Accident . Shes got a huge gash on her head. Something like that is not consistent with just falling down. A husband and father is suddenly under suspicion. He is crying. Were crying. He said, they think i hurt mom. Three daughters stand by their dad. One prosecutor stands firm. He is holding his wife of almost three decades under the water. My job is to get justice. Was it murder . Welcome to dateline. In this hour, a story that calls to mind the master of suspension, a plot out of an Alfred Hitchcock film. A young woman looks into her neighbors yard and seeing something for a few seconds. A man, a woman and a moment thats unsettling. Was it some kind of 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. Here is keith morris. Its unsatisfying not to have that answer. Reporter even if we have seen something or if we think we have. The question at the heart of the puzzle. Is this woman right . I know what i saw. I know the conclusion of my story. Reporter of course she does. She didnt know what she saw. Reporter a question on which all the rest will turn. Why dont we begin here . Historic missions, smalli inspr suburbs. Here is where chris and kristy hall had come to live out their golden years. Theyre a unit. These are the three daughters, courtney, the oldest 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, christy had gone to see a relative at the air force base in nearby San Bernardino 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 christy got married. She was 17, he 20. And as the girls grew up, they said they never doubted for a single moment the powerful bond of love their parents with them and with each other. They were probably closer with our parents than most children. Theyre the parents i hope to one day be. Christy the vivacious glue in the family, chris the mirror. My dad was kicked back and relaxed. Thee they were a perfect balance i think. Chris was a Police Officer in San Bernardino until he was shot in the line of duty. Then he went off to become police chief in two small towns in idaho. Then in 2005, anticipating an empty nest and eventual retirement, the halls bought this place back in cala mesa, which they loved for its backyard pool and spa and life in the spring of 2007 seemed to have hit a sweet spot as ashton and brianna remember their mother telling them. We happened to be laying on the bed with her. She started talking. She was like, i am just im so happy that i have you girls and dad. It was kind of one of those conversations that you dont have every day. Still, there was work to be done. It was not a new house, could use some remodelling, particularly the bathroom. Courtney was still living with her parents as the work began. They were going to be doing the tile work and stuff so we wouldnt have a shower for that day. So, shower out of commission, they decided to wake up early, put on their bathing suits and rinse off in the outdoor spa before the contractor arrived at 6 45 a. M. It was june 7, 2007. Chris got up first, turned on the spa to warm it up and then called brianna at her college dorm . San diego. Heres your wake up call, babe. Get out and go on that run. Back at the house, courtney dozed through her first wake up while chris and christy made their way outside to the spa. Just after 6 30 chris looked in on courtney again, second call, then headed back to the spa. Lifes last normal moments. 6 37 a. M. I got up out of bed. I was putting on my robe. And i heard this panicked, just panicked scream for my dad yelling for me. I ran down the hallway to the back porch and i saw him just trying to pull my mom out of the spa. We have an emergency. It was she who dialed 9191 as s 911 as she and her father struggled to lift their mother out of the spa. It was the worst moment in my life. Is it possible for people to know what its like to be in that situation in i dont think so. To see both your parents in the worst times that youve 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. He was a cop. He was used to dealing with those kinds of things. Hes a cop used to dealing with those kinds of things with people that werent his wife. So courtney took charge. After calling 911 she started cpr on her mother with her father. Emt and firefighter eric nor wood was the first to respond. He just started help my wife, oh, my god, help my wife, help my wife. Chris kneeling beside his wifes side. So hysterical it was hard for the emts to help. It 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. The paramedics worked on christy for more than 20 minutes. No vital signs, none. And no words to describe the fear and the anxiety. Youre losing your mother. Youre watching her go right in front of you. We tried to save her together and 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. For all the eyes that get itchy and watery near pollen. Theres flonase sensimist. It relieves all your worst symptoms including nasal congestion, which most pills dont. And all from a gentle mist you can barely feel. Flonase sensimist. 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Here is keith morrison. On the morning of june 7, 2007, brianna hall was on the road from san diego driving home from college to what she didnt know, except that her elder Sister Courtney had called and it sounded bad. She said, there was an accident. 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 nor chris waited at the house to tell the sisters what happened. Or to 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. I just remember crying the whole time. I couldnt comfort my father, he couldnt comfort me. When we got to the station, he said my dad would be a few more minutes. Chris so frenzied at the scene had calmed down by then. He was a cop among cops, after all. He understood, he said, what was necessary to help them sort out what happened. I cant even start to imagine what youre going through, okay. Just, you know, it was a death investigation, happy to do this. Happy to help, he said. Whatever would get him back home to comfort his daughters as quickly as possible. I didnt kill her. You were all so close. Chris told investigators what happened. How as courtney slept he and christy were in the spa bathing. She got up, went in, went to the bathroom, got some more coffee, tried to wake up courtney, courtney didnt wake up and apparently she came back out. As christy returned to the spa, said chris, they passed each other on the patio. He went in the house, stopped by courtneys room, make sure she was awake, then went right back outside and saw his wife floating face down in the spa. He called courtney then, he said, and they began a frantic effort to revive her. From what, a fall. Tell me in your gut what happened. Im thinking she slipped in, she slipped or something. I dont know. Thats the only thing i can think of. But chris apparently hadnt noticed the nasty threeinch laceration on christys head, and here suddenly the point of the Police Interview is revealed. The gash she has on her head, shes got a huge gash on her head. Okay. Something like that is not consistent with just falling down. Not consistent with just falling down . Why would the police think that . I mean, youve been around for awhile. I know where youre going. No, theres nothing. Why 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 chris and christy hall took their outdoor bath that morning in june, someone was watching. Her. I got up at 6 00, got my coffee. Lyndsay patterson was on leave from her i. T. Job in the Navy Visiting her mom who lives just over the backyard wall from the hall house. Lyndsay was inside in the bathroom that faced away from the hall house and out onto the street when she 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 . Lyndsay walked over to the 6foot brick wall between their yard and the halls. She stepped on the planter 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. Its 90 seconds she said between her first and second looks. And this time she said she only saw the man in the spa. He was leaning back, just relaxed in the hot tub. But i dont see her. Hes got his elbows back, looking around like nothing. Where did the woman go . Lyndsay told her mom something seemed strange. She tells me, lyndsay, stop being knowsnosey, dont worry a it. But it just didnt seem right. It wasnt enough time for her to have gotten out and gone inside the house. So, said lyndsay, 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. Shes still nowhere to be seen. The look on his face was almost undescribable. It was almost as if he had just gone into another world. It was scary. It was instinct that told her something was wrong, said lyndsay. So she called 911. 911, state your emergency. So now, hours and hours later, the detectives confronted chris with lyndsays story. Why, they asked, didnt her story match his. So, am i supposed to believe the witness is lying . Im not saying shes lying. It sounds like a truthful kid, whatever. I mean, i dont know. You know, i cant explain what shes saying she saw. So now that question we posed as we began, did lyndsay pattison really know what she saw . With this level of intelligence. Its a supercomputer. With this grade of protection. Its a fortress. And with this standard of luxury. Its an oasis. The 2018 eclass. Its everything you need it to be. And more. Lease the e300 for 569 a month at your local mercedesbenz dealer. Mercedesbenz. The best or nothing. With esurance photo claims, you could have money for repairs within a day. Wow that was really fast. So it doesnt have to hurt for long. Thats insurance for the modern world. Esurance, an allstate company. Click or call. I want some more of it. I try so hard, i cant rise above it dont know what it is bout that little gals lovin. But i like it, i love it, i want some more of it we know you love it, so get more of it, with applebees new bigger bolder grill combos. Now thats eatin good in the neighborhood. They feel that they have to drink patients that i see that complain about dry mouth a lot of water. Medications seem to be the number one cause for dry mouth. Dry mouth can cause increased cavities, bad breath, oral irritation. I like to recommend biotene. Biotene has a full array of products that replenishes the moisture in your mouth. Biotene definitely works. It makes patients so much happier. [heartbeat] after his wifes drowning death in the backyard spa, police asked chris hall to explain what happened that morning. What chris did not know was 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 christy halls three daughters clung together in grief and shock all through the dismal evening hours of that worst of all days, june 7, 2007. Waiting for this father to return from the Police Station and they wondered why was it taking so long. 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. He was very upset. But he didnt sound surprised he was crying. He was crying. He was upset. Very upset. But by the time Police Investigators were questioning chris, remember, they had heard from Lyndsay Patterson. And at the station chriss version of events in the spa differed in one Crucial Detail from what lyndsay described seeing that first time she peered over the wall and into the halls backyard. That specifically, me holding her down in there, there is nothing that took place in that jacuzzi that would explain that. There was no sex. There was no i dont even think we had any contact when we were in the jacuzzi other than when i was getting her out. But investigators were getting a good look at christys body and saw wounds that to them suggested a struggle, and more than one nasty blow to the head. So, the police had to choose which version chris halls or Lyndsay Pattersons was more likely the true story of what happened. Tom dove is 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 now. Because knowing our parents the farthest thing from the truth. And one that felt infected by some kind of madness, said the girls. Christy was the love of their fathers life, the center of everything. How could anyone so happy in his 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 based on that mother dau mother daughter talk they had not long before she died. She kept reiterating how happy she was. Me and bri didnt think much of it at that time, but that being the last time we actually saw her kind of burned in your memories. Yeah. But right or wrong, the legal trigger had been pulled. Chris hall spent almost two months in jail until his daughters received the payout from christys Life Insurance policy and used the money to meet his Million Dollar bail. And then he went back to what was to be his retirement retreat, to prepare with the help of his daughters for a murder trial. Thats very surprising to have a client in a murder case out on bail, but 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. You said two things there, special man and special situation. Both of us can say this is a man we like and that we know and we dont feel he could have done anything like this. So chris hall and his daughters prepared for a trial which they hoped would 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 look at neighbor lyndsays eyewitness account and suggested it was 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 drowning. See this sharp corner sticking out into the spa . Hitting your head on this would certainly have opened a gash and knocked christy out, said the attorney. She didnt see what was really happening during the times when she was not looking. That scream that made Lyndsay Patterson look over the wall, lyndsay, they pointed out, was in the bathroom that faced the street. She wasnt in the backyard when she said 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 shes lying. She misinterpreted what she saw. In any way, lyndsay to a certain degree, concedes she didnt know what she was seeing in her glimpses that morning. Something was wrong. And yet you hadnt really seen anything. I 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 not having enough time for her to have gone inside. It was like you kind of got three different snapshots. Right. Of something going on in there. Right. And had to kind of work out what this was. Yeah. You know, i wasnt thinking at that point oh, 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 more than any