Accident . Shes got a huge gash on her head. Something like thats not consistent with just falling down. A husband and father suddenly under suspicion. Hes crying and were crying. He said that think think i heard mom. Three daughters stand by their dad and one prosecutor stands firm. Hes holding his wife of almost three decades under the water. My job is to get justice for cristi hall. Was it murder . Hello and welcome to dateline extra. Requests im craig melvin. A plot straight out of an Alfred Hitchcock film. A young woman peers into the neighbors yard and sees something, a man, a woman, unsettling. Was it some kind of an accident . A crime . Maybe even a murder . What she saw and what she did would set in motion a chain of events that would divide a family and a jury. Heres keith morrison. We know the truth and we know everything that happened. How do we know what we doe . Emotionally unsatisfying not to have that answer. So it is. Even if we have seen something or if we think we have. And thats the question at the heart of a whole puzzle. Is this woman right . I know what i saw. And i know the conclusion of my story. Of course she does. Of course she does. So, why does this other woman think this . She didnt know for sure what she saw. A question we say on which all the rest will turn. Why dont we begin here . Call mesa, california. Riverside county. Historic missions. Sprawling suburbs, creeping out to the rim of mountains around the eastern flank of los angeles. Heres where chris and cristi hall had come out to live out the golden years though they were far from old when it happened. Just experienced with life and each other. As far back as i can remember its always been chris and cristi. Never thought of as separate. They were a unit. These are the three daughters, courtney the eldest is a teacher. Brianna, a personal trainer. And ashton, the youngest, here just returned from playing professional volleyball in europe. And all of them, of course, have heard scores of times the story of how their parents met. It was 1978. Cristi saw a relative at an air force base and quite by chance while she was there encountered a Security Guard who to her at least looked just like elvis. It was Blair Christopher hall, chris to his friends. Apparently she was a little flirty at the gate. In short order, chris and cristi got married. She was 17. He 20. And as the girls grew up, they said they never doubted far single moment the powerful bond of love their parents with them and with each other. A bunch of us probably closer with our parents than most children. Theyre the parents that i hoped to one day be. Cristi glue of the family. Chris, her perfect mirror. My dad is more kicked back, relaxed and quiet. They were a perfect balance i think. Yes. For years, chris hall was a Police Officer in San Bernardino until she was shot in the line of duty and then went off to become police chief in two small towns in idaho. And then in 2005, anticipating an empty nest and eventual retirement, the halls bought this place back in california which they loved for its backyard pool and spa. And life in this spring of 2007 seemed to have hit a sweet spot as ashton and brianna remember their mother telling them. We happen to be laying on the bed with her. She just started talking. She was like, i am just im so happy that i have you girls and dad. It was kind of a conversation that you dont have every day. Still, there was work to be done. It was not a new house, could use some remodeling, particularly the bathroom co. Courtney was still living with her parents as the work began. They were going to be doing the tile work and stuff so we would havent a shower for that day. So shower out of commission, they decided to wake up early, put on the bathing suits and rinse off in the outdoor spa before the contractor arrived at 6 45 a. M. It was june 7th, 2007. Chris got up first, turned on the spa to warm it up and called brianna at the college dorm in San Bernardino. Heres your wake up call, babe. Go out on the run. Back at the house, courtney dozed through the first wakeup. Chris looked in on courtney again, second call and then headed back to the spa. Lifes last normal moments. I got out of bed and heard this panicked just panicked scream from my dad yelling for me. I ran down the hallway to the back porch and i saw him just trying to pull out my mom out of the spa. 911 emergency. It was she who dialed 911 as she and her father struggled to lift her mother out of the spa. First moments of the worst day of our lives. Is it possible for people to understand what its like to be in that situation . I dont think so. Its to see just both of your parents in the worst times that you have ever seen them. Obviously my mom unconscious. And my dad just panicked and for the first time in my life seeing him just that way not knowing what to do. Because he was a cop. He was used to dealing with those kind of things. He is a cop used to dealing with those things with people that are not his wife. Courtney took charge. She started cpr on her father with her father. Emt an firefighter eric norwood first to respond. They just started, help my wife, oh my god, help my wife. Chris hall was kneeling at his wifes side more in the way than anything an hysterical that it was hard to help. Took us a little bit to get him out of the way. He didnt want to leave her. He was just holding her hand, yelling her name tie paramedics worked more than 20 minutes. No vital signs, none. And no words to describe just the fear and the anxiety. Youre losing your mother. Watch. Watching her go right in front of her. We tried to save her together an we just couldnt. The ambulance rushed her off to the hospital where she was declared dead. She had drowned in the family spa. A private family tragedy. Except maybe not so private after all. Someone was watching. We create machines that make every experience more real. Because the best feature of a pc Gaming Machine is the power to make you forget its there. Shop our lowest prices ever at dell. Com. returning now to someone was watching, heres keith morrison. June 7, 2007, brianna hall was on the road from San Bernardino driving home to college to what she didnt know except that her elder Sister Courtney called and it sounded bad. She said, there was an accident and you need to just, you know, come home right away. It was courtney who eventually broke the news to ashton and brianna. Their mother, their fathers wife of close to 30 years, was dead. But neither courtney or chris waited at the house to tell the sisters what happened or comfort them nor did they linger over the body at the hospital. They couldnt. Because father and daughter were escorted to separate squad cars and driven to the Police Station to talk about the accident. What was that ride like . Quiet. You know . I just remember crying the whole time. I couldnt comfort my father. He couldnt comfort me. We got to the station and said my dad would just be a few more minutes. Chris had calmed down. He was a cop among cops and understood what was necessary to help them sort out what happened. I cant even start to imagine what youre going through. Okay . Again, just so you know, it was its a Death Investigation and we have to do this. Okay . Happy to help he said, whatever would get him back home to comfort his daughters as quickly as possible. Just going to kill them. They were all so close. Chris told investigators what happened. How as courtney slept, he and cristi were in the spa bathing. She got out. Went in, went to the bathroom, got some more coffee. Tried to wake up courtney. Kourtney didnt wake up apparently. As cristi returned to the spa, they passed each other on the patio. He said stopped by courtneys room and then back outside. And saw his wife floating face down in the spa. He called courtney then and they began a frantic effort to revive her. I could tell i was losing her. From what . A fall . Must have been. In your gut tell me what you think. I think she slipped in. She slipped or something. I dont know. Only thing i can think of. But, chris hadnt noticed the nasty threeinch laceration on her head and here suddenly the point of the Police Interview is revealed. The gash she has on her head shes got a gash . A huge gash on her head. Okay . Something like thats not consistent with just falling down. Not consistent with just falling down . Why would the police think that . I mean, youve been around for a while. Sure. I know where youre going. No. Why, in fact, was this expolice chief being questioned at all about the apparently disastrous accident that killed the love of his life . And the answer was, right next door. When they took their outdoor bath that morning in june someone was watching. Her. I got up at 6 00. Got my coffee. Lindsey patterson on leave from her i. T. Job in the Navy Visiting her mom living just over the backyard wall from the hall house. Lindsey was inside in the bathroom facing aout on to the street and heard a noise. It was a horrible scream. It was just something was wrong kind of scream. A womans . She thought. She went outside to tell her mom. And i said, did you hear that scream . And she said, yeah, but i think its just kids playing in the pool. Kids . At 6 00 something in the morning . Lindsey walked over to the 6foot brick wall between their yard and the halls. She stepped on the planter, she said, and looked over the wall. At that point i saw a man with his hand one hand on top of a womans head and then one hand on her back. And she was face down in the water. Like something was going on . Yeah. Thats what i assumed. That is she thought she was looking at a sex act in progress. I dont know why it didnt seem right but something made me want to look again. 90 seconds between the first and second looks and this time she said she only saw the man in the spa. Hes leaning back, just relaxed in the hot tub but i dont see her. Hes got his el backs back and just looking around like nothing. Where did the woman go . Lindsey told her mom something seems strange. She said, lindsey, stop being nosy. Dont worry about it. But it just didnt seem right. It wasnt enough time for her to have gotten out and gone inside the house. So, said lindsey, she went to the wall again. Her third and final look. At that point he was getting out of the jacuzzi and he was in a very big rush. She is still nowhere to be seen. The look on his face was almost undescribable. It was almost as if he had gone into another world. It was scary. It was instinct that told her something was wrong. Said lindsey. So she called 911. 911, state your emergency. I heard a woman screaming. So now, hours and hours later, the detectives confronted chris with lindseys story. Why, they asked, didnt her story match his . So am i supposed to believe the witness is lying . Im not saying shes lying. Sounded like a truthful kid or whatever but, i mean, i dont know. You know . I cant explain what she is saying she saw. So now that question we posed as we began, did Lindsey Patterson really mknow what she saw . In every town, across america. Small businesses show their love to you. With some friendly advice, a genuine smile and a warm welcome they make your town. Well, your town. Thats why American Express is proud to be the Founding Partner of Small Business saturday. A day where you get to return that love, because shopping small makes a big difference. So, this saturday get up, get out, and shop small. But it might be hard to handle like the flame that burns the candle the candle feeds the flame topped steak twisted potatoes at applebees. Now thats eatin good in the neighborhood. After his wifes drowning death in a backyard spa, police ask chris hall to explain what happened that morning, what chris did not know is that his neighbor had also talked to police and she told a very different story than the one chris was telling. Here again is keith morrison. Chris and cristi halls three daughters clung together in grief and shock through the dismal evening hours of that worst of all days june 7th, 2007. Waiting for their father to return from the Police Station and they wondered why was it taking so long . And then the phone rang. And they had their answer. You know, broken up words and hes crying and were crying and that was when he said, they think i hurt mom. I mean, he was very upset. But he didnt sound surprised when he said he was crying. He was crying. He was upset. Very upset. But by the time Police Investigators were questioning chris, remember, theyd heard from Lindsey Patterson and at the station chriss version of events in the spa differed in one Crucial Detail of what lindsey described seeing the first time she peered over the wall into the halls backyard. That specifically me holding her down in there, theres nothing that took place in that jacuzzi to explain that. There was no sex. There was no i dont think we had any contact while we were in the jacuzzi other than when i was getting her out. But investigators were getting a good look at cristis body an saw wounds that suggests a struggle and a blow to the head so the police had to choose which version chris halls or Lindsey Pattersons more likely the true story. Tom dove a senior investigator for the riverside d. A. I think they felt there was enough to say this was not an accidental drowning. It was purely much more suspicious than that. And so, before the night was over, chris hall was arrested and charged with the murder of his wife, the girls could stop waiting. He wasnt coming home. It was obviously a tragedy losing our mother that day but this is a tragedy on top of a tragedy. Knowing our parents farthest thing from the truth. And with unthat felt infected think a madness said the girls, krstristi was the love of their fathers life, the center of everything for him. How they wondered could anyone so happy in the marriage and his life be accused of harming her . And she was happy, too, they said. As happy as shed ever been. They knew it they said based on the mother daughter talk they had. Not long before she died. She just kept reiterating how happy she was. Kind of odd. Well always cherish this. Didnt think that much of it at this time but that being the last time we actually saw her kind of burned into your memory, isnt it . Yeah. Right or wrong, the legal trigger had been pulled. Chris hall spent almost two months in jail until his daughters received the payout from cristis Life Insurance policy and used it to meet the Million Dollar bail and then went back to what was supposed to be the retirement retreat and prepared for a murder case. He was a special man and this was a special situation. These are attorneys who would eventually defend him though at first they only heard about the case. Steve harmon and paul gretch. Two things there, special man, special situation. I think both of us can say this is a man that we like and that we know and dont feel he could have done anything like this. So chris hall and daughters prepared far trial to hope to make clear to everybody, the police, the neighbor, the world that chris would not, could not, did not harm the love of his life. There was never in 30 years of marriage, never one moment of violence. There was no motive for this man to kill his wife. Harmon and gretch had a lock at the eyewitness account and suggested it was really not conclusive at all. It was tragically incomplete. She saw three snapshots. What is missed by everyone is the wife getting into the jacuzzi, slipping, falling into the jacuzzi, hitting her head, going unconscious and drawning. See the sharp corner sticking out into the spa . Hitting her head on this would have opened a gash and knocked her out, said the attorney. She didnt see what was happening in the times not looking. That scream that made her look over the wall, lindsey they pointed out in the bathroom that faced the street. She wasnt in the backyard saying she heard it. Could have been anybody. And courtney who was inside her own house near the spa didnt hear a thing. We dont think that shes lying. Just think she misinterpreted what she saw. Anyway, lindsey to a certain degree concedes she didnt know what she was seeing in her glimpses that morning. Something was wrong. Yet, you hadnt seen anything. No. But i knew something was wrong. I dont know if in my brain i was putting things together but from between the scream, the position that he was holding her and then not just not having enough time for her to have gone inside it is like you got three different snapshots. Right. Of something going on in there. Right. And had the kind of work out yeah. What this was. You know, i wasnt thinking at this point this man just murdered his wife. But now, based largely on that account, chris hall would go on trial for murder. And it was a trial for his daughters, too. He loved her. They were each others best friends and this is just this is not fair to him because he truly loved her more than anyone. And yet, the prosecutor was going to try to prove that this family man and former cop murdered his wife. Could it be done . 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Navy called off the search for three missing sailors a. Aircraft crashed into the sea of japan yesterday. Now back to dateline extra. Chris hall was charged in the drowning death of his wife cristi. As prosecutors were preparing to lay out the case, halls daughters stood by him proclaiming his innocence. Would anything change their minds about their dad . Here again is keith morr