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Welcome back to dateline extra. here again is keith morrison. reporter: it was a mean christmas for gary the year his father was murdered. the spring of 86 brought no solace. the summer surf lost its appeal. the whole thing didn t make sense to me. reporter: because no matter how thoroughly gary wished otherwise, yanos was as free as a bird. kind of made me question the whole system. reporter: the cops were sure yanos killed archie. gary was doubly sure. he still is hoofing around, breathing air and has all the freedoms that you and i have. didn t seem right. reporter: perhaps not. but the cops were simply stuck. the murder weapon, the confession, or an eyewitness, we didn t have any of that. reporter: so the case went ....
when i first found out, all ties were cut. i wrote her a letter. dropped it in her mail slot. as far as i m concerned, our relationship is over. reporter: mary ann accused yanos of murder the day it happened. confronted him in jail. now here she was back with him. they didn t actually move in together. they were certainly a couple, passion apparently undimmed. i just believe that in her own mind, that it was okay to go back with him because there was really no proof that he did it. reporter: how much mary ann knew, if anything, about yanos role if her husband s murder she wasn t saying. certainly not her son, gary. the rift in the relationship between mother and son now seemed irreparable. for gary, it was like he had lost both his parents. and years passed. the silence continued. ....
Gary got married, started his own family. but the loss of his father still haunted him. he never got to see me be successful in my career. never got to see me get married. never got to be the grandfather. reporter: 17 years went by. 17 awkward christmass. the detective retired. remember that fresh set of eyes he was hoping for? it was 2002 and an aggressive deputy d.a. read about archie mcfarland. as soon as i looked at it, i said, this guy is good for this murder. reporter: just what police thought at the beginning, of course. difference was, where some d.a. s avoid circumstantial cases, lewin loves them. especially the riddles of cases gone cold. he called a regular partner, a ....
First to gary, who waited 25 years. completely happy. after so much time goes by you think it s a fore gone conclusion, it s over. everyone moves on with life. including, of course, mary ann who moved on with janos. didn t go to him for a little while. in fact, spent 20-plus years, the same man she accused of killing her husband. but he was the only man in her life since archie was murdered. she loves janos and does not want to believe he s a killer. the case against janos kulcsar finally came to court, and, of course, the prosecution s star witness was mary ann mcfarland. what did she know and what would ....
Cold. not much more the detective could do. you put it away and then let some fresh eyes look at it later on down the line and see if there s something you missed. reporter: and then a very strange development. not a police issue. but for gary, it was awful. it was a few years after the murder, gary was paying his mom s phone bill. he noticed several calls back and forth to long beach. he dialed the number. and on the other end was yanos. would it be fair to say, it was a bit of a surprise? kind of a shock? yeah. reporter: when you found out she was seeing him again. yes. it was very difficult. reporter: how could she? go back to the lover who gary was sure stabbed his father, her husband, and left him to die in the driveway? ....