He wanted her money. And if he divorced her, he lost everything. Did he do it . Hang on. This case had a twist that no one saw coming. This woman essentially says, i saw the murderer, and it wasnt tom foley. Theres a killer. Right there. I did not kill my wife im lester holt, and this is dateline. Heres Josh Mankiewicz with mystery at heath bar farm. 911. I need an ambulance now. Reporter february 2009, coldwater, michigan. Whats the problem . My wife your wife . Yes reporter in one day, one moment is she breathing . No shes gone shes gone. Reporter the innocent simple life tom foley and his family once lived was gone forever. Oh, my god no oh, my god 27 seconds. Gives it off to foley. Reporter it was a moment tom foley never would have imagined 23 years earlier. Back then, number 30 going to be 15 seconds left exactly. Reporter scored the winning basket giving Coldwater High School the regional title. Its good he hit it with five seconds to play. Reporter and earning young tom a place in coldwaters Basketball Hall of fame. I get goose bumps talking about it. Like victory was snatched from the jaus of defeat, and he came through with it. To what extent were you sort of known around here for being the kid who hit the gamewinning shot . That went on for a long time. Maybe someone might come up, hey, tom, remember when you hit that shot . I say, of course i remember. In 1991, the Hometown Hero started dating another local standout named darlene weber. Dar, as she was known, had a personality as big as her smile. The first time i saw her, she was playing softball, of course, and she had on these lime green rec specs, so she looked a little funny. But when she took them off, i thought she was beautiful. It was a classic case of opposites attracting. I think we both went into the relationship knowing that we really loved spending time with one another. Tom was the laidback, easygoing type. Dar an Elementary School teacher was more type a, and she didnt hide what she was thinking. She had opinions, and shed let those be known. Its one of the reasons i loved her. I still love her today. Still, when dars sisters, la donna, lynn and marla learned that dar and tom intended to marry, they were left scratching their heads. My famous saying was, theres got to be something wrong with tom for him to stay with dar. Because you couldnt do it. No. No. You couldnt be around somebody who was, what, that much the center of attention . No. Telling you what to do. That controlling. Dar was not a domesticated person either. The foleys were married in 1994, and right from the start, dar took the lead. Fair to say she wore the pants in that house . Id say probably 75 , 80 of the time she did. She was the breadwinner . Yes. You stayed home and took care of your son . I did. Heath was tom and dars only child and the center of their lives. And we just loved being together. We were always together. And so the three foleys lived on the outskirts of coldwater in an Old Farmhouse they called the heath bar farm. A picture perfect family until that winter day back in 2009. What was the last thing you said to her . I said, i love you, and ill see you later. On that day, the foleys were preparing to celebrate heaths tenth birthday at a friends house just down the road. Dar still needed to shower, so tom, heath and a friend of heaths left without her. The plan was for dar to follow in her own car and meet them all at the party later that afternoon. But dar never arrived. That gave you some sort of sixth sense that something was wrong. Yes. She was always on time or early to events. So tom left the party and headed back home in search of his wife. Our kitchen back door was open, and i noticed that the glass was broken and there was glass all over our kitchen floor. So i looked through the rest of the house for her and ended up finding her in our bathroom. Shed been shot in the head with a shotgun at point blank range. Tom immediately called for help. Whats the problem . My wife is in the shower. Shes just laying there in the blood. First responders rushed to the foley farm. When Michigan StatePolice Detective james carbon arrived on the scene, he knew he was in for a long night. We dont have a lot of homicides that happen in and around branch county. Because of her position as a school teacher, just for the number of people that knew her, that put it in a much more serious type investigation. Detective carbon and his team of state troopers scoured the crime scene, taking pictures and seizing evidence of what appeared to be a home burglary gone wrong. The first clue . The broken glass coming from the kitchen door window. It appeared that a beer bottle was used to break that particular window. According to tom, jewelry and credit cards were missing. The family desk had also been disturbed and financial documents inside were gone. And then there was the medicine cabinet. Looked like somebody had gone in and basically scooped a shelf off the medicine cabinet and its contents. Like maybe they were looking for prescription drugs . Potentially. But to detective carbon, the items missing werent nearly as telling as what was left behind. Expensive electronics were left untouched as was dars purse sitting on a hallway chair. It just didnt make a lot of sense. Neither did the use of a shotgun. Its large, potentially bulky. If youre going in to break into something, you have to carry whatever you steal out with this shotgun that you brought also. It wasnt until the next day that police found their first significant piece of evidence, evidence that led the investigation in a whole new direction. Down in the foleys dusty basement was a suspiciously dustfree yellow plastic bag. What was in the plastic bag . Three shotgun shells. When we come back, police have some questions for the grieving husband. We found a gun today that had shotgun shells in it. You ever seen that before . No. And so does his wifes family. There are a number of people that were really offended by his demeanor. I love you, couch. You give us comfort. And we give you bare feet. Backsweat and gordos everything. I love you, but sometimes you stink. New febreze fabric refresher with odorclear technology. Cleans away odors like never before. Because the things you love the most can stink. And plug in febreze to keep your whole room fresh for up. To 45 days. Breathe happy with new febreze. With motionsense technology. Degree has redefined deodorant so that i can redefine. Power. Footwork. Range. The more i move, the more it works. Degree. It wont let you down. I. Prilosec otc 7 years ago,my doctor recommended. 5 years ago, last week. Just 1 pill each morning, 24 hours and zero heartburn. Its been the number 1 doctor recommended brand for 10. Straight years, and its still recommended today. Use as directed. 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Ive always had that issue with the seeds getting under my denture. Super poligrip free. It creates a seal of the dentures in my mouth. Even well fitting dentures let in food particles just a few dabs of super poligrip free is clinically proven to seal out more food particles so youre more comfortable and confident while you eat. Super poligrip free made even the kiwi an enjoyable experience try super poligrip free. The funeral for dar foley was held on the 13th, friday the 13th. Those unlucky enough to be sharing their grief over the woman theyd loved and lost poured into Union City High school auditorium. No church, it turned out, was big enough to accommodate the more than 400 people who came to honor and remember dar. She was so full of life, and she he had a lot more to give. We cant bring her back. Your wifes been killed and youve got a 10yearold son. Yeah. What did you tell him . I told him that someone had hurt mommy. And he goes, is she in heaven . And i said yes. It seemed that no one in coldwater could comprehend what had happened, including steve and joanie pierce, Close Friends of both tom and dar who learned of the murder from tom himself. I said, the three of you were always together, and he was crying, and he said, i know, i know. I should have been there for her. And then i said, if you would have been, the three of you would be dead now instead of just dar. But just 24 hours into the investigation, detective jim carbon had almost abandoned the theory that this was a random act of violence. It appeared to me that this was a staged break and intering to hide a homicide that took place. But according to detective carbon, whoever staged the burglary didnt factor in the weather that day. It got really warm. We had a huge snow meltoff. The ground around the farmhouse was unusually wet and muddy. So you would expect that there would be muddy footprints from inside the residence where somebody would come through that door . Absolutely. Was there any footprints, anything . There was nothing. But it was the yellow bag found in the basement, the bag containing shotgun shells, that interested carbon the most. Downstairs in the basement we found a dunhams bag that had in shotgun shells in it. Okay. Did you ever see that before . No. The foleys didnt own a shotgun as far as we know . Thats correct. Carbon sent the bag to the lab for analysis. What technicians found on the bag surprised even this veteran detective. Toms fingerprint was on the bag. Yes. Suddenly detective carbon felt he needed to take a closer look at tom foley and his seemingly pictureperfect marriage. I think they did a lot of things together, however, i dont consider them the pictureperfect couple. Neither did dars sister lynn, in whom dar once confided. She said, tom doesnt love me anymore. Hes leaving me. Hes going through his change of life, you know. His midlife crisis. Yes. Dars sisters were becoming increasingly suspicious, especially, they said, after watching toms behavior at dars funeral. It was almost like he was relieved. There were a number of people that came up to me after the service that were really offended by his demeanor, his joyfulness. These are things that ive heard. And its ridiculous. I mean, taking care of heath was on my mind. Wondering who killed my wife was on my mind. They dont know the things that ive been through. Maybe so, but detective carbon was with keeping a very watchful eye on tom foley. He decided to interview the other foley who was at the farm the day dar was killed, tom and dars son, heath. Heath, like i told you, im detective sergeant carbon. On that day, heath and his friend skyler watty were inside the house playing video games, waiting to be driven to heaths birthday celebration. Did you see anything different or out of the ordinary or anybody walking around, anybody come up to the door, anything that you could think of . Not really. Okay. The detective also interviewed skyler watty who said right before leaving for the party tom sent the two boys outside to go start up the truck. He said that hell be out there in a little bit. Okay. I dont know what he was doing in there, taking a shower or what. Like heath, skyler couldnt recall anything unusual about that day either. And then suddenly yeah. When we were outside during across the barn there was like a big crash, like way in the back of the house. Like what did it sound like . It sounded like breaking glass and a bunch of things falling. Like a vase just it was a loud sound. Yeah. Detective carbon showed skyler a drawing of the foley farm and ask skyler to place an x where he believes the sound originated. Like somewhere around here . Skyler placed the x just outside the first floor bathroom, the same room where dar foley had been shot. It appeared to us that skyler watty may have heard the shotgun blast that killed dar foley. Detective carbon was also thinking this. The one other person in that house at that time was tom foley. Coming up he wanted the house. He wanted her money. And if he divorced her, he lost everything. Was that a motive . And was tom foley the killer . From the mouths of babes. Or in this case one articulate 10yearold boy, came what seemed like a casebreaking revelation. It was like a loud, loud sound. Detective carbon believed 10yearold skyler watty was an earwitness to the shotgun blast that killed dar foley. If true, it meant dar was murdered earlier than originally thought. More significantly, it wasnt tom foley was still in the house when the murder occurred. That lead was huge. It was very, very important. But if tom foley was in that house and pulled the trigger, the question remained why. The answer, said carbon, is quite simple. Murder for money. Potentially, yes. Money, in the form of an insurance policy. I think that he wanted out of the marriage and did whatever he needed to do to make sure that that happened. And if he got 310,000 in insurance money and got out of the marriage, so much the better . Yes. The evidence against tom foley was circumstantial but compelling. You think he faked that burglary . Yes. And killed his wife . Yes. They never found the murder weapon. What do you think happened to the gun . I wish i knew. But even without it, in march of 2009, one month after dar foley was gunned down in her shower, state Police Arrested tom foley and charged him with his wifes murder. And i just what . Why . I was, like, this could not be happening. Why do you think i did this . I did not kill my wife. To tom and dars Close Friends, the pierces, news of toms arrest was almost as stunning as the news of dars death. Could you conceive of tom either hating his wife so much that he wanted to kill her absolutely not. Or killing her for the insurance money . Absolutely not. That would be stupid. She made the money. Why kill the golden goose . Do you think they had a good marriage . I do. Everything seemed to be going really good for them. It seemed sadistic, shooting your wife at pointblank range, killing the mother of your son on the very day he was celebrating his tenth birthday. He never would have done that to his son. Police continued gathering evidence. Ten days after toms arrest, Police Brought heath foley in for a second interview. And this time heath did recall hearing a noise that day. Skyler talks about hearing this unusual sound. Do you remember anything like that . Our neighbors, like, shoot guns. Like maybe a gunshot or maybe like glass broke. I dont know. It was one of those two things maybe. According to tom, the sound he heard was nothing more than glass breaking. Theyre old barn windows that i was trying to clean up and i went to grab them and one of them slipped out of my grip and it smashed on our back porch steps. And made a lot of noise. Yeah, it did. Yep. But detective carbon wasnt buying toms explanation. The boys were playing over by this barn . Yes. And how far is that to the house . I. Its approximately 75 yards. Mr. Foley claimed he with was dropping a window. Would that sound have penetrated that far . In my opinion, that couldnt have happened. Police also say they carefully searched that area around the back porch. There was no glass that we could see when we looked at the scene on that particular night as well as the next day. For dars sisters, the writing was by now on the wall. They were certain of their brotherinlaws guilt. We went over every case we could come up with to not make it tom. I think tom resented dar and that he couldnt be a man. I think it kind of ate at him, and he couldnt take it anymore. People get divorced for that reason. He didnt divorce her because hes a selfish coward. He wanted heath. He wanted the house. He wanted her money. And if he divorced her, he lost everything. In november 2009, tom foleys trial began. The prosecution argued that only tom had a motive to kill dar. But the defense claimed police had rushed to judgment. Defense attorney tom schafer and defense investigator ken kobersteen. In their mind, its always the boyfriend or the husband. Or the person who finds the body. Which in this case was the husband and tom. They wanted me bad because whats easier for them, to go after someone that they can actually physically see or go after someone they cannot physically see . Whats wrong with the idea that the money was a motive . Absolutely not. I mean, we had a mortgage. To move on after all of this, it was going to take a hell of a lot more than that. After two weeks of testimony, the jury had its verdict. I felt that the evidence was going to prove that theres absolutely no way i had anything to do with this. 12 jurors didnt share that feeling. We, the jury, find the defendant guilty of firstdegree murder. I was just what . I was just shocked. What was wrong with the jury . What do they know what i dont know . How could they convict a man on what they had . I knew what a conviction was meant for me, and for life without the possibility of parole. My sister was still dead. Still didnt bring her back. But you had a little bit of faith in the justice system. In the hours following the verdict, it seemed everyone in coldwater was relying on faith. I said to myself, god isnt going to let me go to prison for the rest of my life. Something had to turn around. Then, less than 24 hours after the verdict, tom foleys defense team got a phone call from a woman. 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