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Debbie carried very few samples. anyway, if drug theft was behind it why didn't the thief take any jewelry or electronics. no. it seemed to come down to dave. his character, his behavior and his own words and a conversation with a friend police recorded when dave speculated what might have happened to debbie. the defense played it in court. unguarded indication that dave had no idea what happened. >> he basically offered i don't think she is ever going to be found. >> did it work? listen to prosecutor larry crouch. >> oh, no. why are they putting it in? i thought it was harmful. what the jury ...

Agree? here with more of our story is keith morrison. >> they kept pushing and pushing and we kept sitting back. >> prosecutor larry crouch told his investigators he would not charge dave hawk with the murder of his ex-wife debbie, even after it was obvious this popular single mother had been murdered, even after months of searching around hanford, california, turned up no sign of her anywhere and police convinced themselves dave was responsible. prosecutor crouch would not budge. not yet, anyway. >> we're going to wait until we find the body or give the body more time to come up. >> instead, ...

Reported to the police and the police swept it under the rug apparently. it was an ex-boyfriend. >> of course, investigators say they did look into that and other leads, too, but they all came back to dave. and one primary motive. so some cross-examination. prosecutors said you killed your ex-wife because she was going to expose your embezzlement of the childrens' trust funds. >> they've said a lot of things. >> were you afraid your father was going to find out what you were doing with that money with the trust fund? your father who lovingly put the money into the trust fund before you siphone...

First-degree murder and a special circumstance murder for financial gain. he pleaded not guilty. when the trial finally began more than a year later dave faced murder and the earlier embezzlement charges together. prosecutor larry crouch offered the jury this theory, that dave snuck out of his house in the middle of the night without waking his sleeping children, maybe even used a ladder to get out of the window, and got someone to give him a ride to debbie's house and entered her bedroom. >> i think he tried the stun gun on her and she screamed very loudly and he struck her with something mor...

That accomplice, said the prosecutor, must have picked him up and driven him the 40 miles back to his farm. but really, there was no body, no dna, no forensic evidence to show dave had even been at the murder scene. everybody in town seemed to have a theory, apparently the prosecutor did, too. but proof? so the state tried to build a bridge from dave's alleged financial crimes to a murder, painting him as an evil man who decided to eliminate his ex-wife when he knew the misuse of the trust funds was about to be exposed. enough? well, we shall see. >> there's a number of other explanations for ...