[Dianna speaking]
[Gilbert speaking]
[Dianna speaking]
I feel like that we were like a, you know, regular, normal family.
-[Erica speaking] -[Dianna speaking]
We were very close, and there was always laughter.
[Gilbert speaking]
My dad was always the life of the party.
-[Erica speaking] -[Gilbert speaking]
I really didn't see any problems ahead.
I didn't...
[Evansville 911 operator speaking]
[Erica speaking]
At that point, I knew something had happened.
[Erica speaking]
[Evansville 911 operator speaking]
I was deceived.
The person that you think is nice and well-meaning can be so evil.
That was a lesson I learned from this.
[music playing]
[narrator] It's New Year's Day, 1986, in Evansville, Indiana...
[baby crying]
[narrator] ...Charlie and Florence Dossett host their family
for a late Christmas celebration.
Their 39-year-old son, Gilbert, and his wife,
37-year-old Dianna,
drove the two hours from Cadiz, Kentucky,
to join in the festivities.
[woman speaking]
[narrator] Gilbert and Dianna's daughters,
14-year-old Erica, and 11-year-old Mendy,
made the trip with their parents.
Oh!
[Erica] New Year's Eve was always a big deal at Grandm and Grandpa Dossett's house
So, we would have a very simple Christmas at home.
And then, we would head down to Evansville and spend time with them.
-[man 1 speaking] -[man 2 speaking]
All of our families were very close.
[grandma speaking]
We always just enjoyed that time together.
They always took a little extra attention to us
since we did live far away.
[Dianna] We always got together with his family,
sharing gifts and memories.
And it was just a, just a fun, wonderful time.
[Erica] Oh, and the best tim grandma was handing out
the envelopes to the grandkids.
That always means money.
[grandma speaking]
Dad has his hand out.
-[grandma speaking] -[Gilbert laughing]
It really didn't matter to h if he received a gift or not
but he always liked to razz people
and, you know, joke around and... and have a good time
[Gilbert speaking]
He was a hoot.
[music]
[narrator] Gil and Dianna own a bait store on the shore of Lake Barkley
[Dianna] It was a different kind of life, but it was
the most beautiful place I've ever been.
We rented boats and we had people who came and camped.
That was our life for like 13 years.
[Erica] It was an adventure
We didn't know what we were getting into
with having a store and, you know, it was exciting.
We liked the idea of doing something together as a family.
[Gilbert speaking]
[Erica] My dad just really enjoyed being out on the water.
He just loved everything about fishing.
I never could catch a fish, but every time Gil would bait my hook
we would catch a fish, so I think it's something to do with chemistry.
[Dianna chuckles]
[woman speaking]
[narrator] The Dossett family spends
the final hours of New Year's Day, 1986, playing games.
Playing games was definitely something that we did as a family.
[woman speaking]
[man speaking]
[man laughing]
[woman speaking]
Yeah! Yeah!
Scattergories was a lot of fun, very competitive.
Of course, there was making up of words that didn't really fit.
[woman speaking]
[all laughing]
[Dianna] Gilbert, well, he was hot-blooded.
He was always hot and sweating.
And yeah, that's the way he dressed in the wintertime or the summer.
-[man speaking] -[man speaking]
-[woman speaking] -[woman speaking]
[man speaking]
[woman speaking]
[Dianna] When Gil won any game, he would just rub it in and was just awful.
[laughing]
So that's why we'd try to beat him every chance we got.
[narrator] Dianna and Gilber met in Evansville in 1969.
[Dianna] I used to work at a restaurant with his mother, Florence.
She was going to go to a Christmas party at Nativity Church.
She said she was gonna send her son over to pick me up.
And I thought, well, she didn't tell me that.
But anyway, he came over and he was a perfect gentleman,
dressed very nice, and he was very handsome.
So we have a few drinks and we dance
and dance and dance and kind of hit it off.
And then he said, "Would you like to go out?"
He and I were only dating for four months,
which is not very long.
And he says, "Can I put my claims on you?
And he brought out the little box with the ring in it.
And I said, "Yes."
[narrator] Dianna and Gil married on May 9, 1970.
[man speaking]
Erica was born in 1971,
and Mendy was born 2.5 years later, on January 14, 1974.
[Dianna speaking]
[laughing]
This is a hilarious moment, I think at my 40th birthday.
He always gave me nice gifts.
[Erica speaking]
Here, he gave me a box of candy, and he's so sweet.
[Gilbert speaking]
And a sweet kiss.
-[Gilbert speaking] -[Dianna speaking]
[laughing]
It still makes me smile when I see it.
Mmm, good old days.
[Dianna speaking]
[Erica] Dad was never on a diet.
He ate whatever he wanted when he wanted.
[Dianna speaking]
-[Erica speaking] -[Gilbert speaking]
[Erica speaking]
[narrator] Fast forward to 1990,
the family celebrates Gil's 44th birthday with a lakeside cookout.
[Erica speaking]
[man speaking]
[Dianna] I would let the campers know we're gonna celebrate Gil's birthday.
So we had a big fish fry and a gathering
and there was cake and presents
and we just really had a good birthday party.
[man singing]
[all singing]
[Gilbert speaking]
[man speaking]
[Gilbert speaking]
[Erica] Dad loved being the center of attention.
It's just so funny to me how he's making wisecracks,
and people enjoyed it too.
[woman speaking]
The campers were all having a good time, cutting up and carrying on,
just happy to be part of his special day.
[Gilbert speaking]
[Dianna] We did a lot of things and... and shared a lot of fun together.
[laughing]
He was just a good person to be around.
-[Gilbert speaking] -[woman speaking]
[Dianna] And so it was a good life.
What happened after that?
There's just good memories and broken hearts.
[Gilbert speaking]
Christmas of 1990, we were still at the lake.
-[woman speaking] -[Gilbert speaking]
This was the best Christmas I ever had.
Our family was there.
The girls were there.
[Dianna speaking]
We got dad a gift for his Christmas present.
[Gilbert speaking]
[Dianna laughing]
He loved it 'cause, you know, he loved fishing
more than anything.
[Erica] Thank Mendy, Dad.
[Gilbert speaking]
He's always funny when he opens gifts.
He always has something cute or funny to say.
He was cute and funny.
[laughing]
[narrator] But the best present of all is yet to com
[Erica speaking]
[narrator] Eighteen-year-old Erica is three months' pregnant.
[Erica] We were very excite to be having a baby.
Mom and Dad were excited to become grandparents.
They thought I made them grandparents too young.
Of course, they weren't really ready,
but they were excited about his arrival.
[Dianna speaking]
[Erica] I was nine months' pregnant.
[Dianna speaking]
And I get a phone call that my dad had been in an accident.
[Dianna] It was on a Monday and there was no traffic
or boats or anything out on the lake.
And Gil was taking the boat out.
And he let go of the steering wheel
and the boat threw him out.
[water gurgling]
Then, he slid to the rear of the boat,
where the motor was and the motor got tangled in between his legs.
And it just so happened that our milkman,
he goes to investigate
and there he sees Gil in the water floating.
He was able to pull Gil into his boat,
and he said he'd never seen anything like it.
Not since the war.
[Erica] Dad broke his leg in 13 places
and he had lost a lot of blood and a lot of skin.
So they were having him life-flighted.
I had my delivery induced,
so that I could get to be with him
because we really didn't think he was gonna make it.
So when we were able to be discharged from the hospital,
we went directly to Vanderbilt Hospital from Fort Leonard Wood,
and his eyes lit up.
Dad told me when he was in the water waiting to be rescued,
he just said, "God, let me see my grandson.
That's all I ask for is let me see my grandson."
He was so excited to see his grandson for the first time
and they just laid there in the bed together.
He enjoyed holding on to him and being close to hi
Alex and my dad really bonded, so it was very special,
special time during a tragedy.
[Dianna speaking]
[Gilbert speaking]
[Dianna speaking]
[narrator] Gil's injuries respond well to treatment,
but it's almost three month
before he's walking around at home.
[Dianna] Alex called Gil his pappa.
Yeah, he thought his pappa hung the moon.
Gil was crazy about the little thing.
[Erica] It was very special as a mother
and as a daughter to see that bond that they had together.
I honestly believe that if Alex had not arrived,
that my dad wouldn't be alive.
[engine revving]
[Erica speaking]
[Dianna] I think that the pain that he had to endure,
you know, that always affects people.
And if you're in a lot of pain, you just don't feel like talking.
[Dianna speaking]
[Gilbert speaking]
I think he was changing, of course, I probably was too.
I think the stress, it took its toll on both of us
trying to keep the store going and him needing
all the medical attention that he needed.
It was just a very, very difficult time.
[Gilbert speaking]
[Dianna speaking]
So we ended up selling the store because we couldn't...
we just couldn't keep up, we couldn't keep it going.
We just kind of separated.
We kept trying to work it ou but not really.
We know that it was... it was coming to a close.
And so, yeah, it was in '93 that we got our divorce.
[Erica] So after the divorce he moved to Evansville.
He wanted to be close to all of us.
I think it was very difficul for him to sell the store
because that was so much of his identity and who he was as a person.
And to walk away from that, I think it was nice to be
able to fall back on family and to know that the family
still was there for him, still loved him, and still wanted to be aroun
He got a job as a taxi cab driver.
He didn't have to be on his feet all day with the injury to his leg.
It was his way of connectin with people, making his riders laugh.
He really enjoyed that job.
[Gilbert speaking]
[Dianna speaking]
[Erica] We all knew that he changed.
He wasn't that same super-outgoing, super-happy
super-engaged person that he was,
but he was making the best of what he had.
No one could see what was going to happen.
[narrator] In 2001, Gilbert Dossett meets Brenda Moore.
Brenda is 34 years old to Gilbert's 55.
[Erica] She was also a cab driver for River City Taxi.
And so that is where they me
I think it was pretty instan
Them being together made him feel needed.
She had two very young children
and so they started dating pretty quickly
and they moved in together pretty quickly as well.
I thought she was nice.
Gil has met this wonderful person, and I was happy for him.
I said, well, things must be going pretty good.
I mean, she brought food and she sat around
and talked with everybody that was at the house.
[Erica] My dad doted on her
So, you know, I thought if she's special to my dad, then she must be special.
And if he was happy, that's all that mattered to me.
[Dianna] I found out that both of her husbands,
which were older, like Gil, died.
[narrator] One of Brenda's husbands died from cancer.
The other died unexpectedly at just 39.
Brenda raises her two young children alone.
Her daughter, Nikki and son, Nicholas.
Dad spent a lot of time playing with them
and being a father figure to the kids,
especially since they did not have fathers in their lives.
[narrator] Gilbert and Brend date for almost two years.
They marry in 2002.
[Charles] I thought to mysel "Oh, my God,
why did you get married to Brenda?"
I mean, "You could have just lived with her."
But evidently, he loved her enough to get married to her.
[Erica] I thought it was kind of quick.
But she did love my dad and it seemed to me like
she was taking care of him, which was important to me.
[narrator] Erica and Dianna
slowly adapt to Gil being increasingly absent in their lives.
Christmas, that was one of my favorite holidays with the family.
But it... it definitely was not the same without my dad.
You know, we didn't see them as much as we would have liked.
Dad would work all day and then have to come home
and, you know, tend to the children and, you know, tend to his new bride.
And so there wasn't a lot of extra time to spend time with the grandkids.
He spent his time with that family.
And so I think it was kind of hurtful.
[Gilbert speaking]
But I understood he, he had a commitment to his new family,
and I understood that that's what he needed to do.
[narrator] Six years later, Brenda falls ill.
She was diagnosed with cancer.
[Erica] They spent a lot of time in and out of doctors
making sure she got the treatment that was best suited for he
to give her the best quality of life.
He was there by her side, but you got to have income to live on.
[Erica] Dad was able to get a job with a manufacturing company
He worked 10, 12 hours a day sometimes 6 days a week.
But it was able to give the benefits
that Brenda needed for her care.
[Rhonda] When Gil got hired on, he was an excellent worker.
His wife was sick.
And he wanted to make sure he took care of her
and he would work every bit of overtime that he could.
[Erica] It was hard on him.
[Gilbert speaking]
[Erica] It was excruciating pain for him
with the injury to his leg as well as it just wore him out.
He wasn't a young man anymore.
[Rhonda] You try to tell him, you know,
"Hey, Gil, you don't have to volunteer for overtime."
"Oh, yeah, I do. I do."
He had to take care of his family first.
[all] ♪ Happy birthday, dear Mendy ♪
[all singing]
Whoo!
[Erica] We planned a surprise party for my sister's 40th birthda
Gil and Brenda were there, and they were sitting in a booth by themselves.
[Erica] It was a happy occasion, so everybody was just,
you know, happy to be there
We didn't realize that was going to be the last family function
that he was going to be a part of.
[narrator] Three months late Brenda's 18-year-old daughte Nikki,
meets 19-year-old Mason Hughes online.
Mason lives 100 miles away in Paoli.
[Erica] Brenda was taking Nikki to Paoli to spend time with him,
and then she was also picking him up and bringing him
back to their house to spend time together.
Dad had called me a couple times and he was like,
"Brenda's letting him drive the car.
He's wanting to stay the night.
And I don't know how to tell him not to."
But the thing that really did it for him is Brenda said, she didn't ask,
she said "Mason's moving in."
And my dad said, "Well, no, where is he going to stay?"
Brenda said "In Nikki's room
"Now, remember, she's still in high school.
So my dad said, "Absolutely not,
and that's not acceptable and that's not happening."
And Brenda was adamant that it was going to happen
So they got into a really big fight.
And then Dad just called and said,
"Hey, we... we have decided to go our own ways.
Brenda has moved out.
I'm sure we're gonna be filing for divorce soon."
The last I heard, Brenda and the kids were staying in a motel,
but I... I don't know where.
[Rhonda] We started at 6:30 a.m. in the mornings
and he would get out of there about 5:30 p.m. that evening.
But that day Gil had a headache and he said,
"I think I just need to lay down and get rid of this headache."
Okay, he'd see us all tomorrow.
Well, you didn't think too much about that because
you know, okay, your friend's there and they've got a headache.
But the next day, he didn't show up.
Mendy called me and she said, "Mama, something's not right.
Brenda wants me to go over there and check on Dad.
She hadn't seen Dad in two days."
So she called me and she said, "We need to go check on Dad."
I was not feeling good about none of it, and I was scared.
[phone ringing]
[Evansville 911 operator speaking]
[Erica speaking]
[Erica] We knocked on the door. He didn't come to the door.
So I walked around to the back door, wasn't closed all the way.
I was very concerned.
[Evansville 911 operator speaking]
[Erica speaking]
[Evansville 911 operator speaking]
[Erica speaking]
[Evansville 911 operator speaking]
I definitely knew that when Sean came downstairs, it was not good news.
And I could just tell by the way that he was acting.
[Erica speaking]
[Evansville 911 operator speaking]
-[Erica speaking] -[Sean speaking]
[Evansville 911 operator speaking]
[Erica speaking]
[Sean speaking]
-[Evansville 911 operator speaking] -[Sean speaking]
[Evansville 911 operator speaking]
My sister and I went outside and I was hysterical at this point.
[Keith] Myself and a couple of other detectives,
we arrive on scene a few minutes after the call
[sirens wailing]
I entered the house and I immediately noticed that
there was furniture turned over, moved, disturbed.
There might have been somebody in this house searching, stealing, whatever.
Obviously looking for something.
I noticed there were some small blood spots on the floor.
I proceeded up the steps to the bedroom and I observed Mr. Dossett on his bed.
I could tell that he was deceased.
I also observed what I thought was a gunshot wound to Mr. Dossett's head.
So it appeared that... that he had been shot while he was asleep.
Talking to Gilbert's biological kids,
they had said, "Hey, Gilbert's got a wife
that's estranged.
She's out of the house with her kids."
I made a phone call.
I said, "Brenda, your husband's deceased.
I need to talk to you."
[sirens wailing]
We went out to the apartmen where Brenda and the kids were staying.
I knocked on the door, and Brenda was right there, and she was crying.
She was visibly upset,
which would be a normal reaction
for a spouse, to lose a spouse.
I asked Brenda to come to the station.
She willingly agreed to come
[Keith speaking]
During the interview process, Brenda said that it had been a couple of weeks
since she had actually seen Mr. Dossett,
but she did put herself at the house.
She told me that she had moved some stuff out of the garage.
[Brenda speaking]
[Keith speaking]
[Brenda speaking]
[Keith] Brenda brings up a name that... that I had... didn't know
at that time, and that's Mason Hughes.
She said that Mason was... was her daughter's boyfriend.
[Keith speaking]
[Brenda speaking]
[Keith speaking]
[Brenda speaking]
[Keith speaking]
[Brenda speaking]
[Keith speaking]
[Brenda speaking]
[Keith] She's talking and she's giving us a timeli
and she's giving us information.
All the while, we're picking up everybody she's bringing in.
We pick up Mason Hughes.
We pick up her daughter, Nikki Moore,
and we pick up her juvenile son, Nicholas.
Also, grabbing the car that they said they were driving
And we get them all on station and she doesn't know this.
[Keith speaking]
[Brenda speaking]
I finished interviewing Brenda
and put her with Nicholas for the second interview.
When I step out, Brenda and Nicholas
get real close together and they start whispering.
[Brenda speaking]
Detectives hear this on the monitors.
Even though she's whispering, but we hear it.
[Brenda speaking]
[Nicholas speaking]
[Keith] Well, then I knew, and everybody in, in the detective office knew
we're heading in the right direction here.
[Keith speaking]
Then we sort of abandoned he and left her with Nicholas,
so they could just talk.
And while detectives are watching there,
we start with Nikki as the next interview.
[Keith speaking]
[Nikki speaking]
[Keith speaking]
[Nikki speaking]
-[Keith speaking] -[Nikki speaking]
There's no way she could have known that.
[Keith] I hadn't told anybody that.
Nobody had.
So that completely changed the direction
by her making that statement about Gilbert being shot in the head.
And then we start pressuring her
and we start hitting her with questions.
[Detective Mayhew speaking]
[Nikki speaking]
[Detective Mayhew speaking]
[Nikki speaking]
[Detective Mayhew speaking]
[Nikki speaking]
-[Detective Mayhew speaking] -[Nikki speaking]
She's a soft person.
She's not streetwise. She's not hard.
[Keith speaking]
[Nikki speaking]
[Keith speaking]
[Nikki speaking]
[Keith speaking]
[Keith] I don't think that Nikki had planned on cooperating and talking,
but she made a couple... couple statements
that implicated her that she did know.
[Keith speaking]
[Nikki speaking]
She said her boyfriend, Mason, shot Gilbert.
[Keith speaking]
I was trying to get Mason to collaborate what that story was
and... and ultimately try to get him to admit to what had happened.
[Detective Mayhew speaking]
[Keith] Mason's tough.
He's young, but he's sort of street toug
He's very gullible, though.
I don't think he'd had much life experience
other than just being probably an adolescent teenager.
He's visibly shaking in his chair.
He was spooked about what we were asking him.
[Keith speaking]
[Mason speaking]
[Keith speaking]
[Mason speaking]
[Keith speaking]
[Keith] He was digging himself in a hole
that he wasn't going to get out very easily.
So Mason starts putting the blame a little bit on Brenda.
[Mason speaking]
[Keith speaking]
[Mason speaking]
[Keith] And that was a big piece of evidence.
He puts himself there at the scene.
[Keith speaking]
[Mason speaking]
Mason is fighting off the questions about we know what happened,
and then Mayhew comes up with a great idea.
[Keith speaking]
[Keith] We go grab Nikki and put her back in the interview room.
I'm with Mason and Mayhew's with Nikki.
Mayhew is talking to Nikki.
[Detective Mayhew speaking]
[Keith] I've got Mason and we're watching the monitor.
[Detective Mayhew speaking]
[Nikki speaking]
[Detective Mayhew speaking]
[Keith] Mason knows at that time that we know.
And then I put him back into the interview room.
[Detective Mayhew speaking]
[Mason speaking]
[Detective Mayhew speaking]
[Mason speaking]
[Detective Mayhew speaking]
[Mason speaking]
[Detective Mayhew speaking]
He's still denying it.
And I reach over, and I had a hand-held recorder
and I said, "How about I turn this off?
And we just start over?
I think that was the trigger that Mason said, "Okay,
it's time for me to... to tell the story."
And he tells the story.
[Mason speaking]
[Detective Mayhew speaking]
[Mason speaking]
[Detective Mayhew speaking]
[Mason speaking]
[Detective Mayhew speaking]
[Mason speaking]
[Keith] He says that him and Brenda drove from the apartment on the west side,
drove down to Gilbert's hous
They knew that Gilbert would be in bed.
Brenda had a key.
She unlocks the back door.
They move some furniture to stage it, make it look like it's a robbery.
[Mason speaking]
[Keith] Mason says he goes u to the bedroom.
[Mason speaking]
So Mason put... put a shotgun to his head and pulled the trigger.
He told me that Brenda was standing on the steps
outside the bedroom door when he shot Gilbert.
Mason tells us that Brenda is going to buy him a vehicle
off the insurance settlemen
of Gilbert's life insurance policy.
That's why she wanted Gilbert dead, for insurance.
[Erica] The life insurance money was only $48,000 in total.
No one's life is worth $48,000.
[Keith] She believed that she was the beneficiary of this policy,
when in fact she wasn't.
[Keith speaking]
[Mason speaking]
[Keith speaking]
[Mason speaking]
[Keith speaking]
One of the biggest pieces o evidence in this case
was finding the murder weapon in Brenda's trunk of her car.
And the murder weapon was exactly how Mason said it would be.
It would have one spent shel in the chamber
and one unspent shell in the magazine.
[detective speaking]
[Keith] One of the best feelings I've ever had was looking straight at her
and advising her she's under arrest for murde
Approximately six months aft Gilbert Dossett was murdered
Brenda Dossett pled guilty in court.
It saved the family from having to go through a trial
And on December 17, 2014, Judge Pigman sentenced
Brenda Dossett to 60 years for murder.
[Dianna] I think she deserve the death penalty.
She's a mother and she still has her kids.
And Gil's no longer here.
There's no justice.
[Keith] On April 24, 2015,
Mason Hughes pleads guilty to murder and is sentenced to 60 years
[narrator] Police do not charge Brenda's daughter, Nikki
nor her son, Nicholas with any crimes in relation to Gil's murder.
[Erica speaking]
-[Gilbert speaking] -[Erica speaking]
[Gilbert speaking]
[Erica] Dad was the glue that held us all together.
It makes me sad to think about...
what he's missed and what he will miss.
[kissing]
[Erica] Hey, Dad.
-Give me this piece right here. -That's my favorite.
But I also know he is here for us and looking over us
and... and still a part of our world.
[Erica] You and Pappa go for a ride?
He's missed so much.