Undescribable. What had she seen . Was this drowning really an accident . Shes got a huge gash on her head. Its not consistent with falling down. A husband and father is suddenly under suspicion. Hes crying, were crying. He said, they think i hurt mom. Three daughters stand by their dad. And one prosecutor stands firm. Hes holding his wife of almost three decades under water. My job is to get justice for christy hall. Was it murder . Hello and welcome to dateline extra. Im craig melvin. In this hour, a story that calls to mind the master of suspense, a plot straight out of an Alfred Hitchcock film. A young woman peers into her neighbor apartments yard and sees something for a few sektds. A man, a woman and something that is 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. Heres keith morrison. We know the truth and we know everything that happened. How do we know what we know . Its emotionally unsatisfying not to have that answer. So it is. Even if weve seen something, or if we think we have. And thus the question at the heart of the whole puzzle. Is this woman right . I know what i saw. 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, cala mesa, california, suburbs creeping out to the rim of mountains on the eastern flank of los angeles. Here is where chris and christy hall had come to live out their 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 ams been chris and christy. They were never thought of as separate. Theyre a unit. These are the three daughters, courtney, the oldest, is a teacher. Brianna a 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 of the family. Chris her perfect mirror. Our dad is a little more kicked back, relaxed and quiet. But theyre a perfect balance, i think. For years chris hall 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 love 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, im 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 in 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 just heard this panicked panicked scream from my dad yell 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. We have an emergency. It was she who dialed 911 as she and her father struggled to lift her mother out of the spa. It was the 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 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. Because 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 were not his wife. So courtney took charge. After calling 911, she started cpr on her mother with her father. Emt eric nor wood was the first to respond. He just started help my wife, oh, my god, help my wife, help my wife. Chris was kneeling at his wifes side, more in the way than anything. And 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. No words to describe just the fear and the anxiety. Youre losing your mother. Right. Youre watching her go right in front of you. We tried to save her together and we 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. And the safey for most parallel parallel parking job goes to. [ drum roll ]. Emily lapier from ames, iowa. This is emilys third nomination and first win. Um. So, just. Wow um, first of all, to my fellow nominees, it is an honor sharing the road with you. And of course, to the progressive snapshot app for giving good drivers the discounts no, i have to say it for giving good drivers the discounts they deserve. Safe driving welcome to holiday inn thank you wait, i have something for you every stay is a special stay at holiday inn. Save up to 15 when you book early at hollidayinn. Com save up to 15 when you book early ive been making blades here at gillette for 20 years. Theres a lot of innovation that goes into making americas 1 shave. Precision machinery and highquality materials from around the world. Nobody else even comes close. Now starting at 7. 99. Gillette. The best a man can get. Returning now to someone who was watching, 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 her eldest Sister Courtney 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, you know, i just remember crying the whole time. I couldnt comfort my father, he couldnt comfort me. We got to the station and they said that 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, and he understood what was necessary to help them sort out what happened. I cant start to imagine what youre going through, okay. Just, you know, its a Death Investigation and we have to do this. Happy to help, he said. Whatever would get him back home to comfort his daughters as quickly as possible. Theyre all so close. Chris told investigators what happened how, as courtney slept, he and christy were in the spa bathing. She got out, went in, went to the bathroom, got some more coffee, tried to wake up courtney, courtney didnt wake up 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 then, stopped by courtneys room to 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 . Must have been. In your gut, what happened . 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 . Youve been around for a while. I know where youre going, and no, theres nothing 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 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 much 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 6 foot 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. Its 90 seconds, she said, between her first and second looks. 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, hes kind of looking around like nothing. Where did the woman go . Lyndsay told her mom something seemed strange. She tells me, lyndsay, stop being knowsnosy, dont worry ab 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. I heard a woman scream. 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 going to say shes lying. Sounds like a truthful kid, whatever. I dont know, you know. I cant explain what shes saying she saw. So now that question we posed as we began, did Lyndsay Patterson really know what she saw . To your bumper, cause. I dont think enough people heard about your big day. But nothing says we got married like a 12 ounce piece of scrap metal. Yo we got married honk if you like joint assets. Now youre so busy soaking up all this attention, you dont see the car in front of you. And if i can crash your perfect day, imagine what i can do to the rest of em. So get allstate, and be better protected from mayhem. Like me. 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 their 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, it 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. 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, theres nothing that took place in that jacuzzi that would explain that. There was no sex. There was no i dont even think we had contact in the jacuzzi other than when he was getting her out of the jacuzzi. Investigators were getting a look at christys body and saw wounds that suggested to them a struggle and one nasty blow to the head. 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 an 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 of the girls. Christy was the love much their fathers life, after all, the center of everything to him. How could anyone so happy in his marriage and his life be accused of harming her . She was happy, too, they said as happy as shed ever been. They knew it, they said, based on that mother daughter talk they had not long before she died. She kept reiterating how happy she was. And me and bree always cherish it. Didnt think that much of it at the time. That being the time we saw her. Kind of burned in your memories now. Yeah. Right or wrong, the legal trigger had been pulled. Chris hall spent almost two months in jail until his daughters received the pay out 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 ball gretch. You said two things, special man, and special situation. This is a man we like and we know, and we dont feel he could have done anything like that this. They prepared for a trial that they hoped would make clear to everybody, the police, the neighbor, the world, that chris could not, would 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 the neighbors 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, slimg, falling into the jacuzzi, hitting her head, going unconscious, and drowning. See this sharp corner sticking out into the spa . Hitting her 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, she was in a bathroom that faced the street. She wasnt in the backyard when she heard it. Could have been anybody. And courtney who was inside her house near the spa didnt hear a thing. We dont think shes lying. She misinterpreted what she saw. Anyway, lyndsay, to a certain degree, didnt know what she was seeing in her glimpses that morning. Something was wrong. And 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 just not having enough time for her to have gone inside. So its like you kind of got three different snapshots. Right. Of something gun on there. Right. And had to kind of work out what this was. 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. This is not fair to him because he truly loved her more than anyone. And yet the prosecutor was going to try to move that this family man and former cop murdered his wife. Could it be done . 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