Lay Pam News Today

Evidence, almost enough. not quite. and then the antique rugs. >> i was searching the kitchen area and found in the washing machine two small size rugs. and the rugs were still very wet. and they were balled up to one side. >> but when ralph saw the rugs during a walk-through with the police, he didnt seem to recognize them. >> 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 la...

What youre doing and tailors his story to match what he thinks youre finding. >> exactly. >> ralph kept explaining, kept offering not less, but more details. about, for example, the drawer pulls in his house, the ones investigators removed to test for fingerprints. >> in the event that one of the invasion persons touched them. >> now heres ralph with the police at his house just after pam was murdered. noticing the missing knobs. >> what happened to all the knobs? >> he was very upset that they ...

A citizens tip supplied a possible lead. >> she brought up individual names that he believed were involved in this homicide. >> ramon berros and jose nino, known drug users, both had rap sheets, a history of breaking and entering and assault. they were trying to sell jewelry the day after the murders. >> you have a responsibility to check into that? >> yeah. >> pams daughter shannon found her blaming ralph for not preventing what happened. >> i was angry at him. in my mind i was like, why didnt ...

The warm morning sun. >> there was blood on the floor. i touched her cheek. she was cold, cold, cold. and i ran out of the house. >> and that, said ralph, is when he saw his neighbor and yelled for help. who did it? robbers or someone else? normally said police captain vince suarez. >> you are always looking as people closest to the victim. >> in this case, ralph was a victim and clearly wanted to help find the killer or killers. cbi agent jody wright. >> he was cooperative. absolutely. >> inves...

>> well, you know, the sucker would rather go out than actually face his destiny that way. >> suicide attempt, delaying tactic, whatever it was it didnt work. a day later the judge ordered ralph back to court. >> people versus ralph lee candelario sentencing. >> and ralph, bandaged up, got another day in the spotlight. >> your honor, i have maintained that i have been innocent through this whole process. >> and then a keen observer might almost have heard the jaws drop around the courtroom. >> p...

>> so no surprise said eric mullens of the "world journal." invasion and killing at the candelario place was a big deal for the weekly paper and for the whole town. >> we didnt know who was out there. >> people like their neighbors, dina and mark. >> i was afraid. i didnt even want to go to my paint class that i do in the evening because i was afraid to be out. >> a lot of people got guns. >> a lot of neighbors told me. i went out and got a gun. you know? i want to protect myself. >> everybody k...

Crying. he said she is in the kitchen. ill go get my neighbor. ralph, were getting help for you ralph. >> the police arrive. went into the house with guns drawn. at the entrance to the kitchen, still in her nightgown lay pam. her head covered in blood. >> i knew she was dead when the ambulance showed up because they did not go into the house. they just stayed and were working on ralph. >> ralph wasnt shot, but he was hurt. he was air lifted to the nearest trauma hospital. the local reporter knew...

But heres what pams daughter, shannon, thought. >> it felt overly dramatic and really just glamorous that he was the victim of this. and that wasnt -- that made me sick. >> and angry obviously. >> yeah. >> her sister kelseys interpretation? >> i thought it was very strange. i thought that he had some work to do on a story because it sounded really phony. >> entitled to their opinions, of course. but then so were the cops. recovered memory? no, said the cbis jody wright. more like a cover-up. >> ...

Marched ralph candelario with an open letter to the whole town. >> it was him explaining what he can remember after he had been treated up in pueblo for his injury, and interviewed by the cbi. >> this is my story. >> this is my story, this is what happened to me. >> to whom it may concern, he began. and were including his typos exactly as they appeared in his letter. his memory was coming back. he wanted to explain, and maybe shannon was right, he felt guilty. i am angry at myself for not findin...

But i looked down the hall, and i could see pams legs in the kitchen. thats when he ran out of the house and found his neighbor who called 911. of course, the "world journal" printed all that though the police werent too happy about it. and eric mullens? >> i remember taking it home and reading it and putting it down and thinking, no, it didnt say that. and picking it back up again. >> but remarkable as ralphs letter was, it still wasnt the whole story. a few weeks after the murder, he mustered ...