Dateline NBC - The Life She Wanted

Episode Date: March 17, 2021

Wife and mother Sherri Dally is handcuffed in a parking lot in front of witnesses on a Monday morning and taken into an unmarked car by a blond woman. But when her family reaches out to police, detectives aren’t able to find any record of the arrest. Where could Sherri be? Resources on emotional abuse: https://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/emotional-abuse-resources-n1260929  

I'm Lester Holt. Tonight on Dateline, a mother of two vanishes in broad daylight. And for one detective, it's personal. Sherry was an extremely devoted mother. Why would she go missing? This is a case to call on life its own. Because you knew her? Absolutely. You can't sleep, you can't eat. It's just worry.

Where is she? We had various witnesses that saw her getting into this car. There were handcuffs involved, a badge involved. Something was terribly wrong here. Who the heck is this woman, and what does she have to do with Sherry? She is not the kind of person to commit any kind of crime. Something this diabolical had to come from somebody else. Yes.

There was no escape for her. Sheer terror from the very beginning. Here's Josh Mankiewicz with The Life She Wanted. It all happened so quickly, in the parking lot of a Target on a bright Monday morning. A woman was handcuffed, bundled into a car, driven away. It left behind a mystery that would expose a troubled marriage, some devious manipulations, and the darkest corners of people's lives. You think to yourself, how could I have been that wrong about someone? Absolutely. You know, it was a perfect storm.

This little street of modest homes in Ventura, California, was just the perfect place. Nothing fancy, but close enough to the ocean to feel the salt air. Young families grew up together here. And in this neighborhood, there were only friends, at least until it all changed. May 6th, 1996, nurse Kristen Best received a phone call at work. It was the husband of her friend Sherry Dally, who also took care of Kristen's girls after school. I got a call from Mike that Sherry had just not shown up to pick up the kids at school. And that wasn't like her? No. So that day, Sherry's husband Mike had to pick up the kids,

because for some reason, Sherry was a no-show. She wouldn't just fail to discharge her responsibilities? Absolutely. She was completely responsible. Completely responsible. And you thought what? I didn't know what to think. When Kristen left work, she got back on the phone with Mike. He told me he was calling hospitals and looking for Jane Doe. Mike called the Ventura Police Department, too.

My wife dropped my boys off at school at 8.30 this morning. She's been missing since. I called the hospitals. I called the high patrol. She's gone. Where was she supposed to be? At home. At home with her boys and the children she watched after school. The officer wanted Mike to rule out all possibilities

and told Mike he should call Sherry's family before filing a missing persons report. And so Mike did. He called Sherry's parents' house. They live 90 miles north. And then called the officer right back. The officer took Sherry Dally be? Debbie English, who lived two doors down the street from Mike and Sherry, was pulling into her driveway when she saw Mike's family. They told me that Sherry didn't come to pick up the kids from school.

And they asked me, do you know where she would have gone? And I said, well, it's Monday. She would have went to Target. Suburban life tends to find its own rhythm. And on Mondays, after dropping off the boys at school, Sherry ran errands that usually included a stop at Target. So Mike's sister and niece went to Target and in the parking lot, they found Sherry's 15-passenger van, which she used to transport all her daycare kids. What they did not find was Sherry. The van was empty, driver's door unlocked, and inside Sherry's keys and a gift she'd bought for her mom, Carlene Guess. Carlene, who at this point still had no idea Sherry was missing. Around 8.30 p.m. when Sherry's parents got home,

her mom listened to a voicemail that Mike had left on their landline. He said, this is Mike. Give me a call. Something's happened to Sherry. All kinds of terrible things entered Carlene's mind. I thought, was she in an accident? Did she have appendix attack? Carlene called Mike back, and in an instant, her fears were replaced by one even worse. He said, she's gone. When we come back, Sherry Daly captured on camera. Detectives uncover security video from inside the store. Was she being followed?

I was concerned that Sherry Dally's van. Her personal belongings inside. But no Sherry. It didn't make sense. Everything about that scenario went against who Sherry was and who she'd been her whole life. Sherry Guess, as she was known until she married, was the youngest in her family. Number two, the completion of our family.

We had a boy. And 14 months later, we had our little girl. Sherry's mother, Carlene, says Sherry was sweet, but never a pushover. Spunky. She pretty much put up her dukes when she thought they should be. She was a feisty little girl. Carlene also says it was no surprise that Sherry grew up to run a daycare. She loved, loved, loved kids and babies and animals. Sounds like she was guaranteed to be a wife and mom someday. That was her goal.

In high school, Sherry met the guy who would make it happen, Mike Dally. Back then, everyone called him Hawaiian Mike, even though he was a local boy. She was so excited because she was going to be able to go out on a date with Hawaiian Mike. Big man on campus. Yes. What did you think of Hawaiian Mike? I thought he was a nice-looking young man. He had good manners.

When I told him, you know, what her curfew was, she was in on time. One thing that really impressed me was on Sherry's 18th birthday, he had delivered 17 red roses. And to come and take her out to dinner that night, then he brought the 18th birthday. He had delivered 17 red roses, and to come and take her out to dinner that night, then he brought the 18th rose. In person? Mm-hmm. He's got game. Yeah, I thought, this guy's pretty cool here. And she was clearly crazy about him. Oh, absolutely. After high school, they moved in together, and in 1982 got married. Mike worked full-time at a grocery store called Vons. Sherry worked there too.

And then came the babies. Life seemed to be working out just as Sherry had imagined. Her plan was married by 21, babies by 24? Just about. Did she deliver on that? Yeah, she did, I think, pretty much. Mike and Sherry lived down the street from his parents, on that block where life seemed so perfect. It's where they met neighbors Debbie and Larry English. I met Sherry when she had Devin and we had Robert, and we'd take the kids out to play, and they were the same age.

And we just started talking, and we got to be friends that way. Thank you, Sherry. Two families growing up together. Robert, hold still, please. When we were with them, we had some real good times. We were good friends, just couples, you know, with our kids. And then we both opened up daycares and we ran them side by side. That's how Kristen Best met Sherry. Kristen had just moved

to the area and needed help with her girls. She was at the Vons where Mike worked, checking out, when she mentioned she was looking for a daycare. He happened to be there and said, oh, my wife's starting up a daycare. And when I called Sherry, she said, I don't have any curriculum. Your kids will play. I'll take good care of them. Just from there, Sherry just became, you know, just a trusted, sweet friend in Ventura. It was a real blessing for my kids to be at her home. And home was exactly where Sherry loved to be, with Mike and her two boys. Until that Monday in May 1996, when Sherry went on that routine run to Target and didn't return. Her friend Kristen, who'd been helping Mike look for Sherry, let her mind go to a very dark place. I was concerned that Sherry was maybe abducted or something worse. Sherry's friend Debbie told police about a conversation she'd had with Sherry a few weeks prior,

when Sherry said a scuzzy-looking man had followed her around at the Target. By then, Ventura PD had checked out Sherry's van. They found neither blood nor signs of any struggle. Police also pulled Target's security video. And there was Sherry, at the register, and then exiting the store at 9.22 a.m. The cameras caught nothing unusual inside the store at 9.22 a.m. The cameras caught nothing unusual inside the store, but outside, people in the Target parking lot saw something else. Coming up, a witness with an alarming story.

She saw this person being arrested in the parking lot that matched the description of Sherry. Arrested like, like cuffed and locked up. Like, car pulls up, somebody gets out, walks up to Sherry and puts handcuffs on her. When Dateline continues. Losing a child, even for a few minutes, can make any parent breathless with fear. Are we there? And it doesn't matter if your child is 5 or 35, as Sherry Dally was when she disappeared. For her mom, Carlene Guess, it was simply torture. There's no feeling like that, is there?

No. And it never changes. We just wanted to find her. Let's get her home. Cell phones were a rarity back then, so Carlene did what she could. I wanted my phone that she knew open. I wouldn't let anybody call on that phone line that she knew. The second day, I had a new phone line put in. While Sherry's mother was waiting on the phone company, detectives from the Ventura, California PD were hearing about her daughter's case in their morning briefing. Detective Matt Harville was there.

One of the big items on that watch report was this missing person. And the sergeant actually pronounced the person's name Sherry Daly. And I thought, that's kind of pretty close to somebody that I've known from high school. I said, well, is it Sherry Daly? Turned out it was Sherry, Harville's friend from high school. Eventually, every detective they had was put on the case. Only one had a personal connection. You knew her in high school,

which means you also knew Mike in high school. I knew Mike, yes. Mike was kind of the big man on campus kind of guy. He acted like that. He drove a black Monte Carlo. I went to Ventura High School. There was a street that bifurcated the school, divided in half, and he would cruise down that street at lunchtime. Yeah, he was that guy. He was that guy. Matt Harville thought he was the right detective to talk to that guy. I let the group know, the detectives and the sergeant know that I know Sherry, I know Mike. I would be probably the logical choice to go over and speak to Mike about his missing wife.

Before Harville and his partner, Detective Sean Conroy, could head out, an officer who'd been listening in on the briefing spoke up. The officer said her sister had been at the Target the day Sherry was seen on security video buying a gift for her mom. And then, outside the store, the officer's sister witnessed something that caught her attention. Saw this person being arrested in the parking lot that matched the description of Sherry. Arrested like, like cuffed and locked up.

Cuffed and locked up, like car pulls up as Sherry's getting in her van. Somebody gets out, walks up to Sherry and puts handcuffs on her. Not a marked car, so presumably a detective. Not a marked car, exactly. Presumably a detective. The detective's a man or a woman? Female. Other witnesses later described the detective as a blonde. And she holds Sherry's head as Sherry's getting put in the car? Just like you'd see on TV. Sherry Daly arrested? Hard to believe, thought Harville. Boy, that doesn't sound like the person I knew over the years. I presume you guys would know if your organization, the Ventura Police Department, had her in custody. Right, we would.

How many other law enforcement agencies are around that might have taken her into custody? That could be a very long list. It could be Oxnard Police Department, Simi Valley. It could be a federal organization, California Department of Justice. Detective Conroy was relieved. He thought they'd find Sherry quickly, because one of those agencies must have something on her. We started running her name to see if there were any outstanding warrants.

Nothing turned up. Harville and Conroy hoped their visit with Mike Daly would provide some answers. When you're talking to Mike, does he remember you from high school? Does he say, hey, how you been? I didn't know you were a cop now. Oh, he knew I was a cop, but yeah, you know, he knew Does he say, hey, how you been? I didn't know you were a cop now. No, he knew I was a cop, but yeah, you know, he knew me. Hey, Matt, how you doing? We walked around the house. I looked for signs.

Well, maybe there's a domestic here. Maybe they have a fight. Things were thrown around. Nothing like that. House was clean. Nothing out of place. Mike said he didn't know what had happened to his wife. I'm guessing that when you talk to Mike, one of the questions you ask him is,

who did not like your wife? Who was angry at her? Who might have done her some harm? I don't know. Everybody likes her. That seemed to be true. Yeah, it was very true. I asked him if they had any issues, any problems. No, nothing out of the ordinary. I think he said something like, you know,

the normal stuff between husbands and wives. Well, that covers a lot of ground, doesn't it? That does cover a lot of ground, absolutely. Then Detective Harville explained to Mike Dally how these cases usually go. I told him, you know, Mike, your wife is missing. And the way we normally conduct these investigations is we look closest to the home. We start there and work our way out. So we're going to do a deep dive into your relationship with your wife and what's going on in your life.

I've got to say, I love the question, just in terms of tradecraft. Hey, look, this is how we do it. We start close to home and we go outward. So we're going to look at you and your relationship with your wife. Is there anything that's going to surprise me? Because you must get all kinds of answers to that. You do. You get all kinds of answers. The answer he received that day was

one Matt Harville did not expect. Coming up... Is there anything I should know about? He says, well, I do have this girlfriend. Mike Dally comes clean. An extramarital affair. When she found out, she came to me, and I just held her while she cried.

In any investigation, detectives need to learn everything they can about the victim and those closest to them. Sometimes that requires digging. Other times, an honest answer to a simple question is all they need. Detective Harville tried asking a simple question of Mike Daly. Is there anything that's going to surprise me or anything that I should know about? And he says, well, I do have this girlfriend. A girlfriend? Oh, yes. And he says, well, I do have this girlfriend. A girlfriend? Oh, yes.

And it got better. Mike said her name was Diana. But her last name? Mike said he just couldn't recall it. Where does she live? I don't know, but I can give you her phone number. So he gave me her phone number. So you're having an extramarital affair, but you don't know the last name of the woman you're doing it with, and you don't know where she lives.

Right. It's the ultimate no-strings-attached relationship. That would be the ultimate, yeah. Harville and Conroy took that information back to the station and compared notes with other detectives. Turns out, when Mike reported Sherry missing, he never mentioned a girlfriend. Mike also told another officer he and Sherry had just returned from a jet ski trip, and everything was going along fine. However, Sherry's mother had noticed Mike being short and dismissive with Sherry sometimes. And truth is, Carlene had wondered if Sherry was the one who had something else going on. I thought, it's not like her, but maybe she had a boyfriend and just decided that she wasn't going to put up with Michael anymore. And in some part of your head, you're thinking,

I hope that's true. I did. I thought, I hope that's where she is. Sherry's friend and neighbor Debbie English said Sherry had talked about walking out on Mike. She said, I ought to just go and leave for a couple days, not tell him where I've gone, so he could see how it feels the way he's doing me. Because Sherry did know about Diana with no last name, and Sherry had told Debbie all about her. When she found out, she came to me, and she was crying and told me what had happened, and I just held her while she cried. Kristen also knew about Diana and said she was afraid of what Sherry might do. Sherry was a strong girl and could take somebody down. You know, I used to say, Sherry, I don't want you to end up in jail. You thought she might physically attack Diana?

I did. According to her friends, Sherry did confront Diana after Sherry heard Diana not only wanted Mike, but the kids too. And so Sherry gave Diana a piece of her mind. And she told her she'd never get him, just to back off. And she told her you weren't getting Mike either. She would fight her for Mike. Because in Sherry's mind, the problem here is Diana's the interloper and Mike is blameless.

Absolutely. The problem was Diana. You know, if Diana would just go away, then everything would be back to normal. Well, that didn't happen. Diana didn't go away. But now Sherry had. The question was, where? Sherry was last seen exiting Target. Security cameras confirmed that. Then there were the witness reports of a woman believed to be Sherry, who was arrested just outside of Target by a blonde female cop. Except, detectives couldn't find any record of that arrest anywhere. And now there were some things about the arrest itself that just didn't feel right to these detectives. First of all,

the arresting officer seemed to be working solo. Typically, if I was going to go out and make an arrest, I'd have a partner with me, because I don't know how the person's going to respond. And this officer was alone? Alone. Then there was the car the officer put Sherry into. Back then, nearly every cop drove a Ford Crown Victoria. Not this one. It wasn't a Crown Victoria.

Which was, at the time, certainly the preferred car of all law enforcement agencies. You always knew there was a cop in the parking lot if wasn't a Crown Vic. Which was at the time certainly the preferred car of all law enforcement agencies. You always knew there was a cop in the parking lot if you saw a Crown Vic. Another anomaly. Sherry's driver's license was found inside her van. And if Sherry had been taken into custody, it's hard to believe that her ID, her driver's license, wouldn't go with her. Yes, exactly. I mean, that's one of the common things that you collect from a person to get all their correct information so you know they're not lying to you. To police, what witnesses saw outside the target was beginning to look less like an arrest and more like an abduction. That is such a bold move. I mean, what kind of motivation would a person have to take that kind of risk, to do that in a public place, and to go forward with that plan.

It's like something out of a movie. It's like something out of a bad movie, because it was reckless. So who was that blonde woman who'd handcuffed Sherry Dally? And where did she take her? Detectives wondered if Mike's girlfriend Diana could have had anything to do with it. With only a first name and a phone number, Harville and Conroy set out to find her. When we start researching that phone number, who does it belong to? So we looked it up, got an address in Port Hueneme that goes with that phone number. First name Diana, last name Haun.

Harville and Conroy began their first full day on the case with a drive down the coast of Port Hueneme to knock on her door. Coming up. There's Diana standing in front of us in a very short black negligee. And she's not alone. She's not alone. Well, he was telling the truth about having an affair. We confirmed it right there. Detectives would also confirm something else about Mike Daly. He had a rock-solid alibi. When Dateline continues. After Sherry Daly went missing, Detective Matt Harville told her husband Mike

how homicide detectives start close to home, meaning they'd have to look at Mike. When they did, detectives confirmed Mike was at work. At the same time, Sherry was getting cuffed and taken from the Target parking lot. He was stocking the shelves at Bonds, and he had a rock-solid alibi. There was the matter of Mike's girlfriend, Diana. That kind of thing never plays well with homicide detectives. However, it's common for guilty husbands to avoid mentioning their secret lives.

Not Mike. He'd been quite candid about Diana, although he said he didn't know her address or her last name. Didn't matter. Harville and Conroy were detectives after all, and they found Diana's home address. We drive out to Diana Hahn's house, and we get there, and the first thing that strikes me as we pull up is Mike's van is in her driveway. And he's not only with his girlfriend, he's found out where she lives. It was a miracle. It was a party waiting to happen. We go up to the door, we knock, and nobody's answering. Detective Conroy called Diana's home phone. She picked up, and he said something

along the lines of, it's the police. We're outside. Moments later, the door opened up, and there's Diana standing in front of us in a very short black negligee. Just out of bed. Apparently so. And she's not alone. She's not alone. And Matt and I step into the residence, and Matt just calls out, you know, hey, Michael, come on out here. And Mike came walking out of the back part of the house wearing a pair of boxer shorts.

Well, he was telling the truth about having an affair. He wasn't lying about that. And we confirmed it right there. So yes, Mike was honest. That did not get him off police radar. Because he's supposed to be at home waiting for the phone to ring, you know, in case a hospital called that they had his wife or just anything. When he's actually at the very first opportunity spending the night with his girlfriend.

Detectives wanted to find out if Mike's girlfriend knew anything about Sherry's disappearance. Mike offered to drive Diana to the police station. It was there that detectives separated the lovebirds and sat Diana in an interview room. What our goal in that interview was to establish a baseline of her activities on the day of the abduction. So we asked her to fill out a yellow legal pad with all of her activities.

Diana said she was alone most of the day. She put in there, she went on this long bike ride. That was a big chunk of her day. That was the day Sherry disappeared. That's the day that Sherry disappeared. By Diana's account, this bike ride took her nowhere close to the place where Sherry was last seen. What's more, the eyewitnesses described the person who put Sherry in the car as a white female with blonde hair. It was hardly an accurate description of Diana Hahn. Long dark hair. Long dark hair. And she's half Asian? Half Asian. She doesn't sound at all like the person that arrested Sherry Daly? No. Detectives ran Diana's name and found nothing alarming.

Diana Hahn had no criminal record. No. Never been in trouble with the law in any way. No, nothing. At 35, Diana Hahn lived with her mother. At one time, she'd had ambitions to be an actress or model. In a 1992 TV movie called She Woke Up, Diana is an extra in the background of this restaurant scene.

But you can't spot her. She now worked in the deli department at the same Vons as Mike Daly. Police spoke with colleagues who said Diana told them that she occasionally practiced witchcraft. Aside from that, it seemed the most exciting thing in Diana's life was the spell she'd cast on Mike Dally. Diana told police she was fully aware that Mike had two boys and that he was married. She also told them Sherry was well aware of her.

She did admit to the confrontations that they had had words. So she knows Sherry, and Sherry definitely well aware of her. She did admit to the confrontations that they had words. So she knows Sherry and Sherry definitely knows her. If the person who handcuffed Sherry was Diana Hahn, wouldn't Sherry have recognized her and refused to go along? Two days into their investigation, Diana Hahn was coming off as too soft-spoken and too meek to be a kidnapper. Because she's not aggressive. She's not mean. No, she hasn't threatened anybody. She's never been in physical confrontations.

At the same time, in the world outside that little room, the story of what happened to Sherry was spreading. And soon it caught the attention of someone who knew Diana. And that moment changed the course of this investigation. A co-worker of hers called into the detective bay and spoke to another detective. Diana's co-worker told the detective she'd seen Diana the day after Sherry was reported missing. And she'd noticed something peculiar. She said her face was all red and she looked like she'd been in a fight, and there were scratches on her forehead.

The detective hung up the phone and went to the interview room where Harville and Conroy were questioning Diana. He knocks on the door, and he goes, you know, did you see the scratches? And we were looking, and she had her hair done in kind of a, you know, surfer wave over the forehead deal. So we hadn't seen them. We go back in and we say, hey, move your hair to the side. There they were.

Diana said she could explain. She got the scratches during her long bike ride the day Sherry disappeared. She said she was riding back to her house and a couple guys in a black pickup truck ran her off the road, and she crashed. She have road rash on her hands? No road rash on her hands. Or any other injuries that might be associated with falling off a bicycle? No raspberries on the elbow or the knees, nothing like that.

Still, with no real evidence, there was nothing detectives could do at that point. And so they let Diana Hahn walk right out of the police station, along with Mike Dally. Coming up... Wherever she was, she was being held against her will, or worse. Frantic searches for Sherry, and a rental car brings in a brand new lead. The rearview mirror had been broken off. Suggesting a fight inside the car? That's definitely what we believed.

Sherry Dally had vanished. Her case was all over the local news. Our top story here at 5.30 today. The search for a missing woman in Ventura. She's a mother of two. She also runs a daycare center in her home. Sherry's husband, Mike, spoke with reporters. This is so bizarre.

Everybody, my neighbors, our friends, they all just can't believe it because they all know her and say, no, she'd never leave the boys for any reason. Even Sherry's boys went on TV. Los Angeles station KTTV was there when Mike took his sons to hand out flyers at the Target where Sherry was last seen. Everyone who loved Sherry was holding their breath. Every time the phone rings. You're grabbing it. Yep. Every call you hope is her.

Your brain is saying one thing. Your heart is saying another. And then we get to the weekend, and it's Sunday is Mother's Day, and Monday was my birthday. And you didn't hear from her? And I didn't hear from her? And I didn't hear from her. And I knew that wherever she was, she was being held against her will or worse. Soon the whole town seemed to be coming together to find Sherry Daly. People talked about it all the time. And so there was community people who wanted to help find Sherry. Kristen helped organize search parties. We all have kids.

We all, you know, if you're a mother, you can identify with a daughter missing. And I think that there's just concerned people, and that's the big connection here. The Target parking lot where Sherry was last seen became their command center. And we just would split up into groups and covered, you know, different parts of the county. As the weeks went on,

they all knew the odds were increasingly longer that Sherry was still alive. We were looking at the river bottoms and out in the rural areas. Places where a body might turn up. Yes, absolutely. Debbie and Larry searched too. We were hoping we would find her, but as far as Deb and I are concerned, we were hoping it wouldn't be us. We didn't want to see her in any kind of bad condition. No, you want to find her, but you don't want to be the one to do it. Carlene hoped Sherry would be found alive.

Detective Harville knew. All the signs pointed the other way. Carlene asked if we thought that Sherry was dead, and it wasn't looking good. And you were honest about that? I was honest about that. I really was. Harville felt he had to be, because for him, this case was different. Most homicides, I arrive on scene, and we have the decedent. I didn't know the decedent beforehand, so I can't put a personality, a voice, anything to that unfortunate victim. Sherry was a different story. You know, I can put a voice to it. I can put a smile. I can put a kind word to this person. Did that make your job easier or harder?

It didn't make it easier. I'd say it added another level of almost pressure to what I was doing. I mean, I needed to do the best I could for this person that I knew as a friend. All the while, detectives just kept at it. They knew they needed to find the car Sherry had been put into. Witnesses described it as a small, teal-colored sedan. Detectives looked high and low. Two of the detectives that were working this case, they went to local rental places, and one of the closest was the Oxnard Airport, and just started going from counter to counter. It took a while, but they found it.

The budget fleet contained a blue-green Nissan Altima that had been rented out during the time Sherry was abducted. And according to budget records, it was returned damaged. The rearview mirror had been broken off. The inside rearview mirror? Inside rearview mirror. Suggesting a fight inside the car? That's definitely what we believed, that a fight had occurred inside the car. By this time, the car had already been repaired and rented to another customer.

It was one more day before detectives got their hands on it. When they did, they could see with their naked eyes stains that to them looked like blood under the floor mat in the back seat. The crime scene investigators cut the seats and peeled it back, and you could see the blood had soaked into the seats. Also inside the car, some strands of blonde hair. Detectives believe the blood found inside the sedan had to belong to Sherry Dally. And to them, that confirmed the worst. Once you get that evidence back from the car, you know. We know.

Sherry Dally's dead. Yes. The only question is where she is. Where is she? So, who to ask? Maybe the person who'd rented the car. Budget faxed over the rental agreement. And the name on the contract?

Come on, you've already guessed. Coming up. Have you ever seen that car before? That's when you first find a car. It looks like you rented that car. Diana Hahn in the interrogation room. If you don't help us find Sherry, it's not going to be pretty, Diana. I can guarantee you it will not be pretty. When Dateline continues. Hey, Trudeau, my word, here we are. This conversation sounds like two people chatting it up at a bar.

You have a very interesting look, I have to tell you. In reality, it was anything but casual. Detectives were questioning Diana Hahn again, now that they learned she had rented this car that seemed to be the one used in Sherry's abduction. There was, at first, no mention of any rental car, just some questions about what Diana was like in school. Don't tell me you're a wallflower. And basically, I'm a junior high, I made it for shiny. Diana told them she had only one friend growing up,

and that these days, Mike Daly was her closest friend. And then, more than a half hour after it began, this interview got serious. They showed her some photos. Have you ever seen that car before? No. And a document. That's when you put your mind in the car.

It feels like you went to get a car. Diana Hahn had not only signed it, but had initialed it. You know, because they said, do you want this waiver? No initial here. In like five different places. The form even had Vons written in as her workplace. It was the big break in the case. It's not exactly a signed confession, but it's pretty close. Well, it basically said, take a big old look at me.

They read Diana her Miranda rights. She did not ask for an attorney, so they kept going. Detectives told Diana how, at that exact moment, other cops were searching her home. They also told her they didn't believe her bike ride alibi. They asked again and again, Where is Sherry? If you don't help us find Sherry, it's not going to be pretty, Diana. I can guarantee you it will not be pretty. This is your opportunity to show us,

to show everybody that you do care, that you have a heart. Diana sat quietly. You need to take us to Sherry. We need to walk out this door. We need to go get in the car. You need to point the way and take us to Sherry. That is the only thing you can do that is going to help with this investigation right now. I knew where I would tell you. Okay. The interview was going nowhere.

Conroy and Harville got up to leave the room. And then Conroy had another question. Can I take your purse? Is it under warrant to? No, but you're under arrest. Yeah, but that gave us access to the purse. And that was a seminal moment in the investigation with Diana Hahn. In her bag was a startling piece of evidence,

a photograph of Diana and Mike Daly with his two boys. Essentially, a family photo. Except, they weren't a family. family at the time he's still married to and living with the mother of those kids exactly after they saw that picture the detectives went back in and confronted Diana what kind of woman gets her picture taken with two kids and their father. What's on Christmas Eve? What kind of woman does that? I think being in the photo, that's realizing her dream. That's the life she wanted. That's the life she wanted. There was just one thing standing between her and her dream. A piece of paper.

What piece of paper? Divorce paper. There was no evidence Mike Daly had ever filed for divorce. And by now, detectives had spoken with Diana's colleagues, who told them some odd stories. Have you ever told anybody that you want to make a human sacrifice? No. You haven't? Not those exact words.

Diana said she couldn't remember her exact words. But a woman at work did. Did you tell her that you had a friend who had a birthday coming up and that you want to perform a human sacrifice for this person's birthday? No. Detectives knew Sherry had disappeared just weeks before Mike's birthday, and so they wondered, instead of buying Mike a tie or some aftershave, maybe Diana's gift was murder. Because, said detectives, Diana was obsessed with becoming Mike's wife and mother to his children.

What would you be willing to do for him? Would you do anything for him? Where would you draw the line? I don't know. Mike himself, you'll remember, had an alibi. He was at work when Sherry was abducted, and he could prove it. Still, detectives had reason to wonder if he might be involved. They pushed Diana, trying to see if she would say anything to implicate Mike.

And we said, at some point, he's going to leave you holding the bag. That's the plan. He has a rock-solid alibi. You know, you don't. At some point, he's going to have to give you up. You know, you're going to take the fall. Diane's a toy. Diane's like a jet ski.

Diane's like a jet ski. Diane is something to be taken out, played with, put away, and left until he was ready to come play again. Don't you see? Don't you see what's going on? But he takes care of me. They kept chipping away at Diana as she tried to defend Mike, her married lover. He's always been good to me. No, he has not. He has been awful to you. You don't want to see it bad in him because, you know, you're desperate. I'm sorry. You are desperately in love with him.

You guys are rolling out the heavy artillery. He's using you. He's taking advantage of you. He's going to get you to take the fall for something that's his idea. It really is almost like watching a TV show. Except it doesn't work. It didn't work. She wasn't giving us an inch. They needed a different strategy, and one soon presented itself. Mike had come in to talk with detectives that day, and he was in the room next

door. And while Detective Conroy was filling out Diana's arrest paperwork, Diana heard Mike's voice. Mike is here? Yeah. Will I be able to see him? I don't know. We'll have to see how it goes. Would you like to see him? Sometimes you put two potential suspects in the room together, and then something incriminating comes out. Sometimes that does happen. Coming up... I don't believe you did it.

Things heat up in the interrogation room, but not the way detectives expected. Diana was almost in a trance. He just pumped her up. It was amazing to watch. Police already knew Mike Daly and Diana Hawn were lovers. Now they were hoping to find out if Mike and Diana were also partners in murder. So they let the couple bond in an interrogation room. How we doing? They're scrambling my head again. They're scrambling my head too. It was clear Mike and Diana knew this was not a private conversation because, as they spoke, they sometimes whispered. It other times, it appeared Mike wanted the detectives to hear exactly what he and Diana

were saying. She, meaning Sherry, who knew that she would have seen you, she would have recognized you. She, meaning Sherry, who knew Diana by sight and who certainly would never have willingly gotten into a car with her. Mike tried to reassure Diana or, maybe, he was trying to help her get her story straight here.

I don't believe you did it. Okay. He was trying to help her get her story straight here. I don't believe you did it. Okay. All right. Do you understand me? You can only tell them the truth. Okay. That's all you can do is tell them the truth.

And it'll be all right. You weren't there. You weren't there. You weren't there. I believe that. On a video feed, Detective Harville watched it all unfold like a soap opera. Diana was almost in a trance. He came in there and he just pumped her up. You could see her just almost physically just get pumped up as he's getting her to focus on him.

She's like drawing from his strength. Absolutely. It was amazing to watch. Diana and Mike seem to have their very own love language. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Mike told Diana the detectives had it all wrong. Diana wasn't guilty of anything because Sherry was not dead.

The only thing I know for sure is that she's missing. That's all I know for sure. not dead. Mike told Diana not to worry about getting locked up. Detectives hoped putting Mike and Diana together might cause him to incriminate himself. Or cause her to crack and confess. That's it. We have things we have to do. Okay. I'll see you soon. Mike's behavior certainly made them suspicious,

but it was nothing for which he could be arrested. Okay. You all right? Mike? Out. As for getting Diana to crack? We go back in there, and it was like we were back at the beginning of the interview. I mean, all the ground that we gained was just gone.

Detective Conroy tried again. This time, he confronted Diana about a piece of paper they'd found in her purse, one that had Sherry's name on it, along with banking information. Diana explained she was simply helping Mike pull money out of Sherry's account because Mike was struggling financially. You cannot be that naive to call up and impersonate a person who is missing, kidnapped, to try to get money from the account. That's not what we think. We think she ran him.

She ran him. Left him with all his bills. Left him with all the bills. That's the line that he's selling you. We were looking for a way to get her to let go of Mike. And start seeing the world the way it really was.

Exactly. This is going to be a reality check. This is reality hitting you fast and hard. And Mike's not here to save you. None of it worked. Diana Hahn didn't spill. She may have saved Mike, but not herself. Sherry's mom heard the news.

An arrest in her daughter's case. And you thought, what? Who the heck is this woman and what does she have to do with Sherry? You've never heard that name before? Nope. Couldn't tell you anything about it, man, because they don't know anything. Mike did not seem eager to answer reporters' questions. I have nothing to say. There's nothing going on.

Did you know Ms. Hahn at all? Like I said, guys, you guys know as much about this thing as I do right now. I mean, she may have been the one who actually killed your wife. Then, just days after Diana's arrest, Diana, do you feel like you could be falsely accused? she was released. Sherry's good friend, Debbie, was astonished. How could they let her go?

You know, we all know she did it. The Ventura County District Attorney's Office decided there was not enough evidence to charge Diana Hahn with a murder in which there was no body. You might think detectives would be upset by the DA's decision. You would be wrong. You're not disappointed by that? You're okay with that? I thought it was great. And not only that, but when she was released, it was a media zoo at county jail.

That meant all of Ventura would get a good look at Diana Hahn. And it turned out, that was just what this investigation needed. Coming up, a new witness. I recognized her face right away. She purchased a wig. What color? Blonde. Bullseye.

Diana Hahn fooled her enough to get the handcuffs on her and get her out of that parking lot. When Dateline continues. Police suspected Diana Hahn of posing as a detective and kidnapping her romantic rival Sherry Dally in broad daylight. The question was, why didn't Sherry recognize Diana and just walk the other way? When police searched Diana's home, they thought they'd found their answer. There were photos in there of Diana Hahn made up to the point where I didn't recognize the person in that photo as being Diana Hahn. Photos like this headshot, which indicated

maybe Diana had learned enough in her brief modeling and acting days to pull off a disguise. It was certainly true that tying her to the crime scene had been a reach. Eyewitness descriptions did not match Diana until she got out of jail and her picture appeared on the local news. I recognized her face right away. NBC station KNBC interviewed this woman after she spoke with detectives. Recognized the picture of Diana Hahn and even commented about the family photo that was in Diana's wallet. Yes, this one. So the new witness had seen Diana all right. But even more important was where the witness worked, at a shop that sold wigs. She purchased a wig. What color? Blonde. Remember the blonde hair found in the rental car? Lab tests revealed it wasn't Sherry Dally's.

It wasn't even human. It was from a wig. Detectives also found a store that had sold Diana Hawn handcuffs and a badge. And they also found something most killers don't do. Write personal checks. What kind of murderer does all their prep work and pays by check? Not a very smart one. Diana also wrote a check to Kmart, where she bought a lady's jacket, sunglasses, and an axe. There's also another witness who was walking through the parking lot.

She was very detailed in what she told us. Definitely a female. Female's wearing like pancake makeup, obviously disguised. Obvious to that witness. Maybe not to Sherry Dally. Sherry'd seen Diana Hahn face to face. She knew her and didn't just know her. I think hated her.

And Diana Hahn still fooled her. Diana Hahn fooled her for a brief period of time. Diana Hahn was out of context. And she changed her appearance enough that it fooled Cherry. Exactly. Enough to get the handcuffs on her and get her out of that parking lot. All of that added up to a lot of circumstantial evidence against Diana Hahn, but not enough to re-arrest her.

Police needed to find Sherry. Detectives believed she wasn't far away. Records from Budget revealed Diana only drove that teal Altima 126 miles over the three days she had it. It allowed us to give the volunteer searchers some parameters for where they needed to look. Like this isn't going to be in Reno. Exactly. Yeah. California's Ventura County is nearly twice the size of the state of Rhode Island, meaning there was a lot of rugged terrain still to search. Sherry's friends, and people she'd never even met, had been out on foot weekend after weekend, turning up nothing.

They never gave up. On Saturday, June 1st, four weeks after Sherry disappeared, her friend Kristen was again out with a search party. Parked the car and we walked along this area for about 45 minutes. And then I saw her sunglasses on the side. And I knew they were her sunglasses. At the side of the road was a steep drop. So a couple of the guys from our group went down into the ravine.

The guys held up a pair of black shorts. I just said, that's hers, you know, that's hers. Volunteers who'd been combing this area for weeks found Sherry Dolly's skeletal remains here. Detectives had already seen the bloodstains inside the rental car and had learned of the broken mirror that had been repaired. Soon, Sherry's autopsy report completed the picture. I believe that there was a hellacious fight in that car. Police believe before the car was out of the Target parking lot,

Sherry Daly figured out who was driving. That has to be a horrible moment of realization for Sherry. This person who's just arrested her isn't a police officer. It's her husband's girlfriend. I can't imagine what was going through Sherry's mind at that moment. The detectives suspect Sherry somehow slipped her handcuffs to the front. And the fight was on. Sherry Daly bravely fought for her life and fought for her family.

Sherry's hands are handcuffed, but she's grabbing onto Diana Hahn. She couldn't drive through town with Sherry fighting her from the backseat of the car. So Diana Hahn was forced at that time to subdue her. These detectives believe that by the time the teal Nissan exited that parking lot, the fight was over and Sherry Daly was either dead or close to it. She was beaten and she was stabbed. She was stabbed, absolutely. There were some nick marks on ribs which the medical examiner was able to conclude were caused by a knife. There were knife holes in the bits of clothing found with Sherry's remains. Now those who loved Sherry could say goodbye. Mike came to that memorial and brought along his and Sherry's boys.

He came in reasonably late with a kid in each hand, and we just swaggered on in and sat down. Mike's swagger was apparent to detectives, who were also in attendance. Does he know he's under suspicion at that point? He has to. I'm sure he does. They also knew it was unlikely the girl voted most shy in school had planned a brutal, complicated murder on her own. Detectives were convinced Mike was deeply involved in this. I believe that Mike thought he was Teflon coated. I think all the way through this, he thought he was just Teflon coated. This is going to slide right off him.

In the same way that he sort of felt he never had to even hide his relationship with Diana Ha. Exactly. He didn't make us hunt for it. If you're committing a murder, you sort of have two ways to go, right? You can try to guarantee that you'll never be a suspect, which is pretty tough if you're the victim's husband. Or you can try to guarantee that there will never be a good enough case against you. Right. And I think Michael believed that he was smarter than we were.

Well, he was wrong about that. Yes, he was wrong about that. Yes, he was. Coming up, a look inside Sherry's marriage, and the view is dark. He had this pillow of Diana Hawn on his bed. He wouldn't let her remove that from the bed. So every time she gets in that bed, there's three people in it? Yeah. When Diana Hahn was released from jail, many people close to Sherry Dally were frustrated at the thought that somehow Diana had won.

She wanted to get rid of Sherry so she could have Mike. Sherry's friends wanted Diana back behind bars. And after her release produced some new witnesses, they soon got their wish. A frowning Diana Hahn being transferred from the Ventura Police Station to the county jail. It's not the first time she's been in custody, but officials believe this time she'll stay there. Sherry's friends also hope to see Mike heading to the county jail. He didn't love Diana Hawn. He didn't love her at all. You don't think so? No, he used her as a pawn. He wanted her to do his dirty work.

Once it was done, he would pretty much be free and clear. Mike still had that alibi. But remember what Detective Matt Harville told Mike right from the start. I told him that we look closest to the home. When they did, they found that Sherry Daly's life was hell, courtesy of her husband. There was no evidence of physical abuse by Mike against Sherry, but there was plenty of evidence of all other kinds of abuse. The picture that we put together was that it was an extremely emotional, abusive marriage.

Sherry would get up at two in the morning to warm Mike's shower water. She was more of a role of a servant than a wife. And her friend said he was mean. He used to tell her she was fat all the time. With other people around? Yes, he didn't care. He'd abuse her verbally that way. He'd make her feel like she was worthless. Police learned Mike would get phone calls and then just disappear, sometimes for days.

Mike often told Sherry the call was from a guy named Alex. He would describe Alex as a guy he worked with at Vons? Yes. Sherry's friends say Alex occasionally called the house, even speaking with Sherry before she'd pass the phone to her husband. At one point, detectives learned Mike even moved in with his work buddy Alex. How long until she figured out that was actually the other woman impersonating a man? Maybe six months or more when she found out.

She caught them together. Alex, it turned out, was Diana Hahn. And in that instant, I guess, realized the phone calls, the disappearances, the Alex that didn't really exist, that was all about Diana Hahn and her husband getting together. Yes. Friends told detectives that after about five months of living with Diana, Mike moved back home. And Sherry somehow felt the onus was on her to change herself to keep Mike. She wanted to lose weight. She changed the way she dressed. She started wearing makeup. She had to make herself more attracted to Mike.

And then there was the pillow. He had this pillow of Diana Hahn on his bed. A pillow with Diana's photo on it, on their bed. Sherry could not avoid seeing it. He wouldn't let her remove that from the bed. And that was their bed. But that pillow had to stay on that bed. So every time she gets in that bed, there's three people in it. Yeah. How incredibly insulting. It was. By her last Christmas, her friends say Sherry was pretty much emotionally depleted, and the psychological torture was not over.

It was Christmas Day in the afternoon. And Sherry comes to your house and she's crying? She wasn't crying, she was just upset. We tried to get her to stay, and she was really upset and sad. Sherry confided in her good friends that Mike had taken off to spend Christmas Day with Diana, and he took the boys. This is way past the place where a lot of women would just say, if you're going to leave me on Christmas Day to go to your girlfriend's,

you shouldn't come back. Yeah, they would have, but Sherry didn't. She just didn't want to be without Mike. Mike was her, the one she wanted, and that's who she was trying to keep. Sherry kept all of this from her mother. Carlene only learned of it after Sherry was murdered. I have trouble believing that you brought her up to say yes to everything. Oh, no.

So what's going on? Hindsight, he's the puppeteer, and she was the puppet. And Sherry was somehow convinced this is the price of a happy marriage. Exactly. This spunky little kid that would, you know, if there was a race to be run at the turkey trot for the Parks and Recreation Department, doggone, she was going to win.

And she did. And then all of a sudden she became a meek, controlled woman. Emotional domestic violence. That's what this was? That's what this was. Emotional abuse isn't proof of murder, though there was plenty of circumstantial evidence,

like Mike never joining in any of those searches when Sherry was missing. And we already know he wasn't waiting by the phone to hear from either Sherry or the cops. Mike actually called to tell me that he just needed to get away, and he was going down to Dana Point or somewhere to jet ski. Wait a second, wait a second. With his wife missing?

Right. His indifference spoke volumes, and there was this. The best evidence I believe against Michael is how did Dinah Hahn know when to be a target when Sherry was going to be there? That could only have come from Mike. That could only have come from Mike.

Coming up, the trial begins. Was Diana Hahn a killer? Sherry's blood in the car she rented. Blonde hair that comes from a wig. Correct. And she doesn't have an alibi. Right. Not a plausible one. And the defense?

Just wait till you hear that one when Dateline continues. Mike Daly was living life a free man, raising his and Sherry's boys. Diana Hahn was in the slammer, waiting for trial. She and Mike spent a lot of time putting pen to paper. We both know that we are, as all centuries passed, destined to be together. Your man and cubs are waiting for you to come home. The theme of these letters would seem to be undying love. Prosecutor Lila Henke-Dobroth saw something else, evidence of Mike's control of Diana.

They were writing letters back and forth and back and forth, very supportive of one another, expressing their love and what they were going to do when Diana got out of jail and how they were going to be together. And you will be the mother of my children. And he constantly said things to feed her encouragement to be strong, be strong, Di-Di. And don't talk. And don't talk. We'll walk out. We'll live happily ever after. Maybe Mike didn't know it, but you probably do. That wasn't going to happen.

November 15th, 1996. Police had spent six months in a deep dive into Mike Daly's life. And now they had enough for an arrest. I just happened to walk to the front door and all these police cars, unmarked and regular ones, came and they just zoomed right in front of his house. Mike was arrested for his wife's murder. They went in, brought him out in handcuffs. It looked like they pulled him out of bed.

But, I mean, that was a happy day. It was happiness leavened with worry. Larry and Debbie weren't confident that Mike Daly would be convicted. They believed he was a murderer, and they were afraid of him. So after years of living on that perfect little block near the ocean, the Englishes decided it was time to leave. I couldn't live there anymore. You lived in Ventura for how long, Debbie?

Well, I was born and raised there. And you were going to leave your hometown because Mike might get acquitted. Yes. August 4, 1997. Diana Hahn's murder trial began. And with that, it appeared Mike and Diana's undying love was no more. Diana's attorney pointed the finger at Mike,

and then rolled out for the jury a defense that maybe they hadn't heard before. Maybe no one had heard it before. Yes, Diana was blinded by love. And yes, she bought the items used in Sherry's abduction. But it wasn't Diana in that parking lot. It wasn't Diana who killed Sherry. Diana could never kill anyone because she was a vegetarian. According to the prosecutor, the evidence told a different story. Of an obsessed woman who was into witchcraft and wanted to give her man a human sacrifice. His own wife.

Sherry's blood in the car she rented. Blonde hair that comes from a wig. Correct. You find the place where she bought a badge and handcuffs. And she doesn't have an alibi for the time of the abduction. Right. Not a plausible one. Remember, Diana had said the injuries to her face came from a bicycle crash. At trial, her attorney acknowledged that was a lie. But he did not say what the real story was. The jury deliberated for nearly five days.

We, the jury, in the above entitled action, find Diana J. Hahn guilty of willful, deliberate, premeditated murder. They convicted Diana of murder, kidnapping, and conspiracy, and sentenced her to life without parole. Mike Daly, Diana's lover and perhaps co-conspirator, went on trial a few months later. Proving that Michael Daly is a terrible husband, a terrible man, terrible in almost every way I can think of, that's a lot easier than proving

that he's guilty of conspiring with Diana Hahn for Sherry's murder. Yes, it is. Mike's attorney told the jury this murder was all Diana Hahn's doing. She wanted Mike, and that meant getting Sherry out of the way. Michael Daly had set this up

so that his fingerprints weren't going to be anywhere on this. He didn't do the abduction. He wasn't in the car, didn't rent the car, wasn't at the scene of wherever Sherry was killed, was not present when her body was dumped. He had gotten Diana Hahn to take all the risks. Well, his physical fingerprints weren't on it.

But clearly he was conspiring with her, then planning with her, the whole time. The prosecutor said Mike's work alibi was one part of a very involved plan. He's at work. He's doing his job. He's talking to his co-workers. Nothing unusual. And he's clearly not leaving for a period of time. Never left the store. Clearly there. And he's clearly not leaving for a period of time. If the plan was for Mike to be at work while the kidnapping was done by a woman, well, that worked for a while. Then the kidnapping galvanized the community.

First, the searchers. We're looking at maybe a 40, 50 mile radius. And then a different part of the community. People came forward that maybe you wouldn't think necessarily would want to become involved. Street criminals made it clear that if Mike had a whole second life with Diana Hahn, he had a third life as one of them. He did drugs, he sold drugs, and he hired prostitutes. When you're such a terrible guy that you treat your drug dealer and your prostitutes badly, so badly that they are willing to talk to the cops about you, that's some indication of what kind of person you are. Exactly. There was one woman in particular who spoke of an evening she spent with Mike while Sherry was still missing.

Michael Daly drives to the location overlooking the drop, the ravine where her body is, and he's there with a prostitute and some cocaine he bought. That's correct. Of course, that woman had no idea Sherry's body was so close by. The prosecutor says Mike Daly had to know. This is him getting some kind of thrill out of having sex and doing drugs right almost on top of his wife's body. In your face, Sherry Daly. I know where you are.

I did it. and here I am. And there was a witness named Sally, someone Mike had worked with years earlier. Mike had started seeing Sally on the side, just like Diana Hahn. What's more, Sally testified, Mike had asked her to kill Sherry. And she said, Michael Daly had tried to co-opt me into abducting and murdering his wife when we were boyfriend-girlfriend, and I broke off the relationship. So she's essentially saying I was Diana Hahn before Diana Hahn was Diana Hahn. Exactly. She gave us very specific, detailed facts about what Michael Daly wanted to have done to his wife, how he wanted to have her tortured.

He wanted her to feel pain. He wanted her to be stabbed. He wanted her tossed over a cliff so they couldn't find the body. Because if you can't find a body, you can't be prosecuted. How many of those things that Sally described ended up happening to Sherry Daly?

Every single one of them. If the prosecutor was correct, Mike Daly was a diabolical puppet master. Someone who'd found the perfect marionette in Diana Hawn. We wondered what Diana would have to say about that. Hello, Diana. Yeah. It's Josh Mankiewicz from Dateline. Hi.

So, we asked her. Coming up. Okay, so, wait a minute. You rented the car. You saw the blood in it. But you have no idea how the blood got there. Diana speaks out. Trusting him and believing in him, that was a big mistake. And the verdict for Mike? What would that be? This is Global Telelink. You have a prepaid call from...

Diana Hahn. An inmate at the Central California Women's Facility. For more than 20 years, Diana Hahn has been in prison for the murder of Sherry Daly. Over all of that time, she has maintained her innocence. Why'd you kill Sherry Dally? I didn't. You didn't? No.

Diana Hahn told me she could never kill, and she wouldn't have done it for her boyfriend, Mike. Did Michael Dally ever ask you to kill his wife? Yeah, he did, and I told him no. I said, you know, no. Because thou shalt not kill. And did you ever tell Sherry Daly? Did you ever think about that? No, because he had told me what a bad person she was and how she was really bad to him and bad to the kids.

Did you tell the police? I don't remember. Well, they remember, and you did not. Okay. She admitted she rented the Nissan Altima and bought props to play cop, but said it was all for a practical joke, not for a murder. At least, that's what she says Mike told her. Who is that in the wig and the rental car?

Who is it that pretended to arrest Jerry Daly? I don't know. She says Mike or some unnamed co-conspirator picked up the rental car the night before the murder from outside her house. And then returned it late the next day. That's when Diana says she saw the stains inside, which she tried to clean up. Okay, so wait a minute. So you rented the car, you saw the blood in it, you cleaned the blood out of it, but you have no idea how the blood got there?

I didn't know what it was that was there, because it was brown. But when I started cleaning it, it turned red. She did not mention that to detectives at the time. What she did talk about was the supportive, loving relationship she had with Mike. Today, Diana Hahn seems to feel a little differently. You feel you should be held responsible for anything here? So felony bad judgment, but not murder. And having an affair, that was a big mistake.

Now, she says, she thinks Mike was setting her up the whole time. You think it was Michael's plan to have you take the fall for this? After hearing what his former girlfriend had said, yeah. The former girlfriend who testified at Mike Daly's trial. After the jury heard from that ex-girlfriend and everyone else who testified against Mike, they took four days to deliberate. When they finally came back, Sherry's mother, Carlene, was in court. And it was, hold your breath, you know, and then they came in with the guilty verdicts. Every time a verdict was read, the people in the hallway that were waiting would cheer. The prosecution wanted Mike sentenced to death, trying to save his own life. He took the stand in the penalty phase

to say he had nothing to do with his wife's murder. He came across as a sociopath, you know, not caring, a liar. A murderer. Yeah, a murderer. Yeah. Cold-blooded murderer with no remorse, no regret. The jury could not agree on death, so Mike Daly was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole. Even sitting in jail, Mike continued to point the finger at Diana in this interview with TV station KEYT. There's only one person that knows what happened to Sherry.

Who? And that is Diana. Can you describe Sherry and Diana's relationship? Not good. They both hated each other. They both wanted me. That hate and that desire seem born out of Mike's manipulation. It's as if he had a personal quest to see which of the women in his life he could treat worse.

In the years since, Carlene has cried and prayed over what happened to her only daughter. And somehow, she's come to forgive Diana Hahn. She sees Diana as a victim of Mike's as well. Even though it's Diana who abducts your daughter and who kills her in that car and who pretends to be a police officer and puts handcuffs on her and dumps her body. Yes. You've forgiven her. Yes. Your forgiveness does not extend to Diana Hahn being let out of prison.

No. She needs to stay there for the rest of her life and suffer the consequences. Period. Michael, I will never forgive. And now, in an extra cruel twist of fate, Sherry and Mike's sons, Devin and Max, who were raised by Mike's parents, do not want to be a part of Carlene's life. Devin and Max did not respond to our requests for interviews. There aren't too many punishments worse than cutting a grandmother off from her

grandchildren. Yeah. Or burying your daughter. And you've done both. Yeah. Or burying your daughter. And you've done both? Yeah. Carlene still goes to the spot where Sherry was found. There's so many new things. So many years later, there's still a memorial. Carlene wishes her daughter had told her more about what was really happening inside the Daly home. I've learned a lot about the difference

between emotional and physical domestic violence. Doesn't always leave bruises you can see. Nope. Carlene hopes telling her daughter's story will help someone else who's trapped in an emotionally abusive relationship to recognize that danger. And to do what Sherry Daly could not do.

Get out alive. That's all for this edition of Dateline. We'll see you again Thursday at 10, 9 central. And of course, I'll see you each weeknight for NBC Nightly News. I'm Lester Holt for all of us at NBC News. Good night.