Dateline NBC - The Mystery on Horseshoe Drive

Episode Date: November 30, 2021

In this Dateline classic, a man is shot and killed while picking up his daughter for a court-ordered visit. Rob Stafford reports. Originally aired on NBC on October 8, 2010.

He married the woman of his dreams, beautiful and sweet. She's just angelic. And was folded into her tight-knit family, headed by an elderly religious matriarch. You were either part of their family or you weren't. Together, they had a little girl, Sydney. When their marriage fell apart, his wife's family closed ranks. In their view, Sydney was their property. One day, he went to pick up his little girl for a visit and was never seen alive again.

He died right there. But who would kill a devoted dad? The unbelievable choice. His golden girl wife or the gracious family matriarch? They seem so loving, but was there another sign? It's a monster that comes out of a closet. It's very ugly. How dark is that sign? Murderous. But which one was the killer? I'm Lester Holt, and this is Dateline. Here's Rob Stafford with the mystery on Horseshoe Drive.

In the home of a God-fearing family, in one of the smallest of American towns, the worst of crimes. Please come and help us. Okay, I'll get ahold of the ambulance, alright? Yes. Okay. The crime became a mystery, a whodunit. It's a puzzler. It's almost a game of three-card Monty.

And it made many people in town wonder about one particular family, about what had been going on behind the closed doors of their home. How well do you really know your neighbors? How well do you really know the people that surround you? Get one? Can we feed it to him? Our story begins with Stephen Watkins, who'd grown up in tiny Chandlerville in rural central Illinois, population 700. He'd had the kind of ideal childhood he wanted to recreate on his own. I think that was probably his biggest goal in life, was to have

that family that he grew up with. Stephen's parents, Penny and Dale, say even as a kid, their boy was always holding his younger sister, Ashley, or cousins, playing with them, showering them with attention. He loved kids, loved people, and he always wanted to have kids and be around them. He was patient and kind and had a smile for everyone. You could always see the smile in his eyes. I could just look in him and see the joy of life. Brandi Tolley ran cross-country with Stephen in high school back in the 90s. Just a really good guy, genuine, loved his family.

I don't think he had an enemy in the world. Just always looked out for people. In his 20s, Stephen joined the military. I think he wanted to get out and see a different part of the world. He was raised in a small town, and he felt like the military could offer him a venture. Stephen signed with the Coast Guard and moved to Virginia. But not long before he left, a former girlfriend gave birth to a baby girl named Alexandria, Alex. It was his baby girl, and he immediately jumped in as her father. Stephen was right there. When she was born, he doted over. He was just excited about every little thing.

He would sleep right by Alex's bed, holding her little hand. I mean, that's just how he was. The former girlfriend regularly took Alex to visit Stephen in Virginia, and the bond between father and daughter grew strong. Alex's mother then realized Stephen could offer more stability and a better home life for their daughter than she could, and she gave him full custody of her. That says a lot about him as a dad. Yes. Stephen was responsible, and that says that he was determined to be part of his children's life.

When Alex was two, Stephen moved her to Virginia to live with him full time. He made sure she was in a good daycare, and there was always times when he had to make sure he ran out and got her at the right time. Did he complain that he didn't have freedom? Absolutely not. He was content with that. But Stephen also wanted a wife. When his Coast Guard service ended, he returned home, living in a house behind his parents and got a job with the state. About a year later, Stephen noticed an attractive woman whose office shared a parking lot with his. He was really excited. You know, he felt like I found what I've been looking for in life. That woman was Jennifer Webster, who'd grown up around the corner from

Stephen's friend Brandy. She's very tall and just angelic, I think, in so many ways. Her smile was contagious as well. Very bright, very model-esque. When she walked into a room, I think people turned their heads because she was beautiful. She's a very cute girl, long hair. She can be as sweet as can be. You can take her to any crowd you want to go and she'll fit in. Jennifer's uncle, Ed Skinner, remembers hearing about Stephen from Jennifer

before the two started dating in the summer of 2006. From Jennifer's description, Stephen seemed to be infatuated with her from a distance. She said, this boy has been watching me in the parking lot at work, watches my every move every time I go to work. He's there sitting in his car until I get out and then he follows me. My two boys looked at each other and said, stalker Steve, once they found out his name. His mother says Stephen wasn't stalking her and in fact had spoken to Jennifer a few times before asking her out in that very same parking lot. They became a couple instantly. This happened so quick I was shocked. She brought him to church two weeks after they had met and introduced him to my father-in-law.

Didn't even know his last name. Ed says this wasn't how things usually went in his and Jennifer's family, which he says was slow to accept outsiders. We're a kind of family that every single night for probably 15 years, we met for supper someplace, either at their house, my house, or at a local restaurant. We was just a close-knit family. The Skinners are a religious family, Seventh-day Adventists. In the last several years, multiple generations lived together in a large home, one of the biggest in the neighborhood.

They stuck together, kept to themselves, to the point where some people say they seemed almost clannish. Brandy says not only were they tight-knit, but financially successful as well, the result of a family business. They always had nicer things. I remember growing up, one year they had a garage sale one summer, and it was like a goldmine. Jennifer was beautiful, well-off, came from a close family like Stephen had, and yearned for a family as Stephen did. What could be better? In the end, the real question, what could be worse?

He didn't know what he was getting into. Coming up, Stephen's family starts to wonder exactly what kind of woman he's gotten involved with. It was a disgrace that she would even do something like that. When Dateline continues. That's it. There's your horse. There he is. In the heart of the Illinois farm belt, a new relationship was growing very fast. It seems Stephen and Jennifer began dating one day and became a committed couple the next. And making it a happy threesome, Stephen's daughter from a previous relationship, Alex. Stephen often captured family moments with photos and video. His family says he thought

Jennifer would make the perfect wife and mother. He felt like she wants to cook with us. She loves Alex. She treats Alex like she's, you know, her mother. The woman to complete his life. Yes. The family he was looking for. Yes.

But if Stephen was happy, his mother had her doubts about the girl from that tight-knit family. I didn't feel like she really wanted to be part of our family. And that was from the very beginning I felt that way. Stephen's dad took a more positive view. I just thought it was going to be a good fit for him. And I thought Jennifer would be real good for both of them. They presented a pretty good picture. Was your son in love?

Yes. Stephen began spending much of his time with Alex, Jennifer, and her family, and he was thrilled that the family seemed to embrace him and his daughter, as his sister Ashley remembers. That was number one, is he wanted to make sure that they enjoyed kids and would get along with Alex, too. Not only was she nice and interacting with him and Alex and basically the perfect mother, but their family was accepting Alex and welcoming both of them with open arms.

And it was crucial to Stephen to have this family accept Alex. Exactly. Within weeks of meeting, Stephen and Jennifer got married in August 2006. Stephen's family remembers how happy everyone seemed the day of the wedding, especially Stephen. He was ecstatic. He just had a big old smile, eyes shining. It was an outdoors wedding. It was really a nice wedding. They threw petals on the sidewalk, and Jennifer was happy. She was smiling from ear to ear. Her family was happy.

They made several comments about how happy they were that they had such a wonderful son-in-law now and that they were getting married and he was going to be part of their family. The whole family just raved about Stephen and Alex. The whole family, that is, except Jennifer's uncle Ed. He says he didn't approve of the whirlwind romance. He didn't like that stalker Steve became the one so quickly.

He did not attend the wedding. I was told within a month after they had started dating, they was going to get married. And that's just not the way that our family ever did it. You get to know somebody. You date them a long time before you just commit to something in life. I feel she jumped out of the skillet into the frying pan. Did you feel Stephen was jumping out of the skillet and into the frying pan? Yeah. He didn't know what he was getting into.

Still, Jennifer and Stephen's life together unfolded like a storybook marriage. Not long after the wedding, they bought a home on Horseshoe Drive, just down the block from the big house where her parents and grandparents lived in Ashland, about a half hour from Stephen's family. Then, not long after that, Stephen called his mom with more big news. Jennifer was pregnant. I was excited for him.

I kept thinking, you know, maybe I was wrong. And being thankful that I'd not said anything, you know, imposed my feelings on him. I'm thinking they're going to have a baby, they're doing good as a family. But soon after the announcement, things seemed to change for Stephen and Alex. His mother says Jennifer's family suddenly wanted nothing to do with Stephen's daughter. And he said Jennifer's family told Alex that she's not really part of their family. I don't understand how they can love her and make her a special part and treat her like blood and then all of a sudden

just turn and go the other way. She says Alex was very upset by the rejection. Stephen was as well and soon with the spring thaw about six months after Stephen and Jennifer's wedding, their relationship grew ice cold. Now it was Stephen himself who was also feeling rejected, kicked out of that family circle. Stephen was hurt and discouraged. I don't know if he thought that was just a stage that she would go through while she was pregnant, a hormonal thing, or somehow he could make things better and get him back on track. But it didn't get any better. Instead, the relationship flew off the rails after the baby was born in June 2007, a girl named Sydney. It was like Jennifer wanted her family and her

to be part of Sydney's life, but didn't want anybody else to be part of it. Stephen said, I barely even get to see Sidney. When we get home, Jennifer goes down to her mom's house with Grandma Shirley and all of them, and he said she even bathes Sidney down there and everything, brings her home at 9.30, 10 o'clock in time to go to bed, and gets up the next morning and starts the routine over again. Stephen had told his parents Jennifer thought the arrangement made for the perfect marriage, but Stephen thought just the opposite. To him, it was no marriage at all, and worse, he wasn't able to see his new baby. His mom says he was running out of patience and options.

He said, Mom, the only way I'm ever going to get to know Sidney or to get time with Sidney without Jennifer being attached to her as if I file for divorce and get visitation. He needs to divorce his wife and see his daughter. Yes. It was a very hard decision for him to make. He also filed for custody of Sidney, and that set off a move from Jennifer Stephen never expected. She fired back a bombshell. The day that she found out that he filed for divorce in custody of Sidney, the day she found out, she called DCFS and accused him of molesting Sidney and Alex. Molesting Sidney and Alex? Yes. Did your son molest his daughter? Absolutely not.

I thought it was a disgrace that she would even do something like that. Not only did she hurt him and hurt Alex, you know, she hurt the whole family. As the state investigated, Stephen was allowed visits with Sidney. But his family says Jennifer continued to keep Sidney from him. Knowing the Skinner family, they were so tight-knit, they would let nothing come in between them and their grandchild. The allegations of sexual abuse didn't stick. The Department of Children and Family Services said they were unfounded.

But Jennifer still wouldn't allow Stephen to see Sidney. To force her to share the baby with Stephen, the judge in their divorce case ordered that Stephen get regular visits with Sydney. That court order helped, and Stephen was able to see Sydney for a few visits. He sometimes invited Jennifer to come along, as they did to pick pumpkins in October 2008. Because despite all that had happened, his family says Stephen was still hoping he could show Jennifer how good life could be with the four of them together as a family.

His efforts were in vain, though. Far more often than not, Jennifer and her family denied Stephen visits with his baby, frequently saying Sydney was sick. Once Stephen called a police officer to the Skinner home to help him, but the family still said no. Stephen was becoming more and more frustrated. And then one evening, in late November 2008, the whole situation exploded. 911, where's your emergency?

Mom, my grandmother needs help. My husband can't pick up my child because we're getting a divorce. And he come after him and tried to come after the baby and I... Coming up, Jennifer was calling for her grandmother, but it was Steven who needed help. Looks like somebody decided to shoot him in the back of the head. When Dateline continues. It's not just corn that grows quickly in rural Illinois. So did the family of Stephen and Jennifer. They'd met, married, and had a baby in about a year's time. And just as quickly, their relationship fell apart. They were fighting over baby Sidney when Stephen went to Jennifer's one November

evening to pick up the child. And within minutes, Jennifer was on the phone with 911, hysterical. 911, where's your emergency? Mom, my grandmother needs to help us. My husband Ken just picked up my child because we're getting a divorce, and he come after her and tried to come after the baby and I, and he's on the floor shot. Is he shot? No, he's shot. I need an ambulance for my grandmother. It was a confusing 911 call.

Jennifer wanted an ambulance for her grandmother, Shirley Skinner. As for her estranged husband, Stephen, Jennifer implied to the dispatcher he'd been shot to protect her family. Okay, what happened to your grandmother? I think she's having a heart trouble. Please come and help her. Okay, what's your name? Jennifer Watkins.

Okay, I'll get ahold of the ambulance, all right? Yes. Okay. Ashland Police Chief Jim Birdsell was called to the scene. About 5.50 that evening, I got a phone call from 911 advising me that there had been a domestic in town at number 11 Horseshoe Drive. He said the husband came in to pick up his daughter for visitation, forced away in-house, knocked an elderly woman down, and she's having medical problems at that time.

But when he arrived, he found this was no routine domestic. I walk up and open the door and walk in the house, and directly in front of me was an elderly lady sitting in a chair, which turned out to be Shirley Skinner, and one of the EMS personnel, and the one beside her holding her hand, and she's crying a little bit. Then a first responder motioned over to the other side of the room. And I saw a body laying down there. Any sign of life? No.

It was Stephen Watkins, dead on the floor. A 9mm Glock handgun on a box several yards away. Trying to get in my mind what had happened. The EMS personnel had told me that Shirley had made a statement to them that she had shot him. They reported to the chief that Shirley had said a couple times, is he dead? I shot him. He shouldn't have come back here. A stunning story, but this was secondhand information from first responders quoting an elderly woman in the midst of a medical and family crisis. Were her statements reliable?

Had she really said that? Chief Birdsell asked Jennifer what happened. She said that Stephen forced his way in the house and knocked her grandmother down. And then he was coming after her and the baby, and the grandmother shot him. It all seemed hard to believe. Chief Birdsell wanted to ask Shirley himself what happened, but never got a chance. About the time I was getting ready to, her attorney was on the phone and told me he didn't want me to talk to her. So she is already lawyered up? Yes. Shortly after the chief's

arrival, Jennifer also hired an attorney and stopped talking to him as well. Jennifer's grandfather, who was in the house at the time Stephen was killed, wasn't talking either. So what had happened in the Skinner home? Had Stephen Watkins finally gotten so frustrated over the child custody battle he'd been fighting that he completely lost it and barged into the house on a rampage? With Shirley, Jennifer, and Grandpa silent, the evidence would have to tell the tale. Did you see signs of a break-in? No, sir. The door didn't have any damage to it. Any signs of a struggle? Not at the door. There

was supposedly something on the wall that was broke. It was hanging down. A sconce on the wall of the house? On the wall of the house. But there was no indication the sconce was broken that day, and there was no skin tissue or blood found on the scones. Had Shirley Skinner really been pushed down by Stephen? Did you see any injuries consistent with her being knocked to the ground? No, sir. Were there any black eyes, broken bones? No, sir. Didn't see anything like that. Did she seem like her clothes were out of place?

No, sir. Didn't even look to shovel? No. What's more, Stephen had been shot once, in the back of the head. And he did not have a gun or any other weapon on him. The chief didn't think it was self-defense. So what does it look like to you? Looks like somebody decided to shoot him in the back of the head.

But who was the somebody who shot him? Members of the Skinner family obviously knew who did it, but none of them were talking. Complicating matters, Chief Birdsell had never handled a murder before. Most of his law enforcement career had been spent on vehicle code violations. He thought he'd be able to handle the case on his own, but he couldn't. And the case dragged on for months. People all over your community are saying, why hasn't there been an arrest? Yes. Are you hearing that? I'm hearing it a lot. As the case dragged on with no arrests made, the whodunit became the talk of the town.

People were very, very, very aware of this killing in this community. Bruce Rushton covered the case for the Springfield Journal-Register. Anytime we write something in the newspaper about this, like the tiniest little thing, it's the most clicked-on thing or close to the most clicked-on thing. It's a puzzler. It's almost a game of three-card Monty. Rushton says no one thought Stephen instigated the violence. Everyone the reporter spoke to had only good things to say about Stephen, including two teachers who had taught his daughter, Alex.

Both of them agreed that they had never in their teaching careers encountered a father who was devoted to their children as Stephen Watkins was. When I spoke with his co-workers, he would talk about his kids at work, and they all knew that Alex and Sidney, they had a pretend bake session. And so he had animal crackers that he was putting in the toy oven and playing with his kids. I mean, how many fathers do that? Everyone thought Stephen was such a great guy, such a great dad. Who would kill him? Ultimately, Mike Vujovic, then with the state's attorney's appellate prosecutor's office, and Sergeant Kelly Walter, who is now a colonel with the Illinois State Police, took over the investigation. They focused on a key question. Who pulled the trigger? The forensic evidence was no help. Was the weapon tested for DNA? It was. Was anything found? Nothing. And no fingerprints

on it at all? No, no fingerprints on it. Were gun residue tests performed on the people inside that house at the time of the shooting? They were not. And no blood spatter was found on any of the family's clothing. Investigators had no physical evidence proving any one person had murdered Stephen Watkins, even though he was clearly shot to death inside the Skinner home. All they had were statements from first responders claiming that Shirley Skinner, an elderly woman who was very upset and agitated at the time, said she'd shot Stephen. Did she really mean to say that? Did they really hear her right? Who was the shooter? To solve that mystery, they would look

into the inner workings of the tight-knit Skinner family, and they say what they found there helped them finally get to the bottom of who pulled the trigger and why. Coming up, investigators have questions about the Golden Girl who held sway over the entire clan. It's a monster that comes out of a closet. It's very, very ugly. Very ugly. When Dateline continues. We all lost our lives that night. You know, it's not something you ever get over. On the Tuesday evening before Thanksgiving 2008, Penny Walken's son, Stephen, had gone to pick up his baby daughter, Sydney, for a court-ordered visit when he was shot to death. Stephen's wife, Jennifer, told police he barged into her home, knocked over her grandmother, and was heading for her and the baby when her grandmother shot it.

But had it really gone down that way, why would an elderly religious woman shoot the father of her great-granddaughter. Even as investigators focused on Grandma Shirley, they began to look more closely at Jennifer. For one thing, they learned she'd been married before. Jennifer's uncle, Ed Skinner, says that relationship was a sign of things to come. That didn't last long. She just had to have her way all the time, and there was never his way. So he didn't stick around.

He divorced her? Yes, sir sir did you blame him no sir not at all state police say when they talked to jennifer's first husband he described an us against them mentality in jennifer's insular family they did everything together and you were either part of their family or you weren't and stephen watkins was clearly no longer part of the family what with the divorce filing, accusations of child molesting, and the custody dispute. And now Jennifer was losing that dispute. The abuse allegations have been found baseless, and a court hearing about increased

visitation for Stephen had been scheduled. How concerned is the Skinner family about this visitation ruling? Very concerned. Very concerned. In their view, Sydney was their property, and they were not going to share their property with anyone outside that Skinner family, even Stephen Watkins. The Skinner family was circling the wagons for themselves, and he was the enemy. Jennifer and her family feared Stephen would be successful in getting overnight visitation at that hearing.

He was also continuing his quest for sole custody of Sidney, but he never made it to the courthouse. He was killed the night before at his estranged wife's home. According to investigators, the Skinner family had been so concerned about the hearing, Jennifer's mother hired a private investigator to witness Stephen picking up the baby the evening he was killed, perhaps to observe something that could be used against him at the hearing the following day. Perhaps some dirt, you know, baby that's crying whenever dad picked her up, or maybe that he wasn't putting her in the baby car seat. But state police learned Jennifer's mother told the private eye not to show up not long before Stephen was to arrive.

Less than two hours later, Stephen Watkins is laying dead on her dining room floor. Suddenly, the child custody issue that posed such a problem for Jennifer was solved forever. According to Ed, his family catered to Jennifer. She's a spoiled rotten brat. I know that's a pretty harsh statement. The world revolved around Jennifer. We didn't do anything if Jennifer didn't want to do it. Ed says his mother surely doted on Jennifer, the family's firstborn grandchild. They was very, very close. There was nothing that Jennifer could ask for that she didn't get. She lived as a princess, treated as a princess. When she went to church, she looked like a little doll that had just stepped out of a magazine, dressed fit to kill.

As she grew up, he says, Jennifer could be sweet, but her dark side was something else. It's a monster that comes out of a closet. It's very, very ugly. Very ugly. She just thinks that she can control anybody that she comes along with. When Jennifer doesn't get her way, what happens? She throws a fit, and life is miserable for everybody around. Do you believe that Jennifer was just using Stephen to get a child? Now she had what she wanted. She wanted to get out. I think at the time, she was probably hoping that it would work,

hoping that he would knuckle under and obey her. But I think later on, she saw that that wasn't going to work. She knew she had her child, and that's what she really wanted. And Ed believed Jennifer would do anything to keep Sidney from Stephen. She just said that he couldn't have her. Even going so far as pulling the trigger herself, Ed says. After all, the murder weapon was not Shirley's. It was Jennifer's. Jennifer has every motive to do it.

And he says that even if his mother was the one who killed Stephen, she was probably driven to it by Jennifer. So my mom and dad was around Jennifer and her mouth 24 hours a day. And she is very annoying when it comes to something that she believes in. And she believed in not giving Stephen the daughter. And she talked about it constantly. This goes beyond annoyance we're talking about. Oh, yes. Yeah.

It's not just Ed who thinks Jennifer might have killed Stephen and that Shirley was trying to take the fall to protect her granddaughter, a young mom. Reporter Bruce Rustin went to a vigil for Stephen nine months after he was killed, which included a walk to the Skinner family home. People there were split over whether it was Shirley or Jennifer who killed Stephen. It's a head-scratcher, because what's the grandmother's motive here? And compare that to Jennifer Watkins' motives. Did these folks truly believe Sidney was being abused?

I don't know. Prosecution obviously doesn't have to prove motive in a criminal case, but you can't help but ask yourself. The jury will be asking. You would imagine so. A jury would soon get its chance. More than 10 months after Stephen Watkins was shot to death, an arrest in Florida,

where Shirley and Jennifer had gone to live with baby Sydney. Chief Birdsell was there. When she saw me there, she appeared to be very surprised. I was happy to be there. Coming up, it turns out that one of them had strange marks on her hand the night of the murder. Two lines. Two lines. Consistent with firing that type of weapon. Consistent with firing that type of weapon.

Consistent with firing this type of weapon. When Dateline continues. In October 2009, more than ten months after Stephen Watkins was shot to death, his parents finally received the call from police they'd been long waiting for. What did they say? We just wanted to let you know that we've picked Shirley Skinner up in Florida for the murder of Stephen. Shirley Skinner, the religious matriarch of a close-knit family. Despite what Shirley's son Ed says and

the rumors around town that Jennifer might have pulled the trigger, it was the grandmother who was charged. Though Jennifer implied her grandmother had shot Stephen in defense of her and baby Sydney, investigators believe the older woman had executed him in cold blood. What do you think happened? Stephen was coming over to pick up Sidney for his court-ordered visitation, came to the door, once again was told that the baby was sick. Perhaps he was frustrated once again by being told that. Maybe he said something to the effect of OBS, and maybe we'll have been lured in by that. Come in and see for yourself. And then he's inside the house, and it's a distance of approximately 30 feet from the main entry door to Sidney's bedroom. And we've got to believe that Jennifer was holding the baby.

And as he's walking down the length of that dining room, he's passing Shirley. And as he walks past her, it's our belief that she then shot him. Had he been turned over as though somebody was trying to do CPR or anything? No, he lay where he fell. Shot in the back of the head. He just fell forward and a pool of blood right around his head and his baseball cap underneath him. And he died right there where he was shot. Why had Shirley been the one charged?

Though the forensic evidence collected at the scene was not useful, authorities did have important eyewitness evidence, something the first responders and Chief Birdsell said they'd seen that fatal night. Two parallel scrapes on Shirley Skinner's hand. She had two marks across the webbing of her hand. And what's significant about that? The significance about that would be, and I'll show you with the weapon, the slide part of the weapon is coming back over the webbing of my hand. If she's holding it wrong, something that could catch it would be that the hand and the marks could be made from that slide coming back across her hand. Two lines? Two lines. Consistent with firing that type of weapon? Consistent with firing this type of weapon. To investigators, those marks conclusively put the gun in Shirley's hand.

What's more, they learned Shirley had allegedly been planning Stephen's murder for a while by trying to find someone to kill her. About a month or so before Stephen's execution, Shirley approached two of her employees and offered them $10,000 to cap this guy who they identified as being Steve Watkins. Cap this guy, this little old grandmother. Yep. The one employee said he thought she was joking, at which point she says, no, I'm serious. I'm serious. How did an elderly religious woman who once owned a daycare center become someone the state was accusing of premeditated murder. To her fellow parishioners, she's a fine, gracious Christian woman who loves children.

That's one side of Shirley. The grandmother who loves kids. Is there another side? She's proficient in the use of guns, which in and of itself doesn't mean anything, but that put together with the cultish form of that family, where everything is done for the family, within the family, to the exclusion of anybody on the outside, and we will take whatever measures necessary to protect that family unit. That is the other side of the contradiction.

How dark is that side? Murderous. And that went to the heart of the state's theory, that Shirley had fired a fatal shot to rid the family of a son-in-law they no longer welcomed and didn't want in baby Sidney's life. Are you convinced Shirley Skinner acted alone? I believe Shirley Skinner pulled the trigger. Do I think she acted alone? No. It's been a family conspiracy, a family plan.

They were not going to allow him any further contact with that little baby. And yet, no fingerprints, no DNA, no gunshot residue, no blood spatter, no recorded statements from either Shirley, Jennifer, or anyone else in the family. And those supposedly incriminating marks on Shirley's hand? Turns out they'd never been photographed. A jury would never see them for themselves. Would any jury be able to sort out this case, an alleged family conspiracy? Two women at the crime scene, one who appeared to have clear motive, the other 75 years old, neither with criminal records. It seems such a confused, slim case, Ed says, he and the family believe Shirley would never be found guilty.

So when she was offered a plea deal, she turned it down and chose to go to trial. I was convinced that she didn't do it. Coming up, jurors had their doubts too. Does Shirley Skinner look like someone who could commit this kind of crime? Honestly, no. As a matter of fact, when I first walked in there, I really thought that she was one of the attorneys. I had no idea that she was actually the one who was on trial. When Dateline continues. In America's heartland, Shirley Skinner went on trial for the first-degree murder of Stephen Watkins,

her grandson-in-law, and two counts of solicitation of murder for allegedly asking two workers at the family business if they knew anyone who capped somebody for 10 grand. That kind of went in large measure to her intent. It demonstrated the deep contempt and hatred that she had for this, the father of her great grandbaby, to offer money to kill him. The trial lasted less than four days. The state made its case that Shirley killed Stephen to eliminate a family problem. Prosecution had no physical evidence to prove she was the shooter. No DNA, no fingerprints, no gunshot residue, no blood spatter, no photos of the scrapes on Shirley's hand.

Basically, all they had were descriptions of the hand and statements from first responders that Shirley told them she'd shot Stephen. Now it was time for the defense to make its case to the jury, mostly young and female from small town rural Illinois. Lawyers for Shirley emphasized the fact there was no physical evidence linking her to the weapon. And they argued Shirley's statements to the first responders, is he dead? I shot him, were made when she was having a medical emergency. How reliable could those statements be? The defense also focused on what it called a sloppy, inept investigation by the police chief, and pointed at Jennifer through innuendo and implication with her ugly divorce and custody battle as the one with the motive to kill Stephen.

They didn't directly argue Jennifer pulled the trigger, only that there was no hard evidence, Shirley did. And what did Jennifer have to say to the jury? Nothing. She didn't even attend the trial. And the defense called no witnesses of its own. So what did jurors think of the case? We spoke with three. Does Shirley Skinner look like someone who could commit this kind of crime? Honestly, no. As a matter of fact, when I first walked in there, I really thought that she was one of the attorneys.

I had no idea that she was actually the one who was on trial. What did you think of the police investigation? Left something to be desired. There's a lot of holes in it. There was a lot of mistakes made. I would have liked to seen pictures of the scrapes on the back of her hand. When it came down to the final vote, how difficult the decision is. It's difficult in the sense that you're deciding somebody's fate.

But as far as time wise and what we had to contemplate and weigh out, it didn't take long. The jury was out a total of 90 minutes, including lunch, before finding Shirley Skinner guilty of murder. Stephen's family was jubilant. Shirley's son, Ed Skinner, was shocked. I was convinced my mom was going to get off. Shirley is serving a 55-year prison sentence. If she'd taken the plea deal, she'd be out in less than nine. What's it like to see your mother behind bars? Horrible. Absolutely horrible.

Is she equipped to handle what she's going through right now? Not at all. Not at all. Although Ed Skinner had split from his family by publicly blaming Jennifer, he still struck a note of us against them. I honestly feel Jennifer made this bed. She needs to sleep in it. She knew what she was getting into when she got into that family. And she had to think in the back of her mind that she's going to be with these people the rest of her life. Well, when you say these people, what's wrong with the Watkins?

Nothing bad. They're just a little bit different than what we're used to. I mean, we don't believe in drinking. We don't believe in smoking. But you have guns in the house. Yes, sir. The Watkins was shot in the back of the head. Yes, sir.

In your family's home. Yep. And somebody in your family did it. That's correct. So pretty hard for you to be sitting here judging somebody else. Oh, exactly. Exactly. In the end, it was a murder that Ed Skinner thought might have been planned as a way to get what Jennifer wanted,

but leave the Skinner family intact and unscathed. Very, very poorly planned out scheme on my niece and my sister's side that ruined the Watkins family, ruined the Skinner family. I don't think that they planned it out as good as what they should have if they was going to do something like that. Despite the accusations of a family conspiracy, neither Jennifer nor anyone else in the Skinner family was charged with any crime related to the shooting. No one in the family had agreed to speak with Dateline except Ed. As for Stephen's parents, they've been raising Alex in Illinois. They battled Jennifer for visitation with Sidney,

and in 2010, a judge awarded it to them. Then in 2016, a judge determined Sidney was a neglected child. She went to live with her paternal aunt and uncle, who've been granted permanent guardianship. Jennifer has supervised visitation rights. Meanwhile, Stephen's parents have spoken to Sidney about what happened to her dad. From my viewpoint, he gave his life for her. That's all for now. I'm Lester Holt. Thanks for joining us.