Page 4 - Finally Ralph News Today

A few weeks after the murder, he mustered up the courage and told the police -- >> while he was held captive, he had asked to go to the restroom and he was sexually assaulted in the bathroom. >> why didnt he say anything about that before? >> his explanation was, that he was embarrassed. >> it might be a little bit difficult to talk about, but the smallest details could be very important, so keep that in mind. >> ralph agreed to show the investigators exactly what happened, and where. >> he grab...

Victim is. and it looked like the poker had been put back in its original place. >> heres what ralph wrote. i picked up the poker to stir up the fire. i saw blood on the end of it and put it down. so investigators studied ralphs manifesto for clues. and thanks to the "huerfano world journal," so did everybody else in town. neighbors, mike and dina -- >> it sounded like a novel to me. >> a bizarre one at that. >> shannon who had been angry at ralph for not protecting her mother, read the letter a...

It hit me hard, you know. and so i went backwards. the ringing -- i couldnt see no more. >> ralph was knocked unconscious. >> i mean, i dont remember anything else, other than waking up in the morning. >> then, said ralph, still disoriented, he tried to sit up. >> i looked down the hallway. i could see pam, her legs. she was there. >> revealed by the first rays of a warm morning sun. >> her head -- there was just blood all over. and there was blood on the floor. and i touched her cheek. and she ...

Shaking maniac. >> ralphs face was banged up. he had bruises in several places. he was confused. like a man coming out of a concussion. >> just exhausted. my head still just hurts. >> and then as soon as he was able, and still in his hospital clothes, ralph talked to agents of the cbi. >> sorry to hear about your loss. >> its been a horrible day. >> the best he could remember, said ralph, he got up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. then decided to go downstairs to make sure the woo...

Mother disappeared. >> yes. >> coming up, secrets in the basement. >> i had been going through some of my dads stuff in the basement and found a box of stuff that supposedly she had taken with her. >> when "dateline extra" continues. i never knew there was a different solution to my constipation until my doctor recommended miralax. stimulant laxatives forcefully stimulate the nerves in your colon. miralax works with the water in your body, unblocking your system naturally. miralax. now available...

She said, this is it, im done. >> what did that feel like? >> it was a crush. you were crushed. >> what happened? no one knew. except that now these two had one more thing in common. both products of broken homes. the wedding day approached, just a few days to go, when shannons mother, pam, and aarons dad, ralph, invited the bride and groom-to-be for dinner and a talk. ralph was every bit a devout a believer as pam. so some premarital guidance perhaps? oh, no. nothing like that. >> they told us,...

>> i mean, ive never seen these rugs. >> the minute we heard he had never seen them, we knew the rugs had importance. we just didnt know how. >> they sent the rugs to the lab. and months later they heard back. what did you find when you tested them? >> pams blood was found on the rugs. >> they had caught ralph in an obvious lie. he must have put those rugs into the machine himself, hoping to wash away the evidence. finally they had enough. almost nine months after pams death, officers went to th...

So the investigation continued? >> yes. >> in an effort to shake him, or maybe even get a confession, they sought help from the one person whose presence back at the hospital made ralph break down and cry. shannon. >> cbi had me call him, bugged my phone and tried to get him to tell me what happened. >> she must have been so scared. >> she was terrified. it was probably one of the hardest things shes ever had to do. >> ralph? hey, this is shannon. >> but shannon did it. >> ive been waking up hav...

Welcome to "dateline." shannon palmer and aaron candidateelario were young and in love and engaged to be married. but their family was rocked by scandal. then murder. aarons father was found at the crime scene dazed and confused. but his confusing story had police questioning his version of events. heres keith morrison with "tangled." >> you cant put words to that. it was very surreal. >> 911. where is your emergency? >> its true, the old saying, when you marry someone, you marry their family, t...

And a terrible suspicion took hold of him, hardened into something like certainty. his mother must be dead. his father must have done it. >> and after that, it became more of, okay, where would he put her body? >> he was maybe 13 or 14 when he thought about those old coal mines around walsenburg. >> you actually went and looked? >> oh, yeah, i went through a lot of those mines myself. >> alone? >> mm-hmm. >> youre looking for the remains of your own mother. i mean, i cant imagine what that -- >>...