position. her jewelry boxes untouched. did someone have a bigger prize in mind? a family farm worth a fortune. i did not shoot my mom and i would never shoot my mom. two trials. every emotion hit. two verdicts. there were only two people who knew what happened that day. one of them s dead and the other one is sitting in that chair. too much to bear. it s just been a hell on earth. hello and welcome to dateline. bill and shirley carter built a comfortable life and raised a family on their sprawling farm in america s heartland. as their golden years approached the couple fell into a routine. daily coffee, working the fields and spending time with the grandkids. but one morning gunshots rang out, leaving shirley dead and planting the seeds of a mystery that would turn one family member against another. here s dennis murphy with the farm. council bluffs, iowa. in a small courtroom the new and final scene of a four- yearlong drama was playing out. count
a stunning twist in a family s desperate search for justice. nothing has turned outright. a wife and mother murdered. she was in a casket like position. her jewelry boxes untouched. did someone have a bigger prize in mind? a family farm worth a fortune. i did not shoot my mom and i would never shoot my mom. did someone have a bigger prize in mind? a family farm worth a fortune. i did not shoot my mom and i would never shoot my mom. two trials. every emotion hit. two verdicts. there were only two people who knew what happened that day. one of them s dead and the other one is sitting in that chair. too much to bear. it s just been a hell on earth. hello and welcome to dateline. bill and shirley carter built a comfortable life and raised a family on their sprawling farm in america s heartland. as their golden years approached the couple fell into a routine. daily coffee, working the fields and spending time with the grandkids. but one morning gunsho
i did not shoot my mom and i would never shoot my mom. two trials. every emotion hit. two verdicts. there were only two people who knew what happened that day. one of them s dead and the other one is sitting in that chair. too much to bear. it s just been a hell on earth. hello and welcome to dateline. bill and shirley carter built a comfortable life and raised a family on their sprawling farm in america s heartland. as their golden years approached the couple fell into a routine. daily coffee, working the fields and spending time with the grandkids. but one morning gunshots rang out, leaving shirley dead and planting the seeds of a mystery that would turn one family member against another. here s dennis murphy with the farm. council bluffs, iowa. in a small courtroom the new and final scene of a four-yearlong drama was playing out. count one murder in the first degree. the defendant did with malice and forethought with premeditation
Happy family picture suddenly disfigured by the ugly murder of shirley carter. dci mark ludwick took the lead for the investigation. first of all, we want to identify all witnesses, we want to separate them and we want to conduct a face-to-face sit down interview as soon as we can. early on, the most important witnesses were bill, the husband, and jason, the son. ludwick assigned deputies to take the two down to the pleasantville pd. and she said do you want a cookie, coffee? in an interview room bill told investigators the same story he told us. how he took shirley home then took a load of corn to the granary. and how he raced home tofind his wife still on the floor. when i went in and i felt her she was cold. jason in turn said his day started pretty much the same. he d also taken a load of corn to that same granary. i went back down the drive and headed down to eddyfield.
Husband, and jason, the son. ludwick assigned deputies to take the two down to the pleasantville pd. and she said do you want a cookie, coffee? in an interview room bill told investigators the same story he told us. how he took shirley home then took a load of corn to the granary. and how he raced home tofind his wife still on the floor. when i went in and i felt her she was cold. jason in turn said his day started pretty much the same. he d also taken a load of corn to that same granary. i went back down the drive and headed down to eddyfield. later in the morning, he said he went to his parent s house to help with some chores and then discovered his mother. she wasn t alive. it was terrible. with their accounts on the record, deputies sent bill and jason home that night. the farmhouse was still taped off as a crime scene, so bill stayed at jason s place. and i didn t sleep that night. i smoked cigarettes and i walked that deck. in the meantime, crime techs had fin