Page 4 - Son Tom News Today

And in the summer of 2009, 11 years after the murder, the mother and son team went on trial for the murder of jack jessee. >> going to court was like going to my dads funeral every day. it really was. youre around people that you know killed your dad. it was a ridiculous feeling. you cant even put it into words. just soul-wrenching. >> schrauben testified against them. in court it was argued sandra had a variety of motives for killing jack. she wanted his money before medical bills ate up their ...

Moved to arizona. >> and she was flipping out about it. >> yeah. >> just -- she had to go there. >> reporter: she demanded jack move to arizona too. >> that woman was off her rocker. her tone was just scary. it was like somebody elses voice coming out of her. >> reporter: but surely that wasnt motive enough for murder? and with plenty of suspicion but little else to go on, wyatt spent months poring over sandra and jacks phone records, bank statements, credit card bills, searching to -- well, he ...

Schraubens garbage. >> so what did they tell you when you came up with that idea? youre crazy. >> i think their first idea was im really starting to lose it now, i want to dig through somebodys trash. >> reporter: so faithfully, once a week on gar back pickup day, dove got up at daybreak and made the hour-long adjourn tee to bretts neighborhood, where a trash truck used just for schraubens garbage brought it to a nearby parking lot. >> wed have the truck dump the trash in somewhat of a pile here...

It had been 11 years since jack jessees death. his wife sandra and her son tom were on trial for his murder. but confessed conspirator brett schrauben 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 jessee familys fight for justice was far from over. with the conclusion of our story, heres keith morrison. when the jury went into seclusion to deliberat...

Son tom and soon her daughter followed, too. they all lived within a couple of blocks of each other in homes sandra helped purchase with jacks insurance money and savings. >> when everything was said and done, she got close to $700,000. >> and as the months slipped past, leads failed to connect the investigation, hit one dead-end after the other and wyatt was promoted out of homicide. the case bounced from the pd to the orange county sheriffs department, where before long it became a case to avo...

Attorney and she refused to meet with us again. >> same thing happened with sandras kids, jacks stepchildren, while jacks blood relations basically begged to solve the case. so what happened to that big happy family in the video? a mirage, perhaps? in fact, living with sandra, said jacks daughter shari and cheryl, was like a fairytale. >> its too late now. >> the kind writtener by the brothers grim. >> she was just mean to me. she wanted me completely gone. she did everything she could to try to...

Years after the murder, the mother and son team went on trial for the murder of jack jessee. >> going to court was like going to my dads funeral every day. i mean, it really was. >> being around people that you know killed your dad, it was a ridiculous feeling. you cant even put it into words. just soul-wrenching. >> schrauben testified against them. in court it was argued sandra had a variety of motives for killing jack. she wanted his money before medical bills ate up their savings. and she co...

California, moved to arizona to be near her son tom, and soon her daughter followed too. and they all lived within a couple of blocks of each other in homes sandra helped purchase with jacks insurance money and savings. >> when everything was said and done, she got close to $700,000. >> reporter: and as the months slipped past, leads failed to connect, the investigation hit one dead end after another. wyatt was promoted out of homicide. the case bounced from the placentia pd to the orange county...

Sandra announced she had now helped as much as she could. she was done. >> i was referred to her attorney and she refused to meet with us again. >> reporter: same thing happened with sandras kids, jacks stepchildren. while jacks blood relations practically begged to help solve the case. so what happened to that big happy family in the video? a mirage, perhaps? in fact, living with sandra, said jacks daughter cheree and cheryl, was a fairy tale, the kind britain by the brothers grimm. >> she was ...

>> i was referred to her attorney and she refused to meet with us again. >> reporter: same thing happened with sandras kids, jacks stepchildren. while jacks blood relations practically begged to help solve the case. so what happened to that big happy family in the video? a mare raj, perhaps? in fact, living with sandra, said jacks daughter cher re and cheryl, was a fairy tale, the kind britain by the brothers grimm. >> she was mean to me. she wanted me completely gone. she did everything she cou...