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I'm Lester Holt. Tonight on Dateline, I devoted dad of six, the target in a twisted plot to kill who would want him dead.

You get a knock at your door that would change your life. Yeah, it was a pretty dark time.

This was real.

She was shocked. The last thing that you expect to hear is a police officer telling you that is trying to kill your husband. It's a murder for hire. It's very serious. He offered me the fifty thousand dollars. I was not going to let this happen. You were an undercover officer, the undercover hitman. I had to totally change how I acted, talked, everything. You sure you want this gun? I am positive not one mistake could blow this whole operation.

Absolutely, the seconds are ticking away. It was all or nothing. This isn't a hardened criminal. This is a soccer mom.

It was hell. It was hell. Here's Andrea Canning with the Eastlake conspiracy. Along the shores of majestic Lake Erie, not far from Cleveland, lies a little known city named East Lake, Ohio.

It's more of a suburb. You get a nice properties with decent size yard and gorgeous waterfront views.

It's the kind of place folks settle to raise a family quiet and safe.

You never hear about murders or stuff like that. But that wholesome image was about to be shattered. Basically, the gist of it was he wants this guy dead.

Someone had murder on their mind and a deadly plot was brewing. It's one of the things that you see on TV.

You have to be evil to want to murder somebody else.

It would all come crashing down on one family and it was hell. It was hell, but would those responsible slip through detective's fingers said. It all began Memorial Day weekend, 2011 Eagly Stop.

It was a Friday evening when an unusual 911 one call came in to dispatch.

I was approached at the captain's club, OK, to murder somebody for 50000 dollars. So I need somebody out here.

A murder for hire in Eastlake. It was hard to believe.

What is your name? Patrick Fabo. The dispatcher recognized the caller's name.

Patrick Sabot had lived in Eastlake for years, was a former Army Ranger and was known to everyone at the station, including the chief of police, Larry Reich.

How did you know the caller? He's been involved in a couple of minor incidents in our city. He was never a big problem. He's just somebody that we had dealt with in the past and we knew him by Babyface.

So police were surprised about the reason Pat was calling.

He wanted to report that someone was planning a murder and they approached, you know, the father of one of my high school friend. How bizarre is that for your police department to get a call like that?

It's extremely bizarre or pretty surprised by it. This is the land of soccer moms and children and families and not something that you would expect.

Correct? We don't deal with stuff like that on a normal basis.

Did you believe it? Did you think that this was possible? Well, we definitely knew it was worth looking into. Police knew Pat well enough to know he wasn't lying. So the dispatcher wanted to know more about this man offering Pat money to kill someone named Patrick.

And I'm not sure of his first name, but the Pentagon bought some bori, whoever he was.

Perhaps his desire to have someone killed was just a moment of anger or a crude joke taken wrong. But investigators needed to be sure.

We definitely didn't want to ignore it and God forbid something bad happen.

That's no joke when you hear something like that on nine one one. No, it's not. Detective Christopher Bowersox, now retired, was assigned the case and he sprung into action.

Police called Pat Sabo to come down to the station and I interviewed him.

I think date is May 27, 2011.

Bowersox recorded the audio. All right. Why don't you just tell me from the beginning how this all transpired?

The detective wasn't sure what to expect, but it didn't take long to see that Patrick believed some boy was serious about his offer.

He flat out offered me money to kill him. Kill who?

Pat said he was given few details about the target subject was killed lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

And his name is what?

I don't know his name, no name. But he said some boy did give him the target's photo and home address.

Is he willing to pay for travel? He paid for all expenses paid.

Did you have any fears about. Telling the police, no, I fear no man on this earth, no woman, no creature. Was this a believable story he was telling you?

Well, anybody is going to have a little bit of skepticism when you hear something like this.

After all, Pat was a colorful character, the hungry for money. What if detectives had any doubts about Pat's story? They didn't last long.

As soon as I handed him the picture and he addressed, I said, this is how serious they are. The cop went, OK, now that changes things to investigators.

Pat Story was so detailed, it seemed clear this was no hoax. So they had to move fast. A man's life could be in danger.

If we delay our own investigation and it would be carried out by a third or fourth party, then it would just be tragic.

You wanted to take control of the situation? Absolutely. And that meant finding the target before it was too late.

When we come back, the first piece of the puzzle falls into place.

We found out that he was a prominent businessman. Target identified a devoted husband, a dedicated dad of six, just completely selfless.

Why would anyone want him dead?

Just to spite hate venom, vitriol? East Lake police had reason to believe a man's life was at risk, but they needed more evidence to be sure it's a murder for hire.

It's it's very serious. Serious and also a puzzle, investigators were missing key pieces about the target.

I was never given his name or anything, gave me a picture and his address.

Detectives ran a background check and they learned the person who lived at that address was named David Metter.

David was the target.

We found out that he was a prominent businessman, a businessman who lived nearly a thousand miles away in Gwinnett County, Georgia.

From what detectives could tell, David seemed to have it all a good job, a nice house and a happy marriage with a new wife. It was a small wedding, intimate wedding.

Lonnie and David Metter had been married less than a year, but Lonnie already felt like she'd met her soulmate and we had to have a really, really nice connection.

It was a second marriage for both Lonnie and David, and they each had kids, David, four girls, Lonnie, a son and daughter. We are both in the Six Children Club. Not always easy, but a lot of fun. Yeah, I'll tell you it.

Super fun. I loved having kids.

Lonnie described her life with David as wonderful, but says she never could have imagined the challenges they face together as a couple.

How did you meet David? We met at a work function.

They both worked in the automotive industry and were attending a conference in Las Vegas when a mutual friend suggested they meet.

There was an instant connect that was a bit shocking. I'll tell you, I. I had been on my own for just about two years and was pretty well settled in that.

You knew early on that David could be the one. Yes, I knew early on.

Not to mention that I'm sure you must have found him handsome, super handsome. Wasn't sure if I could talk about that. Yes, very much so. Great smile, great eyes. But just an instant, like instant soulmate.

But once the conference ended, reality quickly set in.

You look at a map and you go, Oh, you live in Baltimore and I live in Atlanta. You know, how does that work?

David was also separated, going through a messy divorce and figuring out a custody arrangement for his girls who still lived with his ex.

You had been through a divorce yourself. I had did that help in giving him, David. Advice about how to navigate these waters?

I think so. Early on in the friendship, I can remember encouraging him to to try again to do everything they could to fight for the marriage.

But Lonnie says David assured her there was no hope for reconciliation. So the next time he was in Atlanta for business, they went on their first date and we went to my church.

Wow. That's a very wholesome first date. Yeah, I knew that if that wasn't a connect, then it would be very difficult for us.

It was a match made in heaven. A year and a half later, David and Lonnie got engaged. My ring was very special.

He and the kids all went to pick it out, their six Baggot diamonds around the center of it to represent each of the kids. Because this was not just a marriage for us, it was a marriage of our families.

After they married, David and Lonnie moved in together in Georgia, David won custody of his oldest daughter, but his three other girls continue to live out of state with their mom.

Visitation in general was difficult from day one.

Things weren't easy with David's ex. But Lonnie says David flew to Ohio to see his daughters whenever he could.

He still went for every school event, every weekend that he could get time with them. Did that make you fall in love with him more, his dedication to his children?

Oh, yeah. Yeah, just completely selfless. And he's going to do whatever it took to make sure that they were OK and that they were taken care of and supported and loved.

Absolutely great father, loving husband, successful businessman. It all seemed ideal. So why did David have a price on his head? That was a question the police were asking. And Patrick SuBo had the answers he was about to tell detectives the rest of the story, including why the man named Zan Bori wanted David dead.

Just spight hate venom vitriol coming out of him coming up.

Even care how he did it, he did care what it was going to cost. Who was this mysterious man named? Some Bori. And who else was in on this murderous plot?

I mean, this isn't a thug. This isn't a hardened criminal. This is a soccer mom.

Yeah. She just wanted him dead. When Dateline continues. I have been doing an incredible amount of online shopping this year, lots of gifts for family and friends, of course, and let's be honest, some stuff for me, too. It's called self care. But the thing is, all that online activity can mean more chances of exposing your personal information. In fact, 64 percent of adults admit to risking online privacy for convenience.

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Pat Sabo was in shock. He'd been asked to do the unthinkable and was still trying to wrap his head around it. It was like, I cannot believe this is going down.

A man named Sam Bori had offered Pat fifty thousand dollars to fly to Georgia and killed David Metter. But Pat Sabot was no hit man.

I could not let anything happen to this man. They were serious and I know it wasn't going down like that, he says.

That's why he called the police. If I said nothing and did nothing and saw tomorrow David on TV dead because I didn't do anything, they would be just as bad as me pulling the trigger.

Pat wanted to save David metter, not hurt him. And as he continued his interview with detectives, it was clear there was much more to his story, especially when it came to his own Bori.

I'd never met this man. There was no reason for me to meet this man.

Nevertheless, Pat told detectives he'd agreed to the meeting as a favor to an old high school classmate named Chrissy Elsom.

Boeri was her dad, a 76 year old widower. In fact, Zom Burri lived with his daughter and her children. How good of friends were you with Chrissy?

Not very. We didn't run in the same groups, so it was no surprise when they lost touch. After graduation, Pat joined the army and became a ranger while Chrissy went to college, got married and had children. She was fun.

She had a contagious laugh. She was just somebody that I wanted to be around.

Karen Snider was one of Chris's closest friends. For years. They lived on the same quaint cul de sac and raised their kids together.

I was crazy as a mom.

She was awesome and she was also a compassionate friend, Karen says. Chrissie was a shoulder to cry on when her marriage fell apart.

I would call her crying. She would come over and she was just my rock through the whole thing.

Chrissie, now a divorced mom of four girls, needed a rock of her own. So she reached out to Pat on Facebook. It had been 20 years since they'd last seen each other. The Chrissie he talked to online seemed to be unraveling.

It would always turn into a poor me pity party. Pat says she spent most of their chats venting about her ex.

Every conversation would end up with her complaining about how much her ex abused her mentally, physically.

Pat told detectives he didn't know much about the ex, but he did know Chrissy's married name. Christine Sumptuary met her. Turns out David Metter was her ex-husband.

My advice to her was always move on, but she never wanted to listen.

Pat says. Chrissie's continuing bitterness started to grate on his nerves.

My ex-husband is my ex-husband. That he's this. He's that blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, just in a joking manner. So, you know, save your money, hire a hit man.

You obviously have a unique sense of humor. Well, but.

Pat assumed Christie got the joke, but hours later she talked to Pat on Skype.

This time she asked him to meet her father for lunch and when on picked up Pat for the meeting before we even get out of the parking lot, he looks at me and he says, if I could shoot straight to kill the son of a bitch myself already.

And so why do you go forward if there was any serious thought given to it? Because of what I said. Well, I got to know.

Pat told police his worst fears were confirmed at the restaurant when Zom Bori offered him money to kill David.

He was nothing but spite, hate, venom, vitriol coming out of them. He wanted them dead. He didn't care how I did it, he did care what it was going to cost. Did he bring up how you would be paid and how much?

Yeah, he offered me the fifty thousand dollars to do this. I mean, you offered it from the life insurance settlement that's payable to Krissie upon his death.

Did he say why you were the chosen one? They knew I was hurting for money. Did Chrissy know you were a former Army Ranger? Yeah, I was pretty proud of getting into the Ranger Battalion.

Most people knew an Army Ranger is trained to kill. Do you think that Chrissie looked at your background and thought maybe this is the right guy?

She knew I have the capability to do it. Her biggest mistake was thinking I would.

I mean, this isn't a thug. This isn't a hardened criminal. This is a soccer mom. Yeah.

This is somebody who goes about their day like everybody else. She just wanted him dead.

But the only proof police had was Pat's word. And that wasn't enough to arrest Chrissy or her dad.

We didn't have enough evidence to go forward.

So investigators came up with a clever plot to catch Chrissie and her dad conspiring to kill David and they'd have to act fast. The father and daughter wanted David killed right away.

What we want to do is get a conversation on tape. That's the most important thing.

But that could be difficult because Chris's dad wasn't just some guy angry with his ex son in law. He'd spent 26 years in law enforcement. He was a policeman.

Must have been surprising to you to learn that he was a former police officer. Surprising, surprisingly, a good word, but a little bit worried because he could see through what other people couldn't see through. So we had to really be careful in how we handled the investigation.

One mistake and the entire case could be ruined or worse, someone could get hurt. Would detectives be able to pull this off?

Coming up, a change in the script, a new hit man enters the scene. This guy, he's done this before.

Who was the hit man going to be the new hit man? That would be me. I had to totally change how I acted, talked, everything. E like detectives needed to catch Krissie, met her and her dad on tape planning the murder of her ex, and they knew the only person who could record that conversation was Pat Sabo.

How important was Patrick Sabo to your plan?

Patrick was instrumental. Was there a risk putting him in the middle of this? Absolutely.

There's always a risk. But Pat made it clear to investigators it was a risk he was willing to take. I jumped out of planes. What's the difference?

If you hop in your car, you go to danger of dying, at least this way, if I go down this highway doing something pretty darn interesting, no longer just a concerned citizen calling 911 one Pat was now a police informant and his mission was clear with a recording device in hand. Keep Chrissy and her dad talking about the murder plot. You need a record, every word that is spoken. Yes, ma'am, and you're doing this on your own.

Yeah, and then I just call them when I have a recording and then come pick it up.

But before Patrick did anything, detectives needed to be sure David Metter was safe. So they asked police in Georgia to check on him.

We had been contacted by the L.A. Police Department and they notified us that they were midway through an investigation.

Major Steven Shaw of the Gwinnett County Police Department sent officers to the house to observe from a distance. David was alive and well, but investigators didn't want him to know there was a threat against his life. Not yet, anyway.

They had more work to do and they were concerned that notification to the meter family would have at some point got back to Christy matter and the case would have been concluded prematurely.

So they didn't say a word and kept an eye on David.

It was very important for us to get the information in at the right time, make contact with him.

Before they launched their sting, detectives felt there was still one thing they had to do to replace Pat Sabo as the hit man. Police wanted one of their own on the inside working undercover.

And who was the hit man going to be the new hit man?

That would be me.

So, Detective and playing the role of Hitman. Yes.

Detective Bowersox would play the role of Vincent, a hit man with mob affiliations. It's like a movie script.

It is a movie script. Everything everything has to be laid out. You know, you have to know what you're going to say before you say it.

One mistake could blow this whole operation. Absolutely something said wrong, an action done wrong. Anything that makes you look like a policeman. I had to totally change everything. And how I acted, talked, all my mannerisms, everything.

It was now up to Pat to convince Chrissie and her dad to outsource this murder to a professional hitman armed with a recording device. Pat says he swiped Chrissie and told her all about Vincent and his fee.

So it really implicated her.

But when he handed the recording over to Detective Borsuk, there was a problem.

I forgot to record it. It was a disappointing setback. But Pat rallied and called again the very next day.

Prison. Hey, Airport. OK, remember that guy I told you about? Yeah, OK, well, I talked to him so it's now no longer a hypothetical situation. It's a real situation.

OK, Chrissie seemed unfazed by the idea of a new hit man. And when Pat mentioned Vince wanted to meet her elderly dad, that seemed fine, too.

All right. So Dad still going to call me tonight at like he's going to Skype me. Yeah, I have to be a Skype. Thank you. OK, we'll Skype later and I'll talk to him and we'll set something up to meet me and Vince.

Later that night, Pat spoke with Chris's dad and played up all the reasons Vince was the perfect choice to carry out the plan.

This guy, Vince, he's he's done this. He's done this before Al came. That's I mean, he spent time in prison in California. He's put it this way. This dude scares the piss out of me. I told Chris, you know, this guy wants to meet tomorrow. OK, OK.

And just like that, Vince was in they discussed his retainer, OK, I told Chris and he won't stop it from 2000 down to three thousand.

Now, is that going to be a problem? I have a little bit. Well, how much could you get tomorrow? Tomorrow? I probably could get 3000 tomorrow if I had so far, everything was going according to plan.

Detective Bowersox was about to meet Chris's dad face to face as Vince the hitman.

Everything had to be realistic, even Bowersox appearance.

You look very nice and clean cut right now. How did you look?

I was in, you know, Harley Davidson t shirt, pair of jeans. You look the part of a hit man. Yeah, I think I was pretty convincing on my look.

Bowersox needed to convince Chris's dad enough was on Bori to implicate himself on tape. The pressure was on.

All right. All right. So what's going on here? Coming up, are you sure you want this done? This is your father, your grandchildren, you understand, understand fully, OK? You've got the money unless he's saying have fun.

Basically, he just wanted to have me do it.

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Let NetSuite show you how they'll benefit your business with a free product tour at NetSuite Dotcom, NBC schedule your free product tour right now at NetSuite. Dotcom, NBC, NetSuite dotcom slash NBC. Detective Chris Borsuk had set the stage for his undercover operation. He was about to meet Chris's dad for the first time, posing as Vince the hitman, and he needed two things to happen.

The first element was to meet with al-Samarie to make the hire for the head. The second one was the the transfer of money to me to solidify the deal.

The meeting was in Detective Bowersox car, which was wired and parked in an empty lot.

So I'm meeting with. And now I'm worried about a motive for hire, Pat Sabo arrived with some Burri to make the introduction, then stepped away to let the two men talk alone. All right.

So what's going on here? It gives me a picture, some some guy named David Miller who divorced my daughter. And he is pulling some real. OK. He took one kid.

OK, he's threatening to take the rest of some boys only Focus was finalizing the contract on David Metters life at three Gracemere.

Are you sure you want this done? This is father. Your your grandchildren. Yes. Yeah, but this is a father, your grandchildren. You understand, understand fully Morschel need to see what makes you think I killed this guy. What made me. Yeah, why not. The only answer. I am such a scumbag. OK, you've got the money, but let's have fun. The father of his grandchildren and he's saying have fun.

Basically, he just wanted to have me do it. Why not arrest him right then and there?

The case wasn't as solid as I wanted it. I wanted Chrissy because Chris, she's the one that set this up. You believe Chrissie was the mastermind? Oh, there's no doubt in my mind.

But the time to prove it was running out. Chrissie and her dad wanted David killed in the next few days. Both had agreed to meet with Vince.

Once it was done, they had to establish proof that Mr. Metter had been killed and that that contract had been completed.

Detectives knew there was only one person who could make that happen. David Metter himself East Lake Police Sergeant Major Qof Gwinnett County to the letter home to finally break the news that there was a price on David's head. But there was a problem. I said, I'm sorry.

He's out of town. He's gone to Florida for business.

At that point, we were forced to loop her in as to what was going on in order for her to make contact with David for us.

Lonnie called David immediately and told him the horrifying story and it was horrifying. Just ask David, why would my ex-wife ever do this?

I know that she hates me, but I can't imagine being hated so much that something like this could be real.

David, 17 year marriage to Chrissy flashed before his eyes a once happy household that had turned so bitter. Where we started to falter was when my career started really taking shape and I had opportunities to leave Ohio.

Chrissie hated living far from her parents, and the marriage eventually fell apart, David says. They separated and that's when things turned ugly. I immediately became a a wife beater, a child beater. And pretty much anything else that the Krissie could accuse me of, David says her accusations against him are completely untrue.

According to David, Krissie was the one who tormented him. He recalls a phone call from her at the height of their divorce and custody battle. It's a call that still haunts him to this day.

I was living in this apartment building that I was up on the 10th floor. I remember the words that came out of her mouth during this conversation. We don't miss you, girls don't need you, and you're worth more to us dead than you are alive.

You should just jump. Wow. I fell to my knees. I remember praying and hoping for something to change.

David remarried. By then, Chrissy had moved back to Ohio with the kids. But David says the problems with his ex got worse, especially between Chrissy and their daughters. So he and Lonnie decided to fight for primary custody.

I told her that there was a high likelihood that I was going to get the girls.

Now, David was left to wonder, was this murder for hire some sort of custody revenge? With the clock ticking, there was no time to process at all. Major Sean needed David to do something crazy, stage his own death.

The detective gets on the phone and his words were, I need you to take pictures of yourself, pictures, the police plan to Photoshop to make it look like David had been shot in the head.

He wants you to pretend that you're dead right.

I'm thinking to myself, I can't make these believable. How do I act dead?

I'm not sure what I would look like that we needed to expose certain parts of his head in order to place the gunshot wound on it.

David needed to hurry. Chrissy and her dad were supposed to meet the hit man vents in a few hours. So David snapped some photos in his hotel room on his phone and sent them to Major Shaw. It was then up to a CSI tech to make the images believable.

We have a crime intelligence analyst that was fairly proficient at Photoshop. The tech added a fake gunshot wound and blood spatter to the pictures, but they were far from perfect. It was a rush job after all. Major Shaw sent them off to East Lake Police. Were they happy with it?

I don't really know if they had a choice. They were scheduled to meet back in Ohio. Adrenaline was high as detectives prepared for their final undercover sting. This was high stakes.

This had to work. Yes, this had to work. But Bowersox says Krissi suddenly got cold feet. She told Pat she wanted to back out of the meeting. There's a huge problem.

My job is to make sure she's there now. She doesn't want to be there.

What kind of guidance do you give him to to get things back on track, to get Christy there, to make her believe that once she hired somebody to kill somebody who just did and this killer is telling her she better show up?

I put the fear Jesus in there. Well, put the fear of vinegar. And she's like, yeah, you're right.

The plan was back on track.

Unmarked cars were stationed near the parking lot and ready to swoop in if needed.

And it's all coming down to this moment.

One moment I was holding my breath in the car.

Would Chrissy show or would she slip through detective's fingers? Coming up, does it look like the big photo finish with this picture, convince anyone? Do you worry that he's going to look at this and say I? Well, yeah, he's seen crime scenes before.

He just let me see if. It was the moment of truth for East Lake detectives, the final undercover meeting with Chrissy Metter and Alison Bori detectives had plenty of evidence on Chris's dad, but in order to get Christie, they needed her to show up to.

I was holding my breath in the car when they were showing up and making sure that I could see three heads in the car.

Father and daughter had already been told David was dead and they arrived at the parking lot with Pat to see the proof. That doctored photo of David was we pull in.

I said, well, I'm going over there. You guys do what you gotta do.

Christine and her dad got into Bowersox car. It was the first time the detective was meeting her.

Good morning. Good morning. Police needed Krissie to admit that she was the one who would pay the rest of the hit man's fee.

So right off the bat, Bowersox asked her about the life insurance policy she had on David so much as a policy for one and one and a half million jobs. I'm just kind of curious what especially for you, this is your father. That's the father of your kids. I mean, that's what your dad. OK. Just let me see if Alison Burri wanted to see the photo, the proof that David Metter was dead.

Do you worry that he's going to look at this and say, uh, well, yeah, he's seen crime scenes before, so I did it as quick as I possibly could. OK. The photo worked, Zaveri believed his former son in law was dead, he didn't want his daughter to look at the picture. Was interested in the details of the murder.

Does it look like an accident? No, no, I don't look like you don't even really know. You don't want to see it. I shot him in the head like you guys wanted me to do what he's done, he's done.

And with those two words, the sting was over and the cavalry rushed in.

What did you guys do it? We did. Did you set me up? No. No.

Chrissy and her dad were handcuffed and taken to the station. And when they sat down with investigators, Alison Burri started talking.

You're here for conspiracy to commit aggravated murder. Are leaving of your saying you've got everything figured out. Well, how about your own son in law? That's what Tony should be murdered.

The interview quickly ended after Zomba he asked for a lawyer. And when it was Chris's turn, she acted oblivious to it all.

You understand the charges against. So I charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated murder in the first degree, I understand. The state of the light pollution. But seven months later, when it came time for Chrissie's trial, her defense strategy was simple. Chrissy blamed her father, Judge Eugene Luchi presided over the trial.

The defense tried to show that this was all Elsom Borys doing. He snooped in Christine Metters unsecured laptop.

The defense said somebody saw that Facebook conversation between Chrissy and Pat, the one where Pat joked about hiring a hit man, they said it was a boy who wanted to arrange the meeting with Pat.

Christine said she didn't know the purpose of the meeting and all she was doing was her father's bidding. Christie took the stand to tell the jurors exactly that and that she never wanted to meet the hit man, but was pressured by Pat Sebo, it was him telling me to do something that I did not want to do. He was getting forceful with it, telling me Vince knew where I lived.

If Chrissy sounded guilty in that undercover recording, she said she was playing along out of fear of what Vince might do.

I started getting. Scared that this man was going to show up at my door that this man. We'll kill that this man will hurt my children, would you want even better killed? Never.

But prosecutors said Christie knew exactly what she was doing. They said the proof was in that undercover recording from the final sting.

Does it look like an accident? No, I don't know what it's getting to where I signed the. Like you want me to. What is this woman say, OK? The state closed with this killing, David, was a win win for Chrissy. She would get the proceeds of his insurance policy and something else custardy. She'd get to keep her four girls.

Were you concerned that there was a chance that Chrissy would be found not guilty? We are still both very anxious.

After weeks of testimony, the jury started deliberations. And in just a few hours, the verdict was in.

We, the jury, find the defendant guilty, guilty of two counts of conspiracy to commit aggravated murder.

What is that moment like for you after everything that you've been through?

It was vindication, relief. She scared us and she wasn't going to be able to do that for. A long time, nor was Alison Bori, he took a plea deal and died in prison after serving five years, Chris is near the end of her 10 year sentence. She declined our request for an interview. But in a statement that unexpectedly read like a confession, Chrissy wrote in part, I was very wrong in my actions and I'm paying dearly.

Anyone who has been through a divorce that never ends can understand. I was at the end of my rope and next year Chrissie is actually getting out of prison.

How do you feel about that?

My hope is the prison system has done its job and she'll try to be reacclimated into a normal life.

Loni, you're getting upset just just talking about it. Yeah, I don't think that she's learned anything from this experience.

But Loni and David aren't dwelling on their past. They know the challenges they faced are unusual, but they use their story to counsel other couples facing obstacles and they say they are stronger today as a couple and a family.

When you talk with each one of the girls, their mother, as Loni said after the trial, David had Chris's parental rights terminated.

Loni, you go on to adopt these girls and welcome them into your heart with open arms.

Yeah, I mean, I always actually wanted a lot of kids, and here I get to have four more.

David and Loni say this chapter of their lives may not have been possible without Pat.

I think the best way that I can show thanks to Patrick is to show how our family has risen far above this from a moment in time that he had control of.

I've seen the beauty of these two people, especially Loni. She adopted those girls. Good people. Does my heart good to see that? No, I did the right thing.

That's all for this edition of Dateline. We'll see you Friday at nine eight Central. And of course, I'll see you each weeknight for NBC Nightly News. I'm Lester Holt. For all of us at NBC News, good night.