Page 5 - Jack Jesse News Today

Little ball came off the track again. this time it happened at sandras preliminary hearing. judge ruled there wasnt enough evidence to hold her. she was free to go. >> oh, i sobbed all the way home. i dont know how i made it back to marietta from santa ana. >> reporter: only brett schrauben was to face a murder trial. it was the summer of 2006, eight years after jack jessees murder. and justice? not yet, if ever. coming up -- finally, the break detectives had been waiting for. >> she wanted ja...

Heres keith morris. >> reporter: after five years and a string of homicide connects, the jack gemsy murder case had become a game to avoid. then one day the whole impossible business was handed off to tom dove. >> i cant tell you how many times that i thought, just move on. give up. move on. >> reporter: there was no hope of any new evidence, of course, like fingerprints or dna. there was just the infuriating puzzle which had become more difficult with each passing year. >> after i reviewed the ...

Other investigators outside and said, put a call in now to the phone. i heard him answer the phone. so i was able to say that is his phone, he talks on it. weve put the phone in his hand. >> reporter: but as they continue to sift through trash they find something more important than the phone bill, something quite unexpected. this day planner. >> from the years 96, 97, 1998. >> reporter: what were the chances of that? here, six years later, was the day planner for 1998, the year jack jessee was ...

>> they thought they knew the motive, too. but -- >> matter of proving it is a different story. >> until someone found the perfect bait. >> hey, dude, its me. you need to [ bleep ] call me asap. >> could they set the perfect trap? >> these people might literally get away with murder. >> "deadly conspiracy." hello and welcome to "dateline extra." im craig melvin. with doting grandfather jack jesse at the helm his big and blended california family seemed like one happy bunch. then jack was found s...

Arguing with sandra about moving to arizona. >> if anything ever happens to me, he says, its her. >> reporter: not the only time jack said such a thing, it turned out. >> he actually told me, i wouldnt be surprised if the bitch killed me. he said that. >> reporter: so dove picked through all the original files, hoping he might come across something that had been overlooked. and buried inside, he found this. a simple two-page report apparently unread by any detective. remember the guy who walked ...

Welcome back. it had been 11 years since jack jesses death. his wife, sandra, and her son, tom, were on trial for his murder. but can we find conspiracy tore had struck a deal with prosecutors. in exchange for his release, he took the stand to detail how sandra and tom orchestrated the plot to kill jack. now, the case was in the jurys hands, but the jesse familys fight for justice was far from over. with the conclusion of our story, heres keith morrison. when the jury went into seclusion to de...

His friend snuck inside and stabbed jack jessee to death. >> we had walkie-talkies and he called me on the walkie-talkie when we were done. he had blood on place. there he went inside to clean himself up. >> the information he provided, if we could corroborate what he said, would blow the case wide open. >> t.j. garrick was questioned and denied everything. he said he wasnt in the car and he didnt kill jack jesse. police let him go. investigators focused on building their case against tom and sa...

And two, the caller stated that the person had used a backdoor or a window to enter the residence that night. that was significant in that this person had specific details unknown to the general public about the murder of jack jessee. >> reporter: most of the tipsters information was frustratingly vague, like a riddle, yet another game to be played. there were two killers, though he gave no names. one had a knife, the other had the getaway car. both worked at a big box department store. the man ...

Or was he headed toward another dead end? here again is keith morrison. >> reporter: after two years of relentless police work, tom doves investigation of the murder of jack jessee had generated enough evidence to fill this mail cart. all apparently for naught. the suspect and his key to cracking the case had skipped the state, and detective doves jurisdiction. >> we were so close. >> reporter: the jessee family sensed dove had been beaten and sandra jessee had won. had gotten away with murder. ...

The orange county homicide division -- >> uh-huh. >> called scott, they want to talk to him about me. >> about you? >> yeah. >> what are you on right now? >> im on my cell phone. >> are you comfortable or no? >> no. >> that little mousetrap ball was making its way through the maze. after a few days of the game, sandra, tom, and brett began to wonder if they were getting played. suspected their phones were tapped. maybe even their houses bugged. >> i want to talk for a couple of seconds -- >> oka...