business. it's not a nine-to-five proposition. it's all day and into the night. it's all the things that keep this world turning. the go-tos that keep us going. the places we cheer. and check in. they all choose the advanced network solutions and round the clock partnership from comcast business. see why comcast business powers more small businesses than anyone else. get started for $49.99 a month plus ask how to get up to an $800 prepaid card. don't wait- call today. 'm craig melvin. and i'm natalie morales. and this is "dateline." craig melvin: a sprawling southern family farm with a pair of churchgoing grandparents at its heart. nathan bennett: they were definitely i'm craig melvin. >> i am not only more or less in this is dateline.g

>> there was no way it was supposed to end like this. the former church deacon and his wife, who on earth would want them dead? >> it doesn't make sense. they were loved by everyone. >> everyone, maybe, but their own daughter, who admitted to a bitter dispute >> she needed her stepfather and mother dead. >> evidence pointed to her boyfriend as an accomplice. >> you've got the victims blood on your shoe. he was there. >> or, was he? a once loving family now gripped by suspicion. >> i had a lot of people saying that she did it. >> the terrible truth ripped them apart. >> this cannot be happening.

>> welcome to dateline. a daughter battling her demons and her mother and stepfather. after their double murder, police started to wonder how far bambi bennett would go to get what was hers. they followed a bloody trail of evidence deep inside the family's dispute, exposing ugly secrets and suspicions but unmasking a murderer would prove far more complicated. here is dennis murphy with "the deed." >> the old barn is a shambles now. the field, back in the day, so lush and productive, gone to seed. the farmhouse, empty.

time was the farmland was some of south carolina's finest. bambi bennett's granddad owned a big spreading created a legacy for generations to come. >> that barn used to be a tobacco barn in my granddaddy built that. >> so it was a tobacco property. >> yes, he did farming and tobacco. >> bambi's roots here are as deep as the old oak tree draped in spanish moss that still stands tall on the front lawn. they say land is worth dying for because it is the only thing that lasts and strew her -- truer words may never have been spoken. in this case, a beautiful piece of land turned out to be nothing but trouble. this is where bambi bennett's family was ripped apart by an active cruel, unspeakable violence.

bambi, her given name was a farm feisty good old girl, country through and through. >> i was at my grandparents a lot growing up and we gardened and we had a big yard. a huge yard. >> you are a country go? >> yes. >> but, she had endured her share of heartache even at a tender age. her parents divorced when she was just six. mom remarried then a few years later, came the terrible day she will never forget. >> my daddy and my granddaddy passed away on the same day. i was 12 years old. >> so, all of a sudden, you would lost the two important men in your life? >> it was a bewildering and tragic day was so much sudden loss to absorb that young bambi, not yet a teenager, paid no mind to her grandfather and father's wills, but it turned out she had been left the entire homestead, all 240 acres of it to be held in trust until

she turned 18. not long after bambi inherited the farm, her stepfather, charlie, moved the family onto the property. her property. most everybody called him big charlie. bambi called him daddy. >> dan -- daddy loved hunting and fishing and he always had fish fries. >> you call your stepfather daddy. usually do that? >> yes, i have always called him daddy. >> big charlie was a deacon at church and started a small business selling and installing glass, converting the old tobacco barn into a shop. bambi's mom, diane, worked as a secretary in the public schools. they were respected, happy

couple, salt of the earth. >> she was the backbone of that family. >> bambi's cousins, jessica and amy, loved their and diane. >> if your car literally stopped in front of their house or broke down, she would go and make sure you had a meal or you were warm and while she was doing that, big charlie would be like fixing the car. >> good mom? >> fabulous mom. her biggest thing was she wanted to make sure her kids were protected and their hearts were protected. >> and, her daughter, bambi, would need a lot of protecting. the girl was married to her high school sweetheart and divorced after a few months. by the time she was 24 years old, she had another failed marriage and was struggling as a single mom trying to raise two boys, cody and nathan. >> that had to be tough keeping your household going? >> yes. >> things went from bad to worse. bambi started popping painkillers. >> yes. i like the way it made me feel. >> bambi was a single mom hooked on pills and sitting on a piece of land worth a small fortune. diane decided it was time to

intervene before another whirlwind husband that half the property. >> mom said if you put it in my name it will be protected. >> and so, she signed the deed to her property over to her mom, and then, bambi signed over her heart, sending cody and nathan to be raised by their grandparents. she calls it her lowest point. >> i didn't want to do it but i knew it was the right thing. she wanted to take care of them. she loved those children. >> it was a crushing loss, no question, but bambi agreed at the time, the boys were better off. they loved diane and charlie. >> they were just very loving.

they did a lot of outdoors stuff. they spoiled us to death. >> they were the most loving individuals i've ever met in my life. my grandma was a sweet woman, and everybody says so. >> with the boys living at the grandparents, bambi tried to get her own life back on track. that is when she met rick gagnon, a new hire at charlie's glass company. there was an instant attraction. >> i've always like the bad boy image, i guess, like he had the goatee and the shaved head. i don't know. we just had a good time together. >> it was a serious relationship? >> yes, it was. >> rick was serious, too. he confronted bambi about her demons. >> i told her if she wanted to be in a relationship, she had to do something about the pills. >> by the spring of 2005, bambi felt she had turned a corner. she and rick found the whole of their own in myrtle beach. after a long struggle, she was ready to be a mom to her boys again. >> i was getting on my feet and i wanted cody and nate there with us. >> grandparents charlie and diane agreed, very reluctantly, to let the boys move in with

bambi and rick, but no sooner had the boys moved than diane was making the case to get them back. >> mama was very concerned. she said she would like for them to continue to stay with her. >> boyfriend, rick, thought bambi can catch a break with her family. >> everybody pretty much treated bambi like crap. it stemmed from issues that diane, charlie and bambi had. >> those issues were simmering into an angry family drama. then just a few weeks after the boys were turned over, it happened. it was april 12, a tuesday morning. bambi called her mom, no answer. charlie was late for work, one of his barn boys went up to the house to look for him. moments later, he called 911. >> she's laying on the floor and there's blood everywhere. >> oh my god. >> inside, things were chaotic, and appalling site. big charlie and diane were dead , and the old farmhouse they loved so well was now a crime scene.

>> at a grisly crime scene, some small stray drops of blood might just provide a huge clue. coming up. >> it appeared that someone involved in the crime was a bleeder. >> that's great evidence. >> it is if you can match it up. >> when dateline continues. up. >> when dateline continues. with more confidence and lower your a1c. try it for free at freestylelibre.us. how long have you been tracking the value of our car? try it for free at should we sell it? we hold... our low mileage is paying off. you think we should... hold... hoooold!!! hooold! now!!!! i'm on it. i'm, on it. already sold to carvana. go to carvana and track your car's value today. after advil: let's dive in!

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[screaming] but shingrix protects. dennis murphy: the horror discovered inside that farmhouse confused both the caller and the 9-1-1 operator. but what happened to charlie and diane was all too clear.

and the horror discovered inside that farmhouse confused both the caller and the 911 operator, but what happened to charlie and diane was all too clear. she was found lying next to her bed, big charlie sprawled on the bathroom floor. each had been shot multiple times, both, by then, dead for hours. horry county sheriff thompson cell phone erupt with calls and he rushed to the scene, not to investigate. charlie and diane with his friends. >> they were just mine.

they were everybody's friends but we knew how good they were, how kind they were, and what good people they were. >> down at her house in myrtle beach about 30 minutes from the crime scene, bambi was getting ready to go antiquing with her mom. she called her cell. one of charlie's glass company workers answered. >> i said, can i speak to my mama, please? and he said bambi, your mom and daddy is dead. >> just like that? >> yes, and i said what? and he said bambi, somebody is broken in and killed them, shot them. and i just dropped the phone. and started crying. >> when bambi arrived at the house, yellow caution tape locked away. police were everywhere. >> my mom was freaking out. >> rick tried to comfort bambi. young cody turned to him, too. >> i remember rick, he was near me and i was crying on his shoulder, and it was a madhouse that day. >> in those moments, it seemed the hall county had gone mad. the martyrs of diane and charlie came hard on the heels of two other vicious killings

thereby. the suspect, a man all over the news, named stephen steiger -- stanko was involved. >> vivian skipper was charlie and diane's neighbor. she runs a flower shop nearby. >> told me about the fear. was this the kind of thing you could feel in the air? >> you could feel it in the air. >> i didn't even want to go home. it was pretty bad in horry county that day. >> when i first arrived i wanted and opportunity to get oriented to the crime scene. >> the man responsible for making sense of the crime scene was prosecutor friend hump sees -- humphreys. >> this appeared to be a home invasion burglary. >> it was a gruesome crime scene, the bedroom awash in charlie's blood.

there was bad blood splatter in the bedroom where diane labored several feet from diane, there were notably a few small droplets. >> it appeared that someone involved in the crime, not the victims, was a bleeder. >> why couldn't that be from one of your two victims? >> it was apparent big charlie never left the area of the bathroom and it was apparent that diane died where she lay. >> so, it looks like your shooter is bleeding, so that's great evidence? >> it is if you can match it up. >> while crime scene techs processed the house, investigators started taking statements. big charlie and diane had a large family and knew a lot of people. >> the list of people we talked to is exhaustive. >> a parade of friends, employees, and family was brought down to headquarters

for interviews, including bambi and her boyfriend, rick. >> they did gunshot residue tests on all of us. >> they had me remove my shirt, lift my pant legs up, and took my shoes, took pictures of my shoes -- tops, bottoms. >> both bambi and rick told police they had spent the night at home, never left. with interviews complete, police drove rick and bambi back to the farmhouse. everyone was gone. bambi said she realized she had left her purse with her phone and car keys in the detective's cruiser. she decided she would take her mother's vehicle to get home. >> we didn't have any way to get in touch with anybody. we didn't have anything and i told rick, see if you can find mom's purse or her cell phone, so he went in the house. >> police had released the crime scene, but it still looked like one. detectives told the family they would have to clean it up, so when rick says he went in to fetch diane's car keys, he found himself tiptoeing through a bloody mess. what were you seeing? >> all of the blood, and it was one of the most horrible things i've ever seen. >> rick approached the bathroom where charlie had been killed.

he said he noticed bambi through the window pacing in the backyard. >> she was calling out, mom, she was crying and screaming. i stepped into the bathroom and tried to step around the mess as best i could and i shut the blinds. >> and you close them because you don't want bambi to see the blood and gore? >> that's right. i remember saying to bambi, i think i stepped in some blood in the bathroom and i was wiping my shoe off on the sand and she was telling me to wash my shoes so i did not get blood in her mom's truck. >> it must have been eerie being in the house that night? >> extremely. >> it was an eerie moment, one that would haunt bambi and rick for years to come. coming up, bambi makes a stunning admission. >> it's been a long family feud. >> when dateline continues. feud. >> when dateline continues. at n and visibly improve damage of the intestinal lining. serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur.

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dennis murphy: the cold-blooded killing of big charlie and diane parker had a great many people in and around conway, south carolina bolting their doors and locking their windows. had you any trouble in that neighborhood out in the countryside with break-ins? the cold-blooded killing of big charlie and diane parker had a great many people in and around conway, south carolina bolting their doors and locking their windows. have you had any trouble in that neighborhood in the countryside with the break-ins? >> not that i know of. it has always been a wonderful place. it just does not make any

sense. >> was this more of the murderous rampage of the notorious stephen stanko, who was all over the news? no, said prosecutor friend humphreys, who knew stanko had been cited in georgia at the time of the murders 200 miles away. >> of the sample thing at the farmhouse you are not associated with stanko. >> we were not. at that time, law enforcement knew he was physically in augusta. >> rather, humphreys focused on the evidence coming from the parker crime scene. he quickly came to believe this was more than just a bungled home invasion. >> it was apparent nothing had been taken, or at least nothing that you would suspect to be taken in a burglary. >> humphreys talk back to some curious statements bambi had made in her interview with police.

she said she had given willingly. >> you sure you're okay to sit down with me? >> i'm not okay, but i want to help you. >> soon after the interview started, bambi, he said, began describing in detail a feud with in her family. the issue was the land bambi owned and that her parents were living on. >> that's been a long family feud. >> right, over the land? >> according to humphreys, bambi and diane argued over who should control that property. >> diane wanted to make sure that property was there for the kids. i think she had become convinced that bambi was not going to be in a position to manage that property. >> i love this girl, my daughter, but she has beyond hope, is that the feeling?

>> well, she can't be trusted with it. >> bambi didn't agree. >> she wanted the property back. >> but, humphreys learned the land was not the only hot button between her mother and stepdad. they also argued over the raising of nadine and cody. -- nathan and cody. >> were there any issues? >> i understand my mother had kept them and it was hard for her to, you know, give them back. at first, we were angry at each other. >> diane just was not comfortable with bambi having custody of those children. >> in fact, just four months before the murders, it mother- daughter shouting match over care for the boys got so out of hand that diane called 911. the responding officer arrived with his dash cam rolling just moments after bambi had stormed away. diane explained the argument to the officer. >> usually just does what she

wants to do. picks them up when she wants to. she doesn't provide anything for them. >> diane went on to say she felt threatened by her daughter. >> she scares me. she got my face and grabbed the phone out of my hand when i was calling. it's just -- but if anything happens to me, you'll know that she's the responsible person. >> how telling is that? she was in fear. >> humphreys, by now, suspected bambi was somehow involved in her parents' murders, but was skeptical she could commit a double homicide on her own, so the prosecutor turned his attention to bambi's boyfriend, rick gagnon. according to humphreys, he was willing to do anything for her. >> you've got the daughter and the boyfriend who seem to be in some sort of conspiracy? >> well, agreement to accomplish a goal. >> the alibi bambi and rick gave detectives, that they were at home during the hours leading up to the murders, was

difficult to prove. each gave the other as a witness. >> she said we were at home. rick was there. i was there. my boys were in the other room. >> the prosecutor began to wonder, could those mysterious blood droplets at the scene be linked to reckon bambi? >> you didn't know who it was but you know somebody else was in the house? >> while humphreys awaited the results, he obtained a search warrant and took a look at some of rick and bambi's belongings, including their shoes. >> there was blood on the shoes. it was big charlie's blood. >> the prosecutor did not buy rick story about having stepped in the blood while looking for car keys. they also found what they thought was blood on one of bambi's boots. >> are now, you have two persons of interest, fair to say? two days after the murders, humphreys asked both rick and bambi to take polygraph tests. both agreed in both showed deception. >> rick gagnon in particular showed deception.

>> police set rick and bambi down in separate rooms for another round of questioning. this time, the gloves were off. >> are you charging me with something? >> answer my question. >> i didn't do anything. >> they hoped for a confession or at the very least, that she would give up rick. she did not do either. >> i'm not going to be charged because i didn't do anything. >> we done. you not going to tell us anything, lock you up. put some handcuffs on her, take her to jail, charge her with two counts of murder. >> but, the detectives were not done yet trying to break bambi. on the way to her booking, bambi said the hammer came down hard one more time. >> they surrounded me like a pack of wolves and they said go get the crime scene photos of her mama and daddy and i said no, no, no, and i was trying to cover my face, and he was pulling my hands off of my face.

he said you did this. you. >> detectives said the thing -- same thing to rick gagnon. >> they arrested me and it was pretty much it. if bambi did it then i had to be a part of it. >> so, there it was. a daughter and her boyfriend, partners in love and suspected of murder. the alleged motive was basic. get the deed to the land and resolve the custody issue of the boys and one bloody rampage. horry county could sleep easier at night with case closed, but was it case solved? coming up, a new family feud breaks out between bambi and her sons. when dateline continues. when dateline continues.

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i'm jessica layton with the hours top stories. six months after the start of

the israel-hamas war, israel says it is reducing its number of ground troops in gaza. the idf says the move is to prepare for future operations. donald trump is telling billionaire donors he will keep their taxes low if he wins in november. president biden blasted trump for promising tax breaks to his quote, rich friends. now, back to dateline. welcome back. i am craig melvin. investigators charged bambi bennett and her boyfriend with two counts of murder. bambi's old sons did not believe in her innocence, but there was one man who did, and he was prepared to fight for her freedom. here is dennis murphy. >> bambi bennett sat in a horry county jail cell stunned,

having been charged with two counts of murder. >> i thought, i'm just having a bad dream. this cannot be happening. not only were my parents just murdered , now i am being accused of being the ones that killed them. i said, you all have lost your mind. i said this doesn't make any sense. i didn't do anything wrong. >> but to prosecutor fran humphreys, it made perfect sense. >> the motive is unavoidable in this case. bambi needed her stepfather and mother dead so she could get her property back. >> property valued at north of $1 million. >> the classic question people in your line of work poses who benefited? >> bambi. >> as for bambi's boyfriend, rick, prosecutors believe bambi helped persuade him to help her carry out the murders deed but rick and bambi said he had it all wrong. they insisted they would never do anything to harm diane or charlie.

bambi downplayed the family drama over the land despite calling it a feud during her interrogation. >> she wants the land. that's the most ludicrous thing ever. it was given to me by my daddy to begin with and even though it was in mom's late name, if i wanted the land back, all i had to do was tell mama that. >> also absurd, she said, was the allegation she would kill her parents over disagreements about how to raise her boys. >> who does not have disagreements ever with their mother or the father? me and mama did not always agree on the upbringing of the boys but that doesn't mean i'm going to kill my mama because we don't agree. that is ridiculous. >> but by now, even some of bambi's family believed she was responsible for her parents murders, including bambi's own sons, nathan and cody. >> you lost your grandparents in the most awful fashion and then your mom was swept away from your life within minutes.

when did you come to the idea that maybe she was the one who did this? >> it was a mixture of things, like i had a lot of people in my ear saying she did it. i came to the conclusion that she basically put it in rick's head for rick to do it. >> i only thought she had something to do with it from what i had been told. >> i resented her. i hated her. i didn't want to see her face ever again. >> it seems bambi's supporters were few and far between but one who did believe in her innocence was her attorney, jim irvin. the way jim irvin saw it, the prosecution's case against bambi was a weak, circumstantial and that hinged on a bunch of theories as to motive. >> would always bothered me about this case, when you look at the gunpowder residue, there is none on bambi. >> he said that one bit of hard evidence detectives had against bambi, what they thought was blood on her boat, turned out to be nothing.

>> detectives thought the dna in this boot is going to belong to one of two people. they could not even say it was dna. >> as for the polygraph test detectives say bambi failed to pass, according to irvin, those results were suspicious. >> the ask -- last question i asked, have you told me everything about this case. if i asked the detective that question, he couldn't pass it either. it's too broad a question. >> bambi sat in jail for six months. they were hoping she would flippin tell the story. finally, the judge that enough is enough. prosecutor humphreys had to let bambi go. >> it became apparent the evidence is not sufficient to bring her case to trial. >> didn't have the goods. >> just was not there. >> and yet, she is the foundation of your theory. for the time being, bambi was able to put horry county jail in her rearview mirror and with it, rick.

by now, bambi had cut ties with her old boyfriend. >> sounds like she had your back and then she didn't. what had happened? >> jail changed people, you know. >> rick was hoping it would be just a matter of time before he, too, would be released. >> the forensics they had against you -- no hair, no fingerprint, no dna. >> nothing. >> but, he did have charlie's blood on his shoe. to humphreys, that evidence is part of a bloody trail from the crime scene that was about to lead both the prosecutor and rick gagnon into a courtroom showdown. coming up, one of rick gagnon's fellow inmates comes forward with a dampening story. >> he has been giving a fairly detailed account of what occurred that evening. >> stuff that hadn't been in the newspapers? >> when dateline continues. wsp >> when dateline continues. (vo) if you have graves' disease... ...and itchy eyes, the truth may be even more uncomfortable. people with graves' could also get thyroid eye disease, or t-e-d, which may need a different doctor.

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dennis murphy: rick gagnon was in a world of pain, locked up in the county jail facing two murder charges. he shared his woes with another guy in a jumpsuit, two inmates power walking together around the yard. we would walk around the pod, do laps. rick gagnon was in a world of pain, locked up in the county jail facing two murder charges. he shared his woes with another guy in a jumpsuit , two inmates power walking together around the yard. >> we would walk around the pod. >> the jail yard but he was named robert mullins, a petty crook who seemed strangely

interested in robert's troubles. >> did he want to talk to you about the case? >> all the time. >> but then it seemed everything in this part of south carolina wanted to know more about this case and it's two beloved victims. it took three years but in 2008, the state was ready to try rick gagnon for the murders of charlie and diane parker. the camera was rolling as prosecutor humphreys began the case. >> this establishes the motive for richard gagnon to in the lives of these two people. >> as humphreys recalls, the case against rick was always motivation strong, evidence week, not more than a drop of charlie parker's blood on a shoe when it came down to it. even so, humphreys told the court he got the footprint of the murder scene. >> he had a story for it, didn't he? >> yeah, he did. it didn't hold water but he had a story about it. >> charlie recited his version

of how he had gone into the parker house to get a set of car keys sometime after the crime scene techs had finished up. >> he looked to his right, which was a window leading into the bathroom where charlie had died and noticed the blood. >> rick said he worried bambi, pacing outside, might look in the window and freak out all over again. >> he went in and stepped through the bathroom and touch the blood. >> and that's the story, but it didn't hold up? >> know because the blinds were already closed. >> that was the gotcha. this crime scene photo, says the prosecutor, was taken hours before rick supposedly stepped inside the house. notice the bathroom lines are drawn. humphreys argued that rick could not of closed the blinds because they were already shut. the prosecutor said that the defendant was lying, though he believes rick had told the truth about the murders to at least one other person, the state's star witness, robert mullins. >> the witness i called the jailhouse snitch and you call it jailhouse informant. >> no, he's a snitch, no doubt about that.

at the end of the day, what we learned from robert mullins is that he is been given a fairly detailed account by gag none of what occurred that evening and what the crime scene looked like. >> in fact, he said mullins was the first to tell police this piece of bombshell news. gagnon had mentioned an accomplice in the killings. >> the only way he can have that information is from someone who was on the crime scene, who participated in the crime. >> then the prosecutor tried to spin an inconvenient fact in his favor. those mistry blood drops found at the murder scene had been tested. the dna was not a match to rick, but to an unidentified man. that, said the prosecutor, supported what mullins said, that rick had an accomplice. humphreys believed the evidence was enough to put the defendant away. he only wished he could make the same case against rick's old girlfriend. >> what about bambi? she was not been tried in this

courtroom? >> no. i think it's a travesty. >> her finger prints are on this? >> all over it, figuratively. >> he told the jury this was a story about a spoiled woman, bambi bennett, who had manipulated her boyfriend, rick gagnon, into doing her murderous dirty work. get back the deed, get her mother off her back. >> he had heard from bambi how her parents were not fair to her, that they have her land. you know, my parents are horrible people and they have taken advantage of me. >> to make things right, argue the prosecutor, the dutiful boyfriend and his right-hand man entered the house and hunted down bambi's parents in their nightclothes. the jury had just heard a drama of southern gothic proportions, dripping with family greed and hatred. now, it was time for an entirely different story. >> none of the puzzle pieces fit. >> rick's defense team including attorney barbara pratt, told the court that the state's case was heavy on fiction, light on facts. >> they had a puzzle. they had neat little pieces,

but the pieces were not exactly right. >> the state was so desperate to prove its case, she said, it clung to the word of the jailhouse snitch and career criminal. >> a fellow that is there to cut himself a deal and get himself some assistance, i guess, in his own case, is not likely to be credible. >> not only was this dish not to be believed, the defense told the jurors, but the state was also trying to confuse them about the mistry blood found at the crime scene. the bottom line, said pratt, the dna from that blood cleared their client of the murders. >> the dna did not match and we knew the dna was not going to match rick. >> they knew that, she said, because rick had an alibi for the night of the murders. he had been asleep in murder -- myrtle beach with bambi.

to explain how the blood got on the shoe, rick took the stand. he pointed out that on the morning the bodies were discovered, police had examined his shoes thoroughly and found nothing. >> if there was blood on my shoes that morning i would've been arrested right then and there. there was no blood in my shoes that morning. >> that came later, he said, when he stepped into the bloodsoaked bathroom. despite that police photo, he insisted the window blinds were open and he worried that bambi might see the horror inside. >> i went in and shut the blinds. >> he testified the blood got on his shoe at that moment, not before. >> did you go into the house and kill big charlie and diane at the instigation of bambi? >> absolutely not. no, sir. >> so, who did kill the couple? we don't know, said the defense, but it was not rick gagnon. with that, the jurors filed out to deliberate. rick waited with his attorneys, and the woman many felt to be at the heart of it all held her breath.

coming up, the jury renders its verdict. >> i did not know what to think anymore. >> but, this is not the end of the case because finally, investigators learned who left those mistry blood drops at the crime scene. >> he said they identified who killed her. >> when dateline continues. killed her. >> when dateline continues. feel the power of contrast therapy. ♪♪ so you can rise from pain. icy hot. ♪you're the one that i want!♪ nexgard® plus helps you protect your dog from fleas, ticks, heartworm disease and more... all in one delicious, monthly soft chew. use with caution in dogs with a history of seizures or neurologic disorders. nexgard® plus. the one you want for one-and-done protection. oooh! i can't wait for this family getaway! shingles doesn't care. shingles is a painful, blistering rash that can last for weeks. ahhh, there's nothing like a day out with friends. that's nice, but shingles doesn't care! 99% of adults 50 years or older already have the virus that causes shingles inside them, and it can reactivate at any time. a perfect day for a family outing! guess what? shingles doesn't care.

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to this twisted tale. could the resolution to this case finally put a bitter family feud to rest? here is dennis murphy with the final chapter of "the deed.". >> jurors in rick gagnon's murder case deliberated for only a few hours. when they filed back into the courtroom he read there faces a new they had found him guilty. >> two counts of murder, received two life sentences. >> that's called a pine box sentence. >> pretty much. >> bambi said she did not want to be in court for the verdict. her attorney, jim irvin, called her with the news. >> here i am thinking oh my gosh, could he have done this and then i'm going in the back of my head there is no way he could have did this. >> rick felt as though he had been sandbagged. >> i believe that if god fit just -- saw fit to have me go home i would go home. >> that, thought rick, was about all he had left.

faith in god and a good lawyer. >> in my 22 or 23 years of being an appellate defense attorney, rick gagnon was only one of about two, possibly three people that i genuinely believed was innocent. >> that certainty would mean exactly nothing to an appeals judge unless bob and rick can come up with new evidence. then, in 2009, a year after his verdict, rick had an encounter in prison with yet another inmate. >> he was all excited about something. >> authorities in tennessee, the prisoner told rick, had just arrested someone for a home invasion there. >> he told me he said they identified the killer. >> that man's name was bruce

hill. when tennessee authorities ran his name through the database they had a match to the mistry dna found at the parker crime scene. in 2011, a jury convicted him of the murders of big charlie and diane. his motive for the crime was never firmly established. >> who is bruce hill? do you know that name? did you ever see him at the farm property or on job sites? >> never. >> rick's lawyer needed proof there was no connection between the two men so he paid hill a visit. >> bruce hill showed a picture of rick gagnon and his words were, i've never seen that cracker before. you know, bruce hill would've been unambiguous and was very

blunt that he did not know rick gagnon. >> all hill had to do now is admit that in open court and gagnon might go free. hill flatly refused. once again, rick was out of luck, but not hope. >> it was the first piece of good news i had had a long time, you know. i was excited to see what god was getting ready to do. >> and there were developments. namely, the arrival of a new inmate. >> i was in the chapel at the time. it was my job assignment. he was brought into the chapel. >> one day, the men opened up and stand rick. he said he had known a guy in jail said wait for it, robert mullins, the very same who testified against rick. the man then said that mullins had shared a secret. he had lied about rick's involvement in the murders. >> i mean, i already knew it but to hear somebody else say it -- >> that mullins had lied. >> now, the snitch on stitch story how the appeals judge's attention. >> the judge had to make a determination that the result of the trial would probably have been different.

>> because mullins' story was that important in getting the conviction? >> the judge vacated rick's conviction, saying the new county solicitor who had replaced humphreys could refile if he wanted to. the solicitor said he did not, so in 2013, after eight years inside, rick gagnon walked out of prison. he settled on the carolina coast now, married with children. >> just to smell the ocean is like freedom. it was a terrible thing that you know, i went to prison for something i didn't do. it has changed my life. >> his old girlfriend believes her life was upended, too. bambi says she has cut ties with most of the people she grew up with, and the tobacco fields she still owns are pretty much her only connection to the place. >> i didn't want to be there anymore. that was my home, but my home that i had known just falsely accused me and destroyed every

-- destroyed me. >> but, there is something she would like from the people of horry county, south carolina. >> do you want an apology? would that go anywhere for you? >> i do want an apology. no, it's not going to change what they did. is not going to fix what they took away. >> she wants an apology from you . >> yeah, she is not getting that. i would like for her to have received justice in the case. >> meaning, he would've liked are charged, tried, and convicted. >> and, i would've liked to have been an agent of that justice. >> all but forgotten again amidst all the finger pointing are bambi's sons. >> i don't think she had anything to do with it. >> is a testament to that change of heart, they joined their mom in the place she now calls home, florida. for the first time in a long while, they feel like family.

>> it took a while before you really were able to trust her with all your feelings and really tell her you love her and hugged her in every bit of it. >> you can be her sons again? >> right. >> for that at least, bambi is grateful. for the future, she is hopeful, even if every once in a while, she looks back in anger. >> i lost my mom and dad. my children lost the grandparents. our family still has no answers. they are still saying the cases and completely solved. maybe if they took the time in the beginning we wouldn't be in this predicament today. >> maybe there are no more answers, no reason to keep digging up the past. just leave it rooted right where it is, and let the spanish moss grow. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i am craig melvin. thank you for watching. thank you for watching. he had missed a meeting. and then not to hear from her, this isn't right. it would have been impossible to get up every day >> i'm craig melvin. >> i am