he never admits to killing her. reporter: the judge asked chris if he wanted to tell his story to the jury. i think that i will choose to not testify. reporter: it was now up to the jury to decide his fate. friends and family filled the courthouse waiting for word, but there would not be a quick verdict. finally, after deliberating for a day we, the jury, find the defendant guilty of murder first degree. in count two, it reads, we, the jury, find the defendant guilty of abuse of a corpse. reporter: tears flowed for heather, a woman who worked so hard to shape her own life, free of chris jones, who will now likely spend the rest of his life behind bars. heather is at peace. heather is at peace. he will never hurt anybody again. reporter: even after his conviction, chris jones insisted that he didn t kill heather. he told dateline in a phone call from jail that he never tried to control heather, that he is absolutely innocent of murder of any type, and that his ta
Her and he was there watching that breath go out of her. but the defense stuck to the story chris told on tape, that health hadder fell a heather and died after they struggled with a cell phone. the judge asked chris if he wanted to tell his story to the jury. i think that i will choose to not testify. it was now up to the jury to decide his fate. friends and family filled the courthouse waiting for word, but there would not be a quick verdict. finally, after deliberating for a day we the jury find the defendant of murder in the first degree. tears flowed for heather, a woman who worked so hard to shape her own life, free of chris jones, who will now likely spend the rest of his life behind bars. heather is at peace. heather is at peace. he will never hurt anybody again. even after his conviction, chris jones insisted that he
And he was there watching that breath go out of her. reporter: but the defense stuck to the story chris told on tape, that heather fell and died after they struggled over a cell phone. he never admits to killing her. reporter: the judge asked chris if he wanted to tell his story to the jury. i think that i will choose to not testify. reporter: it was now up to the jury to decide his fate. friends and family filled the courthouse waiting for word, but there would not be a quick verdict. finally, after deliberating for a day we, the jury, find the defendant guilty of murder first degree. in count two, it reads, we, the jury, find the defendant guilty of abuse of a corpse. reporter: tears flowed for heather, a woman who worked so hard to shape her own life, free of chris jones, who will now likely spend the rest of his life behind bars. heather is at peace. heather is at peace. he will never hurt anybody again. reporter: even after his
reporter: but the defense stuck to the story chris told on tape, that heather fell and died after they struggled over a cell phone. he never admits to killing her. reporter: the judge asked chris if he wanted to tell his story to the jury. i think that i will choose to not testify. reporter: it was now up to the jury to decide his fate. friends and family filled the courthouse waiting for word, but there would not be a quick verdict. finally, after deliberating for a day we, the jury, find the defendant guilty of murder first degree. in count two, it reads, we, the jury, find the defendant guilty of abuse of a corpse. reporter: tears flowed for heather, a woman who worked so hard to shape her own life, free of chris jones, who will now likely spend the rest of his life behind bars. heather is at peace. heather is at peace. he will never hurt anybody again. reporter: even after his conviction, chris jones insisted that he didn t kill heather. he told dateline i
reporter: but the defense stuck to the story chris told on tape, that heather fell and died after they struggled over a cell phone. he never admits to killing her. reporter: the judge asked chris if he wanted to tell his story to the jury. i think that i will choose to not testify. reporter: it was now up to the jury to decide his fate. friends and family filled the courthouse waiting for word, but there would not be a quick verdict. finally, after deliberating for a day we, the jury, find the defendant guilty of murder first degree. in count two, it reads, we, the jury, find the defendant guilty of abuse of a corpse. reporter: tears flowed for heather, a woman who worked so hard to shape her own life, free of chris jones, who will now likely spend the rest of his life behind bars. heather is at peace. heather is at peace. he will never hurt anybody again. reporter: even after his conviction, chris jones insisted that he didn t kill heather. he told dateline i