at first, his death looked like suicide. then police looked again. >> the position of the body and the position of the gun, the powder burn locations, and they said huh-uh. this is not suicide. this is murder. >> the prime suspect, his longtime girlfriend. her motive, jealousy, the police said. there was another woman carrying his child. when did you learn that krystyna was actually pregnant?

>> that was the sunday right before roger's death. >> as her mother faces a trial for murder, a daughter faces a trial of her own. >> i can't imagine doing anything else other than working to exonerate her. >> was it suicide, or was it murder? >> is your mother a murderer? in this hour, "love and death." i lost everything i had. they've taken it. i haven't lost it. they took it. >> beverly monroe wants her life back. for more than ten years, she's been caught up in a web of mystery. a southern gothic melodrama filled with passion, betrayal, and a sudden violent death. the story began back in 1979, when this cultivated, well-mannered daughter of the south, working as a patent specialist for philip morris, met an intriguing stranger at an office christmas party. >> you could tell he was european, and he came up and sort of gave this little bow and

introduced himself. >> with his exotic accent and continental flair, roger de la burde had an easy charm. >> this enormous that's being served is almost a spiritual experience. >> he was very different. >> what was it about roger that attracted you? >> oh, gosh, his intelligence. the sense of awareness. the kind of knowledge that he had. >> he was worldly and cultured, a wealthy art collector, a self-described polish count, roger told beverly he was descended from napoleon and had escaped the communists in eastern europe, fleeing to america with extraordinary hopes and desires. he was charming, exotic, but brooding. >> he didn't know how to laugh. he was very stiff, and he kind of had this facade about him. >> a carefully constructed facade.

back then, beverly monroe had no way of knowing the many secrets hidden behind that mask, nor could she have guessed that roger's greatest desire would prove to be the one thing she could not give him. there was no way to imagine, when she met this seductive man, that disaster awaited them both. beverly monroe was in an unhappy marriage when she met roger, who was married as well. soon an affair began. they both loved classical music. he was learning to play the piano. she, the flute. and there was art. >> we were interested in a lot of the same things. you know, i had already started a small art collection. >> roger had turned his home, a 200-acre horse farm just outside richmond, virginia, into a virtual museum. he told people his collection of modern art and african objects was believed to be worth millions. this renaissance man threw lavish parties, was a biochemist

for philip morris, and dealt in high-priced real estate. initially, beverly says she was drawn to his talents and his passion, and eventually he started to lighten up when they were together. >> one thing that was a bond in our relationship outside of the caring, it was that we laughed a lot. we just had fun. >> and so it went for many years. while roger and beverly ultimately divorced their spouses, they continued living apart, but they loved to travel. annual ski vacations, trips to europe, sometimes with her three children. beverly's daughter katie, now a lawyer, says over time roger became part of the family. >> he loved her, and we came to love him. he was a very enthusiastic, very passionate person with a great deal of love to give. >> i can see your face. >> did you regard it as a relationship that would

culminate in marriage? >> no, no, not in the beginning, not later. roger was difficult sometimes, but, you know, i could always tell him to go home. >> you liked having a certain degree of autonomy? >> oh, absolutely. >> but by 1991, as roger approached 60, his mood suddenly darkened. now retired, he began to think about his legacy. though roger had adult daughters, he became obsessed with the idea of having a son. >> he wanted somebody, a child, to look up to him. >> roger and i had conversations, repeated conversations about him wanting to have a child. we always had these discussions not necessarily in the realm of reality, frankly. >> you make it sound almost as if this was a fantasy child? >> knowing roger, i think that was a fair assessment. roger thought he could live his dream of family legacy by producing a son, and it would be as simple as that. >> and beverly said roger had other worries, like his thwarted social ambitions. >> he wanted forever to be a

member of the country club of virginia. >> he didn't get accepted. he was crushed. roger's frustration was palpable and made worse by questions about the authenticity of his art collection. >> he made this huge campaign about trying to get an exhibit at the virginia museum. they had just turned him down. >> beverly says roger was taking these setbacks hard, too hard. he was acting manic, out of control, and she feared something more serious was going on. >> it was like a roller coaster. >> but beverly says she was prepared to stand by him through the ups and downs and was even collaborating on an art book with him. on the night of march 4th, 1992, beverly went to roger's house for the evening. she said he seemed in a giddy mood. >> he met me at the door, and he just kind of grabbed me and danced around in the foyer. it was just like a little kid. >> that night, she says, after

dinner they played some music, worked on their book, did some reading, and she left a little earlier than usual. >> i left early because i -- i had errands -- errands to run. >> but she slept fitfully, and when she tried to call roger, got a busy signal repeatedly. anxious, she returned to the house the following morning and rang the doorbell, but no one answered. then she saw the farm manager. she says it's still difficult to talk about what happened next. >> as i got to the library door, on this side, joe had already gone in. and he was coming out. and he grabbed me, and he said, roger shot himself.

>> it seems the creative, talented roger de la burde had been tortured. he had been shot in the head, and the gun was in his hand. coming up, not everyone believed roger's death was a suicide. >> a lot of people right after the obituary ran in the paper, said no way, i don't buy it. he did not kill himself. >> but if roger didn't kill himself, who did? when "love and death" continues. hi, i'm cashing in my points... peggy? no more points - coupons now. coupons? coupons. coupons? next, you convert coupons to tokens. tokens? then you trade tokens for credits. and then i get the cash? then you call back. bye bye. peggy? hello? what just happened? want rewards that make sense? switch to discover. america's #1 cash rewards program.

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living in virginia, beverly monroe was 49 years old she met roger de la burde in 1979. there was an instant attraction that was the start of a long relationship. then one awful spring night, tragedy. beverly says she walked in and found the european chemist shot in the head.

beverly told authorities her boyfriend had committed suicide. >> i was standing by the couch, and i just hit the floor. i don't know if i fainted or what. i just sank down to the floor. >> beverly called the police and told them he committed suicide and then telephoned her daughter katie, who she says was devastated but not surprised. it seemed within keeping -- >> absolutely. >> -- to roger's character that he might kill himself? >> absolutely. somebody whose mood swung. somebody who's so complicated. he was seeking something to be loved and admired, and he had absolutely no idea how to get it. >> katie was especially concerned how roger's death would affect her mother because beverly's father had also committed suicide. >> she lived with it all of these years, and i remember thinking, oh, god, not again. >> beverly says she was in a

state of shock. >> the thing that tortures you the most is that you should have been there. you could -- you blame yourself. you should have done something. >> was there any doubt in your mind that roger had committed suicide? >> no. i mean, i didn't have any reason to think anything else. >> arthur hodges, then a local newspaper reporter, started looking into roger de la burde's life and his death. >> he had been regarded as someone who was full of life, had a ton of projects going on. real estate deals, art deals, working on a book about his collection. >> so in many ways, the last person on earth to commit suicide? >> right. a lot of people, right after the obituary ran in the paper, said, no way. i don't buy it. he did not kill himself. >> and though police were treating roger's death as a suicide, they had questions for beverly monroe. >> they called me to come out to the farm that morning, all just normal and casual. we sat in the kitchen, and he said call me dave. >> dave was detective david riley.

two weeks after roger's death, he questioned beverly for several hours and then asked her to come to state police headquarters. >> he said, but, you know, we've got to go through this procedure with everybody. being the southern woman, that's all it took. i was not about to inconvenience the police. >> you didn't want to put them out? >> of course not. i just did what they told me to do. >> which was to take a lie detector test that police recorded. >> do you know who shot roger? >> i think it was himself. >> you think it was roger that shot himself? okay. did you yourself shoot roger? >> oh, no. >> you did not? >> god, no. >> when the polygraph was over, the examiner told beverly the results suggested she wasn't telling the truth. beverly says she was still reeling from that shock when a seemingly sympathetic detective dave riley took over. >> riley just came rushing into

the room, and he was just so concerned about me. >> the detective wondered if there was something that beverly wasn't telling them. you've known all along that there's something you haven't told us that's made you feel guilty. >> riley told her he knew about her father's suicide and then made a curious suggestion. was it possible she'd been there when roger shot himself but was repressing the memory because it was so painful. that might explain why she flunked the polygraph. >> it was just too much for you to deal with at that moment, and it just was overwhelming. >> that's a hard thing to admit. >> beverly says riley was tough and persuasive and says she began to wonder if she had been there after all. >> and you remember the noise. you have the vision, you remember him lying on the couch.

>> after two hours, beverly says she left the police station exhausted and distraught. had she been so traumatized by this second suicide that she couldn't even remember roger dying before her very eyes? she says she was haunted by her interview with detective riley. >> this man nearly made me think i was losing my mind. i was that confused. >> beverly saw a counselor but says, despite what she told riley, ultimately she could not remember witnessing the suicide. perhaps her memory of seeing the gun was just a nightmare that wouldn't go away. and detective riley wouldn't disappear either. three months later he asked to meet her at a park, and this time he wasn't so friendly. >> immediately he started this attack and this accusation, and it was the first time -- >> beverly says riley told her medical and firearms tests

showed roger couldn't have shot himself and that it appeared the gun had been wiped clean, meaning this wasn't suicide, but murder. and that wasn't all. she was the prime suspect. >> the man accused me of murder. he accused me of killing somebody i love. >> detective riley suggested the state might be lenient if she cooperated, and he drafted a statement for beverly in which she seems to admit being there when roger died. it said in part, a noise made me jump. i don't recall getting up. i recall standing over roger, who was on the sofa, and seeing the gun. >> i kept telling him, you know, that's not possible. it's not true. >> but beverly says, she felt trapped. >> he says, if you make me be your enemy, i can make sure that nobody will ever believe you. i can make you out to be the black spider woman of all time. >> she was so intimidated, beverly says, she signed the statement, even though she says

it wasn't true. she thought at worst her statement could only be read as the confused account of an innocent bystander, but were there others who would interpret this as a confession to murder? coming up, the news of beverly monroe's trial hits the city of richmond. >> it was sort of right out of peyton place, i guess you would say. when "love and death" continues. 25 grams of protein. what do we have? all four of us, together? 24. he's low fat, too, and has 5 grams of sugars. i'll believe it when i--- [ both ] oooooh... what's shakin'? [ female announcer ] as you get older, protein is an important part of staying active and strong. new ensure high protein... fifty percent of your daily value of protein. low fat and five grams of sugars. see? he's a good egg. [ major nutrition ] new ensure high protein. ensure! nutrition in charge!

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in june of 1992, beverly monroe, a gentile, well mannered southern woman, was accused of killing her lover, roger de la burde. confused and traumatized by the incident and a tough police interrogation, beverly says she started to wonder if she was there to see roger die and repressed the horrible scene from her memory. police say she flunked a polygraph test, but beverly says detective david riley coerced her to sign a statement saying she was present when roger was shot. >> gradually it began to dawn on

me. this didn't instantly hit me that they had set this up or that this was even meaningful. >> they believed that you had murdered roger. >> i didn't see how they could believe it. >> prosecutor jack lewis was sure of it. >> this is not suicide. this is murder. >> on june 9th, 1992, beverly monroe was indicted for the first degree murder of roger burde, and the whispers in richmond got louder. >> there was almost as much shock and disbelief about beverly as there was about the idea that roger had killed himself. >> reporter arthur hodges covered beverly monroe's trial, the trial of the century in rural powhatan county, virginia. >> an amazing small town southern spectacle that you don't get much anymore. >> it was sort of right out of peyton place, i guess you'd say. >> prosecutor lewis first challenged the suicide theory by calling witnesses who testified roger was not suicidal. he was negotiating a real estate

deal, and with his art book nearly finished, he'd called his publisher on the night he died to confirm a meeting for the next day. >> roger said, it's a new day. i am solving my problems. the weight of the world is off of my shoulders. >> how do you translate that? >> i do not translate that as somebody that's getting ready to go in the other room and lay down on the sofa and shoot themselves in the head. >> next, lewis told the jury the position of roger's body was suspicious. he was found lying on his right side facing the back of the sofa. awkward for a man trying to kill himself, but a position that made perfect sense if he had been taking a nap and was murdered while he slept. >> i have a gun here that's a .38 smith and wesson. >> lewis demonstrated the prosecution's theory with a similar unloaded gun. >> he is like this with his head cupped in his hands, and he

takes the gun between his ring finger and his little finger and pulls the trigger. >> and that's how she kills him. >> and that's how she kills him. >> what's more, there was no suicide note. out of character, suggests lewis, for someone as flamboyant was roger burde. >> he was an ego maniac. if he committed suicide, he would probably have left a 100-page letter to the world. there's just no way. >> he wouldn't have killed himself like this? >> he wouldn't have killed himself, period. >> prosecutors not only needed to prove roger burde had been murdered, but that beverly monroe was the killer. but the state didn't have any physical evidence tying beverly to the crime, and the polygraph results were inadmissible. nevertheless, prosecutors did have what they considered convincing evidence, beverly's own statements to detective riley. the jury and those in the courtroom heard the taped interrogation, and riley testified that beverly had admitted twice that she'd been there when roger died.

>> she said, i remember standing over him and looking down and seeing something shiny in his hand. and i said, what was that? was that the gun? and she said, yes, the gun. >> dave riley felt that he could not get her to just come right out and say, yeah, i was there. i killed him. that the best that he could do would be to get her to admit that she was there. it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the person who's there when he's murdered is the person who murdered him. coming up, prosecutors lay out a shocking motive. >> when did you realize that roger was having an affair? >> when "love and death" continues. [ male announcer ] what can you do with plain white rice?

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after being held by hostage militants. he was abducted whooil on vacation with his family. and a man pleased guilty to leaving disturbing messages on eric cantor's voice mail including killing his wife. now, back to "love and death." beverly monroe and roger de la burde met at a work christmas party in 1979. they were both married, but sparks flew between them. and soon after, an affair started. eventually, they both divorced, and their relationship together went on for more than a decade, but not without its ups and downs. the european man had just turned 60, and according to beverly, was an emotional wreck. he wanted a legacy, a son to look up to him and to carry on his name.

but then roger was shot in the head. at first, it was thought to be suicide, but then virginia police questioned beverly. they said she didn't pass a lie detector test, and she also signed a written statement saying she was present when roger was killed. in 1992 beverly went on trial for the murder of her longtime lover. there was no dna evidence, no eyewitness testimony, and no fingerprints on the gun. but the prosecution zeroed in on just one woman. they argued that beverly had become unhinged because she'd been betrayed. >> when did you realize that roger was having an affair with krystyna? >> that would have been new year's of that first year after we met them. >> two years before roger's death, beverly discovered her lover was involved with a 38-year-old married woman, krystyna drewnowska, who said beverly had been very jealous.

>> do you recall when you came across this letter at windsor, miss drewnowska? >> yes. i seen this letter first time independents sore winds windsor. it was in roger's bedroom on his nightstand. >> that letter from beverly to roger, written in 1990, reads in part, "wedging the relationship, whatever it is or was, with krystyna in between us was already enough to do me in." but the letter also contains this bombshell. "if anything remains alive over the past few months, your wanting to have a baby with someone else was overkill." that's right. beverly knew that roger's affair with krystyna had a purpose. >> she was what he called a candidate. >> a candidate for motherhood. it seemed roger's obsession with a male heir was much more than mere fantasy because, by march

of 1992, krystyna was four months pregnant with roger's baby. >> when did you learn that krystyna was actually pregnant? >> that was the sunday right before roger's death, maybe three days. >> prosecutor lewis told the jury this was motive with a capital "m." beverly, the 54-year-old girlfriend, desperately afraid that this dramatic development would end her life with roger. indeed, prosecutors showed the jury an unsigned contract detailing how roger would support krystyna and the baby and possibly even live with them. >> there's a baby now. this is real. we've got to deal with this. it's not going to go away. >> now it was time for the defense, and beverly's attorneys had a bold, if risky, strategy that would put roger himself on trial. the defense hoped to prove that roger wasn't a victim, he was a villain.

beverly monroe's daughter came to her rescue. >> is your mother a murderer? >> oh, god, no. >> a recent law school graduate, katie monroe was convinced the case against her mother amounted to little more than speculation and conjecture. >> i could hardly imagine a weaker case. i can say with complete confidence that the prosecution did not prove that this was a homicide. >> because they'd initially assumed the death was a suicide, police at roger's home hadn't preserved the crime scene. there was no physical evidence, no fingerprints, no fibers, nothing to implicate beverly. besides, says katie, that initial assumption that roger had killed himself was correct. >> both of the prosecution's firearms experts said that they couldn't rule out the possibility that this was a suicide. >> the defense theory that roger had killed himself because he was an aging, ailing emotional wreck. a man terrified of suddenly having the very thing he'd thought he wanted.

>> he didn't want a baby. he didn't want a child. he wanted that love and that respect. that's why i think that, when roger learned that she really was pregnant, that that reality hit him. >> besides beverly's attorneys argued, even if roger had been murdered, there were a host of others more likely to kill him than his understanding girlfriend. they described the real roger burde as a ruthless, immoral provocateur. who thrived on turmoil and lies, and delighted in bizarre practices, including his worship of an obscure nigerian deity, eshu, the god of chaos. they portrayed this would be country squire as a low class lothario and an all too tempting target. one of them could have pulled the trigr. could roger's art dealings made him vulnerable to some unknown killer? it turns out the value of some of his supposedly priceless

paintings was suspicious. roger aged them in the rain on the roof. and certain statues roger donated to his daughter's college were fake. he had hired a local artist to copy them. >> who created that piece? >> i did. >> defense attorneys also raised questions about roger's daughter karina, who had a rocky relationship with her father and reportedly wasn't happy he was having another child. and they speculated about those who were possibly hurt by what they called roger's ruthless real estate deals as well as the men whose wives roger had seduced. and then there was krystyna drewnowska. >> he was in a jam with krystyna, and he didn't know what to do. this was a week before his death. >> remember that unsigned contract spelling out how the baby would be supported? beverly says krystyna was pressuring roger to make the deal, but he was resisting. >> it didn't get signed. he didn't want to sign it.

>> and had roger discovered something else that might have soured the deal? beverly's attorneys show the jury results of a test dated the very day roger died revealing that krystyna had learned the sex of their unborn child. roger burde, the man obsessed with a male heir, had fathered another daughter. >> he didn't want this at all. >> you think he felt trapped? >> i know he felt trapped. >> beverly told us what she told the jury, that she knew roger had shortcomings, but after more than a decade together, wasn't about to give up on him. >> he was going through such a hard time, that he literally asked me to promise not to abandon him. and i said i wouldn't. and so i was going to help see him through this regardless of what was there, regardless. >> regardless of what cost to you? >> i didn't see it as a cost to me. what cost was there to me? >> certainly an emotional cost if this is a man who's begun an

affair with another woman. that's not easy for any woman to accept. >> maybe so, but, you know, i'm not a jealous type of a person. >> but what about that blistering letter she fired off to roger? >> in it, you do sound jealous. you write, "if anything remains alive over the past few months, your wanting to have a baby with someone else, underlined, was overkill." >> and it's true. >> does that not sound jealous or angry or -- you sound mad. >> no, i sound straightforward. >> but you know what, beverly, to me it makes complete sense that you'd be angry. >> see, i understood why roger thought he needed this. >> then defense attorneys told the jury beverly couldn't be guilty because she had an alibi. after leaving roger's home around 9:30 that night, beverly said she went home then went out again to a grocery store, where a receipt shows she checked out

at 10:40 p.m. police estimated that roger had been killed around 10:30 p.m. katie was certain this was convincing evidence. >> i had confidence that our case was strong. coming up, the defense goes after the tactics of detective david riley. >> every time i would try to say anything, he would just cut me off. >> when "love and death" continues. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] everyone deserves the gift of a pain free holiday. ♪ this season, discover aleve. all day pain relief with just two pills. ♪

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baby. but her defense attorneys said roger plunged into a downward spiral after he turned 60 and learned he would soon be the father of a girl, not the boy he wanted to carry on his legacy. beverly's lawyers said that she'd been browbeaten by an unscrupulous detective into believing a made up scenario about the night roger died. >> every time i tried to say anything, he would just cut me off and just talk right over me. >> beverly says, when she tried to stand up to riley, he didn't listen. >> but i have to tell you this. i would have never -- >> you remember now, though, don't you? tell me yes. tell me you remember. >> i remember some of it. >> you remember some of it. >> on the stand, beverly told the jury detective riley had bullied her, making her question her own memory. >> how could i i have been there and not -- not called an ambulance or done something?

>> what investigator riley did was cause her to think the truth as she knew it was not the truth. this was a woman who was not in her right mind. >> but beverly's attorneys told the jury her only crime had been to love a complicated man. >> did you kill roger burde? >> of course not. >> this isn't a case in which you were terribly jealous about another woman who was going to have his child and push you out? >> that motive wasn't true. there wasn't anything to lose emotionally that i hadn't already lost with roger, and that was trust. >> and you weren't so angry at him for violating that trust that you killed him. >> sara, you know, at trial we proved, we proved that i couldn't have been there. >> beverly produced a receipt stamped 10:40 p.m. but the state medical examiner testified that roger could have been killed as late as 3:00 a.m. at the end of the seven-day trial, prosecutors told the jury

this was a case of hell hath no fury. a woman scorned killing her lover in a jealous rage. but defense attorneys said the state had nothing more than beverly's vague statements which proved nothing at all. >> at most, what they elicited from beverly was a statement that she might have been present and asleep when roger killed himself and suppressed any memory of it. >> as the jury filed out, reporter arthur hodges says the whispers began again. and some in the courtroom thought the defense had done too good a job of vilifying roger burde. >> a lot of the dirt they dug up for roger ended up tainting beverly herself. >> so it made him seem like the kind of person that somebody would murder? >> right. because she stuck with him. it wasn't like a year or six months. 13 years. >> the packed courtroom was left to wonder who would the jury believe? it took just two hours for the

jury to reach its decision. jurors found beverly monroe guilty of first degree murder. beverly and her family were stunned. >> it's akin to the same kind of disbelief and terror that -- and sadness that you learn when someone has died. >> the judge sentenced her to 22 years in prison. >> do you remember the day that your mother went to prison? >> yes, i remember walking through the house and -- yeah. >> you must have thought of all the things she was going to miss. >> oh, yeah. >> and all the things you would miss. >> yeah. just sheer pain. >> katie says that pain gave way to determination to free her mom. she quit a promising job to return to richmond where she took on the legal battle of her life. >> i have no choice.

i can't imagine doing anything else. other than working to exonerate her. >> beverly tried to make the most of her ordeal. she read poetry and taught computer classes to other prisoners. but her primary focus was her own case. >> i want to clear my name. i want to set the record straight. i want my life back. >> but by 1998 beverly had lost two appeals. the next step was federal court. katie knew she needed help and contacted steve northup, an experienced lawyer who agreed to take on beverly's case free of charge. >> i felt she was an innocent person. we don't have any dna evidence. we don't have any fingerprints. so we're never going to be able to prove definitively that she did not do it. >> northup filed a lawsuit in federal court for a writ of habeas corpus, charging the state of virginia was falsely imprisoning beverly monroe. it's the legal equivalent of a

hail mary pass because the courts refused to review 90% of such cases. but in a huge victory, in april of 1999, a federal judge agreed to hear beverly's case. steve northup and katie monroe believed beverly had been convicted of murder based on statements that were coerced. they obtained detective riley's investigation notes, which katie described as revealing. >> he decided up front that it was a homicide, and he decided up front that my mom had done it. and then he viewed everything through that lens. >> and, she says, once the detective zeroed in on her mother, he resorted to police dirty tricks, and his bullying took its toll. >> he wore her down. and he caused her to second guess herself and her memory. >> but prosecutor jack lewis contends beverly wasn't coerced, saying she went along with riley because she had to explain why she flunked that polygraph and would say anything to keep the suicide theory alive.

>> at this stage of the game, she still thought that suicide was a valid defense for her. >> but even the prosecutor admits the detective sounds like a bully. >> i've read that interview. >> sure. >> and if that doesn't sound like leading the witness -- >> absolutely. i could not -- >> i don't know what does. >> i could not agree with you any more. >> the prosecutor says the reason detective riley sounds so heavy handed is because only the end of the conversation was recorded. the detective says he forgot to turn on the tape machine until 80 minutes into the conversation. once he started recording and asked beverly to repeat her story, prosecutor lewis says her answers became vague. >> plus then on the tape is dave riley doing almost all the talking, and it does come across that he's putting words in her mouth. there's no question about that. >> it was an ambush. it was wrong. when there was evidence that

contradicted him, every step of the way, it just got concealed or covered up. >> including information about a chevy blazer seen speeding away from roger's estate the night he died. although prosecutors turned over this evidence to the defense, they didn't reveal the witness who'd seen the vehicle. steve northup says this was a crucial omission because that witness might have led them to the driver. >> if the death was a suicide, a visit from that person or those persons could have been a factor in whatever decision he made that night. >> and that wasn't all the prosecutors hadn't shared. there was a statement from roger's former secretary that might have supported the defense's suicide theory. >> there were statements by other people close to roger that roger had been depressed or experiencing problems, had been unhappy. >> and there was another statement also not turned over from roger's daughter. she told police that her father's lover krystyna had been afraid to confirm the sex of the baby she was carrying because

she knew how desperately roger wanted a boy. northup says that, if indeed the state was right and roger had been murdered, there was ample evidence that others had reason to kill him. and the evidence added up to reasonable doubt. >> so you believe the prosecution simply did not prove its case? >> oh, i definitely believe that. one of the things that you learn if you spend any significant time with beverly, is it's really almost inconceivable she could do something like this. she's just not that kind of person. coming up, would the judge agree that beverly was innocent? beverly's daughters fight for their mother. >> the checks and balances that people expect or that should be in the system, they're not there. after six years of fighting bltds [ sniffs ] i have a cold. [ sniffs ] i took dayquil

but my nose is still runny. [ male announcer ] truth is, dayquil doesn't treat that. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your runny nose. [ deep breath] awesome. [ male announcer ] yes, it is. that's the cold truth!

after six years of fighting her mother's case, beverly monroe's daughter katie, a

lawyer herself, got help from another attorney, steven northup. he filed a lawsuit in federal court. in april of 1999, a federal judge agreed to hear beverly's case. what would the judge decide? beverly waited in prison, and her daughter katie, now a mother herself, had to wait as well. >> does your son know his grandmother? >> yes, yes. we take him out every other week to visit. she's his mimi. >> he has a name for the prison, doesn't he? >> mimi's house. >> yeah. >> ten years after the saga began, the waiting came to an end. a judge ruled beverly monroe had not received a fair trial and ordered her to be released from prison. when beverly left jail, she'd served seven years and was 64 years old. >> it's impossible to explain

after waiting a decade. you know, for some relief from this. it's impossible to explain. >> as much as you had hoped for that day, had there been times when you thought it would never come? >> i just -- i had to prepare myself that it might not. and at the same time, have faith and hope. the first people outside were katie and jen. and you just want to touch them, and there's this feeling of this vast space of sky, the air feels different. i can't even describe what freedom is like. but that was a euphoria as being able to hug them. i just don't ever want to let go.

>> and we didn't. they had to pry us apart. >> beverly went home to her grandson asher. katie, and her youngest daughter shannon. >> it's almost as if mom were in purgatory and we got her back. >> the judge called detective riley's tactics deceitful, manipulative, and inappropriate, but not unlawful. but he agreed the evidence not turned over to the defense was troubling. nothing could be more egregious in a criminal case, he wrote, then denying a defendant the raw material needed to secure a fair trial. >> this case is a monument to prosecutorial indiscretions and mishandling. >> when you read that, beverly, what do you think? >> that's what we've been saying all along. >> neither detective riley nor

the virginia attorney general's office would agree to an interview. as for prosecutor jack lewis, now retired, he made this surprising statement back in 2000, when we first spoke to him about beverly's case. >> i do have sympathy for beverly monroe. there are a lot of people that really thought she deserved a medal for having killed him. >> the state of virginia appealed the federal court's ruling and lost. sending the case back to the local prosecutor to decide if beverly monroe would face another murder trial. >> you know, clearing my name is a huge part of this. >> a year after the appeal, the prosecutor in powhatan county announced he would not retry beverly monroe for the murder of roger burde. >> this is a case without a crime. i think the only crime is what's been done to my family. and to roger. >> the prosecutor said he did not pursue a retrial largely

because, after 11 years of litigation, the victim's family wanted to move on. he also noted that beverly monroe had served a significant portion of her sentence, was a model prisoner, and not a danger to the public. >> i do know now that it can happen to anyone, and i want the public to know that because no one is safe from this. no one. no matter what economic level, what educational level, makes no difference. it can happen to you. >> beverly's daughters will never understand what the motivation was for going after their mother. >> the mystery is why anyone would go to all of this trouble to create a crime that never was a crime. it's mysterious to us why we -- the police would even target my mother. >> beverly says it's hard to completely move on from this experience, but she cherishes the time she spends with her family.

after prison, beverly fought to get the conviction expunged from her record. after three years, she was successful. in 2006, katie became the director of the rocky mountain innocence center in salt lake city. so far, the organization has helped exonerate 217 innocent people who were in prison. >> these things are far too common. the checks and balances that people expect or that should be in the system within the police department, within the prosecutor's offices, they're not there. >> the years lost in prison can never be replaced. beverly and her children are still trying to piece their lives back together. >> we are normal people. we loved roger. but we've done nothing wrong, and we've tried very hard to keep ourselves together during all of this. >> since beverly's release, she's enjoying what she missed out on the most.