[Narrator] A beloved father and pastor
is gunned down in broad daylight.
[David D] The father walked up there
and discovered his son shot to death.
[Brownlow] It appeared he had surprised
the people that were burglarizing and tried to flee.
[Narrator] As the investigation takes shape,
it reveals a life in turmoil.
The post office had been tipped off
that there was drugs coming in.
[Narrator] And a secret affair pushes this family to the brink
The affair was finally the straw that broke the camel's back,
and he filed for divorce.
His wife had left the state with his children,
didn't know where they were.
[Narrator] Then, a brave young voice comes forward.
[David H] You got a ten-year-old laying there in the bed
pretending to be asleep, listening to them.
That little girl is scarred for life.
[Narrator] And a killer willing to cash in on family bonds
is unveiled.
In that family, it was common knowledge
that she wanted him dead.
They got the drop on him,
they handcuffed him and started shooting him.
It's like a dream, like a horror movie or a nightmare.
[theme music]
[Narrator] 1997, Cosby, Tennessee.
Quaint and quiet, the Camprite Acres campground
sits nestled in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains.
[Brownlow] The campground is located in a very rural area.
The campsites had full services.
They had electricity, water, that kind of thing.
My family managed the campground and ran the campground.
There were a lot of campers up there.
That campground was such a close-knit family, if you will.
They loved the family atmosphere.
[Narrator] However, at 6:05 PM on July 23rd,
the serene campground turns chaotic
when a shocking call comes in to 911.
I got a notification from the Sheriff's Department
that they had received a 911 call
that there had been a body found at Camprite Acres
off of Cosby Highway that appeared to be gunshot.
[Kontji] The caller is Harry Smith.
He owns the campground and says that he's just found his son,
Aaron, and thinks he's been shot.
[Narrator] Minutes later,
Cocke County sheriff's deputies arrive.
They follow directions Harry gave the dispatcher
to a cabin at the back of the property.
The house was a, a one-story frame house
that was the owners' home.
The body was about 13, 14 feet from the front door.
[David D] The father walked up there and discovered him.
He's very visibly upset.
He just found his son shot to death.
[Narrator] Harry Smith directs law enforcement
up a walkway toward the cabin.
He's lying face down in a pool of his own blood.
[Brownlow] He was shot, uh, in the ear,
which is not life threatening.
The second shot was a shot to the back.
The fatal wound was a shot to the back of the head.
[Narrator] The deputies call for backup.
Minutes later, Cocke County homicide detectives arrive,
along with agents from
the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
[Robert] For Aaron's dad, it was a terrible, terrible heartache.
Everybody was actually naturally drawn to him
just because of his personality.
Everybody that knew him, they were traumatized so much because
this was wrong.
This wasn't supposed to happen.
[Narrator] In 1960, Jonathan Aaron Smith
was born to parents Harry and Cleta.
They raised Aaron and his brother
in the small town of Cleveland, Tennessee.
Aaron's relationship with his mom and dad, I mean,
was just like the loving, all-American family.
And they were always cutting up together.
[Brittany] My dad and his brother grew up in church.
I don't know of a time when
they weren't going to church on Sundays.
That was always a priority.
He was very fun loving and very, um, adventurous,
and he was the class clown.
And he just had that happy, bubbly personality.
He never met a stranger.
[Narrator] In 1981, 20-year-old Aaron
was at a local Blockbuster Video store
when he struck up a conversation with the clerk,
20-year-old Denice Graham.
He came in one night to rent a movie,
and he flirted a little bit with her, and she smiled back at him.
But yeah, he went in to Blockbuster to rent a movie
and came out with a girlfriend, apparently.
[Narrator] Denice was born in 1961
to Don and Linda Graham.
But Denice didn't come into this world alone.
[Brittany] Don and Linda were expecting.
They didn't know it was twins until the girls were born.
[Narrator] The surprised, but happy new parents
dedicated themselves to raising Denice and her sister, Debi.
They had a good upbringing.
The girls never wanted for anything.
[Narrator] By the mid 1970s,
Don landed a new job,
and the Graham family relocated to Cleveland, Tennessee.
[Brittany] Denice was a very good student in high school.
She played the flute in the band.
She was very involved,
and she had a lot of friends.
But Debi got in with the wrong crowd pretty early on.
A lot of drug use, a lot of drinking.
She didn't really show up for school.
They were polar opposites.
Debi got brought home by the police more than once,
and Don would run to her rescue.
Don was closer to Debi, for some reason.
That really made a lot of resentment
between Denice and Debi.
The girls would get in fist fights in high school,
and they would have to be broken up by teachers.
They absolutely hated each other.
[Narrator] Shortly after graduating high school,
Denice started a job at a local Blockbuster
and found her Prince Charming, Aaron Smith.
They dated for I think it was about a year or so
before they decided to get married.
[Narrator] Following the wedding,
tragedy struck when Denice's mother
suddenly passed away.
Linda suddenly died of a massive heart attack.
Linda was the pillar that held that Graham family together.
[Narrator] With their mother gone,
Denice and Debi grew even further apart.
Debi drifted. She had a lot of problems.
She ended up living in New York.
And she and Denice rarely spoke or even saw each other.
[Narrator] Denice threw herself into
starting a family of her own.
A couple years later, my parents had me.
I was early, but I made it through.
And a couple years later, they had my brother,
who has Down Syndrome.
My dad couldn't have loved him any more.
He was just happy to have a son
When we were kids, we liked to always be outside.
We would go hiking, and we woul stop and pick blackberries.
And my dad he would make a blackberry cobbler
or a blackberry pie.
[Narrator] In 1991, Aaron's parents announced
they'd found an investment opportunity
while on vacation in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
[Brittany] They came across this campground for sale,
and they really liked it.
My grandparents thought it would be a good addition
to their retirement.
So, they just decided to buy that campground.
There was a caretaker's home on the property
that Aaron and Denice moved into,
and Aaron helped his dad build another home
for him and Aaron's mom.
[Narrator] The rest of the 38 acres
was rented out to campers.
[Narrator] As Aaron and Denice settled into their new home,
Aaron saw the opportunity to make a lifelong dream come true
Aaron became an ordained minister,
and he started a small church right there at the campground.
[Narrator] Denice found work as a dental assistant
30 minutes away, in Sevierville
She just wanted to meet people and have some friends,
so he was all for her being happy.
[Narrator] But in 1995,
after 13 years of marriage,
Aaron and Denice hit a rough patch.
[Jennifer] In the very beginning it was all good.
But as time passed, they began to, um,
venture farther apart, which was when she had the affair.
[Brittany] My dad, he found out about the affair.
At that point, he realized that it was finally over.
I think he saw it coming for a long time.
But he was trying so hard to make things work,
to keep it together for me and my brother.
So that point is when he filed for divorce.
And he went up the hill to live with his parents.
That was a hard time for him.
We were his pride and joy,
and he would've done anything at any time for us,
no matter what it was.
[Narrator] Until July 23rd, 1997,
when the Smith family is left devastated
after Harry Smith discovers his son
shot dead in front of his home.
We figured this happened sometime between 4:00 or 5:00,
because he was found at 6:00 by his father.
[Narrator] Based on the position of the body,
investigators believe that
Aaron's confrontation with his killer
began inside the home.
It would appear that he had exited the house
and was in an effort to get away from the house.
He was trying to run for his life,
and they shooting at him in the back.
[David D] We went and checked in the house,
and it looked like it had been ransacked.
Items had been taken.
The house was in disarray-- drawers opened and emptied,
furniture knocked over.
It appeared that Aaron Smith had come home
and surprised the people that were burglaring,
and tried to flee.
[Narrator] Investigators ask Aaron's father
to verify if any valuables are missing.
Aaron Smith's father confirmed that there were pistols missing.
A gold watch that was his,
and jewelry that belonged to his wife.
[Narrator] But it's what the perpetrators left behind
that's truly puzzling.
There were a pair of silver handcuffs
that were found on a chair.
His father said that they did not belong in the house.
He had never seen them before.
You know, were they planning on handcuffing him
and torturing him before they killed him?
There's all kinds of things about the handcuffs that,
that make this intriguing.
[Narrator] After processing the crime scene,
investigators do a quick sweep of the campground.
We canvassed the area, and there were several campers,
and people were at the campground because
it's summertime, so we talked to them.
[Narrator] Witnesses report seeing a white sedan
driving through the campground around 5:00 PM.
[David] We learned that there were two strangers
who had come in the campground,
had sat in the commons area or a picnic area and were driving...
they described the vehicle
and said that was the only strange people
they'd seen in the campground that day.
[Narrator] After finishing their canvass,
investigators sit down with Aaron's parents.
[Robert] They were traumatized.
This was wrong.
It was like a dream,
like a, like a horror movie or a nightmare.
[Narrator] They tell investigators that
not just anyone can gain access to the campground.
That car only entered that gate
because the person in the car knew the code.
[Narrator] Coming up...
Investigators learn of big trouble
brewing in a marriage on the brink.
There's a warrant out for her arrest,
but they still have no idea where the kids are.
[Brittany] I thought I was going on a trip.
They never thought in a million years
that she was gonna run and kidnap us.
[Narrator] Tennessee investigators are at
the Camprite Acres campground,
where minister and father of two, Aaron Smith,
has just been found shot dead.
[Brownlow] The investigators found a witness
who had seen a white car at the house at the campground
prior to the murder,
and also heard one or two, uh, gunshots.
There's only one way in and one way out of the campground,
and that road is blocked by a gate.
You have to know the code to open the gate.
[Narrator] Detectives realize it's possible
Aaron knew his killer,
and they ask his parents to she some light on his background.
We learned from Harry that they had just went through a divorce
and a custody battle over the two children.
[Narrator] Harry says the marital trouble
between Aaron and Denice started
shortly after they moved to the campground
six years earlier.
[Brittany] She did not enjoy the campground life,
and that may be where like the first tinge of
something's not right really started.
[Narrator] According to Harry,
Denice's job at the dental office
put even more distance between her and Aaron.
That job in Sevierville was not a good thing for her.
There were, um, several women that worked there
that were having affairs with patients,
and Denice was right there with them.
One day, she had some kind of a little wreck.
My dad had to come pick her up.
She was on her way to meet her boyfriend,
and he found out about the affair.
He was very religious.
He tried very hard to make that marriage work
for a very long time.
And I think the affair was finally the straw
that broke the camel's back.
The feelings that he had to go through knowing that his wife
was cheating on him,
knowing that he was going to have to go to court
and get divorced.
And this was extra rough because of the situation
with the custody of the kids
[Narrator] According to Aaron's parents,
it was after he filed for divorce
that the real drama started.
Denice countersued, taking everyone by surprise
when she came forward with allegations of abuse.
She had made that allegation that Aaron Smith was abusive
and had struck her, and also struck the children.
[Brittany] That was the first mention of
any level of abuse ever, toward her, toward us, period.
They were still living in the house together,
and things were relatively cordial up until that point.
But as soon as she countersued,
she had the police come escort him out of the house.
[Jennifer] The divorce battle was ugly.
Denice wanted to do anything an everything she could to hurt hi
and take whatever she could get
She tried to portray Aaron as a monster--
a monster, which he was not.
[Narrator] Denice remained in the family home
with their 10 and 8-year-old children
while Aaron moved in with his parents
on the other side of the campground.
[Brittany] When they separated,
he was supposed to get visitation every other weekend
with us, and she would make it a point to not turn us over.
[Narrator] Harry says that Denice presented the court
with so-called proof that Aaron was abusive.
[Brittany] There were some drawings that were presented,
um, at the divorce trial
that Denice said I drew them.
It allegedly depicted abuse.
Frankly, that was the only way
she felt she had any chance of getting full custody of us.
They were specific drawings of mad people
with fierce-looking eyes.
It was way too sophisticated for the child
that it was attributed to.
The judge determined those were drawn by Denice, not by me.
It appears that the judge didn't believe anything
that Denice had said about her husband.
[Narrator] Harry says just a week before the murder,
Aaron was awarded full custody.
But when Aaron went to retrieve his children later that day,
he spotted them leaving in a car with Denice.
[Brittany] I was ten. I thought I was going on a trip
Dad and Mamaw actually saw us leave the campground.
Now, I don't think they could tell the vehicles were loaded
as much as they were.
He never thought in a million years that she was gonna run
and kidnap us.
[Narrator] With no word from Denice for several days,
Aaron reported the kidnapping.
His wife had left the state, uh, with his children.
Didn't know where they were.
It was suggested that they take out an arrest warrant
for custodial interference.
[Kontji] There's a warrant out for her arrest,
but they still have no idea where the kids are,
so this was a big cause for concern.
[Narrator] It's now been 6 days
since Denice vanished with the kids.
As investigators absorb this ne insight into Aaron's situation,
Harry's phone suddenly rings.
I'm sitting there talking to Mr. Smith, and Denice called.
My Papaw, he just hands the phone
to one of the investigators.
I got to talk to her, and I told her
she needed to get herself back to Tennessee
so we could talk to her about her husband's death.
[Brittany] When the investigator told her that he was dead,
he said he got no response out of her.
She just listened.
He started questioning her about where she was
and where the children were.
She said she was in Florida and said that she would come back.
[Narrator] 10 days after Denice disappeared with the children,
and four days after Aaron's murder,
investigators finally get word
that Denice is back in Tennessee--alone.
And she decides to turn herself in.
[Brownlow] She traveled to Tennessee.
She did not bring the children.
She was taken into custody on
the custodial interference warrant.
I wouldn't say she was cooperating.
She wouldn't advise where the children were.
Uh, she wouldn't talk about Aaron's death.
But we had our suspicion that she was involved
because of the divorce, and the custody battle,
and how rancorous it had been.
She said she didn't know what had happened to him.
She took the kids to Florida, and that was her alibi.
[Brittany] She held out for a couple of days,
but they wouldn't let her post bond until she turned us in.
She called her aunt and uncle, where we were staying,
and told them to bring us back.
[Brownlow] The children were returned.
They came and went to live with, uh, Aaron's parents.
[Narrator] With no concrete evidence against her,
investigators release Denice on bond,
and focus on Aaron's movements in the day before his murder.
It doesn't take long to find something suspicious.
We had received a tip that the postal service was looking into
Mr. Aaron Smith.
On July 15th 1997, I received a call from
the Gatlinburg, Tennessee post office
that an express mail envelope had come into that office
concurrently with a phone call that said
that that particular package contained illegal drugs.
But there were several unusual things
about this particular package.
[Narrator] Coming up...
Detectives look into a nefarious claim.
[Russell] There was a written statement said,
"To Aaron Smith, next time the price goes up."
[Narrator] And a surprising witness
turns the case upside down.
They had walked over to the little table and said,
"Well, it's done. We hurt him pretty bad."
[Narrator] Tennessee investigators have just learned
that 8 days prior to Aaron Smith's death,
the US Postal Service received a tip
that Aaron was expecting a package
containing illegal substances.
[Russell] The address on the package was to him.
The return address was a fictitious address in Atlanta,
but the package was actually mailed from Miami.
[Narrator] When the inspector intercepted the package,
his suspicions grew.
I realized by the, uh, weight of the envelope
that there could only be a very minute amount of
controlled substances in the envelope.
[Narrator] Inspectors devised a plan,
and on July 15th, they put it into motion.
[Russell] I was gonna pose as a postal carrier,
deliver the package,
and then if the package was accepted by
the intended recipient,
we'd see what this whole situation was about.
[Narrator] Aaron signed for the package
and was immediately confronted by law enforcement.
Aaron, having no idea that there's drugs in the box,
willingly opened this box in front of the officials.
[Russell] It was a minute quantity of drugs
of what was determined to be cocaine base.
There was a written statement said, "To Aaron Smith,
next time, the price goes up."
Aaron Smith immediately said, I've been set up,
which seemed a little bit reasonable at that point.
He was very cooperative.
He did not have any drug record.
[Brownlow] This didn't look right.
You don't send cocaine to somebody
and tip somebody off about it
unless there is some other motive.
[Russell] We sent the express mail piece
to the US Postal Inspection Service Crime Laboratory
in Memphis to see if we could get any fingerprints.
[Narrator] Investigators question
if Aaron's killer may have been behind the drug setup.
We had put the investigation into who sent the package
into high gear because we knew it could be critical.
[Narrator] Before they get answers about the envelope,
investigators receive their biggest break yet
from an unexpected source--
[Brownlow] B rittany Smith,
the daughter of Denice and Aaron Smith,
started to divulge things to her grandparents,
and they're the ones that alerted law enforcement.
[Narrator] Investigators arrange to meet with the ten-year-old
at her grandparents' house.
They weren't asking me anything.
They were just letting me talk.
I don't think I understood the depth of all of it.
[Narrator] Brittany tells investigators
that two days after her father was awarded custody,
her mother, Denice, and her grandfather, Don,
said they were going on a trip.
[Brittany] We got on the interstate,
and they drove all night.
We get to Miami, and I was like, hey, this is just a vacation.
We were out playing on the beach.
[Narrator] Brittany reports they up at a motel
with Denice's twin sister, Debi
who had flown in to meet them from New York,
as well as Debi's boyfriend, Alex.
[David D] Brittany was able to tell us
her mother had rented a car,
and that Debra and Alex
had left Miami,
and took off in the car.
[Brittany] The next day, when Debi and Alex got back
in the hotel, it was late at night.
Alex actually stepped on me and woke me up.
He didn't know I was awake, so I heard their conversation.
Alex looks like he had been sort of in a fight.
They walked over to the little table
that Don and Denice were sitting at.
And Debi said, "Well, it's done. We hurt him pretty bad."
And Alex said, "No. We killed him."
And Denice said, "Was it easy?"
And Alex just kind of chuckled.
[David H] They thought that Brittany
and her brother was asleep, and Brittany played it cool.
That little girl is scarred for life.
Uh, it was just, uh, devastating for her.
[Narrator] Investigators ask Brittany
if there's any other details she can recall.
She says that before Debi and Alex left,
she saw something in Alex's pocket
that caught her attention.
She had seen him with a pair of handcuffs.
[Brittany] When Debi and Alex got back,
he did not have the pair of handcuffs in his pocket
that he had when he left.
[Narrator] However, they did not come back emptyhanded.
I noticed Alex had on a watch that I recognized
as my papaw's gold nugget watch.
And Debi had on a ring that I recognized
as my grandmother's pink ice ring.
And they definitely didn't have them when they left.
[Russell] It's amazing to me that a 10-year-old girl,
one, would have to go through this,
but number two, could have a very good recollection.
[Narrator] Investigators focus on finding evidence
to corroborate Brittany's testimony against her family.
We did a background on Denice.
We checked on her bank records.
[Narrator] And when detectives look at
her credit card purchases,
they learn that on July 21st, 1997,
only 2 days before the murder,
Denice rented a white Buick in Miami.
[Kontji] Not only does this discovery of
the rental car records back up what Brittany said,
it's the same color and make of car
that people in the campground reported seeing
shortly around the time of the murder.
[Narrator] When investigators run the plates
on the rental car, they get another lead.
The day of the murder, he got a speeding ticket
south of where the murder happened outside of Gatlinburg.
The speeding ticket put them in the vicinity of the murder.
[Narrator] From the speeding ticket,
investigators learn Alex's full name,
Alejandro Rivera, as well as his current address.
[Russell] Alejandro Rivera was living in Miami,
very close to the Miami post office
that the parcel had originated from.
[Narrator] With Brittany's help, investigators are closing in.
[David H] A lotta times, you know,
you get information that you believe is good,
but unable corroborate it.
But this...get this information from a ten-year-old girl
and corroborate every bit of it
I'm just glad it turned out that way.
[Narrator] But their work isn't finished just yet.
Investigators still need to prove Denice's connection
to the murder.
She paid for the rental car.
She knew what happened.
But did she put Alex and her sister up to it?
[Narrator] Coming up...
Investigators zero in on Denice
[David H] She had bragged that
he was not gonna get those children,
that she'd see to that.
[Narrator] And an important piece of evidence is recovered.
There were five fingerprints on the outside label
of the express envelope.
[Narrator] Investigators looking into the murder of Aaron Smith
believe his ex-wife, Denice, worked with her sister, Debi,
their father, Don, and Debi's boyfriend, Alex,
to carry out the deadly plan.
They know Denice was involved, but they need more.
[Narrator] As investigators talk to Denice's friends,
it's clear that Denice didn't hide her intentions
when it came to her ex-husband.
[David D] We interviewed some people that she worked with
and et cetera, and they said that she had asked
if they knew anybody that would kill her husband,
because of the divorce
and because of the custody battle with the children.
She had bragged at a beauty shop to several people that,
that he was not gonna get those children.
That she'd see to that.
[Narrator] As investigators continue to gather
more background on Denice, they get an update from
the Postal Inspection Crime Laboratory.
The results from the envelope of cocaine are in.
[Russell] Our latent fingerprint examiner
had come back with a report and said
that there were five fingerprints
on the outside label of the express envelope.
The important thing is you have to have
the fingerprints of any suspect for comparison purposes.
We had the fingerprints of Denise and Debi in the system.
The fingerprints were from Debra Graham.
[Narrator] Investigators believe that the drugs
were Denice's first attempt to take Aaron down.
[Russell] The, uh, package was delivered to him on July 15th,
the child custody hearing was on the 17th.
They might have thought that, uh,
they would get him arrested
prior to the child custody decision.
And then of course, the 18th, the decision was made,
and then the 23rd, he was killed.
So, a very short time period in all these things happened.
They were after him to discredit him in the community
and before that judge.
[Narrator] When that didn't work,
authorities believe Denice went back to her family
to devise a more sinister strategy.
She contacted the sister,
the sister contacted Alex, her boyfriend.
They devised a plan.
Making it look like a robbery, burglary, gone bad.
And they shot and killed him at the behest of Denice Smith.
[Narrator] By August 1997,
investigators have enough evidence
to obtain arrest warrants for Denice, Debi, and Alex.
Authorities locate Denice Smith in Cosby
and place her under arrest.
[David D] She denied any involvement.
Her story was that she took the kids to Florida,
and that's where she was when that happened,
and she didn't know what had happened to him.
Then she lawyered up.
[David H] We were told Debi had been living with a fellow
who was her new boyfriend, up in New York,
who was a bouncer at a, uh, strip club in New York City
and sold a little heroin on the side.
[Narrator] On August 22, 1997,
Tennessee investigators, with the help of NYPD,
head to the address.
[Brownlow] They sent a plainclothes detective in there
The entry team went through the front of the apartment
and apprehended her.
[Narrator] After taking Debi into custody,
investigators search her belongings.
A lot of our information came from her new boyfriend,
who was living with her in that apartment in, uh, Queens.
He told us that she had discussed the burglary and that,
uh, Aaron died, uh.
She showed him jewelry that had come from the, uh,
from the break-in.
[Narrator] In New York, investigators confront Debi
with the evidence against her.
First, she said, "You don't want me.
"You want my sister.
"I've got a twin sister. You've made a mistake.
She's the one you want."
I said, "We want both of them."
[Narrator] Debi admits to making the trip with Alex.
[David D] Debra admitted being there,
but she didn't admit to being involved in the robbery
and the killing.
It was more or less "Yes, I went with Alex,
but he took me back to the motel and I don't know what happened."
[Narrator] With Debi and Denice in custody,
authorities turn their attention to finding Alex.
One of the investigators checked some flight records
and determined that, uh, Alex had flown from,
Miami to New York.
[Brownlow] Alex was moving around a lot,
changing his location.
He was at different addresses in the city.
And agents in New York finally located him.
About a year later, New York authorities arrested him.
[Narrator] Authorities attempt to interview Alex.
But like Denice and Debi, he doesn't want to talk.
[Brownlow] Alex didn't give any kind of statement
for or against anyone,
other than to say he wasn't involved in anything like that.
When confronted with the ticket, he had to admit
that he had been in Tennessee.
When confronted with the information about the white car
that had been seen there about the time
that the gunshots were heard, he said,
"Oh yeah, I was there, but I only meant to scare him."
He was alive when they left.
That just doesn't fly.
It's obvious that he went there with the intention to kill him.
[Narrator] Investigators say Debi and Alex
ambushed Aaron inside his parents' house.
[David] They went in, got the drop on him.
They handcuffed him.
He got out of the handcuffs,
and Alex started shooting at him,
and shot at him at least three times.
[gunshots]
[Narrator] After the arrests,
investigators speak with Denice's father, Don.
The investigators believe Don was there in the motel
with them in Miami.
[David D] It was obvious he
wasn't going to cooperate, though.
He's not going to tell if he's involved.
[Narrator] With Denice, Debi, and Alex behind bars,
investigators hand the case over to prosecutors.
But without a confession,
the case hinges on one thing--
the testimony of a 10-year-old girl.
Coming up--
A daughter faces her mother in the courtroom.
[Brownlow] It's amazing to me that a 10-year-old girl
would have to go through this,
especially considering that her father had been killed.
Very courageous little girl.
[Narrator] Prosecutors attempt to explain a desperate bond.
Debi wanted Denice's approval so bad
that she would do or say just about anything.
[Narrator] By the summer of 1999,
Denice Smith, her twin sister, Debi, and Alex Rivera
are all awaiting trial for the murder of Denice's ex-husband,
Aaron Smith.
Prosecutors make the decision to try Denice and Debi together
[Brownlow] We were concerned that if we tried them separatel
that Debi would try to put it on, uh, to Denice,
and then, we try Denice,
and Denice would say no, it was Debi,
and that we would not be able to convict them both.
[Narrator] The trial begins in June.
The prosecution calls their star witness to the stand--
Denice and Aaron's daughter, Brittany.
I was twelve when Denice and Debi's trial took place.
It's hard to sit there on the witness stand and to tell them
these terrible, miserable, horrible things
about your mother and she's sitting there staring at you...
like she could absolutely run through me.
And Debi's sitting on the other side of the table.
That was really hard.
We could not have prosecuted the case
without Brittany's testimony.
We had--like I say, we had circumstantial evidence, but,
uh, the direct proof basically came from Brittany's statement.
[Narrator] Prosecutors argue
that Denice was motivated by rage
and driven by a desire for control.
When she didn't get custody,
she was gonna make sure she had custody.
And the one way to do that was to kill Aaron or have it done.
She wanted to be the one in control and make the decisions.
It was our belief that there was no limit
to what she needed to do to gain control and keep control.
[Narrator] Debi's motive, on the other hand, is more complicated
Debi wanted Denice's approval so bad
that she would do or say just about anything
to get Denice to pay her attention in a positive way.
And Denice knew that, and she would manipulate and use that
to her advantage any chance that she got.
So, I think Debi agreed to do it
because Denice was giving her the time of day,
as long as she was going along with it.
[Narrator] Despite the evidence against them,
Denise and Debi don't waver.
Both, uh, Denice and Debi maintained their innocence
throughout the trial.
Neither one testified.
[Narrator] In June of 1999,
the trial concludes and the jury returns a verdict.
Denice and Debi are both found guilty of first-degree murder
and sentenced to life in prison.
They both got life with parole,
meaning they have to serve fifty-one years
before they're parole eligible.
[Narrator] Two years later,
Alex Rivera goes to trial for first-degree murder.
Brittany also testified about Alex.
Pointed him out and said it was him
that was in the motel room in Florida,
that left with her Aunt Debi and came back
and talked about harming Aaron Smith or killing him.
[Narrator] Alex is also sentenced to life in prison.
Don Graham, father to Debi and Denice,
escapes charges related to the murder.
[Brownlow] We kept investigating,
trying to develop some evidence
that he was a part of the murder.
He was charged, uh, with being an accessory
to the custodial interference and was convicted of that,
but, uh, really received no punishment other than probation.
[Narrator] Since her conviction,
Denice has made several unsuccessful requests
for early release.
Denice has tried twice now to get out on clemency
or to get her sentence commuted on commutation.
I think she deserves to be in there because she killed my dad.
And I am very fearful of what any one of the three of them
would do if they got out.
Alex said that he would come after me if he ever got out.
[Robert] If he could walk through that door right now,
I have no doubt in my mind that he would walk through that door,
come up, put his arm around me and say,
"Would you pray with me now?"
[Brittany] I grieve for the childhood I didn't get to have.
I think I still grieve for the things
that I know that he missed out on--
you know prom, high school graduation,
major life events that he would have loved to be a part of.
[music]