Page 3 - Dinner Ben News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Ben was a good guy. they had their problems. everybody loved him. he didn't deserve to die. >> reporter: so for the time being it's a he said/she said story. and the d.a.'s deal with dawn to the dismay of james matlean's attorney means she may never face a murder charge. >> the prosecutor made a deal with the devil. now we just need to show him how far in hell she is. >> deal with the devil? the d.a. says without dawn's testimony at the preliminary hearing, the murder charge against james would never have stuck. but dawn wasn't totally off the hook because there was one possibility still. if t...

>> reporter: melissa oxley was just 27 years old and already a widow. her 36-year-old husband, ben, shot dead while he slept in bed right next to her. as far as she could tell, said melissa, the shooter managed to break into the house, walk right into the master bedroom, shoot ben without harming her and leave not a trace of evidence behind. the case boggled the detective's mind. >> is there somebody who doesn't like him? is it a murder for hire pay? what could this be? >> reporter: melissa's closest friend believed her when she insisted she had nothing to do with it, that in fact she lost the...

We were finding reasons to take them to jail. >> reporter: and while they had james, they asked him point blank about the murder of ben oxley. >> did i kill ben? no. do i know who killed ben? no. did dawn kill ben? no. do i know anything about the murder? no. >> were you and dawn in any way involved in the planning of the death of ben? >> no. i'm looking you in your eyes. i did not kill him. >> reporter: but that was it. lots of denials. no real evidence. a year and a half had gone by since the murder. it was the summer of 2009. on to our cold case territory. >> getting there. >> reporter: the...

And on february 20th, 2008, the moon rose full over the carson valley. after dinner ben, melissa, her teenage brother craig and little alyssa settled in the den to watch a movie.he melissa remembers falling asleep on the couch, waking up with a start. >> thinking i was late for work. it was like 2:30 in the morning. and i was like, oh, i'm not late. so i went and got into bed. >> reporter: crawled in with ben, she said, moonlight on the covers. warmth inside. >> about an hour later is when i was woke up by the smell and then a loud noise. my ears were ringing. at first i thought i was dreaming...

>> she met a guy and she would stay the night at his house. i mean when her kids are calling us up saying we don't have any food in the house, can you come and bring us food, there's a problem. >> reporter: and so when dawn and ben went to court to fight for custody of alyssa, cindy had to tell the truth. >> i told the judge that dawn wasn't taking care of her kids anymore. they weren't a priority. they weren't even number five. >> reporter: when ben won custody of alyssa and more than $200 a month in child support, dawn was devastated. this is her mother sherry rosten, a retired deputy sherif...