Stay updated with breaking news from Plus serena. Get real-time updates on events, politics, business, and more. Visit us for reliable news and exclusive interviews.
>> serena said james had told her about the affair weeks earlier. they were going through counseling, she said, and working on the marriage. and when detective garcia asked her about the night of nick's murder -- >> her statement was exactly the same as james'. >> they hung out together during the day. they went to bed together. they woke up together. >> yes. >> so she alibis him. >> yes. >> you wouldn't try to be covering up for him for anything? >> no. >> okay. >> if serena was telling the truth, james could not be the killer. as detective garcia pondered that, nick's brothers john kept up his own investigation. he mentioned lapan's name to a childhood friend. remember how tucson can be a big small town? >> he said, johnny, you're not going to believe this. i just dealt with that guy a few months ago. >> john's friend owned a machine and fabrication shop. he said james lapan had come in looking for a tool, one he
was found all over nick's bedroom, and nick's blood was on the pants recovered at the lapan home. with the overwhelming dna evidence plus serena's testimony and the firearms analysis evidence, jurors didn't need much time to reach a verdict. >> we, the jury, do find the defendant james lapan guilty of the offense first-degree murder. >> you're not required to offer a motive, but what do you think the motive was here? >> obsession and hatred. that's all tied up around nick and jessica. >> jessica stillwell, james lapan's mistress and nick's former girlfriend. prosecutor mosher called her as a witness, but his interest in her was not so much about what she said as what she might have done. >> i can't prove that she had involvement, but i can't rule it out either. we have these texts from the evening of the
Dateline-20210822-09:51:15 vimarsana.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from vimarsana.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
played a part in committing a murder, she's getting away with it. >> we cannot find any evidence. >> or -- >> yeah. >> -- she's not guilty? >> correct. >> as for serena and james and their covenant marriage, it's over now. they divorced in 2019. but serena still worries about what effect james might still have on her and her children's lives. you ever going to be free of this guy? >> when god hits his off switch. >> james lapan will most likely be in prison when that happens. he was sentenced to life. he's filed an appeal. kristy, who says she waited 40 years to meet nick, now faces the rest of her life without him. >> he'll always be my superman. i'll always love him. that will -- that doesn't change. >> and even in the midst of mourning his brother, john morelos takes some comfort in how he helped solve nick's murder. you've still got his back, don't you? >> absolutely.
arm. >> what's his name? >> james lapan. >> james lapan, one of nick's co-workers police had already spoken with. >> it's just we don't -- we never got along. >> jeff johnson said just 11 days before the murder, lapan had come to him with a complaint about nick and with it, a warning. >> he said that if i don't handle it, he has his own way of handling things and just bolted right out of my office. >> you knew the name james lapan. >> i did. >> nick had talked about him as somebody he'd had problems with. >> yes. >> but not being afraid of. >> no. >> detective garcia now interviewed lapan again at marana aerospace. he told her he spent the sunday before the murder with his family and said he and his wife went to bed around 9:00 and got up around 5:00 a. m., which would have been an hour after nick's murder. >> if i contact your wife, she's going to tell me this is where you were on sunday? >> i would hope so. >> okay.
he's like, so, when do i get to throw my name in the hat? and i'm like, maybe never, you know? there's the door. go away. >> but he wouldn't go away? >> no. >> serena, a sergeant first class in the army and a self-described alpha female, was happy to have met a man who wasn't a pushover. >> with james and his strong personality and my strong personality, we were on the same page, and we got -- things were going amazing. >> in 2010 at james'request, they entered into a covenant marriage. what's a covenant marriage? >> covenant marriage is recognized before god and state, and quite frankly it's a lot harder to get divorced. >> less than a year into their marriage, james'father died, and serena says something in her husband changed. he became, she said, controlling and frightening. serena recalled a disagreement in which she
during a work trip, watching a lifetime movie about an abusive, controlling husband. >> seeing that made me fully realize the fact that it's a pattern that's going to continue to get worse. and if he had not been arrested, this would probably be a direction in which my life would be going. >> it took months, but eventually serena found the courage to pick up the phone. >> she calls and says, i've got a new story to tell. >> pima county chief trial counsel jonathan mosher. >> we bring her in for an interview with recorders running. >> when you talked to police previously -- >> i lied. >> okay. what did you lie about? >> the fact that he had left the house, because he did. >> serena told prosecutors what really happened the night nick morelos was killed. she said she and james went to bed about 9:00. >> and then he got up, and he had left the house. >> and later that night, serena
>> he pretty much answered all the questions that we had. the interview ends. >> but then maybe two minutes later, there was a knock on her door. >> and it's james. he came back, and he tells us, i basically need to tell you the truth. >> the truth? like a confession? well, yes, but not to murder. james lapan owned up to slipping. >> what was the part you were not forthcoming? >> jessica and i have slipped. >> slipped, as is had an affair with number's ex-girlfriend, jessica stillwell. >> she broke it off pretty quickly because she did not want to be the other person, and he didn't want to leave his family. >> now detective garcia had someone knew she wanted to talk with, james lapan's wife, serena. >> i know he's been, um -- fell off the marital bandwagon so to speak.
Dateline-20210313-10:51:15 archive.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from archive.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Dateline-20210101-19:51:15 archive.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from archive.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.