But who would kill a devoted that . The unbelievable choice, the unbelievable golden Girl Wife or the graces Family Matriarch . They seem so loving, but was there another side . Its a monster that comes out of a closet. Its very ugly. How dark is that side . Murderous. But which one was the killer . Hello and welcome to dateline. He was a man suddenly confronted with something monstrous, evil at the door. This story is a mystery about a father of two young daughters. One night, he left to pick up one of them and never came back. The question for investigators wasnt what happened, it was who did it. In the home of a god fearing family and one of the smallest american towns, the worst of crimes. Please come and help us. Okay, ill get a hold of an ambulance. All right . Yes. Okay. The crime became a mystery. A who done it. Its a puzzle. Its almost a game of three card monsey. And it made many people in Town Wonder about one particular family, about what had been going on Behind Closed Doo
he married the woman of his dreams, beautiful and sweet. she was just angelic. and was folded into her tight-knit family headed by an elderly religious matriarch. you were either part of their family or you weren t. together they had a little girl, sydney. when their marriage fell apart, her family closed ranks. in their view, sydney was their property. one day he went to pick up his little girl for a visit and was never seen alive again. he died right there. dad?ut who would kill a devoted the unbelievable choice, his golden girl wife or the gracious family matriarch? they seemed so loving, but was there another side. it s a monster that comes out of a closet. it s very ugly. how dark is that side? murderous. but which one was the killer? hello and welcome to dateline. he was a man suddenly confronted with something monstrous, evil at the door. this story is a mystery about a father of two young daughters. one night he left to pick up one of them an
their family or you weren t. together they had a little girl, sydney. when their marriage fell apart, her family closed ranks. in their view, sydney was their property. one day he went to pick up his little girl for a visit and was never seen alive again. he died right there. but who would kill a devoted dad? the unbelievable choice, his golden girl wife or the gracious family matriarch? they seemed so loving, but was there another side. it s a monster that comes out of a closet. it s very ugly. how dark is that side? murderous. but which one was the killer? hello and welcome to dateline. he was a man suddenly confronted with something monstrous, evil at the door. this story is a mystery about a father of two young daughters. one night he left to pick up one of them and never came back. the question for investigators wasn t what happened. it was who did it. in the home of a god-fearing family in one of the smallest of american towns, the worst of crimes.
There was never his way, so he didn t stick around. he divorced her? yes, sir. did you blame him? no, sir, not at all. state police say when they talked to jennifer s first husband, he described an us-against-them mentality in jennifer s insular family. they did everything together. you were either a part of their family or you weren t. stephen watkins was clearly no longer part of the family, after the divorce filing, accusations of child molesting and the custody dispute. now jennifer was losing that dispute. abuse allegations had been found baseless. a court hearing about increased visitation for stephen had been scheduled. how concerned is the skinner family about this visitation ruling? very concerned, very concerned. in their view sydney was their property. they were not going to share their property with anyone outside that skinner family, even stephen watkins. the skinner family was circling the wagons for themselves, and he was the enemy. jennifer and her fam
Who pulled the trigger? we continue with the mystery on horseshoe drive. we all lost our lives that night. you know, it s not something you ever get over. on the tuesday evening before thanksgiving 2008, penny watkins son stephen had gone to pick up his baby daughter sydney for a court-ordered visit when she was shot to death. stephen s wife jennifer told police he barged into her home, knocked over her grandmother and was heading for her and the baby when her grandmother shot him. but had it really gone down that way? why would an elderly religious woman shoot the father of her great granddaughter. as investigators focused on grandma shirley, they began to look more closely at jennifer. for one thing, they learned she had been married before. jennifer s uncle ed skinner says that relationship was a sign of things to come. that didn t last long. she just had to have her way all the time.