he could meet her in dallas at her next business trip. and it was actually just as she arrived when it happened. something she ll remember for the rest of her life. i was in the taxi headed from the airport to the hotel in dallas, and my phone rings and it is a detective. reporter: she listened to him say he was investigating the death of ernie s parents and he had a question. and he said, now, i know you guys broke up, but can you tell me how long this affair lasted? reporter: affair? why did he use that word? why would you say that? we dated exclusively for two years. you don t know what you re talking about, she told him. he said, so you don t know he s married and has a child? i said, what are you talking about? i said to him, why would i believe you? reporter: but by the time she hung up the phone, adrienne knew. she did believe him. all of the puzzle pieces came together in my head.
the stand on his 95th birthday to testify against his grandson, his namesake. and once again adrienne had a date to see ernie, in court. they asked you to testify. they did. it was overwhelming and terrifying. reporter: adrienne told the jury about ernie s two years of deception, the double life, all those lies. i made it a point not to look at him during the entire time i was in the room and during the entire testimony. reporter: was it enough for the jury? ernie s defense jumped to the task, arguing the evidence, the red chevy camaro, the dead cell phone around the time of the murders, asking his friends to buy a gun, all of that could have been simply coincidence. it could be explained away. and, besides, said the defense, there was actual physical evidence to prove someone other than ernie committed the crime, that speck of unidentified dna found in one of those bloody shoe prints at the crime scene. the prosecution argued it was
and kimberly olsen thought the whole world had gone crazy. he s a poker player and he had made his mistakes obviously with the women in his life. but that s a very far jump from being a poker player to murdering your parents. reporter: but back home in north carolina, when adrienne solomon heard about ernie s arrest did you believe he could have done such a thing? i believed he could have. and for me that was enough. reporter: a trial date set, even though the mystery dna at the crime scene was never identified, even though not one piece of direct evidence connected ernie to any murder weapon or those mysterious nike footprints. remember, they were consistent with a size 12, and ernie wore 9 1/2 or 10. and you knew one of the lines that was coming had to be a defense attorney couldn t resist it if those shoes don t fit, you must acquit. absolutely. and a jury might just look at that. and that went through my mind several times.
like that could have happened to someone i know. reporter: not her ernie, thankfully, but ernie s parents, ernest and his wife charlene, murdered, found dead in their own house, which was coincidentally in an upscale country club right across the san francisco bay from adrienne s hotel. and now, of course, the house was a crime scene where even the seasoned lead detective was horrified by what he saw. it was probably the most gruesome, brutal homicide scene i had ever seen. reporter: march 14, 2008, the call came in, a country club employee had seen what looked like a body through the scherers window. kristen tucker was one of the first on the scene. as i approached the front door of the home, i could smell the odor of decay and blood from quite a distance away. reporter: and inside was like a war zone, blood everywhere and
it looks like you in your car and they re basically saying you were there friday night. were you in the bay area on friday night? because i thought you were driving back home and there s this video that they have and it clearly looks like it s your car. reporter: and then? a long pause. hello? i m here. i m just drinking. there s a video like from someone s house or something? house in castlewood? what kind of video is it? no. it s going into the country club area. going into the country club area. uh-huh. and it looks like your car and looks like you in it. you can you can see the face of the driver? yes. were you there? and if you were no. you better have an explanation as to why you were there. are you lying to me? i understand why you re asking the question. and obviously you know, the