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Dress and be a widow the rest of your life. >> yeah. >> reporter: detective elgis of course was keeping track and trying not to be judgmental. >> she has to do what she needs to do to heal. it doesn't mean i wasn't paying attention to what was going on. >> but as months passed and elgis scratched away at the few paltry leads that went anywhere at all, a certain clarity began to emerge. despite his own early suspicions and those of others, hard evidence against melissa just didn't materialize. in fact, said elgis, he couldn't help thinking -- >> she probably didn't do it. she was so startled sh...

>> 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. case blowingled detective ron elgus' mind. >> is this say 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, in fact, she lost the love of her life. and that now she ...

He didn't deserve to die. >> for the time being, it's a he said/she said story. the d.a.'s deal with dawn to the dismay of james mat vi an's attorney means she may never face a murder charge >> prosecutor made a deal with the devil. now we need to show how far she is. >> deal with the devil? the d.a. said, 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 the d.a. could find hard evidence that dawn lied when she was given that get out of jail free deal for...

>> reporter: detective elgus was keeping track and trying not to be judgmental. >> she has to do what she needs to do to heal. it doesn't mean i wasn't paying attention to what was going on. >> reporter: but as months passed. he push aside the leaves, a certain clarity began to emerge. despite his own early suspicions and those of others, hard evidence against melissa just didn't materialize. n fact, he couldn't help thinking -- >> she probably didn't do it. she was so startled she went into a fight or flight response and just jumped out of bed. and then went to a normal reaction which is what...

And deception, and cat and mouse. who knew what it was? but the story when it began back in 2005 was about love. or what certainly felt like it. in fact, fair to say it was two kinds of love. there was what happened to ben when he met melissa. >> as soon as he met melissa, he was something i never seen. just, you know, just for no reason, he would call and say i love you. >> reporter: he's a changed man? >> absolutely. he was happy. melissa really made the difference. >> reporter: and if anybody would know, his best friends would. cindy and scott graham. >> ben was family. i mean he was family...