Almost certainly someone she knew . Correct. Where would it lead . A twisted case of betrayal and greed. The finger is being pointed at me. Her own daughter, a suspect from the start. You pull the knife out and you tell the police, oh, youre going to find my fingerprints on the knife. Her soninlaw, who seemed so devoted. They interrogated us for eight hours. Or maybe someone else with a Million Dollar motive . Whats going on here . How many people are involved in this . Devious. Its an evil mind. What pushed you this far . Im lester holt, and this is dateline. Someone just doesnt turn into a murderer. Heres Josh Mankiewicz with the evil to come. Reporter it was hard to look away when peggy was in the picture. Her beauty was captivating, but she was also smart, ambitious, and she loved that little girl. Peggy nadells image survives in home movies and in memory from the days when she was relishing motherhood blissfully unaware of the evil to come. I was always close with my mother. Always. Reporter susanne nadellscaccio was that little girl and says her mom peggy was everything a mother should be. As a child, i ice skated. My mother would sit in the rink and freeze. Shed sit there with a coat on all bundled up, shivering. Reporter susanne and her younger brother jim grew up in suburban Rockland County about 45 minutes north of new york city. We were able to go away to sleepaway camp when we were little. My parents traveled. Reporter at first, peggy did what many women did in the 1960s. She stayed at home while her husband rob headed off to work. But peggy was drawn to something bigger than her suburban sanctuary. When susanne was young, her mom was back in school earning her mba. She was probably one of the few women in the graduating class. Reporter and then went into a mans business. And then went into a mans business and worked very hard. Home is where the heinz is. Reporter much like the fictional character peggy olson in the hit series, mad men, the real life peggy broke the Glass Ceiling at xerox and became a rare member of the executive boys club. Anne martin was in that club too. You didnt have too many female managers. And peggy, she rose very quickly because she was very intelligent. Reporter and always welldressed. Peggy wore a lot of black. She loved to dress and wear the latest fashions. Reporter unlike her fashionable mom, susanne, was a blue jeans and tshirt kind of girl. Susanne how do you explain susanne . Shes quirky. Shes outgoing. She athletic. Reporter Darcy Greenberg is one of susannes best friends. Shes spontaneous. Shes talkative. She also likes to be close to home. Reporter after college, she came back to Rockland County and went to work at xerox herself. One night in a bar susanne, then 21, fell for well actually fell over a 17yearold race car driver named bobby scaccio. She actually stepped on me. We were fooling around and i somehow wound up slipping on the floor. She picked me up, and we saw each other and started talking. Reporter 13 years later, susanne and bobby, who was by then a welder and steamfitter, were married. Peggy was okay about it. Its not unreasonable to believe that maybe she was kind of hoping that her daughter would marry a guy who wore a suit to work. I think so. She was hoping for a harvard soninlaw, but she got a soninlaw from the that went to the school of hard knocks, you know . Reporter bobby made a good soninlaw. He was always there for peggy, especially after her husband died in 2003. By then peggy was retired but never slowed down. Traveling the world and treasuring her family. Her son jim was now a psychologist living in florida with his wife diana and her two children. I get the sense that jim was not as close to your parents as you were. Ill agree to that. And why would that be . Maybe because of the distance that he was so far away. He did call. He did speak to them. But my brother is my brother. He kind of lived in his own world. Reporter but susanne and her mom were very much in the same world. How often did you see your mother . Almost every day. Reporter susanne, always on the road for her work as marketer for a hospital, would often drop in on her mom. And when she wasnt visiting, shed be calling. Speak to her in the afternoon, in the evening. Make sure she was home. Reporter so its almost like you were sort of the parent and she was the kid. You were checking up on her. Oh, absolutely. Reporter life was good for the family, until one morning in january of 2014, susanne went to check on her mother. Oh, my god oh, my god oh, my i need an ambulance right away. Reporter and everything changed. When we come back the heartbreaking discovery that sets a mystery in motion. I was screaming. Susanne is in the driveway looking rather frazzled. The first thought was, oh, my god, she tripped and she must have hit her head. 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Step 2 whitens. Crest [hd]. 6x cleaning , 6x whitening a i would switch to crest [hd] over what i was using before. Saturday, january 25th, 2014, started off cold and snowing. Susanne says her day started off as it nearly always did, calling her mother peggy. Called the cell. She didnt answer. I called the house. She didnt answer. I said, all right. Maybe shes in the bathroom or she went out into the gara for something. Reporter susanne, who lives in a suburb of new york city, called diana, her sisterinlaw in florida. And i said, have you spoken with mommy this morning . She said, you know, i called her at 7 30 and i havent heard back from her. Reporter now worried, susanne got in her car and drove to peggys house. As im driving, im calling the house, the cell, the house, the cell. No answer. And now im getting panicky. I pull into her driveway, and i saw the roof of her car through the garage door. And i said, oh, this is not going to be good. Reporter she was right. Susanne says she found peggy crumpled at the bottom of the stairs with a knife in her chest. And the first thought was, oh, my god. She tripped on the cat and fell and stuck herself. Reporter then she says she saw the blood. And i said, oh, my god, she must have hit her head when she fell. Reporter and then susanne did something that would later raise a number of questions. I pulled the knife. I was gonna do cpr. Reporter you pulled the knife out of her . Yeah. If your mother was laying there with something sticking out of her that was hurting her, what would you do . Youd want to make that hurt go away. Reporter could you tell whether she was dead or alive . When i touched her neck and she was kind of cold. Reporter susanne ran out of the house and called 911. Oh, my god oh, my god oh, my god. Rockland 911. What is the address of your emergency . I was screaming. Im sure the neighbors that were around heard. I need an ambulance right away maam calm down. Whats going on there . I think my mother fell down the stairs with a knife in her hand and stabbed herself. Reporter susanne was right about one thing. Peggy nadell was dead. Her next call was to her brother jim in florida. I called my brothers house. He didnt answer. I called diana on her cell, and i said, mommys gone. And she started screaming at the other end of the phone. What do you mean mommys gone . I said, shes gone. She died. Something happened. She died. Reporter soon Clarkstown Police detectives stephen colehatchard and earl lorence were on the scene. They noticed that susanne looked a wreck, standing in front of the house in the snow. Susanne is in the driveway, at the foot of the driveway, kind of pacing, looking rather frazzled. Reporter she told detectives what she told the 911 operators, that peggy tripped over the cat. Her mother must have tumbled down the stairs and stabbed herself with the knife. Reporter while detective colehatchard stayed outside with susanne, detective lorence went inside the house. This is police video of the scene taken that morning. Lorence knew right away, this was no accident. No way did she fall down the stairs and trip over a cat. Reporter detective lorence saw peggy had been strangled, then stabbed. And it also looked as if shed been beaten with a statue head found under her body and a gold metal ball near her hand. The crime scene itself was very concentrated. Everything was at the bottom of the stairs and in the bedroom upstairs. Reporter Something Else caught the detectives attention two chairs were pulled out at the kitchen table, as if peggy had been sitting and talking with someone. Peggys computer, wallet and jewelry were missing. A jewelry box lay near a chair in the living room, empty. But to earl lorence, the burglary looked phony. Staged. The bedroom drawers, they were neatly pulled out and neatly placed on the floor in front of the dresser. At normal burglary scenes stuff is everywhere. Reporter people go through it like a tornado. Correct. Reporter and this wasnt a breakandenter job. Police could tell that when they looked at the fresh snow outside the house. There was one set of footprints, and that was the responding officer checking the perimeter of the home. Reporter so nothing suggesting that somebody had walked around, cased the place . Not a thing. Reporter the front door hadnt been jimmied or broken in. There was a key in the deadbolt in the front door thats required to open the door from the inside. And that was in the lock. Reporter meaning peggy had unlocked it from inside . Correct. Reporter that afternoon detectives brought susanne and her husband bobby to the Police Station and started asking questions. You called your mother from the car . Yeah. Okay. Reporter susanne told them contractors had been doing work on peggys bathroom, and that peggy also had landscapers and a cleaning Woman Working for her. Im guessing you guys spent some significant time and effort running down all the people who had worked on the house . Absolutely. Reporter any of that go anywhere . Dozens of people, not a thing. Reporter who would want to kill peggy nadell, and why . Assistant District AttorneyRichard Moran thought he had an answer for that second question. Financially, she was in pretty good shape. Very good shape. Reporter peggy and her husband had built quite a large nest egg. All in all, the estate ended up being worth about 4 million. Reporter wow. Youve probably seen People Killed for a lot less. A lot less. Reporter and who would stand to benefit . Coming up i felt very early on that it was most likely a female. A closer look at susanne. You pull the knife out. And you tell the police right away, oh, youre going to find my fingerprints on the knife. A few million motives for murder . My mothers worth high seven figures. This is not the way i wanted to get my money. Peggy nadell had been murdered in her home in suburban Rockland County, new york. Detectives stephen colehatchard and earl lorence say the team from the crime lab had shaken peggys house to its foundation looking for a lead. Forensically you guys got almost nothing off the scene . Not almost nothing, you know, nothing. Reporter no fingerprints . No fingerprints. Reporter no dna . No dna. No blood, no hair. Nothing. Reporter but the scene did tell them something. I felt very early on that it was most likely a female. Or two females. Reporter what pointed to it being women . The fact that there was seven or eight lacerations on peggys skull from the statue head. Reporter that statue is heavy, an effective weapon in strong hands. My nonmedical opinion is that if she was hit in the head with that statuette by a man, her head would have caved in. Reporter a man would have been able to swing the statuette harder . One or two times, at the most. Reporter and all of that pointed straight to peggys daughter, susanne. Not only did susanne stand to inherit half of her mothers 4 million estate, detectives thought her behavior was suspicious from the moment they arrived on the scene. Shes saying, my fingerprints are all over the knife. My dna is all over inside the house. Reporter and she was telling detectives the same thing she said during the 911 call, that it was an accident. I think my mother fell down the stairs and stabbed herself. Reporter in the 911 call, you are offering a theory of what happened. Thats very unusual. No. I thought she fell. Reporter secondly, you pull the knife out and you tell the police right away, oh, youre going to find my fingerprints on the knife, which sounds like somebody who is thinking ahead to the fact that that knifes going to get dusted for fingerprints. Sure. Sure. Reporter would you not agree that all of that is pretty suspicious when taken together . Maybe to them. Wasnt to me. I mean, obviously they formed an opinion from the getgo. Reporter detectives thought this was odd as well. She said, listen, maybe this was a burglary. Check for a large ring, a laptop and, jewelry. And i called to earl, check for these three things. He called me back and said, hey, pretty much those are the only three things missing. I asked about jewelry, i asked about her wallet, credit cards. If they said somebody murdered her, well, why . Why . Was it a robbery . Reporter so here you are offering theories again. Yeah. Reporter then again in those first few moments, susanne started talking about peggys money. One of the things she yelled out was my mothers worth high seven figures. Reporter and this is not the way i wanted to get my money. Thats the exact words she used. Reporter this woman wants to talk her way right away. At one point, you said this is not how i wanted to get my money. I dont recall saying that. But if they have that on, you know, on record, you know . Reporter but you believe me that thats what you told police . Yeah. Reporter because again youre answering a question the police havent even asked yet. I guess i watch too many of those dateline shows in the middle of the night. Reporter detectives had already talked to susanne and her husband bobby on the day of the murder. Questioned them for hours. You had nothing to worry about. No, not at all. Not at all. Farthest thing from my mind is that i would be a suspect or my wife would be a suspect. Reporter police were feeling differently, and as their scrutiny intensified, bobby and susanne decided to hire an attorney and stop talking to the police. Assistant District AttorneyRichard Moran said that slowed everything down. The best way to get information about the investigation would be through her. And once she stops talking to us, things take a lot longer. Reporter there was a point at which you and your wife stopped cooperating with police and hired an attorney. No. We didnt stop cooperating with the police. Thats what they want you to believe. Anything they wanted to know, alls they had to do was ask my attorney. Reporter your wife feels the same way about that . Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. She was just scared that they were gonna try and pin it on her. Reporter once again, susanne was right. We had, we believed, probable cause to arrest susanne. We just couldnt do it because something was wrong. Reporter whats wrong . I mean, everything points at her. It would have been the easy way out to do that too early. Reporter sometimes you get a ground ball. This wasnt a ground ball. Reporter this would be no easy out. Detectives would be going into extra innings. Coming up the two final phone calls of peggy nadells life. One came from a secret phone. These are the phones used by drug dealers, killers, cheating spouses. Thats correct. Could that caller be the killer . You know your heart loves megared omega3s. But did you know your eyes, your brain, and your joints really love them too . Introducing megared advanced 4in1. Just one softgel delivers the omega3 power of two regular fish oil pills. So give your body mega support with megared advanced 4in1. Bite into magnum double cookies and cream. And unleash your wild side. Made with cookies cream ice cream and rich belgian chocolate. Discover magnum. I. Prilosec otc 7 years ago,my doctor recommended. 5 years ago, last week. Just 1 pill each morning, 24 hours and zero heartburn. 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