Was this drowning an accident . She had a huge gash on her head. A husband and father is under suspicion. Hes trying and we are crying and he said i think i hurt mom. Three daughters standby her dad and when prosecutors stand firm. Hes holding his knife three deck car decades under water. Was it murder . Hello and welcome to dateline extra, i am craig melvin. Straight out of the Alfred Hitchcock film. A young woman pierced into a womans yard and see something for a few seconds and the moment thats unsettling. Was it some kind of an accident or a crime or a murder . What she saw or what she did would set in motion of a chain of events that would divide a family and a jury. Here is keith morris. We know the truth and we know everything that happened. How do we know what we know . Emotionally unsatisfying not to have that answer. So it is. Even if we have seen something or if we think we have, and thats the question at the heart of the whole puzzle. Is this woman right . I know what i saw. I know the conclusion of the story. Of course, she does, of course, she does. Why does this other woman think this . She does not know what she saw. T why dont we begin here . Cala mesa, california. Strolling suburbs creeping out in the Green Mountains of los angeles. Here is where chris and Christie Hall have come to live out their golden years. Theyre experiencing life and each other. It has always been chris and christie. They never thought of separate and their unit. These are the three daughters, kourtney, briana and ashton is the youngest. All of them, of course, have hard of the story of how their parents met. It was 1978, christie seen a relative at the airport and near by San Bernardino. She was there and encountered a security guard, who to her at least looks just like elvis. It was christopher hall. Apparently, she was flirty at the gate. Chris and christie got married and she was 17 and he was 20. As the girls grew up, they said they never doubted that the powerful bond of love their parents were then with each other. I am closer to my parents than most children. Theyre the parents that i hope to one day be. Christie the vibratious glue of the family. My dad is kicked back and relaxed and quiet. For years, chris hall was a Police Officer in San Bernardino until he was shot in the line of duty. He went off to become police chief and two small towns in idaho. In 2005, he got a retirement and the hall bought this place back in calamesa which they love. And life in the spring of 2007 seems to hit a sweet spot as they remember their mother telling her. We just lay in bed with her and just started talking. She said i am so happy that i have you girls and dad. It was kind of like those conversations that you dont have everyday. Still, there was work to be done. It was not a new house, could use some remodelling. Particularly the bathroom. Kourtney was still living with her parents as the work began. Theyre going to be doing the tile work and absolutely would not have a shower that day. They decided to wake up early and put on their bathing suits and rinse off tat spa before the contractor arrives. It was june 7, 2007. Chris got up first and turned on the spa and warm it up and called briana. Here is your wake up call, babe. Back at the house, kourtney dove through her first wake up while chris and christie went outside the spa. After 6 30, chris looked in on kourtney again, second call and head back to the spa. 6 37 a. M. I got up out of bed and i was putting on my robe and i heard this panic, panic scream for my dad yelling for me and i ran to the back porch and i saw him. Just trying to pull out my mom out of the spa. She and her father struggled to lift her mother out of the spa. It was the first moment of the worst day of our lives. Is it possible for people to understand what it was like in the situation . To see and both your parents in the worst times that you ever seen, obviously, my mom unconscious and my dad just panicked and for the first time in my life seeing him just that way not knowing what to do. He was a cop. Hes used to deal with those kinds of things. With people that were not his wife. So kourtney took charge. After calling 911, she started cpr with her mother and father. Etm firefighter, eric norwood was the first to respond. He was like help my wife, help my wife. So hysterical it was hard for the emt to help. It took a little bit to get out of the way. He was just holding her hand and yelling her name. The paramedics worked on christie for more than 20 minutes and no vital signs. None. No words to describe and the fear and the anxiety. You are losing your mother. Yeah, and watching her go, right . We tried to Stay Together and we could not. The ambulance rushed her off to the hospital where he declared dead and she had drown in her familys spa. Maybe not so private after all. Someone was watching. E, captain thanks but i dont need luck, i have skills. I dont have my keys. on intercom all hands. We are looking for the captains keys again. They are on a silver carabiner. Oh, this is bad. As long as people misplace their keys, you can count on geico saving folks money. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. Essential for vinyl, but maybe not for people with rheumatoid arthritis. Because there are options. Like an unjection™. Xeljanz xr. A once daily pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. Xeljanz xr can reduce pain, swelling and further joint damage, even without methotrexate. Xeljanz xr can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections, lymphoma and other cancers have happened. Dont start xeljanz xr if you have an infection. 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They could not because father and daughter were escorted in separate squad cars and driven to the Police Station to talk about the accident. What was the ride like . Quiet. I could not comfort my father and he could not comfort me. Chris so frenzy to the scene have calmed down by then. He was a cop among cops after all. He understood what was necessary to help them sort out what happened. I cannot start to imagine what you are going through oh . Ju. Happy to help, he said. Whatever gets him back home to comfort his daughter as quickly as possible. Chris told investigators what happened and how courtney slept and he and christie were in the spa bathing. S she got out and went in and went in to the bathroom and got more coffee. She came back down. As christie return to the spa, they passed each other on the patio. He went into the house and stop by courtneys room to make sure shes awake and went back outside and sawing his wife faced down on the spa. He called courtney and began a frantic effort to revive her. From what . A fall . Must have been. I am thinking she slept in or something. Chris, apparently had not notice the three inch laceration and here suddenly the point of the Police Interview is revealed. The gash she had on her head. Shes got a gash . Shes got a huge gash on her head. Something like that is not consistent of just falling down . Why would the police think that . You have been around for a while. I know where you are going. Why in fact this ex police chief being questioned at all of the apparently disasterous accident that killed his life. The answer was right next door. When christie and chris hall took a bath, someone was watching. I got up at 6 00 and got my coffee. Lyndsey patterson was on leave from her job from the Navy Visiting her mom who lives just the backyard. Lyndsey was inside in the bathroom that faced away from the hall house and out on the street. It was a horrible scream. It was something was wrong kind of scream. A womans she thought . She went outside to tell her mom and i said did you hear that scream . And she said, yeah. But, i think it is kids playing in the pool. Kids at 6 00 something in the morning . She stepped on the planters she said and looked over the wall. At that point, i saw a man with his hand, one hand on top of a womans head and one hand on her back and she was faced down in the water. Like something going on . Yes, thats what i assumed. Thats she thought she was looking at a sex act in progress. I dont know why it didnt seemed right but something made me want to look again. 90 seconds between her first and second look. This time she said she only saw the man in the spa. Hes leaning back and relaxed in the hot tub but i dont see her. He had his elbow back and kind of looking around like nothing. Where did the woman go . Lyndsey told her mom something seems strange. She told me lyndsey, stop being nosey and stop worrying about it. It did not seem right. It was not enough time for her to gotten out and gone outside the house. She went to the wall again, her third and final look. At that point, he was getting out of the jacuzzi and he was in a big rush and shes still nowhere to be seen. The look on his face was almost undescribable. It was almost like he had gone into another world. It was scary. It was instinct that told her something was wrong, said lynn neona lyndsey. She called 911. So now hours and hours later, detectives confronted chris of lyndseys story. Didnt her story match his . So am i supposed to believe that the witness is lying . I am not saying shes lying. I mean i dont know, you know . I cannot explain what she said she saw. The question we pose as we began. Did Lyndsey Patterson really know what she saw . Every tv doctor knows when preparing for surgery, use an overpronounced washing technique for dramatic effect. They also know you need to get your annual checkup. Now prepare for your checkup with one touch using the mycigna app, where you can find a doctor in your plans network to save money, manage your health, and more. Need to be thorough. Cigna. Together all the way. When heartburn hits fight back fast with tums chewy bites. Fast relief in every bite. Crunchy outside. Chewy inside. Tum tum tum tum tums chewy bites. After his wifes drowning death, police asked chris hall to explain what happened that morning. Chris did not know that his neighbor also talked to police and she told a different story than the one chris was telling. Here again is keith morris. Chris and christies hall three daughters all clung together of the worst of all day, june 7th, 2007, waiting for their father to return from the Police Station. They wondered why was it taking so long. The phone rang and they had their answer. Broken up words hes crying and we are crying and thats thought when he said that they think i hurt mom, he was very upset. He did not sound surprise . Hes crying. He was very upset. At the time, Police Investigators questioning chris, they heard Lyndsey Patterson. That specifically me holding her down in there and there is nothing that took place in that gentlem jacuzzi. There was no sex or i dont think we had any contact in the jacuzzi. Investigators were getting a good look at christies body of wounds of struggles and more than one nasty blow on the head. Police had to choose which version, chris hall or lyndseys patterson of the truth story. Tom doug is the senior investigator of the da. I think they felt that this was not an accidental drowning. It was suspicious. Before the night was over. Chris hall was arrested and charged with the murder of his wife, the girls could stop waiting. He was not coming home. It was a tragedy losing our mother that day and this was a tragedy on top of our tragedy now. Knowing our parents, the fondest thing. Christie was the love of their fathers life after all. The center of everything for him. How they wanted anyone so happy of his marriage and his life be accused of harming her. She was happy, too. As happy as she ever been. They knew what she said between the mother daughters talk they had. She kept on saying how happy she was. But, of course, we did not think much of it. That kind of burnt into your memories. Right or wrong, the legal triggers. Chris hall spent two months in jail until his daughters received the pay out from christies bail out and used the money to meet his 1 million bail. He went back to his retreat to prepare with the help of his daughters for a murder trial thats surprising to have a client out on bail of a murder trial. These are attorneys that defended him. You said two things. A special man and special situation. This is a man that we like and know and we dont feel he could have done anything like this. Chris hall and his daughters prepared for the trial which would make clear for anybody, that chris would not and did not harm the love of his life. There was never in 30 years of marriage, never one moment of violence. There was no motive for this man to kill his wife. Harmon and gretch and had to look at pattersons account. She saw three snapshots and what is missed by everyone is the wife getting into the jacuzzi, slipping, falling into the jacuzzi and hitting her head and going unconscious and drowning. See the sharp corner sticking out in the spa, hitting your head on this would open a gash and knock christie out. Sthoo s sth. She did not see what really happened. Lyndsey pointed out was in the bathroom facing the streets. She was not in the backyard when she heard it. Kourtney inside the spa did not hear a thing. We all think that shes lying. Anyway, lyndsey to a certain degree did not know what she was seeing in the glimpses that morning. Something was wrong. And yet you have not seen it. No, but i knew something was wrong. I dont know if in my brain if i was putting things together but from between the screen and the position he was pulling her and just not having enough time for her to have gone inside. So you kind of got three different snapshots something going on there. Right. And had that work out of what it was. I was not thinking at that point that oh, this man is murdering his wife. Based on that account, chris ha hall, would go on trial for murder and it was a trial for his daughters, too. He loved her. They were each others best friend. It is not fair to him, he loved her more than anyone. And yet the prosecutor was trying to prove that this family man and former cop murdered his wife. Could it be done . With advils fast relief, youll ask, what pulled muscle . What headache . Nothing works faster to make pain a distant memory. Advil liquigels and advil liquigels minis. What pain . Adwhen heartburn hits and advil liquigels minis. Fight back fast with tums chewy bites. Fast relief in every bite. Crunchy outside. Chewy inside. Tum tum tum tum tums chewy bites. Nice man cave nacho . [ train whistle blows ] what . stop it mmhmm. Weve been saving a lot of money ever since we switched to progressive. This bar is legit. And now we get an even bigger discount from bundling home and auto. I can get used to this. It might take a minute. Swing and a miss slam dunk touchdown together sports guatemala is following the u. S. To jerusalem. The mayor of bethel ham says the recent violent may contributed a smaller crowd celebrating christmas eve, celebrating the birthplace of jesus. Now, back to dateline extra. Chris hall was charged in the drowning death of his wife christie. Halls daughters stood by him proclaiming his innocence. Would anything change their minds about their dad . Here again is keith morris. A hard charging man, a man of Good Standing at the san franciscos das office, senior da of riverside. That takes skills and persuasive power. The murder case against the former police chief and family man, chris hall. Mr. Hall on the surface of what looks like a loving family man and a good father. Hes somebody that had the support of his family. So he did. No, when he heard about chris halls grief and the whaling that went on after this socalled accident. What caused his mind is an act. It is a wonderful performance by the defendant acting like a good husband. When you look at his action, how little he did to help his wife . Who tried harder to save christie . Not chris, said the prosecutor. She called 911 and she helped him out of the spa. What did he find . This man had an uncandid amendment to fabrica ability to fabricate stories. He was charged and convicted of misused of public money. He spent ten months in jail. What struck the prosecutor is hall tried to cover it up. To plan a fraud and lie about it and not lie about it but effectively. That tells about who we are dealing with. The suddenly, the prosecutors prospect looking better. At the trial, strutsky made patterson to testify. And the meru, and the type of bruising on christies face and body was a hallmark of homicide. Fatality injury were not consistent. There was a clump of hair in the bottom of the spa with a broken plastic hair clip. Only have come from a violent struggle. To lose that amount of hair, it is not explained by any kind of fall. There were some minor hiccups in the case. Lyndsey patterson was a little inconsistent about how long she looked over the backyard floor of the first time she saw. Was it a few second or as long as a minute . Either way said the prosecutor, s lyndsey was sure she saw physical contact. He was given the opportunity explaining any physical contact that could explain what Lyndsey Patterson saw. Were they washing each other or a sex act or was there anything that she could have miss interpreted and at the end of the day, you are not just stuck with the fact that Lyndsey Patterson made a mistake. You have to believe that lyndsey patter southern hallucinated everything that she saw . What made lyndsey story more convincing said the prosecutor was she told before finding out what happened to christie. She dialled 911 a full minute and a half before any one in the hall did. Here is what the jury heard her say in the call. She was still on the phone with 911 when chris came outside and found his wifes body calling out for courtney. Investigators, tom doug. I heard it best describe during the child as a cosmic coincidence that someone could see it. It turned out to be true that a woman is drown