Page 13 - Eric Mullens News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> finally ralph managed to get the words out. he and his wife had been attacked and robbed. very afraid the attackers might still be in the house, called 911. >> he looks like he had been shot. he said somebody broke in last night. >> how are they doing? >> he's not good. crying. he told me to go help her. she's in the kitchen. i'm going to get my neighbor to help me here. ralph, we're getting help for you, ralph. okay? >> the police arrived. went into the house with guns drawn. and there at the entrance to the kitchen, still in her nightgown, lay pam candelario. her head covered in blood. >>...

>> exactly. >> it was wonderful. >> reporter: i got to say, by the way, don't want to embarrass you, but i have found that investigators of homicides are the biggest softies on the planet. >> we're not supposed to let that out, but once in a while it happens. >> reporter: you're not supposed to care as much as you do, but you really do. >> you do. >> oh, absolutely. >> you become very attached. >> those girls are special. pam had a part in that, and they're -- hopefully they'll be able to live on her legacy. >> reporter: and ralph's legacy? because of him, aaron will go on searching, hoping to...

>> reporter: then, said the defense, one of the bad guys saw pam and -- >> he hits pam in the head hard. he's standing there in the kitchen, fire poker in his hand, wondering what to do. >> reporter: the robbers must have thought pam and ralph had already left on vacation. >> this family was supposed to be gone. that was the talk around town. >> reporter: so for the jury it came down to whose story to believe. prosecutors said the police cleared those suspects right back at the beginning. but nothing could clear ralph. and nothing could soften a truly shocking allegation -- ralph murdered pam ...

Would rather go out than actually face his destiny that way. >> reporter: suicide attempt, delaying tactic, whatever it was it didn't work. a day later the judge ordered ralph back to court. >> people versus ralph lee candelario sentencing. >> reporter: and ralph, bandaged up, got another day in the spotlight. >> your honor, i have maintained that i have been innocent through this whole process. >> reporter: and then a keen observer might almost have heard the jaws drop around the courtroom. >> pam will be resurrected. we will be able to see her again. we will be able to watch her laugh and si...

Pam candelario was found murdered in her home. her husband, ralph, was badly beaten. ralph told police his version of the events. then a letter arrived at a local newspaper. was the news fit to print or an exercise in creative writing? that's what investigators wanted to know. continuing with "tangled," here's keith morrison. >> it's a grand name perhaps for a weekly paper in an out of the way little town, the world journal. but then walsenberg was a thriving coal mines offered endless promise. now antique stores like pam and ralphs filled the gaps left behind by departing commerce. >> i think...