Transcripts For MSNBCW Dateline Extra 20181028 : vimarsana.c
MSNBCW Dateline Extra October 28, 2018
But the matter of proving it is a different story. Until someone found the perfect bait. Dude, its me. You need to call me [bleep] asap. Could they set the perfect trap . These people might literally get away with murder. Deadly conspiracy. Hello, and welcome to dateline extra, im craig melvin. With jack jessee at the helm, his big and blended California Family seemed like one happy bunch. Then jack was found stabbed to death in his living room, and police wondered if the jessees werent as close as they seemed. The case went unsolved for years until an ace detective hatched an unconventional plan to catch his killers. Heres keith morrison. The game is called mouse trap. The little ball on its track, the tiny mice which unless every lever works in unison will not be caught, and how often things go wrong to allow the mice to get away. So awed that what really happened could so eerily mimic a childrens game. Oh, how nice. These are the people it happened to. The jessee clan of Orange County, california. They vacationed together. Im tired. Im ready to go home. Shared birthdays. Even got together for a monthly game of ten pin. But what these grainy home videos dont show is what is yet to come. Which is murder, conspiracy. One branch of the family against the other. A game so twisted, mice so clever, that crafting a trap to catch the plotters just might be impossible. To begin with, it was 1998. Shakespeare in love won the oscar. Monica lewinsky was freshly famous. It was a sweltering august night, hottest of the year, when cheryl got a strange call from her dad jack jesse. I was getting ready for bed and my phone rings, and its my dad on the phone. What time was this . It was 20 after 9 00. He was worried about his wife sandra. She was missing. What did he think had happened . He just thought maybe she had gotten in an accident or something. She had run to this nearby maul to mall to run a quick errand cheryl said her dad told her. But she was gone so long. Would cheryl please find her, asked her dad. Went through there, burger king, walmart, and supposed to be back. And when she went back into her dads house, she found one of the worst sights id ever seen in my life, lying face down in a pool of blood. It was horrible. What did you think had happened there . I thought he had fallen because he had a big gash on the back of his head. I went to the kitchen and called 911. But when she rolled him over, she could see wounds all across his chest. Hed been stabbed many times. Every time i did cpr into him, i could hear bubbling and hear air escaping. And then i could feel it bubbling on his chest. Its not often this town has a murder. It was about 10 00 at night i got the call. At the time darryn wyatt was the towns sole homicide detective. What did the crime scene look like . It was bloody. There was an apparent attack struggle between jack and his killer. The type if it was a home invasion, robbery . Or assault between people who knew each other. Look first at who reported the crime, which was his daughter cheryl. The daughter, we had to look at her as a potential suspect. She was the one who found him. Back at the station, wyatt interviewed all of cheryls relatives, including his wife sandra. Who hadnt been missing at all. She had been out on a shopping trip. Mrs. Jessee came to the station with us said she wanted to help solve the murder of her husband. And she told him about life with jack, married 14 years, blended family, four kids between them. Jack was the patriarch of the jessee clan, she said. A teddy bear of a man, well liked, well to do. Jack was a very, very loving person who doted on his children, doted on his step children, doted on his grandchildren. But jack was ill, housebound after colon cancer surgery. Sandra told the detective she had been running a bit of a Mercy Mission for jack and dawdled too long at the mall. Maybe i was on the road 15 minutes. She was very, very specific about where she had gone, what times and why she had gone there. As for cheryl, she told detectives shed do anything to find out what happened to her dad in those 15 minutes she was away from the house. Her actions were very, very consistent with somebody who understands the police are looking at me right now, i know i didnt do anything, im going to do everything i can to give full disclosure. And then the day after the jack jesse murder, a guy walked into a bar, sat down on the bar stool, and told the bartender a story about how the murder happened, about who did it, about what the motive was, the whole story. But, of course, that was just a story in a bar. Detective wyatt didnt hear anything about it. As he continued to dig for clues, he hit an unexpected wall. Sandra announced she had now helped as much as she could. She was done. I was referred to her attorney, and she refused to meet with us again. Same thing happened with sandras kids, jacks step children. While jacks blood relations practically begged to help solve the case. So what happened to that Big Happy Family in the video . A mirage, perhaps . In fact, living with sandra said jacks daughters was like a fairy tale its too late now. The kind written by the brothers grimm. She was just mean to me. She wanted me completely gone. She did everything she could to get rid of me. When it came to her own children, she was indulgent. Especially to her son, tom. He was a big mamas boy to the point of being strange. Very weird. Very weird. Weird thing to watch. They were always walking into the other room and closing the door. Yeah. Though jack seemed quite happy with sandra until the spring of 98, that is, just a few months before the murder when jack was diagnosed with colon cancer. A shock, of course. But one of two shocks for sandra. And to those around her, the second seemed somehow worse. Her beloved son tom up and moved to arizona. And she was flipping out about it. Yeah. Just she had to go there. She demanded jack move to arizona too. That woman was off her rocker. Her tone was just scary. I never even its like somebody elses voice out of her. But surely that wasnt motive enough for murder. And with plenty of suspicion but little else to go on, wyatt spent months pouring over sandra and jacks phone records, bank statement, credit card bills, searching for well, he didnt know exactly what he was searching for, but he was getting basically nowhere. We couldnt establish a pattern that was suspicious. Then as wyatts investigation sputtered, sandra left. Sold jacks house here in california, moved to arizona to be near her son tom. And soon her daughter followed, too. And they all lived within a couple blocks of each other with homes sandra helped purchase with jacks insurance money and savings. When everything was said and done, she got about 700,000. And as the months slipped past, leads failed to connect, and the investigation hit one dead end after another, and wyatt was promoted out of homicide. The case bounced from the p. D. To the Orange County Sheriffs Department where before long it became a case to avoid. Killer. Until five years after his brothers murder when david jessee met a detective named tom dove who said hed picked up the case. I said, oh, really . I said, thats a great. Let me ask you a question. Yeah. What are you going to do . You going to get my case for three, four, five months a year and then move up . Become a sergeant or something and move on . And tom said to me, listen, buddy. Nobody likes me in my department. He said, im not going nowhere. He says i got five years to put in your brothers case and then i retire and im out of here. He said, but ill give it my all. I will give everything to this case that i have. I looked over at him, and i said youre the man. What david didnt know but clearly sensed was that detective tom dove was the real deal, a legendary law man who seemed to have stepped out of his own prime time drama. There wasnt a whole lot to go on. There wasnt any physical evidence, there wasnt any eyewitnesses. In other words, the perfect challenge. Correct. After five years of dead ends, tom dove jump started the investigation and quickly uncovered an intriguing new clue. Coming up, that bartender with the customer who liked to talk now hes talking too. This person had specific details unknown to the general public. Not only that, hes naming names. How many time you listen to that interview . At least ten times. When deadly conspiracy continues. Deadly conspiracy continues. [man 3] proof that i can fight psoriatic arthritis. [woman 4]. With humira. [woman 5] humira targets and blocks a specific source of inflammation that contributes to both joint and skin symptoms. 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That skills like teamwork, attention to detail, and Customer Service are critical to business success. Like the ones we teach here, every day. And Customer Service are critical to business success. Big corporations are making and just got a huge tax break. But the middle class is struggling. Prop c is a commonsense plan. The top 1 of businesses pay their fair share to tackle homelessness for all of us. Companies with revenue greater than 50 million pay, not Small Businesses or homeowners. The prop c plan is supported by the democratic party, teachers, and mentalhealth professionals. Vote yes on c. Big corporations pay for it, not you. Welcome back. Much had changed for the jessee clan in the years since jack jessee had been stabbed to death. His wife sandra moved to arizona to be near her son tom and his Murder Investigation once big news had gone cold. Now there was a new detective on the case and as he began to dig, he uncovered what looked like a clue. A single name scrawled on a slip of paper. Could this be the key to finding jacks killer . Heres keith morrison. After five years and a string of homicide detectives, the jack jessee murder case had become a game to avoid, and then one day the whole impossible business was handed off to tom dove. I cant tell you how many times that i thought just move on. Give up. Move on. There was no hope of any new evidence, of course, like fingerprints or dna. There was just the infuriating puzzle, which had become more difficult with each passing year. After i reviewed the case, i had no feeling for the family. No feeling for jack jessee. So to get his head in the game, dove met with the people closest to jack like his brother david. And when i met with david, he inspired me. His determination not to let the love for his brother go was a big motivating factor. But david also had some provocative information, something jack told him after arguing with sandra about moving to arizona. If anything ever happens to me, he says, its her. Not the only time jack said such a thing, it turns out. He actually told me i wouldnt be surprised if the bitch killed me. He said that. So dove picked through all the original files hoping he might come across something that had been overlooked. And buried inside he found this. A simple twopage report, apparently unread by any detective. Remember the guy who walked into the bar, the one who told a story about the jessee murder . Well, years later when the case had gone cold, the bartender decided to call the cops. An officer took the call, typed up a report and stuck it away in a file where it sat unseen until tom come came along. Two things caught my mind when i read it. One, whoever the caller is knew how many stab wounds were involved. And, two, the caller stated that the person had used a back door or a window to enter the residence that night. That was significant in that this person had specific details unknown to the general public about the murder of jack jessee. Most of the tipsters information was frustratingly vague like a riddle, yet another game to be played. There were two killers, though he gave no names. One had a knife, the other had the getaway car. Both worked at a Big Box Department store. The man who told the story in the bar that day had been the driver of the car, and with the blood money, he bought a truck and a sea doo. But on the question of who was behind the plot, thats when the story named names. Two of them. They were sandras son, tom, the mamas boy jack raised as his own, under the direction of the mastermind herself, jacks wife, sandra. So with that new perspective on the case, doug revisited sandras old interview, the hours of mostly useless chatter. How many times did you listen to that . At least ten times. And then it jumped out at him. Right about here on the tape, sandra is going through slips of paper in her day planner. She looks at one and says this is my sons friend. Listen to it again. This is my sons friend. This is my sons friend. One phrase in hours of material, but it got doves mind racing. If the bartender was right that the killers were friends of sandras son, could that slip of paper hold the key to the case . Dove tore through bags of evidence and there it was, the day planner seized five years earlier just after the murder. I went through that day planner for probably a day or more. Went through every scratch, piece of paper, notation, everything that was put into place in that day planner was looked at. There was a small piece of note paper with the name which appeared to me at that time to say schreiber with no telephone number or no significance to it. It said schrauber. Thats all it said . I thought so, yes. But where we he find this schrauber. Doug went back to sandras interview and unearthed one more clue. When asked about the friend, sandra said the boys were once work buddies. He met him at target. They worked together. So detective dove crisscrossed Southern California searching through the employment records of every target store for a guy named schrauber, but nobody had ever heard of him. We were starting to come to the end of our rope. We were getting to a dead end there. That was about the time jacks daughter sharee started to get packages in the mail from sandra. Keepsakes she said she wanted the girls to have. Like what . Bowling bags and ashtrays. Just a bunch of weird junk. It kept coming. It had the exact reaction she wanted them to have. Hatred more than i had before. Sandra seemed to be telling them shed beaten them, got away with it, won the game. We said are we cursed . Is there something with this case and its not going to be solved . Its frustrating for him to put all this work in and to think these people might literally get away with murder. Patty is toms wife. Theyve been together since high school. Knows him better than anyone. She was used to his compulsive perfectionism. Its comforting to me, i think, to know where things are and where were going. His nothingoutofplace sense of order. Hes a very stubborn man. So for him to take a case, hes going to do it and solve it. And so detective dove decided to start over, take a different approach this time. He immersed himself in sandras old phone bills seized by detective wyatt years before. What i did is i went through every telephone call on those phone records looking for somebody related to this case. There had to be some communication. Get anywhere . Yeah. What dove found that had been overlooked before was a cluster of calls not long before the murder, all short, within minutes of each other. One was to a target store, one was to a pager, and one was a boarding house. He called that last number and asked if anybody there knew a guy named schrauber. And the landlady said, nope, but there was once a tenant named schrauben. Could he be the man the detective was looking for. It was brett schrauben, not schrauber. So he tracked him down. And right there, parked in the driveway was a 1999 pickup truck and a sea doo. Just what the anonymous bartender said. This was a huge break for us. We now had a name of somebody involved in jack jessees murder. Coming up often people throw away valuable evidence. Detective dove finds treasure in trash. This is too good to be true. I thought good things were going to happen. Somebody is back on our side again. When deadly conspiracy continues. Deadly conspiracy continues. Matt whoo whoo jen but that all changed when we bought a house. Matt voila jen matt started turning into his dad. Matt mm. Thats some good mulch. Im awake. 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His theory, that sandra and her son tom masterminded jacks murder with the help of a man named bret schrauben. But dove still needed proof tying the three together. And the search for evidence was about to take him in an unexpected direction. Heres keith morrison. The jack jessee investigation had been six years of dead ends, bad breaks, blind alleys. Now on the trail of a suspect, tom dove was about to start a new game. One where he could write the rule book. But it would be very complicated because dove wanted more than just the getaway driver, bret schrauben. He wanted everyone connected to jack jessees murder. The only way to tie them together in this conspiracy was to do a wiretap. But wiretaps are notoriously difficult to get. Dove needed permission from a judge, and in order to do that, he needed to prove schrauben was still in contact with tom and toms mother sandra. It was a catch22. So time to get creative. It had been my experience when i had worked in the narcotics section of the Sheriffs Department that often people throw away valuable evidence. Dove asked his fellow detectives to help him because he decided to search schraubens garbage. So what did they tell you when you came up with that idea . Youre crazy . I think their first idea was im really starting to lose it now. Im wanting to dig through someones trash. So faithfully once a week he got up at daybreak and made the hourlong journey to schraubens home. Where a truck would bring it to this nearby parking lot. We would have the truck dump the trash in a somehow of a pile here regardless of the size. Right on the tarmac. Right on the tarmac, scatter everything out. Open every bag. Get down on our hands and knees and slowly sift through every piece of paper that looked like it might be a document of some kind. And thats how doves team found this coffeestained phone bill, showing call after call from schrauben to sandras son tom, in arizona. And that number, toms number popped up how often would that pop up . I think the average we figured out was about 24 times in a billing cycle. About a month. So almost every day. So every day to every other day, yeah. It was almost like going to a crime scene and finding pieces of evidence. Its an excitement that you realize this is going to work. We are going to find what were looking for. But there was yet again a problem. Schraubens phone was in someone elses name. And to get a wiretap, dove would have to prove schrauben was the primary user. So how would he do that . What we ended up having to do was literally follow bret schrauben around until we saw him on his telephone. We later took that even further in that i went into the target store that he was working at one day. I noticed he was stocking shelves in a certain section of the store, so i started randomly picking up items and looking like i was interested in them. At that point i called on my cellular phone to one of my other investigators outside, and i said put a call in now to the phone. I heard him answer the phone. I was able to say that was his phone. He talks on it. We put the phone in his hand. But as they continued to sift through trash week after week, they found something even more important than the phone bill. Something quite unexpected. This day planner. From the years 96, 97, and 1998. What were the chances of that . Here six years later was the day planner for 1998, the year jack jessee was murdered, crucial evidence, tossed in schraubens garbage. A treasure we didnt expect to find, but what that day planner did was connected all the people back in 1998 that were associated with bret schrauben. Whatd you think . This is too good to be true. I thought good things were going to happen. Somebodys back on our side again. And with this evidence, dove was able to get a judge to approve a wiretap on bret schraubens phone. And then, as dove waited for his wiretap to go into effect, he continued to go through schraubens trash. Maybe hed find something more. Hed been lucky before. And, indeed, he did. And it turned the case upside down. He found rental listings in arizona. Bret schrauben was moving out of the state, would be gone before the wiretap ruling took effect. And in arizona, a california warrant was worthless. This completely took all that work, and were talking probably six months of work, and just threw it out the window. The killers had slipped the trap. Game over. But the detective was not giving up. His team built a new and better mouse trap. And guess who took the bait . Coming up hey, dude, its me. You need to [bleep] call me asap. When deadly conspiracy continues. There are roadside attractions. 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It ensures the closest ambulance remains oncall during paid breaks so that they can respond immediately when needed. Vote yes on 11. 11 people are dead in a shooting rampage at a synagogue in pittsburgh. Authorities are expected to release more information on the shooting suspect Robert Bowers who faces dozens of charges. The president condemned antisemitism at a Campaign Rally saturday before delivering his Campaign Speech to supporters. Back to dateline. Welcome back to date line extra im craig melvin. Detective tom dove had just received a warrant to tap bret schraubens phone. And then he learned that bret schrauben was moving to arizona. Dove didnt miss a beat. He engineered another plan. A trap requiring the help of nearly 100 officers across two states. Could the detective pull it off or was he headed toward another dead end . Here again is keith morrison. After two years of relentless police work, tom doves investigation of the murder of jack jessee had generated enough evidence to fill this mail cart. All apparently for naught. The suspect and his key to cracking the case had skipped the state and detective doves jurisdiction. We were so close. The jessee family sensed dove had been beaten and Sandra Jessee had won, had gotten away with murder. I put his pictures away. It was tough because he was so he was so fantastic. Put his pictures away . I had to. It was just too much. Couldnt look at them . I couldnt look at him. At the dove home, toms wife patty began to worry about her husbands health. He tends to hold things in. And you cant hold in that kind of frustration and emotion without it starting to affect you. With that kind of stress, it takes a toll on him physically and mentally. Thats what you worry about . Exactly what i worry about. Because she knew if he didnt solve the jessee case, he might die trying. Hes like a dog with a bone. Hes going to take it and do it until it gets done. Dove was not alone, mind you. There was a prosecutor, too, who shared husband dogged conviction. A man named Michael Murray who wanted Sandra Jessee and her group as bad as dove. This was full of obstacles. It probably would have been forgivable to let it go at that stage. On some level . Maybe to some people. Some would call it a legal long shot. They flew to phoenix, presented their evidence to the state attorney general and pleaded for an arizona wiretap warrant. And they got it. The game was back on if they could make it work. We were going to try to set a trap for three people and keep track of those three people. And i wasnt sure if it was going to work or not. If it didnt in the back of my mind, i gave it probably a 30 chance of success. But youre giving yourself a 70 chance of being a goat at the end of the day. It had to be perfect. We were only going to get one try. So tom began to compile a team of investigators. Even called darren wyatt, the first detective on the case, to see if the placentia p. D. Wanted in. And i just said, let me fall at your feet and do what we can to help. I felt like, look, this is going to be good. The phoenix p. D. Also provided scores of officers. By game day, dove had close to 100 cops working the case. Im reminded of that mouse trap game you play when you were a kid. This huge ball bearing was going to have to go through a tremendous amount of obstacles that were kind of thrown together in order to lower the trap and catch the mouse. And anywhere along the line there could be a snag. There could be something we hadnt planned for that could throw this ball completely off the board. Okay. So what was the plan . What was the nature of your trap, of your mouse trap . We believed that if we did something to get these people uptight, if we were able to rattle the tree, if we were able to put some fear into them that maybe the police were onto them, that they would talk about the murder of jack jessee. So what was the piece of cheese you put into that trap . We mailed a simple copy of the newspaper article when jack jessee was murdered anonymously to Sandra Jessee, tom aehlert and bret schrauben. The significance of that was they didnt know we knew about bret schrauben. Theyre going to know somethings up. And sure enough, as soon as tom heard bret got an anonymous letter, he called his mother sandra. Whoever was sending out all that crap sent one to brett, too. Give me a break. Really. Youre kidding . No. I would not kid about Something Like that. They sent one to brett . Yeah. Why would they send one to bret . Why would they even i have no clue. Next, dove started poking bretts friends in california, who, of course, called brett. Leave your name and number and ill get back to you. Thank you. Hey, dude. Its me. You need to [ bleep ] call me asap. This is no [ bleep ] joke. Some guy from the sheriff Orange County Sheriffs Department, Homicide Division, was calling me asking about you. Bret in turn called tom. Hello . Hello. Tom . Yeah, hey. Whats up . Yeah. I just got a call from scott. The Orange County Homicide Division called scott, left a message on his answering machine, and wants to talk to him about me. About you . Yeah. What are you on right now . Im on my cell phone. Are you comfortable or no . No. That little mousetrap ball was making its way through the maze. But after a few days of the game, sandra, tom, and bret began to wonder if they were getting played, suspected their phones were tapped, maybe even their houses bugged. I want to talk for a couple seconds. Id rather just pick you up and go right to the church or something. The church . Just somewhere outside. Okay. Away from your place or my place. Okay. And not on a cell phone. Okay. Okay. When would you have time . Now. And so they started meeting in shopping centers. We decided to put surveillance teams on each of the individuals, Sandra Jessee, tom aehlert, and bret schrauben. During the duration of the wiretap to capture some things they may not do that may not be normal while the wiretap was in place. Theyd stand shoulder to shoulder in a parking lot watching out in the parking lot and not looking at each other. There it was like a scene from some mafia movie. The suspects out of range of recording devices apparently deep in conversation as they peered out into the parking lot. I think the photographs of tom aehlert and Sandra Jessee was worth a Million Words as to the depth of their involvement and how far they would go to con sale what they had done. In their minds they had thought they had got away with the perfect crime. Meanwhile, dove would hop on fights back to Orange County to pressure schraubens friends for information. He was, of course, relentless. Chased down anybody who knew the man. Followed one tip to another. Until dove finally encountered the man hed been hunting for years. The bartender who called in the anonymous tip years earlier. And the first words out of my mouth were, hi, mike, im here about bret. And his face went completely flush, and he said, i knew you were going to find me sooner or later. What story did he tell you . That schrauben for whatever reason had confided in him and told him specific details of the murder of jack jessee, including his involvement. That was a huge, huge quantum leap for us in putting this case to rest. Now the time had come to spring the trap. Bret schrauben was arrested and soon thereafter Sandra Jessee herself was in handcuffs. Finally to be held accountable for jack jessees murder. That was wonderful. Best threeday weekend i had. Oh, me too. That was a pretty good day. Didnt last. For one thing, tom was not arrested. Insufficient evidence, said the prosecutor. And then as he rolled out the case against the others, that little ball came off the track again. This time it happened at sandras preliminary hearing. The judge ruled there wasnt enough evidence to hold her. She was free to go. I sobbed all the way back home. I dont even know how i make it back to marietta from santa anna. Only bret schrauben was to face a murder trial. It was the summer of 2006, eight years after the death of jack jessees murder. And justice . Not yet, if ever. Coming up, finally the break detectives had been waiting for. She wanted jack dead. And she wanted it done at the house and to look like a robbery. The information that he provided would blow the case wide open. Until something slammed it shut again. When deadly conspiracy continues. En deadly conspiracy continues. That everything sticks to stefon diggss hands . 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After years of relentless police work, bret schrauben and Sandra Jessee were arrested for the murder of jack jessee. But in a devastating blow to jacks loved ones, the judge released sandra, citing a lot of evidence. Then the detectives got a lucky break. Someone had a story to tell and it would send this case into overdrive. Once again, keith morrison. Sitting in a cell month after month can do a lot to alter a persons take on the world. Even more so if the inmate is looking at a possible life sentence. And thats when bret schrauben had an epiphany. Just days before his murder trial was to begin, he said he was finally willing to testify against tom and sandra. But he wanted out. Now. The deal had to be for time served or nothing at all. Whatd you think when you heard what he wanted in order to get his cooperation . I thought it was outrageous. But its not a perfect world. And the people who are likely to have some of the best, most detailed information about what takes place inside a conspiracy is a coconspirator. We needed bret schrauben. So what was the story . The story was a pretty detailed and amazing story. Schrauben described the whole affair on tape. Laid it out in all its chilling detail. Anatomy of a murder. The conspiracy was launched, he said, with a phone call from tom. He told me his mom would offer 50,000 to kill his dad. He said he met with sandra in a parking lot. She gave him a 5,000 deposit. She wanted jack dead and done at the house and to look like a robbery. She told me she would leave for x amount of time and thats when it would need to be done. Schrauben said he hired his good friend, a local drift or the, to be his getaway driver. And on that afternoon, while sandra was out having her nails done, schrauben claims they drove to the house to murder jack. I was already having cold feet on the way there. By the time i was down the street i was really having cold feet. I got in the house, standing in the garage now. And i put on rubber gloves and reached inside the door and unlocked it and shut it. I was chicken. I couldnt do it. I called tom, said the doors locked. He said he would call his mom and get back to me. And according to schrauben tom called back within minutes with a backup plan. He told me that his mom was going to go out that night and that it needed to happen tonight because his mom cant take it anymore. And he said if we didnt do it tonight, his mom was going to do it. So they returned that night about 10 00. Schrauben said he dropped his friend off at the house and drove around the neighborhood while his friend stabbed jack jessee to death. We had walkietalkies. Afterward he called when he was done and told him to pick him up. So im turning to go back. He had a little blood on his legs. We looked for a place to clean himself up. I believe there was a del taco place. There he went inside to clean himself up. The information he provided, if we could corroborate what he said, would blow the case wide open. Police questioned schraubens friend. He denied everything. He said he wasnt in the car, he wasnt at the scene, he didnt kill jack jessee. And there was no evidence to indicate he was involved at all. Police let him go. Investigators focussed on building their case against tom and sandra, by documenting money transfers, phone calls, air travel. So when you add all that together, whatd you think . I thought we were starting to put together a pretty good case. Good enough that murray had tom and sandra arrested. And in the summer of 2009, 11 years after the murder, the mother and son team went on trial for the murder of jack jessee. Going to court was like going to my dads funeral every day. It really was. Youre around people that you know killed your dad. It was a ridiculous feeling. You cant even put it into words. Just soulwrenching. Schrauben testified against them. In court it was argued sandra had a variety of motives for killing jack. She wanted his money before medical bills ate up their savings. And she couldnt bear being away from her son tom. Do you think the case had gone well . I thought the case had gone extremely well. Except once again that little ball came off the track. What happened . Coming up i thought i was going to pass out. That one juror what did you say . I said she was an idiot. When deadly conspiracy continues. When deadly conspir continues. [man 3] proof that i can fight psoriatic arthritis. [woman 4]. With humira. [woman 5] humira targets and blocks a specific source of inflammation that contributes to both joint and skin symptoms. Its proven to help relieve pain, stop further irreversible joint damage, and clear skin in many adults. Humira is the number one prescribed biologic for psoriatic arthritis. [avo] humira can lower your ability to fight infections. 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His wife sandra and her son tom were on trial for his murder. But confessed conspirator bret schrauben had struck a deal with prosecutors. In exchange for his release, schrauben took the stand to detail how sandra and tom orchestrated the plot to kill jack. Now the case was in the jurys hands. But the jessee familys fight for justice was far from over. With the conclusion of our story, heres keith morrison. When the jury went into seclusion to deliberate, the jessee family thought justice was just hours away. But as the sun set on the courthouse, nothing. No word. Same thing again next day. And the day after that. The problem . There was a holdout. It got very heated. Yes. In the deliberation room. These members of the jury told us 11 voted for conviction. But there was one lone juror who felt some level of compassion for sandra. She related to the Sandra Jessee concern that jack jessees illness would eat up their nest egg. I kind of felt like she was enjoying the control she had. There was nothing. Nothing we could do or say. People were getting so heated and there was so much anger that she started to shut down even more. And that scene played out for three and a half days until the judge said enough and declared a mistrial. I was in tears. I was too. And thinking of the family and what theyve gone through. That was heartache. Just heartache. Mmhmm. I thought i was going to pass out. Yeah. It was horrible. It was just like it happened all over again. That one juror, you know, i saw her. I went and talked to her. What did you say . I said she was an idiot. It was certainly difficult for me. It was far more difficult for the family. Murray promised the family justice. Spent two years putting a new case together. And just weeks before trial, he got a call. It was from toms attorney saying his client was ready to cut the Apron Strings and testify against his mom. Theres no way that we ever suspected that tom aehlert would ever turn on his mother. He was known to be a mamas boy. But a mamas boy who decided he didnt want to die in prison. Tom pleaded guilty to Second Degree murder, got 15 to life. Besides helping connect the crime to his mother, he had someone else he wanted to give up. That friend of bret schraubens. The one bret claimed drove with him in the car and killed jack jessee. Despite the fact there was no forensic evidence to indicate he was involved, his case went to trial. In february 2013, a jury found him not guilty. His defense attorney believes hed been set up to take the fall as part of the conspiracy. That friend is now a free man. As far as sandra, her case went to court one month after her son turned states evidence. But the question was would the jury believe the story . And while they waited there was no euphoria, they knew anything could happen. Its a lot harder this time. On the second day they got word, the jury has a verdict. My stomach is in knots. Im shaking. Just really very nervous at this moment. 13 years after jack jessees murder, Sandra Jessee was found guilty. Finally, that little ball stayed on its track. The key mouse was caught. I hope that she rots in hell. I just really do. Im glad it wasnt the death penalty. I want her to stay there and suffer with all the other miserable people that go to prison. What does it feel like to get justice finally . It feels good. Feels good. But not complete. Lost a guy. Nicest guy i ever met. And for tom dove, hes now retired from the Sheriffs Department and at his going away party, his fellow detectives gave him this. It honors his commitment to the jessee case. It means more to me than any other plaque or award ive received in my life. In retirement tom planned to set up a shelter for stray dogs. The urge to rescue runs deep. Thats all for this edition of dateline extra. Im craig melvin. And im natalie morales. And this is dateline. Im going to destroy you. The fear was terrible. I cant even describe it. Its a surreal thing. People thought i was dead. The attack sudden, savage. I saw a man standing there. I heard multiple shots. The wife, the only witness. The only thing i could see was his eyes. Her story was concerning about a masked man, shooting her husband and leaving her alive. Im worried, did she hire