't love her. he loved me. >> things were heating up. >> nearly 12 years after the murder of wendy trapaga, michel escoto was finally on trial for her murder. he pled not guilty to the charges. >> money is the root of this evil. >> prosecutors offered the most chilling detail of the case, he actually picked wendy to be his bride just so he could insure her life and kill her. >> he would prey on this unsuspecting 21-year-old girl and marry her. four days, four days after that marriage, this defendant bludgeoned and strangled wendy trapaga to death. >> among the first witnesses, wendy's heartbroken mother, miriam bonitas. speaking through an interpreter, the mother said she was shocked when she learned the couple had taken life insurance policies out on one another just before their marriage. >> translator: i did not feel good. i expressed to her, why insurance, they're not even married, they didn't have children. why insurance? >> on the stand, detective maria medero said she zeroed in on that insurance policy when she questioned escoto a day after the murder. >> i told him if he couldn't muster up a tear for his wife of four days to muster up a tear for the million dollars he was never going to see. >> what was his reaction? >> that lack of emotion was an indifference to wendy or a disregard for women in general. escoto was a man with a history of mooching off girlfriends. this former lover testified she supported escoto for years. >> how much money did you give him? >> approximately $1,500. >> go figure, the state said. for whatever reason, women threw gifts at escoto. one bought him the motorcycle, another a car. but still another former lover who also supported him for years would be the prosecution's star witness. >> yolanda serrio. >> the prosecution argued she was the girlfriend with intimate knowledge of how escoto carried out this brutal crime. she had been given immunity in exchange for her testimony here. wiping away tears she recounted how it all started, how she fell hard for the defendant she thought to be a charmer. >> have you ever had a man you thought you could share your life with? >> i thought it was michel. >> only to realize he was dumping her for the younger, more attractive wendy. yolanda then said she confronted escoto in this parking lot and heard for the first time that his impending marriage to wendy was all a sham. that in the end he would come back to yolanda with pockets full of cash. >> he said to calm down. it was all a plan. that he didn't love her. he loved me. he was going to marry her. they were going to have an insurance policy and she was going to die. >> all right. so he told you he had a plan? >> yes. >> the plan was murder. it was during that conversation, yolanda told jurors, that she became a co-conspirator, not only helping escoto cover up his crime but also help him carry it out. this was the plan. on his wedding night, yolanda said he would drug and drown wendy. to make sure he got it right, yolanda admitted she took part in a grim dress rehearsal of what was meant to look like an accidental death. >> we filled up my tub and i got in the water. and he pushed me down with his hand. >> you let him push you under the water? >> yes. >> what did you say once he let you up? >> i told him that wouldn't work. >> why? >> because the force of him holding her down in the water would leave bruises. >> what did you suggest? >> i suggested he used a towel to hold her down. >> yolanda said she even helped him whip up a drug laced concoction to knock wendy out. >> he came over and he brought some percocet pills. and he and i started squishing them. it's a pestal thing. >> what was he going to do with the percocet pill that is you ground? >> he was going to give it to her so she would be drugged. >> and then drowned, said yolanda. the plan to kill wendy hit an unexpected snag. at the honeymoon hotel, wendy balked at the taste of the drugged cocktail. this time she drank the cocktail but for some reason he couldn't manage to drowned her. yolanda recalled that escoto showed up at her place in the middle of the night with a dazed wendy in the front seat of the car. >> did you see anything in the passenger seat? >> i saw a movement. somebody inside the car. >> wendy was still alive. yolanda said escoto ordered her to follow him in her car. >> then what happened? >> he got out of the car, walked over to my car and he told me, drive around. give me 20, 25 minutes. >> eventually, yolanda said she spotted escoto again, walking down the street, splashed now in blood and carrying a tire iron. she said she drove him to the bay in downtown miami where he got out of the car with the weapon. >> and he threw the thing in the water. >> after dropping him off his apartment, she said, she took his bloody clothes and threw them in a dumpster. >> happy with yourself? >> no. worse. that's how i feel right now. >> is this about you? >> no, it's not. it's about a mother who loves her daughter and i have something to do with it. >> yolanda's time on the witness stand would get tougher still. two old lovers were about to face off in court. one defending himself and the other testifying against him. a royaling, boiling drama in real time. coming up, michel escoto acts as his own lawyer. >> this is harder than i thought it would be. >> and on the stand, his ex-lover, now the star witness against him in wendy's murder. >> did you wish she was dead? >> i wish it would go away. >> when "dateline" continues. at shell, we believe the world needs a broader mix of energies, which is why we are supplying natural gas, to generate cleaner electricity, that has around 50% fewer co2 emissions than coal. and why with our partner in brazil, we are producing a biofuel made from renewable sugarcane to fuel cars. let's broaden the world's energy mix, let's go. the state of florida had succeeded in painting michel escoto as a man who used women for money, a cad. a cad is a far cry from a killer. >> i think there's problem with this evidence. >> you're not just saying that? >> i'm not just saying that. >> attorney terry lemonin stood as his counsel. he said despite the evidence, the state's case was weak from start to finish. there was no blood, no dna linking the defendant to the crime, which is maybe why michel escoto, who already pled not guilty to the charges did what many men facing a life in prison sentence would never dream of doing. he defended himself in court. >> i believe the evidence will show that only an imbocil and an imbocile in love with money would kill somebody four days after they were married to that person. >> what was lincoln's advice about a fool as a client? >> those who represent themselves? we'll see. >> wearing glasses, khakis, a sweater, and speaking in a soft voice, he seemed less like a killer and more like a geek. a hopeless novice, getting pummeled by the execution. >> judge, i'm telling him he was being sand bagged -- >> one time the newbie seemed near tears, another overwhelmed. >> was this clutsy moment all about winning sympathy for the jury, the time he stumbled. >> sorry, twisted my ankle, judge. >> one particularly wince worthy moment came when jorge barone, his nemesis, took the stand. under cross examination by escoto, he explained just why it was he suspected escoto of killing his wife, wendy. >> you had been married to her three days before you killed her, to get the life insurance. to me, that was very clear. >> judge, give me a second. i want to say something that i shouldn't. if you say that again -- >> objection. >> all those guys. >> had mr. nerd inadvertently shown the jury the lava boiling within? that threat won a contempt of court citation from the judge. >> be quiet! >> what appeared to be near disaster for the defendant, could be spun as a play to his advantage. >> i think one of the important advantages that he has here is that human connection that he's getting, standing up there. with every witness who says you're a murderer, you're this, you're that, him not backing down. he has never backed down. >> escoto, the hapless under dog, still needed to convince jurors he was not violent. especially when it came to women, wendy in particular. >> i'm going to be as gentle as i can, judge. >> he carefully questioned his former mother-in-law. he may have won points when he got her to admit that wendy had once confided this to a friend. >> she told her friend that she was content, that she loved you, mr. escoto. >> so did i. >> likewise, this former girlfriend and self-confessed sugar mama had to admit that he was never a violent bully. >> did i ever throw anything at you? >> no. >> did i ever punch you? >> no, no. >> did i ever slap you? >> no. >> did i ever push you on the ground? >> no. >> more important, he wanted to show that the state's theory of the crime was a fairytale, starting with the idea that he drugged wendy. a pharmacologiyist testified tht wendy had only small amounts of prescription narcotics in her blood when the autopsy was performed. >> the toxicology reports are consistent with normal doses that you would take of any of these medications. >> she wasn't heavily drugged as the state argued. >> she wasn't as incapacitated as you were led to believe? >> absolutely. that's highly dispute. >> there was another problem with the state's theory. it had to do with how wendy died. >> if the assailant left-handed began to strike her -- >> extensive injuries indicated two killers, both right-handed. >> there are several impacts on the right side, which in an altercation suggests to me that the assailant is right-handed. >> and his michel escoto is left-handed, the implication for the jury is clear. he couldn't be the killer. dna expert said he expected to find escoto's dna on the victim's clothes. after all, they were husband and wife. but she found something more. >> there were several markers where his dna is not represented. >> dna traces for two different males, and get this, traces for a female. to standby lawyer terry, that could mean only one person. yolanda, who said she was with him before and after. >> who got immunity. >> first thing to know about yolanda is that she's a liar. first, she knew nothing about the crime. then she said she did but only after the fact. the final story put yolanda front and center in planning the murder. >> lo and behold we have a story that comes about, about the drowning and the drugging and all this drama that i believe is rubbish. >> so what did make sense? a killer, he said, who hated wendy enough to pummel her so badly she was unrecognizable. and who fit that bill? >> i felt destroyed because she took you from me, yes. >> in a beyond weird courtroom exchange, escoto in cross-examination took on his former lover, yolanda. >> i hated what she stood for. i didn't know who she was. i didn't -- i hated the whole situation. i hated that you left. >> you wish she was dead? >> i wished she would go away. >> so, you see yolanda's hand in this directly? >> she's lying because she feels that's in her best interest. i don't put it past her as being a person who would have committed this crime. >> but would jurors see it that way? here is the critical moment of the trial, a chance for each side to sum up its case. and this potential tipping point, even michel escoto seemed to agree was no time for amateurs. coming up, the verdict. >> the years of waiting. the years of mourning her. we needed justice. >> if there's a hung jury, we may have to start over again. after a seven-week trial and testimony from almost 40 witnesses, the prosecutor and the defense attorney, in this case, michel escoto himself would get one last chance to talk. the prosecutor had to acknowledge that they had to -- >> i can't charge her. i would love to. but i can't. and she came in here and she filled in the details. she gave you the answers to questions that you have. >> when it was the defense's turn, escoto and his back-up attorney surprised the courtroom. >> you want him to take over as your counsel at this time? >> i would like to let him take over, judge. >> thank you, judge, i'm ready to proceed. >> for the first time in this trial, seasoned defense attorney would take over and urge the jurors to find reasonable doubt in the state's case. he jumped, attacking what he called the prosecutor's overselling of a mostly circumstantial case. >> this is a court of law. and no matter how much i scream as an advocate, no matter how much i wave my hands or say villain, villain, villain, bad, villain, it doesn't make it so. >> his strategy was to plant a seed of doubt in just one juror's mind. >> if there's a hung jury, we may have to start over again. >> then the case went to the jury. wendy's family, as they had done throughout the trial, gathered together once again and prayed. her mother hugged prosecutor gail levine, who pursued escoto so ferociously. >> she is my hero, without a doubt she is my hero. >> two and a half hours after the jury went out, cell phones started buzzing in the courthouse. so many years after wendy's murder. now, in moments, her family would know. >> the years of waiting. the years of mourning her, all of a sudden we're told the verdict is in. before i got to the courtroom i was already crying. i was shaking. >> wendy's family members held their breath. escoto appeared to do the same as the judge instructed the clerk to read the verdict. >> we the jury this 22nd day of april, 2014 find the defendant michel escoto guilty of first-degree premeditated murder. >> michel sat stone-faced in his chair, his lips turned down in a grimace. for the family there were more tears but of a different kind. now sorrow, mixed with relief and satisfaction. wendy's mother dropped to her knees and gave thanks. for the detective, a 12-year-old case was now officially stamped closed. >> he'll never do this to another woman again. his lies and his charming and planning and evil plan will not affect another person. >> but there was someone the family felt had gotten away with murder, his girlfriend yolanda. her immunity deal meant she would never spend a day in jail. >> they're both monsters and psychopaths. >> i don't care at all how desperate, how insecure, how lacking in self respect you have. you're a mother. and you went ahead and planned out the death of another mother's daughter. >> but investigators said without yolanda, things might have turned out differently. >> people are going to be throwing their shoes at the tv screen at this point, detective. >> she gave us the additional thing that we needed to charge and keep and bring michel escoto to justice in this case. >> he gets a life sentence and she gets have a nice day. >> that's how it appears. in lieu of not having anybody held accountable for this, i'll take that. >> the family wasn't going to let yolanda off so easily. they sued her for the wrongful death of wendy and were awarded a $44 million judgment. though they had no expectations of ever seeing that kind of money. >> if she has to pay one cent a week, it's well worth it. as a reminder for the rest of her life, how she assisted that monster. >> just a few days ago, michel escoto was sentenced for the murder of his new bride. at the hearing he proclaimed his innocence to wendy's family. >> no matter how satisfaction this verdict has given any of you, an innocent person was convicted in this case. >> finally the family had a opportunity to address the man to killed wendy. >> justice is served. off to hell with you and good riddance. >> when wendy's mother spoke through a translator, there wasn't a dry eye in the courtroom. >> translator: some days. many of you have daughters or sons. and you will receive a kiss from them. i have to go to the cemetery to put flowers on my daughter's tomb. >> judge marisa mendez gave escoto the mandatory sentence. >> life in prison without the possibility of parole. >> the only way he leaves prison is in a pine box. on the day escoto is found guilty, the family went to the cemetery so visit wendy. they sat on her grave and talked to her. >> i kind of just sat back and felt that i could breathe for the first time in so long and felt she was finally at peace. she can rest now. >> rest for wendy, the kind, young woman who loved animals and enjoyed playing dress-up and who fatally married a stranger, till death he did part. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm lester holt. now stay tuned for the premiere no preet mere of