we had heard something about a shot. the message that i left was, lock your doors, i love you, be safe. we immediately started calling every hospital, because we knew. in our heart of hearts, we knew what had happened. >> announcer: she was shot and killed by her husband. the fbi agent. >> shot her four times. >> shot her four times. >> announcer: he says she attacked him. >> a person has the right to defend themselves. >> yes, sir. >> this is the knife. can you show us? >> and detectives took a closer look at the crime scene and at the fbi agent's story. >> we believe the knife was placed in julie's hand. >> she would never, ever be capable of coming at somebody with a knife. >> and there were questions about his love life, too.

>> it's deeply creepy. >> it has a creepy feel to it. >> was it self defense? >> i think julie snapped. i would bet my life on it. >> or something else entirely. >> is this changing for you by the minute? >> it is. >> sometimes it seemed there would never be an answer. >> have you ever had a more traumatic moment in court? >> no. >> 832 days comes down to one hour. >> i would put my life in the hands of god. >> i am lester holt and this is "dateline." >> her is dennis murphy with "the agent's wife." they comprise america's elite law enforcement team, the 35,000 men and women of the federal bureau of investigation. >> let's go! >> and their careers begin here at the fbi academy in quantico, virginia, where trainees are taught how to lead, how to survive and how to shoot.

in a kind of back lot movie set of a small town, a place called hogan's alley, when they place a threat, they need to eliminate it, stimulus response. it's kill or be killed with no time to overthink the situation. but back in april of 2013, something happened just down the road from the academy involving one of the fbi's own. a call to 911. >> i'm an fbi agent. please hurry. >> this law enforcement community struggled to understand the ghastly thing that had happened here in just seconds. >> i remember dropping the phone, falling to my knees and just crying. >> friends and neighbors sat in disbelief. >> we know that that's not what happened. it just doesn't make any sense. >> while a family lay torn apart. >> with you relive that moment every time you think about it. of.

>> our story begins here in the suburb of stafford, virginia. it's a quick commute to quantico for the many fbi agents who live here. safe and secure as a town can get. that's exactly why it appealed to bureau special agent arthur gonzalez. back in 2010, he and his wife julie moved to this quiet, conservative community with their two young sons, chris and aiden. terry smith and her daughter taylor were neighbors across the street and became close to julie. how did you come to know them? >> we met at the block party right across from our house and it was like an old friend, even though i had just met her. >> the couple were devoted parents. coach soccer for the boys at their school and julie was the dutiful soccer mom. >> did she like being a mother? >> oh, yeah. she loved her boys. it was their whole life, everything. if she ever had a big goofy grin on her face, she was probably talking about them. >> julie is a lot like me.

>> art's sister, eileen. >> we both really have a bubbly personality. i think we're friendly people. she was like my sister. we were two peas in a pod. >> julie and art had been born and bred in new mexico, where the two met cute in college. >> he's a three-sports athlete star, right? >> right. >> valedictorian of the class? >> correct. art is very focused, goal-driven. >> and his biggest goal was a career in law enforcement. out west, art racked up 15 years in service as an fbi field agent, covering his wall with awards. then he got his dream job, recruited to be an instructor at the elite fbi academy at quanti quantico. >> that's reaching high as good as it gets. >> i knew he would succeed. art always succeeded at what he put his mind to. that's who he is. >> julie's dad says his son-in-law would carry his bureau-issued gun just about everywhere.

>> it went to church with him, and he made sure that everyone saw him as an agent. >> so he liked the persona of being an fbi agent. >> yes. >> for a time julie joined at bureau too, working as an evidence technician on some high-profile cases. one involved the takedown of a major mexican drug cartel. >> she was good at the job. >> she was great at everything she did. >> but julie's fbi days were behind her. she had quit to raise the boys. and when they moved to virginia, she took a low-stress job as a teller for their local bank. here she is, rehearsing a speech for a training program there. >> i would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you. >> it's not hard to love julie. >> co-worker tiffany clark became a close friend. >> it took all of a couple days to realize what a great person she was. >> as tiffany got to know julie she sensed her cheery disposition hid some trouble at home.

>> during the summertime had he lifted up her hand and showed me she was no longer wearing her wedding ring. >> after 18 years of marriage, julie and art were going through some rough times. there was even talk of divorce. >> she came to visit mige and t kids. she was crying more than i had ever seen her cry. >> then came the day that would change everything. it was a friday in april, 2013. art had gone to his instructor's job at the fbi academy, julie had the day off and spent the morning doing errands and grabbing some lunch with a neighbor. but that afternoon, a friend called tiffany at the bank and said that something was very wrong in julie and art's neighborhood. >> she told me of a story where there was some kind of shooting. >> a shooting in the seemingly safe haven of stafford. tiffany called julie and left a message to warn her. >> when i called julies, i told her there has been a shooting in

the neighborhood, lock your doors, go upstairs, i love you, be safe. >> then the news got even worse. the shooting wasn't just in julie and art's neighborhood, it was in their very own house. >> what is your emergency? >> when we return, what had happened in that house? who had been shot? and who had done the shooting? but ultimately, the hardest question of all, the one that would take years to answer was, why? >> i just didn't want to believe it. >> there was still that shred, that shred of hope that this couldn't be happening. ibs-d. it may be caused by changes in my gut. and that i can do something about it. it was the greatest news. ask your gastroenterologist if your symptoms

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what is your emergency? >> i need a deputy and an ambulance. >> i'm an fbi agent. please hurry. >> the agent's wife, julie, was lying on the kitchen floor with gunshots. first responders rushed to the scene as the operator began talking art through instructions for giving cpr. >> listen to me carefully. pump the chest hard and fast 30 times, at least twice per second. >> she kept him on the phone with deputies moments away. julie had been shot, but how? what had happened inside the gonzalez home? en route to the scene, it was this man's job to find out. >> i'm running lights and siren

myself over there. >> reporter: as soon as detective todd nosal hit the ground, he knew this was no routine case. >> did you know he was an fbi agent? >> when i got on the scene, i was immediately informed of that. >> reporter: and that fbi agent, the distraught husband who had called 911, had just walked out of the house, hands up, holster on his hip, as captured by dash-cam video. now, he was in the back seat of a sheriff's cruiser. that's because art admitted right away that he was the one who'd just shot julie. first contact, demeanor. did you see anything? >> no. it was just, "hey i'm detective nosal. i'm gonna be speaking with you later." >> reporter: later became sooner. after their introduction, the detective followed the cruiser and art downtown to the sheriff's department for an interview. >> and when i read him his miranda, he was agreeable to talk. >> obviously you're an fbi agent so you kind of know how this goes, and we have a job to do. >> reporter: certainly art knew the drill knew the camera was rolling, as nosal began to take

down art's story of what had just happened in that house. so how does the story come out? >> i just started asking him very open-ended questions, you know. "why don't you tell me what happened?" >> i went to eat lunch at moe's with a friend. i took the friend back to the academy. then after that, i drove straight home. i drove up to the house, and she was there. >> reporter: art told the detective that he was surprised to see julie's car in the driveway. the couple had recently separated art was staying in the house with the boys, while julie had moved to an apartment nearby. >> i said, "what are you doing here? you need to call me before you come here." >> reporter: so he was annoyed she hadn't called before stopping by, but said he saw an opportunity to talk about the relationship, and get julie to agree to a quick divorce. >> we were standing in the kitchen and i told her, "look it's over. we need to complete this process." >> and then she said, "well i thought we were trying to reconcile." i said, "no, julie, we're not." i just said, "i didn't love her anymore." she said, "well, i can't take this anymore." um, i turned around for a second. i guess there was a knife sitting on the counter.

she attacked me. >> reporter: julie, he says, charged at him with a knife. the fbi agent told the cop that what happened next was pure reflex. >> she came at me. i put up my arm, and i pushed her away. um, she came back at me again before i said, "stop", and at that time i just reacted, and drew my weapon and i fired a shot. >> reporter: art said his fbi training had kicked in to neutralize the threat with the weapon he had at the ready right there on his hip. a tragic case, he said, of self defense. >> that's really the extent of what happened. >> reporter: self-defense. she came at me with a knife. >> self-defense. >> reporter: i'm trained to deal with threats. >> it's his estranged wife. he has exclusive use of the home. but detective nosal had law enforcement training too and his reflex? to be skeptical of any situation where a husband shoots his wife. in fact, from the start of the conversation, he'd been watching art very closely, even as he talked about julie's condition. >> is she okay? >> well, obviously she's not

okay right now. uh, she's being treated medically. once i get an update on her, i'll let you know. >> reporter: nosal decided not to tell art the truth. julie, age 42, had been pronounced dead on the way to the hospital. >> i intentionally withheld it. we do that for a couple of reasons. one, to be able to conduct an interview, just in case somebody gets so visibly upset they can't talk at the time. and then, two, to just kinda gauge his reaction. >> reporter: the detective's job now was to keep art talking see if his story held up. he asked art another one of those open-ended questions. this one about their marriage. >> what kind of a relationship did you have with your wife? >> excellent up and until the point that four years ago, i don't know what happened to her, something happened. >> reporter: art told the detective that the marriage had been unraveling for years. julie, art said, was unstable and had a serious drinking problem. >> four years ago it was was nightmarish. wasn't taking care of the boys. >> reporter: just hours after

shooting his wife, art was recounting a litany of aggressive acts. things she'd done to him. >> she went to me and got my shirt and just ripped it right off my back. my head was scratched from here you know down to my shoulder blade. there was another time when we had to call the deputies. and you know they actually had her in handcuffs before. >> reporter: detective nosal steered the interview back to that day's tragic shooting. he asked about the defensive move the agent says he made with his left arm. >> do you have any injuries on you right now? >> i don't know. >> you've got a couple cuts right there. >> i asked him several more times to either expound on things or just take me again from the top of what happened that day. >> standard procedure. lock in a story. then check for inconsistencies in the repeat cycles. >> how many rounds you think you fired? >> two or three. i don't know. >> what happens to her then? >> i think she like takes a step back and falls on the ground. i pick up the phone and call 911. >> my wife just attacked me with a knife and i had to shoot her. >> reporter: does he tell you he's giving compressions and

breath, that he's doing the whole cpr -- >> he did. >> reporter: regimen? >> he did. >> reporter: about 40 minutes into their talk, art again asked how his wife was doing. >> i got some bad news. um, she's dead. she, i guess passed on the way in the ambulance. >> reporter: art put his head down and sobbed. >> all right, i'm just gonna step out for a second, okay? >> reporter: minutes later, he was back a tough cop expressing his sympathies. >> obviously, this is probably one of the worst situations, especially a law enforcement officer, could be in when you're defending yourself and it's the mother of your children. >> reporter: after hearing multiple recounting of his story, nosal looked across at his fellow lawman and told him it seemed like a case of self- defense. tragedy in the kitchen, but the law speaks to this situation? >> yes, sir. >> reporter: and a person has the right to defend themselves. >> yes, sir. >> it's not making things better, and it's not going to change how today is.

but, you know, i mean, you had to defend yourself. >> reporter: back in art's neighborhood, news of the julie's death had quickly spread across the street. >> a knock came at the door. it was a police officer. and he asked me if i could go get the children from school because there was an incident at art and julie's house. >> reporter: terry smith, julie's good friend and neighbor, could barely wrap her head around the awful news. >> i just didn't wanna believe it. >> reporter: she texted her daughter taylor to call. >> and i remember all she said was, "she's gone." and then i said, "okay, i'm coming home." and she couldn't really understand me 'cause i was crying. and i said, "i'm coming home," and i hung up and then i just remember screaming the rest of the way home. >> reporter: when julie's work friend tiffany started hearing the shooting involved julie she didn't want to believe it either. she started frantically calling the hospitals hoping her friend had just been injured. >> there was still that shred, that shred of hope that, you know, this couldn't be happening, you know, this worst nightmare.

but they confirmed that she had died. >> reporter: julie, the only other person in the kitchen that april afternoon, was dead. but was there more to the story? 2 además de arthur esa cocina >> your undies are upstairs. >> that is correct. >> and the story raises doubts. >> this doesn't jive with what i heard in the interview room. >> when "dateline" continues. how can you see yourself in new glasses...

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>> reporter: art gonzales had just told the detective his self-defense story. but now he braced himself for something even harder. telling his family that julie was dead. during an interview break, art phoned his dad. >> dad, i said i need you and mom to get on a plane out here tonight. julie attacked me with a knife so i had to shoot her. i'm sorry, dad.

>> reporter: at her home in texas, art's sister's cell phone was blowing up with urgent messages from family members. she called her father back first. >> i said, dad, what is wrong? and he said julie attacked art with a knife and he shot her and she didn't make it. and i said, what? and at that point, i just -- i remember dropping the phone, falling to my knees, and just crying. >> reporter: after art broke the tragic news to his family, he called his boys, then ages 10 and 12. they knew something happened to their mom but no details. art decided not to reveal anything over the phone. >> hey, are you ok? we'll talk about it later, ok? um, just know, whatever happens, i love you with all my heart. >> reporter: during another break in the interview, detective nosal had his own tough call to make.

he had to tell julie's father that she was dead. >> reporter: it's terrible part of the job, huh? >> oh, horrible part of the job. >> he said, i'm sorry, to say that, she, she uh, i don't know remember exactly how he phrased her dying. and my first thought was that she might have suffered. i didn't want that. and he told me, i don't -- i don't think so. >> reporter: and after the detective broke the terrible news, he gently asked julie's dad a few questions. one concerned her drinking. >> she drank an occasional beer or an occasional glass of wine. >> reporter: so you wouldn't say she was a problem drinker. >> no, no, no. >> reporter: his response was immediate and it kinda took me back. >> i heard an hour and a half of art telling me a story about julie gonzales being an alcoholic. i go, okay. this is the first thing that doesn't jibe with what i just heard in the interview room. >> reporter: so now, nosal was starting to wonder if there were, perhaps, other contradictions or

inconsistencies in art's story. by nightfall, art was still in the chair when nosal began receiving reports from investigators at the house. one discovery in the master bedroom was big news to him. >> some ladies undergarments in there, as well as there were some mail in the master bedroom. and it had the name cara kast on it. >> reporter: and who was this cara kast? suddenly, there's another woman in the picture. >> reporter: and her undies are upstairs. >> that is correct. >> reporter: and you've got the husband in the chair who has just shot his wife four times. so now, the tone shifts a little bit here in the second pass at arthur gonzales, doesn't it? >> it -- it does. >> i just gotta -- gotta a question or two for you. um, i -- i guess in your bedroom, i guess in one of the -- the hampers, there were some female panties or undergarments in there. is that -- was that your wife's? or -- or who is it? >> um, it's a friend of mine that's been staying over every once in a while. >> ok. >> reporter: detective nosal, a

trained interrogator, knew that words mattered. and this wasn't the first time art had characterized cara as just a friend. >> i went to eat lunch at moe's with a friend. >> reporter: that unnamed friend art saw just before the shooting turned out to be cara. and earlier in their interview, art had mentioned cara kast to nosal once, in passing, as someone who'd know how to reach the boys. cara worked at the fbi alongside art and was almost 20 years his junior. >> i know i'm not the morality police, you know. like are you guys -- you guys hooking up? are you guys -- >> we're -- we're -- we're good friends. i mean -- >> are you guys having sex and stuff like that? >> yeah. >> ok. >> reporter: what's the importance of finding the lover's underwear? >> i think that hurt art gonzales's credibility in an interview room that i'm not hearing this. >> reporter: why hasn't he offered it up? >> i figure especially as a trained law enforcement officer and somebody working with the fbi, he would've probably have volunteered that at some point during the interview. and then of course when i started talking to him about it, i felt he was being evasive and

minimizing it. >> reporter: and nosal noticed that when he asked what julie knew about cara, art seemed to fumble around with his answer. >> did -- did she know about you two? >> um, i think she'd seen us out before. i don't think it was a secret. >> ok. i mean, but did she know you guys were in a relationship or anything like that? >> i -- i -- i never hid it. >> ok. she knows she stayed there at times? >> yeah, i'm sure. yeah, i mean, she stayed there a few times. i don't know if she knew or not. >> reporter: is this changing for you by the minute? >> it is. it obviously starts putting some chinks in arthur gonzales's story. >> reporter: so this is topic number one. >> it is. >> reporter: detective todd nosal had caught an unusual and difficult case to analyze. this wasn't a whodunnit, no question about that, so much as it was a whydunnit. only two people knew what went down, and one of them was dead. >> he says she comes at him with

a knife and that he reacted and shot her. >> reporter: shot her four times. >> shot her four times. >> reporter: the mother of his two children. >> the mother of his two children. >> reporter: in what used to be her home. and then you have to wonder, is this self-defense or not? what's going on here? so you guys have to figure out, is this story true? >> yes, sir. >> reporter: by the end of the first day, art gonzales was a free man. not under arrest but under a cloud. >> reporter: so he doesn't spend the night in your jail? >> he does not. but we were gonna continue with the investigation. 3 f2 cárcel. >> the pictures are of cara undressed. >> and takes one of his own. >> it's deeply creepy. >> it does have a very creepy feel to it. ♪

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>> reporter: to figure out what really happened in that kitchen, detective todd nosal realized he needed to dig deeper into the lives of art and julie gonzales. in that interview, art had painted a portrait of a woman with a drinking problem who was desperate to get back together with him. >> and then she -- she said, oh, well i thought we were trying to reconcile.

i said, no, julie, -- we're not. >> reporter: nosal and his fellow investigators now wanted to examine it from julie's point of view: for starters, how did she regard their failing marriage? >> reporter: terri, what do you think was happening? >> he was telling her she couldn't do anything right. >> reporter: terri smith, more than just a neighbor, told detectives she invited julie to live at her home at the beginning of the separation from art. she said julie had complained that art had belittled her constantly. terri also said julie characterized art as a control freak, and ultimately, she was glad to be out from under his thumb. >> she said, i'm just gonna be happy to be able to watch a tv program and not be told i'm silly for watching it. >> reporter: and before the shooting, terri's daughter noticed that julie, now living in her own place, was really coming into her own. >> she never thought that she could be that happy alone. but it turned out that being alone was, like, this amazing thing that she had forgotten how to do, i guess. >> reporter: on what would be the last day of her life, julie spent time with terri. >> about 10:30, she texts me, hey, i'm off today. you wanna

get together? >> reporter: terri invited julie over to her house for chinese take-out. >> reporter: was she talking about reconciliation -- >> no. >> reporter: of getting back together with art no matter what -- >> no. >> reporter: it took? >> no, she wasn't. >> reporter: tiffany clark, julie's pal from the bank, told investigators that she'd seen art treat julie in a demeaning way. and she said in the weeks before the shooting, julie was finally over-and- done with art. >> she didn't want anything to do with the relationship anymore. >> reporter: was she in a good place, did you think, tiffany? >> absolutely. yeah. >> reporter: she was ready to move on? >> yup. for sure. >> reporter: that all contradicted what art had told detective nosal that the trigger for julie's attack was his declaration that he didn't love her anymore and they'd never get back together. in fact, julie's friends and family said nothing about art's story made any sense. >> there's absolutely no doubt in my mind that she would never, ever be capable of, you know, coming at somebody with a knife.

>> i couldn't see it then, i still can't see it. it wasn't her nature. that's not who she was. >> when you start talking to the family and you start talking to other people, they made it clear that there was a different version of julie gonzales. >> reporter: so this is becoming a very complex issue. >> it was. >> reporter: so nosal then turned his attention to art. what was his state of mind before the shooting that day? by that point, the detective's investigative team had grown. >> i got a call that afternoon from our sheriff's office. >> reporter: stafford county prosecutors eric olsen and kristin bird say they were first intrigued by the way art seemed to downplay his relationship with that young fbi employee, cara kast. >> we wondered whether it had anything to do with what happened inside the house that day. so, we tried to build up the timeline of that relationship. >> reporter: so detectives headed to the fbi academy with a search warrant and found something intriguing. >> in, like, an inbox on cara kast's desk, i find i believe it's a nine page letter.

>> reporter: it was this rambling, romantic letter that art had written to cara four-months before julie's death. in it, art wrote: "cara, the special connection between us is undeniable. we are two pieces of a puzzle that fit perfectly. yin and yang, ricky and lucy, spongebob and squarepants. you complete me and i you. we belong together and i wish you could see that." >> reporter: none of us are psychologists, but what do you think is going on with a guy in his mid-40s, writing this kinda document? >> it was described to us by one of the witnesses and one of the individuals who knew mr. gonzales well, and -- and worked with him. that it seemed like it was an older man obsessed and in love with a younger woman. >> reporter: detectives pulled the records from art and cara's phones and started to learn more about art's behavior in the days and hours before he surrendered to deputies. two nights before julie's death, the couple slept together at his house. and late that night, art discovered something. >> he picks up cara's phone while she's sleeping and goes through it.

and then he sees that there are photos in her phone of her and a fbi agent that she had been seeing. >> reporter: another younger agent. a romantic rival for art. >> reporter: he's snooping in her phone. >> he's snooping in her phone. and the pictures are pictures of -- of cara undressed. >> reporter: this is graphic evidence, detective, that she's got another guy and he's very much in the picture. >> yeah, that is correct. >> reporter: in the picture on the phone and in her life. >> that is correct. >> reporter: and nosal says after art forwarded those nude selfies of cara to himself, he then took this strange photo of his own. >> she appears to be sleeping, and he appears to kinda be hovering over. >> reporter: so he wants some pictures. here's another picture for your collection, huh? >> you could on -- you could on -- >> reporter: it's pretty -- it's deeply creepy. >> you could only it -- it -- it does have a very creepy feel to it, yes sir. >> reporter: the investigators then talked to some of art's colleagues at the fbi, who saw him in the office the following morning. >> reporter: what was his demeanor at work? >> that thursday he was

described as being unkempt. disheveled. and i believe at one point we were told that he even said is it possible for her to love both him and me? and just far more emotional than his friends had ever seen him before. >> we end up hearing from art's officemate that there was a confrontation with cara over those pictures. >> reporter: to prosecutors, it all looked as though cara had dumped art for that younger man. based on that, they now believed that if anyone had reason to be angry and unhinged in the kitchen that day, it wasn't julie, it was art. >> he was completely obsessed with miss kast. and completely devastated when the relationship ended. >> reporter: so if art had hidden the truth about his girlfriend, and distorted facts about his wife. the investigators wondered what else he might be hiding about the shooting. >> announcer: coming up, the knife art says julie was holding when he shot her.

>> what makes more sense for an overhand kind of thrust? >> the old slasher movie, psycho style. >> but that's not how a deputy remembers seeing the knife in julie's hand. >> it was like this. >> leaving detectives to ask, was she ever holding it? when "dateline" continues. blind spot and forward collision monitoring... and lane departure warning. ♪ the all new jeep renegade take off...and take on anything. get an extra 15% off through saturday october 3rd. go to kohls.com to download your savings pass. plus, everyone gets $10 kohl's cash for every $50 spent. kohl's.

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investigation, todd nosal now believed art had been less than honest about the women in his life julie and cara. so the detective decided take another look at his interview with art from the day of the shooting. >> i've got some bad news. >> specifically the moment when he told the agent that his wife was dead. >> and his reaction was what? >> he started sobbing. he didn't have tears. >> reporter: that a red flag moment for you? >> no, it's not. at that point. being on a lot of death scenes in my career, you see all kinds of different forms of folks grieving. but looking back at it it's one of the red flags that go up. i put that in the negative boxes as i'm checking the list. >> reporter: initially, the detective told art he understood his need to defend himself. but now, he was looking at everything in a new light, including the level of deadly force.

a lot of people outside the world of firearms and law enforcement would wonder, can't you shoot her in the foot? if you feel you've actually gotta produce your weapon, fire a shot into the ceiling? something short of putting four rounds center mass torso. >> most use of force policies are to protect the officer's life or other human life, and to stop the aggressive action. but the glaring difference is, is that this wasn't an unknown suspect on the street who is approaching you, wielding a knife. this is somebody who he was sobbing in an interview room because it was the mother of his two children. so why was it necessary for four shots? >> reporter: as a lawman himself, nosal may have understood both sides of the issue. but to laymen, like julie's friends and family, it was a simple case of common sense when looking at the physical faceoff between a mother of two with a knife and a fit fbi man with a gun. >> i just thought, "coward." >> you don't need to shoot a woman four times to take her down. >> reporter: art's story was that he was trained to react instinctively, trained to pull the gun that was right there in

his holster, he said, when faced with a deadly threat i.e, the knife. >> this is the knife. can you show us? >> this is it right here. >> reporter: detective nosal brought it along for a demonstration. it's the all-business blade that julie had in her hand when the responding deputies arrived. but one of the officers noticed she was holding the knife in what he said was an unnatural three fingered grip. >> the bottom three fingers were grasping the handle of the knife. >> what does that suggest to you as what kind of a motion that would be? >> well, given the way that arthur gonzales describes the attack. he basically acts like he's defending from an overhead blow. so the only thing you can envision is a almost an awkward ah. >> reporter: what makes more sense in terms of a grip for an overhand kind of thrust? >> you wanna go with the probably the old. >> reporter: slasher movies. >> yeah, the old slasher movie. you know psycho style. >> reporter: but that's not the way the deputy recalls the blade in her hand? >> no, sir. it's it was like this. >> reporter: the detective had to wonder was the knife placed

there? and if art was lying about that, nothing in his self-defense, instinctive reach-for-the-gun story could be believed. so as he went about picking apart art's account of the day, the detective pulled video from the restaurant where he said he had lunch right before the shooting. these freeze frames notice art's right hip gave the detective his ah-ha moment. >> the red flag was flappin' in the wind as i as i'm goin' through the moe's video and i realize he's not wearing a holster or a gun. >> reporter: no gun on his hip. video-proof, the detective thought, of another big lie: if art wasn't wearing the holster out in public, at lunch, he almost certainly wouldn't have it on when he stopped at his own house a short time later. the detective believes the fbi agent strapped it on after the shooting just to make it look like self-defense to the arriving officers. >> it's a very good story to say, "i came in. i had a holster on my hip. when i was attacked i just

reacted. it was just from my training and experience that i was defending myself against a threat. >> reporter: so nosal and the prosecutors developed a theory as to how and why the shooting went down. they believed art was an emotional mess and ready to explode after he'd been dumped by his young girlfriend for a rival fbi man. >> i think the fuse was lit when he pulled up into the house. >> reporter: he doesn't expect to see his wife. >> right. >> reporter: and yet there she is at the house. what do you believe happens next? >> he sees her vehicle in the driveway. he would have the thought "wtf. what's she doin' here?" and then he goes -- he goes inside the home. >> reporter: carrying his bureau-issued glock in hand. then, in a rage and unprovoked, nosal believes, art shot julie in cold blood. you believe this wasn't self-defense at all? >> oh no. >> reporter: this was murder. >> our belief was it was murder. yes, sir. >> reporter: julie's dad had also become convinced his son-in-law was a heartless killer. >> he had promised to keep her out of harm's way, to do

whatever he needed to do to protect her. but he failed in that and he betrayed her and he betrayed us when he killed her. >> reporter: prosecutors believe the shooting was not premeditated, but it was intentional and certainly not self-defense. three-weeks after the shooting, art gonzales was indicted for second degree murder. the fbi man was now behind bars, waiting to stand trial. julie's people thought they knew what happened. so did art's. but we the people the criminal justice system would have a much harder time deciding. 3 f2 criminal tendría grandes >> julie liked to pick fights with art when she was drinking. she knew how to push his buttons. i've got to switch to sprint.

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>> reporter: fbi agent art gonzales was released on bond, suspended from his fbi job without pay. his sister arlene, julie's close friend, remembers the first time they talked about the shooting. >> i looked at him, he looked at me. i said, "i just need to know the truth." and i said, "you have one chance to tell me." i said, "did you shoot her in self defense?" and he started crying. he said, "yes, i did. i swear to you, i swear. she came at me, arlene.

there was nothing else i could do." and i believed him. and at that point, i chose to stand by my brother, because i knew. >> as an f.b.i. agent, we respond to the truth. >> reporter: retired agent doug merel stood by him as well. he's the man who first hired art at the fbi academy. >> do you think they had enough to go on, the commonwealth, to bring -- >> i was -- >> -- these charges? >> -- very, very surprised when an indictment was handed up. it's a clear case of self-defense. >> reporter: his former colleague and sister were by art's side as his trial began in march 2014. they all listened as prosecutors made their case that art gonzales was a liar and a murderer. >> he was trying, from the beginning, to paint a portrait of self-defense. and we knew a large part of that portrait was a lie. >> reporter: the prosecutors told jurors how on the day of the shooting, they believed the fbi agent was emotionally unstable.

driven by that breakup with his girlfriend. >> it was an obsessive, deeply romantic relationship. and that was the context for what happened in the house that day. >> reporter: they laid out in court their theory of a man fueled by rage. one who murdered his wife, then staged the scene to look like self defense. strapping on his holster and inventing the knife attack. >> we believe the knife was placed in julie's hand. >> reporter: as proof, olsen called experts who noted that gunshot residue was found on the handle of the knife. suggesting it was touched by the shooter himself. >> it's the only way that we could figure how the gunshot particles could get on the handle of the knife. >> reporter: and although art had a few cuts on his body. >> there's no blood in the blade of this knife. it supposedly cut through the shirt, and cut his arm three times. we don't believe that, that knife was used to cut him. >> reporter: and the prosecutors believed they had final, definitive proof that art's story was a lie. they played that 911 call art had placed after he had shot

julie four times in the chest. jurors could hear the operator instructing him to perform cpr on his wife. >> we're going to do this six hundred times until i can get somebody to take over, ok? >> all right i'm doing it. i'm doing it. >> we got cpr going again? >> yeah i'm gettin' -- >> you got it? ok ok keep doing it. >> the visual image that one gets listening to that is the one that i got the next day, is a bloody crime scene. >> reporter: so the prosecutor assumed that after art performed cpr, blood would be all over that white shirt he was wearing. except the evidence told a much different story. >> we take a look at the clothes. and he has no blood on his clothes. and he has no blood on his hands. >> reporter: but an arriving deputy who did perform cpr on julie came to court and testified to what happened when he began compressions. >> he describes that the blood starts oozing from the wounds in the chest. his hands are covered with blood. >> reporter: prosecutors told the jury all this could mean just on thing. art gonzales never performed cpr

on his wife. >> it's not just that he's not doin' cpr, he's faking doing cpr. >> reporter: the state said it was the foundation lie for the case. completely flying in the face of the fbi agent's story. >> his story was that i didn't want to shoot my wife, but i did it because i had to do it. there would be no reason not to do cpr if that was the case. but there'd also be no reason to fake doing cpr, if that was the case. >> reporter: when julie's friend taylor smith heard the evidence in court, she was astounded. >> why was there no blood if you're giving cpr? you just shot somebody in the chest four times and there's no blood? >> reporter: none of it made sense to tiffany either. >> so you believe the prosecution's case? >> absolutely. >> he shoots her in cold blood? >> yeah. >> and once she's on the ground, puts the knife in her hand to stage the scene. >> absolutely. i think that he walked in that house and probably had that gun in his hand for intimidation because that's, you know, that -- that was him. and i think that he probably intended to scare her at first.

but the rage brought him to, you know, even further. and he just decided to kill her. >> reporter: not at all the case, said the defense. >> the physical evidence supported, art's report of what happened. >> reporter: art's attorney mark gardner told the jury what happened on that april afternoon, and said it was the same story art had been telling since that first 911 call. >> and there was nothing except speculation to counteract that physical evidence. >> reporter: take that knife, for example. all of the talk about how julie was gripping it was based on a single witness, one of the first responders on the scene. >> we know that the, the officer saw her hand lying down, with the blade sticking up. but then the officer kicked it out of her hand. so we don't have a photograph of that. >> reporter: and experts testified that the gunshot residue on the knife's handle could have gotten there when it got kicked across the floor or -- >> it's consistent with being found on the knife, if the knife was in her hand at discharge. but the evidence also showed

that it absolutely is possible for her to have gripped the knife and not completely covered the handle. >> reporter: as for the confounding lack of blood or dna on the knife, a forensic expert testified that art's wounds were minor. >> she could not rule out the possibility that that knife inflicted those wounds without leaving any blood on the blade. >> reporter: in court, the attorney was determined to shift attention away from art and his relationship with that young fbi employee, and make sure the jury focused on julie. >> that's a risky road to go down for you, right? >> well, it is. on the other hand, it's absolutely essential to an understanding of what happened, for the jury to have a clear picture of what was goin' on in picture of what was going on in >> reporter: the defense presented evidence that, in the months before the shooting, julie had been seeing a psychiatrist for depression, taking medication. and while they concede julie wasn't drinking on the day of the shooting, she had recently been treated at an alcohol rehab center. art's dad says his side of the

family saw the problem and had been trying to get julie help for years. >> were you worried about it? >> yes, i was very worried about it. matter of fact, i talked to julie several times about her drinking and her behavior. >> but it didn't stop, did it? >> it didn't stop. >> and during their separation, a judge had given custody of the boys to art. >> she was sad, she was depressed. she was lost. she was tired. and, anyone who's gone through depression or alcoholism, a divorce, anything that emotional, you can just see it in their face. and it broke my heart. >> reporter: and arlene says that over the years, julie would confront art, sometimes aggressively. >> julie liked to pick fights with art when she was drinking. >> when you say that, what do you mean? loud, in your face kind of things? >> yeah, absolutely. she knew how to push his

buttons. loud, in your face kind of things. she liked to poke at art. >> reporter: but in the end the defense's case would really rise or fall based on the testimony of one man, art himself. no cameras were in court for his testimony, but he did sit down in front of ours. >> i had nothing to hide. >> announcer: when "dateline" continues. plus oxi boost and febreze for 3 big things in one gain fling. it's our best gain ever!

back to our story. an fbi agent has admitted killing his wife but says it was in self defense. there were only two people who knew what happened in the kitchen that day, and one of them was dead.

here again is dennis murphy. >> reporter: not every jury in a murder case gets to hear from the accused. this one did. >> why'd you elect to take the stand? >> i had and still have nothing to hide. ev-- everything that happened is -- is what i testified to. i -- i believe that they needed to hear it from me. and art gonzales wanted us to hear his story too. >> start the clock there. you're comin' in the driveway, art. what do you see? >> as i drive down the driveway, i see julie's car parked-- and, you know, i'm kind of surprised. and i say, "well, you know-- if you're-- if you're gonna come here, you need to let me know." something like that. and she's, "i know. i shoulda called you." >> and i say, "hey, do we need to talk?" and she says, "yeah, let's talk." i follow her into the kitchen. she walks between the island and -- the counter where the sink is. >> yeah. >> i stop just -- just before

the range. so -- i don't know, maybe five feet away from each other. we have a brief conversation. >> what's the conversation, art? >> and-- and, you know, dennis, i-- i-- i-- i can't remember verbatim. it was about speeding up the divorce. there was conversations about-- you know, me not loving her anymore. and, you know, the final thing i remember saying, i turned away, and she asked, "do the boys know her?" and i looked up at her and i say, "yes." "do the boys know her?" art says julie was referring to his girlfriend cara. it was a detail he mentioned on the stand but one he never told detectives. still, as art described what happened next, his story was largely consistent. >> and at that point i turn back to the counter. out of the corner of my eye i catch her coming at me. i see her with her arm raised. i put up my arm-- to block it. >> this kind of a motion? >> right. i pushed her away and, as i pushed her away, i saw the knife in her hand. >> i pushed her away, far enough probably-- where she-- she

stepped back about three steps. and i remember vividly her first step was -- coming at me again. she raises her arm. her right foot stepped right in front of our dishwasher. and at that point it happened. i drew my weapon and i fired. >> four times. >> i didn't know how many times. but four times, yes. >> i need someone, my wife just attacked me with a knife and i had to shoot her. >> and julie's down on the floor. >> yes. >> is she making any noises? is there's anything? is she moving? >> she's-- she's not moving. and i'm having the discussion with the 911 operator. >> what's going on in your mind at that moment? it was surreal. i had -- i mean, i'm thinking about julie, hoping that they'd be able to revive her. i was thinking about the boys. i was just praying that she'd be okay. >> you didn't know whether she was dead or alive, as you left

the house? >> no, i didn't. >> and then you're in the back of a car. >> right. >> the fbi agent being detained. >> right. >> you knew you were in trouble. if you could have stepped back and looked at the situation. >> well, i don't know if -- i understand what they were doing. ever since the day i walked out that door, i knew that what happened or what i was forced to do was justified. >> anybody lookin' over my shoulder at this point is gonna say, "couldn't he have de-escalated that moment? couldn't he have turned and backed out of the kitchen? if he drew his weapon couldn't he have fired into the ceiling or maybe shot her in the foot? could there have been some way without four shots, center mass?" >> dennis, i've thought about this-- every day of my life since then. i -- i had no choice. i didn't have time to consider any other alternative.

she came at me so aggressively. >> could you have done anything else? >> i couldn't have. there was nothing else i could have done. nothing. and in the years of my training and -- we're never taught to retreat. we're never taught to back down. >> reporter: in court art told the jury about his multiple stints of firearms training in his 18 year career. >> in fbi speak, law enforcement speak, the assailant is called "the threat." >> yes. >> and the person being attacked has to what? eliminate the threat? >> right. they-- they engaged the threat until there was no longer a threat. they're taught to shoot center mass, which is-- which is the biggest part of-- of the body, of the target. that's the way that we're trained to address a threat. >> reporter: in fact, he'd been re-certified in that training on the range at the academy just one month before he shot julie. >> and yet julie wasn't a target on the range. she wasn't a home invader threatening you with a gun. she was julie. she was your wife of almost 20 years, mother of your children.

it's not the standard threat. >> no. but i do believe that the julie that was in -- in that kitchen that day wasn't the same julie that -- that i had known for the previous 20 years. you know, there was just -- it was something different about her. ♪ >> reporter: all of that art says is the truth. he believes the lies in the case are all those prosecution theories of what he did - beginning with his relationship with his girlfriend cara kast. he says he wasn't distraught or angry with her, and that by that last night they slept together, he already thought a breakup was coming. >> why are you going through her phone that night? you're snooping, right? >> yeah, well i had some sus-- suspected something. and she was lying down. and-- i looked at it and-- and i found what i found. >> what's the word? is it anger? >> no. it was disappointment. i-- i wasn't angry, because i

had suspected it. and with the person that-- that i had seen, i had known that there was some history. so my disappointment was in the fact that she was-- >> you knew who the guy was in the picture? >> correct. >> another agent? >> right. so my disappointment came from the fact that she wasn't honest with me. >> reporter: and he says that when they had lunch on that day of the shooting, it was a calm and civil conversation to talk about that breakup. >> so that was what lunch was about? >> yeah, pretty much. >> well, are you volcanically angry with her? >> no. >> reporter: as for his holster, art says it's true that he wasn't wearing it at the restaurant. but he says he holstered up right after lunch-- stopping by the fbi academy and then heading home. >> so let's tell the story of your arrival at the house and the kitchen from the prosecution point of view. they're saying, "follow the holster. it doesn't make sense, jurors, that he would have his holster on when he's going home. he sees the car. what is goin' on? and brandishes the gun. he's got it out and with him as he goes through the front door." >> uh-huh.

>> and there's not this dialogue about-- you know, we need to speed up the-- the divorce. >> right. >> does any of that happen so far? >> no. >> this is the prosecution's story of how this goes down. >> right-- and-- and-- however they developed that theory, i have no idea. when i walked in the house, my weapon was in my holster on my hip. i'm clueless as to how they came up with that, and i was surprised whenever they alleged it. >> reporter: but what about that cornerstone of the prosecution's case - that after the shooting, art faked cpr? >> keep pumping, fast and hard. >> i'm doin' it. >> i know you are, keep on goin'. >> did you do c.p.r.? >> did you do cpr? >> i did. >> reporter: art says there wasn't much blood on his hands and shirt because he'd had little cpr training and what he did know he did badly. >> it was surreal to me when i was giving c.p.r. i-- i was doing w-- everything that she said. and-- and i don't know if i was afraid to hurt julie. i do remember every time i gave a rescue breath that-- that it-- that it was wrong. you know-- you know, her lips were cold. and-- and it-- it just wasn't

the same julie. >> you did do it? >> i did do it. what-- the-- i-- i-- [ noise ] i-- i-- i don't know what else to say. i did c.p.r. the-- the-- the best that i could. and-- i-- i-- i-- i wish there was a camera in that kitchen. you-- you know, so everything that-- that had-- that happened could have just been, you know, put inside the d.v.d. player. and they press play. >> would that show you pulling your weapon, killing julie in cold blood, and then placing a kitchen knife in her hand? >> that would show everything as i described it. that would show me w-- with my-- with me facing the counter, julie comin' at me with a knife in her-- or with something in her right hand. me blocking it, pushing her away. her taking a few steps back, coming at me again, and me drawing my weapon. >> reporter: the jurors had heard two very different stories of what happened in that kitchen. which one would they believe? 3 2 que había ocurrido en esa cocina

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>> reporter: charged with murdering his wife julie, fbi agent art gonzales had just told his story of self-defense to judge and jury. the prosecution's calling you a liar, manipulator? was that painful, the personal attack? >> yes, it was. when they asked me difficult questions, i told the truth. >> reporter: and arlene, who says she and julie were so close, hoped the jury would see that art was also telling the truth when he described that confrontation in the kitchen. what do you think was in julie's head. >> you know, i think julie lost it.

i think her mind finally snapped when art said there was no possible reconciliation between them. she was already depressed. she was already sad. and for julie to think that she had just lost her entire family and that another woman was possibly going to come into their lives, she snapped. i would bet my life on it. >> reporter: after an emotional two weeks, the jury retired to deliberate. now art and his family awaited his fate a conviction could mean 40 years in prison separation from his two young boys. >> if he was found guilty, there was no goodbyes, no nuthin'. they would just take him. and that the hardest part for me with that was his boys. his boys wanted to sit there and they wanted to stand by their dad every single day. >> reporter: yeah. >> and i mean that's not a place for them. but, you know, at the end, when

we were waiting for jury, yeah, i chose to bring them and sit with their dad, for the last few moments if they were gonna come back guilty. >> reporter: they could come back any minute and you could be given the jumpsuit and put in the van and be gone. >> right. >> reporter: you don't know. >> i was fully aware of that and you know, that wait was excruciating. >> reporter: julie's family and friends focused on their hopes praying for a conviction. >> it's a hard job for a jury. i remember watching people cry when the prosecutor was up. >> reporter: for prosecutor kristin bird, it was only the second homicide case of her young career. >> as a prosecutor, i think the most important thing that you can do is give a voice to their loved one in that courtroom and tell the story, tell the true story and we did that. >> reporter: one entire day passed without a verdict. and they're out and they stay out. >> uh-huh. >> reporter: what's going through your stomach and your brain? >> we knew that there was a lot of evidence so we expected that it would take quite a bit of time. i don't think any of us expected

as long as it took. >> reporter: on day two the hours ticked away. what did you think was going on? >> i had to pull myself away from trying to speculate. the jury kept deliberating into a third day. then it came. a note. the jury was deadlocked. the judge declared a mistrial. >> we were relieved, but disappointed. >> reporter: julie's friend tiffany clark so convinced of art's guilt could not believe it. they couldn't come to a solution. they were hung, mistrial. >> for me, it's, like, any logical person could put two and two together. speaking with people, you know, that briefly heard the story, every conversation that i had with them was, "how does an fbi agent shoot his wife four times and there's a mistrial? how is there any question?"

>> reporter: detective todd nosal whose team had kept investigating even during the trial knew more work lay ahead. >> it's hard to stomach but, you know, it's one of those things is it's a tie and you get to fight another day. >> there was no question about what we were gonna do. we were going to try him again. there was not -- >> reporter: no question, you were gonna go -- >> there was not -- >> reporter: for it again. >> a moment's hesitation we were gonna try art gonzales again. for art, prosecutor olsen's decision was a crushing blow. >> i was hoping that mr. olsen would have seen that, you know, maybe there was some errors in his ways of thinking and he would dismiss it at that point. >> reporter: he gets up within nanoseconds and says, "we're going for this trial again." >> right, right. >> reporter: after that trial, art was fired from his job at the fbi. a number of agents had testified against him. but doug merel, the former agent who hired him, continued to stand by art. >> i saw the arguments. and my loyalty was not to art, but to the truth. and i believe what art had said was the truth. >> reporter: self-defense. it's an awful incident. but we're done here.

>> exactly right. >> reporter: the judge later polled the jury and learned they had been deadlocked 10 to 2 with 10 jurors in favor of an acquittal. two votes short of getting the verdict you wanted to hear, "not guilty." >> that's the official vote. what i had learned is the vote that the jury had taken as they walked out of the jury room was 11 to 1. >> reporter: it was even closer than the official tally? >> right. >> reporter: for the prosecutors, that near-acquittal meant they had an uphill battle and needed a new strategy for round two. >> after the post mortem, so to speak, on the jury trial we realized that if we could better explain some of the forensic evidence that we had. >> reporter: more science? >> more science. then we would be in a little bit better shape. >> reporter: so they turned to a new star witness in fact a world-renowned one. and she said that science told her the real story of what happened between art and julie gonzales. 3 f2

que había ocurrido entre art y >> julie gonzalez was shot on the floor. >> when "dateline" continues. ty. get up to $400 when you switch to verizon and trade up to the iphone 6s. and now you can upgrade to a new iphone every year without the wait. so you'll always have the best iphone on the best network. new dannon oikos triple zero is my go to protein snack. protein from yogurt? yeah, this greek nonfat yogurt packs 15 grams of protein punch. but what else? it has 0 added sugar, 0 artificial sweeteners and 0 fat. dannon oikos triple zero. ♪ dannon

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>> reporter: stafford county courthouse in virginia. a bleak winter's day in january 2015 as parties arrived for the second murder trial of arthur gonzales. art was free on bond so he could use the front door of the courthouse to arrive in the morning and leave at night. but that also meant he'd run into the people from julie's side. >> people that used to sit together as family at thanksgiving are now on very opposite sides here. >> yes, it was a true ordeal. >> reporter: it all made for an uncomfortable scene when julie's friend and neighbor terry smith would run into art's side in court. >> how did it feel to be going into a courtroom in a murder

trial? >> i thought i would be all right, but i was not. yeah, i was very intimidated and -- >> there he is right in front of you. >> yeah, i had a hard time looking over there. >> reporter: art's sister helped him get past all those angry glares. >> i stood by my brother's side, literally. i would not let him walk in or out of that courtroom without me by his side. i guess i felt like his protector. >> reporter: art and his defense attorney were optimistic after the last deadlocked jury split 10-2 in their favor. >> we were both encouraged that we had come so close. and yet the other side of that coin is, "oh my god, we came that close to an acquittal and now we have to go through this all over again. >> i don't know what i'm expecting out of this next court. but hopefully -- they'll have new information that they can present in that courtroom to help convince those people there is no reasonable doubt. >> reporter: in the months between trials,prosecutors eric olsen and kristen bird believed they found just that.

a new witness with new forensic evidence to bolster their case. her name is dr. marcella fierro, the former chief medical examiner for the commonwealth of virginia. but if you've ever read one of these hugely popular crime novels, you'd know her by another name, kay scarpetta. >> kay scarpetta in the patricia cornwell novels was modeled after dr. fierro. it's my understanding the author actually worked with dr. fierro. >> impeccable résume. >> absolutely. >> reporter: dr. fierro came to court with her report, and it was a bombshell. art gonzales had always maintained that he had shot julie four times while she stood facing him in the kitchen, coming at him with that knife. examining the photos from the scene and the autopsy photos of julie, dr. fierro noticed something. in csi language it's called a shored bullet. >> a shored bullet is a bullet that as it exit is met by resistance by something firm and hard. >> reporter: dr. fierro says she

clearly saw a wound on julie's back caused by a shored bullet. >> and in this case, the bullet couldn't even go any further, so it had to be a hard surface. >> reporter: given the possibilities at the crime scene, to her that could mean only one thing. >> she was down when she got that shot. >> she came to the remarkable conclusion, and the inescapable conclusion, that julie gonzales was shot on the floor. >> she was not standing up. >> reporter: the prosecutors saw a game-changer. >> what it means is that art gonzales is not telling the truth when he says that julie gonzales, all four shots she was still coming at him with the knife. she was on the floor for at least one of those shots. >> if you believe dr. fierro, this is clearly a murder. >> we believed at all times -- >> her science -- >> we -- >> -- her narration of this -- >> we believed at all times-- >> -- describes a murder. >> -- that it was a murder. and dr. fierro's opinion and testimony certainly confirmed that. >> if the jury believes her, you're done? >> right. she's saying, "she's on her back. he's above her"? >> right, yeah, she creates

that -- >> "the threat is over"? >> i think that's what she was trying to infer. and you know, when that came out, it was heartbreaking. i was dumbfounded. i had -- i had no idea where that foundation was coming from, or -- or where that line of thinking was comin' from. it never happened. >> reporter: art's sister says that given the trajectory of the bullets and the tight space where art and julie were in the kitchen, fierro's theory just won't work. >> i never, for once, believed that. i mean no offense to dr. fierro. i'm not scientific at all. but there was no possible way common sense would, if you've seen the kitchen, and you've seen the positions, my brother woulda had to been standing in his sink, literally, to do what she said was done. and i mean it was absolutely absurd. >> reporter: and art's defense attorney believed he had the evidence to refute fierro's findings. >> the doctor who performed the autopsy, did not agree with

dr. fierro's conclusion. >> it was stressful to have an opinion that went against the grain. >> reporter: dr. jennifer bowers is the medical examiner who performed the autopsy. she said dr. fierro's testimony surprised her. >> if that's her position and she's comfortable with it, it's fine. but i happen to disagree. >> reporter: the m.e., a prosecution witness, ended up helping the defense. she told jurors the shored bullet wound could be caused by any number of things, not just the floor. >> it can be a brassiere or something hard and flat up against the skin such as a wall. until you're able to rule all of these possibilities out you have to consider them all. >> and even though she's a prosecution witness, in effect, she is at odds with the prosecution on this pivotal issue. >> yes. >> reporter: then the defense called its own expert, who told the jury there was no way the floor could have caused that shored exit wound. >> in this case, i believe it was her brassiere. >> reporter: dr. donald jason said definitively that the bullet was stopped by the bra julie was wearing, not the floor.

>> the bra was, made of fairly hefty material. was elastic. it caught the bullet like a catcher's mitt would. >> reporter: as art's defense team fought back, art himself may have been wearing down. he testified again in his own defense, although his own lawyer said he may not have gotten better with time. >> he had lost weight, he was not as strong. every day of his life, he -- he had this hanging over him and the uncertainty of it. and i think that took a toll on him and -- and affected -- how he testified. >> reporter: and during cross examination, the prosecution hammered at that extra detail he first gave on the stand and later told us. >> she asked, "do the boys know her?" and i looked up at her and i say, "yes." >> reporter: that led the prosecution to another theory in this whydunnit. a possible motive for art wanting his wife gone. they speculated that julie, armed with information about the other woman, may have threatened to use it against art in a custody battle.

>> for a man that was -- was meticulous about making sure that he got custody of these boys, the potential for danger was very, very real, that she had some ammunition for custody now. >> after eight tense days of trial, julie's dad was even more convinced. >> the second time made me a stronger believer that he did it on purpose, that he murdered her. >> reporter: would the jurors agree? the decision was now in their hands. >> announcer: coming up. art gonzalez waits to hear his fate. >> god saves his toughest battle for his mightiest warriors. >> announcer: but this battle was far from over.

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>> reporter: when the jury is out deliberating your fate, for the second time there's not much a defendant can do but pace and be nervous again. >> it was difficult. you know, i would say my prayers. and just finding ways to pass the time. it was excruciating. >> and every time the door opened, we'd jump. every time. we would think, oh, the jury is back. >> reporter: but you also knew that you might not see art again. >> right. we tried not to talk about that. we tried to stay positive. we needed to remain strong, not only for ourselves, but more for his boys and for art. >> reporter: art said his sons, 11 and 14 years old when the second jury was deliberating, kept him going. >> both of them said, hey, dad, we read this and we thought

about you. god saves his toughest battles for his mightiest warriors. and those two boys, for everything that they'd been through, have been one of my greatest sources of strength. >> reporter: the two trials had been no less hard on julie's dad, rey, such a long way from his home in new mexico. he sat in the stafford county courthouse and waited for the conviction he hoped was coming. >> it's kinda like ping pong. you -- you get your hopes up that it's gonna be resolved. and -- and you hope the resolution is favorable. you hope for justice to be served. >> reporter: but then, after only a few hours of deliberations, julie's dad, and everyone else, was hearing, once again, that the jury was struggling. >> reporter: did you take a straw vote? just to see where you stood? >> yeah, we did. >> reporter: this man knew exactly what was going on behind

closed doors. juror paul brastrom recalled for us the debate as they went around the table, laying out their choices: guilty of 2nd degree murder, guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter or not guilty at all. and one thing was clear right away, they were sharply divided. >> so, we had some work to do, yeah. >> reporter: to this juror, the critical evidence wasn't the scientific dispute whether julie was standing up or lying on the floor when she was shot, but another issue: had art, in fact, really tried to do cpr to save julie's life? he didn't think so. >> if that part wasn't factual. that i could really believe that. what else couldn't i believe? >> reporter: he thought art was capable of staging the whole scene. >> he's an fbi agent. he's probably had cases like this. so, you can't just discount his abilities. and that's what i told other jurors. >> reporter: but not everyone agreed. some made the case for reasonable doubt. not guilty. after a few more hours of going back and forth, they sent a note

to the judge. they'd hit a brick wall. the lawyers could only guess the cause of the impasse. >> one of my concerns, was that there was a debate within the jury between second- degree murder and manslaughter. we didn't know what the debate was. we had already gone through one mistrial. and we didn't want another one. >> reporter: so what to do? the judge convened a closed room conference with defense and prosecution. hoping to break the logjam in the jury room, the prosecutors agreed to have the judge dismiss the murder charge. that meant art was, essentially, acquitted of murder, and the jury was left to deliberate only on the manslaughter charge. >> reporter: did you have to hold your nose to come to that conclusion? >> it was not taken lightly. it was a very, very difficult decision. because if i was wrong about that assessment, then if it ended up still being hung, we couldn't try him again on a second-degree murder. >> reporter: ironically, it didn't matter to the jury. the prosecutors, as it turns out, did guess wrong. they didn't know the jurors, on

their own, had already rejected the murder charge but were still divided on manslaughter. some refused to convict art of anything. but they all kept talking. and then. >> we went around the room, in -- in a very, you know, cordial way. and just said, hey, we're -- we can't come up with a decision. we wrote another note to the -- to the judge. and said, we're -- we're stuck. >> reporter: another hung jury. >> reporter: your second mistrial here. >> second mistrial. >> reporter: years of work at this point. >> yeah, it'd -- it'd been a long haul. >> reporter: how'd you handle that? >> it was devastating. >> reporter: but the prosecutors, with their new star medical witness, felt they were headed in the right direction. last trial, it was 10 to 2 for acquittal. this time, a complete 180. 10 of the 12 jurors voted guilty. >> we put on a very compelling case. and the evidence was there. >> reporter: but for art, an even split of 24 jurors, over the course of two trials, meant an abundance of reasonable doubt. >> i was cautiously optimistic

that -- that they would just dismiss the entire case and -- and not go for -- for a third trial. >> i come across sometimes as the cheerleader of the group or the -- the football coach. like, yelling people to you know, we're still in this. >> reporter: the prosecutors were certainly on board. without any hesitation, they said they were going forward again. >> reporter: but trial number three would be different. there'd be no hung jury. that's because there'd be no jury at all. the defense and prosecution agreed to what's called a bench trial. the judge hearing the evidence the same one from the previous two trials would decide for herself whether art gonzales was guilty or not. >> third trial's gonna be different. >> reporter: it was gonna be directed to the judge, there'd be no jury. >> and -- and it's gonna be resolved. >> reporter: and there has to be a result. >> that's right. >> announcer: coming up. there would be a result. but would there be a resolution? >> when he started speaking, you know, it was -- it was a roller coaster ride. >> when "dateline" continues.

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>> reporter: july 27th of this year, two juries had hung in the previous murder trials of arthur gonzales in the shooting of his wife, julie. now the decision on the fbi agent's fate would be up to

judge sarah deneke, the same judge in the earlier trials. and this time she would permit cameras in her courtroom to record portions of the trial. >> all right, mr. olsen. >> reporter: the second-degree murder charge had been dropped in the prosecution's 11th-hour gamble the last time around. now, it would only be a matter of manslaughter. still, art faced a potential ten-year prison sentence. tiffany sat in court and prayed for a conviction. you're not going to have a hung jury. this is going to be -- >> and yeah, you're going to -- >> reporter: -- a decision. >> -- have a decision. it's going to be done and over with. but is it going to be the decision that we've wanted for these last 2 1/2 years? >> reporter: the crucial questions at trial, three remained the same. did julie attack art with that knife or had he placed it in her hand? was julie an unhinged alcoholic or was art enraged over his breakup with his girlfriend? tiffany took the witness stand one more time to say that julie was nothing but a gentle soul. >> did she ever, in your experience with the two of them, get aggressive with mr. gonzales? >> not at all. >> in your experience with

mrs. gonzales in the time that you knew her, did she ever get aggressive with anybody in your presence? >> never. >> thank you. no further questions. >> reporter: as they had in the last trial, those three medical experts each came to court to answer that other key question -- was julie standing up when she was shot or was she on the floor? but the prosecution's case really hinged on how the judge viewed art gonzales. >> what i hope to show is that he simply can't be believed when he's the only one saying that julie gonzales came at him with a knife. >> reporter: again, prosecutors argued he lied about performing cpr, lied about his girlfriend, cara kast, and lied about when he holstered up that day. and they added still another layer of doubt about art, calling some of his former fbi colleagues from his days out west to testify against him. >> are you aware of whether or not he has a reputation for truthfulness in the community out there? >> yes, ma'am, i am. >> and do you know whether it is good or bad? >> it's bad.

>> reporter: fbi agent janet johnson also recalled a conversation she says she had with art about his plan to move to virginia, one prosecutors believed further showed him as a controlling, manipulative husband. >> he told me that he was going to lure julie out here. he said, "i'm going to buy her a good house. she has no job, she has no money, she has no place to go." he told me that his plan was to file for divorce, and that the custody laws here were more favorable. >> reporter: and prosecutor olsen had another tidbit to chip away at art's character. this photograph, one art had taken for his attorney to demonstrate julie's position in the kitchen that day. >> have you seen this picture before? >> we showed that picture to one of art gonzales' good friends who knew his son, christopher, and he identified without question that that was christopher. >> reporter: to prosecutors it meant art had used his son to help illustrate the shooting

scene. when julie's dad heard about it he was so furious he had to leave the courtroom. >> i was so upset that i wanted to jump over that rail and punish him. because he's a narcissist that will use anyone, manipulate anyone, including his own children, to get what he wants. >> reporter: art admits his son did stand in for a moment in the photo. but he says he was appalled that the prosecution would try and use his own children against him. >> if i had thought it would have been harmful in any way to anyone, i would have never have done it. >> reporter: in his closing statement to the judge, the prosecutor said that she should believe nothing gonzales said in court. >> art gonzales is dishonest. he is just a liar. and it's so frustrating for him to wrap himself in the cloak of the fbi that so many of us have such respect for and to just be such the liar he is. >> reporter: art's attorney appealed to the judge's assessment of the law and the evidence. >> judge, i maintain that

there's no real evidence to contradict art's claim about what happened in that kitchen. if it does not contradict him then he's not guilty. >> reporter: with closings complete, the judge said she would take an hour-long break to prepare her decision. those on both sides of the gonzales case now faced a very tense lunch hour. where did you go for lunch that day and what were you thinking? >> i didn't. i stayed at the courtroom. the first thought that i thought was, you know, "832 days. 832 days comes down to one hour." you know, is it going to be a situation where we, you know, can look up and say, "we got him, jules"? >> reporter: what did you do during that hour? >> what i did every hour since this happened, spend as much time with the boys as i possibly could. >> reporter: then it was back to court. all rise. remember the moment? >> i remember. >> reporter: there's judge deneke sitting on the bench. >> oh, i'll tell you, i don't think i've ever been more scared in my life. >> reporter: what followed was

an extraordinary scene. the judge would deliver her verdict in the case, but only after she ticked through the evidence, what she believed, and what she didn't. >> when she started speaking, you know, it was a rollercoaster ride. >> i don't think i have to tell anybody here that this is a difficult case. >> reporter: first, that knife art said julie used to attack him. prosecutors argued its position in her hand when she fell meant art had staged the scene. >> there's something unnatural about the position of that knife in that hand. but that's the best that i can say about it. there's something unnatural about it. >> reporter: a point for the prosecution. but that wasn't all she had to say about that knife. >> the knife when viewed in person is a scary looking knife. there is no question that if this knife was in her hand as she came at mr. gonzalez that that knife constitutes a deadly weapon. >> reporter: a score for the defense. but what about that question that had loomed over so much of

the case? did he or did he not perform cpr to try and save julie? >> i find that very doubtful given the evidence that i've heard here. i can't conclude that he did certainly perform cpr. it looks most likely that he didn't. >> reporter: with that the prosecution might have sensed victory. but the judge had other surprises. >> we have to address the issue of cara kast. >> reporter: the prosecution had presented hours and hours of testimony about cara kast, the "other woman" in art's life. >> the commonwealth's presented a theory that upset over that relationship may have contributed, but i don't find evidence to support that. >> reporter: the judge basically threw it all out the window. still, she wasn't revealing her verdict just yet. she had another shocker. evaluating the work of those three medical experts and that question of whether the floor or julie's bra had stopped that bullet, the judge made her call. >> i'm not sure we'll ever know exactly what happened. but i do find that under all of

the evidence that i've heard, that the most likely explanation for that shored exit wound is the floor. >> reporter: the floor. that alone could make the difference between an acquittal and a conviction. >> i put my life in the hands of god at that point and just waited. >> i was holding hands with friends and family, and i hear, "well, i agree with the commonwealth on this. the evidence proves this." >> reporter: but on the other hand -- >> "but on the other hand, this happened." so you know, we're squeezing hands going, you know, "she's about to say it." >> reporter: after 33 minutes of explanation, the judge was about to deliver her verdict. >> i have considered all of the evidence in this case. >> announcer: coming up. >> i felt positive it would be our way. >> they had already lost their mom and i couldn't imagine them losing their father. >> finally, justice, but for

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>> the only thing that i'm 100% sure of is that julie gonzales should not be dead. >> reporter: her evenhanded analysis completed, judge deneke had finally gotten down to the nitty and the gritty. >> after one statement i said, "okay. i'm okay." after another statement, i'm like, "oh, no, i'm in trouble." >> i felt positive that it would be our way. >> i was hoping for a conviction.

>> we will proceed to the decision. >> reporter: have you ever had a more dramatic moment in court? >> no. >> it is the conclusion of the court that the commonwealth has proven beyond a reasonable doubt the crime of manslaughter. >> reporter: art gulped and blinked. was it over? had he lost? >> she said that the prosecution had proved manslaughter, i mean, my heart just sank. >> reporter: but the judge wasn't done talking. >> but it is also the opinion of the court that the defendant has met the burden of raising a reasonable doubt as to whether this offense occurred in self-defense. >> reporter: meaning she found the defense had raised reasonable doubt, and that trumped everything else. >> i have no choice under those circumstances but to find the defendant not guilty of the crime of manslaughter, and this court is adjourned. >> reporter: three trials, 2 1/2 years, and it was finally over. >> i looked to god, and i said, "thank you." >> reporter: an emotional

art gonzales was whisked out a side door to freedom. on art's side of the aisle, there were hugs. >> you know, i had called christopher and i told him that, you know, "daddy's coming home tonight." >> and to hear my brother tell them, "daddy's coming home," are the most beautiful words i've heard in such a long time. that god gave art back to his boys. that they had already lost their mom, and i couldn't even imagine them losing their father. >> reporter: on the prosecution side, tears of disappointment. >> i think as a young prosecutor, you try to figure out how you deal with that, how you look at the victim's family and essentially say, "i'm sorry. we tried as hard as we could." >> reporter: todd nosal, the detective who lived this case since the very first day in april 2013, tried to console a distraught prosecutor kristin bird. he felt her pain. and his own. >> respectfully disagree with the judge's decision. >> reporter: so it's got to be a tough day for you? >> tough day.

horrible. >> reporter: there are going to be a lot of people who think he got away with murder here. >> i think he got away with murder. >> reporter: are you going to be okay with that kind of innuendo and whisper following you around, art? >> you know, i have no choice, dennis. but what i've learned over the past two years is the people who know me know that all the allegations that have been made against me aren't true, and that's where i place my faith and my hope. >> reporter: what's the road ahead for you, art? what do you see? >> whatever god puts in front of me, i'll accept. >> reporter: you need a job. >> i need a job. >> reporter: and he says he still hopes to have a career in law enforcement. it was ironic that art served 18 years in the bureau, but never fired his gun at anyone until the day he killed his wife. >> i pity him because he has to live with what he did. i feel sorry for him, i feel sorry for my grandchildren. >> reporter: rey serna, a tragic

figure as he left the courtroom, not only lost his daughter but now is missing out on her boys. do you see them being part of your life going forward? >> we're hoping that that'll happen. but only time will tell. >> reporter: do you have remorse that you can share with julie's family? >> absolutely. you know, from the bottom of my heart, i just want to say that i'm sorry that if there was something that i could have done differently i would have done it. they lost a daughter. and the boys lost their mother. but the boys won't ever forget their mother. i won't ever let them. >> reporter: in honor of julie, who would have turned 45 today, her birthday, tiffany clark gave her newborn son a meaningful middle name -- julian. >> when i'm looking at my children, you know, she'll never get that chance again to hug her boys, to tell them how much she loves them. >> reporter: rey, when do you miss julie the most? >> i miss her all the time.

we get up in the morning and we're doing things, and it hits me that she's gone. birthdays, christmas, thanksgiving. she's gone. 3 f2 de gracias, ella se fue. losing her son in the deadly

oregon shootings. tonight - the a that mother's sorrow over losing her son in the deadly oregon shootings. more vigils and more tears as the community and country prepares for the next phase of this tragedy. good evening. thanks for being with us on this friday. >> families prepare to bury their loved ones this weekend as others keep bedside