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Could she have been the killer or was someone keeping a secret . I said what did you do . What did you do . S i dont know what to tell you. Just the truth. Hello. And welcome to dateline. Its the stuff of nightmares. An intruder creeps into your bedroom in the middle of the night and opens fire. But for Melissa Oxley the bad dream was all too real. She told investigators shed been startled from her sleep to find her husband, bing, dead from abi gunshot blast. It seems g strange, they though that no one else in the house was hurt including melissa, who was sleeping by his side. Stranger still w...

>> i pulled the trigger. >> reporter: but james matlean did not shrink from it. he murdered ben oxley in his sleep and must live with what he did for the rest of his days. >> i'm afraid to deal with what i actually did. >> reporter: he told his story in court last december. it was after the d.a. took the death penalty off the table and james decided to plead guilty. and that's when melissa sitting in the courtroom heard for the first time about something else. james was supposed to kill her, too. >> dawn asked me if i would kill melissa. i just automatically said yeah. >> reporter: there was a...

A heated conversation about ben oxley. james asking dawn if she wants to have him killed. but that's where the stories diverge. dawn remember, says she told james, no, don't do it and fell asleep on the couch. but that's not james matlean's story. >> she was ecstatic about what was happening. she was happy i was going to kill somebody. you know? >> reporter: it was after midnight. dawn drew him a diagram of ben oxley's house, said james, so he could find his way to the bedroom. then he went to the 7-eleven, drew $40 out of the atm with dawn's bank card. and then together he said they went to t...

That's where everything in my mind that should have happened three or four hours ago happened. i started thinking why am i here? something i heard to my left -- >> reporter: a sudden noise? >> yeah. and as i turned and jerked to see what it was, i pulled the trigger. >> reporter: he ran then, he said, left the front door wide open. caught up to dawn at the truck. >> reporter: who drove? >> she did. i started yelling at her when we got in the truck. >> reporter: the truth, said james matlean, all of it. >> dawn knows the truth and i know the truth. and that's all that matters. i take full respo...

>> basically talking to melissa. i'm sorry. >> reporter: in exchange for his guilty plea the d.a. agreed to recommend that james could be eligible for parole after serving 24 years. >> all rise. >> reporter: the final decision up to the judge. defense attorney stover made the argument. and then melissa took the stand. >> emotionally the damage you have caused me is almost unbearable. for alyssa, you crumbled her foundation and everything she knew to be right and true. and as hard as this is to do or believe, i also want you to know i have found it in my heart to forgive you. >> reporter: and t...