andrea canning: nancy howard was shot point blank at her home

in carrollton, texas. remarkably, she survived. ek nancy howard was shot poi blank at her home in carrollton, texas. remarkably, she survived. a week into the investigation, detectives got a lead from an inmate who claim to know he knew the real story behind the crime. his name was billy earl johnson . the cops nude he was a tough guy from east texas, an area about 90 miles from carrollton, home to those piney woods. billy was the ringleader of a colorful crew. many petty criminals, related to billy by blood or marriage. >> certainly a strange cast of characters. east texas folks and some people might depict them as the he hog gang. >> a gang just getting by in a region struggling to make it. >> there's a lot of drugs and

methamphetamine. someone makes money, extra money, they handed out to each other. >> it is meeting with investigators, he was a man on a mission who wanted to cut a deal and fast. >> i got grandkids that i want to spend the rest of my life with. i want to be free. and i went out this weekend. >> he told the cops he knew things about the shooting that they did not including the identity of the hit team. he played hardball even as he mixed his metaphors. >> i got the big ace in the hole. i got the ball in my court. if y'all want the attempted murder self, you've got to work with me. i'm not playing. >> if the cops did not want to play and billy earl was going to zip it. >> i'm not giving up nothing until i get something solid on my end. i'll die with it. >> he thought he was in control. >> he was sitting on important information. >> yeah.

i told him i can't go to the da with you just saying this. you got to provide information. >> he was in jail on drug charges a night nancy was chapa told investigators he not only knew who hit -- ordered the hit but knew how it went down. >> there were two of them that donna. one drove in one pulled the trigger. >> billy told the detectives he thought there murder for hire plot began sometime around 2009. >> i was laying on the couch and the phone ring. >> a stranger was on the line. the stranger said his name was john. >> he said, you don't know me. he told me his name. i don't know you, but i was told you might be the one to do a job for me. >> the job? kill nancy howard. >> he wanted it done as an accident someone, and him. >> john was a man of means he

told the detectives who drove a lexus and communicated with a disposable drop phone. >> see that number right there? that is john's contact number. if he still got the phone. >> that's how you call him? >> he had it memorized. he provided the whole phone number which was the 1764 number. >> he could describe nancy's car. >> she had a long. it's dark blue. it's a four-door. >> he's providing information he should not know. it's pretty obvious. >> so, you are buying it. >> he knows a lot is going on and is involved in this. >> she deserves a little bit of justice. >> and she'll get it but i want something. >> he told the cops he never intended to follow through with the hit. >> i'm not going to kill nobody. >> he was going to play john.

take him for as much money as possible. and for two years, that's what happened. >> more than 10? more than 20 cracks >> 50, 60. >> it was inches billy playing the john gang but others were added as well and the cops already knew one of them. >> his name is john, okay? >> remember hiroms? the young man pulled over a month before nancy was shot. he spun a crazy story that night about being a hitman. turns out dustin's billy's stepson. maybe it wasn't so crazy after all. >> coming up. could the hee haw gang hold the key to the case? >> he started laying out the whole thing.

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detectives wall and turner headed for east texas immediately after hearing details the detectives headed for east texas immediately after hearing details only an insider could know about the nancy howard shooting. the informant was billie earl johnson, the pitcher kevin east texas family. he claimed he had been involved in a plot to kill nancy. they wanted to talk to the family members starting with

billie's stepson, dustin hiroms. he didn't seem to think much of him. dustin hiroms was a young man pulled over nancy's neighborhood one month before she was shot. >> his name is john, okay? >> the detectives found dustin staying with a friend in a trailer. >> we got to make custody on the next two to three days we talked with dustin. >> you're a good kid. you got yourself messed up with things. >> what was that like? >> the first night he was on meth, crying. >> and so, it was dustin scared and strung out who provided the detectives with the details about this man named john. a man who wanted nancy howard kill.

he was not shy about suggesting how it could be done. >> he told dustin he wanted nancy to be robbed while staying in the hotel in grapevine. you wanted it done with a baseball bat. >> john provided a photo about her, details of our schedule comment suggested nancy be killed while scrapbooking with friends. >> she didn't do nothing wrong. she's a christian woman. >> who shared with you she's a christian woman? >> dustin said john liked to spread his money around. >> he started laying out the whole thing regarding a stepdad billie johnson, his mom , meetings with john. large sums of money being transferred. he was talking in the millions. >> sounds hard to believe. >> yeah. he lays out including his grandmother receiving money. billie's other children who were involved. >> soon members were calling john whenever they needed

money. >> when they are in jail cannot get bond to get out, he decides, i can do this. i start getting his money. >> at one point, dustin said john gave him $24,000 to carry out the hit. money he probably spent on meth or gave away. >> he had a those him blow off his car to church parking lot. >> he didn't care? >> i said did you go back to get a? no. >> as investigators dug deeper, they learned nearly a dozen people from east texas know about the plot to kill nancy. charlie was one of them. >> you heard about the shooting in carrollton? everybody else heard about a? you know who's involved? >> yeah. >> who is that? >> billie earl johnson and mr. john? >> mr. john? >> charlie was one of the few

not related by blood or marriage to billie earl johnson. charlie, who started as a bodyguard for billie earl said billie and mr. john tried to get him to shoot nancy howard. >> he tried to get me to kill that woman. >> did he really? >> out of jail, charlie told us sometimes john transferred money between bank accounts and sometimes john met charlie and billie and handed over packages of cash. at a hamburger joint or a gas station. john was all raise pressing them to get the hit done. >> he was, do you think you can get it done now? what's the chances? billie would say we are about an hour away. we will call you when we get close. >> call me when you get

confirmation. i want this thing done. abaci, what did this lady do? >> as long as john was willing to pay, charlie said he and his family were willing to talk about killing nancy. every time the hit did not happen, john wanted to know why. billie was the master of outlandish excuses. >> he had a brain tumor. he had seizures. he had done too much do. the neighbors were home. he would buy it every time. >> mr. john's big-money scheme to kill nancy howard was an economic bonanza for east texas. according to charlie, billie earl couldn't seem to spend the money fast enough. >> vehicles for his children, all three of them. a car for his mother. a couple of go carts for the grandkids. a ski boat.

he bought me a riding mower. a four wheeler. numerous assault weapons. anything he wanted. >> and so, for more than two years, the murder plot bankrolled by john killed nothing but time. >> they didn't follow through with it because they wanted more money. >> they have been called the hee haw gang but they were valuable to you, all of these characters. >> it would've been a tough case if we only had 12 of them as witnesses. when we have this number of people involved, someone is either telling the truth or someone handed out a script with all the information. it's all the same information. >> the east texas crowd was canny enough to document the dealings with the mysterious mr. john. even had a picture of him in this fancy car. wait until you see it. it is a stunner. coming up. who is this infamous mr. john? it is the biggest twist of all.

>> i was in disbelief it was so far-fetched.

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throughout the piney woods of east texas, detectives turner and wall heard the same refrain. a man named john was paying top dollar to rid the earth of a church lady named nancy howard. throughout the piney woods of his taxes, detectives turner and waller the same refrain. a man named john was paying top dollar to ruthie or the church lady named nancy howard. to hear the east texans tele, john was a blend of money and murderous intent. a picture snap by one of the locals of the man they call john

made everything crystal clear. john was frank howard. >> a photograph of frank howard sitting in the [ screaming ] lexus and the foreground of the picture, billie johnson sitting on his motorcycle. >> he may have been trained to his friends and mr. john to the east texans, but in truth, he was both. his full name was john franklin howard. >> john franklin howard. >> a.k.a. frank. >> frank. >> three names for a man who evidently had been living three lives. one with his wife and carrollton. one with his mistress in california and a third one with the east texas crowd. >> it was a surprise being the cleaver family and involved with the church. it was unusual. >> eight days after nancy was shot, the detectives returned to the scene of the crime.

this time, they had a warrant. >> i'm sitting there watching tv and working. the police show up at the door to arrest me. that it was -- i've never experienced -- i have no clue what's going on. what's happening. >> they put you in the car and took you to the station? >> yeah. >> the charge? solicitation for murder. frank's children were in shock. their father may have had an affair but hiring hitmen made no sense. >> it's a specific type of evil person that tries to kill their spouse. my dad is not the person. having an affair is a human mistake. trying to murder someone is not human. no human would do that. i'm sorry, my dad is human. >> it was a huge leap of what they were accusing him of.

i never felt my dad hated the kids enough to do that to our mom. he never hated my mom. never talked poorly about my mom enough to do that. >> even nancy refused to believe her husband of nearly 30 years could have orchestrated a plot to have her killed. >> i was totally in shock. this is so far from anything, first of all, that ever dreamed i would be involved in. second of all, i mean, it came at the same time. i am shot then i find out my husband has been having a three- year affair. i was in disbelief. it was so far-fetched. >> his friends felt the same way. in fact, frank was so well- regarded in carrollton, that his friends offered to post is $1 million bond. at the bond hearing, witness after witness testified to his character in sterling reputation. even the denton county

prosecutor jamie was impressed. >> people from his church. people from his community. current clients came forward impact the courtroom for the bond hearing which is unheard of. they took the stand. saying his praises of what a good guy he was. >> he quickly bonded out of jail and investigators were convinced frank howard was behind the attempt on his wife's life. not only could they prove he had an affair and paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to a bunch of make-believe hitmen, they also had a picture of him meeting with one of them. still, a crucial element for solving the case was missing. >> we are still knee-deep in the middle of this. we don't have the shooter identified. everyone we arrested up to this point, we can only confirm they are involved in solicitation to have nancy killed. >> which is not to say they didn't get some useful hints from the east texans. >> dustin hiroms gives us the

name of michael speck. that's billie johnson's nephew. >> the zeroed in on that name, michael speck. a search of general recordings of billie earl revealed a surprise. not only did they hear billie earl talking about somebody named michael, but they also heard another familiar voice. it was the voice of frank howard. >> i can get out of your. it will take about a month to get out of here, but i need money. >> that's part of my problem. what happened to michael? i gave him a bunch of money. >> how much did you give him? >> i don't know how much. >> it's clear from those conversations at the jail that frank's directly involved in orchestrating this. >> michael scott everything i had left. he said he could take care of everything. >> even though the police were sure that michael speck was one of the men in the silver car, they had no idea who the other

man was. then, a few months later, call out of the blue seemed to provide the break they had been looking for. the caller sounded credible because she knew details only the shooter and nancy would know. for instance, in a flustered moment, nancy handed her bag of food to the shooter. >> my ears perked up and i feel should good information about who was responsible for shooting nancy. >> the caller led them eventually to someone they believed was the shooter. his name is also michael. michael lawrence. he and speck had been cellmates. >> this is like 6 degrees of separation. everyone in this case. >> the puzzle pieces were starting to come together. >> the police that they could put both michael's and that silver car the night nancy was shot. it would be up to a jury to figure out frank howard had paid them to kill his wife. the case begins in the witnesses sure are colorful, but are they credible?

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richard lui. 100 people were detained in northeastern university pro- palestinian protest. the university said police were clearing an unauthorized encampment. students with a valid northeastern student i.d. were released. gymnastic star gabby douglas made her come back saturday and qualified for the u.s. championships. her last competition was in 2016. qualifying for the championship puts her on the path to compete at the paris olympics. >> for now, back to dateline. andrea canning: in the months after nancy howard was shot in the face and left for dead, in the months after nan

howard was shot in the face and left for dead, she tried to move on. she divorced frank and found comfort in the sheltering embrace of her faith and family. >> isn't that pretty? >> she enjoyed happy moments when the shooting was almost forgotten like the day her youngest daughter got married, and frank walked brillana down the aisle. >> it was special he was able to do that. for me, there was never a doubt in my mind that my dad would be walking me down the aisle. >> we actually had a very good time. it was a joyful time. i can remember walking with him and saying, well we ended up doing this together after all, didn't we. >> hard to imagine? if you remember frank and nancy always put family first. for a long time, nancy refused to believe the worst about frank. as months passed, she had a change of heart. although she kept hoping she was wrong. >> i believe he had relationships with the kind of

people who would do something like this. but, i am going to let the jury make the decision on whether he called the shot. >> you are not ready to say he ordered -- >> i'm not ready to say that. >> the prosecutor was ready to say that and more. >> i try not to get too personally involved, so to speak, but i did not like him. i did not like the good versus evil aspect to him and the manipulation i felt. >> in august 2014, frank howard went on trial for attempted capitol murder. prosecutor started with nancy's 911 called. >> lord jesus, help me. oh, my gosh. help me. >> it was an emotional opening punch, one that left frank visibly shaken as did nancy's testimony about her injuries and overwhelming feelings of

betrayal. >> i was married to a man named frank howard for the majority of our marriage, i was married to frank howard. but, when john walked in the door, he started taking over. frank was the man who was loving and kind. he had integrity. john, john was about himself. >> prosecutors laid out their theory. john a.k.a. frank howard had hired a hitman to kill his wife. for more than two years, he ended up throwing money at one potential killer after another to get the job done. this group of characters, some people even call them the hee haw gang. >> yes. >> questionable characters with long rap sheets. how'd you get the jury to believe what they are saying? >> when you hire a hitman, you are not going to hire a good person of the story.

you will hire a criminal. someone with the past and willing to do that job. >> if oranges the new black, this was a fashionable crowd. on the stand, the witnesses from his texas corroborated each other stories. they testify they receive money from a man named john to kill his wife. they had communicated with john by calling his drop phone. each said that john and frank were one and the same. charlie said john did not seem happy tc is his texas friends again. >> he didn't want to see me there. he didn't like that. he was twirling his pen. like a principal going to give me licks. >> charlie said he saw vast money changing hands. >> sometimes 5000. sometimes 80,000. >> investigators were able to follow the money on frank's computers. they found wire transfer receipts are added up to more than three quarters of $1

million. the assistant prosecutor rick daniel. it sounds hard to believe that frank, the accountant, the meticulous numbers guy is throwing around money. not only throwing around money, but documenting it. they are wire transfers. it's hard to believe. >> at first it was all cash. i think he got tired of having to go and meet. once he started with the wire transfer, think he realized it's done, might as well keep doing it. i think he kept trying to get a solution by throwing more money at a. >> the east texans who gridley took the money were not charge because they were either doing timer facing prosecution for other crimes. still jamie and her team wanted to link frank to the men they actually believed shot nancy. the men in the silver car. first, they tried to establish that frank paid the alleged driver. they played a snippet of the

jailhouse call recorded a few weeks before the shooting. >> and so, i basically gave michael everything. i'm all in with you, buddy. i don't know what else to do. >> even more incriminating, prosecutors said phone records proved frank was communicating with the alleged driver the day of the shooting. as for the alleged shooter, the other michael, the prosecution called a witness who testified he confessed to her the night nancy was shot. jamie summed up the testimony. >> he does of fallout compression. i have murdered someone. i shot a woman in the forehead, in her garage, took her food and her purse. then we dumped everything on the way back. >> both michael's pleaded not guilty. their day in court would come later. is for motive? prosecutors told the court, that was as old as time. frank had another woman and this was no casual fling.

they presented evidence of frank's devotion. flowers, letters, and cards he sent to suzanne leontieff. frank spent enormous sums of money on his mistress. >> he had given her 1.9 million ultimately we discovered they purchased a home together in california and purchased a condo in lake tahoe together. he had given her $500,000 in cash. she was certainly living a life with a lot of money from frank. >> the pictures police found suzanne on frank's cell phone shows the happy couple buses and grew tired of being the other woman. she began putting pressure on frank to get a divorce. police found a letter from frank dated december 2011, eight months before the shooting. pleading for patients. one of the lines was, all i know to do is get things done

and hope you are still around. what do you think he meant by, to get things done? >> at they came in following through on killing nancy. >> in this text, suzanne rowe, i'm so sick of being alone. you need to file by this friday or move on. i have waited long enough. prosecutors said the affair was frank's motive, so all eyes were on suzanne when she took the stand. >> she believed he was in a loveless marriage. he was basically separated from his wife by living under the roof for convenience sake but in separate bedrooms. >> how important was hurt testimony? >> i don't think suzanne had any knowledge about any of this. i do not think she knew there was a murder for hire plot. i don't think she know about association with criminals. i think suzanne foley believe, like everybody else around frank, they take him at his word and believe him. >> prosecutors said for a

family man like frank, divorce was not an option. but, they argued, murder was. >> it did not have to happen. divorce was the solution. >> frank was with suzanne on the day nancy was shot. even so, he found time to send an email to his wife. the prosecutor reddit to the jury in her closing argument. >> i know you have a busy day today. he knows her schedule and provided it to the two michaels. i will try to call you sometime today. i love you and can't wait to get home to you. that is sick. that is sick. he wanted to get home to her casket. that is what he wanted to come home to. >> august 18, 2014, two years to the day after nancy was shot, the prosecution rested. now, it was the defense turn to convince a jury that all those

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for most, hpv clears on its own. but for others, it can cause certain cancers later in life. you're welcome! now, as the “dad cab”, it's my cue to help protect them. embrace this phase. help protect them in the next. ask their doctor today about hpv vaccination. frank howard was a confident man, or at least, embrace this phase. help protect them in the next. he claimed to be when he spoke to us a few months before his trial began. frank howard was a confident man, or at least he

claimed to be when he spoke to us a few months before his trial began. did you have anything to do with your wife being shot that date in your garage? >> no, no. i absolutely did not. >> the defense attorneys knew they had their work cut out for them when they rose to frank howard's defense. >> the stay put on a large amount of evidence. they showed a lot of money being transferred and the show the affair. they showed sympathetic figures of the poor lady shot in the head. >> powerful images to be sure, but the prosecution's case, they argued, did not make sense. >> it was incredible to hear the allegations that a man was spent in the amount of money they said was spent in order to have someone shot. particularly in light of the fact that when you saw the people that were saying he pay them, look at the kind of people they were. >> the first line of defense is don't trust anyone who wears prison garb to court.

>> i believe when the jurors look at the case and see how these people are liars, criminals, their drug users that they won't lend credibility. if they don't believe those people, they can't convict him for attempted capitol murder. >> you have these people to hundreds of thousands of dollars to kill somebody and they're not being prosecuted. it makes no sense. >> not only that, but the defense argued, some of their stories were too fantastic to be believed. take one from charlie. he testified that some of frank howard's cash had come from the middle east in body bags. it was money that literally reeked of death. >> some of it had here with blood stuck to it summit burn marks on it. i said, what in the hell that mel? billie said you know that's how are getting the money in here is on dead bodies coming from kuwait. the caskets.

>> the defense called that outrageous. >> just crazy things. crazy. 80,000, 100,000 in cash coming back in the body cavities from soldiers from a wreck? this man had crazy things. >> they not only challenged the credibility of billie earl and his crew, they told the jurors the real reason frank howard was in contact with the east texas crowd boiled down to one word. black male. >> you take a guy who's a straight arrow and has a great reputation in his hometown, i'm sure it would bother him that the people in the church would know he had an affair and went to las vegas, think that would go into a reason for them to blackmail and for him to pay the money. >> as daughter ashley agrees. >> you see money going out all these shady people but you don't see any return. there is no action. i believe he was being blackmailed. >> for the affair? >> i cannot say what.

my dad was a generous person. maybe someone in there, give a guy a second chance. help me out and it snowballed into threatening his family are telling about the affair. i do not know. i think it probably started as a generous, you know, give grace to somebody. help another human and he became out of his control. >> according to the defense, frank stopped paying members of the johnson clan weeks before the shooting. that, frank's attorney suggested, could be the reason nancy was shot. do you think it was payback to frank because the money train had stopped? >> i believe it was something to get the money going i can. i believe they were sending a message. you are not going to quit paying us. >> there will could be that and they may not have intended to kill nancy.

the guys standing there. she is still conscious. if he's going to kill her, why not shoot her again? >> frank did not take the stand but all three howard children did. was a hard to take the stand knowing what was at stake? >> it definitely was. i wanted to be there for my dad into things and say things that gave a different perspective to, he is not this man you are talking about. he is imperfect, absolutely. he is a good person. >> you could've been his best weapon. his own children standing behind him. >> when we say we support our dad, it's not blind support. it's a reason to support and we've been able to separate the feelings about the affair from the feelings about his involvement in this criminal scheme. >> in closing, the defense attorneys urged jurors test themselves one question. to the prosecutor's theory of why and how frank howard plotted his wife's murder make sense?

>> where in the world in any evidence that -- to mr. howard? he said divorce. he's been married once. look at the evidence and ask if that what that means? >> i do not believe is reasonable people you can't convict someone on the testimony of the people they brought in here that their house of cards has to be built on and it starts with billie johnson and ends with billie johnson. i do not believe it's a kind of evidence in this country that we want to use that convicts someone of a crime to deprive them of their liberty if convicted. >> the jury held frank howard's feet in their hands. >> coming up. the man of rock solid character or this cast of characters? who would the jury be lead? lea

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andrea canning: they'd once called themselves the beaver cleaver family-- close, wholesome, and picture perfect. if nothing else, john franklin howard's they once called themselves cleaver family. close, wholesome, and picture- perfect. if nothing else, john franklin howards attempted capitol murder trial proved that image was as dated as a black-and- white rerun. nancy sat in the prosecution sat in the courtroom, surrounded by friends and family. frank supporters sat across the aisle the current -- behind the defense table.

as for the children, they almost always sat on their dad's side of the aisle. >> i was very focused on the goal. focused on what we are here for and was my dad all the way. >> the tension and stress caused by their devotion to the father was at times etched on nancy's face. >> i am trying to understand, have to understand, they had continual contact with their father for the past two years. they too wanted to believe their father was the same man. >> after 10 days of testimony and a mountain of evidence, jurors have been expected to be out for a while. >> has the jury reached a verdict? >> but they were not. >> is it a unanimous verdict of each of the 12 jurors in the case? please hand it to the bailiff. >> it had taken 90 minutes of deliberation for the jury to reach a decision. >> with the jury found the

defendant john howard guilty of the offense of attempted capitol murder alleged in the indictment. >> when you heard the word guilty, what's going to your mind? >> just complete her break. yet, it was also peace because it was finally over. >> in a separate hearing, frank howard was sentenced to life in prison. >> my gut reaction is, now we have to appeal. >> you didn't even let the process -- >> no. for me that was the plan. not guilty, we move on. guilty, we appeal. there is no let's cry him be sad because dad is in jail. we will appeal. >> it's probably easier to cope that way. >> at first their shock, and then you were angry. angry that they didn't beat -- you don't feel they got -- >> frank howard's appeals were denied, but even then, the case

was far from over. remember the michaels, two man prosecutors say carried out the attack on nancy? in 2015, billie earl's nephew michael turned on his former cellmate, michael lawrence. in return for a reduced sentence, speck testified that lawrence makes ski had been the trigger man. he was convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and sentenced to 60 years. he appealed and in 2017, texas court overturned his conviction on the grounds of evidence introduce relating to the overall murder for hire scheme was misleading and unfairly prejudicial. lawrence was retried and this time a jury found him not guilty. lawrence is not off the hook yet. the district attorney decided to prosecute him for conspiracy to commit murder in the nancy howard case. he has pleaded not guilty. has for the money frank howard used to finance a murder plot and support his lavish

lifestyle? turns out it was stolen from the wealthy defense contractor frank once worked for. some people might have a hard time wrapping their head around the fact that he was haphazardly giving out money. >> yes. freely giving it out. the only way i can explain that is when you do not earn the money, when it's not from your hard work and efforts, it has no value. as a matter of fact, for the two years a call to his monopoly money. the money did not have meaning to him other than how to use it to manipulate people. >> in 2015, arbitration panel determined frank howard embezzled more than $6 million from his former boss between 2009 and 2012. frank was ordered to repay the money with interest. he went into this hoping there was a chance that maybe he did not call the shots on this?

>> i did. i tried to keep my heart open. >> you have no doubt now that frank call the shots on your attempted murder? >> absolutely. john called the shots. >> it's almost like an alter ego. >> it is. >> i want to say john howard, you messed up, buddy. >> perhaps nobody knew john better than the east texas crowd. he said john howard got what he deserved. >> you are smart and you hired an idiot to do your dirty work. >> charlie said he regrets he got involved with billie johnson and remorseful about what happened to nancy. >> i carry guilt over her injury with their eye. she looked like a happy lady in the pictures to me. to john's children, i am sorry, but your dad did it. there is no getting around it.

>> even after hearing the evidence, john and nancy's daughters still believed their father was innocent. there will be people watching saying you two girls are delusional. your dad was found guilty of trying to have your mom killed and you are supporting your dad. >> i get that, but i would say those people that think we are delusional have not shared our experiences. they have not gone to jail, sat behind the glass, picked up the phone, and talked to the same man they have been talking to for the last 28 years. you can say all day, that poor girl, she wants to support her dad. let's be very clear, i think justice needs to be served. i do not think it has been, and it's unfortunate that we will say we've gotten justice for my mom and that man is a terrible human being. the truth is there's no justice

for my mom and now there's no justice for my dad. >> they conceded in 2014 that the bonds have been strained by the case, they insisted the bonds had not been broken entirely. do you hope as time goes on, things can be healed with your mother? >> absolutely. it's a very raw time. a big life event happen, big change, so we are having to process what we feel and come back together and sort it out. >> the future for the howard family? >> we were strong then and we will be strong in the future and they will not look the same, but that's okay. we will figure it out. >> they seem to be taking steps in that direction. the last time we spoke, nancy said she has a healthy relationship with her children and grandchildren. although she has not spoken with frank, the kids are in touch with their father and visited him in prison. nancy has moved on with her

life. she went back to work at a law firm and later remarried. she also told her story in a book titled the shooting of nancy howard, journey back to shore. >> my heart is broken. i would've loved to continue being the beaver cleaver family. i would've loved to continue being married to frank. because, i loved that man with all my heart. that man loved me at some point. but, it was obviously a change in who he was and is. [music playing] hello, i am andrea, this is dateline.