>> he wanted to have women and his wife was getting in the way. >> reporter: were police just plain wrong? >> it's like this twilight zone where lies become truth and the truth becomes lies. >> reporter: maybe the real killer was still out there. >> you have lied to the police about this case. >> yes, sir. >> so devastating. >> we knew that that was probably the key to solving this. >> thirteen years. thirteen years of hell! ♪ >> reporter: such an awful crime. the wife. the little boy and girl. >> my kids are dead. >> reporter: shot at point blank range. >> i was just dumbfounded. i was shocked, what i saw. >> reporter: how to comprehend it? >> i said, "what?" "what are you, what are you talking about?" "what are you saying?" >> reporter: the husband had an alibi. >> could he have slipped away for, say, ten minutes? >> he could've done anything. but he didn't. >> reporter: 13 years. three trials, appeals, reversals. and changing stories. >> the big picture here, charles, for a lot of people is it sounds like a crock. it doesn't pass the sniff test. >> there's a lot of things about this case that doesn't make sense. >> reporter: it has been a long, winding pursuit of justice as one family sees it. >> it just gets more and more wrong. >> i kind of adopted this saying that when you enter into the courtroom, lies become truth and the truth becomes lies. >> reporter: but there is another side. another family. one which sees a terrible miscarriage of justice. >> you wonder if everybody got three trials, how many guilty people would be out walkin' the streets. >> mommy, there's a present for you. >> okay. >> reporter: but there's one indisputable truth: kim, jill, and bradley camm were nothing less than innocents lost that evening. >> when do you miss 'em the most? >> every day. and i'll tell you, whoever said that time heals has never lost a child. >> this goes in both peoples' pile. >> both people pile? >> i can tell you that time doesn't heal anything. the pain becomes a part of you. >> reporter: time. turn the clock back to the year 2000, september 28th, to be precise, a thursday after work. the place: a church rec center gym in georgetown, southern indiana. a pick-up basketball game was underway with the usual thursday night guys. >> this is just you guys gettin' together. >> just pride. >> pride. little bit o' glory days, huh? >> yeah. >> reporter: david camm, a 36-year-old manager at a waterproofing business was a regular. >> you guys grow up with it. this is religion, right? >> yeah. we play a little basketball in indiana. >> reporter: that night after the game wrapped up, david headed straight home. he and his wife kim had two children, brad, a quiet 7-year-old and little jill, a spitfire, two years younger. usually, david helped kim with the kids in the evening, but on this night he was late and he knew kim wouldn't be happy about that. >> they gotta get their homework done before they went to bed. and i thought, "she's gonna be upset when i get home 'cause i'm not there to help." >> reporter: as he rolled into his driveway, he clicked the garage door opener. a nightmare awaited him. >> once the -- the garage door raised up just above the hood of my truck, that's when i saw kim. >> she was down on the garage floor? >> yeah, actually at first i thought it was jill lying there. i didn't realize it was kim until i got outta my truck and ran into the garage. and then that's when i -- i saw that it was kim. >> how do you take this in? it's too much to absorb. >> it's indescribable, you know, what was going through my mind at the time. i can't put it into words. >> reporter: kim was still, bent slightly at the waist, a long pool of blood running from her head. the doors to her bronco were open. >> when do you look into the vehicle? >> i don't remember how long it was, but after checking on kim, being assured in my mind that she was gone, i just suddenly thought about the kids. where are the kids? and my first instinct was to look into the bronco. and i got up on the passenger seat and i could see more into the back. and that's when i saw brad and jill. >> reporter: jill, still buckled in on the back passenger side, was slumped over. there was blood in her hair. next to her, brad, seemed to be clambering over the seat. >> was it apparent even in your shock that this was a gunshot event? >> i did not know. i did not know how they had died. >> so you're in there, between the console -- >> over top of the console, that's correct. that's how i got back in there and grabbed brad. >> brad, what, felt warm to you as you recall? >> yeah, and i thought maybe he might have a chance. >> reporter: david had been an indiana state trooper for almost 11 years. that night in the garage, david says, his police training kicked in. it seemed to him that his daughter, jill, was dead. but if there was even a whisper of a chance for his son, brad, david knew he had to get him out of bronco and give him cpr. >> i picked him up and pulled him in to me and turned around and went back out the same way that i came in. >> reporter: came out the passenger door and put him down on the garage floor and, what, started working on him? >> exactly. >> were you getting any signs of anything? >> i just remember looking at his face. and, like with jill, his eyes -- there was no moisture. they were half shut. it was -- it was pretty obvious that he was gone. >> and this has all happened in, what, 45 seconds of your life? >> that's -- yeah. probably. maybe a minute. >> reporter: kneeling on the bloody garage floor, amidst the bodies of his family, david knew he had to get help. >> dave? >> get everybody out here to my house now. >> okay. >> reporter: he called the indiana state police where he used to work. >> get everybody out here to my house. >> go to dave camm's house now. signal 10. okay. david we're gonna, we've got people on the way, okay? >> get everybody out here. >> come here. >> everything's going to be okay all right? we're going to --. >> every, everything's not okay, get everybody out here now! >> they're coming, go to dave camm's house now. do you know what happened, david? >> no. >> reporter: david camm's 13-year journey into hell was only minutes old. coming up -- >> he was beating on the door hollering, nelson, somebody killed my family, they're all dead. >> reporter: your family, dead, murdered. how do you begin to absorb that? >> just all these things spinning around inside my head is sush rerreal. >> he went down to the ground, was laying down and said, why did i have to go? >> there was more pain, much more still to come. when "dateline" continues. that works at liquid speed. you'll ask... what pain? advil liqui-gels minis. protect your pet with the #1 name in flea and tick protection. frontline plus. trusted by vets for nearly 20 years. frontline plus. who've got their eczema under control.rs, with less eczema, you can show more skin. so roll up those sleeves. and help heal your skin from within with dupixent. dupixent is the first treatment of its kind that continuously treats moderate-to-severe eczema, or atopic dermatitis, even between flare ups. dupixent is a biologic, and not a cream or steroid. many people taking dupixent saw clear or almost clear skin, and, had significantly less itch. that's a difference you can feel. don't use if you're allergic to dupixent. serious allergic reactions can occur, including anaphylaxis, which is severe. tell your doctor about new or worsening eye problems, such as eye pain or vision changes, or a parasitic infection. if you take asthma medicines, don't change or stop them without talking to your doctor. so help heal your skin from within. and talk to your eczema specialist about dupixent. don't bring that mess around here, evan! whoo! don't do it. don't you dare. i don't think so! [ sighs ] it's okay, big fella. we're gonna get through this together. [ baseball bat cracks ] nice rip, robbie. ♪ raaah! when you bundle home and auto insurance through progressive, you get more than just a big discount. i'm gonna need you to leave. you get relentless protection. [ baseball bat cracks ] so to breathe better i started once-daily anoro. ♪go your own way copd tries to say go this way i say i'll go my own way with anoro. ♪go your own way once-daily anoro contains two medicines called bronchodilators that work together to significantly improve lung function all day and all night. do not use anoro if you have asthma. anoro won't replace rescue inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than once a day. tell your doctor if you a heart condition, high blood pressure, glaucoma, prostate, bladder or urinary problems. these may worsen with anoro. call your doctor if you have worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain while taking anoro. the most common side effects are sore throat, diarrhea and pain in the arms and legs. ask your doctor about once-daily anoro to start treating your copd. ♪go your own way save at anoro.com >> reporter: david camm says he came home one night in the fall of 2000 to an unimaginable horror. his wife, little boy, and girl had been murdered. >> get everybody out here to my house now. >> okay. >> reporter: after trying unsuccessfully to revive his son, david ran across the street to a relative's home. >> i heard the banging on the door. >> reporter: david's uncle nelson was there. >> david was beatin' on the door and hollerin', "nelson, nelson, come quick." "somebody's killed my family." "they're all dead." "they're all dead." >> reporter: nelson dropped everything and raced over to david's garage. >> i was just dumbfounded. i was shocked, what i saw. >> reporter: david yelled at him to check on jill, his daughter, in the bronco and nelson says he made his way carefully to the vehicle. like david, he was a former state trooper and knew that crime scenes had to be preserved. >> i, i looked in the back seat and that's when i saw little jill back there. i reached back and i touched her arm or shoulders, something and i said, "jilly jilly jilly." >> you knew she was gone? >> i knew she was gone. and i said, "dave, i -- i think they're all gone, buddy." "i think they're all gone." >> reporter: david lost it. >> he actually went down to the ground, was layin' on his back and rollin' around and sayin', "why?" "why'd i have to go?" "why'd i have to go?" "why didn't i just stay with them?" >> reporter: uncle nelson managed to get david away from the garage. >> dave was trying his best to get back in. i wouldn't let him go back in. >> so you really are the officer, securing the scene? >> i was trying to, i knew it had to be done, 'cause i knew we had a crime scene and i wanted to make sure that i didn't do anything to hamper it. >> reporter: david camm says he was way beyond understanding anything that night, but the questions wouldn't stop. >> all these things spinning around inside my head. is this real? am i really here? did i really just find kim, brad, and jill, as they are? you know it was just uh, it was surreal. >> reporter: that night was the end of everything david and kim had built together. they'd met in the late 1980s. they were introduced by marcy mcleod. marcy had been best friends with kim ever since ninth grade. >> she was very quiet, for the people that didn't know her, and reserved. but very funny. very loyal. very sweet. >> reporter: david and kim married in 1989. they threw a big fun party then got on with their lives. kim in corporate accounting and david as an indiana state trooper, which was a career kim had encouraged him to pursue. >> find that drunk driver that's out there -- >> reporter: here he is in uniform being interviewed in the 1990s about road safety during the holidays. the big hat seemed tailor made for david camm. he was soon member of an elite emergency -- a kind of 'swat' team. >> that is a band of brothers, huh? >> oh, yeah. >> kinda special weapon. weapons tactical group. >> right, exactly, yeah. loved those guys. i mean, we're talkin' about guys that you would literally die for. >> reporter: but over time, after the kids were born, david wanted to spend more time with his family. so in may 2000, he went to work as a manager in his uncle sam lockhart's business and left the band of brothers. >> boy, it must've been hard to leave, dave? >> you know, it was but --. >> i mean, you had this good thing you're goin' to and you wanted to -- >> right. >> -- have more of a life. but yet you're -- i can see how much you liked --. it was really wasn't --. >> -- being in law enforcement. >> yeah, it really wasn't that difficult, though, because i just felt like it was definitely -- i was in a point in my life when i needed to make that change and i wanted to make that change, and i presumed that i would remain close with these guys, that they would always be my friends and that they would always have my back if i ever needed 'em. >> reporter: by september 2000, the camms seemed to be living a picture perfect life. things were going well at home and at work. kim was a totally engaged mother. david's uncle, sam lockhart saw the camm family all the time. >> great mom. a great mom. she would run those kids everywhere. and the kids, they were like, my grandkids. >> jill, jill. >> little jill, yeah. she --. >> tell me about her. >> she was a character. she really was. just a funny little girl. if she didn't have your attention, she'd get it. she was very -- i think she would have been very athletic. she was gifted in that way. >> and brad was the swimmer, right? >> he loved it. he was great at it. being a father, i thought, "this kid's good." >> reporter: there were gatherings with david's sprawling extended family, the lockharts -- the descendants of nine brothers and sisters on david's mother's side. the lockharts were so entrenched in this patch of southern indiana that they had a road named after them. lockhart road. where david's family lived. >> could not have been a better place for us to be when all of this terrible stuff happened. >> reporter: the awful news raced through two families that night. david's sister julie was getting ready to go to bed when the phone rang. >> i said, "what?" "what are you, what are you talking about?" "what are you saying?" >> reporter: julie went straight to her parents' house. >> mom had all of the pictures of brad and jill i guess that she could gather up and was holdin' them. and just sitting on the floor and just rocking and sayin', "my babies." "my babies." "they've killed my babies." "somebody's killed my babies." >> reporter: david sent his uncles to tell kim's parents, janice and frank renn. >> janice, late at night, the doorbell rings, what can this be, huh? >> well, it can't be good. so i go out and i open the door and i see 'em standing out there and i think my mind just went blank. >> and janice yelled for me to get out there. so i got out there and sam said, "got some bad news." "kim, brad, and jill have been shot." with that, i just kinda slid down to sitting position. i sat there and cried and couldn't believe it. >> reporter: on lockhart road, the sound of sirens, followed by flashing lights. a homicide investigation was beginning. and david's friends and former colleagues in the indiana state police would be on the front line. coming up, something strange at the crime scene. kim's shoes placed neatly on top of the bronco. what could that mean? >> never seen her take her shoes off. never. >> you saw the shoes up? >> when "dateline" continues. from my copd medicine ore that's why i've got the power of 1, 2, 3 medicines with trelegy. the only fda-approved once-daily 3-in-1 copd treatment. ♪ trelegy ♪ the power of 1,2,3 ♪ trelegy ♪ 1,2,3 ♪ trelegy man: with trelegy and the power of 1, 2, 3, i'm breathing better. trelegy works three ways to open airways, keep them open and reduce inflammation, for 24 hours of better breathing. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. trelegy is not for asthma. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. think your copd medicine is doing enough? maybe you should think again. ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy and the power of 1, 2, 3. ♪ trelegy, 1,2,3 man: save at trelegy.com. good morning, mr. sun. good morning, blair. [ chuckles ] whoo. i'm gonna grow big and strong. yes, you are. i'm gonna get this place all clean. i'll give you a hand. and i'm gonna put lisa on crutches! wait, what? said she's gonna need crutches. she fell pretty hard. you might want to clean that up, girl. excuse us. when owning a small business gets real, progressive helps protect what you built with customizable coverage. -and i'm gonna -- -eh, eh, eh. -donny, no. -oh. -and i'm gonna -- -eh, eh, eh. the xfinity my account app puts you in control with digital tools to give you the help you need when you need it. get fast and easy answers with personalized help 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. change your wifi password to a phrase that's easy to remember. even troubleshoot your services on your own. we're working to make things a little easier for everyone. download the xfinity my account app today. >> reporter: a mother, son, and daughter gunned down in the garage of the family home, in a quiet indiana county. the two kids never made it out of the backseat of the bronco. who murdered them? the answer to that question would be the responsibility of the investigators, the indiana state police, and the floyd county prosecutor in southern indiana. he got the call at 10:00 or 10:30 that night. >> did someone from the other end of the phone tell you it's bad? prepare yourself? >> it was horrible, yeah. >> reporter: faith knew immediately that the case would be big. he got to the crime scene asap. the first thing the prosecutor noticed was the ribbon of blood running out of the garage right down the drive. >> i almost stepped in it myself. >> reporter: he could see the wife and mother, kim camm, lying by the open passenger door, her pants removed. it had the signature of a sex-crime, the children killed because they were witnesses. seven-year old brad was on his back, a gray sweatshirt lying by him, an article of clothing that would become hugely important in time. >> the boy was laying there and his hands were out. and of course i didn't see the little girl, they told me that she was still in the truck. >> reporter: the state police, indiana's top investigative force, had already begun its work. the crime scene techs examined the bronco, took their measurements, and their pictures. stan faith studied the scene. >> was there anything odd or was it --. >> no, no. >> too soon for you to take all that stuff in. >> no, no, no. the thing that struck me the most was how clean the garage was. you just don't expect that. >> reporter: some of the troopers in the garage had been fellow officers of the husband, david camm. >> there were a couple that i didn't really recognize. but for the most part throughout the course of the evening, they would be people that i knew. >> reporter: the trooper who would become the lead investigator, was david's childhood friend. they had the talk right there. >> "dave, you know, we gotta clear you first." and i kept saying, "just do it right," i said that repeatedly. >> reporter: as a former cop, david camm knew the score about spouses. >> you knew because of your experience they always look at the spouse. >> sure. you know, everybody's a suspect. in the beginning, you don't know. >> reporter: but in his case, david thought, it was a by the book formality. he was confident his friends would do all they could to find the killer. >> these were your brothers in uniform, these guys. >> right. >> you'd ridden with them. >> i been to their --. >> you had done a lot of tough stuff with them. >> they'd been to my house. we'd eaten together. we knew each other's families. >> i'm at the indiana state police post and also present is david camm. >> reporter: in this audio tape of his first interview, that night you can hear the troopers handling him with kid gloves out of respect. >> we're gonna try and find out what happened here. so we can bring that person to justice as best we know how. >> just do it and do it right. >> right exactly. >> so just ask me whatever you want to ask me. >> reporter: the questioner walked david through his day and his wife's. as far as david knew, she'd followed her usual busy routine working, then shepherding the kids' around after-school, returning home about 7:30 pm. was the shooter waiting for her in the garage? or did her killer follow her in? the investigators asked david if anyone had been stalking kim, bothering her. >> if there was, she hadn't said a word. >> how 'bout phone calls? get hang-up phone calls, suspicious phone calls? >> not really. >> reporter: and they wanted to know if the husband could help them understand an oddity about the crime scene. why would kim's shoes have ended up neatly placed atop the roof of the bronco? >> i had no idea why those shoes were sitting there. >> does she ever kick her shoes off when she's driving? >> never seen her take her shoes off, never. >> you saw those shoes though. >> damn straight i did. >> reporter: as the investigators wrapped-up, they made sure david got some fresh clothing because they were sending his blood-speckled sneakers and t-shirt out for testing. >> we'll do everything we can. work as hard as we can to resolve this. >> reporter: the next day the camms' neighbors were absolutely stunned by a crime of this magnitude in their quiet community. >> it makes no sense you know? there's never been any trouble out here to speak of you know? >> reporter: as the hunt for the killer continued, investigators asked neighbors if they'd seen or heard anything suspicious. >> right now, this is very, very much an open investigation. >> reporter: three days after the murders, david camm faced the cameras. >> i want my family back. i want my babies back. i want my wife back. >> reporter: and he begged the killer to come forward. >> turn yourself in. you can't live with the guilt. what you did was such a irrational, ridiculous, ludicrous, satanic thing. you cannot, you cannot live with that guilt. >> reporter: an arrest in the case was only hours away. coming up -- >> i'm a mess. i'm on medication. i'm having to buy caskets, i'm having to buy burial plots. i've got all this stuff going on. >> reporter: a husband and father in mourning, about to face the second biggest surprise of his life. >> this is just a fact. i'm just telling you what we -- >> you're wrong. you're wrong, wrong, wrong. >> when "dateline" continues. ou? ou? ♪ ♪ activia is here with billions of probiotics to support your gut health. and help you thrive while you stay inside. activia. thrive while inside. from anyone else. so why accept it from your allergy pills? flonase relieves your worst symptoms which most pills don't. get all-in-one allergy relief for 24 hours, with flonase. which most pills don't. i've tried the $200 creams, the $400 creams olay regenerist microsculpting cream makes my skin feel so hydrated. i can face anything with my olay. and my latest beauty secret... for bright, smooth skin... olay regenerist cream cleanser. protect your pet with the #1 name in flea and tick protection. frontline plus. trusted by vets for nearly 20 years. no uh uh, no way come on, no no n-n-n-no-no only discover has no annual fee on any card. which is why when it comes to his dentures only new poligrip cushion and comfort will do. the first and only formula with adaptagrip cushioning technology. choose new poligrip cushion and comfort. as of now, more than 1.1 million cases of coronavirus have been confirmed throughout the country. the death toll stands at more than 67,000. vice president mike pence is now saying he should have worn a mask during a recent viz it to the mayo clinic. this comes after pence set off a backlash by violating the policy last week. he was spotted wearing a mask two days later during an event in indiana. now back to "dateline." >> reporter: in the days after the murders, two families, the lockharts, uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, and kim's family were united in grief. >> we lost three wonderful people that we loved dearly. we don't have them with us today. >> kim, bradley, jill, just like that. gone. >> all gone. >> reporter: david was all but shutting down. >> i'm a mess. i'm on medication. you know, i'm having to buy caskets, i'm having to buy burial plots. you know i've got all this stuff goin' on. >> reporter: three days after the murders, the indiana state police called david in for a second interview. he sat down with two cops he knew well. he'd been sharing coffee and cases with them for years. >> because of the high profile of this case and because obviously as you know, well, the notoriety, we're doing this all by the numbers. >> reporter: this time the tone of the interview had changed. because now, the investigators did have a working theory of the murders -- and the evidence they were gathering pointed to none other than david camm as the killer. their one time fellow trooper, their law enforcement brother was now, quite possibly their man, a monster who'd murdered his family. they had a timeline: the murders took place they believed between 9:15 and 9:30 that night, after david returned home. >> people heard something. they thought it was unusual. when we talked to them. they said it sounded like gunfire. >> reporter: the police canvass had turned up a neighbor who heard noises. maybe shots fired. >> they noted the time. the time was when you were already home. >> which was? >> around 9:20, shortly thereafter. >> reporter: david saw where this was going and pushed back. >> mick, mick. >> this is just the facts. i'm just telling you what we -- you know. >> it's wrong. it is wrong. >> are these people making up this time? >> i'm telling you people are confused. the time element is off. >> reporter: the investigators account had david camm square in the cross hairs. he came home from basketball and killed his family. >> it's not right. it's not right. it's not right. it's not right, guys. you're not right. you're wrong. you're wrong, wrong, wrong. >> the ah -- >> you're wrong darrell. you're wrong. >> well -- >> this is not right. you're gettin off the track. something's not right here. now fix it. >> they told david about physical evidence they'd collected: specks of blood, barely visible to the naked eye, on the bottom of the t-shirt he wore that night. a crime scene expert's science had already told them, the husband and the father did it. >> there's blood on your shirt and then i had the dna analyzed. this is the presumptive test, that it is high velocity blood spatter. it's scientific documentation. the only way that comes on is from blowback or blowout from a gunshot wound. >> reporter: blood spatter, the case against david camm. >> that is supposed to be on my t-shirt that i played ball in? >> it's on, yeah. >> it's wrong, darrell. >> dave. >> it's wrong, guys. >> what do we do when they tell us that? and now we gotta figure out why. >> you better, you better find another expert. >> reporter: but the cops had full confidence in their man. >> i rely on this man and he's, he's very um, well, he's renowned as far as his expertise. this is not something he just started to do yesterday. >> reporter: the noose was tightening even as david protested. >> the t-shirt that i had on is what i had on. that's what i wore over and that's what i wore home. and any blood it's got on it now, came from either an impression of something i leaned, leaned on in the car or it came off from brad himself. >> reporter: and there was more. signs of a clean-up. that had to be david. >> did you clean this, try to clean this up? try to clean some of the blood up or something like that? >> no, no, no. this is ridiculous. >> what about some bleach, dave? >> no, no, no, no, no. no, no, no. no, no, no. i didn't clean up [ bleep ]. somebody may have, but it wasn't me. that person is your suspect. >> reporter: and there was something disturbing the medical examiner found when she looked at jill, the young daughter. signs of blunt trauma in the genital area. to the cops that meant one thing, david camm had molested his daughter. >> if she was molested, it happened that day. that night. that's when it happened. and it wasn't by me. you guys are wrong here. you're wrong, mickey. i did not do this. i did not do this. >> who did do it? >> i don't know, that's why i called you guys. that's what your job, that's what you're supposed to be doing. you're looking so hard at me. >> we're looking at everybody dave, but honestly -- >> but mickey you're so off base. you're so wrong. you're so wrong, mickey. >> an arrest warrant issued out of floyd superior court. >> reporter: hours after his second interview, the indiana state police arrested david camm and charged him with the murders of his wife and two children. it had been three days since the shootings. coming up -- accused of murder. and the evidence, a phone call. >> this phone call blows up his alibi. >> yes. >> a t-shirt and a parade of women. >> she was upset, you know, and saddened by it. she felt like history was repeating itself. we didn't go into what that meant. because she said we'll talk about it when i get there. >> there's people he pulls over, flirts with them and eventually seduces them. >> he wanted to have women and his wife was getting in the way? >> yes. >> she was an obstacle for the lifestyle he wanted to pursue? >> that's correct. >> when "dateline" continues. with trelegy. ofs the only fda-approved once-daily 3-in-1 copd treatment. ♪ trelegy ♪ the power of 1,2,3 ♪ trelegy ♪ 1,2,3 ♪ trelegy man: with trelegy and the power of 1, 2, 3, i'm breathing better. trelegy works three ways to open airways, keep them open and reduce inflammation, for 24 hours of better breathing. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. trelegy is not for asthma. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. think your copd medicine is doing enough? maybe you should think again. ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy and the power of 1, 2, 3. ♪ trelegy, 1,2,3 man: save at trelegy.com. tank was overweight and had no ♪ tredeaenergy.pet, until freshpet... put the puppy back in my dog. ♪ ♪ you make my heart sing ♪ but i wanna know for ♪ sure yeah we all wanna know, honey... so... blue. blue means boy. blue means boy! it's a boy! if you ride, you get it. geico motorcycle. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. your cells. trillions of them. geico motorcycle. that's why centrum contains 24 key nutrients to feed your cells, supporting your energy so you can take care of what matters most. centrum. feed your cells. fuel your life. faced the competition and we broke through. olay's retinol24 complex hydrates better than the $100 retinol cream. visibly smoother brighter skin in just 24 hours. olay retinol24. so chantix can help you quit slow turkey. along with support, chantix is proven to help you quit. with chantix you can keep smoking at first and ease into quitting so when the day arrives, you'll be more ready to kiss cigarettes goodbye. when you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. stop chantix and get help right away if you have changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, depressed mood, suicidal thoughts or actions, seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking, or life-threatening allergic and skin reactions. decrease alcohol use. use caution driving or operating machinery. tell your doctor if you've had mental health problems. the most common side effect is nausea. talk to your doctor about chantix. the most common side effect is nausea. in so many ways. which cage free eggs taste fresher and more delicious? only eggland's best. which organic eggs have more vitamins and less saturated fat? only eggland's best. better taste, better nutrition, better eggs. there are so many toothpastes out there, which one should i use? try crest pro/active defense. it neutralizes bacteria for a healthier mouth than even the leading multi-benefit toothpaste. crest. i want my babies back. >> reporter: david camm, once an indiana state trooper, was now locked up in the floyd county jail, charged with the murder of his wife and children. >> tell me about your emotions. >> every time i heard a key jingle outside my door, i would think to myself, "oh, this is it." they've figured it out and they're gonna come let me out and say, "dave, we messed up." >> reporter: but that never happened. david's uncle and boss, sam lockhart, a successful local businessman quickly became his nephew's most passionate advocate. sam had the grit to make his voice heard. >> why did you take on the responsibility, sam, to take it as far as you could? >> i didn't have any other options. i know he's innocent, i know he lost his family. and i know he's lost his freedom. and what am i gonna do? he didn't lose me. >> the focus was so concentrated on david. did you ever think, well, maybe i don't have the picture here? maybe something awful happened, and david snapped, and did indeed kill his family? >> well, i never did think dave killed his family. never. >> you never --. >> never thought it. never did. >> reporter: kim's parents, janice and frank renn, mourning the loss of their daughter and grandchildren, were absorbing the awful facts the police told them -- no their son-in-law was the killer. >> janice, they've made an arrest and it's david. >> i was just out of it. then, when it finally did sink in, i was back and forth. >> frank, how about you? what were you -- we're talking about early days here. >> yeah, i wasn't 100% sure. i was just goin' by what the police was telling me. >> reporter: before long, the renns became convinced that their son-in-law murdered his family. in january 2002, fifteen months after the murders, david camm went on trial. he pleaded not guilty. by now, the prosecutor's timeline had changed. originally, he said david killed his family between 9:15 and 9:30 after he returned home from the basketball game. >> and then you backtracked from that? >> we backtracked from that. >> that's because the defense had shown the time of death was somewhere between 7:30 and 8pm. >> everything said that this happened much earlier. >> reporter: now, the prosecutor argued, david went to the gym about 7:00, then secretly ducked out of the basketball game, made the 5-minute drive home, killed his family, and returned to play ball. and the prosecutor had proof that david was home at the time of the murders. there was a call to a customer from his landline phone, time-stamped 7:19 pm. >> so you've got a husband who says, "i was playing basketball at 7:00. you've got a phone record that says he likely is making a call to a customer landline in his home, so he's not playin' basketball." >> almost certainly, would be the one that was doing it. >> and that this phone call blows up his alibi. >> yes. >> reporter: the prosecutor moved on to the crime scene and focused on what happened to kim in the garage that night. >> we thought the pants had been pulled down. >> you've accused the husband of the murder. why are you telling the jury that he probably pulled her pants down? >> as part of a staged event. >> reporter: kim had not been raped. but the prosecutor argued her body appeared to have been moved, staged, and a cop would know how to do it. >> trying to get the jury to think there somebody was in there to molest her. >> that there'd been a break in guy, huh? >> yeah. >> reporter: investigators had never located the murder weapon. the only physical evidence the state had that the gun was in david camm's hand that night was this barely visible, microscopic droplets of his daughter's blood on the lower left hem of camm's t-shirt. how those drops of blood got there was the crux of the case. >> blowback. this is what happens when you shoot somebody at close range? >> yes. >> you get that blood on your shirt? >> correct. if he got high velocity impact spatter on his t-shirt, then he has to be within four-feet of the child at the time that the child was killed. >> reporter: the prosecution believed david camm shot from inside the car, targeting jill in the back seat. that's how her blood sprayed on his shirt. but why? why would david camm kill his family? the reason for those killings, the prosecutor declared was that david camm was a philandering husband. >> it probably was one of the first times that i really ever heard kim cry. >> reporter: remember kim's old friend marcy mcleod? the prosecutor had her testify about an affair david had when kim was pregnant in late 1994. marcy told the court that kim called her in tears to say she and david were separating. soon after, marcy visited kim. >> she was upset. you know, and saddened by it, especially just having a baby. >> reporter: and there was more. just three weeks before the murders, marcy had another troubling phone call from kim. >> her demeanor was different, her attitude, and she didn't wanna hang up the phone, but yet she didn't wanna talk. >> reporter: the old friends made plans for kim and the children to visit marcy. then, kim said something she never explained. >> she felt like history was repeating itself. we didn't go into what that meant, because she said, "we'll talk about it when i get there." >> reporter: kim never made it. at trial, the clear implication was that david camm was catting around again. the prosecutor portrayed him as a scoundrel who used his badge to get sex. >> there's people he pulls over, flirts with them, and eventually seduces them. >> reporter: in court, the prosecutor called a parade of women, presenting them as david camm's conquests. more thoon a dozen recounting the fondling, the flirting, and the sex. the stripper in the patrol car. >> he wanted to have women and his wife was gettin' in the way? >> yes, or -- >> that she was an obstacle for the kind of lifestyle that he wanted to pursue, huh? >> that's correct. >> reporter: and if the dalliances with the women weren't enough to suggest motivation to the jury, the prosecutor had a capper. something really dreadful: the medical examiner's testimony that injuries observed on the murdered daughter, 5-year-old jill, were consistent with sexual abuse. >> so, not a little girl falling on the monkey bars? >> no, it wasn't monkey bars. wasn't a bicycle. anything like that. >> reporter: so there was the prosecution's accused: womanizer. child-molestor. the killer with blowback bloodspatter on his t-shirt. the defense lawyers had their work cut out for them. >> you had an uphill fight as the defense attorney? >> oh yes, sir. yes. and that's not unusual but this one was just so much more high profile. coming up -- >> it's about them crafting a i molding a belief that was totally founded on things that weren't factual, and it was just complete fiction. >> the timeline of the crime. >> that was their smoking gun. >> the defense is about to stop the clock. when "dateline" continues. my skin gets so tired. this new olay serum feels so dewy, and hydrated... gives my skin an extra boost of life. it's full of energy. it finally matches me. i'm denise bidot, and my skin is powerful. and i can face anything with my olay. protect your pet with the #1 name in flea and tick protection. frontline plus. trusted by vets for nearly 20 years. the family has to share one. are expensive, frontline plus. step up with boost mobile and get 4 free samsung galaxy a20 phones when you switch or don't and prepare to lose some furniture got it! step up with boost mobile and get 4 lines for $25 per line per month or don't and remodel the living room switch to boost mobile and get 4 free samsung galaxy a20 phones, all on our super reliable, super fast network. as an essential service, boost mobile is committed to keeping you connected by remaining open. sensitivity it's very common to have a gum health concern as well. but if you have sensitive teeth, you probably aren't going to brush your teeth as effectivity because it causes pain. and if you see blood you should do something about it. you know, i talk to dentists every day and they're able to recommend one product, new sensodyne sensitivity & gum, to address both conditions at the same time. if we only treat one versus the other, the patient's mouth is never going to be where it needs to be. it's really good dentistry to be able to recommend one product for patients that can address two conditions. suddenly home is office, school, gym and concert hall. and cvs is helping, with free prescription delivery and free telehealth from aetna. to help you stay in and well. home is where the heart is with cvs health. why accept it frompt an incompyour allergy pills?e else. home is where the heart is flonase sensimist. nothing stronger. nothing gentler. nothing lasts longer. flonase sensimist. 24 hour non-drowsy allergy relief yeah. this moving thing never gets any easier. well, xfinity makes moving super easy. i can transfer my internet and tv service in about a minute. wow, that is easy. almost as easy as having those guys help you move. we are those guys. that's you? the truck adds 10 pounds. in the arms. -okay... transfer your service online in a few easy steps. now that's simple, easy, awesome. transfer your service in minutes, making moving with xfinity a breeze. visit xfinity.com/moving today. >> reporter: the trial of david camm was underway in floyd county indiana. it was the winter of 2002. nervous to see that those men and women that will decide your fate? david camm, accused of murdering his wife and two young children, always insisted the case against him was built on quicksand. >> it's about them crafting and molding a belief that was totally founded on things that weren't factual. and it was just a complete fiction. >> reporter: david's defense attorney was mike mcdaniel, now deceased. he had known david as a trooper. >> what impressions did you have of david before he became a client? >> uh, i figured he was another redneck state cop. we'd done a couple of cases together. him on one side, me on the other. >> reporter: but mcdaniel became convinced of david's innocence and came on board to defend him. >> this is one of those terrible cases that a defense lawyer never wants. you don't want an innocent client. you call them a "ravager," because they make you crazy. >> reporter: at trial, mcdaniel knew he had to confront all those women, but how? the defense could only flinch and take the body blows to camm's character. the jury's getting a picture of this hard-working wife, nose to the grindstone, taking care of the babies, running the household? >> yep. >> reporter: while he's out with pole dancers? >> yep. on duty. you got 13 women coming in there and with varying degrees of sexual contact or innuendo. another trooper's wife, for god's sakes. >> reporter: not a good set of facts? >> not a good set of facts. >> reporter: the defense pulled out potentially its strongest weapon and put david on the stand to say he knew that he'd messed up. >> you know, i regret all that stuff. it's so unfortunate the disrespect that i showed my wife. but good god, we don't jump from that to saying that automatically makes a person a murderer. it's just ridiculous. >> reporter: then the defense had to confront the ugly allegation that five-year-old jill camm had been molested. but, in fact, the medical examiner's report had not actually said that. it simply stated the girl's bruises were the result of blunt trauma. the defense argued the bruises happened during the attack. still it was tough going. >> reporter: we've got a guy who seems to have a lot of girlfriends. there may be some evidence here of child molestation. this is a very, very tough thing to combat, dave. >> it is. it's virtually impossible. >> reporter: having done its best to hammer the state's case for motive, the defense turned to the physical evidence. the state's strongest evidence, the forensic case for david's guilt was the blood spatter. a defense expert testified the blood got on david's t-shirt very simply, when david reached into the back seat to move his son, his shirt brushed against his daughter's hair. >> there were tiny droplets of blood on some of her hair around the wound so defense testimony was that was transfer from contact with the ends of the strands of hair. >> reporter: and then the timeline. the defense lawyer challenged the prosecution's theory that david snuck out in the middle of his basketball game, killed his family and then returned to play ball. the defense attorney focused on the phone call made from the camm house at 7:19 pm, when david said he was at the church gym. the state had tethered its timeline to that phone call. >> that was their smoking gun which they had a bunch of those and every time they have a smoking gun, we'd just unload it. >> reporter: the defense "unloaded" by calling a witness from verizon who testified that its timestamp was incorrect, because of indiana's jumbled time zones. >> so their 7:19 phone call actually was my 6:19 phone call. >> reporter: a call david made to a client before he left to play ball. and even more important, david had a solid alibi, eleven eyewitnesses, the basketball players, to corroborate his story that he'd been at the gym throughout the early evening. did he leave the court that night? >> no. >> reporter: he couldn't have left without one of you guys? >> without one, because i would see him at one point in time running down the court. and then maybe jeff would of saw him at another point in time. so throughout that time there's ten sets of eyes looking in different directions. as a group, i think someone would've noticed that he was missing. sam lockhart, the uncle was playing ball that night too. sam, the basketball games, is it possible dave could have slipped away? >> is it possible that he snuck out, was gone 10 or 15 minutes, killed his family and snuck back in without any one of us noticing it? absolutely not. that's impossible. >> but if david wasn't the killer, then who was? the defense had its answer. it was the person who owned that gray sweatshirt. the one that was lying by brad's body on the garage floor the night of the murders. defense attorney, mike mcdaniel, had recognized the sweatshirt as prison issue. >> in the collar of the sweatshirt is the word, "backbone." and i'm thinking, "okay. that's a nickname." >> tests on that sweatshirt revealed dna from various people, including an unknown male. but the prosecutor said there was no match when that male dna was run through the national database. still it seemed to be a breakthrough for team david. proof that someone else was in the garage that night. >> we knew that that was probably the key to solving this. now, we didn't know that person by name. by god, we knew them by dna profile. >> reporter: finally, it was up to the jurors. as reporters lingered in the hallway, the jury deliberated for three days. >> guilty. guilty. >> reporter: david camm was found guilty of killing his wife and children. >> frank, the jury comes back and guilty as charged. >> yeah, that's what we wanted. and now we felt like, you know, kim, brad and jill, they can be at rest now. >> reporter: but from david's sister, an emotional outburst. >> they're wrong. they don't know. they're wrong. >> before i even knew it i was standing up and i was screaming, "you're wrong. you're wrong. you're wrong. you're wrong." and a few people had to take me out of the courtroom. >> reporter: and you're being walked off in chains. you're not leaving that courthouse. >> right. and knowing what lies ahead of me, you know, going to prison. a former police officer. but there's absolutely nothing i can do about it. >> reporter: david camm was sent to the state penitentiary, but his uncle sam was hanging in. you didn't think you were finished at that point? >> unless they had killed me, that's how they could have stopped me, they could have killed me. no, it wasn't over. >> reporter: maybe not, but david camm was facing 195 years behind bars. you've been sent to the slammer that you're going to do time in. >> right. >> you're learning how to become incarcerated. >> i had to. i didn't have a choice. i had to figure out how to survive. and i made my mind up early on that's what i was going to do, whatever it took. >> did you get confronted inside the joint, this is a former trooper? >> not directly, but people would say things or you would hear people talking and so on. >> did you think "i'm done?" >> i was just bewildered at first. but i didn't know that the-- di know that there was an appeal. >> reporter: most convicts cling to that straw. >> until you read the transcript. >> a new legal team with a different strategy was about to take the case to the state court of appeals. coming up -- >> he has a foot fetish, and so when they thought at first that it was not a sex crime, we kept saying, well, not everybody targets the same place in sex crimes. >> a break in the case. someone new enters the picture. >> as brainy as ted bundy and as brawny as mike tyson. he's a sociopath. >> who is this guy? when "dateline" continues. the new house is amazing. so much character. original crown molding, walk in closets... we do have a ratt problem. ♪ round and round! ♪ with love we'll find a way, just give it time. ♪ at least geico makes bundling our home and car insurance easy. it does help us save. ♪ round and round! ♪ with love we'll find a way, just give it time. ♪ ♪ round and round! ♪ what comes around, goes around. ♪ for bundling made easy, go to geico.com they have businesses to grow customers to care for lives to get home to they use stamps.com print discounted postage for any letter any package any time right from your computer all the amazing services of the post office only cheaper get our special tv offer a 4-week trial plus postage and a digital scale go to stamps.com/tv and never go to the post office again! daddy, i found you! good job. now i'm gonna stay here and you go hide. watch your favorites from anywhere in the house with the xfinity stream app. free with your xfinity service. now any room can be a tv room. stream live tv, on demand shows and movies, even your dvr recordings. download the xfinity stream app today to stream the entertainment you love. he's guilty. he's guilty. >> reporter: in early 2002, david camm was found guilty on three counts of murdering his wife and two children. stacey and kitty, the new lawyers handling his appeal, were optimistic. >> it was long odds. it was way over the top. >> reporter: what was over the top, they argued, was allowing all those women to testify to the sex, the groping, the come ons. >> i mean, it was weeks after weeks, woman after woman. >> how is that relevant to what happened on september 28th? >> "jurors, this is a bad guy we got here?" >> absolutely. >> he's a louse of a husband and we're gonna tell you more than that. >> that was intentional, too. >> reporter: and guess what? two-years after the guilty verdict, the appeals court agreed: the women should never have been permitted to testify. the conviction was overturned. but the victory was short lived. a new prosecutor announced there would be a second trial. >> after review of the previous evidence and review of uh some new evidence that has come to light, i've decided to pursue the charges against david camm for the murders of kimberly camm, bradley camm, and jill camm. >> reporter: with another trial looming, the defense team was intent on bringing sharply into focus a piece of evidence it believed would set david free. the gray sweatshirt, with that unknown male dna. back in 2001, the prosecutor said there had been no match when the dna was run through a national criminal database. but sam lockhart says he approached the new investigators to run it through again. >> they weren't even wanting to talk to me. i wanted to show them the unknown dna. i said in case this guy had been arrested now, and you got new dna on that data bank, would you run this?" "no, we can't take it." >> reporter: then the attorneys tried. they asked the prosecutor. >> we start saying, "please run the dna through the data bank." "please do it," and he refuses. >> reporter: the state finally ran the dna three months after sam lockhart first started asking about it. >> and low and behold, we find charles boney. >> charles boney. does this name mean anything to you? >> didn't mean a thing. i'd never heard the name before. uh, it was a complete shock to me. >> reporter: charles boney. a name that would change everything in the case against david camm. boney. his prison nickname was "backbone": the same name inked in on the sweatshirt's collar. >> who does this guy "boney" turn out to be? >> as brainy as ted bundy and as brawny as mike tyson. he's a sociopath. >> reporter: charles boney -- a criminal with a history of violent crimes against women. it began in the 1980's, when he was a student at indiana university. newspapers called him the shoe bandit, and followed his bizarre crimes. there'd been four separate incidents -- his early m.o.? he'd knock a woman to the ground and make off with one of her shoes. >> really creepy stuff like one crime, he wore one of those china doll masks. i mean, like creepy stuff you can't make up. >> reporter: the police were onto him. after one arrest, he admitted in effect, that he had a thing for ladies' legs and feet. he pleaded guilty to those crimes, and in time, his attacks became more violent. he began threatening women at gunpoint. one incident involved three coeds. >> he had been watching them and one night, just walked into their apartment, held them at gunpoint to their head, took them out, kidnapped them to the car. luckily, somebody saw him with the gun leading the women out, called bloomington police department. >> reporter: he pleaded guilty again and was sentenced to 20-years in prison for armed robbery, but was released after serving only seven- years. by july 2000, three months before the camm murders, he was out on parole and the defense maintains he still had the old compulsion. >> kim camm fit the profile. >> yes. he -- has a foot fetish and so when they thought at first that it was not a sex crime, we kept saying well, not everybody targets the same place in sex crimes. >> reporter: kim camm had bruising on her toes. her shoes were on top of the bronco. her pants had been removed. and boney's sweatshirt with his dna was at the crime scene. and it turns out, that dna had been in the database three years before the murders. >> it took one hour and one email to find charles boney. that could've been done in 2002, had prosecutor faith done it. >> and you'd think on a case on which, you know, children and a mom are murdered, ambushed in a garage that they would bend over backwards to do it right. >> reporter: stan faith was the prosecutor in trial one. >> the defense said, "well, we asked you, the state, the prosecutors to send that out." to be balanced, to be tested against a national register of dna, and --. >> i asked the lead investigator to do that. and he said, "we didn't get anything." and that's why --. >> but in fact he hadn't sent it out at all? >> no, i think he sent it out. well, he hadn't sent the proper dna. >> reporter: faith says he later learned the detective sent out the wrong dna sample from the sweatshirt. mike mcdaniel, david's first defense attorney, isn't buying that. >> i think he's a liar. >> you don't think he ever ran it? >> no, i don't think he ever asked anybody to run it. >> he told you he did? >> yes. >> so when he says that the prosecution is lying to him? >> lying means that you knowingly -- you tell a falsehood. i didn't tell him a lie. i told him what i thought was true. >> reporter: but whatever the truth is, now more than four years later, there was a name to that dna. >> do you allow yourself to think, here we are on our way to case closed, finally? >> absolutely. >> we've got a name -- >> sure. >> we've got genetic, forensic evidence. this is the shooter. >> right, absolutely. >> coming up -- >> reporter: a new suspect in the hot seat. >> if anything else links you to it, you're done. stick a fork in you. >> you see, that would normally worry me. i wasn't there. >> this intense interrogation, where will it lead? when "dateline" continues. we've always tried to be there when you and your home have needed us most. working together to keep your home working. it's what we've always done. because home is what unites us. all the way out here just for a blurry photo of me. oh, that's a good one. wait, what's that? that's just the low-battery warning. oh, alright. now it's all, "check out my rv," and, "let's go four-wheeling." maybe there's a little part of me that wanted to be seen. well, progressive helps people save when they bundle their home with their outdoor vehicles. so they've got other things to do now, bigfoot. wait, what'd you just call me? bigfoot? ♪ my name is daryl. i got this mountain bike for only $11. dealdash.com, the fair and honest bidding site. an ipad worth $505, was sold for less than $24; a playstation 4 for less than $16; and a schultz 4k television for less than $2. i won these bluetooth headphones for $20. i got these three suitcases for less than $40. and shipping is always free. go to dealdash.com right now and see how much you can save. >> reporter: by 2005, david camm had been behind bars for more than four years. >> generally, from september through february were my darkest times of the year. you know, the times of the murders. and then you have the holidays and then the kids' birthdays in february. >> did you feel yourself becoming institutionalized? >> i had to, to a degree. and for me, it was a matter of, you know, sitting back and observing and seeing how things operate. so that i could fit in enough, you know, to be okay. you know, i had to lock the real me down inside. >> how were his spirits, julie? was he holding on or was he sinking? >> dave would sink only briefly, he would have lows. there'd be times when i'd talk to him and he'd sound really down, but he never stayed there. because he couldn't stay there. you know? staying in that despondency, that hopelessness is excruciating. >> reporter: but now there finally seemed to be a break in the case. the unknown male dna on the sweatshirt had been identified as charles boney's. and just two days later, the cops brought boney in and started grilling him on how it ended up on the garage floor. >> that sweatshirt is in the middle of a crime scene of a triple homicide. somehow, that sweatshirt got there, your sweatshirt. you explain to me how it got there. >> i have no idea. >> reporter: boney admitted the sweatshirt had once been his, but said he'd dumped it in a salvation army dropbox about a month before the murders. >> it shows up at a crime scene. not laundered, not washed. if it would have went though the salvation army drop box that would have been a clean sweatshirt. your dna, chances are probably wouldn't have been on there, but it is. >> i see where you're coming from. >> reporter: as for david camm? >> do you know david camm? >> no. >> you ever met david camm? >> no. >> do you remember the murder of david camm's family? >> on television, yes. >> do you know where david camm lives? >> only on television. i don't even know what his address is. >> reporter: the interrogation went on for some 12 hours with boney sticking to his story. the detectives released him with a warning. >> make no mistake about it, if anything else links you to it, you're done, stick a fork in you. >> now see that would normally worry me. i wasn't there. >> reporter: then, two weeks after letting boney walk, there was something else. something big. >> "early, uh, yesterday morning, i was notified of some uh additional scientific evidence, uh, that linked mr. boney to the, uh, to the homicides." >> reporter: the prosecutor revealed that a palmprint found on the exterior passenger side of the bronco doorframe was left there by none other than charles boney. investigators had been aware of the palmprint for more than four years but only now did they know whose it was. boney was hauled back into the interrogation room and the questioning became more confrontational. >> you've got some explaining to do here, charles. your palmprint is on that bronco. you're there. now this is the time, this is the place. this is your last stage that you're going to have to tell us what the hell happened there. this is it! >> this can't be happening. >> charles! >> reporter: after hours of denial, boney changed his story. yes, he did know david camm. they met playing pick up basketball. then in another round of questioning, the story changed, and changed again. finally, boney put himself at the crime scene. >> the reason why i was there was to bring him the gun. >> that night? >> that night. >> reporter: boney said david camm asked him to get an untraceable gun. he said that he was a guy caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. >> as events started to unfold in the investigation, it became apparent that this case was intertwined between two people. >> reporter: now the prosecutor had a new theory. david camm did not act alone. he had a co-conspirator. the ex-cop and the ex-con were each charged with the three killings. david was outraged. he believed he should have been set free. after all, charles boney's signature was all over the scene. >> he attacks women, defenseless, innocent women. he takes their shoes, their socks. he holds guns to their heads and threatens to shoot them in the head. you know, all of those things from his previous crimes, this is exactly what happened to kim. why can't they see this stuff? you know, they just turn a blind eye to the facts. >> reporter: but the prosecutor had a different set of facts. >> we know that the defense has maintained that this is now the killer, that i should dismiss the charges against david camm, the evidence is not there. >> reporter: in january 2006, charles boney and david camm stood trial separately in two different courthouses. while he wasn't accused of being the shooter, boney was found guilty on three counts of murder in the deaths of kim, brad, and jill cam. he was sentenced to 225 years. and the prosecution team rejected any notion that boney acted alone. why? those tiny specks of blood. they were on david's shirt, but not on boney's sweatshirt. >> his shirt does not have high velocity blood spatter on it. >> so, a former indiana state trooper is now gonna be a co-conspirator with a felon? >> yeah, makes sense? his story's the only thing you've got that link him to david camm. there's no phone records, no one's ever seen them together. there's no text messages, there's no smoke signals, there's nothing between david camm and charles boney. >> reporter: at david camm's second trial, boney was named as the other man at the scene, also charged with the triple murders. otherwise, the case against him was pretty much the same, absent the female witnesses the appeals court had thrown out. and this time the state focused on the allegation that david molested his 5-year-old daughter as a motive for the murders. >> well, the motive was kimberly was leaving david camm and that she was leaving him because of, of the child molesting. and uh he could not let her leave, he could not let that secret out, that was the secret in the camm household. >> reporter: the defense countered. brought in experts to show there was no solid evidence the little girl had even been molested. >> the state's theory of why david murdered his family was purely made up. it was speculation. >> reporter: david camm had never been charged with sexual molestation but that didn't stop the prosecutor from closing his case with a big dramatic flourish. >> he took his finger and stuck it in dave's face and said, "you molested your child." >> reporter: the jury took four days to reach its verdict. >> "guilty" on all three counts. we can tell you that david camm has now been convicted of the murder of his wife and the murder of his two kids, brad and jill. >> guilty again. >> guilty again. with the same inflammatory evidence. this was just such a heinous accusation. >> reporter: but the saga was far from over. david camm's uncle still refused to retreat. >> so, you go to dave and you say, "we tried." >> yeah, i say, "we're not done, dude." "you gotta hang in there. "we're not done." coming up -- they certainly weren't done. but the prosecutors weren't done, either. >> the placement of the sweatshirt led you to believe that david camm put it there. >> and charles boney was just getting started. >> he wants me to deliver a secondhand gun. >> it was just overwhelming. i've tried a lot of cases over the years, a lot of death penalty cases, murder cases. i've never tried anything like this. >> when "dateline" continues. white house coronavirus task force coordinator dr. birx said last week's from tess fors in michigan's capital who were not practicing social distancing were "devastatingly worrisome." the xhemcomments come after the protestors called for an end to the state of emergency. and a researcher developing a covid vaccine says it could hit the market by june. now back to "dateline." >> reporter: sam lockhart's mission to clear the name of his nephew david continued unabated after camm and charles boney were both convicted of the murders of david's family. >> we've got the killer who killed kim, brad and jill. we finally got that accomplished. now, our next chore, we are still after that. we were still after getting dave camm another trial. >> you're back to the appeals court again? >> right. >> all rise. >> reporter: the indiana supreme court heard the appeal. attorneys stacy uliana and kitty liell stayed on the case. >> these crimes are also connected to. >> reporter: they argued that the evidence that david molested his daughter was pure speculation and should not have been allowed in the trial. >> there's absolutely no evidence at all that camm was the perpetrator of that, right? >> reporter: in 2009, the upper court agreed. >> "conviction's reversed." two words. that's all i needed. >> reporter: a second victory for the camm team. the conviction was overturned, and the judges ordered a new trial. >> statistically, a successful appeal of a first-degree murder charge is a long shot and yet you got it. >> well, i got it twice. that doesn't happen. doesn't happen. you know, if you don't believe in something bigger then you need to really evaluate your spirituality because you know, man, that was a god thing. >> reporter: the third david camm murder trial underway now in boone county, indiana. >> reporter: in august 2013, more than a dozen years after the murders, david camm faced his third jury. a special prosecutor, stan levco, was appointed to represent the state. >> here you're going to start the third trial. how did you appraise your case when it became yours? >> when i first got it, it was just overwhelming. i've tried a lot of cases over the years, a lot of death penalty cases, murder cases. i've never tried anything like this. i've never seen anything this complicated. >> reporter: with no philandering husband, no molesting father what remained was the theory of the crime that david left the basketball game, killed his family, then went back to play some more. once again, the prosecutor argued that the scene in the garage was staged to look like a sex crime. >> and her pants have been removed. >> correct. >> reporter: removed after she'd been killed. what's more, the positioning of kim's body, he argued, was not what you'd expect of a person who'd been shot and fallen. >> her feet are under the car about, i think roughly ten, 12 inches under the car. her legs were at an angle, which seemed unusual. >> unusual how? >> well, they weren't straight. they were at an angle. you just wouldn't expect 'em to be that way. >> reporter: and the infamous sweatshirt, the one that once belonged to charles boney, was also part of the staging the prime ministerer argued. prosecutor argued. >> the placement of the sweatshirt was incriminating. i thought the way it was put there led you to believe that david camm put it there. >> reporter: tucked all too neatly under brad camm's body as though put there on purpose to frame charles boney. remember, no murder weapon was ever found. the heart of the prosecution's case was still that freckling of blood at the bottom of david's shirt. powerful, incriminating evidence. it argued marking david as the shooter. >> the little girl was seat belted on this side as you're looking in. >> reporter: tom bevel, a blood stain pattern analyst, was an expert witness for the prosecution. in a bronco similar to the one owned by the camms, he demonstrated for us where he believes david was wedged inside the car to get those specks of blood on the bottom of his shirt. >> what's a likely posture for the shooter? >> would've been leaned in somewhat like this in order to get the correct trajectory for her. >> now, i noticed your shooting hand is up pretty high. >> it is. >> is that an awkward shot? >> it's not necessarily awkward, but we have to go with the physical evidence. >> it is what it is. >> and the physical evidence isn't like this. >> reporter: but why so few spots? bevel said it's because most of the blowback hit the inside roof of the vehicle. like much of the other evidence, the blood spatter testimony was essentially the same as in the other two trials. what would be enormously different this time was the star witness. the jury was going to hear from charles boney himself. a huge risk for prosecutor levco. >> so you gotta wonder how good this witness boney is gonna be for you, right? >> yes. certainly his credibility was gonna be in question. >> why put him on the stand then? >> i felt like i didn't have a choice. if i didn't put him on the stand i suspect they would have but also i thought the jury oughtta hear it. >> reporter: this is the story that boney told in court. he said he met david camm in july 2000 playing basketball in a local park. we talked to boney in prison. >> it was just a pickup game of basketball. and i didn't know him or really nip there. i just -- i'm fresh out of prison, you know, the scene is different. >> reporter: after the game he said camm was bragging, "talking smack" about how easily he'd beaten boney. >> and at that point, i just said, "well, you know, i may have lost the game, but at least i have my freedom." and he's like, "freedom?" i was like, "yeah, i just got out of prison." >> reporter: he told them he used to be a state trooper. >> at the end of that day, did you know him by name? >> no, i didn't know his full name until our second chance meeting. >> reporter: that meeting was in september, boney said, about a week or so before the murders. they ran into each other at a convenience store and got to talking in the parking lot. >> the gist of our conversation was about, "are you employed?" "are you staying out of trouble?" and then, it evolved into, "well, what types of things did you do to get in prison in the first place?" he was creating his own form of intel. he was learning quite a few things about charles boney. >> reporter: boney told him he'd been inside for robbery. >> and when i slowly started to let him know about some of the things that i did in the past, he asked me, well, are you still able to get untraceable weapons?" "you know can you get an untraceable weapon?" >> untraceable. >> that's, that's what it led to, i'm just --. >> a clean, clean gun. >> a clean gun. >> throwdown gun. >> somethin' that can't be traced by law enforcement and ballistics. >> reporter: so boney said he scored a handgun the same day, met david again in a parking lot and handed over the weapon. he paid boney $250. but one gun wasn't enough as boney's story goes. >> he wants me to deliver yet a second handgun. and so, i followed mr. camm back to his house, i can see visibly exactly where he lives. >> reporter: as boney tells it, they spoke outside the house for just five minutes. boney asked when he should return with the second gun. >> i'm asking this man you know, what time, what time should i be back here?" "well, why don't you come back on thursday at approximately 7:00, etcetera?" so i knew what time to be back. >> so meet me here on thursday night in the evening and you'll have some more cash in your pocket? >> absolutely. >> reporter: it was thursday, september 28, the evening of the murders. >> i arrived at mr. camm's house at approximately 7:00. >> reporter: he said he handed over the gun to camm wrapped in his gray sweatshirt. >> where's this happening? >> right outside the garage. so we exchanged pleasantries and my sole purpose is to simply get the $250 for the second weapon. >> reporter: boney says after a few minutes in the bronco, the wife and kids arrived and pulled into the garage. >> and what happens? >> i hear a little bit of commotion. it just sounds like something's not right. it sounds like they're arguing. and then, all of a sudden, i hear an immediate pop. and before i heard the "pop", i heard her say, "no," and it was -- a commanding, "no," like, "stop," and then, i heard a pop. then i heard the word, "daddy." >> reporter: two more pops followed. >> did you know what that was? >> it sounded like a handgun. >> so, what'd ya think? >> i'm thinkin' that this is a crime scene. >> so do you say, "i've gotta get outta here"? >> i would have liked to had just left, but as he emerged from the garage and pointed the handgun at me, i was frozen. >> oh, so now you're a target? >> absolutely. so he needs to kill charles boney. >> reporter: but the gun jammed. >> at that point, reason says, "i'm outta here." >> well, the thing is once i realize that your gun doesn't have projectiles in it, now my job is to get you. >> you're goin' for him. >> absolutely. >> now, as boney tells it, the scene moved into the garage. >> as i go into the garage, i'm chasing after mr. camm. i heard him say, "you did this." and i took that as, "this is your crime." >> reporter: as camm went inside the house, boney says he saw the victims. the wife down by the car door. he remembers her being fully clothed. then he says he stumbled. >> i trip over shoes. i remember touching these shoes. i clearly touched something that is now a part of what will be a murder scene. so yeah, i did pick 'em up, i did try to wipe 'em off. >> reporter: kim's shoes. he placed them on top of the bronco. then he looked inside the vehicle and says he saw the two children. mindful of leaving dna and prints he says he touched none of the bodies. then he says he heard david moving inside the house. >> and it clicked into my head, "he's goin' for a weapon." i mean, this guy is a former indiana state trooper. >> reporter: at which point he bolted from the scene. >> had i stayed there any longer, there's no doubt he would have killed me and he would have just lied and said to his buddies at the indiana state police, "i came home and i found this black guy." >> reporter: after listening to boney testify, the defense was ready to pounce. >> that's his story. and it makes absolutely no sense. but it explains away all the evidence that they had against him, at the time. but what boney didn't account for was the dna that was gonna be found and he has no story for that. coming up -- >> the story was, of course, i did this, i never touched anybody, clearly not true. >> new dna evidence. >> he had absolutely fought with camm. he touched jill. what is will charles boney have to say now. dear freshpet, tank was overweight and had no energy. until freshpet... put the puppy back in my dog. ♪ your cells. trillions of them. that's why centrum contains 14 key nutrients to help feed your cells, nourishing your body inside and out so you can focus on what matters most. centrum. feed your cells. fuel your life. who've got their eczema under control.rs, with less eczema, you can show more skin. so roll up those sleeves. and help heal your skin from within with dupixent. dupixent is the first treatment of its kind that continuously treats moderate-to-severe eczema, or atopic dermatitis, even between flare ups. dupixent is a biologic, and not a cream or steroid. many people taking dupixent saw clear or almost clear skin, and, had significantly less itch. that's a difference you can feel. don't use if you're allergic to dupixent. serious allergic reactions can occur, including anaphylaxis, which is severe. tell your doctor about new or worsening eye problems, such as eye pain or vision changes, or a parasitic infection. if you take asthma medicines, don't change or stop them without talking to your doctor. so help heal your skin from within. and talk to your eczema specialist about dupixent. >> reporter: the case against david camm, the defense argued, was as preposterous this time around as it was before. who could possibly buy the prosecution's overly complicated theory that david left the basketball game to kill his family? >> there is absolutely no way he could have left that gym. you have to believe that he knew when he was going to get to sit out. he timed it perfectly and so it'd be right at the time he was going to meet charles boney and murder his family. it is beyond belief what he would have had to have put in place, in order for this alibi to have worked. >> i mean, this sounds like a "commandos, synchronize your watches" kind of scenario. >> it's absurd. there's absolutely no commonsense way he could have pulled it off. >> reporter: and camm had a solid alibi. eleven men had seen him playing basketball from a little after 7:00 to about 9:20 that night. there was no one to support any part of the story boney had just told. >> there is not one shred of evidence that puts those two people together. >> reporter: richard kammen was a new face on the defense team. >> and the reason there's nothing there is 'cause it didn't happen. >> reporter: the defense insisted boney was the sole killer in the garage that night and that back in 2000, investigators ignored evidence pointing to the convicted felon. to make that point, the defense called damon fay, a veteran homicide detective who now trains police in how to conduct murder investigations. >> i don't like testifying against other cops. i'm very uncomfortable with it. >> reporter: fay recited flaw after flaw in the camm investigation. the most significant, he said was the handling of boney's sweatshirt. >> when a homicide detective actually gets some physical evidence that it's got somebody's name on it and dna, you hug it, you love it. it is such a rare event. and they thought of it as an artifact. >> which in non-legal terms means "move on, forget about it." this is nothing. >> well, that's right. it would have changed everything. first of all, within two weeks tops, they would have had boney. >> reporter: and fay pointed out other blunders as well. the heavy reliance on the blood spattered t-shirt. >> that is the physical evidence against david camm. >> of all of the crime scene possibilities, the most misinterpreted is blood spatter. you don't hang the entire case just on the interpretation of blood splatter. you've gotta have so much more. >> reporter: the theory of a staged sex crime was flat out wrong. >> they really never probed out the fact that it could be a voyeur or somebody with a panty fetish, or somebody who has just sexually excited at the view of a woman's legs. >> reporter: someone, say, who fit the profile of charles boney. >> big problem, because the suspect that they don't know about, and won't know about for about 5-years has complete personality reflected in that crime scene up to the point of how kim was found. >> reporter: and remember a boney palmprint had also been found on the bronco. more evidence, the defense said that he was the killer. >> so here we have a 90's era ford bronco. defense expert eugene liscio, an engineer who reconstructs crime scenes showed us how the palmprint would have been left by the shooter. >> it really is just as simple as reaching into the vehicle like this to make a shot for jill and then for bradley you would lean over a bit more and fire a shot this way. >> i noticed that you braced yourself. >> yeah. here, and this is where crime tooen techs find a palmprint? >> yes they did, they found a palmprint up in this particular area. but it makes perfect sense that if you're leaning in you want to be able stabilize yourself, especially if you're making a shot. >> reporter: and now the defense had fresh scientific evidence that boney actually put his hands on two of the victims. >> boney's story, of course, was "i ran in." "i -- i did this." "i never touched anybody." clearly not true. >> reporter: there is something in the field of dna analysis called touch dna. lab experts use human cells to make an identifying hit on a suspect. touch dna from boney's skin cells was found on kim camm's sweater, her underwear, and on her daughter, jill's shirt. >> the dna conclusively proves that he absolutely fought with kim, that he touched jill. >> reporter: and the defense hoped its cross examination of boney would be still more proof. camm had to steel himself to watch boney on the stand. >> you're looking at him. >> right. there was no way for me to actually prepare myself for that. and it was a situation where i really had to think about what was at stake. and doing what was right in that moment. having to sit and there and look at this guy that i knew killed my family and not react. >> reporter: the defense said boney's story was absurd. for starters: why would an ex-cop ask an ex-con for a gun? >> the police officer doesn't think, "well, how can i trust this guy?" "he's a criminal." and the guy who just got out of prison doesn't smell a rat. he doesn't think, "maybe i'm being set up?" it makes absolutely no sense. >> reporter: the defense took on boney's story in cross examination. we had some of the same questions when we spoke to him. >> how many versions did it take to get to the story you just told, charles? what, three, four, five times, maybe? >> yes. i finally realized that the more i keep lying, i'm just digging myself deeper and deeper." "i'm not gonna get out of it." and when i did finally start tellin' the truths about things, i didn't feel comfortable revealing too much too soon because i didn't wanna be a part of the case to begin with. so once again i resorted to telling a lot of stories. >> the big picture here, charles, for a lotta people, is that is sounds like a crock. that a felon, just out of the slammer would hook up with a recently retired state police officer and do this gun exchange. it just doesn't seem to make sense. it doesn't pass the sniff test. >> there's a lotta things about this case that don't make sense. >> if i were you i would have alarms goin' off inside my head. here you are, on probation, how do you know that this former cop is really a former cop and he's not setting you with a sting? >> although that did cross my mind and i had concerns about it, there was somethin' about him. if you've spent any time with mr. camm, he has a way of putting you at ease, he has a way of making you feel like he's legit and everything's okay. and plus i didn't care what the gun was for. >> you've provided this former trooper with weapons, he was on a special weapons team with the indiana state police. >> he was s.w.a.t. >> so theoretically here, this premeditated crime, he's gonna trust a handgun that's come off the street that he hasn't checked out, he's just unwrapped it from the sweatshirt and immediately used it for his business. >> well, it was. it was the gun. those are questions that i can't possibly answer. why did he want me there at the crime scene? we know why, because he wanted me to take the blame for all of this. >> reporter: so as boney tells it, the transaction happens, he delivers the gun, hears the gunfire in the garage, and then david tries to shoot him. >> why don't you just belt right outta there? >> if you point a weapon at me, even on a prison level. if a guy comes at me with a shank, i'm gonna get that shank from him and then it's my turn; it's that simple. i'm just gonna put it out there, i can't get into any trouble, my intent was to kill david camm that day. you tried to kill me and now i'm gonna kill you. but before i had a chance to kill him, i stumbled across this beautiful woman, dead, lifeless on the ground. >> reporter: then, boney said, he stumbled over the woman's shoes, and took the time to place them on top of the bronco. >> but then you're down on the floor, the way you tell it. you've tripped -- >> yeah, i did. i tripped over the shoes. >> and then your emotions are going wild, this guy's tried to kill ya, you're in a crime scene, you're gonna stop, we have to believe that you could say, "oh, shoes, i gotta put these now on top of the vehicle." charles, doesn't make any sense. doesn't make any sense. >> no, no, no, see, here's the thing, i'm wiping the shoes off and i see one little leg or somethin' hanging out the passenger side, i go to investigate to see if there's anyone else in the back of the vehicle. and when i leaned into look, i put the shoes on top. i don't even remember doing it. >> reporter: doesn't remember doing it and he says doesn't know why. >> i wasn't thinking about why i did that, but i was cognizant and really thinking about the dna or possible fingerprints from having tripped and touched those shoes. >> but you know, that palmprint, charles, is just where you would brace yourself to lean across to shoot at that little boy. >> that's according to defense expert witnesses. you gotta understand, the prosecution has that same evidence, they don't see it that way. >> but what i'm saying is, if you're so concerned about tidying up why would you be so clumsy as to leave a big ol' hand print on the vehicle? >> i -- i leaned in to check on the children, what i seen there was horrifying. i'm not worried about that palmprint, i didn't even realize i left a palmprint. do you think that if i had have known i wouldn't have taken the time to wipe it off? i wanted to just get out of there. >> did you touch any of the victims charles? >> no, i did not. >> reporter: so how does he explain his touch dna on kim and jill camm's clothes? >> i've touched david camm, we've shook hands, and he handled my sweatshirt. my skin cells are clearly on him. so anything that he touches can be transferred. >> reporter: while the defense couldn't tell the jury about boney's past, the foot fetish and the armed robberies, we knew the record and asked him about it. >> when people understand your criminal history, the fetishes, what happened in that garage, it does seem to fit your appetites. >> well -- >> this is this guy's history just played out on a violent scale that he'd never been through before. >> well, first of all, my history does not consist of killing women, shooting people period. i've not ever had anything like that in my past. yes, i've been in possession of handguns. yes, when i was 20 years old, i did some armed robberies for cash. >> chars, let me put this to you directly, were you in the garage that night with the gun in your hand, taking control of kim camm? >> no, sir. >> kids started to cry, i told you to shut up, shoot the wife when she comes after you? >> richard kammen's theory is totally wrong, it never happened. >> in your panic, forget the sweatshirt, forget about trophies of the shoes that maybe you were gonna take later, but for the first time this sex fetish itch that you have has gotten totally out of control and you've massacred a family. did you do that? charles boney, did you kill that family? >> no, sir. in fact, that's the most ridiculous thing i've ever heard, a guy with a foot fetish kills an entire family just to satisfy his foot fetish in a place where he's never been before? it never happened. >> what are you hoping the jury hears today? >> i have no comment, sir. >> reporter: with boney as the wild card, david camm's third trial came to an end after nine weeks. >> it's over. right now, just waiting for the verdict. would the jury believe the tale they'd heard? the felon duped into a crime scene by the ex cop? for the third time in thirteen-years, his fate was in their hands. coming up -- >> i was scared to death. i could not button my shirt or fix my tie and collar. the deputies had to help me. >> verdict number three. would anyone dare predict what this one would be? >> everybody kind of had that same feeling, but none of us had the nerve to utter it. >> when ho continues. wow, that's... and now the progressive commercial halftime show, featuring smash mouth. ♪ hey now, you're an all star ♪ get your game on, go play thank you! goodnight! [ cheers and applause ] now enjoy the second half of the commercial! even renters can bundle and save! where did that come from? the kitchen. it was halftime. protect your pet with the #1 name in flea and tick protection. frontline plus. trusted by vets for nearly 20 years. sensitivity it's very common frontline plus. to have a gum health concern as well. but if you have sensitive teeth, you probably aren't going to brush your teeth as effectivity because it causes pain. and if you see blood you should do something about it. you know, i talk to dentists every day and they're able to recommend one product, new sensodyne sensitivity & gum, to address both conditions at the same time. if we only treat one versus the other, the patient's mouth is never going to be where it needs to be. it's really good dentistry to be able to recommend one product for patients that can address two conditions. >> reporter: the jury in david camm's third trial had the case. for two families, there was nothing to do but wait. the renns, kim's parents, wanted nothing more than to hear the word guilty again. the new evidence had not changed their minds. you believe david killed your daughter and the kids? >> yes. that will never change. >> why isn't boney's presence enough to explain everything that happened in that garage? >> it just didn't. there's just too many other things. >> there's too many stories been told on both sides and, you know, i don't believe neither one of them are telling the truth. >> we have gotten word that a verdict has been reached. >> reporter: the jury took ten hours to reach a verdict. >> i said, "well, it has to be guilty." i mean, i wasn't expecting anything but guilty. >> reporter: prosecutor stan levco's glass was half-full or better. >> i thought we had a decent chance. i thought it could go either way. but i thought the trial went really well. >> reporter: but kim's mom was worried. >> i was scared because ten-week trial and you're only out ten hours. and i had a really bad feeling from the beginning that it was going to be not guilty. >> reporter: david, in a holding cell, got ready, shaking violently. >> i literally could not fix, button my shirt or fix my tie and my collar and so on. the deputies had to help me. >> reporter: his family, the lockharts, were heartened by a relatively fast deliberation. >> everybody kind of had that same feeling of this. might be good. but none of us had the nerve to utter it. you know it. you know, because you don't want to say that. because the hurt. the pain when they say guilty is so devastating. >> reporter: and then it was time. julie was breathless, waiting for just one tiny word. >> i'd been kind of trying to practice in my head, what will it sound like to hear the word "not"? not. you know, we had always heard guilty. so i'd kind of just fantasized about hearing that word. >> reporter: and that's exactly what she, and everybody else in the courtroom, heard that day. the word "not." as in "not guilty." once, twice, three times. >> you hear the first one and then you hear the second one and you're praying to god you hear the third one. and that's when i lost it, you know. knowing finally. finally the truth has prevailed. justice for kim and brad and jill, for me, for my family. and i just fell to pieces. >> reporter: not guilty. not guilty. >> reporter: thirteen years. >> times three. yes, sir. thirteen years. thirteen years of hell. >> everybody around me, i looked, was crying. dave was bawling. i just sat there. i think i was finally, "sam, we've got this thing done. finally." >> reporter: for the other side, the parents, the grandparents, the verdict was a devastating blow. >> when they said "not guilty," that kind of like, ripped my heart out right there. i mean, like, this can't -- this can't be right. what did these jurors see that the other 24 jurors in the past didn't see? you know, he was convicted twice by 24 different people and these 12 people seen something that they didn't see? >> david, can you tell me how you're feeling right now? >> reporter: outside, the cameras were waiting. >> this is complete vindication after 13 horrific years. >> this is a miracle. my situation is a miracle that we are here, conducting this interview right now. it, god literally had to move a mountain to make this happen. >> reporter: but that mountain would never have moved without dedicated attorneys. and uncle sam lockhart. >> there had been a lot of people saying the only reason i'm doing this is because dave's my nephew. well, that's a big reason. absolutely. but i know he's innocent. he didn't do it. and the only thing i knew to do then was to continue to fight until we reached the solution that was proper. >> reporter: finally, the david camm case, a case that had dominated the news in southern indiana for years, was over. your name will be clean again. but, you know, there are still going to be people that are going to point at you and whisper and say, "that's the guy that got away with killing his family." >> you know what? i can't help those -- those people. if they choose to be ignorant, that's on them. i've had 13 years of my life taken away from me. and it's their problem if they choose to be ignorant. and it is a choice. >> reporter: for those who knew and loved kim, brad, and jill, there remains a yearning to know what might have been. for the wife and mother. for the two young children. >> no telling what kim might have been. where she could have been. what the kids have been doing. we lost all that. dave lost all that. >> reporter: david camm says he'll never get over the pain of what happened in the garage that night. >> the pain becomes a part of you. and you live with it. and it's an element of who i am, you know? and, you know, how i live my life. >> reporter: on the day of the verdict, as a security precaution, sheriff's deputies drove david to a pre-arranged truck stop and turned him over to his waiting uncle sam. >> that was the moment he was really free, wasn't it? >> think so. i think it finally hit him and it hit me. like, this guy is no longer in shackles. this guy is with me. he is now ready to go start his life. >> it's me and one man, leaving together, heading home. i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." >> we were in love. >> they were so happy at first. sharing a lover's perch high atop a cliff. but romance turned to danger. she fell from the edge. >> i would call this an accidental death. >> but whas it? >> she said if anything happens to me, you'll know who did it. >> a mystery of nearly 20 years heads into court. and the husband is on the precip precipes