>> 911, where is your emergency? >> my fiance fell in the water. can you please call anybody? >> reporter: sunset on new york's hudson river, a couple in love, out on kayaks. and then, that chilling emergency call. >> hold on, baby! oh my god. >> reporter: the first sign that a beautiful, storybook sunday afternoon is about to turn into the darkest of fairy tales because one of those lovers isn't coming home. >> i can't get to him, it's very windy and the waves are coming in. i can't paddle to him. he's gonna drown. >> reporter: only two people know what really happened out on

those dark waters and tonight you're going to hear exclusively from the one who lived to tell. >> it still feels unreal. >> which part feels unreal? >> the part that he's gone. >> reporter: did the river take his life or was it his soon to be wife, angelika graswald. >> if this woman killed him, drowning by removing a plug in a kayak, that's a pretty unique case. >> reporter: tonight her bizarre behavior caught on tape in the interrogation room, her astonishing incriminating remarks to the police. >> i wanted him dead and now he's gone and i'm okay with it. >> why would you say something like that? >> reporter: forget everything you think you know about the case that sparked headlines around the world. >> woman accused of killing her fiance while kayaking -- >> indicted for his murder -- >> reporter: tonight in jail she's not getting out so we're going in face-to-face with the woman on the river. >> did you kill vince?

>> reporter: good evening. i'm elizabeth vargas. welcome to "20/20" saturday. >> i'm david muir. the case that made national headlines, a romantic rendezvous for a young couple that ended in a tragic drowning. the lone survivor telling police she was okay with her fiance being dead. >> that's not the only strange thing in this mystery on the hudson. angelika graswald has been in jail almost a year, not yet telling a jury her version of events but telling us. it's your chance to decide, is she guilty or not? >> reporter: the hudson river snakes 315 miles from the peaks of the adirondacks all the way down to new york harbor. just before you reach the city, though, hidden between storm king mountain and breakneck ridge you may spy a half

forgotten place known as bannerman's island, a deserted island, crowned by the tumble down ruins of a castle. >> i love that place, yeah. >> why do you love it so much? >> the history, the -- it's just beautiful. have you ever been? >> i have. >> it's -- i just love it. >> reporter: angelika graswald, a native of latvia, living in poughkeepsie, new york, was drawn to the strange magic of the place, captivated by its eerie charm. >> you wouldn't expect a place like that in new york with a castle. who expects a castle here? i come from europe. there's castles all over the place there, but here, it's surreal. >> felt like a little bit of home maybe for you? >> yeah. somewhat. >> reporter: angelika worked on the island. one of the volunteers planting and gardening. she even got her fiancé, vince viafore, interested in the place. but mostly, vince was interested in angelika. she'd come to the u.s. from latvia years earlier, when she was twenty, to work as a nanny. angelika, now 35, and vince, 46,

had been together a year and a half. a cat lover and avid photographer, angelika instagrammed and facebooked their love story. she and vince also shared a love for the outdoors and kayaking which they had done together many times. >> we both loved the river. we both loved being on water. >> what is it about it that's so alluring to you? >> being down to the earth, down to the water, good for pictures. good for sunsets. >> reporter: vince's mother, mary ann, says vince loved a good time. >> he's the guy who was the life of the party. he had these dance moves that everybody would get around him and cheer him on. >> what an awesome guy. >> why do you think the two of you clicked? >> we had a lot in common. he was just like me. very open, friendly. um, risk-taker. he was adventurous. he liked living on the edge.

>> reporter: angelika moved in right away. vince was studying her native language. >> yes, he was. every weekend, it was a russian session with our morning coffee. >> he was serious? >> oh yeah. he had books, dictionaries. he was asking me questions, he was annoying the hell out of me sometimes. but he was really studying it. >> reporter: they gave each other nicknames. >> i called him yozhek, he called me svinka. >> svinka? >> yup. piggy. >> and what is yozhek? >> yozhek is a hedgehog, 'cause of his hair. >> reporter: angelika even took vince home to latvia to meet her family. >> what did your parents think about vince when they met him? and your sister? >> they loved him. they said he's one of ours. he just fit in. >> as soon as he walked in he was like, hi mom. he hugged her. >> reporter: both had been

married twice before but soon angelika and vince were ready to take the plunge again. >> we were gonna go to my country and get married on the baltic sea. >> on the beach? >> yeah. >> why there? >> why not? because my family wouldn't come here and i wanted them to be there and we also wanted to go to bannerman's island and take pictures there with the castle in the backdrop. >> for your wedding? >> i love that place, yeah. >> reporter: and then one sunday afternoon in april, vince and angelika loaded up their kayaks. police would later retrace their route. roadside surveillance cameras captured vince's white jeep, his blue kayak strapped to the roof, a second kayak inside as the two headed to the river. >> so it was his idea to go there that day? >> well we both wanted to go. >> you both wanted to go.? >> yeah. >> you both wanted to go to batterman's island that day? >> yes. >> do you remember what the weather was like specifically that day? >> it was a little cold. but it was, you know, it didn't look dangerous or anything. >> reporter: angelika brought along lingerie. she and vince were planning a private photo shoot. but deceived by the spring sunshine, angelika and vince may

not have realized the river, chilled by mountain snow melt, was still glacier-cold. experts "20/20" consulted say vince and angelika's kayaks were all wrong for the hudson. they were more suited for a lake or a pond. and most ominous of all, as predicted on the local news, a storm was brewing. >> clouds will be increasing later this afternoon into tonight and then showers develop before dawn. >> did you normally wear a lifejacket when you would go kayaking? >> no. >> normally you didn't? >> no. he just, he insisted that i wore it that day. >> but he himself didn't wear a lifejacket? >> he didn't have one. >> reporter: so vince went out that day with no lifejacket, no wet suit, no skirt to keep waves out of his kayak, on the water that was 48 bone-chilling degrees. after a few beers, and a couple hours taking pictures on the island, the two hurry for their kayaks. the sun is low.

about halfway home, angelika says the fickle hudson river began changing with each stroke of the paddle from placid to perilous. waves swamp vince's kayak. he capsizes, pitched into the deep dark water that time of year, killing cold. angelika says vince, hanging onto his sinking kayak, yells at her to call 911. while she's on the phone, she says the river is carrying him away. >> but i don't see him, oh my god. >> can you see the kayak still? >> no. the kayak oh my god. >> all right, we've got a boat in the water already heading down to you, okay? >> okay. the water is very cold, i'm afraid he's -- oh my god. >> reporter: what made it so serious was the time of the year. >> reporter: jeff schaack in charge eight nearby yacht club

helped coordinate rescue efforts. >> it was april and it was cold out. >> i think he drowned. i need him to be rescued. >> okay. where did you guys go into the river? >> the boat is coming towards me right now. >> reporter: angelika's 911 call ends abruptly. somehow at that moment she too capsized and went into the deadly cold water. >> where did you guys go in? angelika? >> reporter: a rescue boat quickly plucks angelika from the river. what condition was she in? >> she was obviously cold, wet, uh, frantic. >> reporter: but vince had simply disappeared on that dark april night, swallowed by the river he loved. >> it changes your whole world. of course you hope he made it to shore or he was unconscious somewhere. >> reporter: whatever happened to vince, police quickly begin to suspect it may not have been an accident. when we come back, angelika volunteers to help police out with their investigation and finds herself in an awkward position.

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>> reporter: while kayaking on the hudson river, angelika graswald lost the man she says was the love of her life. but even as she helped search for vince viafore's body, her behavior struck some as strange. as cold as the river.

vince's mother, mariannmarianne. >> she wasn't sitting there crying, that's for sure. i don't know. she just went about her business. >> reporter: business like posting a light-hearted video, doing a cartwheel. >> woo! yay! >> reporter: and five days later, at a memorial gathering at a bar, breaking out in a karaoke version of "hotel california." but that was nothing compared to what police say angelika did ten days after vince disappeared in the river. she had taken flowers to bannerman's island for vince. detectives follow. one of them claims angelika takes him aside and blurts out a jaw-dropping confession. she wanted vince to drown. she pulled the drain plug on his kayak so it would fill with water and sink and removed a ring connecting the two halves of his paddle. but none of that alleged confession was recorded. so police bring angelika to the barracks. at 3:25 in the afternoon, they

lead her to the interrogation room and the unblinking gaze of the camera. >> got your water, right? >> yeah. >> how you feeling? >> cold. >> cold? >> reporter: she doesn't know it yet, but this is her last day of freedom, maybe forever. angelika is about to talk her way into a jail cell. >> you have the right to remain silent. anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. >> reporter: for one thing, police wonder about that 911 call. >> i can't get to him. it's very windy and the waves are coming in and i can't paddle to him. >> all right, stay on the phone with me. >> he's getting further and further away from me. i -- i -- he's gonna drown. >> reporter: they say she may have waited 20 minutes before calling for help, suggesting her 911 call is nothing but a performance. >> hold on, baby! >> reporter: now, in the interrogation room, after a detective says angelika had already confessed to him earlier in the day. she's not admitting much of anything. >> you watched him drown.

i know it's difficult. i know this. >> no. i didn't just watch him drown. i tried to do something about it. >> now, did you really wanna save him? >> yeah. yeah. somehow. if he did not say call 911, i would have [ bleep ] paddled the [ bleep ] out of myself and got to him somehow. >> that's a little different from when you told me earlier, though. why? why do you keep changing what you're saying? i -- you're confusing me. >> i'm tired. >> and that's a -- that's an issue for me. >> reporter: almost three hours into the interrogation, at about 6:20, the detective brings in his partner. >> how are you? >> hi, how you doing? i'm matt. >> reporter: as they talk, it emerges that while on bannerman's island that fateful day, angelika had been in touch with a fellow volunteer named barbara who lives within sight of the island. >> around 5:00, we get to the island.

around 7:00 is when i text barbara, contacted her. >> reporter: "20/20" obtained angelika's messages she sent by text. "we're kayaking today," she says. and "i'd like to stop on the island." as they're leaving, she sends another message, "we're leaving now," essentially inviting the woman to keep an eye out for them as they head for home. >> 7:04 i send her a message. we're heading out. he's in front of me. >> reporter: what kind of killer wants a witness? what's more, angelika continues denying things she allegedly admitted earlier, like removing a ring that secured the two halves of vince's paddle. >> how long before you guys went on your, uh, kayaking trip did you take that ring? was it the same day? >> i didn't take the ring. >> you killed him. >> no, i didn't kill him. >> reporter: angelika and the detectives spending the night in a stuffy little room with no windows and no clock. four hours in, they bring her coffee, pizza, even at about

7:00 p.m. a cigarette. >> cigarette, matches, ashtray, okay? >> reporter: at times, when she's alone in the interrogation room, unaware there's a camera rolling, angelika loosens up with yoga, even a little hopscotch. but why would angelika want vince gone in the first place? the motive, police say, is a hard-boiled crime classic. >> and he had a life insurance policy. >> yeah. >> and you were on it? >> yeah. >> reporter: she tells police six months before his death, vince added her as a beneficiary to his life insurance worth $250,000. another motive, detectives say, may have been all those demands she says he made in the bedroom. >> he always wanted sex. >> yeah. >> and you to do sexual things? >> well, yeah. >> okay. >> he wanted threesomes, porn, everything. >> okay. >> and i was not ready. >> reporter: angelika says vince was threatening to call off the

wedding if she didn't do the things he wanted. >> did it upset you that he was -- >> yes, very much. >> sort of switched that he did not wanna marry you? >> yeah, of course. who proposes to somebody and then changes their mind? >> reporter: but the thing many find most shocking comes early in the evening, angelika freely admitting vince's death left her feeling relieved. >> when you watched him in the water, was a part of you saying, "my worries are going away now?" >> yeah. >> and, "i'm free?" >> yes. >> and were you almost -- >> euphoric? >> euphoric that he was going to be gone? >> i just, i was -- >> you felt that way? >> yes. still do. >> you still do? >> reporter: police say they have more. they say a witness saw angelika purposely capsize her own kayak as rescuers approached. at one point during the interrogation, she admits it. >> why did you do that? what's the real reason why you did that? what did you want them to think?

>> that i was trying to save him. >> okay. >> that i was doing everything i could to save him. >> reporter: then, at about 8:30 that night, she starts talking about her dark side. >> what are your feelings and emotions knowing that this is about to happen? that when you're going -- >> i'm like, ripping in two halves. you know, angels and demons. >> mm-hmm. what's the demon side saying? >> the demon side, it's not a good side. you guys don't want to see that side of me. nobody does. that side was telling me this is gonna happen, let it happen. just let it, but the good side was save him, save him, save him. you can do it. you can do it. you're strong. >> why did the demon side win out? >> well, 'cause of the way he was treating me, you know. >> reporter: just after

9:00 p.m., six hours into the interrogation that would go on for 11 hours total, angelika says she needs to get home to take care of her cat and then makes what could be the most incriminating statement of all. >> you killed vinnie. right? >> you're the one telling me. >> no. i'm asking you the question. >> you want me to admit it. >> i want you to -- i want you to tell me the truth. >> i am telling you the truth. >> and what is the answer to that question? >> i didn't. >> no. >> i didn't want him -- >> angelika, what is the true answer to that question? >> all right. i'll give you the [ bleep ] statement. >> what is it? >> i wanted him dead, and now he's gone. and i'm okay with it. i'm okay with that. >> reporter: that's cold, but is it a confession? if only we could ask angelika to explain. when "20/20" continues, we'll do just that. stay with us.

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souls rise up again. >> when someone dies in the hudson over the winter, it's usually around that may when their body comes up because of the changes in the weather. >> reporter: on graduation day this year, police securing the river for the west point ceremony get an alert. >> they answered a call from another boat that there possibly was a human body floating down the river a little south of bannerman's island. >> reporter: investigative reporter, nina schultzman. >> i raced town to see what i could find out. they had found him. he had been found. >> reporter: vince viafore had drowned while kayaking in the river more than 30 days before. but he had not strayed far, just about a mile down from bannerman's island. his body provides precious few clues. other than confirming he had drowned, there were no obvious signs of foul play.

but, by the time vince was recovered, his fiancee, angelika graswald, was already in jail, charged with his murder. >> at about 10:40 a.m. an indictment was made public in orange county court. the indictment names ms. graswald. >> reporter: orange county new york prosecutor david hoovler calls a news conference at which police reveal how they believe angelika murdered vince. >> can you tell us anything more about the tapering? >> the kayak as well as an item on the paddle. >> reporter: angelika's defense attorney, rich portale, also spoke to the media that day. >> they're trying to paint her as a murderer, you know, when in fact she was just a fiancee who was very much in love, who was following the person she loved in a kayak across stormy, rough waters. >> reporter: since her arrest, angelika has been a reluctant media queen. tabloids branding her the kayak killer. but now she's agreed to talk to "20/20."

and that brings me to the orange county jail. and our interview with angelika. she's familiar with this room. it's normally used as a chapel where she attends bible study. the guards graciously allowed her to change the top half of her jail jumpsuit for a more flattering shirt. it can sometimes be a risky thing for a defendant like yourself to talk publicly before a trial. >> yup. >> why did you decide to do this interview? >> well i just, i needed a chance to let people know that i'm innocent. i'm being accused of murder, which i'm not capable of doing. >> reporter: as a condition of the interview, taking place before her trial, we agree ahead

of time not to ask angelika about certain aspects of the case against her, the interrogation and the day vince died, with some notable exceptions, as you will see. i do need to ask you one specific question about something that you did say in the video interrogation. this is after six hours in that room and after you have repeatedly denied doing anything to hurt him. >> all right. i'll give you the [ bleep ] statement. >> what is it? >> i wanted him dead and now he's gone. and i'm okay with it. >> why would you say something like that? >> well, they kept me asking me the same questions like 100 times. i knew that i was innocent, i just told them what they wanted to hear. >> you just said what you thought they wanted to hear? >> i was, yeah, i was at my breaking point, i just, i had it. so i just gave 'em what they wanted. >> reporter: so what did she mean exactly when she said she wanted to be free? >> what i meant was i wanted to be free from the lifestyle that we had.

the nightlife, the strip clubs, the threesomes. i didn't want any part of that, i wanted to be free from that. >> so you weren't saying i want to be free from vince, you were saying i want to be free from this particular lifestyle that vince is into right now? >> yeah. >> reporter: angelika says when she walked into that interrogation room she had no idea she was the prime suspect. >> they told me it was gonna be like a therapy session. they would try -- >> a therapy session? >> yeah. >> and did they actually use the words "therapy session?" >> yup. >> it's therapy for you. and it's -- you'll -- like i said, you'll feel better. >> you will, too. >> okay, i will. you're right. i definitely will. >> yup. >> what did you think that meant? >> i thought that meant that they're trying to help me and i can open up. and i didn't need a lawyer. >> pretty naïve, actually. >> yeah, right? now i know. >> reporter: we ask her about her strange behavior after vince's death.

remember she posted that cartwheel, and sang "hotel california" at that bar. >> some people thought your behavior after the drowning was strange. >> well, i never liked crying in public. i -- that's just not me. i much rather put on a happy face and that's what i did. i mean, i just lost my fiance. i was in shock. i was in denial. >> what do you mean by in denial? did you feel like it wasn't real? >> it still feels unreal. >> it still feels unreal? >> sorry. >> which part of it feels unreal? >> the part that he's gone.

there i go crying in public. >> reporter: angelika denies she confessed to that detective on the island. but after her interrogation, she was arrested and charged with murder. >> was there part of you that was in disbelief when they charged you? >> absolutely. >> i mean -- >> absolutely. like who, me? did what? it's ridiculous. >> reporter: so how plausible is the police theory? still ahead, we return to bannerman's island and put it to the test. >> we actually performed an experiment on the river. >> reporter: we bought a kayak just like vince's, removed the drain plug, took the paddle connector ring just as police say angelika did and sent a kayaker paddling back to bannerman's island. >> how did he do? >> reporter: good question. for the answer, stay with us.

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>> going to be much ease kwaer yes, sir now. >> no kidding. >> reporter: this is plum point, on the hudson river. it's the very place is where vince viafore and angelika graswald set out on their fateful kayaking trip. >> when angelika and vince went out on this river -- >> yes. >> they launched straight from here to go straight across, you can see bannerman's island and the castle right there across. >> reporter: we've come here with todd wright. a professional guide and outdoor instructor, he's recognized as one of the top kayak safety experts in the world. working with us as a consultant, he's in the same make and model kayak as the one vince owned. >> when you're out on the water, you definitely feel the current and the wind. >> reporter: we ask him about angelika's claim that the wind and the current separated her in

her kayak from vince in the water. >> and when she says that she's being blown away from him and that he's being pulled in a different direction? >> yes, that can happen. if he's in the water, he most likely would be going with the current and whereas the kayaks will go with the wind. >> we also know the water temperature that day was 48 degrees. >> correct. >> how quickly after falling into water that cold do you become incapacitated? >> there's that initial cold response and there's panic, your heart rate increases. >> you're basically hyperventilating. >> yeah, you're hyperventilating. grabbing onto this kayak becomes very difficult. being able to tread water or swim with any kind of efficacy becomes very, very difficult. >> reporter: back on shore, a close examination of the kayak shows something detectives at first may not have realized. that critical drain plug, effectively the alleged murder weapon, is not on the bottom of the kayak. it's on top. >> now, this is the infamous plug. >> it is. >> that prosecutors say angelika

removed in a plot to kill vince. but this plug is what, half an inch in diameter? >> just look at how large the cockpit is, that where -- where the seat is there's a lot of water that can enter that, that's a big hole. this is a really small hole. >> it's a tiny hole. >> reporter: remember, the police theory is vince died because angelika removed that drain plug, causing his kayak to sink. >> let's take a look at how much water enters through the cockpit. >> reporter: watch. wright conducts an investigation, showing that when waves dump water over the cockpit almost all of it gets in the boat. but, if waves pour over that open drain hole? very little finds its way into the kayak. and we went further. using that same kayak, with the open drain hole, and the paddle ring removed -- we asked another experienced kayaker to retrace vince's path across the river. he does it, with no trouble. the prosecution case is built on

these assumptions, that removing the drain plug would cause the kayak to sink, removing the connector ring would prevent vince from paddling properly, and finally, that angelika knew that without a life jacket or a wetsuit vince wouldn't stand a chance in the cold river. did you remove the plug from vince's kayak with an intent to kill him? >> no, i did not. >> did you remove the ring from the oars so that he would not be able to save himself? >> no, i didn't. >> i just want to ask you so you have a chance to answer this question. did you kill vince? >> no. >> that day? >> no, i didn't kill him. >> did you do anything that you knew might lead to him being hurt or him dying in the river? >> no, i didn't. no, i loved him. i didn't do it.

>> we actually performed an experiment on the river with the plug out and with the ring missing on his oars. >> how did he do? >> he did fine. what does that tell you? >> there you go. >> reporter: we arraned to go te place where they planned to marry, that beach on the baltic sea. >> they would be very romantic. it was true love. >> reporter: with angelika's parents, inga makes a special delivery, a hug, back in america. >> i was hugging her just as hard as she did in the jail. >> you know that we just went to latvia and we have some messages

from your family that i'd like to play for you. do you want to hear them? okay. >> they just said that they love me and everything is going to be okay, time goes quick. >> reporter: angelika's family is far from wealthy, but they're scraping together what they can to help pay for her defense. >> many people in the town where your family lives have chipped in to raise money to help you. >> people have just been amazing. i'm so humbled and grateful. >> reporter: angelika's family planted a tree in latvia to honor vince and sent a message to vince's mother. >> beautiful man, very. >> we still can't believe that he's not here with us. he was like a son for them. they are very, very sorry and they want to give their

condolences to vince's family. >> i hurt for them. this can't be easy for them either, you know. they have a daughter who's in jail. i mean, how could she do something like that? i appreciate what they said, but he was my son. and nobody feels like i do. >> reporter: as the guards prepare to take angelika back to her cell, she asked a favor. she wanted to watch that message from her far away family one more time. >> can i see that video again? my sister said that it was the first time she ever saw dad cry. >> ever? >> yeah. that gets me. oh. >> yeah. >> i can't

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ever of angelika graswald is expected to start this summer. we will keep you posted. thank you for watching this saturday night. i'm elizabeth vargas. >> i'm david muir. for all of us at "20/20" and abc news, enjoy the rest of your weekend. coming up here philadelphia police are hunting foreman who held a woman captive for 11 hours

today and could be hearing new music for decades to come from prince. "action news" is next.