he married the woman of his dreams, beautiful and sweet. she was just angelic. and was folded into her tight-knit family headed by an elderly religious matriarch. you were either part of their family or you weren t. together they had a little girl, sydney. when their marriage fell apart, her family closed ranks. in their view, sydney was their property. one day he went to pick up his little girl for a visit and was never seen alive again. he died right there. dad?ut who would kill a devoted the unbelievable choice, his golden girl wife or the gracious family matriarch? they seemed so loving, but was there another side. it s a monster that comes out of a closet. it s very ugly. how dark is that side? murderous. but which one was the killer? hello and welcome to dateline. he was a man suddenly confronted with something monstrous, evil at the door. this story is a mystery about a father of two young daughters. one night he left to pick up one of them an
their family or you weren t. together they had a little girl, sydney. when their marriage fell apart, her family closed ranks. in their view, sydney was their property. one day he went to pick up his little girl for a visit and was never seen alive again. he died right there. but who would kill a devoted dad? the unbelievable choice, his golden girl wife or the gracious family matriarch? they seemed so loving, but was there another side. it s a monster that comes out of a closet. it s very ugly. how dark is that side? murderous. but which one was the killer? hello and welcome to dateline. he was a man suddenly confronted with something monstrous, evil at the door. this story is a mystery about a father of two young daughters. one night he left to pick up one of them and never came back. the question for investigators wasn t what happened. it was who did it. in the home of a god-fearing family in one of the smallest of american towns, the worst of crimes.
that his estranged wife, jennifer, was keeping stephen watkins became increasingly frustrated his estranged wife jennifer was keeping their daughter away from him. they had been battling in court, but things were about to turn violent. we continue with the mystery on horseshoe drive. it s not just corn that grows quickly in rural illinois. so did the family of stephen and jennifer. they met, married and had a baby in about a year s time. and just as quickly, their relationship fell apart. they were fighting over baby sydney when stephen went to jennifer s one november evening to pick up the child. within minutes, jennifer was on the phone with 911, hysterical. 911, what s your emergency? my, my, my grandmother needs help. my husband came to pick up my child because we re getting a divorce, and he come after her and tried to come after the baby and i, he s on the floor shot.
to force her to share the baby with stephen, the judge in their divorce case ordered that stephen get regular visits with sydney. that court order helped and stephen was able to see sydney for a few visits. he sometimes invited jennifer to come along as they did to pick pumpkins in october 2008, because despite all that had happened, his family says stephen was still hoping he could show jennifer how good life could be with the four of them together as a family. his efforts were in vain, though. far more often than not, jennifer and her family denied stephen visits with his baby, frequently saying sydney was sick. once stephen called a police officer to the family to help him. the family still said no. stephen was becoming more and more frustrated. then one evening in late november 2008, the whole situation exploded. 911, what s your emergency? my, my, my grandmother needs
so did the family of stephen and jennifer. they met, married and had a baby in about a year s time. and just as quickly, their relationship fell apart. they were fighting over baby sydney when stephen went to jennifer s one november evening to pick up the child. within minutes, jennifer was on the phone with 911, hysterical. 911, what s your emergency? my, my, my grandmother needs help. my husband came to pick up my child because we re getting a divorce, and he come after her and tried to come after the baby and i, he s on the floor shot. is she shot? no, he s shot. i need an ambulance for my grandmother. it was a confusing 911 call. jennifer wanted an ambulance for her grandmother shirley skinner. as for her estranged husband stephen, jennifer implied to the dispatcher he had been shot to protect her family.