steve's sister sharon, he'd heard that story from an inmate in that air-vent conversation and desperately wanted to get the story out, and investigated. >> the death penalty was still on the table. so, steve was terrified. we were terrified. i can certainly appreciate when you're terrified, maybe you do some stupid things. >> well, it's when you start making mistakes, and that was a doozy of a mistake. >> uh-huh. >> reporter: and uncovering that fraud led investigators to what they thought was another, even bigger one. remember carol's life insurance money? $750,000 worth. steve's defense attorney talked about it during his opening statement. >> he disclaimed, he signed over any interest to the girls and the money was paid out to the girls. that's what happened in this case. >> reporter: that statement caught investigator mike sechez by surprise. >> we had made contact with the life insurance company several times throughout the investigation and we had been informed that the life insurance had not been paid out to anyone.