Original subtitles

- ♪

- Female narrator: In a missouri cemetery,

A single grave could hold a secret.

- ♪

- Narrator: One that might help solve two murders.

- ♪

- Male reporter: It's probably one of the strangest twists

You could ever think of.

- Narrator: Two young mothers both found dead.

- These young women should not have died.

- Obviously, somehow, there's some foul play here.

- Narrator: Police relentlessly chase down every lead.

- We need to do everything that we can to bring justice

To both victims.

- Narrator: But is justice buried underground?

- We had to exhume her body.

- ♪

- If this fails, you know, what are we gonna do next?

- ♪

♪♪

- ♪

- Narrator: It's an early September morning

In joplin, missouri, and businesses are getting ready

To open their doors for the day.

- Keith: Joplin is a fairly large agency

In southwest missouri.

At that time, I was a corporal out in the patrol bureau.

And there really was not a lot of crime

In the business district at that time.

- ♪

- That morning, an employee of a paint store in joplin

Notices a car outside that's unfamiliar.

- Keith: It's certainly abnormal for anybody to have their car

On the parking lot,

Because the business was not open yet at the time.

He noticed there was a female sitting in the passenger seat.

- Narrator: The employee figures the woman has just

Fallen asleep in her car.

- [pounding]

- He did pound on the window and door to try to get

Her attention, but she did not respond.

- At that time, he realizes something's wrong.

- ♪

- David t: The employee finds that there's no pulse

And also that the body is cold.

- Narrator: Understandably shocked that an ordinary day

At work has taken such a tragic turn,

He makes a panicked call to 911.

- [siren wails] - [indistinct police radio]

- Narrator: But there's nothing first responders can do.

- The victim was deceased in her vehicle.

The crime scene itself looked pretty benign.

There was no apparent forced entry.

But we investigate every case as if it is a homicide

Until you find other evidence that tells you it's not.

- ♪

- When the victim was found, there was a little bit of blood

Under her nose.

There was a little bit of blood on a hand,

As if that had been wiped away.

- Keith: How were those injuries caused

If she was alone?

And how did she end up in the passenger seat

As opposed to being behind the driver's seat?

It's very abnormal.

It's a disturbing thing to see a deceased person,

Especially when you have a young person like that.

It was very unnerving, and I was highly affected by that.

- Narrator: Is it a suicide?

A natural death?

Or something more sinister?

And first of all, who is she?

- David t: They find a purse with identification

That tells them the woman in the seat

Is 24-year-old diana kelley.

- Narrator: Investigators immediately locate diana's

Next of kin--her parents, siblings, and her husband--

And give them the terrible news.

- That really just changed everything.

It was hard to imagine why.

There was just--there was a lot of whys.

She was very giving,

Going door to door on may day and putting flowers out,

Or involvement in girl scouts.

She was just easy to know and, um, easy to love.

- Keith: For her to be found deceased

Was very shocking to the family.

And it really shocked them to the core.

- Narrator: Through the veil of their grief,

The family tells police that diana was with a friend

The previous evening.

Afterward, she was supposed to meet her husband, doyle,

Around 9:00pm.

- But she did not show up for the meeting.

- ♪

- Gary: Diana had not come back to retrieve her son,

Who my mom was watching from the day before.

It was totally out of character for diana, of course.

- [phone ringing]

- Keith: The morning that diana's body was found,

There was a missing person's report called in by doyle kelley

That his wife was missing and he was concerned about her.

- Narrator: Investigators learn that doyle and diana were

Married for five years and had a four-year-old son together.

They'd recently separated,

But doyle tells police they were still friendly.

- Her family told us that she was in very good spirits.

She was getting on with her life.

She had rented a new apartment.

- Pam: The diana that I knew through meetings and functions

And being around her, she was way into changing her life.

- Narrator: But police wonder whether diana could have been

Depressed enough about her recent separation

To have taken her own life.

- It raised suspicions.

- ♪

- Narrator: They hope to find more answers in the autopsy.

- The medical pathologist found several areas of hemorrhaging

On diana's face and on her back.

- And his conclusion was that diana had died

From respiratory failure,

Which could have had any number of causes,

Including drug overdose or some other form of natural death.

- So the cause of death was undetermined.

- Narrator: That means they just don't know

If there's foul play at work.

- Blood and other fluids are taken from the body,

And they are sent out to the crime lab, to toxicology,

While we continue with the investigation.

- Narrator: Eager to fill in the blanks,

Investigators speak to anyone who knew diana.

- Pam: We were all very upset.

It was sad, it was tragic.

And all talking about what we thought

Could have happened to her.

- Narrator: Police get the break they're looking for

From a friend of diana's.

- While diana and doyle were separated,

Diana had dated a man by the name of richard.

- ♪

- Narrator: Diana's friends say richard was obsessed with her.

- David t: Almost to a person, they describe him as weird,

Creepy, he had this habit of sort of projecting

The relationships into the future.

- He saw himself and her being together

For the rest of their lives.

- He was already looking to get her a ring for her finger.

- Narrator: But friends tell police,

Diana wasn't anywhere near as interested in richard.

- David n: He was just a casual acquaintance,

Kind of on the peripheral edge of diana's life.

But friends said richard was very possessive of her

And had been bothering her.

- He would buy her gifts,

He would send her letters, and that type of thing.

- Narrator: Diana's friends also tell investigators about

One gift in particular that gets their undivided attention.

- Richard, at some point, had given diana

A st. Christopher medal.

- ♪

- Keith: He wanted her to wear the medal at all times,

Especially when she was with him.

We felt that was his way of having possession of her.

- And diana, I guess to appease him,

Would wear that medal whenever she saw richard.

- She told at least one friend that he got upset

If he saw her and she wasn't wearing it.

- Narrator: The friend tells police she saw diana

Wearing the necklace the night before she was found.

Was diana planning to see richard that night?

And if so, where's the necklace?

- ♪

- David t: When her body was found the next morning,

That medal was not on her neck.

It was nowhere to be found within that vehicle.

- Keith: This threw up some red flags.

How did that st. Christopher necklace become missing?

We thought: Could have richard met up with diana,

Could he be responsible for her death?

- That medal was a huge lead.

- Narrator: Could the missing medal hold the key

To solving diana's mysterious death?

Coming up...

Investigators hone in on diana's obsessed ex.

- There's about a 20-minute period of time that

He can't quite account for around the time

That diana's last seen alive.

- Narrator: As the investigation deepens,

So does the mystery.

- David: There were too many unanswered questions,

So we had to exhume her body.

- ♪

- ♪

- [camera shutter snaps]

- Narrator: While looking into the suspicious death

Of diana kelley, investigators zero in on richard,

A man who her friends say was obsessed with diana.

Richard meets investigators at the joplin police station.

- Richard was very disturbed.

He's--he was agitated.

- Narrator: At one point,

He lightly downplays his involvement with her.

- He claimed he was a casual friend of--of diana's,

That they had had sex only once,

And that since that time, they had just become friends.

- Narrator: Then, he does a bizarre 180.

- He told investigators that he wanted to commit suicide

So that he could be with diana.

- ♪

- David n: This was a very strange and strange-acting

Individual, so you had to take it with some grain of salt.

- There was some concern that this guy's

Not quite in touch with reality.

Then, they asked what he had been doing the night before

Diana's body was found.

- Narrator: Richard's demeanor shifts again as he launches into

A measured, methodical account of what he did that night.

- He was able to give the police a lot of detail

About where he had been and what times.

- But richard's alibi raised some suspicion.

- There's about a 20-minute period of time

That he can't quite account for.

And that's around the time that diana's last seen alive.

- ♪

- That certainly contributed to the suspicion.

- Narrator: Police dig deeper,

But just can't find anything more implicating richard.

But investigators try one last tactic.

- His credibility was suspect,

So the joplin police asked him to take a polygraph.

- Narrator: To their astonishment, he agrees.

About two weeks after diana's death,

Richard arrives to take his polygraph exam.

- Keith: Did richard met up with diana?

Could he be responsible for her death?

We need to get answers to these questions.

- ♪

- Narrator: When it's over, the results are plain as day.

- ♪

- He showed no sign of deception.

So based upon all the information that investigators

Had, he was cleared of any wrongdoing.

- Narrator: Frustration mounts

When no new suspects come into focus.

Meanwhile, diana kelley is laid to rest.

- The funeral itself was--[coughs]--difficult.

Think of a chain with one link gone.

She never got the chance to prove

Just how good a mother she is.

Never got the opportunity to prove

What an incredible grandmother she would have been.

- Keith: As investigators, we may hide our emotions,

Uh, sometimes it's difficult to do, but we,

Uh--we feel that we are the ones talking for the victims.

- Narrator: What they'll soon learn

Is diana's not done speaking for herself.

- ♪

- Keith: On November 21st, 1990,

The joplin police department received the toxicology report

Back on diana kelley.

- There were traces of drugs in her system:

Aspirin and marijuana.

But the amount of drugs in her body

Would not have been fatal to her.

- Narrator: Police are now sure this was no suicide.

- Since the drugs didn't kill her,

It's obvious she was murdered.

- There was a lot of gossip going around

About what happened, and one name kept coming up,

And that would be doyle kelley.

- ♪

- Keith: Diana's father had indicated that

The day before diana's body was found, she had had an argument

With her estranged husband about 3:30pm.

- Narrator: Diana told her father she was going to meet up

With doyle later that night.

- But according to doyle, she hadn't shown up for the meeting

That they had arranged, diana hadn't been heard from.

- Narrator: Police start wondering:

What if she did show up,

They argued, and it got out of hand?

- ♪

- Doyle had a really bad temper, was very controlling.

She was leaving him, and he didn't like that at all.

- I think he viewed her strictly a--as a possession,

She belonged to him.

- ♪

- David t: But other friends and family had a positive view

Of their relationship.

I think there was a recognition that they were each good parents

To the son, and they had managed that pretty well when they were

Together and also when they were separated.

- Narrator: Investigators don't have anything directly

Tying doyle to diana's death.

With no other suspects on the horizon,

The police are at a standstill...

And the case goes cold.

- ♪

- We are trying to find justice for the victim.

And so I take it personal when I can't solve a case like that.

- Three years later, something happened that really blew

The diana kelley case wide open again.

- [phone rings]

- The joplin police department received a call from a sister

Of a 21-year-old joplin woman.

- She did not pick up her daughter

When she was supposed to pick her up.

- Narrator: So police go to the residence.

- They knocked on the door, but there's no response, and

Eventually, they have to force their way into the apartment.

The apartment is dark, there's no lights on.

And they start to move their way using their own flashlights

To find their way around.

- Keith: Through the crack in the bathroom door,

They observed a young woman laying face down in the bathtub

Inside the residence.

There was blood on the victim,

And it did appear to be the scene of a homicide.

- Narrator: The town of joplin now has its second murder

Of a young woman.

Is there a connection?

Or could there be two killers on the loose?

- ♪

- ♪

- Narrator: In April of 1993,

3 years after diana kelley is murdered,

Investigators are called out to a suspicious death

Of another joplin woman.

- I was one of the first investigators at the scene.

I observed that there was a deceased female laying

Face down in the bathtub.

It was upsetting to me to see her like that.

This person is somebody's daughter and granddaughter.

- Narrator: The crime scene technicians are called in

As is joplin's new police chief, david niebur.

- I had only been there about six months,

And I was notified on all homicides.

- Narrator: As they examine the body more closely,

Several things stand out.

- She had been in the water for quite some time

Based upon the wrinkles on her fingers.

And I thought that the way that her knees were positioned,

It wasn't likely that she fell asleep.

- Narrator: The body is removed from the tub, giving

The tech team a closer look at the rest of the scene.

- [camera shutter clicks]

- And we observed a laceration on her forehead

And injuries to her face.

- [camera shutter clicking]

- David t: If that was somehow caused by an accidental fall,

You would expect it to have happened at the other end

Of the tub, where the sharp objects are,

But her head was facing away from the faucets.

- Keith: We had blood evidence that was inside the bathtub,

So it was apparent that the injuries

Were received while she was inside that bathtub.

- Narrator: Could she have fallen and hit her head?

Or was something more sinister at play?

- We observed that there was no forced entry into the residence.

- Narrator: But what chief niebur finds out next

Really sends a shockwave through the case.

- David n: One of the veteran officers came up to me and said,

"chief, this woman's husband is one of the unluckiest guys

That I know of."

I said, "what are you talking about?"

He says, "well his first wife was found dead

In a suspicious manner."

- Narrator: He says the young woman is named christy kelley.

She is married to doyle kelley,

Whose first wife, diana, was also found dead.

- Well, it was too much of a coincidence.

- Male reporter: There are still a lot of unanswered questions

Surrounding the death of 21-year-old christy kelley

Of joplin.

Police found her dead in her apartment

On empire street late Sunday night.

- Christy was the one that I could call

At 2:00am in the morning

And talk to about something or talk to about nothing.

- It's just so sad...Tragic.

She was so young and so much ahead of her.

- Narrator: According to friends,

Christy met doyle kelley shortly after diana's murder.

- Paula: She felt that she could be herself with doyle

And he treated her well and like a little princess.

- Narrator: In 1991, they got married, but soon

Doyle's devotion started to feel oppressive to christy.

- He was constantly making christy feel like she couldn't

Ever do anything for herself.

- Paula: I knew that she was unhappy

And not satisfied with the way the marriage was going.

- She was wanting to find herself and explore and blossom.

- Narrator: Christy decided to move out with her young daughter

And start a new life on her own.

- Doyle told us that they had agreed amicably to separate.

- Doyle said they were on good terms, and that he was still

Talking to christy and trying to help her out.

- ♪

- Narrator: Then, police learn something else about

Christy's life that makes them suspicious.

- Paula: After christy and doyle separated,

She did start seeing someone else.

- She was actually dating her landlord, a man named mike.

- Narrator: This raises instant alarm bells.

A landlord wouldn't have to break in to kill her,

And there was no sign of forced entry at the scene.

- I had never met him, and christy really hadn't talked

A whole lot about him as far as their relationship.

- [knocking]

- Officers went to interview mike at his house.

- Narrator: He tells them he was out of town

At the time of the murder.

- Keith: We were able to establish a timeline where

Michael would not have been able to have committed the homicide.

- Narrator: Michael reveals that christy confided in him

A lot about doyle.

- ♪

- Mike said that christy was concerned about

Doyle's behavior towards her.

And he said that doyle had actually threatened

To commit suicide if they did not get back together.

- Narrator: Not only that, but according to michael,

Doyle came over in a rage and banged up his front door.

This makes investigators wonder if doyle could have eventually

Turned his jealous rage against christy?

Coming up...

The search for answers

In the death of christy kelley intensifies.

- She had been held down in the water by the back of her neck.

- Narrator: But soon a new clue will take the investigation

In a whole new direction.

- Keith: It's one of those ah-ha moments.

That is major evidence, and nobody knew about it before.

- Narrator: And it leads police

To search for justice six feet under.

- ♪

- ♪

- Narrator: Investigators want to talk to doyle kelley

About the suspicious death of his second wife, christy.

- ♪

- Doyle kelley was involved in construction.

Myself and another investigator went to contact him.

- Doyle told officers that he had seen her around two o'clock,

And left to go to a pig roast.

- But he spent like three hours looking for a pig roast,

And he got lost.

- Narrator: He claims he never saw christy

Or went to her apartment after that.

Police now head out to see christy's friend, pam giger,

Who hosted the pig roast.

She's heartbroken over christy's death.

- Pam: She was a little bitty thing.

She was, uh, real intelligent, very kind.

She was also kind of a--I wouldn't say spitfire,

But she had some drive,

And christy was real excited about changing her life.

- ♪

- Narrator: Pam goes on to paint a very different picture

Of doyle and christy's relationship.

- It was all sweet and roses in the very beginning,

And then he became more and more controlling:

How she dressed, how she spent money, what she did.

- Narrator: And things only got worse from there.

- Doyle was so abusive with christy verbally,

Emotionally and physically.

She was trying to leave doyle,

And she kind of wanted a safe haven,

So she was sleeping on my couch for a little bit.

And I thought, "how courageous of you."

- Narrator: Doyle made it clear that

He didn't like pam interfering.

That's why she was so surprised when he showed up

At the pig roast.

- And he pulled up in front of my house, and he...

Got out of his truck and he started walking towards me,

And I'm like, "no, doyle."

And I thought, "this is way weird,

The pig roast is over."

- ♪

- Doyle told us that after he left christy at two o'clock,

That he went to the pig roast, however, doyle didn't arrive,

According to witnesses, until around six o'clock.

It seemed like he was trying to establish an alibi.

- ♪

- What the hell?

Trying to use me? Well, you picked the wrong gal,

The wrong time, you got there late.

- Narrator: While investigators try to confirm his alibi,

The results of the autopsy come in.

- Christy had blunt-force trauma to the back of her skull

And to her head.

- She had been hit from several different angles.

- An awful lot of bruising over

A large portion of christy's body.

- There were indications that she had been held down

In the water by the back of her neck.

- The forensic pathologist ruled christy kelley's death

As a homicide by drowning.

- We now focused solely on doyle kelley as the suspect

In this case.

- Male reporter: It's probably one of the strangest twists

You can ever think of in a police investigation.

Christy kelley's death is her husband's second brush

With this type of tragedy.

- Narrator: Even though police couldn't prove

Doyle murdered diana, they're convinced

He's responsible for the deaths of both wives.

- ♪

- I was suspicious immediately, because it's very unusual

For anyone to lose two wives in two and a half years.

We also found a lot of similarities

Between diana and christy kelley.

Doyle was controlling over christy,

Just like he had been with his first wife.

- He had both diana and christy cut their hair

To the exact same length.

- And when he told christy to cut her hair, I'm like,

"why would you do that?"

And then I thought, "well, it has to do with trying

To make the man happy,"

She was trying to make him happy and get off her back.

- Narrator: There was one even more chilling similarity.

- After they had determined they were gonna leave doyle,

Diana and christy, that that is when they both were killed.

- ♪

- Narrator: The parallels are uncanny.

But investigators need something more concrete

Connecting doyle to christy's murder.

- We needed to prove that doyle kelley was at

The scene of the crime at approximate the time of death.

So we immediately started a neighborhood

Door-to-door canvass.

- Narrator: And it pays off.

- Investigators were able to identify a witness that actually

Saw doyle kelley at christy's house

On the day that her body was found.

- David n: We uncovered that several people had seen doyle

And christy in the front yard of her apartment

As late as five o'clock,

And also identified doyle's truck by photo.

- ♪

- Keith: It pokes a hole in doyle's story that he had

Seen her around two o'clock,

But he had not been over at the residence after that.

- Narrator: The eyewitness testimony

Destroys doyle's alibi.

- But this was yet not enough to arrest doyle,

According to the prosecutor.

- Narrator: They need physical evidence.

Police wonder, "is there something from diana's case

That can seal the deal?"

- David n: I immediately told the assistant chief

That I wanted to read that file right away.

There were too many unanswered questions

In the death of doyle's first wife.

- I went back and started to re-interview family and friends

To find out if they had any other information.

An individual said the day after diana's body was found,

They were over at doyle kelley's house.

- This witness observed doyle with that st. Christopher medal

That richard had given diana.

- ♪

- And she saw doyle kelley with an anvil and a sledgehammer

Smashing the st. Christopher's necklace.

- ♪

- The st. Christopher medal was a huge red flag,

Because it wasn't found.

- ♪

- Narrator: According to diana's friends, she was

Wearing that necklace the night before she was found dead.

Police immediately approach doyle

To ask him about the medal.

- He stated that someone at the funeral home or the morgue

Or the police had given it to him.

- Narrator: Police don't remember it from the scene.

Could they have missed something?

- Investigators obtained an inventory list of what was

Taken from the mortuary,

And a st. Christopher's medal was not part of that property.

- Nor was it in her car.

- Narrator: Doyle didn't just lie about christy's death,

He also lied about diana's.

- Keith: It's one of those ah-ha moments in law enforcement.

That is major evidence, and nobody knew about it before.

- Narrator: But there's still one big hurdle they have

To overcome before bringing doyle in.

- For diana kelley,

We had a cause of death that was undetermined.

- Narrator: It's tough to file murder charges unless homicide

Is ruled as the official cause of death.

So chief nieber makes a difficult, but what he thinks,

Is a necessary decision.

- We had to exhume diana's body,

Have a forensic autopsy

And find out the real cause of death for her.

- Narrator: But diana's been in the ground for three years.

- Not knowing the condition of diana's body,

Not knowing the condition of the casket, we were

Concerned about, you know, "what would we really find?"

- ♪

- ♪

- Male reporter: Jasper county officials

Are running into problems

Trying to get state permission to exhume diana kelley's body.

Both women were married to doyle kelley.

He does not want diana's body dug up.

- Narrator: In missouri,

A body can be exhumed if a family member consents.

- Either doyle gave us permission or the immediate

Family, in this case, her mother and father.

- Well, as you might expect, doyle would not approve

Of exhuming diana's body.

- We were told as a family that he would fight it, and maybe,

He would just take his son and move away.

We had already lost diana, we did not want to lose her son.

- I told diana's father that without the exhumation

Of the body, doyle was probably going to get away with murder.

- Narrator: Diana's family decides to give permission.

- In my career, I've probably investigated 60 homicides,

But I certainly had not been involved in an exhumation.

I don't think anyone felt regret for doing this,

But we need to do everything that we can

To bring justice to both victims.

- ♪

- Narrator: As they begin to move forward,

Doyle strikes back.

- He had his attorney go into court, and try to get

A court order to prohibit us from exhuming the body.

He claimed that his wife deserved to rest in peace,

That this would disturb her remains.

- Gary: He could not agree to an exhumation.

It went against everything he believed in, religiously.

This is a man who probably the only time

He was ever in a church was to burglarize it.

- ♪

- Narrator: The case makes its way through the courts.

- Male reporter: Diana kelley's father took the stand today,

Asking the judge to let authorities exhume

His daughter's body.

- Narrator: After a ferocious, three-month legal battle,

The ruling comes down.

The exhumation can move forward.

- It would be very painful for the family,

That always is, but I--

My hopes was that they would maybe find some evidence.

- ♪

- Narrator: On August 25, 1993, 3 years after diana was buried,

A small group meets at the cemetery for the exhumation.

- ♪

- As it is, my last image in my mind of my sister

Was at the funeral.

And the thought of her exhumation was daunting.

- ♪

- Narrator: Although they support the exhumation,

Diana's family can't bear the thought of attending.

- We did it at four in the morning to preclude

A great number of onlookers

And, perhaps, doyle trying to stop us.

- ♪

- Narrator: As the vault rises out of the ground,

The small crowd waits anxiously.

The stakes couldn't be higher.

- Being in law enforcement for 30-some years, there are

Too many deaths that go unpunished,

Many murderers go free.

- It's important that we follow up on these type

Of investigations and ensure

That we get justice for the victims.

- ♪

- [machine whirs]

- Narrator: And for diana and christy,

Justice depends on finding evidence inside.

- ♪

- Keith: I remember standing by diana's gravesite,

And as they removed the cover off the concrete vault,

The casket was actually floating in water.

I was really concerned that the water may have seeped

Inside the casket, which would have led

To the deterioration of diana's body.

The pressure is that, if this fails,

You know, what are we going to do next?

- ♪

- Keith: When diana's body was taken to parker's funeral home,

I remember standing there when the casket was opened.

And immediately, I noticed that there was

A strong odor of formaldehyde.

- We observed that the water had just edged in to the bottom

Of the casket,

Touching the bottom of diana's arms,

But the rest of her body was very well preserved

For having been in the ground for three years.

- Keith: Diana looked pretty much the same as the day

That she went into, uh, the casket.

- Narrator: It's an encouraging sight.

As the pathologist begins, she immediately sees there

Are contusions to her face and nose

And large areas of bruising on her back.

Then she takes a closer look at diana's neck.

- She immediately said that this woman was murdered.

- ♪

- There were indications around diana's neck

Showing that she was strangled.

- It was emotional to see bruising on her neck.

- She also found a disconnect on the hyoid bone in the throat.

This is often an indicator of strangulation

With a soft ligature, like a towel.

- ♪

- That provided the last piece of the puzzle.

- Keith: Because of this exhumation,

We were able to prove that diana was murdered.

- Here it was, in writing, the real truth.

- It's emotional too,

To know that we were going to have justice in this case.

- Narrator: With proof that doyle's two ex-wives

Were murdered, police have enough to arrest doyle

And bring him in for questioning.

On a September day in 1993, police head

To the construction site where doyle kelley is working.

- Keith: I ordered him off of the backhoe

And told him that he was under arrest for homicide.

- ♪

- David n: I'll never forget the look on doyle's face

When we did arrest him. Never.

There was a great frown.

- ♪

- Narrator: After his arrest,

Doyle is brought to the station and questioned.

- David n: He told us that we had the wrong guy,

And then he said, "I have nothing else to say."

That's about what I expected,

Because I think he knew that he had finally been caught.

- Narrator: Doyle immediately asks for a lawyer,

But diana now has a chance to speak from the grave.

- Physically, her voice was silenced, but she wasn't.

- Narrator: But without physical evidence, there's no telling

Whether a jury will see doyle as an unlucky husband,

Or a man who allegedly killed two wives.

- ♪

- ♪

- Narrator: Finally in 1994, doyle kelley stands trial

For the murders of both his wives:

Diana in 1990, and christy in 1993.

The murders will be tried together.

- Paula: That was big news for joplin, missouri.

Both of his wives had died, um, horrific deaths.

There was a lot of people who believed he did it,

And there was a lot of people who believed he didn't.

- I was sure it was doyle.

I was absolutely positive.

- Narrator: In the months leading up to the trial,

As the prosecution prepares their case,

They get an unexpected call.

- Lonnie bell was an inmate in the jasper county jail.

He's somebody who had been in prison

For most of his adult life.

- Narrator: At one time, bell was housed

In the same part of the jail as doyle kelley.

- David t: He contacted the prosecuting attorney's office

Saying doyle kelley had said some things to him

About the murders.

So as to christy, doyle had told him that they had been

In a fight, that he had hit her, and he had choked her,

And he had left her in the bathroom.

And he said doyle had told him that he had used a towel

To strangle, uh, diana.

Lonnie bell had information that he could not have known

Unless he was talking with the person who was responsible

For the killings of these two women.

- Narrator: Lonnie bell is added to the witness list.

In October of 1994, doyle kelley goes on trial

For the first-degree murders of diana and christy kelley.

- I was a little apprehensive when I testified, but I felt

Like I was speaking for christy, and I was speaking for diana.

Of course, I didn't know everything,

But I knew enough to know that she was in danger.

I'm losing words here, because of feelings.

- ♪

- Narrator: Diana's friend testifies about

The st. Christopher medal from richard

That she was wearing the night before her body was found.

- We have it on her neck before she goes off

And is never seen alive again.

Then a few days afterwards, it's in doyle kelley's possession.

- ♪

- If he couldn't have her, no one would.

- Narrator: But the science and the exhumation

Are truly the backbone of the case.

- In christy's case, the conclusions about her death

Being caused by drowning, but also by homicide.

- And that the bruising on her neck was consistent

With someone holding her head under the water.

- ♪

- David t: With respect to diana's homicide,

The examination in the second autopsy

And the findings were absolutely essential.

- Narrator: Without the second autopsy by

A forensic pathologist, no one would know that diana

Was strangled with a soft ligature.

But that didn't stop the defense from telling a different story,

Claiming both were accidental deaths.

Doyle takes the stand in his own defense.

- The jury was visibly, uh,

Nervous about him.

The look in his eyes sent a chill down my spine.

- Narrator: Doyle repeats what he told police:

That diana never showed up to meet him the day before

She was found dead.

He also admits he saw christy, but only briefly,

The day she died.

He denies killing either of his wives.

Then on October 28, 1994,

The jury reaches a verdict.

- Gary: They were unanimous.

He was guilty on both murders.

- ♪

- David t: The judge imposed life, uh, imprisonment

Without the possibility of parole

On each of these two counts.

- Keith: It's emotional, because these young women

Should not have died.

They should not have been murdered.

And to bring some sense of justice is important,

Because that brings at least some level of closure

To the family, but also brings level of closure

To all the law enforcement there involved.

- Paula: The exhumation of diana

Was the piece of the puzzle that brought justice

For both christy and diana.

- The reality is, is that without the exhumation

In this case, doyle kelley would have walked free.

- Narrator: Beyond the sadness, christy and diana's loved ones

Take comfort in their memories.

- Christy did inspire me to be a better woman,

A better person, and a better mother.