Page 12 - Dave Hawk News Today

Wine we raise our glasses and say cheers. it is just a tradition. we were not toasting anybodys anything. >> why have you never been able to persuade conrad of your innocence? >> i dont know. he knows that i was at home the whole time, never left, didnt have any involvement in anything illegal. but hes perhaps angry and needs to fill in the blanks with something. >> maybe he is angry at his dad because his dad killed his mom. >> his dad didnt kill his mom. >> he thinks so though. >> he could be ...

>> i was home with my children in another town all night. but im being accused of being in another place committing a terrible crime based on financial shenanigans that didnt exist in the first place. >> shenanigans like for example the trust fund for his kids. his father made the terms very broad, said dave, so he could spend the money as he saw fit. any way that would benefit the children. >> the money is to be used for the health, education, support and maintenance of the children. and thats ...

>> a guilty man or not? the jury did not take very long to decide. >> we, the jury, find the defendant, david martin hawk, guilty of the murder of debbie hawk. >> guilty of murder and nine financial crimes. dave hawk was sentenced to spend the rest of his life behind bars. but was that the end of this story? not in the least. his defense attorney appealed the case as high as he could, even trying the supreme court, which declined review. then in march 2016, ten years after debbie hawk disappeare...

At home asleep in the early morning hours when police believe debbie must have been killed and the kids say they didnt hear him leave the house. they were there, too, at the time. there was no evidence dave was ever at the crime scene. did you find any dna? >> no. >> did you find any fingerprints. >> no. >> hair, anything? >> no. >> but then they had just begun to uncover the troubling secrets of dave and debbie hawk. coming up -- a family divided. >> i dont believe he would be capable of doin...

Purely circumstantial case. would this be enough to sway the jury? here with the conclusion of our story is keith morrison. dave hawk, on trial for the murder of his ex-wife debbie did not testify, didnt tell the members of the jury what he was thinking. he had a sinking feeling he knew what they were thinking. >> always blame the ex-husband first. >> it was an awful problem as he saw it. had been from the day his ex-wife debbie disappeared through a trail of her own blood, the number one susp...

As was the defense request to separate the financial charges from the murder charge. defense argued that the embezzlement charges were unfairly prejudicial. >> they wanted to make him look like a bad person, a person who would take money from his kids would be likely to murder his ex-wife. >> in fact, the prosecution would say dave fear that debbie was about to reveal in open court his theft of the kids trust funds was a powerful motive for murder. >> the fact of the matter was that was already ...

Painting him as an evil man who decided to eliminate his ex-wife when he knew the misuse of the trust funds was about to be exposed. enough? well, we shall see. >> theres a number of other explanations for what could have happened other than dave. dave was a convenient ex-husband. >> coming up -- one of his children is convinced hes not guilty, but can dave hawk convince a jury? >> i told them i wanted to testify. >> when "dateline" continues. to get excited about things ind like concert tickets...

>> which is why just hours after the kids discovered debbie was missing it was 2:20 a.m. by then. police called dave, woke him up. asked him to drive down to police headquarters for a talk. the phone call was curious, thought investigator madison because dave didnt ask why. >> ive received calls in the middle of the night. my first thought for me is family. whats going on, especially if it is the police department. he didnt. >> and when he arrived in the interview room. >> whats going on? >> dav...

After the samples she kept in the van. all of the pharmaceuticals in her van were missing. somebody took them. >> that was a ludicrous idea, countered the prosecution. debbie carried very few samples. anyway, if drug theft was behind it why didnt the thief take any jewelry or electronics. no. it seemed to come down to dave. his character, his behavior and his own words and a conversation with a friend police recorded when dave speculated what might have happened to debbie. the defense played it ...

And presumed death. >> sandy brown is daves longtime pastor and friend. >> this person who is portrayed as such a monster just simply isnt. he is a man who has worked hard in the church. he is a good father. >> as their son prepares to face serious financial charges, daves parents took over the custody of chelsa and savannah. not the way they expected to spend their 80s. any more than they expected to have to defend their son. >> he made some mistakes, but nothing of the scope that is generally ...