gelareh wanted to help so many people is because the two of you taught her that the right thing to do? >> yeah. >> that's who she was. >> i was angry, and she told me , i am like you. >> and she was. >> a person who is so helpful summa so full of energy, so positive. imagine all the things she could have done for so many other people in her lifetime. hello, i'm craig melvin, and this is "dateline." i just flipped out. i lost it. we could not understand how anybody dateline. >> something is not right. i just flipped out.

i lost it. we could not understand how anybody would want to murder him. >> he looked like he was sleeping, except for the bullet hole. >> he was in bed. his head was waon the pillow. his entire upper body was tucked in. >> the first guess was suicide. >> there's no gun on the season. >> hard to have a gun suicide with no gun. >> this was a man who had everything to live for. >> eric loved life. >> he loved his family. and women too. many women. did one of them love him too much? no shortage of lovers to question. >> i knew he was a ladies' man. i'm not stupid. no sign of a break in either. it must have been somebody he trusted or maybe someone who didn't trust him. >> inside the safe was a .380 handgun. >> that's the same kind of gun

that killed eric. >> everybody loved him so who killed him? >> we knew in our hearts that this murder was going to be solved. we believed that justice was going to be served for eric. >> hello and welcome to dateline. it was a crime scene that offered little evidence and those who knew eric somuah could not imagine who would want the outgoing salesman dead. one determined detective refused to give up. it was an investigation packed with twists and turns and an ending few saw coming. here's josh mankiewicz with "while he was sleeping." >> he was the life of every party. at 34, eric somuah was charming, magnetic, successful.

in 2012 he was living the kind of life that young men like to brag about to one another. call the good life. the lush life. the fast lane. it's a world without too many rules. one in which you get close in a hurry to a lot of people you don't know too well. and it was perfect for eric. living just outside the nation's capital, eric somuah was not only living the american dream, he was selling it too. the son of immigrants from ghana, eric was a top salesman delivering luxury cars and the fantasies that come with them at this jaguar dealership in bethesda, maryland. >> he was focused and motivated to be the best and he turned out to be our number one salesperson. >> this was a guy who could sell ice in alaska. >> right. i tell him that eric you could

sell anything. >> eric's older sisters susie and cynthia spotted his drive ot and business savvy at an early age. >> he started a lawn cutting business in our neighborhood. the neighborhood kids, they were actually working for him. and he would pay them i think what $2 cut the grass. >> a born capitalist. >> i mean he'll tell me susie i'm going to be really rich one day. >> he wanted to go all the way to the top. >> from the day he was born, eric was a charmer and his sisters and big brother michael always adored him. >> he was just a wonderful, wonderful joy to our family and to my sisters and i. >> eric was the baby of the family. but we all enjoyed him because he was very vibrant. >> it was just wthe three of u and then he came along, so he was sort of our little doll. >> yeah. >> to thes women of the nation's capital. >> he was a ladies man.

it's no secret. he loved women. >> he'd walk in a room and everyone liked him like oh, who's this guy? he was so nice. had a beautiful smile. and he'll just start a conversation with anyone. i mean he just had that type ofa personality where women liked him. >> but his sisters hoped their playboy brother would finally settle down. in fact, they were counting on it. >> we were waiting for a huge wedding that my sister and i were planning for him. >> the bride hadn't been picked out yet but the wedding planning was going. >> we already knew pretty much how the wedding was going to be. >> eric's sisters admit they knew little about his dating life. his big brother knew much more. >> our relationship was very close. even though he's my sibling and younger brother, he was my best friend as well. we talk about everything. >> eric's thousand watt charm and his work ethic had earned him success on the job.

a high-rise apartment in the dc suburbs. and a busy and exciting social life. he was a young man on altop of the world. but his big brother still felt the need to occasionally offer advice, like playing the field has its risks and can't last forever. >> he really respected me and the fact that i'd been with my wife 28 years. he always would communicate and say hey i want to be that but i just can't find the right one. >> even as the youngest and the only one who hadn't married, eric was the glue that bonded his family. >> eric was the person that brought the family together. he remembered everyone's birthday. he made everyone feel really special. >> so wasn't fjust his custome he was charming. >> no, he was charming his family too. >> all of you. >> he wanted everyone to come together. >> in june 2012, he brought them together again, but this time it wasn't for a holiday or

birthday. it was because they were worried sick about him. june 5th, a tuesday, eric didn't show up for work at the jaguar dealership. initially his boss brian armstrong let it slide. >> chalked it up to hey he was taking a day off unscheduled day off. i didn't think too much about it. and then the following day which was the wednesday again scheduled to come in no call, no show and then i got worried. >> word spread and soon eric's sisters and the rest of their close knit family were trying to find him. >> no one had heard from him. >> now you're really worried. >> i'm really worried. >> cynthia took a deep breath and called 911. police were dispatched to check out eric's apartment in silver spring, maryland. his family raced to meet them. eric somuah a man about town who lived life at full throttle had seemingly fallen off the

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suzy somuah: it was just alarming when we heard that he hadn't shown up for work. wow. i mean, that's not like eric at all not to show up for work. it kiwas just alarming when

we heard he hasn't showed up for work. wow. i mean that's not like eric at all not to show up for work. >> as his sister cynthia and other family members arrived at eric somuah's building their fear level was off the charts. they stood vigil in the lobby as police went up to eric's sixth floor apartment. >> what do you think's happened? >> i was trying to figure out -- >> sister susie. cynthia got her answer from a police captain who'd been in eric's apartment. >> when the captain came and gently placed his hand on my arm and said that, ma'am, i'm sorry, it looks like your brother has taken his life. i mean i was raging with screams. and i said there's no way. there's no way he took his life. >> eric loved life. >> through her grief, cynthia managed to call her sister.

>> and she was screaming. and she was bawling. when she told me eric was dead i just flipped out. i just lost it. >> and you show up how long after that? >> we showed up about 40 minutes later. >> after patrol officers made that initial suicide call. >> they tried not to disturb the scene so they didn't really look around too much. >> tell me about the scene. >> he had a gunshot wound to his head. his entire upper body was tucked in. it looked like he was sleeping. >> a forensic team continued to work. >> no sign of astringe. >> no sign of a struggle anywhere in the apartment. no signs of ransacking. the one thing i noticed right away was that there was no gun. there's in gun on the scene go hard to have a gun suicide with no gun. >> that's correct. >> so this isn't a suicide. >> this was a murder.

>> in some ways demytre was like eric somuah. young, successful, driven. but even working homicides ruvin had none of the world weariness of some veteran detectives, so he was the right cop to break the difficult news to the family. >> i just went downstairs and i said we have reason to believe that eric was murdered. that's when everybody lost it. i mean his sister was just crying. his dad had just had his head buried in his hands and just like people just couldn't believe it. >> we were all in shock. we were just shocked. >> who would want to murder eric? >> that is exactly what detective ruvin wanted to know. >> we started right there. we started our investigation with the family and those that were close to him. just to see if he had any enemies. if there was anybody in his life that would want to hurt him. >> what's the answer? >> eric was loved by anybody and there was no one out there

that the family knew that would want to hurt him. >> eric's head wound from a .380 caliber gun indicated to detectives he was shot at point- blank range. >> it would be someone eric trusted so much he went to sleep and had that person there. >> and ruvin quickly learned his victim mr. popularity had welcomed lots of people into his life and into his home. >> he used to hang out at a local down the street from his house. he would be here every night and he would go home with a different girl. >> it was the kind of thing eric's brother michael had warned him about. >> could it have been some revenge situation? you know. someone wanted to have him. just didn't know. >> what his sisters did know

about one particular girlfriend named denise. >> there were several members of our family who did point to her. >> denise dated eric for a little over a year. >> she's older. >> about 20 some years older. >> what did you learn about his relationship with denise? >> majority of the family did not like denise. >> because? >> because they thought she was using eric or she -- they just didn't like her. >> detective ruvin interest in denise intensified when he learned something else. he said denise told him for a brief time, months before the murder, she had a key to eric's apartment. >> they were going out. that seems to make sense. >> right. there was no evidence of a break in so somebody either had to have a key or been led in by eric. >> denise would fit the profile of somebody eric trusted. >> absolutely. >> police were eager to interview her but they knew that if denise had been in

eric's apartment recently, any forensic trail might not have meant much. the same was true for all those other women police hadn't even identified. >> because the dna belongs there. the dna belongs everywhere in the apartment. so now you have to prove it some other way. >> after day one denise topped his list of people to check out. but she would not be ruvin only lead. >> the reason is because you're a witness. >> a witness came forward and seen a man meeting with eric just before the murder. like eric he was a salesman. but he wasn't selling cars. >> coming up. a possible new suspect. >> he's about my color. skinny guy. scruffy beard. >> and a possible motive as old as time. >> jealousy leads to murder. >> when dateline continues. tel but this is my story.

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ask your provider for cologuard. suzy somuah: i was here but i wasn't really here. it was very, very difficult. josh mankiewicz: people tell you grief diminishes over time. i was yshere but i wasn't really here. it was very, very difficult. >> people tell you grief diminishes over time. but days after eric somuah's death his close knit family could only dream about whether that moment would ever arrive. >> when i received the paper the next day and i opened it and saw this young handsome guy

in there, i just lost it. >> sadly, i meet a lot of people in your situation. there are families that really want to know what happened. and then there are other people who are like, not going to bring him back and i don't want to spend another minute thinking about the murderer. you guys clearly in that first group. you wanted an answer. >> we wanted to know who would do this. because we just could not understand who would want to kill eric. >> the family had pointed detective ruvin at eric's girlfriend denise. >> we interviewed denise multiple times pickup. >> interest in denise picked up when he learned from the family that her romance with eric was on the rocks. >> and he was with her probably about a year and then after a while he was just tired of being i guess bogged down by someone. >> according to ruvin, denise told him she and eric were talk about breaking up by mutual

agreement. she also acknowledged eric was dissatisfied with their relationship. giving the detective a theory to consider. >> older woman, younger man and now he wants to end it and maybe see somebody else. >> right. >> that breeds jealousy and we know what that leads to. >> correct. jealousy leads to murder. >> while he continued to investigate denise, ruvin learned from residents in eric's building that there was a woman there he'd been dating for just a few weeks. >> that's why we wanted to talk to katrina. >> katrina ben came down to police headquarters for an interview. she's visibly upset here. just earlier that day detective ruvin and his partner had told her that eric was dead. >> just want to start again by saying just thank you. you don't have to be here. thank you. thank you for doing this. >> oh my god. i want to know too. >> yes.

>> they wanted whatever leads she could give them. they began with the basics. >> how did you meet eric? >> i met eric outside like two weeks after i'd been there. >> outside their building. >> and he asked me if it i was a nurse because he was starting some kind of agency, nursing agency kind of like what i work for. >> katrina did work as a nurse. it turned out she and eric had plenty in common. >> i'm a basketball fan. and so was he. that was our connection. >> the relationship quickly turned more than friendly. katrina said she and eric had been dating weekly. usually on mondays ever since. katrina wanted to know about progress in finding her lover's killer. >> we can't really tell you what's going on with the investigation. and the reason is because you're a witness. >> oh my god. >> she asked if they could at least say where eric died. >> well i think we can tell her

where it happened. >> he was killed in his apartment. >> the interview topic returned to the vibrant eric she knew. >> this guy had so many goals and so many dreams. it's just crazy. it's like he was having the best time if of his life and now he's dead. >> that explained why he never answered her recent texts. >> did he make any calls on tuesday? am i the only? can you tell me that? i don't know if he stopped calling me or if he wasn't answering because he was dead. aye been depressed and suffering and mad and crying because i'm thinking he's not talking to me. we've been like this. just to settle my heart, you know. >> i think your heart can be settled. >> the detectives consoled her but also continued to probe about that last night together. two days before eric's body was discovered. >> i went to his place monday. he stayed with me sunday. >> monday you went to his place to watch the game.

>> yeah. >> then she said the night got strange. out of the blue eric said he wanted to smoke some pot. >> she told him she wasn't interested. she did agree to ride with eric so he could buy weed at a nearby apartment complex. >> i didn't know what was happening. he's never ever done anything like that around me. >> they drove up to this building, almost immediately katrina said the pot dealer jumped into the backseat. >> and it was real quick. the light was on the whole deal, whatever they did and the guy got out. all it happened before the light could even go out in the car. i'm thinking you're going to do something like this. i work at nih. i don't want to be identified in something like this. he was bald and he's about my color. skinny guy. scruffy beard. i didn't see his face straight on. i'm not trying to look like i want to know who you are. >> after driving back to their building eric and katrina spent the rest of the night watching

the basketball game before they became focused on each other. >> excuse me if this is too much information. we had sex for a while and i went to sleep. >> a little later she told the detectives she was woken up by the sound of eric talking to someone outside the bedroom. through a crack in the door katrina thought she could make out a face. and the man looked familiar. >> she believed the guy to be the drug dealer. >> the same guy she'd met earlier. >> yes. >> this was only hours before eric was murdered in his bed. detective ruvin now had another major suspect. >> so we concentrated on this it drug dealer. >> this would prove to be a key moment in the case, but not for the reasons you think. >> coming up, did police strike gold in the drug dealer's apartment? >> that's the same kind of gun that killed eric. >> same kind of gun. of gun.

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a judge in georgia ruled fulton county district attorney fani willis can continue to prosecute the case against former president donald trump and 18 co-defendants so long as her top prosecutor resign. nathan wade did so and in a letter willis thanked him for having the quote courage to accept the role despite safety concerns. a new york judge delayed trump's hush money trial by 30 days following the introduction of thousands of new documents relates to a key witness former trump attorney michael cohen. now back to dateline. to datel i'm craig melvin. the murder of a bachelor in the prime of his life had stumped investigators. welcome back to dateline. i'm craig melvin. the murder of a bachelor in the prime of his life had stumped investigators. detectives first focused on his many lovers, but they got nowhere in the search for a

motive or the weapon that killed hill. then a break. one of those women offered up a tip. a pot dealer. but would it lead police to the smoking gun they sought? back with "while he was sleeping" here's josh mankiewicz. >> detective dimitry ruvin has worked a lot of homicides. the death of eric somuah angered him more than most. >> he was just sleeping. to kill somebody while they're sleeping is just, it's horrible. >> eric's sisters were grateful to have someone as committed as ruvin working their brother's case. >> he is a phenomenal investigator. >> and now just days after eric was murdered, it looked as if detective ruvin might give the family some resolution. one of eric's lovers katrina ben the investigators a new suspect. eric's pot dealer. >> it didn't make sense to me.

i was thinking why is he here? >> katrina told them how uneasy she felt with the dealer in the apartment. >> it was just a little uncomfortable. he just seemed a little weird. >> so at just around 5:00 a.m. katrina said she got out of there. >> she said the guy then just came up to her as she was leaving and basically pushed her out with the door. >> based on katrina's account, police believe eric was killed some time in the early morning hours of june 5th, 2012. ruvin brought in the dealer for questioning. a man named william woodfork. >> and he was like i have no idea who that is. never met him before. >> did you believe him? >> no. i knew eric called him and katrina's story tied him to eric. >> ruvin hammered away at woodfork for hours getting him to admit he sold eric marijuana the night of the murder. but the dealer balked when ruvin asked why he later went

over to eric's. >> and he was like what are you talking about? he was so adamant about not even knowing where eric lives, you know. i'm a weed dealer. i'm not a delivery man pitch don't deliver. people come to me. >> detective ruvin wasn't about to just take a drug dealer at his word. >> so we get a search warrant for his place and we recovered a safe from his apartment and inside the safe was a .380 handgun and it was just like, did he lie? is this our murder weapon? >> that's the same kind of gun that killed eric. >> same kind of gun. >> the gun was sent to the firearms lab as ruvin checked to see if he could prove william woodfork was in eric's apartment. woodfork's dna and fingerprints weren't on the door or anywhere else. >> you look at the security tape. is he on there? >> he was never on the security tapes. >> the tests came back on the dealer's .380. >> it was not the gun that killed eric. same caliber but the ammunition

was different, so it was just one big coincidence. >> now eric's dealer wasn't looking as good for the murder. not only was the gun not a match, ruvin was convinced the dealer was never at eric's apartment. as for denise, the woman who had been eric's girlfriend, investigators interviewed her three times. she was cooperative and allowed them to look at her phone. >> her phone records put her at home the night of the murder. >> so they eliminated denise as a suspect. and, again, ruvin started from scratch. >> you don't just come in somebody's apartment and murder them while they're sleeping and expect to get it away with it and that was my job to find the killer and i felt like i wasn't doing my job. >> the detectives circled back to the person who pointed them towards the pot dealer in the first place. katrina ben. the woman who'd been so surprised and distraught by her lover's death. now the cops wondered if she

had deliberately misdirected them. ruvin and his partner asked her back for another chat. >> think he was the one? >> eric? did i think he was the one for me? actually, no. but he was trying to convince me that he was the one. >> just days before katrina had spoken of eric lovingly. but no longer. >> i'm not stupid. >> murdered i think i would do anything to help the police. >> and she wouldn't do it. >> no. >> katrina's abrupt change in behavior was change, even alarming to the detectives. all they could do was say their good-byes as katrina headed off to a new job in baltimore.

>> at this point there was enough weird behavior from katrina ben and we had nothing solid. nothing really incriminating. it it was just something not being right there. >> the cops had a nagging feeling. katrina ben was lying. but katrina was and suddenly she looked suspicious. >> with katrina bound for baltimore, the investigation into her lover's murder threatened to stall. then a remarkable roadside discovery. coming up, a damaged gun helps a determined detective shoot a bullseye. >> it was recovered the day after we found eric's body and i was like let's just test this >> when dateline continues. dat

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(announcer) you can quit. josh mankiewicz: as his murder investigation slowly rolled forward, detective dimitry ruvin developed a certain affection for eric somuah, as his murder investigation slowly rolled forward, detective dimitry ruvin developed a certain affection for eric somuah the guy he'd never met. the successful, charismatic, charming victim. >> you kept a picture of eric on your desk at work? >> uh-huh. >> just to remind you. >> we call them the most interesting man in the world. that it was the name of this case and i've always had a picture of eric to just remind

me to keep going and keep working a case. >> unfortunately what wasn't next to eric's photo on ruvin's desk was any hard evidence against katrina ben, the woman ruvin thought knew more than she was telling. and along with another detective ruvin paid katrina a visit in baltimore. >> for the most part her story remained the same. >> but katrina was also on guard and defensive. >> don't go where? >> i feel like you're trying to be sarcastic. >> instead of focusing on the detective's tone, katrina should have paid more attention to their clothing. detective ruvin secretly had a tape recorder in his pocket. >> i asked her about owning any guns. >> do you own a gun? >> no. >> have you ever fired a gun? >> no. >> armed with a warrant, ruvin

searched katrina's apartment but did not find a gun. he seized her phone and computer but cops didn't find anything incriminating. >> no gun registered to her anywhere. >> no. >> no sign she'd owned one. >> that's correct. >> ruvin kept going. >> i subpoenaed her bank records and credit card records just to see if she purchased any ammunition somewhere. >> you didn't find it. >> no. >> ruvin didn't stop there. he kept looking everywhere. he even went all the way to katrina's hometown in mississippi where he learned something interesting. >> i talked to her dad who said that he had guns. multiple guns in the house. and that katrina had shotguns before. so we knew she lied. >> but that is no criminal offense. still, ruvin was certain he could eventually find something concrete and he kept looking. weeks passed.

then months. >> i think that's probably the toughest thing about this job is if it goes unsolved for a while. >> you feel like you're letting the family down. >> exactly. especially families that do stay in contact with you. >> eric's family was eager for answers. they were not shy about letting ruvin know that. >> he gets probably daily phone calls from each one of us and he was so patient and just explaining. >> detective ruvin never said maybe one of you could call me and tell me. >> never. >> you look at your phone and you don't even want to answer because you have no news. it's the same it was last week. we think we know who did it but we can't prove it right now. >> may 2013 the one year anniversary of eric's murder approached and frankly the investigation had come to a standstill. ruvin wasn't just angry. he was frustrated. he needed to make something happen. ruvin thought about the gun that had killed eric and he

knew a lot of handguns just like it were already in police custody all across the dc area. he decided to examine all of them. it was an immense task. he began in montgomery county. >> i decided to look at all .30s recovered in the past year. >> which have been how many? >> it was about 60 guns. >> ruvin combed through the records for each of those guns. most seized by cops in traffic stops or drug busts. but none matched up. until ruvin read the second to last file. it was handgun number 59 out of 60. it was a gun turned in by a tourist from montana who had spotted it lying by the side of the beltway. dc's most traveled road. the only reason the man saw it was because he was parked in dc's famous bumper to bumper traffic. >> it was recovered the day

after we found eric's body. it was a short distance away from the crime scene and i was like let's just test this gun. this gun makes sense. >> this seems like succeeding against unbelievable odds. >> one in a million. >> the gun was a mess. missing most of its components. and it looked as if it might have been run over after it hit the pavement. but the barrel, intact. using spare parts the police firearms lab reassembled the weapon and test fired it. the result? a close match to the bullet that killed eric somuah. and on the gun a serial number. from it ruvin learned something else. >> where was it originally sold? >> at a pawnshop in columbia, mississippi. >> why was that a big deal? that little pawnshop was just a few miles down the road from silver creek, mississippi. which was the hometown of

katrina ben. ruvin just couldn't buy that as a coincidence. so he took another trip down to mississippi. this time to track down the gun's original owner which was harder than it might sound. >> this gun had multiple, multiple owners. it would take me 30 minutes just to persuade somebody to talk to me. >> why? because in mississippi you sound like a stranger? that's so weird. >> possibly sound like a stranger. also nobody wants to talk about guns. they always think that i'm there to get them in trouble. >> it was a lot of shoe leather and ruvin still didn't have a solid link to katrina. >> it would take some persuading to even have people talk to me. >> but slowly the persuasion paid off. >> and each would tell us yeah i had it for a year and i pawned it at this pawnshop. >> after interviewing six former owners of the gun, ruvin arrived at a pawnshop that bought and sold it some time around 2003. >> so the owner he was like we kept our records in diaper

boxes in the back of the shed and the rats were eating on them so we decided to just send them to the atf. >> ruvin offered to come look through the diaper boxes. the response from the atf. thanks but no thanks. >> the atf agent was just saying just let us take care of it so we left mississippi really with nothing. >> ruvin returned to maryland wondering if he'd hit another dead end. he wondered for about a week. it was late june, now more than a year since eric was murdered when an atf agent called back. >> found these diaper boxes, we found these records. and we're faxing you a receipt. so i was waiting by the fax machine. the fax came through i looked up the name and it it was katrina ben. she was the last purchaser of that handgun. >> and you got her. >> it was pretty incredible. i was literally jumping up and down. >> now he just had to lasso

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josh mankiewicz: eric somuah had been dead for more than a year and still no one had been arrested for his murder. but his family, bound together by grief and faith, eric somuah had been dead for more than a year and still no one had been arrested for his murder. but his family bound together by grief and faith felt a kind of serenity. >> i believe there were certain people that were destined to work this case. detective ruvin outside of his normal business hours was very determined and he persevered beyond what a normal detective would do. >> the family didn't know it yet, but that perseverance was about to be rewarded. detective ruvin had an arrest warrant for katrina ben. she was living back in mississippi, which is where the cuffs went on to her wrists.

but katrina ben did not remain silent. >> it wouldn't be like this. it wouldn't be stupid. >> ruvin had dropped the friendly facade he'd once presented to katrina. now he came at her full force. >> so you're still saying you didn't kill eric. >> of course not. >> okay. um, did you -- do you own a firearm? >> yes. >> okay. what kind of firearm do you own? >> a .380. >> remember katrina had told police she didn't own a gun. hadn't even fired one. >> why didn't you tell us that last time? >> because you never asked if -- i didn't kill anyone. there's no need for me to say i don't have a gun. have you ever held a gun. have you ever fired a gun. >> it was simple, they told

her. she murdered eric. >> it was your gun that killed him. that's a scientific fact. >> the question was why. >> there has to be a reason. there has to be a reason. and if it there isn't a reason, then you're going to go down as the most cold-blooded person that we've spoken with because you're so good it's going to look horrible. it's going to be bad. >> i'm just going to have my day in court. >> katrina wouldn't give it up and asked for a lawyer. the detectives put her in lockup and ruvin stepped outside to call eric's family. >> i was just like, you know, thank you god. they're going to get this woman. >> getting a conviction was ultimately the responsibility of montgomery county state's attorney john mccarthy. >> even with a gun which gets you an arrest this is far from an ideal case. >> to sell this to a jury when you were basically saying she felt so betrayed after a three week relationship that she was

driven to murder, that's a little bit after tough sell. >> mccarthy assigned the case to assistant state's attorney jessica zarrella. at trial she gave katrina a nickname that few would envy. >> why'd you refer to katrina as the monday night girl? >> a girl who do you not take out, you do not show off and you do not introduce to your friends. she has her purposes but those purposes are relegated to monday nights and not the more high profile saturday and friday nights. >> this was the prosecution theory. katrina learned maybe from eric's phone that she was far from the only woman in eric's life. jealousy and anger did the rest. and katrina shot eric while he slept. >> human emotion fuels most homicides. >> what i keep thinking of is sort of fatal attraction. an insignificant relationship on one side and a very

significant relationship for the other person. >> obviously he made a misjudgment when he became involved with her. the sense of betrayal she felt is what fueled this homicide. >> and said prosecutors after katrina killed eric she quickly ditched the gun and began playing the part of the concerned lover, but she couldn't keep her story straight. >> lies, upon lies, upon lies to bury the truth. that ultimate truth in this case was that gun. >> the crux of katrina's defense was that she had no reason to kill eric because she just wasn't that into him. >> eric was a great guy, but i wasn't even trying to be with eric like that. and to be honest when you were telling me he was in it love with me. i never believed him. >> what's wrong with the argument that this was a woman who discovered there were other women and she got incredibly jealous and angry and that tipped her over and she killed him. >> it just doesn't work for ms.

ben. >> one of katrina's lawyers. >> we have to look at the time in which these two parties were intimate. a matter of weeks. to say that the relationship was at such a strong level that she would become jealous or irate to the point she would murder somebody doesn't resinate. >> as for that gun, katrina's argued the traveling nurse had long since lost track of it. they said someone could have stolen the gun along the way and used it on eric. >> she shifts from one residence to another from state to state because of her profession, she may have left the gun or she was unaware of where the gun may have been. >> jurors were not swayed. it took them just six hours to find katrina ben guilty of murder in the first degree. >> there's no doubt in my mind that had she not been convicted of this crime, katrina ben was just as likely to encounter someone else who disrespected

her in the same way that she felt eric did. >> with the same result. >> and visit that ultimate consequence. >> the real jaw dropper came at sentencing when katrina addressed the courtroom. >> she stood up as if she was giving a eulogy of my brother. telling us i'm sorry for your loss and all this stuff. it was like a slap in the face. >> she's talking about the murders as though she wasn't even there. you killed this person. you're the reason why we're here. it was just unbelievable. >> the judge sentenced katrina ben to life plus 20 years. >> justice has be served today. and what you have sewn into the life of our dear brother, cousin, nephew, friend, you will reap bountifully with life in prison. >> now years after saying good- bye to eric, his large, loving family still feels the pain of

his loss. >> we do remember eric every day. all the times we had. it's unfortunate we have to think about the day that he was brought home from the hospital to the day that we actually closed the casket. >> what they want to do is warn other families to watch out for the other katrina bens in the world. >> i pray and continue to pray that even in doing this that it will bring awareness to other people out there about certain types of people and just being very cautious and being aware. >> so the lesson is be careful who you get close to. >> very careful. >> did absolutely. >> very aware. very important. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. of dateline. good morning. welcome to