their nightclothes. the jury had just heard a drama of southern gothic proportions, gripping with family, greed and hatred. now, it was time for an entirely different story. none of the puzzle pieces fit. rick s defense team, including attorney barbara pratte, told the state that it was heavy on fiction, light on facts. they had a puzzle, neat little pieces, but the pieces were not exactly right. the state was so desperate to prove this, that it clung to the word of a jailhouse snitch and career criminal. a fellow who is there to cut himself a deal, get some assistance in his own case, it s not likely to be credible. not only was the snitch not to be believed, the defense told the jurors, but the state was also trying to confuse them about the mystery blood found at the crime scene. the bottom line, said pratt, the dna from that blood the cleared their client of the murders. the dna did not match. and we knew the dna was not
and then, a few weeks after the boys were turned over, it happened. it was april 12th, a tuesday morning. bambi called her mom, no answer. then charlie was late for work. one of his boys went up to the house to look for him. moments later, he called 9-1-1. she s laying on the floor, there s blood everywhere. blood everywhere? yes, ma am. inside, things were chaotic. an appalling sight. big charlie and diane we re dead. the old farmhouse they loved so well was now a crime scene. at a grisly crime scene, some small stray drops of blood might just provide a huge clue. coming up we urge someone involved in that crime was as great evidence? it is, if you can reach out. when dateline continues. when dateline continues you ll find better bedtime stories. you ll find a better life is in store at miracle-ear,
going to match rick. she knew that, she said, because rick had an alibi for the night of the murders. he had been asleep in myrtle beach with his family. the most challenging part of the case was the blood on rick s shoe. to explain how it got there, rick took the stand. he pointed out that on the morning the bodies were discovered, police had examined them thoroughly, and found nothing. there was blood on my shoes that morning, i would have been arrested right then and there. there was no blood on my shoes that morning. that came later, he said, when he stepped into the blood soaked bathroom. despite that police photo, he insisted the window blinds or open, and he simply worried that bambi might see the horror inside. i went inside, i shut the blind. i did not think she needed to see that. he testified the blood got on his shoe at that moment, not before. did you go into the house, and kill charlie and diane, at the instigation of bambi? were you in a conspiracy to kill
court, the blood put rick at the murder scene. he had a story about it, it was not water, he had a story. humphries recited rick s version of how blood it gone into the shoe, how he went into the house to get a set of car keys, sometime after the crime scene had wrapped up. he looked to his right, which was the window, leading in to the bathroom, where charlie died. he noticed the blood. rick said he worried bambi, facing outside, might look in the window and freak out all over again. he went in, stepped through the bathroom and closed the blinds. and then he stepped in blood? that s the story? but it did not hold up? the case was already closed. that was the gut, the crime scene photos, say the prosecutors taken hours before rick supposedly steps inside that house. notice the bathroom blinds are drawn. humphries argue that rick could not have closed the blinds,
accomplishing a goal. the alibi that bambi and rick gave detectives, that they were at home and leading up to the murders, was difficult to prove. each gave the other as a witness. they said, we were at home, you know. rick was, there i was there, my boys were in the next room. the prosecutor began to wonder, could this mysterious blood droplets at the crime scene be linked to rick and bambi? the evidence has not come back, we did not know you did not know if someone else has been in the house? it could have been richard gagnon. while humphries wait of those results, he took a look at some of rick and bambi s belongings, including their shoes. yes, what did the lab analysis say about that? that it was big charlie s blood. the prosecutor did not buy rick s story about stepping in blood while looking for bambi s mothers carcass. the texas also found what they thought was blood on one of bambi s boots. you know have to people of interest, there s no telling what s go