Page 2 - Buttoned Up Case News Today

Of pepper spray, too. there were two shoes found in the car, but nothing else. melissa had been wearing a sterling silver ring, diamond earrings and a $5,000 watch. she also had an expensive prada handbag and an iphone. could very well be a target of some opportunistic grab and run. >> at the point we find her vehicle, we have no clues, no leads, and we dont have any suspects identified. >> reporter: police did find a tiny drop of melissas blood in her car and on a tile in her house. but there w...

Years in prison. but one big question emerged, speculation about that woman in the firm whod been killed. >> whether melissa knew about the ponzi scheme is one of those great mysteries. >> reporter: scott had started his ponzi scheme three years before melissa was murdered. >> is it time to take a fresh look at the whole melissa lewis murder? is there something more sinister? >> reporter: detective brian kendall now had a whole new problem with his fairly straightforward case against tony, the j...

Before the defense rested, the judge asked tony villegas if he wanted to testify. >> is it your wish to testify or remain silent? >> silent, sir. >> reporter: in closing arguments, prosecutor tate said all the evidence pointed to tony. the pepper spray, cell phone records, and the dna. >> there is not one other person on the planet earth that could leave the dna on this jacket. >> reporter: the defense reminded jurors that the pepper spray evidence was weak, and that both phone records and dna r...

Signal was lost. either the battery died or the killer dumped the phone. all told by thursday, the day after the murder, the phone or whoever had it travelled a distance of about 60 miles. >> so obviously, whos with that cell phone, was most likely the last person that was with -- with melissa. >> reporter: detectives also focused on those five hours the phone was stationary in miami gardens. was the killer home in bed? >> we have to identify if melissa knows somebody that lives in this area. >>...

>> did he tell you that it was melissas fault? >> he -- he believed that she had a part in it. yes. >> did he tell you that he was mad at melissa about this? >> yeah. he was mad about the whole situation. >> reporter: oh, and there was one more thing. remember melissas jacket, the one found in her suv? tests showed tonys dna on the jacket. prosecutors believe tony wiped his nose with it after being pepper sprayed. >> odds of finding an unrelated individual with that profile are rarer than one in...

He had been released from prison -- in the past. >> reporter: so you havent ruled him out yet? >> not yet. >> reporter: with the list of possible suspects shrinking, detectives shifted their focus to something that might provide their first break in the case. with melissas iphone missing, detectives put in an emergency request to the phone company to see if it could help track her cell. when he got the report, detective kendall couldnt believe what he saw. melissas iphone had been active after t...

Tony went on trial. >> the defendant in this case -- >> reporter: the prosecutor shari tate argued that tony, fueled by a jealous rage, waited in the bushes for melissa to come home, followed her into the garage and then launched a brutal attack on his wifes best friend. >> it is a hands on, personal murder. it takes time. it takes premeditation. and, why? because she was a friend. >> reporter: but the residue of pepper spray all over the garage was evidence that melissa had fought back and some...

>> reporter: tonys attorney is bruce fleisher. >> they sought the death penalty. >> reporter: police and prosecutors were confident they had a solid case against tony villegas, but something happened that threw the whole investigation into freefall. thats because new crimes were about to be revealed. and new questions were about to be raised about who really killed melissa. and in the midst of it all, scott rothstein, like melissa, would disappear. >> coming up -- were melissa and scott rothstei...

Is this woman, melissa, killed because she knew too much? >> after we think we had this solid, buttoned-up case, "we do have the whole scott rothstein ponzi scheme comes into play?" >> reporter: the fbi combed through the detectives files looking into a melissa-rothstein-ponzi link. >> they spent a week going through every inch of that case to find out if there was a connection to scott rothstein. >> reporter: with all these messy complications, tonys defense attorney, bruce fleisher, thought ab...

Tony went on trial. >> the defendant in this case -- >> reporter: the prosecutor shari tate argued that tony, fueled by a jealous rage, waited in the bushes for melissa to come home, followed her into the garage and then launched a brutal attack on his wifes best friend. >> it is a hands on, personal murder. it takes time. it takes premeditation. and, why? because she was a friend. >> reporter: but the residue of pepper spray all over the garage was evidence that melissa had fought back and some...