Page 2 - Lizz Doesn T News Today

Parents house. >> anything you thinks missing, because we need to start searching for the items that are missing. >> i cant imagine you going back to this house, where youve known your parents in happy times, and then its a crime scene. >> absolutely. its the one place youre supposed to be safe. and its just been, i dont know. its been tainted. >> reporter: she went through the house, room by room, cataloging what she thought was missing. a tv set, jewelry, cash and medication. last stop, the ga...

>> reporter: lizz insisted her mom get some rest. so the next day, when detectives came by the house where lizz and sandra were staying, the daughter was the one to field their questions. >> and you flew in, uh, yesterday? >> yes. >> thats right. >> okay. >> reporter: and lizz, thought it prudent to record the conversation. she updated the detectives on her mothers health. >> shes just in complete shock, and she has retrograde amnesia at the moment. she has a hard time remembering things as it i...

Mode. >> reporter: lizz booked the next flight back to texas. >> i just knew i had to get there. >> reporter: had to get back. back to a new reality with a murdered father and a traumatized mother. grieving would have to take a number, while the daughter held everyone together. nothing made sense. coming up -- >> were you worried about your mother? that whoever this person was might come back? >> absolutely. she was traumatized. >> tips begin to trickle in. who could have done this? >> theyre ...

Him to the list of potential suspects. >> did you have ideas for them? >> i did. >> reporter: she also suggested they talk to one of her parents tenants, someone whod had disputes with her dad. and there was a co-worker of jaimes she got a bad vibe from. and again, lizz says she urged detectives to look at her ex. he had a record of drug arrests. if not him, what about people in his circle? months dragged by without word on the investigation. >> you believe someone is out there, has gotten away ...

I tried to give them as much information as i could. >> reporter: yes, the ex-husband the melgars regarded as a no-account. turns out, during the rocky last days of his marriage to lizz, the melgars suspected he and a buddy lifted some of sandras medication. the same sort now believed to be missing. the melgars never reported their suspicions to authorities, but now lizz told detectives, talk to the ex. >> reporter: by now, the murder break-in story was all over the news. >> home invasion in nor...

To a possible other suspect -- >> reporter: and the csis had photographed a bloody swipe on the handle of the closet safe, just a short distance from jaimes body. the defense told the jury how detectives never ran it for a possible print, nor had it swabbed for dna. >> isnt that the kind of evidence youd wanna have available to consider? why wouldnt you at least test it? >> reporter: the defense ticked off more examples of what they regarded as inept detective work, they never brought lizzs ex-h...

>> reporter: who could have done this, she wondered? she recalled for the detectives a scary moment on their way home. >> i think when we left cvs there was a -- a car following us because when we came in our neighborhood, it was still behind us and he was really close. >> reporter: something for the detectives to check out. after sandra was done talking, her cousin diana -- whod rushed into town to help -- met her at a friends house. >> she looked like she had aged ten years overnight. she coul...

Somehow, someone had turned a cozy celebration into a monstrous crime scene. >> it was just -- it was horrible. >> what in the world had happened in that house? >> i have no idea. >> reporter: the story of the two begins as high school meet-cute. sandra, the new girl from laredo assigned a seat in her houston classroom just in front of jaime melgar. their daughter lizz doesnt know how many times she heard that story. >> he used to pull on her hair. >> oh, youre kidding. >> in the middle of class...

Scene. >> absolutely. its the one place youre supposed to be safe. and its just been, i dont know. its been tainted. >> reporter: she went through the house, room by room, cataloging what she thought was missing. a tv set, jewelry, cash and medication. last stop, the garage. >> the garage was full of things that could easily be stolen and pawned. >> yeah. >> reporter: there lizz spied something, to her eyes, oddly out of place. her middle school backpack. sticking out of it, an xbox console. cou...

And move on. >> reporter: but as the investigation dragged into july of 2014, their worst fears were realized, lizz and her mom found out in a most unusual way. >> i went to the mailbox and it had been absolutely filled with fliers from lawyers trying to get our business for our pending case. >> did you know what that was about? >> i had no idea what that was about. >> and so i got onto the harris county website and i entered my moms name. and i saw that she had been charged with my fathers murd...