Transcripts For WCAU Dateline NBC 20170313

A loving mom murdered by the foster daughter shed opened her home to. What no one could understand was why. Something else had to have been at play here. Indeed, this case was about to get a lot more complicated. Stories of a diabolical plot brewing behind closed doors. This is really just betrayal on top of betrayal, on top of betrayal, isnt it . And an obsession that would not be denied. It was like i want this. This is how im going to get it. Im lester holt. And this is dateline. Heres josh mankowitz with deadly betrayal. There comes a time in most cops careers when they see something so horrific, theyll do just about anything to forget it. Even though deep down, they know they never will. For officer randy mullinex that moment came in november, 2012, on a call to chagrin drive in Willoughby Hills, ohio. Have you ever had a scene like this before . Never. Ive never seen a crime scene like that, and i hope i never have to again. It was bad. Finding out what happened that night on chagrin drive and why would ultimately lead investigators on a journey that would reveal accusations of a diabolical murder plot and a series of betrayals that tore apart an american family. That journey would begin when this house of horrors was still the loving home of lisa and kevin. A couple whose friends describe as destined to be together from the moment they met. I remember her talking about him, and she had nothing but great things to say. Lisas Close Friends kalene and carl lessman were the unofficial chaperones of lisa and kevins first date. They come in, and he is fabulous. We got along right away. I mean, he fit right in, seriously. I can totally see why she was drawn to him. You really can. Kevin was just as drawn to lisa, according to her sister chris ann sutton. I remember kevin telling me he met somebody and her names lisa and i think i really like her. She liked to have fun just like kevin, very family oriented. And good for him . Very good for him. Both kevin and lisa had been married before. And both had children. Lisa had megan. Kevin had cody. Kevin was always good with children. Linda cover is a family friend whos known kevin all his life. Good father. Good father. Dedicated father . Absolutely, absolutely. Kevin was a jack of many trades. A truck driver, a school bus driver, an emergency medical technician. Lisa dedicated her life to social work, helping and caring for sexually abused kids. Kalene was one of lisas coworkers. She just wanted to help people. We work in a sex abuse unit, and thats a very difficult subject that a lot of people cant deal with, but she really prided herself on being able to help these families and being able to make a difference. Everyone admired lisas selflessness, her friend carrie ward also worked with lisa. She took in foster kids while she was a single parent and was raising her own daughter by herself. That feels like sort of going the extra mile and then some. She did. She was always there to help anybody that needed. Admirable. Yes, very much so. One year after kevin and lisa met, they married. The wedding itself, i mean, was fabulous. The reception was great. Did you think this marriage was going to be it for kevin . Oh, absolutely, absolutely. There was no question in my mind. A year and a half later, lisa and kevin announced the arrival of a baby of their own, hailey. Lisa was on top of the world. Megan she loved like crazy, of course. But she really wanted another child. But lisa felt she had more to give. Two yearte she decided to invite 16yearold fo c zunich into her home and to make sabrina part of the family. I met sabrina almost immediately when she came to the house. I remember her saying i finally have a family. Everything was going really well. She fit right into the family. Lisa, i mean, couldnt talk highly enough about her. But the happy times from that blended and now extended family would come to a catastrophic end on that november back in 2012 when lisa knoefle was brutally stabbed in her home. When i heard it was lisa and who did it, i couldnt believe it. It was like, youre kidding me. A devoted mom attacked in her own home, enough to shock any family but the story behind this crime would leave them nothing less than shattered. The blade was actually bent. I just started shaking my head because i couldnt it takes a lot to bend a knife blade. Who could have felt enough rage to do that and why . Is that ice cream . No, its, uh breyers gelato indulgences. It looks like ice cream. Its not. Can i have some . You really wouldnt like it. Its got caramel and crunchy stuff. I like caramel and crunchy stuff. Its not for kids. Im a grownup. Breyers gelato indulgences. Creamy gelato, rich caramel, topped with crunchy curls. Its way beyond ice cream. Better than a manual, and my hygienist says it does. But. 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Geico motorcycle, great rates for great rides. Your true self is never lost. Breathe deeply. You dont have to find yourself. Just let yourself in. The new atmosphere collection. Fine Home Fragrance by glade. Sc johnson, a family company. The love and hope that marked the knoefels newly blended family vanished forever on a cold november night in 2012. 911, what is your emergency . At about 1 00 a. M. , the Willoughby Hills Police Received a 911 call from the knoefel house. Youre going to kill my mom, please. The caller was the 13yearold daughter megan. She said her mother lisa was being brutally stabbed right before her eyes. Stabbing my mom with a knife. Who has a knife . I have a female yelling on the phone someone else has a knife. Megan was screaming, yelling at somebody to stop, youre killing her. Youre hurting her. Why are you doing this . Oh, my god. In the background, lisa can be heard, pleading for help. Call 911. What is going on . Oh, my god. Its chilling to listen to. Youre going to have to take a deep breath. I cannot understand you. My moms going to die. First responding officer randy mullinex arrived at the knoefel home and found megan frantic at the front door. Shes waving her hands, you need to hurry, hurry. Mullinex learned Kevin Knoefel was away on business leaving lisa, megan, hailey and their foster daughter sabrina at home. Worstcase scenario was going through my head. What am i going to see . How bad is this going to be . It was far worse than he could have imagined. Out of the master bedroom came the knoefels 18yearold foster daughter sabrina holding a knife. It looked like she literally showered in blood. Mullinex ordered sabrina to the ground where she was cuffed. He then went to the bedroom where he found lisa knoefel on the floor. I could barely even see flesh color. There was that much blood on her. I knew there was nothing i can do. The coroner would later determine lisa had been stabbed and cut at least 178 times. Sabrinas weapon was a 15inch bread knife. The blade was actually bent. I just started shaking my head because i couldnt it takes a lot to bend a knife blade. With Sabrina Zunich now booked and in the lockup, detective Ron Parmertor began the investigation. This wasnt a case where you had to wonder who was responsible. Thats correct. We knew right away it was the foster daughter. This looked like a case that could be shut as quickly as it opened. But if that were true, we wouldnt be telling you the story. This turned out to be one of the most unusual cases weve come across. Police would end up investigating not just who but why with answers as stunning as they were disturbing. As dawn broke that cold november morning, the detective began with his perpetrator, Sabrina Zunich. I first noticed she was a very small girl, very frail girl. Sabrina started describing the moments leading up to the murder. She had had a migraine, she said. While everyone else slept, she walked into the knoefels bath to get some ibuprofen, and that, she said, is where her memory went blank. You didnt think anybody could stab somebody that many times and not remember any part of it. No, i mean i tried all different ways for her to come out and tell me what really happened and she was not giving it up. And then sabrina asked for an attorney, bringing parmertors interrogations to an abrupt and frustrating halt. You thought whatever else were going to get, its not going to come from her. Exactly. So parmertor consulted those who arguably knew this teenaged ward of the state better than anyone, sabrinas social workers. She had some issues with her family growing up. Her grandma took custody of her about the age of 3. Case manager nicole core said sabrina struggled with having been abandoned by her parents at a very early age. She ended up in the juvenile system after stealing from her grandmother to pay for drugs and alcohol. She worked a lot in counseling, how to cope and how to manage with everything she was going through. Eventually, nicole helped place sabrina into the knoefel home. She just wanted to be a part of something, a part of a family. I know thats what she wanted more than anything. So when she was told about being placed with the knoefels, she was ecstatic. It turned out the knoefels loving care was just what she needed. She was going to class. Getting good grades. I think sabrina really was thriving in their home. Which made the news that it was sabrina who had brutally stabbed lisa all the more baffling. I still cant see the sabrina that i know being violent towards anyone, let alone what she did. Something else had to have been at play here. Detective Ron Parmertor was thinking the same way. He wanted to talk to kevin about what that Something Else might be, but he held off. I was giving him his space because i thought he needed time to deal with the tragic death of his wife. According to his sister, chris ann, kevin was an emotional wreck when he heard what happened. Im sure that there was some guilt because he worked nights, and he wasnt home. Hes like, i never thought this would happen. Did you think he had anything to do with this . No. And you could definitively prove that kevin wasnt even in the house at the time. Absolutely. Kevin was on the ohiomichigan border at the time. Still, parmertor felt kevin might hold the key to solving the riddle of this case. Why keep going . You got your suspect and shes got the weapon in her hand. Just doing my job as a detective. I was trying to find out why. It was the one central question that continued to plague detective parmertor and drive him forward. Youre crossing your fingers and thinking we really need a break. Yes. And then one day it arrives . One day sabrina decides that she wants to tell us what happened. And the story sabrina ultimately told was far more complicated and twisted than anyone could have imagined. Coming up, investigators hear stories about tensions in the knoefels seemingly happy home. Triggered by sabrinas odd behavior. It made lisa uncomfortable. Lisa wasnt happy with it, no. Though sabrina says she wasnt the cause of problems in the house but the victim. News of lisa knoefels bloody murder cut through Willoughby Hills, ohio, like a blistering winter wind. I was shocked. Lisa was a nice person. She was a good mom. She was a good wife. For someone of that much beauty and that much giving of herself to just be taken from us like that, its just just too much. Finding out that the foster daughter lisa welcomed into her home ended up committing lisas murder only added to the collective pain and suffering. Betrayal is the perfect word for what happened. I mean, somebody hurting her that she had taken in. I just cant even imagine what she must have been going through. As detective Ron Parmertor worked the case, he learned there had been growing tension within the knoefel home right before the murder. And the source of that tension was sabrina. She got along great with kevin and she did not get along well at all with lisa. Parmertor discovered lisa had become frustrated with sabrinas behavior toward kevin. She was fascinated with kevin. She seemed a little vivacious in my eyes. Flirty. Uhhuh. Like flaunting herself. And parmertor learned from texts on lisas cell phone that sabrinas flirty behavior had begun to take its toll on lisa and kevins marriage. Sabrina was demanding kevins time and kevin was making himself available, too available as far as lisa was concerned. You have one actual text from lisa to kevin in which shes saying youre getting too close to sabrina. Yes. In fact, lisa wrote, cut the damn cord. Spending too much time with her and less with your real family. Thanks a lot. Lisa also became concerned she a lwasnt happy with it, no. Things that everybody agrees onn fascinated with hailey. She was. I think she was infatuated with the whole family, and she wanted to be biologically in that family. Parmentor learned that just weeks before the murder, tension between lisa and sabrina had ths under the knoefel roof, sabrina was told it was time to pack up and get out. Got very upset, knew that lisa was the one initiating that action and what, snapped . Yes. But right now six months aft murder, the investigation took. Parmertor learned sabrina was ready to talk. She starts temill down her f. Sabrina told dateline the same story she told police. The story of a young girl bouncing through the foster care system, always dreaming of a better life. I wanted a new beginning to and to put all the past behind me. I wanted that that picket white fence, the dinner on the table with siblings and, you know, something i never had. I wanted that structure of a family. So when the knoefels opened their door to sabrina, it was a dream come true. My First Impression of kevin was caring father, somebody that was willing to. You know, get to know me and want to know me. And then there was lisa. My relationship with lisa, it was at first good. We would all spend time together. We would go swimming in the backyard. I felt a part of the family. Then sabrina confirmed what parmertor had already heard. The good times quickly came to an end when sabrina and lisa started arguing. According to sabrina, lisa began thinking of her as more foster than daughter. And sabrina didnt like that. I felt like the outsider. I felt kind of abandoned in a certain type of way and not accepted. Sabrina admitted her close relationship with both kevin and hailey had become a major source of friction with lisa. She doesnt like the fact of how im acting with hailey and wouldnt let hailey come around me. Not even give me a hug at night. It really it hurt me. And then came the moment when sabrina said lisa told her it was time to go. She was very blunt about it. And she was like, im sorry, but i dont want you here anymore. My life is shattering before me. The betrayal, the abandonment, all that came to surface. Two weeks later, sabrina says she quietly carefully walked into lisas darkened bedroom, a knife in her hand. I was in the room for a good 10, 15 minutes. It was a constant battle in my head. Do it, dont do it. Just do it. In the end, it was sabrinas darker side that won out. She wakes up and she thought i was megan and it was like megan go to bed. I completely froze. And then she sits up in her bed and she was like megan and she realized it wasnt megan, and thats when i did it. I remember her shouting please stop, and i remember megan coming in and setting a hand on my shoulder and saying, please stop and i just nudged her off and told her, megan, dont. Anger triggered by a troubled teenagers feeling of abandonment leading to murder. For Ron Parmertor, sabrinas story made perfect if tragic sense. You believed sabrina . Absolutely. But sabrina was not done. What she was about to reveal would send this investigation hurtling in a completely new and alarming direction. Sabrina told detective parmertor she didnt act alone. I couldnt have done Something Like this if i didnt have an outer influence. Coming up sabrina drops a bombshell. Claiming that getting rid of lisa was actually someone elses idea, communicated in a series of bitter texts. Man, i wish she was dead or i cant stand her. She just needs to go. Your true self is never lost. Breathe deeply. You dont have to find yourself. Just let yourself in. The new atmosphere collection. Fine Home Fragrance by glade. Sc johnson, a family company. Bite into magnum double caramel. And unleash your wild side. Made with silky vanilla bean ice cream and rich belgian chocolate. Discover magnum. 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Get up to 100 flakefree and unbelievably beautiful hair you see it on commercials and you dont wanna believe it but, this is real people its not head shoulders, its the new head shoulders detective Ron Parmertor always knew who killed lisa knoefel, and now he thought he understood why. Sabrina had told Parmertor Lisa was about to crush her dream of remaining part of the knoefel family. She hated lisa. It feels to me like a motive. Absolutely. I hated lisa. But it was only because she was triggering a lot of past issues. But there was more. There was, said sabrina, someone else. Its not all my fault. Now, i take responsibility because i did what i did. And i know it was wrong. But if it werent for him, it would not have happened. If it werent for him, sabrina is referring to her foster father, kevin. I was doing what kevin told me to do. Thats what it comes down to. It was an astonishing accusation. Sabrina told Parmertor Kevin had gro grown to hate lisa even more than she did. It was a feeling she said kevin shared with her slowly over several months. Started through texts. I wish she was dead. Or i cant stand her. She just needs to go. According to sabrina, kevin also revealed that lisa had multiple Life Insurance policies and that she was worth more dead than alive. You had said for a long time that there was something going on that sabrina wasnt talking about. Did you think this was it . Didnt think it was this involved. But just has it seemed is sabri sabrinas story couldnt get more twisted, she dropped a second bombshell. Her story was that kevin and her were having a sexual relationship, and it was going on for probably about six to eight months prior to the homicide. I absolutely fell in love with him. Kevin, sabrina said, promised her the world and played on her love of 3yearold hailey. He promised me we were going to have our own house and i could, you know, take over the role for hailey, you know, a mother figure and id go to college. Do everything that i ever wanted to do in life. And then she said, kevin finally convinced hire the only way to realize that picket fence dream was to kill lisa. It just started getting more concrete, more of you want to do it. You know . This is what we could have. If you know, if we do this. When youre in love, you will do anything for that person. According to sabrina, they first discussed the idea of sabrina shooting lisa. Then they considered hiring a hit man. Then after several months, they finally settled on sabrina stabbing lisa in her sleep. Kevin picked out this bread knife, and it was about a foot long. And it had a rigid blade. And he said to use this one because it would do more damage on the inside. I was supposed to take a ring, her knanecklace, all of that as somebody came in and, you know, burglarized her. Are you kidding me . When kevins friend linda cover got wind of sabrinas story, she was dumbfounded. I thought that it was absolutely crazy. There was no way. I cant even believe that he would even begin to do anything like that. Neither could kevins sister chris ann. Kevin, she said, loved lisa too much to want to harm her. Nor would he ever do anything to risk the safety of his children. He would not put his kids in harms way. And i include megan in that. He thought of megan as his own daughter. No one, she said, could be act of one personommitting such and one person only. According to linda cover, sabrinas story was a web of lies. Woven together by a deranged and troubled teen whose fantasy of having a life with kevin and hailey pushed her over the edge. I think she imagined the relationship that didnt exist. It was like i want this so this is how im going to get it. As for the alleged affair, you ever see any hint of anything inappropriate between kevin and sabrina . Absolutely not. No, no thats not my brother. Sabrina, they said, turned on kevin and blamed him for everything, hoping for a plea deal. So whats going on here . Sabrina lying to save her own skin . Absolutely, absolutely. Not according to detective parmertor. Youre convinced there really was a plan between her and kevin . Yes. And that there was an affair despite the lack of hard evidence. She had no proof. Theres no love letters. No. Theres no photographs, theres no videotape. No. How do you know it happened . Took sabrina on her word. Every time we interviewed sabrina, she always told us the same story. And it rang true. Absolutely rang true. And parmertor said he was suspicious of kevin even before she came forward. Several weeks after the murder, parmertor asked kevin to come to the station for an interview. Kevin brought along his attorney. He would only answer the questions about his wifes work. And nothing about the murder . Nothing about the murder. Parmertor also became suspicious of how kevin began filing claims for lisas 800,000 in Life Insurance within hours of lisa being pronounced dead. And then he started spending the money. He was buying cars. He was buying a camper. He was remodeling his house inside. All with lisas insurance money. All with lisas insurance money. All of that was enough for detectives. Three months after sabrina accused kevin of manipulating her into killing lisa, detective parmertor arrested kevin and charged him with plotting the murder. Sabrina agreed to testify as the states star witness. In exchange, the District Attorneys Office agreed to recommend that sabrina receive a reduced sentence. Youre taking the word of an admitted murderer here. Correct. Even though shes clearly got a reason to lie about this. Yep, i believe what she was telling us is the truth. But would a jury agree . Coming up, testimony that kevin had talked about divorcing lisa and wanting sabrina to live with him. I thought it was a little odd that he wanted to take a 17yearold girl alone in a home with just him. When dateline continues. Ad, and my sweethearts gone sayonara. This scarf, all thats left to remember. 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Complicity and conspiracy to commit aggravated murder. Kevin was also charged with Sexual Battery relating to sabrina. Prosecutors karen cowall and lisa nuroda argued sabrina would never have killed lisa had it not been for kevin. She was the perfect patsy. Young, impressionable. Idealist. And anxious to have a guy love her. Yes. And so he manipulated her. Yeah. And prosecutors acknowl their case was based primarily on the word of sabrina, a young woman with plenty of reason to lie. This puts youa position it seems to me. I mean, you are defending the character of this coldblooded murderer facnd that she committed this murder is all on else but together with somebody else. She would never have done this by herself. Without any direct proof of the alleged affair, prosecutors began by calling those who say they saw signs of inappropriate behavior between a foster father and foster daughter. Sabrinas teacher willie smith described spotting kevin with sabrina at the school one afternoon. She moved toward sitting in his lap inside his legs. What did you do at that point . I did a double take kind of really . Then nicole corbett, sabrinas social worker case manager testified about a strange call from kevin just a month before the murder. Kevin, she said, admitted his marriage to lisa was in trouble and said they were considering divorce. What was your reaction to this . I was surprised. I didnt know they were even considering splitting up or divorce. Kevin, she said, asked whether in a divorce he would be able to take sabrina with him as opposed to her staying with lisa. I just thought it was a little odd that he wanted to take a 17yearold girl alone in a home with just him. Prosecutors next showed jurors cell phone activity, more indicated kevin and sabrina were having an affair. Kevin was texting sabrina way more than he was texting his wife . Substantially more. Within a twoweek period, kevin and sabrina texted and called each other almost 1500 times. That compares to just 200 calls and texts between kevin and lisa. Prosecutors then turned jurors attention to kevins behavior after lisas murder. David strunk was one of kevins Close Friends. Strunk testified that kevin seemed desperate to visit sabrina in jail just one day after the murder. He told me that he just wanted to let her know that he was still there for her. This was the person that had just killed his wife and i was shocked that he would want to have any sort of contact with her. According to karen cowall, kevins real reason for wanting to see sabrina was to keep her from talking to Police Telling them about kevins involvement in the murder plot. T as pleased as prosecutors were with their case so far, they knew it would stand or fall on how the jury responded to you guys worried . They listened. Ev as sabrina told of the night she took lisas life. I started to stab her. And i just raised the knife on. Why is it that you could violently and brutally stab her repeatedly 178 times . Because i was manipulated to do it. By who . Kevin. What did you think . Sabrina was a strong witness. I felt she did a good job. Maybe so. But without anyone to corroborate sabrinas story, prosecutors feared the jury still wouldnt believe it or her. Enter the next witness. Sabrinas high school friend, autumn pavolich. Autumn testified she had firsthand knowledge about the murder plan and kevins involvement in it. According to autumn, sabrina once called her thinking she had connections to a tough crowd and could find someone willing lisa. There was a phone call that we had had. She had asked me if i was able to get her a hit man. Could you tell if there were any other people in the room at the time . Yes. And how could you tell that . N the background talking. Autumn then testified she and sabrina discussed the idea of paying the hit man by delivering drugs for him. Thats when she said sabrina what did he ask you at that time . Do you need me to take you to go run drugs . Okay. And what was that in reference to . The hit. Autumn said she ultimately backed out of the plan all together. Finally, i said, sorry, i cant help you. I dont want anything to do with it. But autumn was willing to later help detective parmertor with his investigation. After hearing autumns story, parmertor asked autumn to call kevin and talk about the hit man, thinking kevin might implicate himself. Prosecutors played that recorded phone call in court. And the only thing that im worried about is that whole hit man thing. I honestly dont know. She talked a big game about a lot of things. On the call kevin never admits to knowing anything about a hit man but to detective parmertor, his calm manner and apparent lack of surprise suggests a prior knowledge of the plot. Never says what are you talking about . Ive never we never had any conversations. If you have any information about the murder of my wife, please go to the police. Never says anything like that. In fact, when detective parmertor called kevin just two days later, kevin made no mention of autumns call and a vague recollection of who autumn was, even though he had just spoken with her. Last name doesnt ring a bell, but i think she had a friend named autumn at school. As prosecutor cowall saw it, kevin was trying to keep police from finding the one person other than sabrina who could link him to lisas murder. Very damaging. Prosecutors were now confident jurors had all they needed to convict. But now it was the defenses turn to make its case. And Kevin Knoefels attorneys werent about to let sabrina leave that courtroom without a fight. Coming up the defense tries to undercut the prosecutions whole premise, arguing there was nothing going on between kevin and sabrina. There were maybe 12 witnesses that if they see any form of abuse, they had a mandatory duty to report it. And none of them di Kevin Knoefels defense attorney mike connick felt pretty confident as he prepared his counterpunch before the lake county court. Did kevin have anything to do with lisas murder . No. Did he have any sexual relationship with sabrina . No. There was not one scintilla of physical evidence that tied kevin to any of these crimes. Connick began trying to dismantle the evidence the state did present. He challenged the county employees who had testified they believed kevin was acting inappropriately toward sabrina. Asking why they didnt report such behavior before the murder. At that time, if you had a serious concern, you would have filed a report, wouldnt you . I would have filed a report if i felt it was a serus i did not file a report on this. There were 8, 10, maybe 12 witnesses that are mandated reporters. If they see any form of abuse, they have a mandatory duty to report it. And none of them did . And all of them testified that they didnt do it. No one reported inappropriate behavior, said connick, because there was nothing to report. Lisa, ironically, was a mandated reporter. She never reported. Connick then addressed the large number of texts between kevin and sabrina. I dont find that shocking. Neither did kevins sister, chris ann. Theres more texts between my husband and one of my daughters than my husband and me. It doesnt mean anything. But what about those who testified kevin acted suspiciously immediately after the murder . I dont think id want to have to come home and find out that my wife was butchered and then have other people criticize what my emotional response to that situation was. Kevins friend linda cover agreed. Even if the emotion is response was to try and visit sabrina in jail just one day after she had murdered kevins wife. I thought about that. And im thinking, he might have said why in the hell . Whats the matter with you . Linda cover also believed kevin was unfairly judged for filing the Life Insurance claims as quickly as he did. Kevin, she said, had to think about the welfare of his children. Now i have to be the sole support. Now what am i going to do . A great deal of the states evidence were witness whos said hes not acting the right way. Hes not acting normal. As soon as anybody can tell me what normal is connick applied that same argument to the criticism of kevins muted response to the mention of a hit man on autumns recorded phone call. Was he supposed to be angry . Was he supposed to be defensive . If he had i think what he was supposed to be was something. Thats kind of kevins demeanor. You cant pass judgment on that. But what about autumns testimony that she spoke directly to kevin about hiring a hit man to kill lisa . Connick dismissed that testimony as being inconsistent and unreliable. During cross, connick asked autumn to read a transcript of her initial interview with police when she was asked if kevin was ever part of her conversations with sabrina about trying to hire a hit man. Why dont you read me your answer on page 32 at line 3. No, well, no, we were on the phone and she didnt really talk about it in front of him and i dont think he knew that i knew. Thank you. Nothing further. She ultimately acknowledged that kevin was never present or on the phone during those conversations about killing lisa. But mike connick knew it would be his crossexamination of sabrina that would determine kevins fate. My names michael connick. I represent Kevin Knoefel. Sabrina is a seriously disturbed human being. The murder itself, he said, was all the proof the jury would need of that. Do you recognize this knife . Yes. And when you began slaughtering lisa knoefel, this knife was straight, wasnt it . Yes. And you attacked hire with such vigor and force, anger and rage, that you managed to put a 20degree bend in a stainless steel knife, correct . Connick continued pressing hoping to show sabrina was motivated not by manipulation from kevin but by her hatred for lisa. You used the abandonment as a rationale for it to be okay for you to murder my clients wife. No, i did not. Correct . No, it was a factor that came into it, yes. A justification, a rationalization, no. In the end, sabrina never wavered from her story. Still, connick felt he had damaged her credibility. By the conclusion of her testimony, there should have been no question that she was not reliable. But that was for jurors to decide. It took them just under ten hours to deliberate. We have a verdict. Guilty on all counts. Guilty. Of Sexual Battery as charged in the indictment. Guilty of conspiracy to commit aggravated murder. Guilty of aggravated murder as charged in the indictment. The Kevin Knoefel was sentenced to life in prison. Do you think an innocent man is in jail . Absolutely, absolutely. I mean, id about stake my life on that. Sabrina also received a life sentence but will be eligible for parole in 30 years as recommended by the state. Prosecutors feel justice was served. But lead prosecutor karen cowall is quick to point out cases like these bring little satisfaction. This is really just betrayal on top of betrayal on top of betrayal, isnt it . I mean, you got kevin betraying lisa, sabrina betraying lisa. Then you have kevin betraying sabrina and ultimately sabrina betraying kevin. Yeah, its a perfect circle. Thats all for now. Im lester holt. Thanks for joining us. This sunday, repeal, replace and revolt. The Republican Health care plan. This is the closest we will ever get. Supported by president trump. We must act now to save americans from the imploding obamacare disaster. But attacked on one side by conservatives. This is just obamacare with a different label. On other side, by republican moderates. Pulling the rug out from these vulnerable populations is not really the direction we want to go. And on all sides by democrats. Robinhood in reverse. This morning ill talk to hhs secretary tom price who oversees the overhaul, kathleen sebelius, the former hhs secretary who oversaw obamacare implementation, and Governor John Kasich of