Most murders happen for a simple reason greed, fear, lust. There are no little lies in this kind of investigation . A lie is only there to cover something up. But someone thought the sheriff wasnt moving fast enough to uncover things. My life ended that day. I think he just had to know the truth. Reporter a father and son battle for justice. Against each other. It wasnt jason that got everything. Guess who it was . Him. You shot your mother to death. Absolutely not. Reporter a small town mystery. And a family torn apart by murder. You could hear a pin drop in that courtroom. Reporter im lester holt and this is dateline. Heres Dennis Murphy with the farm. Reporter sitting way up in the cab of a tractor can give an iowa corn and soybean farmer like bill carter plenty of time to reflect on just how hard this life can be sometimes. We put this farm together from nothing. Reporter there was the summer when the heat scorched the crops the winter when there wasnt enough snow on the ground and always expensive equipment to be maintained. Just a lot. But bill carter had way too much time to contemplate things no man on a john deere should ever have to. There was something shakespearean brewing in these cornfields. Something out of the old testament. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. 911 where is your emergency . I need a i need an ambulance fast. My life ended that day. Reporter before the acreage and the little house before the three children. They were two highschoolers, billy carter and shirley worthington. The only girl he ever really went out with. Whered you go on your first date, do you remember . Took her to the homecoming dance. I played football. And then i went out after the game and picked her up. She was quiet. Prettiest thing youve ever seen. Reporter they were in love deeply maybe carelessly. During her sophomore year, shirley in the language of the day, got in trouble. She was pregnant. Back then they didnt want cha in school. If you h had that happen. So we both had to leave school. Reporter bill had a strong moral code and did what he saw as the right thing. We were married at a very young age. I was 18 had just turned 18. And she was 16. Reporter soon, daughter jana was born. Eventually, bill earned his high school diploma. But with another child soon on the way. Life wasnt easy. We didnt have indoor plumbing. And that was really hard on shirley. Shes not 20. Shes got a baby on her hip . Yeah, she had two babies. Its good she liked you . Yeah. Reporter their last born, jason, completed the family. He was such a good boy growing up. He was me favorite. The corn crew high and the seasons passed and bill kept expanding his operation, buying more acres of prime farm land. Shi sh sir surely. From 1985 on, she did everything. She just took to it, huh . She was a natural. Bill even had this custom built tractor built for her. Reporter you were saying if we pop the hood here, you would see her signature, a little plaque or something . Yes. She loved being on the tractors. Reporter long time friend and neighbor she always put a little bit of makeup on. The carters new their maybes might be wearing hair curlers underneath her handkerchief. She did amount of stuff that you would think after all those years of marriage would have gone on the wayside. Son billy went into the heating and air conditioning business. That must have been disappointing for you, because that was like going back to your great granddaddy, for farming. Reporter but much to bills delight, his youngest, jay son took to farming. When he started farming, i really enjoyed working with him. I was teaching him, he is a good farmer. The Carter Family tradition would carry on another generation anyway. The icing on the cake, jayson and his wife shelly lived nearby. Chase and i would build a treehouse right south of the house. And little mckena, she was the apple of shirlys eye. Reporter a hard working family man and good husband and son. The now tumbled down treehouse, the abandoned swing by the porch are the artifacts that were all but destroyed on the morning of j june 19, 2015. It started off as a day like so many for bill and shirley. Shirley liked her coffee. A big cup of coffee, and it was just something they did together before their days got started. Reporter after coffee, they bounced down the driveway toward the home. Bill stopped in the driveway. I let her out of the pickup and she said i think ill finish my coffee before i chore. I went home the slow way because i wanted to get a coffee and a doughnut. Reporter he got a call from his daughter that he would never forgot. A wife and mother murdered in her own kitchen, was it a robbery . Revenge . Or Something Else. When we come back. She looked like she was asleep. 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Bill dialed 911 as he tore down the road toward his house. 911 where is your emergency . My son just called and said he found my wife dead on the floor in the kitchen. We do have an ambulance on the way there. Reporter it turned out, his son jason found his mother and had already called it in. My mom my mom is laying here on the floor blood there is blood everywhere and shes dead and i dont know what happened. Reporter bill got to the house and ran from his truck, past his son jason on the back deck. And he was on the phone walkin in circles. And i didnt pay any attention to him. I went in. And there she lay and she looked like she was asleep. And i couldnt get a pulse. And i kissed her forehead and it was cold. And i knew she was dead. Reporter at first, bill says he couldnt tell how shirley died. But jason came into the kitchen and pointed something out. He showed me a bullet hole in the refrigerator. And one in the floor beside her. And then he said, dad, somebodys robbed you and the office was torn completely up, drawers pulled out, papers on the floor. Did that explain anything to you . I mean, your head is such a jumble at this point you dont know whats goin on, i imagine . I think i was in shock. Reporter their bedroom had been ransacked too. Soon, emts, and sheriffs deputies arrived. One found bill in the kitchen bent over shirley. And he took my arm, and he said, bill, you gotta come outside. Because your home had become a crime scene . Yeah. And your wife of 52 years is dead on the Kitchen Floor . Yeah. Reporter after they moved shirleys body, investigators told bill she had been shot twice. She was shot the left armpit. The second shot, she was laying on the Kitchen Floor as shes down . As shes down. So a coup de grace shot, huh . Right. Reporter news of the coldblooded murder travelled quickly through the farmlands. The carters neighbors, tony and irene schulz were out running errands when a friend called to Say Something had happened to shirley they turned around and headed over to the carter place. And bill came and said that shirley was dead. That she was killed. There was just such anguish in his eyes. Such terror reporter irene called their neighbor, matt russell. She said, shes been shot in the kitchen. Shes been murdered it made no sense. She could have been saying a space ship just landed at our farm, right . Reporter that night, shirleys murder led the evening news on our affiliate whotv. We begin tonight with a developing story out of Marion County a Homicide Investigation is currently underway. What was the story out there in the coffee shop and the feed store about what had happened. Well that there was an intruder and theyd ransacked the house and and theyd murdered shirley. That shirley caught them in the middle of them doin somethin reporter with a killer on the loose, rural iowa was throwing rusty, rarely used, doublebolt locks. Just couldnt believe it. We dont even lock our doors. Our keys are always in the vehicles. And im thinkin if you know, just was a crazy deal. Reporter but the more investigators looked inside that ransacked house, the more they thought the killer might have come from inside the family. Reporter a different theory of the crime. With an investigator drawing a bead on bill. He said, you know, you couldve done this, when you brought her back from coffee. Reporter when dateline continues. But lying and cheating has torn us apart and im moving on. When you said youe, sir. Were at the doctor, but your shirt says you were at a steakhouse. Thats when you know its halfwashed. Add downy odor protect with 24hour odor protection. Downy and its done. Wecagefree eggs. Ng and we care about amazing taste. 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They recovered a spent bullet at the bottom of the refrigerator, and another fragment in the floor. Investigators told bill they thought something was off with the whole deal. Her purse was hanging on mckennas high chair with her credit cards, and 140 in cash in it. Reporter jewelry boxes were undisturbed. Prescription meds, normally a prized item for a drug crazed robber, were untouched. So if this was a botched robbery, theres nothing taken . Nothing taken. Reporter so with the intruder theory a bust, as they would in any murder case, police now began to look hard at the people close to shirley. Bill says the lead investigator cut right to the chase. And he said, you know, you couldve done this when you brought her back from coffee. Well, spouses are always suspects were told. Right. Reporter deputies took both bill and son jason down to the station for interviews. Bill says they asked him about his movements that morning, about his relationship with shirley, and with jason. They also interviewed jason, who told them hed also made a run to the grainery that morning, and then gone to his parents house to spray the weeds in their fields. Reporter deputies let bill and jason go home that night. Investigators still had the house taped off as a crime scene, so bill stayed at jasons home. And i didnt sleep that night. I smoked cigarettes, and i walked that deck. Reporter in the days that followed, bill says his grief was compounded by a sense that people were looking at him differently. I cant go uptown. People ive known all my life will cant look at me. Reporter as bill dealt with his loss, he also had to pull himself together to aide the investigators. Deputies seized half a dozen guns they found in his house including some in this unlocked gun safe deep in the basement. When they gave jason a list of the weapons theyd confiscated he noticed one gun was missing from the inventory a highpowered rifle like this one. How did the weapon come to you . My oldest son bought it for me in 2005 for christmas. Did you ever shoot it . I shot it that day, the day i was given it. Reporter when ballistics experts looked carefully at the bullets recovered from the kitchen, they told bill they thought that missing rifle could well be the murder weapon. They said, this is similar to, or, this is from the very weapon that they cant reporter killed shirley . Say for sure its from the very weapon, but it is very close to the bullet that went in the refrigerator. Reporter if that was the murder weapon it quickly limited the universe of suspects because very few people knew where the gun safe was, or that it was unlocked. Their hypothetical suspect, therefore, was most likely someone in the Carter Family, whod all gathered for shirleys funeral, five days after her murder. Irene shulz was there. Family and close friends. Because there was just a lot of speculation. It was you know, an incredible emotional thing. Reporter she couldnt imagine someone in this family being capable of murder. Weve known them for, oh, about 40 years. Good family, good, strong, well thought of in the community. Friends rejected outright the very idea that jason or bill could have done this. Reporter what about bill . How would would his life be better with his wife shot to death on the Kitchen Floor . Exactly. Reporter whats the motivation here . Exactly, theres none. Reporter and what about jason, the kid next door she watched grow up . Were still seeing the same kid that we always saw, the Good Neighbor kid. Reporter by the end of august, the corn was high. Two months since shirleys murder and investigators were hinting that the case was wrapping up. Police in Marion County appear closer to making an arrest, but it turned out there was no break, no arrest. Reporter bill carter was turning it all over endlessly in his mind and was beginning to consider the unthinkable. Reporter coming up the shooter could have opened the door and fired from a low position. [ gun shot ] reporter a hired gun takes a shot at the case, and may have discovered a motive. Bill carter was almost puritanistic in his view of matrimony. En. Yeai can read, you know. Were done here. Ahhh boogers to betsy mucinex fastmax. 9 symptoms. 1 dose. Max strength. Start the relief. Ditch the misery. Lets end this. And for kids multisymptom relief, try 1 recommended childrens mucinex. Oh i have no idea whats in princess toast, but thanks to this usp seal i know exactly whats in my nature made gummies. Nature made has the first gummies verified by usp, a Nonprofit Organization that sets purity and potency standards. Get the best internet with the best shows and get the best of both worlds. Fios by verizon gives you the Fastest Internet available for only 79. 99 a month online with a two year agreement, and your netflix is on us for one year. And with the gigabit connection on the 100 fiberoptic network, you can stream on up to 100 devices at once. So get the Fastest Internet available, plus netflix, plus up to200 tv channels, plus phone, plus a twoyear price guarantee. All for just 79. 99 per month. Its time to fiber optics your netflix. Go to getfios. Comto switch today. Reporter bill carter cant let go of the pain. When do you miss her the most, bill . When i first started to sleep. And id reach across where she would be. And she wasnt there. I miss her all the time. Reporter six months went by and still no one had been charged with shirleys murder. The case seemed to be growing as cold as an iowa winter. A plea for justice today in Marion County. Reporter frustrated with pace of the investigation, dozens of shirleys family and friends gathered outside the courthouse. Nbc affiliate, whotv covered the rally. We must bring some closure, we must have justice for shirley. We were hoping that the county attorney would be there. Reporter did anything happen as a result of that . No, no. Reporter bill felt the case was stalled, so decided he needed his own investigator. [ gunshot ] reporter he hired nick webb, a crime scene analyst and former homicide detective from texas. Bill asked him to dig into the case with an open mind. If its the good, the bad, and the ugly, is it all gonna be in your final report . We are only advocates for the truth. Once we find out what the truth is, they have to decide what to do with it. Reporter to aid his investigation, webb purchased a rifle just like the one missing from bills basement. Its a remington model 770, magazine fed, bolt action, 270 caliber rifle. Reporter at the carter home, webb showed us how it might have gone down. One possibility is that the shooter couldve opened the door and fired from a low position. Reporter the bullet that ripped through shirleys body still had enough power to punch a hole in the refrigerator across the room. As shirley fell to the floor, webb theorized the killer probably stepped closer, and fired again. This time directly at her chest. The second shot wouldve been fired from between the edge of the doorway and the edge of the countertop. Reporter it was all theory, but if that rifle was the murder weapon, webb says it reveals Something Else about the killer. The remington rifle ejects a shell between shots. At least one of those would have flown out since the killer shot shirley twice. Did you find that . No. It was never found. Reporter so somebody had the presence of mind to gather it up. Thats correct. Reporter he concluded shirleys killer was one cool custom