Dateline NBC - Secrets of the Desert

Episode Date: May 28, 2019

In this Dateline classic, the mystery surrounding the deaths of three women deep in the Sonoran desert takes 17 years to untangle, and is only solved when a fourth woman comes forward with the truth. Dennis Murphy reports. Originally aired on NBC on May 19, 2017.

It was the strangest call of my life. She just said, is Linda with you? She's missing, we can't find her. That's all she kept saying. Everything changed from there on out. And just got uglier and uglier. A loving mother one day just disappears. Her car was there and she wasn't home.

The blood was Linda's. We all knew there's something very wrong here. But with no body, no evidence and no suspects, no arrest. The ex-husband and the ex-boyfriend both had alibis. Then, lightning strikes again.

I drove into the driveway. Somebody's been caught. How often are a mother and daughter killed at the same house? Who would steal so much from one family? Was she afraid of him? She was afraid of him. I just found out they're investigating me again.

Motive outweighed everything in this case. Miles away, buried in the sand, lay one piece of the puzzle. I know what you're doing. Period. The rest of the mystery hiding away in a woman's heart. She couldn't keep it inside anymore. The killer thought his secret was safe. He was wrong. This is, as they say, a game changer. Our prime suspect no longer has an alibi.

I'm Lester Holt, and this is Dateline. Here's Dennis Murphy with Secrets of the Desert. It's a timeless Old West beauty as the setting sun grazes the mountains. And the vast Sonoran Desert fades to dark, covering secrets and old bones for another night. It's as unchanging out here as the heartaches all those people in the valley below sometimes seem to make for themselves. With their jealousies,

their rages. I need someone to come out and take a report. My daughter's missing. When daily routine without warning gives way to stark terror. She's an adult, but the back door was found unlocked. There's a broken cup at the entryway.

A young woman vanished. What is your name? I'm Marilyn Cox. I'm her mother. That was the start of it all. An anguished mother's

cry for help in a case that would take 15 years to untangle. You didn't have a weapon. You didn't have a witness. That's correct. Before it was done,

there'd be multiple murders. They pushed someone who doesn't like to be pushed. And maddeningly for law enforcement, suspects who just didn't quite fit. The two key people had alibis. A daughter ensnared in a family tragedy like few others. Did you understand what had happened? I don't think I really understood it fully, but something bad happened. It all started here. Tucson, Arizona. The old Pueblo, they call it. Nestled in the desert at the foot of the Santa Catalina Mountains.

Dave Watson spent nearly 20 years here with the Tucson Fire Department. He fought fires and was trained as an EMT. Eventually he made captain, but he never forgot the camaraderie of his early days at the firehouse. Burning through a lot of adrenaline together, huh? On occasion, yes. Hours aboard and moments of terror? Yeah, pretty much. Seemed like everything he needed.

Until in 1993, she came along. I was out with a friend. It was his birthday. everything he needed, until in 1993, she came along. I was out with a friend, it was his birthday, and met her at an Eastside nightclub. And so I walked up to her and asked her to dance. Her name was Linda. She was spontaneous, spunky, cute, and we just seemed to hit it off. She was very funny and just very sweet. That's always the word, I think, to describe her.

Marnell Camp was one of Linda's best friends. Dave's, too. She was also dating Dave's best friend. The two couples soon made a young, fun-loving foursome. But we didn't have kids yet. We didn't even have a house. Neither one of us even had a mortgage yet or anything, so it was pretty carefree looking back. Lots of barbecuing, swimming, and yes, a fair amount of drinking too.

This was a hard partying crowd, but there was no denying that Dave and Linda were in love. They were the ones that were well-liked, a cute couple. Mike Bratton was another close friend of Dave's. The kids on the float at high school, huh? Yeah, exactly. So it wasn't a surprise when in 1994, Dave and Linda married. Good bash? Yeah, oh yeah. It was a party. It was a party. Bartender was busy that night. Oh yes, yes. Dave and Linda scraped together enough money to buy their first home and take on that first mortgage. It was not in the best neighborhood, for sure, but very cute. It had a lot of character. Somewhere between a dump and a fixer-upper?

Yeah, somewhere there. Linda and Dave were up for the challenge. They worked to transform that run-down house into a loving home for themselves. And after two years of marriage, baby Jordan came along. At first, Dave wasn't so sure about having kids, but... When Linda gave birth to Jordan, it was just, all that nervousness was gone. So, yeah, it was nice. You know, kids make a world of difference. Jordan's grown up now, but remembers fine details of that little house and her mom. We had a strawberry patch kind of outside of the house.

I remember us picking strawberries one morning before breakfast, her cooking breakfast. How was Linda as a mother? She loved that little girl. That baby was her whole world. Bobby Cutesy and Pat Hinkle were Linda's aunts. She's very attentive to that little girl. Loved her to pieces. With Jordan's arrival, Dave and Linda got another visitor, too.

Marilyn came out to be the nanny because they both worked. Marilyn was Linda's mother. Was that an SOS that went out from Linda to Marilyn? Yes. To come, Mom, I need some help here. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Not an unusual request from a new mother, but Marilyn's response was unusual.

She sold her house and drove her car and headed out. She did all that for her girl and her granddad? She did that for the family, yeah. And where was she living? They've actually built a little guest house out back specifically for Marilyn. Not every young husband likes to have the mother-in-law around, let's face it. It's funny that all the guys at work said,

that's a big mistake. They said it was going to end up in divorce. What was she like? Very pleasant, polite. But as time went on, you know, you live with somebody for 24 hours at a time. You get to know more about them. And our relationship got strained. And soon that wasn't the only relationship suffering.

Linda's friend Marnell, who by then was married and living in Oregon, noticed the change when she invited Dave and Linda up for a visit. You were seeing the cracks right before your eyes. Absolutely, yeah. Coming apart was a hard reality for Dave to accept. I'd planned on staying married forever, you know. That was the deal, but it just didn't turn out that way.

You know, I was no more or longer in love, but I still loved her, you know, and she's the mother of my child. In 1998, Dave and Linda separated, sharing custody of Jordan. That same year, Dave met someone new. I saw him and his buddy. I nudged my friend, and I said, I'm going to go ask him to dance, and I made a beeline. Her name was Rosemary, and she ran a successful karaoke business in town. And she's quite an entertainer, I guess, huh, Rosemary? Yeah, she is. She said, if you want to be successful in this business, you know, you've got to sell it. They fell for each other hard and fast. Their shared love of music, the outdoors, and little Jordan. He loves Jordan very much.

I know when I met him, he definitely had, you know, parenting time with her. And it would go back and forth between Linda and Dave. Rosemary also had a daughter from another relationship. And in June 2000, she and Dave took the big step of blending their families. I had my daughters by my side. He had his two good buddies, and we took our vows and celebrated with everybody around us. Linda also seemed to find happiness in a new relationship. His name was Carl Barton Jr., though most people knew him as J.R.

He was a firefighter, too, for the Air National Guard in Tucson. His name was Carl Barton Jr., though most people knew him as J.R. He was a firefighter, too, for the Air National Guard in Tucson. What did you think? He seemed nice. You know, I met him a handful of times, but more than a skin deep, I didn't know much about him ever. Linda called Marnell and gushed about her new flame. He was older, and I remember her commenting about how, you know, he was sexy or something like that. Marnell, busy juggling family and career, really didn't pay close attention.

If her friend was happy, then so was she. Until the phone rang one morning in August 2000. This phone call, I think, was one of the lines in the sand where your life was different thereafter. Absolutely. Changed there. Everything changed from there on out. And just got uglier and uglier.

On the phone, Linda's mother with a question. When we returned, she said, Marnell, it's Marilyn, and is Linda with you? With you? Why would she be with you? It was the strangest call of my life. But things would get much stranger. We got there, her car was The week of August 21, 2000 started out like any other, until Marnell Camp's phone rang. It was Marilyn, her friend Linda's mom.

She called and said, Marnell, it's Marilyn, and is Linda with you? With you? Why would she be with you? It was the strangest call of my life. Marilyn said she and Linda had gone to church Sunday evening. The next morning, Marilyn couldn't find her. How'd she sound? She said... Marilyn.

Very stressed. Very stressed. Marilyn also called the Pima County Sheriff. She's an adult, but the back door was found unlocked. There's a broken cup at the entryway. Detective Kelly Anderson wasn't on the case back then, but remembers it well. There are not that many adult missing persons because, frankly, an adult can go wherever they want to and they don't need permission or they don't have to tell anybody.

Still, a deputy was dispatched to Linda's house. He doesn't see anything that would indicate foul play. Nothing's been tossed in the house? No, he doesn't see any blood. He doesn't see any indication of violence or a struggle. The only thing he notices is the broken coffee cup and some property that Linda has left behind that may be a little suspicious. Linda's Bible was on the counter, her Jeep in the driveway. And perhaps most telling, she left her pager behind. Remember, this was the year 2000. When she didn't have her daughter, she would keep her pager so that if anything happened with her daughter,

that was the way to communicate with her. So this is important. That's a link to the daughter. That's a link to the daughter. Doesn't mean anything's happened here yet, though. Not yet. Her purse is gone, so the deputy tells Ms. Cox, let's just wait. Marilyn didn't want to wait. She called her younger sister, Pat. She tells me, Pat, Linda's missing. Of course, you know, this don't happen

to your family. It happens to other people. Marilyn also called Linda's ex-husband, Dave. Marilyn says that Linda's not home. She's missing. She sounded panicked and was like, give us some time. It's Monday morning. Maybe she went somewhere. Three days passed. It was Linda's turn to take Jordan. Dave and then four-year-old Jordan drove to Linda's house. We got there. Her car was there, and she wasn't home. And so, you know, he was like, oh, that's weird, you know, she's probably just out with a friend or something. It didn't sound that far-fetched to many people who knew Linda. She always liked to party.

Supposedly she had a couple relationships with some crazy people. Hop in the wrong truck after a night of drinking? Maybe, yeah, that was the assumption at the time. Investigators continued to poke around anyway. They wanted to talk to Linda's boyfriend, J.R. Marilyn brought him up when she reported Linda missing. Does he live near there? No, he lives over at Silver Bell.

Silver Bell Road, a two-lane blacktop that meanders from Tucson out into the vast desert. A detective went to J.R.'s home. He cooperated in every way that was asked of him. J.R. told the same story others did, that Linda was a heavy drinker. We had a seriously rocky relationship for over two years. All of our problems revolved directly around her alcoholism. The drinking was why J.R. said he recently broke up with Linda.

She wigs out bad, and things right now are rougher than I've ever seen them for her. You know, she just lost her job. He said too much alcohol cost Linda her job. And J.R. said Linda faced an even bigger loss. She's looking at losing her daughter. Turns out Linda and Dave hadn't yet come to terms on custody of Jordan. And they had an important court hearing coming up. Are you going for full custody?

I didn't want to take all the rights away from Linda by no means because, you know, every child needs both parents. But after his breakup with Linda, J.R. did something unexpected. He volunteered to testify at the custody hearing on Dave's behalf. So here's the strange thing. He now has your back in family court. Not so much mine. I'm sure he could give two shakes about me. But he cared about Jordan, so he was doing it for her, not me. More pressure on Linda. She had joined a 12-step program. Still, shortly before she disappeared, she went out drinking with her cousin Jay, Pat's son, at a place away from the bright lights of Tucson at a bar called the Circle S Saloon. Jay was over there and she was needing to get around some family because,

you know, things was a little tough for her. So he told her, well, come on out. Linda tried to climb back on the wagon. About 10 p.m. the night she disappeared, she called her church sponsor and asked to meet the next morning. But she didn't show up for the meeting and hadn't been seen since. There seemed to be every reason to believe she was on another bender. Except for one thing. Something Marilyn mentioned in that initial 911 call. Yeah, he threatened her before he threatened me too.

Coming up, did Linda ask for help too late? He was over here this morning beating on my windows, calling me. I need to know, should I go down and put a restraining order on him? When Dateline continues. Before she disappeared, investigators learned Linda Watson was facing the most trying time of her life. She was broken up. She was upset at J.R. She was going through a custody battle. J.R. told detectives the custody issue was weighing heavily on Linda.

She's told me more than once that, and this is a scary thing, if she lost her daughter, she would shoot herself. So J.R. said. Linda's mom shared her doubts with her sister, Pat. What did Marilyn think about this guy, J.R.? The boyfriend is in and out of the picture. She didn't like him. She said that he's very controlling. Which is why when Marilyn couldn't find Linda, her mind immediately jumped to J.R. That very first day, she told her suspicions to the 911 operator. She's been threatened by this guy that she broke off with. I called him. I said, where's my daughter?

Investigators learned that after Marilyn called J.R. to ask about Linda, J.R. called Linda's attorney from her custody case and left this message. She's probably out on a drunken binge, and her mom has blown this all out of proportion. You know, I had nothing to do with anything, and, you know, I don't know what to do. I was hoping maybe you knew where she is. He phoned someone else as well.

He called me up, told me that Marilyn had called him, accused him, blamed him, and asking, you know, where's my daughter? Was J.R. protesting too much? Detectives learned while he was dating Linda, J.R. sometimes went with her to pick up or drop off Jordan. That's how he knew Dave. He was also a firefighter. He had met Dave, not through firefighting, but while he was with Linda doing child custody exchanges of Jordan, he had met David and Rosemary Watson at that point. Rosemary, Dave's new wife of two months. Keep your eye on that name.

Keep your eye on that name, yes. What is J.R.'s alibi for the night that Linda goes missing? On the night that Linda went missing, J.R. was with his girlfriend. His new girlfriend. J.R. was already moving on, he said. But he still seemed concerned about Linda. J.R. was very helpful, offering different ideas or people to talk to. But I think cynically, sometimes detective guys inveigle themselves into an investigation

when in fact they're part of the scheme. Sure, that could certainly happen. Detectives also had more concrete reasons to suspect J.R. There was a domestic incident that they were involved in shortly prior to this. Just two days before Linda disappeared, she had called the Pima County Sheriff's Department. She made a report that J.R. had come to her house on Curtis and was banging on the windows and banging on the doors. J.R. said he was just trying to pick up some of his belongings, but it prompted Linda to call her attorney the weekend she disappeared. Hey David, it's Linda. J.R. will not leave me alone. He was over here this morning beating on

my windows, calling me. I need to know, should I go down and put a restraining order on him? She wasn't the only one. Rosemary and Dave also had a restraining order against J.R. It stemmed from an incident when he was still dating Linda and came to pick up Jordan at their home. I was home alone with the kids and just, you know, banging on the door, the big heavy, not just a knock knock, it was kind of, you know, a boom. And it was more his

tone at the time. It made me nervous enough to protect myself and the kids and everybody involved. Of course, after J.R. and Linda broke up, things changed. J.R JR came to us and said that he had concerns for Linda and her drinking, and he said that he would testify about her drinking in order to protect Jordan. The hearing happened right on schedule, just four days after Linda disappeared. Dave and Rosemary were there, of course. J.R., too. Linda was still nowhere to be found. But her mom arrived, spoiling for a fight. J.R. was in the courtroom.

And she accused J.R. of, you know, harming her daughter. She thinks this is foul play. Yeah, she does. With Linda a no-show, the judge awarded temporary full custody of Jordan to Dave. Were you happy with that? Oh, I was definitely happy with Jordan in my life, yes. Marilyn went back to Linda's house dejected but not defeated.

And that's when she made a discovery that changed everything. Coming up. Marilyn calls us and said that she found blood in the entryway to Linda's house. Now we have a theory of foul play. But what police didn't have was a suspect. The only two people that might be looked at both had alibis. Linda Watson had just vanished. She didn't even show up to a custody hearing involving her four-year-old daughter, Jordan. Did you feel abandoned, Jordan? No, not really. My dad was always right there if I needed anything.

Linda's mother, Marilyn, however, was very worried, especially when she returned to Linda's house after the custody hearing. Marilyn calls us and said that she found blood in the entryway to Linda's house. The blood was under a trash bag hidden from view. The deputy who responded to Marilyn's 911 call hadn't seen it. Now investigators came back and did a luminol test. It lit up blue and turned out to be positive for not only human blood, but matching DNA to Linda Watson. Now that they were looking for blood, they found more.

On the vacuum cleaner cord. It was apparent from the blood pattern that it wasn't dripped, it wasn't smeared, it wasn't wiped. The cord had been laying in a pool of blood to get that pattern and then dried. Did all these little fragments of observations suggest a narration detected? Something violent happened in this area that someone had cleaned up. So now you have a theory of foul play to explain her disappearance. Now we have a theory of foul play. Were investigators looking at J.R. as a potential suspect?

He was certainly looked at as a person of interest, mostly because Marilyn said, this guy could have done it. But J.R. also had a defender, Linda's ex-husband, Dave. Would you personally feel if J.R. would be somebody that could do something he's been accused of? No, I strongly believe he didn't do a thing. He's the only one that's tried to help her. Marilyn's the one pointing her fingers at him. Of course, investigators had to wonder. After all, J.R. had backed Dave in the custody dispute with Linda.

Could Dave be covering for him now? For that matter, where was Dave the night Linda disappeared? From what time to what time were you home? Sunday, I was here all day long. And you never left Zordy or your other daughter in anyone else's care? You pretty much took care of them all day and all night? Yeah. The detective also interviewed Rosemary, Dave's wife. Dave, she said, was home with the kids. So both Dave's wife and J.R.'s girlfriend said the two men were at their own homes the night Linda disappeared. And despite all that blood, there was still no conclusive proof Linda was even dead. We have no body.

We have no evidence of anything outside of the entryway. And certainly the only two people that might be looked at, the ex-husband and the ex-boyfriend, both had alibis. The investigation had stalled, and Linda's case landed in the place no victim's family wants. It's the vault. And what is that? Our administration building, many years ago, before we occupied it, was a bank. And on the second floor, there is an actual vault. And that is where we keep the cold cases.

Locked away, a tomb of sorts where mysteries lay buried and forgotten. But Linda's mom would not forget, would not give up. I want to find her. If nothing else, I want to take her home. I don't want her in this desert. I want her to go home. That sprawling Sonoran Desert, what secrets could it be hiding? Marilyn paid for billboards, raised reward money, organized vigils. This was the start, I think, of what you would come to regard as the steel strength of Marilyn. Absolutely, yeah. And even if she couldn't find Linda, she would continue Linda's fight for Jordan. Marilyn sought a lawsuit for grandparents' visitation rights. Marilyn filed

a lawsuit seeking unsupervised visits with her granddaughter. She made her case in court and in the media. I owed it to Linda and I owed it to Jordan and I owed it to myself to do as much as I could. Dave and Rosemary fought back for fear of what Marilyn might say or even do to little Jordan. She's flat out told me as soon as she gets finds Linda gets Jordan she's leaving this godforsaken place. Amidst their legal dispute Dave and Rosemary grew their family. In 2001, they had a little boy, Caden. And then a year later, Rosemary took a bold step and adopted Jordan. I sent out birth announcements. I said, it's a girl, you know, three foot two, whatever, 68 pounds kind of thing. I was ecstatic.

For Jordan, the feeling was much more muted. It seemed like what my father wanted to happen. I didn't want to displease anybody, so I just said yes. With three kids, the court battle, and work, the Watsons had their hands full. But Dave always made it a point to check in with Jordan. When I was little, and even now, you know, when he goes to work still, I kind of worry. To calm her nerves, Dave made sure to tuck her in every night. Even if he's at work, he'll still call and say goodnight around the same time every night, just in case.

Does he still do that? Yes, he does. Last night, you got a tuck-in call from him? Mm-hmm, I did. In January 2003, two and a half years after Linda vanished, the court finally issued a ruling. Marilyn sent Linda's friend Marnell an email with the news. In big, bold letters, she wrote, I've got Jordy. After a two-year legal battle, Marilyn won the right to have unsupervised visits with Jordan.

I always thought that Linda must be, must have given her a little bit of peace to know that Jordan was with her mom. Rosemary and Dave were not happy. Rosemary spoke to NBC affiliate KVOATV after the ruling. Not the state's place to decide where my children stay. They're turning parents into babysitters. At first, Marilyn said, the Watsons resisted the judge's order. She attempted to have her visitation, but Dave Watson made it difficult by not answering the phone, by not being available.

Marilyn took them back to court for contempt. And once again, she won. On May 7, 2003, Marilyn was due to have her first unsupervised visit with now seven-year-old Jordan since the contempt hearing. Do you remember seeing Jordan off that day? Were you off shift? Oh yeah, I was off shift. Yeah, yeah. Booted her out the door. Have fun, huh? Yeah. Marilyn and Jordan spent the day together.

Do you remember what you all did that day? I don't. I don't remember that day. Maybe the movies? Maybe some shopping? Maybe something like that. But I don't remember that day. Maybe the movies, maybe some shopping. Maybe something like that, but I don't remember it. Maybe not, but what happened next was unforgettable. Coming up. I said, is that my sister? And he said, yeah.

And I said, is she dead? He said, yeah. Lightning strikes twice. How quickly, detective, do you start to connect the dots? Immediately. When Dateline continues. May 7, 2003. Linda and Marilyn's friend, Marnellnell Camp had just moved back to Tucson.

She'd made plans to catch up with Marilyn, who was elated at just having been awarded unsupervised visits with Jordan. What were the plans with Jordan? Just to stop at the house and see her and see Jordan and then possibly go with her to take Jordan home. But by the time Marnell made it over to the little house on Curtis Road... I drove into the driveway at 7, about 7.45, and it was dark. Nobody was there. Marnell must have just missed Marilyn, who was supposed to have Jordan back at Dave and Rosemary's home by 8.30. That's when Marnell remembered something, a TV appointment. I thought, oh, if I leave now, I can still catch The Bachelor.

Just a short while after she left, calls started pouring into Pima County Sheriff's Dispatch. sheriff's dispatch. Marilyn's sister, Pat, was just getting ready to turn in when the TV caught her attention. It was the 10 o'clock news, and right at the, you know how they roll something across there? It said, two ladies shot on

Curtis Road. Maryland Street. Pat rushed over and found an active crime scene. She saw an officer she knew. I said, is that my sister? And he said, yeah. And I said, is she dead? He said, yeah.

And I asked him, would you please let me go to her? He says, no, I can't let you do that. So I just kind of, what could I do? I just lost it there. It was nearly incomprehensible. Two tragedies in the same family. First, Linda disappeared. Now Marilyn, having just returned home from dropping Jordan off, murdered.

And Renee also, Renee was an innocent little neighbor lady. You know, she was just doing Marilyn a favor. Renee Farnsworth, the second victim. Marilyn's friend and neighbor who had gone with her to drop Jordan off. Someone had ambushed the two women in the driveway. Renee had been shot once, Marilyn twice, the second shot at close range to the head. This is incredibly rare to have a random act of violence to two women who have done nothing to anybody. How quickly, detective, do you start to connect the dots and say, this is the mother in the same house of the

missing Linda Watson? Immediately. Immediately. Several hours later, Pima County Sheriff's investigators went to the last place the two women had visited. Two detectives came over and had told us that they were there to do a well check on Jordan. And they started talking to us. Investigators told them there had been a shooting at Marilyn's home. They wanted to know where the Watsons had been. She dropped her off. You and your wife were here. How do you know I go home? I go home at 8.15.

8.15. Jordan came home at 8.30. The investigator asked if they had any contact with Marilyn. Did you ever make any contact with her at all? She pulled up. I was in the bathroom. So Dave said Rosemary came to the door. What does she make of what's going on? We're the same as me, just kind of speechless,

not just kind of taking it all in, trying to process it all. The investigators never told Dave and Rosemary exactly what happened that night. Dave said it wasn't until the next day that he saw the news and learned that Marilyn had been murdered. Did you feel bad about Marilyn? Oh, heck yeah. I mean, yeah. I mean, how could I not? This is Jordan's grandmother. There was someone else detectives needed to talk to. J.R., Linda's ex-boyfriend, whom Marilyn had accused of murdering Linda. Where were you on 7 May 2003?

Between the hours of approximately 1,800 and 2,100 hours, if you can recall. I was at home. J.R. told investigators he spent the evening with his fiancée and his kids. And for some reason, he felt the need to tell Marilyn's family, too. I got a call the next morning from J.R. telling me he had an alibi. It's kind of a strange thing. I never cared for the man. I told him, I just said, what do you need an alibi for, J.R.? Well, I just wanted you to know. And I said, okay, bye.

And I just hung up. The dawn had risen on the longest day of their lives. Marilyn, the matriarch of their family, the one who fiercely fought to keep Linda's case alive, was gone. For family friend Marnell, the heartbreak was twofold. I didn't realize until then that I never truly let go of the idea of Linda coming back until Marilyn was killed. And that's when I realized, oh, she's gone. She's dead. So this is a double nightmare. Yeah. Had you agreed to take Jordy home for the drop-off, you really would have been in this.

Most likely, yeah. Three years after Linda's disappearance, investigators had a whole new deadly mystery. And the key to unlocking it just might be a voice from the grave. Coming up, did Marilyn know what was coming? She said, and that's a gun laying right there. I won't be as easily taken as Linda was. For years, Marilyn Cox had been an advocate for her missing daughter, Linda. With Marilyn's murder, that role fell to her sister, Pat.

I felt like literally she handed me the baton. I told her, you know, I might not do as good a job as you, but as long as there's breath in me, I will do my best to try to find Linda, and I will try to find who killed you. Pima County Sheriff's detectives were working to do the same for Marilyn's family and for the family of Renee Farnsworth. Renee is as much a victim as anybody else. She was moral support, huh? She was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Investigators compiled the preliminary evidence from eyewitness accounts. We know as soon

as they got out of the car, they are attacked, accosted by a lone gunman, six feet to six two, slender, well-built, something covering his face, probably a hoodie. It looked like a targeted killing. There's no other motive. There's no burgl killing. There's no other motive. There's no burglary. There's no sexual assault. There's no car theft. There's nothing. But there was potentially valuable physical evidence. The bullet casings from the scene were a nine millimeter. And when you combined the bullet casings with the bullets from the victims, it was consistent with a Ruger nine millimeter P8585 semi-automatic handgun. Hanging over everything was the question.

Who would have wanted Marilyn dead? Detectives knew from the moment Linda disappeared, Marilyn had accused Linda's ex-boyfriend, J.R., of harming Linda. It became a nasty feud. They even tried to get restraining orders against one another, but a judge denied their requests, which is when Marilyn's attention seemed to shift. After about January of 2001, when J.R. and her had no more contact with each other, and she totally focused on Dave. Detectives knew, the whole town knew, that she'd been feuding with Dave and Rosemary over visitation with Jordan.

Pat said the reason Marilyn asked her friend Renee to go with her to drop Jordan off was that she feared a confrontation with Dave. She thought there was safety in numbers. Pat recalled an earlier incident, she said, when she was on the phone with Marilyn and Dave showed up unannounced at Marilyn's house. She let him in the house, which just blew me away. But she wanted him to feel better at having Jordan over there so he could see that it's nice, it's not dangerous, and I'm not planning on taking off. But, Pat said, the visit turned tense. So she showed him through the house and took him towards the little bedroom, and it was just off to the left there. And she said, and that's a gun laying right there. I won't be as easily taken as Linda was.

Marilyn warned everyone around her that if anything happened to her, there was one person they should look at. This is a letter she wrote to the sheriff's department in February 2003, shortly after she won the visitation case and just months before she was murdered. This is just to let you know that if I should suddenly disappear, that I am not on vacation, as they told Jordan Linda was. I hope you keep this on file somewhere because Dave has now lost some major control and he's having a hard time with that. She was nervous and she was scared of Davidid watson

of course investigators had already questioned dave and for good measure jr as well but once again they both had alibis that checked out so did rosemary she'd been at home with the kids when marilyn dropped jordan off ever look at rosemary as a co-conspirator here possibly she had interest in retaining custody of the child, too. They've been in on it together. Sure. You don't ignore the wife just because she's who she is doesn't mean that she's excluded as being looked at. Obviously, she's not a man running from the scene.

We know that. But could she be involved in it? Could she be planning it with him? Detectives had already talked to Rosemary, of course, but there was another potential witness at that house. What did she know? Coming up. How old are you, Jordan? Seven years old. My goodness, you're growing up quick. Jordan tells her story, and suddenly David Watson's story looks a little less solid. She does not know where dad was at 830.

When Dateline continues. Continuing our story. We all knew there's something very wrong here. What were the odds? First, a young mother goes missing. It became very clear that Linda was not coming back. Three years later, her mother is murdered. How often are a mother and daughter killed at the same house?

It seemed like there had to be a link, but what was it? There is a lack of physical evidence in this case. One person knew the truth. When you have a deep, dark secret, you don't tell people. But soon, someone would. All of a sudden, I just couldn't breathe, and I said, oh my God, this is it. Here again is Dennis Murphy. Three women, gone.

In 2000, Linda Watson disappeared from her Tucson home, leaving little more than traces of blood and a broken coffee cup in her wake. Three years later, Linda's own mother, Marilyn, who'd fought for answers for justice for her missing daughter, gunned down with her friend, Renee, in the driveway of that very same home. Detectives couldn't dismiss the strange coincidence of two tragedies happening at the same place to the same family. How often are a mother and daughter killed at the same house three years apart? That doesn't happen. When Linda went missing, two men were blips on the investigator's radar. First was her ex-boyfriend, J.R., with whom she'd had a tumultuous relationship.

J.R. insisted he was at his house the night of Marilyn and Renee's murders, and his alibi checked out. Plus, said Detective Kelly Anderson, There's nothing evidentiary at the scene that would indicate J.R. had any involvement, and he doesn't even match the physical description of the person the eyewitness saw at the scene running away. But then there was Linda's ex-husband, David Watson. He too, of course, had an alibi. He said he was home the night of the murders and his wife, Rosemary, backed him up.

But investigators were eager to speak with someone else at the house that night. A small child facing a very grown-up tragedy for the second time. How old are you, Jordan? Seven. Seven years old. My goodness, you're growing up quick. Dave's daughter, Jordan, sat down for an interview the day after her grandmother was killed. She told the detective that her adoptive mom, Rosemary, greeted her at the door when Marilyn dropped her off at home. Where was your dad when you got home?

He was outside. How do you know that? He came in and he told me because everyone thought he was still at a meeting. A curious response from the little girl that dad told her he'd been outside. He just came in the bedroom just saying goodbye. The detective prodded further. When you came home and your mom let you in, did you ask her, you know, is dad here or where's dad? Did you want to see your dad?

Yeah. Okay, did you ask her anything about that? Yeah, she said I don't know. Okay, tell me exactly what you asked her as best you can remember. I said, is dad still at his meeting meaning to say? I don't know. She does not know where Dad was at 8.30. Detectives wanted to speak with Dave Watson again. Do you think I'm in trouble here? These guys are looking for me for this thing?

No, no. I just figured it was a check mark on our list of people to go talk to. Once again, Dave told the detective he was home from his fire department meeting by the time Jordan arrived at 8 30. Remember though, the night of the murders, he said he was in the bathroom when Jordan was dropped off. Now his story was a little different. I'm up there messing with the dogs. I was up back. Small inconsistencies. But detectives also wanted to ask about their strongest piece of evidence. Bullets and shell casings consistent with a

9mm Ruger handgun. Did Dave own that type of gun? You still have a Ruger? Ruger? No. Sold that during the divorce. Yeah, I needed a quick catch. Who'd you sell it to? Uh, I don't even know.

A co-worker or somebody off the street? No, off the street. Put an ad in the paper. Well, we ended up looking for that ad, and we were never able to find any ad for a 9mm by Dave Watson. But when they looked in Dave's gun safe, they did find 9mm ammunition. by Dave Watson. But when they looked in Dave's gun safe, they did find 9mm ammunition. Why would he have that if the gun was long gone?

They asked the big question. To be point blank, did you kill Marilyn Cox? No, I did not. Do you have any reason to kill Renee Farnsworth? No. Do you know where Linda Watson is or what happened to her? No, still don't. A firm denial. And they had nothing that placed Dave at either crime scene. And detectives talked to Rosemary again, who confirmed what she'd said initially. I didn't look, but it was shortly before Jordan came home, so I'm going to...

It was either like 8.15, 8.20-ish, right in there. Which meant Dave could not have been the shooter. But then, a few weeks after Marilyn's death, her sister, Bobbi Cutesy, noticed something in Marilyn's backyard. As I'm coming back toward the gate, a reflection caught my eye. I said, look, look at this, look what I found. I picked it up, and it still, I think I said, somebody lost their money clip, and it said DDW. Anybody you know is a DDW? Well, we know Dave Watson, and his middle name is Dwayne. There was no proof it was Dave's, no fingerprints or DNA.

And even if it were Dave's, it didn't necessarily mean anything sinister. After all, he'd once lived in that home. Except... After Linda's disappearance, Marilyn got rid of everything that remained of Dave's. And by every account, anything that belonged to Dave was long gone. So what do you make of the initial money clip? Is it evidence? Just something maybe interesting or what? No, it's beyond interesting. That's certainly evidence. DDW goes beyond coincidence. And there was something else, an unusual comment Dave's friend Mike overheard. Dave allegedly says somebody brings up Marilyn's murder in the driveway. He says, well, I don't know what happened, but she probably deserved it. I did hear him say that.

I don't think that was a good comment either. I mean, I don't have an answer to that. I don't like to hear something like that about anybody, but that was him saying it. Bad blood, contradictory statements, shell casings, and a money clip. I imagine in your war room in the homicide offices, you're batting ideas back and forth. You're looking at Dave Watson for this thing. Absolutely.

This is a guy who kills when the issue of his child custody is challenged. Those similarities became glaring. But it doesn't seem to go anywhere investigatively. It does not. There is a lack of physical evidence in this case. And the suspect has an alibi for both nights. Three women gone and no answers on the desert horizon. And now all three investigations are in the vault.

All three go cold. Coming up. But for some people, All three go cold. Coming up. But for some people, cases never go cold. I just couldn't believe that these innocent women were murdered and no one was talking about it. Apparently, somebody was. I just found out they're investigating me again. By the spring of 2003, three women in Dave Watson's orbit were either missing or dead.

Detectives had their suspicions, but no hard evidence Dave had committed any crime. And so the cases of Linda, Marilyn, and Renee sat quietly, collecting dust in the cold case vault of the Sheriff's Department. We keep waiting and listening and hoping that something will come up. They'll find something that proves that Dave did this. And all the while, Dave continued to climb the ranks at the Tucson Fire Department, even if he couldn't quite shake the shroud of suspicion that surrounded him. I mean, this is tongues are wagging in Tucson. Oh, absolutely.

Matt McDonald, Courtney Corcoran, and Richard Johnson all rode horses with Dave and worked with him at the Tucson Fire Department. I mean, I went into a station and where Dave was working and the phone rang and one of the guys picked up the phone and they go, hey, killer, phone's for you. Yeah. I mean, you guys are tough on one another. Yeah, tough on one another. Somebody called him cold case. Is that true? Yeah. You did, Matt? I did. One day, his friend Matt decided to ask Dave Point Black if he had anything to do with the murders. He was very candid with me, and we spoke for probably four hours that morning.

You had questions, Matt. Did he answer them? Did he persuade you? He did answer them. His buddies were convinced. Dave had done nothing wrong. I never had any doubt that he was innocent. You don't see him as the guy in the hoodie? No, I do not. Not at all. I never called him on it because I never suspected Dave. Despite the whispers around town, Dave never left, and Jordan says he remained focused on his kids. My dad really tried to make

everything normal so, you know, we could have a normal childhood. But the ongoing investigation took its toll on Dave and Rosemary's marriage. I said, I can't do this anymore. And he said, okay. He asked if there was anything that he could do. And I said, I don't think so. By 2007, they divorced and moved on. Mega 106.3, Tucson's old school and R&B. Good morning, everybody. This is Rosemary. Rosemary worked as a radio disc jockey, supporting her family, including her adoptive daughter Jordan, who lived primarily with her. Dave was promoted to fire department captain. He earned it. It was not given to him. He earned it. Time, as it tends to do, kept moving on.

But here in the cold case vault sat those three cases. Linda, who was officially declared dead in 2006, Marilyn, and Renee. I think my biggest concern was always them being forgotten. Linda's friend Marnell did what she could to keep that from happening. For years, I sent letters to all the media, you know, just saying, here's the story. I was always just shocked that there wasn't outrage in the community. I just couldn't believe that these innocent women were murdered and no one was talking about it. But by December 2007, it seemed as though there'd been a huge break in the case. The local papers reported that the sheriff's department had new evidence. Information in this case is snowballing and we have to pursue that,

said an investigator. In reality, it was all a bluff. The cops planting a story, hoping to pressure Dave. They tapped his phone too and recorded this call he made to Rosemary. I just found out they're investigating me again. At what? Have the detectives came and talked to you yet? No. I just wanted to let you know because I just found out if they decide to knock on your door or come to a radio station, tell them to f*** off.

Dave seemed to suspect someone close to him was talking to the cops. When I got into his truck, he asked me if I was wired and he felt me out. Detectives interviewed a friend of Dave's named Luis, who told investigators about something Dave said at a party one night. He said, I know where she's at, period. And when he said she, did he say, I know where Linda's at or I know where she's at. Well, obviously, the conversation was about Linda. It was about her. Not so, said Dave's best friend's wife, who was at the same party.

She said Dave was talking about a missing dog, not Linda. Hard to tell if it was just an innocent misunderstanding or a slip of Dave's tongue that indicated something sinister. The mystery of Linda's disappearance and Marilyn and Renee's murders no closer to being solved. No way of knowing that out there in the desert, an answer had already been found. Coming up, someone took a horse ride out to the middle of nowhere. What was he looking for? It seems very coincidental that you would write it there when at that point in time, nobody else knew.

When Dateline continues. Linda Watson had been declared legally dead, but no body had ever been found, so there was no proof of a crime and no case to make against her ex-husband Dave Watson, not for Linda's disappearance or for the subsequent murder of her mother and a friend. All that changed because of a random discovery and a long-delayed laparotomy. So where are we, Detective? Why here? We are outside the Silver Bell Mine area, that being the Silver Bell Mine. Oh, yeah.

Very remote area, the northwest side of Tucson and Pima County. Remember, J.R. had lived off of Silverbell Road. Silverbell Mine was near the same road, but 20 miles from where J.R. lived. Way back in October of 2003, not long after Marilyn and Renee were killed, hunters found a partial human skull here. This is a high-trafficked area for undocumented border crossers, and unfortunately, many in the summertime, in the hot summers of Arizona, do not make it and perish in this area. The medical examiner's office in Tucson runs a unique program to identify such remains. But it takes time.

So a small portion of the cranium was removed for DNA testing at a later date, much later. Eight years later, in February of 2011, we finally get a DNA match back from that skull that was found in 2003, and it is a positive match for Linda Watson. Suddenly, the skull was a big priority. There was no sign of trauma, no evidence of how she died. Still, 11 years after Linda Watson disappeared, at last, here was proof she was no longer alive. That's when you have a case. That's when I have a case. Indeed, he did have a case. Three of them, in fact.

Detective Anderson took over as lead detective after Linda's skull was identified. By the time I got the case in 2011, it was 11 years old. And there was 11 years of investigative work that had been done. And I had to start piecing it together. It took him a year just to read through it all. There were so many things that stood out. But one in particular caught his eye. It happened years before Linda's remains were identified.

It was an aha moment for me. Back in 2007, when detectives planted that news story about the case heating up, he drove his truck and his horse trailer and rode a horse within hundreds of yards, at least no further than 1.1 mile of where Linda Watson's skull was found back in 2003. Speculate. What do you think was going on? I think he was going back to the scene to see if he saw anything, if we were there, if we'd been poking around, if nothing had changed. After studying every detail of the case, Detective Anderson found it convincing. It was obvious to me and everybody I presented this case to, that only one person committed these three murders, and that one person was David Watson. And he had a theory about how Linda's murder went down at her house. Manner of death, do you see it?

I have no idea. Something that creates a great amount of blood. And I think that he takes Linda in the very early morning hours out towards the Silver Bell Mine and buries her in a shallow grave in the wash. And as far as Detective Anderson was concerned, Dave was the only person who had motive to kill Marilyn, too. Motive outweighed everything in this case. We have two women who took him to court over his daughter. He got what he wanted as a result of these homicides. Enough to go forward? Maybe. But this wasn't the only high-profile cold case being rescued from the vault at the time. Dateline covered the case of Gary Triano, who was killed when his car

exploded in the parking lot of an upscale Tucson Country Club in 1996. They had new leads on that one, things to follow and do right now. Another four years passed. That other case was solved, and then in 2015. Bam, bam, bam, on my front door. Thought the thing was going to break in. And there's cops out there in tactical wear. They asked me to step out. Four guys threw me to my gravel driveway. You know, I said, I think you guys got the wrong person.

I told them that you're under the arrest for the murders of Linda Watson, Marilyn Cox, and Renee Farnsworth. And I'm like, no. I told you before I didn't do any of this. You know, and I told them, you know, I didn't do this stuff. You know, I'm no, I told you before I didn't do any of this. And I told them, I didn't do this stuff. I'm innocent, I told you. Linda Watson's friend Marnell saw the news on TV. We arrested David Dwayne Watson for three counts of first-degree murder. All of a sudden, I just couldn't breathe, and I said, oh my God, this is it.

And I started trying to call her aunt, Pat, and she just said, this is it. And I was like, are you sure? Are you sure? I just remember screaming and crying. And she said they just arrested him. I couldn't believe it. I just couldn't believe it. This is 15 years after Linda's gone missing.

Yeah. I just could not. And I still had to pinch myself. Dave's daughter, Jordan, couldn't believe this day had come either, but for a very different reason. She fully supported her father, believed there was no way he killed three women. All they really had was, you know, that he was in a custody battle,

and it seemed like a vicious custody battle. And when it came to a climax, somebody died. Yes. And that's all they had. There's no hard evidence putting him somewhere. You know, no murder weapon in his hand, nothing like that. They never found anything. You know, his DNA isn't anywhere that they were. And remember, Dave had a solid alibi. His wife at the time, Rosemary, told detectives she was with him at home when all three women were killed. He pleaded not guilty and in a recorded call from jail, told his friend Mike Bratton, he was counting on his daughter and his ex-wife to defend him. I want Jordan to be a witness on my behalf and I need Rosemary. I really need Rosemary to be my witness too um otherwise um it's

you know i we were a team once we need to be a team again dave had a big surprise coming did he ever coming up rosemary's dark and dangerous secret how do i look my daughter in the eye and live the rest of my life knowing what I know? I had told nobody. And when you have a deep, dark secret, you don't tell people. For seven years, Rosemary Watson carried the knowledge, buried down deep. It festered, ate away at her. If I never said a word to anybody, you know, how do I look my daughter in the eye,

you know, and live the rest of my life knowing what I know and keeping that. Rosemary said the seeds of this dark secret first took root in August 2000, the night Linda disappeared. She, of course, had been her husband's alibi, told investigators he was home with her all night. But she told us that wasn't entirely true. In the middle of the night, she said, she actually woke up. And Dave wasn't in bed. And I got up and I kind of walked through the

house and I didn't see him. And I went and I laid back down. I fell back asleep. Sometime later, she said, she woke up again. And he was not in bed with me again. And I was looking for him and through the house, kind of peeking out into the backyard. And then I saw him. Where was he? He was standing at the back of his Jeep. I could see him through our kitchen window. He appeared to be, he looked as though he was, you know, just kind of cleaning out the back of his Jeep. And then he comes in. He does come in, and he said, I went for a walk. And I asked him if he was okay. And he said, yeah, he just needed to clear his head.

That make sense to you? It did make sense to me. I had no reason to doubt him at all, none. And then Rosemary said Dave handed her something. He actually handed me a box of latex gloves, you know, and said, put these away, which, you know, I didn't think anything of it at the moment. This is your new husband you're in love with? Absolutely. You don't know all his habits? Nope, still learning. He might get up and talk to the birds. You don't know, right? He was an early riser. And so when investigators showed up

and asked where Dave had been the night Linda disappeared, I didn't mean to lie. That wasn't my intent was to lie to law enforcement. Did you say Dave's in a jam here? I got a cover for him. I said, I love my husband. He went for a walk. It looks really bad and very suspicious that he went for a walk. Now suddenly all this is happening. You know, he said, I'm home. And I'm like, he's home. So no walk. He was home all night. That was her story. And she stuck with it. Although privately, she said she couldn't help but turn things over in her mind. And at one point even confronted her husband. What I said was, please tell me that you're not involved, that this has nothing to do with you.

What did he say? I didn't do anything, and that was enough for me. And I said, okay. And so, three years passed. Rosemary gave birth to her son, adopted Jordan, and battled over visitation rights with Marilyn. And then on May 8, 2003, the investigators were at the door again. Marilyn and Renee had been shot. Where, they asked, had Dave been around 8 30 that night? Dave and Rosemary, as we know, said he'd been at home. But the truth? At that moment, Rosemary, was Dave home? Dave was not home. According to Rosemary, Dave did not get home until after Jordan was already tucked into bed,

sometime after 9 p.m. And he walked in, and I saw his face, and it's something that nobody will ever, ever take away from me. Tell me. Panicked, which panicked me. White as a ghost, sweating. I mean, just his eyes were huge. And it just instantly, it scared me

to where the very first thing I said to him was, what's wrong? And he didn't say anything. And I said, Dave, what is wrong? And he didn't say anything. And I said, Dave, what is wrong? And he didn't say anything. And he leans down, kissed Jordan, and he shut off the light. And he kind of pulled me around the corner and I kept asking him, what is wrong? What's going on? There were a lot of what the hell is happening. He started to take off his clothes in the kitchen and quickly and he said wash those i'm getting in the shower and he made a beeline for the shower and then when the investigator

showed up at the door he clearly stated you know been home and they asked you directly, was Dave here? Yes. You told him a lie? I absolutely did. I followed Dave's lead. But Rosemary says her insides churned. I mean, it really took a toll on me physically and mentally. Just everything terrified me. Dave terrified me. He handed me knowledge that I didn't want to know. I didn't ask for it. I didn't want it. And he left me there holding it. And it became a very, very heavy burden. Is that when your marriage becomes unraveled with Dave? It definitely starts there. It never was the same after that. It never was the same the dominoes said rosemary quickly began to fall dave's behavior changed and he had an affair months after marilyn's murder rosemary confronted him again i said i think you killed three women and his response to me was are you afraid of me dave she said blamed her for the

suspicion that had fallen upon him he had had made statements, you know, saying, people are saying that you're telling this town that I did it. And what he told me was, you need to shut your mouth. And what I said was, I'm your alibi. And that was a quote. And it was kind of left at that. A few years later, Rosemary and Dave were divorced. And it was in the midst of an argument over child care arrangements

that Rosemary said everything came to the surface. The moment that hit me was just when I said, please don't make me take you back to court. And when I said that, he took off his sunglasses and he said, don't f*** with me, Rosemary. And it did. It scared me. Did you fear for your life at that point? I...

Linda, Marilyn, Renee, I might be next here. I might be the subject of this, whatever is going on with this guy. There was a moment, yes, that I did. After this confrontation, Rosemary confided in her best friend, who urged her to call the sheriff's department. She met with an investigator. And I told him straight out. I said I lied. Both times. And I think as we went through conversation, you know, it kind of ended with, I never believed you anyway.

But the alibi had gone up in smoke. Yes. And there was no turning back. It was the truth. Detectives kept Rosemary's confession secret as they slowly built their case against Dave. When he went on trial, she would be the star witness. But by her own admission, Rosemary had lied for years. Why would a jury believe her now?

Coming up. Did any of that get to you, Jordan? Did she plant a seed? No, knowing my father, I really don't feel could go as far as to kill a woman. A daughter defends her father and explains herself. Being a seven-year-old, I probably wasn't very clear. When Dateline continues. Pima County Prosecutor Jonathan Mosier spends his weekends about as far away from a courtroom as one can get. I need a way to get it out of my head. Rock climbing, you have to be completely focused in the moment. Not worried about you, yourself, your life, or anything. All the chatter in your head stops.

And it's liberating. It just scratches an itch that I need to be able to go back and do the next case. And there were few cases as daunting as the one he took on in 2014. The defendant, Tucson Fire Captain David Watson, accused of killing three women. This is the pinnacle for a prosecutor to take a challenge, make the challenge almost insurmountable, make it big and overcome it. Mosier and his co-counsel, Nicole Green, felt they were up to the challenge. We had no doubt, no doubt that David Watson killed these three women. We just wanted a chance to put it in front of a jury. That chance came in October 2016. Two women battled David Dwayne Watson for control

and custody of Jordan Watson. Two women who are both dead. The prosecution called Jordan, who still believed her dad was innocent, to testify about that interview she gave at age seven. I said, is that what his meaning is? That is number one corroboration for when Rosemary comes forward later and says that David Watson was not home. Being a seven-year-old, I probably wasn't very clear, of course. But, yeah, I have no memory of that at all.

And she told us her relationship with Rosemary was never the same after Rosemary started expressing doubts about Dave. Did any of that get to you, Jordan? Did you start to turn these ideas around in your head? Did she plant a seed? Well, is there something to this? She really tried. I'll give her that. But no, knowing my father, I really don't feel could go as far as to kill a woman. Don't let the helpful fire captain image fool you, said the prosecution. Dave's training, they said, is exactly why he was capable of killing three women. What does a paramedic do? Response to bloody scenes. They remain calm in such circumstances. And this was David Watson's key attribute.

That, along with a mountain of other circumstantial evidence, the money clip, the nine millimeter shell casings, Dave's statements to his friends, the horse ride near Silver Bell Mine in 2007, all pointed to a guilty man, according to the state. You prove this case by a thousand cuts, a thousand little cuts, and there's not going to be the one aha moment that comes down from on high and solves this case. Wrong, said the defense. There wasn't an aha moment because Dave didn't do it. Representing Dave Watson, partners in law and marriage, Natasha Ray and Michael Story. And much like their prosecution counterparts, not ones to shy away from a challenge. This is the most monstrous undertaking we've ever had in our careers together.

According to the defense, there were any number of reasons why Linda, Renee and Marilyn died. Reasons that had nothing to do with Dave Watson. As much as the state says, Dave Watson, Dave Watson, Dave Watson, you're going to see it going in other avenues of people and circumstance. Other avenues, such as suicide, whether Linda's. With the drinking, an ex-boyfriend testifying against her, losing her job. Or even Renee's. The defense said Marilyn's friend had once discussed suicide, and they suggested she may have chosen an unusual method. We all know insurance won't pay if you commit suicide. Is your theory, or at least you're willing to consider it, that Renee,

the friend, has somehow commissioned her own murder? That was something that we had thrown out. I mean, Natasha, really, what movie are you seeing? There's some crazy people out there. Then there was the idea that maybe Linda's ex-boyfriend, J.R., was the culprit here. DNA consistent with J.R. and not Dave was found on a trash bag that had Linda's blood on it. Although J.R. himself testified,

nothing surprising about that. He said he'd been helping Linda fix up her house and that he had nothing to hide. I have cooperated with the sheriff's department in their investigation 110%. And remember how Linda went out drinking with her cousin a few days before she disappeared? The Circle S Saloon isn't far from a rural part of town called Green Acres. A witness testified she had heard someone in Green Acres talking about moving Linda Watson's body. She reports that that body was being moved to Silver Bell Road. And that is within four miles of where the skull was found.

So the geography matches. She had it. And this would fit the theory that Linda got into the wrong pickup truck, as I think of it. Right. The defense said Dave, an avid rider, had ridden out near the Silver Bell Mine before. But as for that specific trip on New Year's Eve 2007... I don't think that happens.

You don't believe he went for the ride? The defense highlighted that while Pima County Sheriff's investigators provided a printout of the GPS coordinates, they never saved the raw data. And what about that money clip with the initials DDW? The defense theorized maybe Marilyn's family planted it. We have our theories that this family was looking for a scapegoat,

and they believe Dave did it, and so they planted the money clip. Ludicrous, said Marilyn's sisters. We may be old, but we ain't senile. If I was going to do something that stupid, I would took it up front where the crime scene was. Why would I put it clear in the back? The defense also pointed out that there was no provable link between the Ruger Dave once owned and the gun that killed

Marilyn and Renee. It's not conclusive that it was a Ruger. But at the end of the day, both prosecution and defense agreed. The case hinged on the believability of one witness, Rosemary Watson. If you do not believe Rosemary, we don't have a case. It just chilled me to the bone. Rosemary explained to the jury why she decided to come forward in 2007. And I knew that I could not hold this in any longer because three women lost their lives and their lives matter. And then there was a critical detail. Rosemary testified that on the same day Linda disappeared, Dave found out his own mother was planning to testify on Linda's behalf at the upcoming custody hearing.

He begged her not to. Did he succeed? No. She was very adamant about testifying for Linda. The prosecution said everything was coming to a head that night. It's about control. And that's a man who's seething inside. The night that he finds out, he can't get his mother not to testify against him, his own mother. And that's how vicious it had become.

So you see the fuse being lit here? Yeah, I mean, I don't know when the fuse was lit, but it was getting down close to the explosives at that night. But according to the defense, Rosemary Watson was just not credible. She's either lying back when she gave the alibis, or she's lying when she recants the alibis. Jurors pick it. Well, they shouldn't pick it. They should take it and say,

I can't believe anything she says because I don't know what to believe. So for a seven year span, you have this story you're calling a lie now, right? It is a lie. And then the last seven years is the truth, right? I came forward and told the truth. I understand. They're completely different versions of those nights,

yes? They are. One of them is a complete lie, yes? Correct. That's all I have. The defense, in a nutshell, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. So she's lying to stick it to her ex, that's your theory? Exactly right. A point the defense drove home in closing arguments. She's a liar. And when you have a blatant, bald-faced liar like that, you cannot consider their testimony. You have to throw it out. The prosecution argued the jury should believe Rosemary, and not the wild theories floated by the defense.

The truth is, folks, in August of 2000, that man killed Linda Watson. In 2003, that man killed Marilyn Cox and killed Renee Farnsworth. No other evidence based in reason to any other answer than that. And now it was in the hands of 12 jurors. And right before Thanksgiving, they surprised everyone. Coming up, after so many years and one last twist, a verdict. We were all pretty positive that, you know, this is going to be over. He's going to come home. My hands were sweating.

I was nervous because I know the victim's families are behind me. And this is everything to them. Jordan Watson firmly believed her father was innocent and expected to have him home for Thanksgiving. You know, we were all pretty positive that, you know, this is going to be over, he's going to come home. Then, three days after deliberations began, the jury came back. But it wasn't what anyone expected. Was there any possibility that the jury would want to consider further discussions? Not at this time. No, not at this time.

The jury was hung. Dave Watson soon learned he'd been just a few votes shy of walking out of jail a free man. It was 10-2 acquittal in the case of Linda and 8-4 for acquittal in the case of Marilyn and Renee. Yeah, it brought tears to my eyes that it was even a hung jury. The defense contained their excitement and braced themselves. Any sort of conviction is a win, but it's a hollow win in that the state can come right back and charge it again. Which is exactly what happened. The retrial began on January 25, 2017. The prosecution led with its star witness. But this time, they retooled their case a bit. I read the transcripts from the first trial,

and one thing I saw too much of was me speaking. And so I doubled down on the idea that the jury needed to hear from Rosemary, and so I got out of the way. I asked shorter questions. The second time around was different. I asked shorter questions. Did anything unusual happen that night? Yes, I woke up in the middle of the night a couple times and Dave was not there. The second time around was different for Rosemary, too. Now I'm a little mad. Not only is he lying, he's making me out to be just a bold-faced liar.

She testified about how she had lied to protect her family and about what coming forward with the truth had cost her. Does Jordan call your mom anymore? Jordan doesn't speak to me very often anymore. Is that since this case? Correct. The prosecution called Jordan next so the jury could hear how her interview at age seven backed up Rosemary's claim that Dave wasn't home. Not so fast, said the defense.

I can only imagine if my seven-year-old was interviewed about a key fact that's going to decide a guy's life. It would be scary. The defense maintained Dave was home the nights in question. He didn't kill anyone, they said. They once again presented multiple other scenarios of what could have happened to Linda. She committed suicide. She was murdered by a mysterious killer from Green Acres. It once again presented multiple other scenarios of what could have happened to Linda. She committed suicide. She was murdered by a mysterious killer from Green Acres.

Or by the one suspect who stood out for the defense. If not Dave Watson, then who? It would be Carl. Carl Barton Jr., J.R. Nonsense, said the prosecution. There is no evidence linking J.R. to any of these three murders. None. After seven weeks of testimony, Dave's fate was once again in the hands of a jury. We were getting indications from questions out of the jury that they might actually go into the next week. I was thinking they're pretty hung.

But then, after a day and a half of deliberations, the jury buzzed with a verdict. It was St. Patrick's Day. Detective Kelly Anderson hoped luck would be on his side. My hands were sweating. I was nervous. I'm nervous over every verdict, but I'm more nervous now. And it's because I know the victim's families are behind me, and this is everything to them.

The stakes were high for him personally, too. He was retiring, and this was his last homicide case. The moment of truth, the one that had taken 17 years to arrive, was finally upon them. We, the jury, do find the defendant, David Dwayne Watson, guilty of the offense of second-degree murder of Linda Watson. Oh, when he said Linda, I didn't even have to listen to the rest of it because we knew if we got him for Linda, the other two was just an automatic. David Watson, father, friend, and fire captain, was also convicted for the first-degree murders of

Marilyn and Renee, the loyal friend who didn't even play a lead role in her own murder case. She was forgotten a lot, but my mom was kind of the meek, mild, quiet person in the back and just kind of went with the flow. And she was always there for anybody that needed anything. Jordan was heartbroken. Dave says he could not believe it. I would have never imagined that in a million years. From what was being presented in court, I thought there's no way, no way beyond a reasonable doubt you could think I would have done any of this.

Did you go over to Linda's house, abduct her, kill her? No. Drop her in the wash up by a silver bell? No, not at all. Did you get a 9mm, your Ruger, did you put on a hoodie and go kill Marilyn and her friend in the driveway of their house? Sure did not. Point blank range? Nope.

Who do you think did? Sweet Ben. What's your theory? Not the theory on who did it? Sorry. His attorneys would not let him answer that question, citing Dave's pending appeal. The man who made a career out of saving lives is now doing time for taking them. Dave Watson was sentenced to life in prison. Is it a kind of nice sentimental ending for your career as a homicide detective?

It's kind of bittersweet. There's a little bit that makes me want to do it again. The vault is three cases lighter now. And the families of Linda, Marilyn, and Renee have some measure of closure thanks to an enemy turned ally. One of the ironies here is that you ended up delivering for women that you had been fighting earlier in your life. You delivered for Linda. You delivered for Marilyn and her friend Renee. Ultimately, I did, didn't I? She hopes Jordan will one day come to understand that. Speak to her directly now.

Everything that I didn't want for her has happened. And so speaking to her, I guess the only thing that I can say is that I'm sorry. But I am always here for her. You're sorry, but you say you also did the right thing. I did do the right thing. If this was me and I died fighting for justice for my daughter, I would hope that everybody would just tell the truth.

But the truth, sometimes as murky and hard to see as the desert with night closing in. What with all those secrets and old bones scattered about. Unchanging. That's all for now. I'm Lester Holt. Thanks for joining us.