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KEITH MORRISON: Melissa Oxley was just 27
years old and already a widow.
Her 36-year-old husband Ben, shot dead while he
slept in bed right next to her.
As far as she could tell, said Melissa,
the shooter managed to break into the house,
walk right into the master bedroom,
shoot Ben without harming her, and leave
not a trace of evidence behind.
The case boggled detective Ron Elges' mind.
Is there somebody who doesn't like him?
Is this is a murder for hire pay?
Is this-- you know, what could this be?
KEITH MORRISON: Melissa's closest friend believed her
when she insisted that she had nothing to do with it,
that, in fact, she lost the love of her life,
and that now she and those around her
were probably in terrible danger.
Because you don't know who did it.
You don't know if they're gonna come
back for Melissa, if Melissa was supposed to be in that.
KEITH MORRISON: Melissa, meanwhile,
tried to be a source of comfort for her six-year-old
stepdaughter Alyssa.
The little girl's father had been her world, leaving
her now in a world of chaos.
And with her home and love nest now a crime scene,
Melissa and Alyssa moved in with the woman
who'd been bridesmaid at the wedding, Jamie [inaudible]..
And it was at night when the curtains
were drawn that Jamie watched Melissa reeling with pain.
JAMIE: I mean, nights of crying in the middle of the night.
I would hear her.
I just kind of went and laid in bed with her.
I didn't sleep, couldn't sleep.
Just getting into bed after that happened.
I didn't want to.
KEITH MORRISON: So where would you sleep?
On the floor.
KEITH MORRISON: And if the pain and suffering
of losing her husband wasn't hard enough,
Melissa was the lead suspect--
and not just in the eyes of the police.
Because nobody, including the public, including the families,
had any idea why this would happen.
So they're all grasping at straws
to try to figure out this possibility, that possibility.
KEITH MORRISON: Ben's sister was certain
that Melissa arranged Ben's murder
and wasn't afraid to make it known around town.
She had quite a little following
of all these people because it's always the wife, you know.
KEITH MORRISON: So did that mean little Alyssa,
just 6 years old, so vulnerable, was living with a murderer?
Alyssa began to spend more time at her mother, Dawn's, house.
And one day while she was there, Ben's sister
warned her about the stepmom she'd come to love.
She told me that she though my stepmom
killed my dad that night.
It must have been pretty weird to hear that.
Yeah, I didn't believe it, but--
Didn't believe it at all?
KEITH MORRISON: But if Alyssa didn't believe it, others did.
And before long, they had more ammunition
because of something else Detective Elges discovered.
A $400,000 life insurance policy.
It sounds a lot like she was-- she had the motivation
to want this to happen.
KEITH MORRISON: And once again, Melissa found herself
answering difficult questions.
I didn't even know of an insurance policy.
I guess I was sort of naive to it.
We were looking at it for retirement.
KEITH MORRISON: But while the investigation went on,
the insurance company held back any payments
while the whispers went around.
It was shocking, really.
Ben had been dead just, what, a few months?
And Melissa was dating already.
It was soon, sort of.
But it was like if I didn't do it then,
you almost would get stuck in this rut of never doing it.
I would've just kind of hung up the towel and been done.
Put on a black dress and be a widow the rest of your life.
Yeah.
KEITH MORRISON: Detective Elges, of course,
was keeping track and trying not to be judgmental.
She has to do what she needs to do to heal.
It doesn't mean I wasn't paying attention to what was going on.
KEITH MORRISON: But at months passed, and Elges scratched
away at the few paltry leads that went anywhere at all,
a certain clarity began to emerge.
Despite his own early suspicions and those of others,
hard evidence against Melissa just didn't materialize.
In fact, said Elges, he couldn't help thinking--
She probably didn't do it.
She was so startled, she went into a fight or flight response
and just jumped out of bed and then went to a normal reaction,
which is what's going on.
And that's when she discovers she's--
Then she discovers he'd been shot.
KEITH MORRISON: But there was another reason
Melissa dropped down the detective's list of suspects.
And that reason was a certain someone else who it became
clear did not like that love story
we told you about, not one bit.
I said, what did you do?
What did you do?
And she said, what do you mean, what did I do?
You've known me all these years, and you would think that I
would do something like that?
And I said, absolutely.
CRAIG MELVIN: Coming up, a whole new theory
of the crime with a whole new list of
suspects eager to share secrets.
CRAIG MELVIN: When "Dateline" continues.
My
My DVT
My DVT blood
My DVT blood clot...
Stayed on my mind...