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believed would undo the florida man. >> when he changed from i was in louisiana on tuesday to i was in louisiana on wednesday, that was a mammoth sea change that the jury i felt would never buy. it was the big lie. >> he has lied to you again and again and again. >> in his closing, the prosecutor theorized for jury just why edward ates had gone to such lengths to kill paul duncsak. it was for his daughter stacey whose life had been in free fall ever since her divorce from the victim. >> she really has nowhere to go. her father, the protector, wants her back and wants those grandchildren in florida. and so long as paul duncsak is alive, that will not be. and i think in part, ed ates viewed this matter as he just needed killing. >> look at ed. you look at him. >> all wrong replied the defense.
the computer searches, the sister's testimony, the mystery trip to new jersey. >> he knew the comings and goings of paul, so he was in the house waiting. as soon as he came in the door and moved a few feet into the hallway, the door opened and ed shot him. >> but what you really sunk ed ates for these jurors was his decision to testify directly. it all snapped together. >> i was certainly in shock that he took the stand, and then all of a sudden, when the change of the story of when he actually got there. >> he changed his story as well? >> just the changing of the story, we went from tuesday to wednesday to thursday. the wiretaps. i think that all certainly played into it. >> you are guilty. >> later in court, the victim's brother john duncsak vented his fury at the man who took his brother's life and robbed his children of their father. >> the defendant's decision to take the life of a human being
>> yes. >> the detectives were also digging into phone records and they came up with a plot. cell phones used by ed and his wife had been registering hits at cell towers just blocks from the victim's new jersey home, only a week or so before the murder. the investigators also learned the florida couple had rented a vehicle in nearby pennsylvania in the same time frame. >> what was going on the with the ates and this trip north? >> they were essentially surveilling paul's house. >> eventually the investigators and prosecutors were convinced they had enough. in june of 2007, almost a year after the death of paul duncsak, they traveled to florida to the form of the ates family. >> tell me about the arrest. it's morning, isn't it? >> yes, i was coming out of my motor home. my wife was already out. i was starting across. my little grandson, the 5-year-old, was running to meet me, and a sheriff's car come racing up the driveway. they slapped handcuffs on me and my wife, and it was downhill
>> the first thing out of her mouth was, i'm going to marry paul, and she said something about he's the best lover i've ever had. >> but then her people weren't all that thrilled with the young hot shot pharmaceutical exec either. stacey's father ed. what did you think about him? >> i thought he was arrogant unreasonably. obnoxious, but i wasn't marrying him. >> so both families bit their tongues and crossed their fingers as two walked down the aisle in may 1999 after meeting only months before. the wedding was lavish and held aboard a yacht in new york harbor. >> she got pregnant, i believe, right at the honeymoon purposely to pretty much lock paul down. >> that would have been fine, except that paul suddenly found himself saddled with another much hungrier mouth to feed. stacey's father, ed ates, a retired military man was asking his new son-in-law to invest in
driven by a woman that the children saw there for over an hour and they never found it. i don't know if they looked for it. but it certainly had nothing to do with ed ates. >> was that a red herring to you or interesting to you? >> it was very interesting. that probably was the murderer. driven by a woman and yet, every woman ed ates knows was accounted for. >> in other words, he says, paul duncsak was likely killed by an unknown intruder, maybe a robber caught in the act who then fled without taking anything. the lawyer says the testimony of the victim's fiancee supports the theory. she recounted on the stand that paul said something like, oh, no, into his cell phone just before the line went dead. he never identified ed ates. >> paul didn't know the killer. if you're facing someone killing you and you have that cell phone, wouldn't you say the person's name? if you are looking at someone
raised eyebrows from coast to coast. >> too old, too fat, too sick. >> yes, we proved it. >> ed ates' big gamble when "too fat to kill" continues. [ creaking ] [ male announcer ] trophies and awards lift you up. but they can also hold you back. unless you ask, what's next? [ zapping ] [ clang ] this is the next level of performance. the next level of innovation. the next rx. the all-new f sport. this is the pursuit of perfection. she would help her child. go! goooo! [ male announcer ] with everything. but instead she gives him capri sun super-v. with one combined serving of fruits and vegetables. new capri sun super-v. a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion.
it closed its case by underscoring again why ed ates couldn't be the killer. he had no motive and was too unhealthy to kill paul duncsak and flee the scene as police claimed. and he couldn't have been in two places at once. in new jersey when paul duncsak was dying and in louisiana where a neighbor named matlock clearly identified him. >> matlock saw him and his car there wednesday night. august 23rd. >> now it was the jury's case. but it wouldn't take long, a little more than a day for it to render a verdict. >> what is your verdict? >> guilty. >> the 12 men and women who had heard the case agreed ed ates had, in fact, murdered his former son-in-law paul duncsak. his "too fat to kill" defense may have won points for being original, but the panel rejected it completely. >> he held his hand out, shot a gun, and went to the neighbor's yard and got in a car and drove. >> they found the prosecution's evidence circumstantial, though it was pointed overwhelmingly to the man's guilt.
to make a better experience for our customers. [ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪ the prosecution had painted edward ates as a liar, a schemer, and worst of all, a cold-blooded killer, but as his lawyer was about to assert, those were just words. where was the hard evidence of ates' guilt in the murder of paul duncsak? >> well, first of all, i knew walking into the courtroom every morning they would presume he was guilty. the myth that everyone is innocent unless proven guilty is false. we walk in knowing that the
powered by adrenaline keeps you awake four hours? five hours, six hours, then you have a crash. but adrenaline can't run 24 hours. >> the defense was telling the jury it had been presented no direct evidence to tie ed ates to the murder of his former son-in-law, and medically there was no earthly way he could have done it. and yet there was all that circumstantial evidence still to explain away, that odd trip to pennsylvania and new jersey the week before the murder, the damning computer searches, and there was only one person left who could do that. coming up -- ed ates takes the stand in his own defense. >> you had murdered paul duncsak in cold blood, isn't that the truth? >> no, sir, that is not true. >> would his story convince a jury? when "too fat to kill" continues. i'm here with carol, flo, and karen for a girls night out talking about activia. i tried it and my body felt so right, for a change.
she hasn't found work after the divorce. she had been sickly with various complaints and now had fallen behind on bank payments for her home. john duncsak says the way his brother saw it, stacey had only one option to, move in with her parents, ed and dottie ates down in florida, but the child custody arrangement wouldn't allow that. >> every time that stacey had the kids, my brother was always concerned that she would take them out of state. >> and behind that fear of losing his kids was an even darker threat. paul shared it with his friend nancy bagley one afternoon as their kids swam in his backyard. he said that earlier that summer his pool had been sabotaged, its heater cranked up to a piping 101 degrees. he was convinced it was no accident. >> he said i am afraid for my life. i remember looking at the other mom, and we were just frozen. i mean we really were. >> pretty soon word was getting around with his new business