Someone was out there. Yeah. We were scared. Mystery number two. A secret 1600 miles away. There were several Text Messages. Its just slowly snowballing. It was like a punch in the gut. And mystery number three. Im mean. Im going to hurt you. Who would they turn out to be . Im like, damn, what did this lady do . Faith. Temptation. And a twist the size of texas. Lets be very clear. Justice needs to be served. I dont think it has been. Im lester holt, and this is dateline. Tonight, Andrea Canning with the carrollton plot. Reporter but travel east a hundred miles or so and you enter the piney woods of east texas. Jobs are not as plentiful here. Dreerms deferred. And some keep bail bondsmen on speed dial. All the people were dealing here with are poor. Theres a lot of drugs, a lot of methamphetamine out there. Reporter different quul cultures worlds apart. And yet one summer those two worlds collided in a most unlikely way. This is the story of that summer when money seemed to fall like tickertape on the piney woods. And an affluent carrollton family experienced the kind of Violent Crime that had always happened somewhere else. God, help me. Yes, maam. Help me. Help me. I need you to call me immediately. Your mom is in the hospital with a gunshot wound. And im like, im sorry. What . Each day, wed look at each other, michael and i, and just say, we cant make this up. Reporter our story begins in august 2012. Can you believe it . 100 degrees again this afternoon. Reporter it was the kind of heat that melts asphalt and has everyone searching the sky for some sign of mercy. But in carrollton, 52yearold frank howard wasnt sweating it. Frank was an accountant. His life was good and Getting Better by the day. I took on a new client. And that would have been probably in 2009. Reporter very wealthy client . Yes. Reporter what did that come along with, those perks . Well, the wealthy client, you know, he had you know, his own airplanes. And so i guess for the first time, probably, you know, flying around in private planes and, you know, going to cowboy games. Reporter as they say in texas, frank howard was standing in high cotton. I was still, you know, the same old guy, but it was definitely doing some fun things as well. Reporter frank had come a long way since his days as a preachers son growing up in South Central texas. Very conservative upbringing. You know, there was no drinking and cussing. You know, ive never been to the dance, the school prom. Never did any of that kind of stuff. But at the same time, you know, wanting to be just very down to earth, very honest and try to be the best person you can be. Reporter solid values to last a lifetime. But it wasnt all smooth sailing. In college, frank had a brief marriage that ended in divorce. Eventually, he fell in love with a girl from his church. Her name was nancy shore. A brunette with dazzling blue eyes. It was a great time. You know, i still look back at that and think it was a good time. Reporter franks father married the happy couple in 1983 and two years later they had their first child, a daughter they named ashley. That wasnt an easy birth . No. Reporter there were problems . Yeah, yeah. There were complications. She spent the first ten days of her life in the Neonatal Unit at the hospital. Reporter it was a close call, but one that seemed to deepen and enrich the couples faith. Soon the family grew to include a son, jay, and another daughter, brianna. Growing up was great. I had a wonderful older sister and older brother who had kind of helped guide me through stuff. And then obviously a wonderful mom and dad. Reporter eldest daughter ashley says that whatever the Howard Family did, they did together. Both our parents did choir in church. Any time they needed a family, it was like, oh, get the howards. Theyll come and like bring all the kids. We were, you know, always together, always a family. We went to all of their events. They were busy. They were always doing something. I mean, whether it was, you know, soccer or, you know, anything in the fine arts, musically. Reporter you guys almost do sound like leave it to beaver. Oh, we joke that we were the cleavers. Hi, beaver. Hi, mom. And jay was beaver. I was beavette. Brianna was beaverly. We had Howard Family variety night. Yeah, we would have game nights and we would yeah. Legitimately, the cleaver family. Yeah, absolutely. Reporter but by 2012, those days were gone. Frank and nancy were now empty nesters. Ashley and her brother, jay, were each married and on their own. Brianna was in college in nashville. You were so close with your kids. Was it hard as one by one they started leaving the nest and going off to college . Sure. Yeah, it was. I mean, im proud of them. But it was difficult. I mean, change is difficult. Reporter now nancy was often home alone. Franks work with his new client a wealthy defense contractor had him traveling to florida, california, even kuwait. There was a little bit more, you know, freedom or whatever. And like i said, a lot of it was work. And so, you know, i was out there trying to kind of build it. And she was sitting at home. Reporter still, nancy had her faith and Church Activities to fill the empty hours. In fact, thats where shed been the evening everything changed for the Howard Family. It was a saturday night, august 18, 2012. Youre out of town. Yes. Reporter you get a call that something horrific has happened to nancy. Theres been a robbery at your own house . Yes. I was just beside myself. I didnt know, you know, what what was happening. Reporter and so began one of the longest nights of Frank Howards life. When we come back, a harrowing cry for help. God, help me. Yes, maam. Help me. Terror was at the door. Im like, our mother . That just makes no sense. Almost like it wasnt real . 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After months of broiling temperatures, the afternoon of august 18th, 2012, brought the welcome sound of summer rain to carrollton, texas. But shortly before 8 00 that evening the sound of a gunshot split the night. A 911 operator picked up the phone and heard a womans anguished cry. Lord jesus, help me. Oh, my god. Help me. Oh, jesus, help me. Reporter the woman said she had just been shot in the head by an intruder in her garage. Ive been shot. Please help me. Whats the address. Maam . Reporter the caller, was franks wife, nancy howard. Shed somehow managed to drag herself into the house, and in spite of taking a bullet in the head, she bass able to give critical details to the 911 dispatcher. How many people was it . Its just one that im aware of. Can you please stay on the phone . Oh, yes, maam. Im going to stay on the phone with you till they get there. Reporter a few minutes later, Carrollton Police officers arrived at the home on bluebonnet way. Remarkable as it sounds, nancy managed to open the front door for them. Its the police . Yes, maam. God, help me. Yes, maam. Help me. Help me. Help me. Help. Reporter soon Carrollton Police detectives michael wall and bryan turner were on the case. Its just incredible how she was able to give the information to the dispatcher about what had happened and then be able to wait for the police at the front door. Reporter this was a really bloody crime scene. There was quite a bit of blood, yes. Reporter there was a small hole just above nancys left eye. She was struggling for breath, and her vital signs were slipping. As paramedics rushed her to Parkland Hospital in dallas, detective wall turned his attention to the crime scene. You could see exactly where she had gone through the house. Reporter the garage and the hallway leading into the house were bloody, but the rest of the house appeared to have been untouched. The suspects had taken nancys purse. Reporter did you have any reason to believe when you arrived that this was anything other than a burglary gone bad . We didnt have any other reason to suspect that it was anything other than an aggravated robbery given the information that nancy had given us. What details did you get from that 911 call specifically . Nancy was able to give us suspect description of the person that shot her. It was a white male. He was wearing a black hat. The suspect was in his 20s. Reporter Police Officers could find no one in the neighborhood whod seen or heard anything. It had been raining significantly. Obviously, when it rains, people are inside. Theres no witnesses. We basically had nothing to go on. Reporter no witnesses. And precious little in the way of leads. They wondered if the shooting was part of a pattern of crimes in the area. It seemed unlikely, but they couldnt rule it out. There had been some breakins in the area . There was some home breakins that we were looking at to see if they may be related to this offense. But at this point, we were kind of checking out everything to see if there was anything that may be related to this. But there had not been any robberies where people are actually being robbed at gunpoint for their property. Reporter the cops knew they had to notify nancys family. But as it turned out, her husband was out of town. A Police Officer who belonged to the howards church got word to nancys eldest daughter, ashley. Its a close friend of my moms calling to say your mom is in the hospital with a gunshot wound. And im like, im sorry, what . So reporter that must be the most bizarre phone call. Just the weirdest phone call. Like, it was not even, like, scary or worrisome. It was more like so confusing. Like we couldnt cross the hurdle of where she could have been to get shot. Reporter almost like it wasnt real . Yeah. Like, it wasnt real and its just like, this our mother . That just makes no sense. Like shes not the type of lady thats going to get shot, you know . Reporter ashley finally reached her father in california with the news. I was in South Lake Tahoe at the casino, whenever i got that. And i was taking a break and noticed that i had missed a call from my daughter. And so i stepped outside and called her back. And then thats when i found out that something had happened. Reporter how does he react to this situation . He couldnt speak. I mean, he couldnt breathe. And it was like, okay, dad, who is with you . Because you are not in good shape. Okay, im going to drive to the airport. No, no, no. Youre not driving to the airport. Get someone to take you. I was crying and just going crazy. And so then i was on the phone trying to find flights out and trying to figure out, you know, what to do and how to do it and when to do it. Reporter it was 6 00 the next morning before frank howard could finally board a plane headed home. He could only imagine the nightmare that awaited him once he landed in texas. Coming up my dad has like collapsed on the ground. He was in terrible shape. As doctors race to save her, her family races to her side. Who could possibly be behind this . Someone was out here. Yeah. We were scared. Hi. Hi. How the world treats and defeats childhood cancer. And she ate ice cream, oh but im not supposed to tell that part. Sorry. Visit stjude. Org or shop where you see the st. Jude logo. C puppy barks you can do it duck. Hurry up duck you can do it duck. Iams. Helps keep your dog healthy at every stage. So you can always look forward to whats next. That s northwest of santa barbara. We have the incredible photos on our homepage. And on our twitter feed. We ve posted photos of a dangerous cliff rescue in San Francisco earlier today. This was at sutro baths. The Sf Fire Department had to set up ropes to pull the victim to safety. He s expected to be ok. We have more news in one hour. Frank howard arrived home in dallas the morning after his wife was shot. His daughter ashley says he looked awful when she finally saw him. They drove to the hospital together, and by the time they got there, he could hardly walk. And i hear just like this crash. And i look back and my dad has, like, collapsed on the ground. He was in terrible shape. And every time the little monitors would beep, he was jumpy. I mean, just terrible shape. Reporter was he in tears . Yeah. Yeah. Reporter tell me what happened the first time you saw nancy in the icu. It was a difficult time. She was real, you know, drugged up. But all the family and a lot of people from the church and stuff were there. Reporter doctors told the family the bullet had entered nancys skull just above her left eye and traveled downward through her sinuses and throat before it collapsed one of her lungs. Shed already had the first of many surgeries. She would lose one of her blue eyes, but luckily, she seemed to have escaped serious brain damage. Theres tubes. Theres wires. Theres lines. So even though you can say, shes all right, its like it doesnt look like shes all right. Shes not all right. You know . And, you know, theres swelling. Theres inflammation all over. Theres things attached to her feet. So its kind of hard to feel like, okay, this is okay and this is right. It was very traumatic to see that happen to her. You know, very difficult. Very emotional time. Reporter was she able to talk to you the first time you saw her . I dont believe so. She had tubes in her throat. And she was conscious, so she had knowledge of who we are but she really couldnt talk or anything. Reporter while the family waited for some definitive word from the police on what had happened, they filled the void with theories of their own. Everybody, you know, in the family were sitting around talking about it. We were trying to figure out what happened and how it happened. And we didnt have any idea. Reporter someone was out there . Yeah. Yeah, we were scared. Reporter there had been a series of breakins in the area. Did that cross your mind . That was one of the things that came up. I believe the detectives or whatever had told us there had been breakins. In fact, they had somebody that fit kind of the general description, that he was someone that they knew of that had participated in some breakins in the area. Reporter detectives wall and turner were eager to talk to nancy. Shes our only witness to this offense. We just had the minimal suspect description at this time. And so we felt it was important to confirm those details with her as soon as possible. Reporter while they waited for nancy to get well enough to speak, they called in frank hoping he could fill in some of the blanks. Can you update me on her condition, what the doctors have said . Yes. Actually, very i mean, it sounds bad when you say somebodys shot in the head, but actually very, very good. He had confirmed that she had actually lost her left eye. No brain damage. No, you know, none of that. So shell lose her left eye, but, but from there, it will be, cosmetic stuff. Reporter detective wall asked if frank knew anyone who might want to hurt his wife. What i know about her, it doesnt seem that she would have any problems with anybody. Has she had any problems with anybody . Oh, no. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Reporter in fact, everyone knew that nancy had a soft spot for anyone with a sob story. Nancy can be real giving a and and open. Reporter it was not unusual, he said, for her to pick up a hitchhiker or open her door to a stranger. A month or two earlier, shed done just that. Somebody came to the door. And they just needed money to get a hotel room because their car broke down. And nancy they came to your house . To the house, yeah, at the front door. And nancy told them shes just so good heart i mean, she just said that she would help them try to find a hotel room. Reporter maybe thats what happened. A goodhearted woman befriended a dangerous stranger. The howard children thought that was a distinct possibility. That was my first thought was, oh, she probably was willing to help someone at some point. They figured out, okay, this woman is an easy target. Reporter could your mom be naive when it came to these people and this helping nature that she had . Yeah, definitely. I think that sometimes her willingness to see the good in everybody, it opened her up to more risk than most other people would take. Reporter frank didnt know much because he was out of town that night. Doesnt sound like frank is really able to help you with anything. Hes cooperative. He is being cooperative. He confirms that he had actually sent a few texts and emails back and forth to nancy and knew that she was going to the Church Service. And so, in order to confirm that, i asked if i could see his cell phone. Would you have a problem if i ran an analysis on your cell phone . No. Reporter in addition to turning over his cell phone, frank told the cops to let him know if they needed anything else from him. Anything at all. He even offered money to generate leads. You mean, if theres you know, put up a reward or anything like that. Okay. Once we get to the point where weve exhausted all of our investigative leads, thats another step we would take. Just whatever we need to do. Because obviously money can prompt people to do to give information. Reporter at the hospital, doctors were optimistic about nancys condition. She was still in intensive care but making progress. There was every reason to believe that shed be able to tell her own story in a day or two. Coming up i shoved my purse into his chest. And i said, jesus, save me. Nancys dramatic story. Exactly what did she remember about that night . No pity, no emotion. 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