you're lucky if you forget. i would rather have forgotten everything. >> 9-1-1, what's your emergency? >> my wife and my son -- there -- they're both -- >> nicole had been shot in the back of the head, taylor had been shot in the face. >> this is a murder suicide. >> do you think taylor shot himself? >> i don't know. >> i waited and waited and waited for someone to be arrested for. this >> do you do have anything to do with this? with a killing your wife? >> you've got to be out of your mind. >> you have three tapes, i want you to tear those up. >> i can do that. >> i thought they're going to come kill us. >> so, to threaten the lady, you know, you need to do this or we're going to hurt your child or something? >> they said i was so young that i couldn't have remembered anything. something like that doesn't go away. i saw what i saw. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> hello and welcome to dateline. when jason and nicole paint met, the attraction was instant. soon the bachelor and single mother of two web and their family grew. then, gunfire turned their home into a bloody crime scene. the killer's identity would take years to uncover and rip this once loving family apart. here is andrea canning with house of horrors. >> the white dove, a symbol of peace and love. one woman was so moved by their grace and beauty she turned her passion for delves into a business, releasing them at weddings and funerals. nicole payne brought both joy and comfort to countless families. >> when i see pictures and hear stories of my mom, she is just a wonderful person, this huge smile all the time, great personality. >> but on a december morning in 2007, nicole doves made their most poignant flight of all. at her own funeral. we now, 14 years later, two of nicole's children, jackson and remington pain, are telling their story publicly for the first time. >> i just want to be able to put my two cents in and all stories have two sides. >> people don't know that there was somebody who saw everything that happened. i saw it happen. i want people to know what happened. >> it happened here. the pain family home, left abandoned it would take almost a decade to resolve the horrible tragedy that happened inside these walls. a place where blind family loyalty it would cause even more heartache. a christmas tree was left standing as a reminder of the shattered lives of all those who lived here. the two story house in quitman, texas, was supposed to be nicole's dream home. the place that she and her husband jason would raise their blended family. that would all change on december 11th, 2007, their son jackson was almost a six at the time. >> that morning remember waking up for school on a regular day, my father put me in the truck and we left for school. and, you know, he dropped me off. >> remington, who is to at the time, was also in the truck. normally her 16-year-old half brother taylor would be, to, but he stayed home from school that day. after jayson returned with his daughter, he said he found a house of horrors. >> 9-1-1, what's your emergency? >> my wife and my son, they're both shot. >> say again sir? >> my wife and son are both shot. >> hold on, just stay online for a minute. >> -- >> lieutenant miles tucker of the wood county sheriff's office rushed to the call. >> i arrived at the house and i see jason payne, he's holding his daughter. >> remington wasn't jason's arms as first responders flooded the scene and entered the home. >> you get in there and what's the first thing you see? >> the christmas tree. and the tv on, on cartoons. >> leah courtney was an emt with east texas medical center. >> they let me know to go in to the bedroom where i passed the tv. >> so you russian there, what do you see once you get inside the bedroom? >> i first thought there was a woman sleeping in bed. i look around and then i notice that there has been a shooting. you just saw the scene, and knew that it was bad. >> >> the woman was nicole, leah noticed her body felt warm, but immediately knew that she couldn't save her. the 35 years old, nicole payne was dead. >> this wasn't the only shooting in this house? >> no, there was also another shooting in the other part of the house. there is an opening into the garage. >> the garage had been converted into a bedroom. >> i see a young man laying back on his bed and he's blue and as cold as his body was, i knew that there was no helping him, either. >> nicole's son, taylor, was dead, too. lieutenant tucker, who went back to the crime scene with us, had two bodies to contend with. >> nicole had been shot in the back of the head and it appeared that taylor had been shot in the face. >> there was no evidence of forced entry. no signs of a struggle indicating a home invasion. but, lieutenant tucker did see the possible murder weapon in taylor's broom. >> there was a rifle there between his legs. he was on his own bed. >> back outside, the detectives could see jason looked understandably distraught. >> he was just, kind of, i would say, maybe in a zone. that's about the best way i could describe it. >> but soon, everyone would be in track when one of tucker's top investigators said he knew was behind the killings at the payne house. >> coming up, life had once the seam so full of promise for the young couple. >> they're happy, they did almost everything together. >> was he head over heels for nicole? >> oh yes, big-time. i was worried about it only because it was so fast. >> but they were in love? >> they were very much in love. he was crazy about nicole. >> now, two lives lost and children left to mourn. >> because i was so young when everything happened i never really went through the process of, oh, i lost my mom and my brother. it didn't click until i was a lot older. >> when dateline continues. n dateline continues now!!!! i'm on it. i'm, on it. already sold to carvana. go to carvana and track your car's value today. lowe's knows you need to save money this holiday so... you can get more of what you want. with our lowest price guarante. this holiday if you find a better price we'll match it. get more for your home and your family. you got this. we got you. meet gold bond daily healing. a powerhouse lotion that moisturizes, heals, and smooths dry skin. with 7 moisturizers & 3 vitamins. and... new gold bond healing sensitive. clinically shown to heal & moisturize dry, sensitive skin. gold bond. ian will find the true meaning of the holiday sweater. i will? 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(upbeat music) in order for small businesses to thrive, they need to be smart, efficient, savvy. making the most of every opportunity. that's why comcast business is introducing the small business bonus. for a limited time you can get up to a $1000 prepaid card with qualifying internet. yep, $1000. so switch to business internet from the company with the largest fastest reliable network and that powers more businesses than anyone else. learn how you can get $1000 back for your business today. comcast business. powering possibilities. andrea canning: the house tucked away in the woods of quitman, texas, nichole's dream home, was now a crime scene. >> the house tucked away in the and investigators wanted to know more about the family woods of equipment, texas, nicole's dream home was now a crime scene. and investigators wanted to know more about the family who lived here. they learned nicole had been married before. taylor was her son from her first marriage and she had another son, daniel, a boy nicole adopted out of foster care. >> how did that feel? you've bounced from home to home and then here comes nicole who wants to claim you as her own. >> it was overwhelming because, honestly, for the longest time i didn't think it was happening. >> nicole is 28 when she stopped at a gas station and asked a handsome 31 year old from louisiana for directions. soon after that chance encounter, jason and nicole became smitten. vaping is jason's mother. >> was he head over heels for nicole? >> oh yes, big-time. i was worried about it only because it was so fast but they were in love? they were very much in love. he was crazy about nicole. >> they had a whirlwind relationship, within weeks of meeting they were married by a local justice of the peace and daniel was there. >> i was like, okay, we're a family, let's do this. it was nice, mom, dad, and you are our son. okay. >> this is the first time in your life that you have had the complete, solid family? >> yes, yes. >> nichols mom, cheri hawthorne, says they tied the knot before she and her husband even knew they were dating. >> she brought him home to meet us and came into our kitchen and said mom, dad, meet my husband. >> oh my gosh. what do you think? >> well, it was just a total shock. >> the couple went on to have jackson, then remington, making them a blended family. there was one more person living with them. say, jason's mom. the two had an especially tight relationship, so she moved in, at least temporarily. >> i got along great with nicole. when i moved over there, we just clicked. >> when the couple first married, they struggled to make ends meet, but after jason received in 900,000 dollar settlement from a serious car accident things turned around. after lawyers fees, they bought cars, a boat, and an equipment hosts. >> how did life seem at the new house? >> a lot better, she wanted this type of house and she looked for it and then she found it and was like, this is it. and he made it happen. they are happy, they had almost everything together and they were just a typical marriage. >> now, everyone was trying to make sense of what happened that awful december morning. jackson remembers being at school in kindergarten. >> i remember i was taken out of class, which was weird for me at the time, especially when i saw the man who is picking me up that wasn't my father. i've never been picked up by anyone other than my dad. >> it was an officer. soon, jackson and remington learned the devastating news about their mom and half brother, taylor. >> because i was so young when, everything happened i never really went through the process of oh, i lost my mom and brother. it didn't click until i was a lot older and a couple of years ago it was my only breakthrough knowing what that meant. >> for nicole's mom, the news was too much to bear. when you hear nicole and taylor, your daughter and your grandson? >> it is your worst fear. it's your worst fear come true. and i told myself, right now, right this moment you've got to choose life. you had to make a decision and i did. i had to choose to live. >> funerals were held for nicole and then taylor. the close of each service, a white doves were released into the sky. for daniel, who by then was living on his own, says that when he returned home he found his father an emotional wreck. >> him and i both walked outside and then he, we just both started crying. he didn't cry at his own dad's funeral, but this guy fell to his knees and cried. and he is a grown man and that was the first time that i had ever seen him cry. >> daniel struggled himself, a cherished's mother and taylor. after all, the two boys had shared a bedroom for nine years. >> tell us about taylor, what was he like? >> it was a really cool kid. he is a little eccentric, but overall he was a nice guy. >> you said he was eccentric. why would you describe him that way? >> i don't know. it is hard to me to describe, but people that you, meet this guy's night, just slightly weird. i don't know how else to describe him. >> he and taylor liked to play video games together and there was something else they bonded over. jason top of the boys how to fire a gun. >> you both became experienced with guns? >> experienced enough to where they would trust us, to where if we walked out of the house with gun disputed we had access to it. >> that included access to the rifle found near taylor's body. lieutenant tucker wanted to know more about it and, of course, the rest of the crime scene. so, he decided to call in an experienced crime scene investigator from a larger sheriff's office in the next county. >> no martin was probably the most knowledgeable guy in the area with -- stuff that i knew of anyway. >> after evaluating the scene and later doing testing, no martin thought it was quite clear what happened inside that house. >> he was 100% sure that it was murder suicide. noel said at that point that he believed that taylor had shot his mother and then shot himself. >> was it possible? taylor, the show i go to like to play video games had killed his own mother and then himself? it seemed like case closed, but lieutenant tucker wasn't so sure. for >> the lieutenant isn't ready to let the case go, but the payne children are trying to move on. coming up. >> when i see him, i feel safe, like everything is okay. clearly everything was not okay, my mother was gone. >> he was just my favorite person in the world. >> jason payne gets defensive. >> did you have anything to do with killing your wife? >> you've got to be out of your mind to think that i would have anything to do with this. and i resent that you would ask me these questions like i am sitting here, had something to do with it. i'm sitting here trying to be as helpful as i can. >> when dateline continues. continues but this is a not flash. ♪ i got a good feeling ♪ there's big news for women going through menopause. veozah - a prescription treatment for moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms - the medical name for hot flashes and night sweats. with hormone-free veozah, you can have fewer hot flashes, and more not flashes. veozah is proven to reduce the number and severity of hot flashes, day and night. for some women, it can start working in as early as one week. don't use veozah if you have cirrhosis, severe kidney problems, kidney failure, or take cyp1a2 inhibitors. increased liver blood test values may occur. your doctor will check them before and during treatment. most common side effects include stomach pain, diarrhea, difficulty sleeping, back pain, and hot flashes. ♪ i got a good feeling ♪ ask your doctor about hormone-free veozah and enjoy more not flashes. ask your doctor about hormone-free veozah andrea canning: the same day nichole and taylor were killed, police asked jason to come down to the station. he was the one who found the bodies, >> the same day nicole and and lieutenant tucker had questions. taylor were killed, please ask jason to come down to the station. he was the one who found the bodies and lieutenant tucker had questions. >> jason, my name is miles tucker. this is ranger philip camp, texas police department. >> jason told investigators what happened that morning back at his house. he said his wife was sick embed so he got remington in jackson dressed. taylor was throwing 18 temper tantrum over not having his own sulfone. >> i mean, just kind of ranting and said he wasn't going to school. >> why didn't he want to go to school? >> i think he was mad over the cell phone. >> jason said his step son refused to leave the house, so he packed the younger kids into the car and drove off to school. when he returned he said he made the awful discovery. >> i mean, you're going in, seeing what you saw -- what do you think happened? >> i don't know what to think. >> did you go up and touch your wife? >> no. >> what about taylor? >> no. >> why not? >> i don't know. >> a lieutenant asked about jason's relationship with taylor. >> yeah, it's good. he's the average teenager. i would -- i guess. maybe introverted or closed. >> what about taylor and your wife? >> just normal. i mean, teenage argument. i mean, cell phone, computer, you know, driving. >> nothing jason set about taylor explained the outburst of violence that morning. but the obvious, painful question had to be asked. >> when you saw that this morning to do think taylor shot himself? >> i don't know. i don't know. >> because jason, if that's what happened, then that's gonna mean that there is a possibility that he also shot your wife. and i don't know in easy way to say that. jason, at least help us understand what might have led up to it. give us some kind of reasoning behind it. >> i don't know. it's nothing, nothing out of the ordinary. i don't know. >> nothing out of the ordinary? >> nothing. nothing, nothing. i don't know what happened. i just don't know. >> but something wasn't adding up for lieutenant tucker. when you first made his way into nicole's room, he noted, just like the emts, that nicole's body felt warm. >> she obviously had not been there very long. when we made our way back into taylor's room, taylor was just the opposite. he was very cold to the touch. >> the way it looked to lieutenant tucker, taylor died much earlier than nicole did. if he was right, taylor couldn't have killed his mother. then there was a mysterious piece of evidence found outside the house on the day of the killings. >> one of the investigators located a rag with blood on it inside jason's truck. it was very bright red, that signal to the investigators that that was fresh blood. >> back in the interview room, investigators pressed jason about his relationship with nicole. >> you and your wife were close? >> yeah, pretty close. >> did you consider her your best friend? >> yeah, i mean we had falling outs, but yeah. yesterday? day before? >> what was it about? >> i mean, nothing, nothing. little, little stuff. nothing. >> after talking for about 90 minutes, jason said he was tired and wanted to go home. that is when lieutenant tucker straight up asked him. >> jason, did you have anything to do with this? did you have anything to do with killing your wife? >> you've got to be out of your mind to think that i would have anything to do with this. and i resent that you ask these questions like i am sitting here, had something to do with it. i'm sitting here trying to be as helpful as i can. >> jason was free leave. his two children, jackson and remington, so young at the time, leaned on their grandparents, nichols mom and dad, and jason's mom say for emotional support. they looked more than ever to their dad for security and love. >> you know, when i see him, i feel safe and like everything okay. clearly everything was not okay and my mother was gone. >> i was so attached to him. he was just my favorite person in the world. >> the investigation dragged on as the weeks turned into months. lieutenant tucker patiently waited for test results from the crime scene evidence. in the meantime, secrets about this one's happy family were about to come to light. >> coming up -- >> his bank account had gone down to virtually nothing. >> money troubles. marriage troubles. >> she wasn't happy those last couple of years and there were signs that, you know, something wasn't right. >> what were the signs? >> he was controlling, and it just seemed to get worse and worse as time went on. >> when dateline continues. >> when dateline continues you got this. we got you. we're travelling all across america, talking to people about their hearts. ooh, take this exit. how's the heart? i feel like it's good. you feel like it's good? how do you know when it's time to check in on your heart? how do you know? let me show you something. it looks like a credit card, but it is the kardiamobile card. that is a medical-grade ekg. want to see how it works? yeah. put both thumbs on there. that is your heart coming from the kardiamobile card. wow! with kardiamobile card, you can take a medical-grade ekg in just 30 seconds, from anywhere. kard