Page 2 - Dinner Ben News Today

Ben was a good guy. they had their problems. everybody loved him. he didnt deserve to die. >> reporter: so for the time being its a he said/she said story. and the d.a.s deal with dawn to the dismay of james matleans attorney means she may never face a murder charge. >> the prosecutor made a deal with the devil. now we just need to show him how far in hell she is. >> deal with the devil? the d.a. says without dawns testimony at the preliminary hearing, the murder charge against james would never...

>> reporter: melissa oxley was just 27 years old and already a widow. her 36-year-old husband, ben, shot dead while he slept in bed right next to her. as far as she could tell, said melissa, the shooter managed to break into the house, walk right into the master bedroom, shoot ben without harming her and leave not a trace of evidence behind. the case boggled the detectives mind. >> is there somebody who doesnt like him? is it a murder for hire pay? what could this be? >> reporter: melissas close...

We were finding reasons to take them to jail. >> reporter: and while they had james, they asked him point blank about the murder of ben oxley. >> did i kill ben? no. do i know who killed ben? no. did dawn kill ben? no. do i know anything about the murder? no. >> were you and dawn in any way involved in the planning of the death of ben? >> no. im looking you in your eyes. i did not kill him. >> reporter: but that was it. lots of denials. no real evidence. a year and a half had gone by since the m...

And on february 20th, 2008, the moon rose full over the carson valley. after dinner ben, melissa, her teenage brother craig and little alyssa settled in the den to watch a movie.he melissa remembers falling asleep on the couch, waking up with a start. >> thinking i was late for work. it was like 2:30 in the morning. and i was like, oh, im not late. so i went and got into bed. >> reporter: crawled in with ben, she said, moonlight on the covers. warmth inside. >> about an hour later is when i was ...

>> she met a guy and she would stay the night at his house. i mean when her kids are calling us up saying we dont have any food in the house, can you come and bring us food, theres a problem. >> reporter: and so when dawn and ben went to court to fight for custody of alyssa, cindy had to tell the truth. >> i told the judge that dawn wasnt taking care of her kids anymore. they werent a priority. they werent even number five. >> reporter: when ben won custody of alyssa and more than $200 a month i...

Worried because they think were watching them. >> surveillance photos show dawn with james matlian and her two daughters, brandy, her 13-year-old daughter from a previous marriage and alyssa, 7 by this time. thats right. a year into the investigation, little alyssa was back with her biological mom who had then the courts slowly weaned her back there permanently. so there you are still trying to grieve the loss of ben at the same time as alyssa is being pulled back toward dawn. >> yeah, i lost bo...

>> but she had quite a story to tell about james. about how he offered to murder ben. >> the night ben died, he said now or never. and i said no. i said not today. dont do it. no. i said no. i said no. no, no, no, no. >> reporter: hours later, she said, james woke her up from a sound sleep and told her ben was dead. but that, she said, is all he told her. all she knew. >> so youre confident that james had something to do with it? >> i dont know. >> reporter: but was that really all she knew? daw...

Yada, yada, and james said, "ill go out and kill him right now. you just say the word ill kill him." she was like a broken record. "i want him dead. i want him dead." >> sound like a woman who was shocked when the murder happened? but there was more. it was after that when james matlean told his attorney ken stover it was time to tell the whole story. >> i could tell he was telling the truth. over the course of 15 months hes always told the same story. >> reporter: so now comes another story. ja...

Matlean got his sentence. >> the murder charge, youre sentenced to life in prison. >> reporter: life without parole ever. afterwards the little girl in the middle of the family drama turned to melissa with a remarkable request. alyssa asked to meet with james and was ushered in to see him before he was whisked away. >> i told him that i decided to forgive him and that i wanted him to have hope. >> reporter: and she went then, tears of forgiveness, of lingering grief for her father. and as for me...

Being grilled by detectives. >> 2-21-08. >> reporter: detective elgis had questions. lots of them. so many things about this murder didnt make sense. >> you were right there? >> the other thing i dont understand is why somebody shoots him and you dont see anything. >> i dont know. i honestly dont know. >> reporter: maybe it was the man ben warned her about, she said, a rough customer who once dated bens ex-wife dawn and apparently threatened to kill both dawn and any man she had been with. was t...