Out something she found disturbing. he s rarely honest except for when he s been drinking. and he was upset about something, and i asked him what he was upset about and he stated something about. she was writhing underneath me and then he said, oh, the black cat. reporter: as strange as that story sounded, the prosecutor took it to mean this. curtis wasn t talking about a cat, but about cory s last minutes of life, as she struggled while curtis smothered her. erika had a story to tell. there s one particular quote that came out and he says, i could hear her writhing beneath me. yes. that was evidence. she gave and it sounds as though he s talking about killing his wife at that moment. that s what we thought it sounded like, and she testified to that under oath on the stand that i could feel her writhing beneath me. and that s pretty much what would ve happened if suffocation was occurring. reporter: the prosecution