Original subtitles

This is the story of a family

living the American dream.

There's a lot of happy memories.

Growing up, I was definitely spoiled.

Their perfect lives captured on camera.

They had the perfect family. They were living the dream.

But when this dream was destroyed...

For a brief shining moment they had Camelot

and then it was gone.

Money becomes the root...

...of all evil.

Things had been dark before, but they went really dark.

Christmas 2004 --

ringgold, Georgia.

8-year-old Caleb Kohnle has been good this year.

And Santa's been more than generous.

Christmas is really big. We always get a real tree.

When'd wake up, the whole living room

would be full of just all kinds of presents.

A robot.

4-year-old sister ally has also done well.

Dad, Jim Kohnle,

revels in the joy of his children.

Jim was a very devoted dad.

He loved spoiling his children.

My dad was an amazing person.

He was always fun.

I mean, honestly, he had one of the best hearts out of anybody.

Honey?

Capturing the Christmas chaos

from behind the camera is mom, Teresa Kohnle.

My mom liked to make memories of stuff --

pictures and videos,

things to look back on in the future.

She was a really good mom.

Jim runs a thriving chiropractic business,

the Alpha wellness center in nearby Dalton.

Jim always had happy customers.

He made sure you were on the table until you were better.

Wife Teresa works alongside him

as a massage therapist.

Teresa, she was very good.

She was booked as much as Jim was.

The couple met when Teresa worked at Jim's

previous practice.

After a whirlwind romance

they tied the knot in 1996.

He wanted someone that was going to share his life

and that he could raise children with.

He found that in Teresa.

He knew that Teresa was his soulmate

and that they would be together for all eternity.

Eight years and two kids later,

the Kohnles are living the American dream.

Jim loves the great outdoors

and at every opportunity

encourages his family to go out with him.

Going to the lake was something

that I looked forward to every year.

We would take a whole week. We'd rent a pontoon.

We'd go out in a boat, we'd go out jet skiing.

One year, we rented a lake house.

It was just always fun.

They were real big about spending time together.

Physical activity and being physically fit was

extremely important to Jim.

Know what?

Life is sweet for the Kohnle family.

They live in a sprawling ranch house complete

with a huge pool out back.

My dad would always come and get me out of bed,

we'd get ready so most of the time

we go swimming before school.

There was a lot of happy memories.

September 2005 --

the family is celebrating ally's 5th birthday party.

From behind the camera,

mom Teresa encourages everyone to sing along.

But for ally, the party can't start

until dad Jim joins the fun.

Happy birthday to you

cha, cha, cha!

Jim loved being a father.

He said, "every day I just -- I think I just love them more."

Ally was the Princess of the family.

She had all kinds of dresses and her room was pink

and a heavy Princess bed.

Jim wanted ally to be really girly girly.

Ally thrives on being the center of attention.

She'll be comin' round the mountain when she comes

I remember Jim commenting once that,

"she just sings all the time. She sings all these songs."

He loved indulging her.

Can I hold that for you? -Need help?

No.

Yeah, you're getting there.

Both Jim and Teresa

made sacrifices for their lifestyle.

Often working long hours away from the kids.

Mom!

When the office was first starting up,

it took a lot of time.

A lot of times, through the week me and my sister,

we wouldn't see my parents until late at night.

We was both in after school programs

and then we would go from there to a babysitter.

But Jim and Teresa always find time for their kids'

special occasions.

In this home video, of her mayflower school play,

mom Teresa tries to spot daughter ally on stage.

Jim and Teresa loved going to anything that Caleb

and ally were in, every school function,

every parent teacher meeting.

Just like sister ally,

Caleb also loves being onstage.

I was dressed up as the fourth president James Madison

and we had to dress up like them and go up front

and speak about their life.

I mean, I just picked him 'cause George Washington was "tooken."

All: I pledge allegiance to the flag

of the United States of America.

Jim talked about,

"Nance, you won't believe, you know,

"Caleb is gone and done this

and, you know, he's doing well in school."

In this clip, Teresa proudly films Caleb

at a school assembly.

Yay.

Caleb has grown into a bright, confident young kid.

Jim and Teresa couldn't be happier.

Jim called me telling me that he was happy,

he was fulfilled.

He had a wife and a home and kids.

There was a little catch in his throat.

He was living his dream. He was living his dream.

The Kohnles are a successful, healthy,

and happy family

who seem to have it all.

It's Christmas 2005 and it's been a good year

for successful chiropractor Jim Kohnle and his wife Teresa.

Teresa's put the camera down to join in with the fun.

Once again, they've been more than generous

with their kids, Caleb and ally.

Growing up, I was definitely spoiled.

All I'd have to do is really look at it,

and my dad and my mom would find some way to get it.

Jim's version of love was showering you

with material things.

That was important to Jim.

But this Christmas something has changed.

Dad Jim, normally in the heart of the action,

he sat on the couch out of frame.

He just spent a lot more time in the bed sleeping.

He wasn't as active as he always was.

Hey, dad. -Hey, Caleb.

Wanna try beating my score?

Why don't you play and I'll watch?

He was normally in the bed

when I left for school and still in the bed when I came home.

Caleb, I'm really not in the mood right now.

Give me a break will you?

Go ask your sister. Go find her.

Jim figures it's just fatigue

from the busy holiday season.

We started going to the park

every weekend and every other weekend

or less than that.

Instead of him coming and getting me up for school

in the morning and then it's gone for a swim,

it would be my mom.

When Jim visits the doctor,

the news isn't good.

He's diagnosed with lyme disease

a debilitating illness spread by tick bites.

The disease is difficult to treat.

Jim's flu-like symptoms worsen.

He had gotten really, really sick with it.

As time went on and as he got sicker and conditions got worse,

it was wrecking Jim's life.

Jim finds it difficult to work.

The family business begins to suffer.

He wasn't coming in as much.

He went down to four days a week.

And sometimes he wouldn't be there that four days

and he couldn't find somebody to fill in, so he would close.

Teresa was holding the family together

with her massage therapy.

Just when Jim and Teresa need it the most,

they get some good news.

Teresa discovers she's pregnant.

The couple are delighted.

It's the perfect distraction from their troubles.

But five months into the pregnancy

Teresa falls sick.

She is diagnosed with placenta previa

and doctors are forced to conduct

an emergency c-section.

It doesn't go well.

Teresa loses the baby.

My mom was really sick and almost had passed away, too.

They had to cut her open and just the physical effects

of it are really hurt her.

She was in the hospital for quite a few weeks.

That probably also had a lot to do with the shortage of money

because now they both couldn't work as much.

They were just devastated.

It was like, you know, just when you think

things can't get any worse, they do.

With Teresa off work recovering from surgery,

and Jim still unwell

the couple's finances collapse.

Money was harder to come by.

I remember one day we went to a grocery store with my dad

and the guy that owned it pulled my dad over to the side

and he said, Jim, we've, you know,

I had another check bounce the other day.

The pool parties are now a thing of the past.

Jim sees his family's financial situation

as a personal failure.

He said, "Nance, I can't even provide a candy bar

for my kids."

They had repossessed my dad's Jeep

and then they had also repossessed my mom's truck.

When the bank threatens to foreclose

on the family home, Jim starts to fall apart.

He was... thoroughly...

Depressed.

Just had to watch his practice go down

and not be able to do things with his family.

For a brief shining moment he had Camelot.

And then it was gone.

His family notice a change

in his once mild mannered and fun personality.

What I always considered the essence of Jim was leaving.

It's only taken a few months for this

once happy and loving family to reach breaking point.

Things had been dark before but they went really dark.

Just two years ago,

at daughter ally's 2005 birthday party,

everything was going wonderfully for Jim and Teresa Kohnle.

But now, with both Jim and Teresa still unable to work

the couple's money problems are desperate.

They wouldn't have had any food at all

if it had been not for the owner of this little grocery store

just letting him run a line of credit

and never sending him a bill.

Jim and Teresa are now at each other's throats.

Jim's conversations with me became less about

his little family,

which was very strange to me

because Jim was always about Teresa, Caleb, and ally.

They were starting to fight and almost every fight

my parents had involved money.

We needed that money.

I came home from school one day and my parents

were fighting it.

And it ended up with them chucking big tubs of popcorn.

And the dog was eating them and when I was mad

cause all my popcorn was going away

and I loved it.

Somehow I always managed

to get myself right in the middle of it.

The couple's blazing arguments

disturb the children day and night.

There was one time I woke up

in the middle of the night.

I don't even know what they were arguing about.

I just didn't want them to fight anymore.

To keep the family afloat,

Teresa plans to go back to work.

First, she needs a car.

Due to my parents' money situation they had repossessed

both the vehicles

and we had currently had a rental car.

They can't afford to keep their rental car,

so Teresa calls her mom in Knoxville, Tennessee

to ask for help.

Hey, mom.

My grandparents had offered to give my mom a car.

June 29, 2007 --

8 A.M. at the Kohnle home.

That day we was going to Knoxville

to my grandparents to get the car.

Teresa's friend has agreed

to drive the two-hour journey

to Knoxville, Tennessee in Teresa's rental vehicle.

90 minutes later, a deputy driving past

the Kohnle house sees something alarming.

Request immediate assistance.

The Kohnle house is on fire.

Fire trucks arrive on the scene within minutes.

When they enter the master bedroom,

firefighters make a gruesome discovery.

A body is pulled out of the wreckage.

Never dreamed that the outcome would be what it was.

That never entered my mind.

The body is identified as that of Jim Kohnle.

That morning things were going pretty good.

We were just having a good time.

My god. Pull over.

What? -Pull over.

Hold on a sec.

And my mom just fell to the ground crying.

God.

My mom cried for a pretty good while on the ground.

And then come up there and told me that she loved me

and that our dad had died.

I realized that my dad was gone

and that our house was gone and that we had lost everything.

Back at the Kohnle house,

the fire marshal is investigating

the cause of the fire.

He confirms it started in a small office area

off the master bedroom sometime before 9 A.M.

Also finds evidence of accelerant

near the source of the fire

indicating this was no accident.

The fire was intentionally started.

The Kohnle home is now a crime scene.

Police fear Jim Kohnle was murdered.

Jim Kohnle has been killed in a house fire

and police suspect the dad of two

was murdered.

Detectives need to find out

what happened in the Kohnle home before the fire occurred.

On July 5, 2007 --

they ask his wife Teresa Kohnle

to talk them through that morning.

She tells detectives a friend offered to drive her

and the kids to Knoxville in a rental car.

Detectives then ask what time they left the house.

That's 30 minutes before the fire was reported.

Investigators need to determine what happened after Teresa

and the kids left the house at 8:30.

They canvassed the neighborhood and learned Jim

was a well-respected member of the community.

He had no obvious enemies.

The police inquiries prompt a witness to come forward

with a possible lead.

He thinks he saw Teresa's rental car,

a silver p.T. Cruiser, leave the house

just after 9:00 A.M.

That's 30 minutes later

from the time Teresa gave.

Investigators need to retrace Teresa's movements

on the morning of the fire.

And confirm which of the two accounts is accurate.

She told officers they had stopped at a nearby

chick-fil-a restaurant after leaving the house.

Police comb through camera footage

searching for Teresa silver p.T. Cruiser.

Then a vehicle matching Teresa's pulls into frame

and up to the window.

The blonde driver clearly isn't Teresa but police identify her

as the friend who drove Teresa and the kids that morning.

The timestamp reads 9:26 A.M.

The chick-fil-a is usually a seven-minute drive

from the Kohnle house

suggesting that Teresa left later than 8:30.

Detectives questioned the friend captured

on the chick-fil-a surveillance cameras

about the discrepancy in Teresa's timeline.

She, too, confirms they left the house later

than when Teresa had said.

She tells them she never saw Jim that day,

but has no further information.

Back at the crime scene,

investigators discover something new.

Evidence that contradicts Teresa's statement

from her police interview

that she and Jim had a wonderful marriage.

They recovered papers showing the couple

was planning to divorce.

And something surprising.

When the police came to investigate and look

at the house, there were several bags

of children's clothing out in the garage.

The police were saying that Teresa had done

that to save those clothes from the fire.

The clean clothes removed

from the house prior to the fire

and the discrepancies

in Teresa's statements are suspicious.

On July 9th,

detectives make the bold decision to bring in Teresa

and her kids, Caleb and ally, for questioning.

They need to gently coax any useful information

out of the young kids.

They speak to 5-year-old daughter ally first.

The detective asks ally about the clothes she's wearing.

Ally has just confirmed that mom Teresa

removed the basket of clean clothes from the house.

It suggests to detectives

that Teresa removed them before the fire started.

Next, police question 11-year-old Caleb.

They hope he can corroborate ally's story.

The children's stories differ.

So police decide to offer Teresa a lie detector test.

And she agrees.

Georgia state law allows polygraphs

to be admitted as evidence.

The results show Teresa's lying.

It's not the story police are expecting.

Police think Teresa is still lying.

Investigators don't believe Jim was planning on dying.

The burns on the soles of his feet suggest

he tried to stamp out the fire.

Police believe Teresa planned the whole thing.

On July 9th, 10 days after Jim Kohnle's murder,

his wife Teresa Kohnle is arrested.

She immediately hires an attorney.

She was charged with malice, murder, and arson

that you intend to kill someone

but the police know

their evidence is circumstantial.

They need more for a conviction at trial.

Aside from clearing her name

Teresa's focus is on Caleb and ally.

While she protests her innocence...

...police build the case against her.

On July 11th, two days after Teresa's arrest,

police execute a search warrant on the Kohnle house.

They discover their home

was just 30 days away from foreclosure.

And there's more.

Police discovered Jim had a $500,000 insurance policy

on his life.

Teresa had much to gain financially

from her husband's death.

With the evidence mounting against Teresa,

police decide to speak with Caleb and ally again

about the morning of the fire.

The children are interviewed by social services.

And recorded behind closed doors.

Ally has just claimed the house was on fire

before they left for Knoxville.

Investigators want to see if brother Caleb

will corroborate ally's story.

We got in the driveway and we got in the car,

and we pulled out.

There was black smoke.

I asked my mom about it.

And she had said that she had marked some boxes

in the field that morning.

Her own children had made statements that

the house is on fire.

Both children have just implicated their own mom

Teresa in the murder of their dad Jim.

The children's statements are the evidence police

need to take to Teresa Kohnle to trial.

With the evidence piling up against Teresa and the chance

her children will be called as witnesses for the state,

her attorneys advise her to enter a plea deal.

I laid out this mountain of circumstantial

evidence against her.

I felt that she was at high risk

of being found guilty of everything.

The plea deal gives her the possibility of freedom.

Teresa accepts a plea deal for felony murder.

One of the reasons that Teresa took

the guilty plea was to not have the children

go through that

and because if Caleb did take the stand and say that

that would be so hard on him.

And that she didn't want to do that.

Teresa admits to participating

in setting the fire,

but that she never intended to harm her husband.

What she pled to was the felony murder,

a death that happens in the commission of a felony,

the felony being arson.

And she could maintain that she did not intend

to kill her husband.

Teresa is sentenced to life in prison

for felony murder and first degree arson

with the possibility of parole after 30 years.

Police find no evidence that Teresa's friend

was involved with the crime.

Her name is cleared.

I think justice was done.

If Caleb could see the smoke coming out the roof

as they were pulling out, then Teresa could, too.

At that point, she could have stopped it.

And she didn't.

I believe that she wanted all the insurance money

so that she could live happily ever after.

He helped people physically

and mentally and she took that away.

Jim's family still struggle with their loss.

The lesson I've learned from this is that

you never know what tomorrow is going to bring.

Love your family. Let them know that you love them.

Cherish the people in your life and let them know.

As far as how my dad should be remembered,

I think he should be remembered

as the loving caring person that he was.

Gi Joe, amazing!

Dude.

He was always kind, smiling, and loving

and he truly cared about people.