Sleeping with a Killer (2022–…): Season 1, Episode 4 - Melanie Eam - full transcript

(Ethereal music)

- [Narrator] November
the 17th, 2016.

In Loxahatchee, Florida,
police receive a 911 call.

A man has been stabbed and his
condition appears critical.

- Those two blood vessels,
the artery and vein,

they are cut, so now the
heart is still beating

and blood is pumping out.

So, he's losing blood; He's
bleeding out from his wounds.

- He was stabbed
some seven times.

The death blow was the
clavicle or collarbone,

which caused him
to bleed to death.



- [Narrator] As police
launch an investigation,

it becomes evident that
this is no random incident.

The attack is vicious
and sustained.

(Tense music)

- I thought I knew
anger and hatred before,

but that's when I
really met that.

(Suspenseful music)

(Ominous music)

- [Narrator] Loxahatchee
is about 20 miles west

of west palm beach.

It's a rural community
with many large houses

on big plots of land.

There's even a small
safari park in the area.

In general, it's a quiet area.



- It is rural, large lot sizes.

It's called the acreage,

so everything is an
acre to more out there.

It is slowly beginning
more and more developed,

but it is more rural than,
say, downtown west palm beach.

You've got all types of
people that live out there.

It really is a melting pot:

Business owners,
small-business owners,

construction business owners,

but single-family residences,

you have people
that live out there

that just want more space.

So, it's really is a melting pot

of sort of everything out there.

(Pensive music)

- A lot of people
who enjoy nature

tend to flock to loxahatchee

or the outdoors,
such as hunting,

but it's a rather quiet area,

a little more far-removed
from the hustle and bustle.

- [Narrator] But
all of that changes

on a November night in 2016.

- [Narrator] The call has
been made by Nicole Barry.

Her son, James, is the victim.

- She made the 911 call,

but if you actually
listen to the 911 call,

you can hear everyone in
the room is on the call.

Essentially, she's
the one who dials,

but her live-in significant
boyfriend, guy hand,

is on the phone
as well, speaking,

and they're all just trying
to give as much information,

get as much information
at the time.

- You could just hear
emotions running high.

There was a lot of
commotion in the background,

Nicola just describing to
the best of her ability

the sequence of events and
the dire need for help.

- Knowing what's going on,

I mean, what we know now what
was happening in the bedroom,

so it's Nicola, miss Barry,
narrating what she's seeing

and trying to listen
to the 911 dispatcher

to try to help her
son at that point.

- It sorta became apparent
throughout the call

that he was dying,

so you could definitely
hear the panic in her voice

and trying to do
everything she can.

- [Narrator] When
the police arrive,

they immediately seal off the
house and tend to James Barry.

Palm beach county
fire and rescue

and the palm beach county
sheriff's department

responded to the scene.

The paramedics arrived,

but then the officers
went in first to the home.

- If you enter in
through the front door,

the bedroom was down a small
hallway off to the left.

- And you could see the blood
was on the hallway walls,

and so they could see that
and they enter the room

and they see James bleeding

and they see guy
trying to provide aid.

- At that time, guy hand
still had James on the bed

and was trying to perform
CPR at that point.

- Then they take over,

and that's when they
move James to the ground.

- [Narrator] But it is too late.

James Barry is already dead.

- James Barry suffered
seven stab wounds, seven,

one fatal blow to the chest,
which severed two arteries.

He also had a stab
wound among those wounds

to his lower-left abdomen
and his right thigh.

There were also some
wounds on his hands,

which indicated that there was
in fact a struggle involved.

(Brooding music)

- [Reid] Copious amount of
blood in the bedroom itself,

some castoff spatter
in the hallway.

It woulda been a
very chaotic scene.

- [Narrator] Forensics
experts now examine the scene.

- When crime scene investigators
started gathering evidence,

they saw a pink cell phone,
the found some blood splatter,

and of course they gathered
that evidence well,

and they find some
linen garments as well.

- Most telling was when
the police came in,

they saw the knife, a steak
knife covered in blood,

next to the kitchen sink,

nowhere near the blood splatter
and nowhere near the body.

- [Narrator] This raises
questions for the police.

- Somebody was trying to
clean the murder weapon,

because the only
reason you put a knife

next to the kitchen
sink is to wash it.

- [Narrator] It transpires
that this person

is guy hand.

- It is unusual to think,

"why would anyone want to
touch a murder weapon?"

That has to run
through your mind.

Why would someone
in their right mind

go and move a knife when
someone is bleeding?

However, he claims that he
just acted out of instinct.

He needed to get
it out of the way,

get it to a place
where it was just,

he said, "I'll put
it on the counter.

"I don't want anyone
else getting hurt."

So, his explanation was that

he just kind of let
instinct take over

and he got it outta the room.

- [Reid] Yes, guy
hand had blood on him.

But given the scene and given
what he was trying to do

to save the life of James Barry,

he should have had blood on him.

In other words, it
was not unexpected

that he had blood on him.

- [Narrator] James's body is
then taken for an autopsy.

The body undergoes
a standard procedure

conducted in every homicide.

(Suspenseful music)

- You look for clues,
you look for evidence,

things that help you piece
together what happened

in the last moments
of a person's life.

At that point, you move off

to the medical examiner's
building nextdoor,

which is where we
actually have the morgue.

And then the detective is there

and the crime scene
investigator is there.

The body is brought in.

It's in a sealed body bag

so nobody can tamper
with the body.

And then the body seal
is broken, opened up,

everything is
photographed as-is.

Samples are taken
for DNA, for example.

There are bags on the hands

to protect them
from trace evidence

or maintain the trace evidence
that might be on the hand.

And everything is
photographed as-is.

Eventually, clothing
and things like that

are removed from the body.

And the whole time,
I'm taking notes,

the morgue tech is
taking photographs

with rulers and
things like that.

And then, at some point,
I look at the body as-is

and examine the injuries.

You also have to clean
off the skin as well

because blood obliterates
details on injuries.

And then the second part,
once we've done all that

and photo-documented everything,

the second part is where I
take surgical instruments

and I open the person up

and look to see what's
going on on the inside.

- [Narrator] In James's case,

there were clear
signs of a struggle.

- There were defensive wounds
on his hands, for example,

where he's trying to protect
himself from being stabbed,

so he's got cuts on his fingers,

cut across the back of the hand.

He's got a
superficial stab wound

in his abdomen on the left side.

He's got a stab
wound in his thigh,

couple stabs in the back,

and he's got a lethal stab wound

on the left side of
the chest, quite big.

It enters on the left side of
his chest and comes across,

this is from his perspective,

and it cuts through two
large blood vessels,

a vein and an artery that
are the size of a pencil.

Those two blood vessels,
the artery and vein,

they are cut, so now the
heart is still beating

and blood is pumping out.

So, he's losing blood, he's
bleeding out from his wounds,

especially the one up here,
but he's also collecting blood

on the right side of his chest
and his lung is damaged too.

So, as blood fills up on
the right side of the chest,

it compresses the lungs,

making it harder and
harder for him to breathe.

In addition, as the
blood is collecting

in the right side of his chest
and compressing those lungs,

it's pushing everything
over into the left side,

which then kinks the
large blood vessels

that come off the
top of the heart,

slowing down or cutting
off the blood supply

so now nothing is being
pumped to the brain.

He's not getting enough
oxygen to the brain

and he passes out at some point

and just never wakes up again.

(Ominous music)

- [Narrator] As the body of
James Barry is being analyzed,

police begin to establish
who had been in the house

on the night he died.

- The mother and the
boyfriend, guy hand,

were trying to sleep
in the master bedroom.

The friend and the deceased
were in the same room

playing video games.

Something drew the attention
of the deceased, who went out

and (pausing) Came back
bleeding and stabbed.

- Guy hand said that he
woke up to commotion.

He saw James in the
bedroom, bleeding profusely,

and he jumped into action.

- [Narrator] The
attack on James Barry

had been vicious and sustained.

Detectives needed to find
out who had killed him

and what their motive
might have been.

(Brooding music)

In November 2016, police in
Florida are trying to establish

what had happened to James Barry

on the evening he was murdered
in his home in loxahatchee,

a rural area close
to west palm beach.

His autopsy indicates the
violence of the assault on him.

- James Barry suffered
seven stab wounds, seven,

one fatal blow to the chest,
which severed two arteries.

He also had a stab
wound among those wounds

to his lower-left abdomen
and his right thigh.

There were also some
wounds on his hands,

which indicated that there was
in fact a struggle involved.

(Somber music)

- [Narrator] The attack on James

had extinguished the life
of a promising young man.

- He was honestly
your perfect son,

your perfect brother,
your perfect friend.

He was a Saint.

He was just a person that
you had to have just met.

If he was still alive,
it would be nice

because he really loved just
life and he loved nature

and he loved animals
and he loved gaming.

I mean, gaming was
his biggest thing.

But he never caused trouble.

He never snuck out,
he never did drugs,

he never drank, he
went to college,

he took care of my mother
when she had breast cancer.

He was really a good child.

- [Narrator] During
the initial interviews,

James's family keeps
mentioning one person.

Her name is Melanie Eam,

and she was James
Barry's girlfriend.

- Jim Barry, James's dad,

was convinced that
Melanie was to blame.

He said, "she is the
one who killed my son."

- [Narrator] And
there is evidence

that Melanie had been
on the scene that night.

- When police
responded to the scene

and they conducted
their surveillance,

neighbors actually
saw Melanie Eam's car

speeding from the
neighborhood after midnight,

so there were reports

that she was actually in the
neighborhood that evening.

- [Narrator] Their
mutual love of gaming

had brought them together.

(Gentle music)

- He met her initially
through gaming

and then they had one
of their first dates

at the south Florida fairgrounds

and they found out they
went to the same school.

- She was pretty
dynamic personality

as far as her love
for him was concerned.

However, she was very
quiet and calm by nature.

Family members say she really
didn't have that much to say.

However, James's
sister describes her

as being quite
possessive, to the point

where she even wanted to
take college classes with him

and always needed
to be with him.

(Pensive music)

- [Narrator] But there was a
rival for James's attention.

- I do remember that
she had issues too

with James's friends, and
particularly there was one

that she had a really
big problem with.

- [Narrator] The
person in question

was James's best friend,
Jeff Jarzabkowski.

- Melanie was very jealous

of Jeff's relationship with
James, their friendship.

She did not appreciate and she
was jealous of circumstances

when James would hang out
and take time away from her,

spending it with Jeff.

So, at the time of the incident,

they would not socialize,
the three of them,

James, Melanie,
and Jeff together.

- [Narrator] James and
Jeff had been friends

since childhood.

They both lived under the
same roof with James's mother.

- Jeff, who was
James's best friend,

let investigators know
that he had learned

about an hour before the
murder that James was in fact

going to call off this
relationship with Melanie Eam.

It was a tumultuous
relationship,

an on-and-off-again
relationship.

And at this point,
James told Jeff

that he was ready to call it
quits on this relationship.

This was about an hour
before the murder happened.

Jeff shared that
with investigators.

- [Narrator] As detectives start
to gather more information,

they discover that it
wasn't the first time

James had been looking
to end the relationship.

- He had tried to break
up with her before

and she would get jealous
or angry or frustrated

or just in denial about the fact

that he was going to break up.

Melanie felt that
Jeff encouraged James

to break up with her.

So, in response, at the time,

Jeff had a very expensive
fish tank with fish in it.

And at that time, Melanie poured
bleach into the fish tank,

killing the fish, as well as
destroying Jeff's property.

- She saw an opportunity
to get him outta the house

and how to do that.

She had to pour the
bleach in the fish tank.

And then, from what
my mother said,

she didn't admit to it 'til
two days later after the fact,

with no regard and
with no emotion,

no, "I'm sorry,"
but, "I did it."

- That kinda goes hand-in-hand
with just her volatile nature

and sort of irrational
actions when she gets angry.

- They had broken
up one time before

and Melanie just lost it,

to the point where
she became suicidal,

according to her parents.

In fact, her mom went
to James's house,

begging him and
begging his family

to not end the relationship,

that she quite honestly
couldn't handle it

and they didn't know if she
would survive the breakup.

(Brooding music)

- James was a kind soul
and did not want her

to inflict any harm on herself,

so he agreed to get
back in a relationship.

- [Narrator] It appears Melanie
had firmly embedded herself

into James's world.

- Melanie Eam really
enjoyed the nicer lifestyle

that being with James's
family afforded her.

She could go on
family vacations.

When she was with the family,

she enjoyed time in their home.

She would even use their
kitchen, she would bake.

She liked the lifestyle

that James Barry and his
family had to offer her

and she didn't wanna give
that up, not at any cost.

- The evidence was
that she really wanted

to be a part of that family.

And if you look at the
situation that James had,

I mean, he was in a
very loving household,

he had a great friend,
he had transportation,

both parents, a mother
and a stepfather

that cared very deeply for him

and really spoke to Melanie Eam

not being a part
of that anymore.

So, not only was it just James,

I mean, she obviously
wanted to be with James,

but it was not being
part of the family.

And so, I think that
hurt her very deeply,

and that's what I
think she held onto.

And I think she also saw Jeff

as a little bit of a
threat to that, you know?

Anybody that was with James
when she wasn't with James,

I think, was a threat to that.

If you look at the photographs
of the two of them,

just the still photographs,
you'd look at it and go,

"they look like
such a cute couple."

And I think she feared losing
all of that to a breakup.

(Tense music)

- [Narrator] Police
now begin to look at

a specific piece of evidence
taken from the crime scene.

- She left a piece of
evidence behind at the home

that was of
Paramount importance,

and that woulda
been her cell phone

that we ultimately did a
cell phone extraction from,

and that was a key
piece of evidence

that really implicated her

as a person that we
should be looking at.

- [Narrator] On the
night of November 16th,

James decides to end his
relationship with Melanie.

- He had told my
father that night

that he broke up with Melanie.

And one of the last
messages that he wrote is,

"it's gonna hurt a lot."

- It was done through a

third-party app,

a gaming app called
"league of legends."

So, we had to actually get
into the physical device,

the physical phone, and go
into the third-party app

to find those conversations.

And, really, what it was,

it was evidence of

James telling Melanie

that he felt that they should

go their separate ways.

You could tell that he

was childlike

in his ability to sorta
communicate his feelings.

She seemed very angry,

one, that they were
breaking up at all

and, two, she seemed angry
that it was being done

in that fashion, via a

"league of legends" chat.

And at one point she said,

"I can't believe you're
breaking up with me

"over a league chat."

And his reply to that was,

"well, I can talk
to you in person.

"I just communicate
better like this."

It was a good four
or five pages,

screenshots of the conversation,

so the breakup was clear.

And that breakup terminated

and the last message was

approximately
9:08 P.M.

- [Narrator] It's November 2016.

Following a relationship
breakup via text message

between Melanie Eam
and James Barry,

Melanie travels to James's
house to confront him.

- She went to the house.

There was no sign of a break-in.

One of the things that we
certainly looked for was

was there any windows broken,

doors jimmied,
anything like that?

And it would seem to
indicate that she went there,

most likely to speak to
James about the breakup,

that she was let in voluntarily,

and that then an
argument ensued.

And ultimately, she acted out
of spite, out of ill will,

unhappy with the response
that she got, and she reacted.

- She came over to the home

and he continued to
have his position

that this relationship
would not last

and that he was
breaking up with her.

And I think she
picked up a knife

and decided that if he
wasn't gonna be with her,

she was gonna kill him,
and that's what she did.

I think she was
angry and frustrated

and stabbed him and stabbed
him and stabbed him.

- Because her phone
was found on scene,

it would certainly indicate

that she was
present in the home.

The blood and the
spatter and the castoff

sort of indicate that
prior to his death

that there was an
altercation in the hallway.

So, everything was
sorted pointed at

there was an argument,

there was a confrontation,

and maybe that
confrontation had gone sour.

- [Narrator] As James lies
dying on the floor of the house,

Melanie flees the scene.

- One of the other things
police officers did that night

is they located
surveillance video,

and it was consistent
with miss Eam's vehicle,

her white vehicle, in the area

and it arrived in
the area around 12:25

and then leaves 25-27
minutes later at 12:52.

So, they were able to determine,

"yes, we believe that
miss Eam was here."

Her parents don't
know where she is.

She would have
access to the home,

familiarity with the home.

James might have let her in.

So, at that point, she
became more of a focal point,

but no one knew where she was.

- [Narrator] Detectives
are about to start

the search for Melanie Eam

when they receive
vital information as

to her whereabouts.

- The very next day,

investigators figured
out where Melanie was,

and in fact she had
fled north to Maryland.

She was with her family in
the silver Springs area.

- She ends up at
a cousin's house,

a gentleman by the name of monk.

Monk ultimately calls

the palm beach county sheriff's
office, detective Oliver,

and notifies detective
Oliver where miss Eam is.

- They go and they
make contact with her.

And when they make
contact with her,

they don't know anything

about the facts and
circumstances of the case.

So, they make a welfare check

to, a, confirm that she's there

so that detective
Oliver will fly up there

if she actually is there.

And so, they make
contact with her

and they say, "oh,
are you Melanie Eam?"

'Cause at this point,

her parents still have
not heard from her.

- He had the cameras
rolling on his bodycam.

He went to the scene just
to do a welfare check.

When he went there, he
made it clear to Melanie

that she was not under arrest.

He didn't want her
to leave, of course,

but he made it clear
that he was not there

to necessarily take
her into custody,

but rather he was there to
ask some important questions.

(Melanie sobbing)

- She instantly started to cry.

There was a showing of maybe
instant remorse or sadness

or however you want
to interpret it,

but she started to cry,
she was very emotional.

But the officers were not
there to interrogate her.

The two officers that
were on the bodycams,

"we're just here to
make sure you're okay,

"you're not gonna
hurt yourself,"

because it was obviously
she knew what she had done.

Without any prompting,
without any interrogation,

she said, "when should I
come in for the questioning,"

which would indicate that,

one, she knows exactly
why they're there

and knows that she's gonna
be questioned about this.

- She knows she's guilty

and it's expressed
with how she asks.

(Radio chatter)

- She just, she was
like a small young lady,

a very nice, small young lady.

It was almost difficult
to look at her and go,

"wow, you really did this."

(Pensive music)

- [Narrator] Within 24 hours,

west palm beach
sheriff's investigators

have detective Sean
Oliver on the scene.

(Airplane engine roaring)

- Detective Oliver with
the sheriff's office

immediately flies up to Maryland
the day after the homicide

immediately after he's notified

and he makes contact with
the police agencies there.

At first, they conduct
some surveillance

to see if she's
actually at the home,

see if they see anyone come out.

They locate the vehicle
that miss Eam had.

And immediately
as he gets there,

she has not left the home.

She's still at the home, the
car is still at the home.

So, he walks up and he
makes contact with her,

introduces himself,
and speaks with her.

- Detectives, they
were asking questions,

and Melanie was
obviously distraught.

She kept saying, "he broke up
with me, he broke up with me.

"I didn't mean to do it."

So, it turned out
to be a confession.

- When asked how many times she
stabbed him

she said she didn't know,
she didn't keep count.

- What was said
in that statement

took her out of just
being an observer

to the actual perpetrator
who killed James.

- She was not
arrested that night.

She was allowed to
stay in her home.

At any point in time
during the interview,

she could've ended it.

She could've asked 'em to leave.

She could've stopped
speaking to them.

But instead, she
participated in the interview

and even got her clothing from
downstairs in the basement.

- [Narrator] However, the
police seize Melanie's car.

- Not only could it be
a mode of transportation

for her to get away,

it is also something
that could be evidence.

The car was at the scene,

it could be compared to
the surveillance video

and attributed in that way.

It could also have blood in it.

It could have evidence,

additional evidence that
could assist in the case.

(Pensive music)

- [Narrator] Melanie
Eam is extradited

out of the state of Maryland
and back to palm beach.

- Detective Oliver,

after he had the conversation
with Melanie and he left,

he then worked on,

based on the information
he'd already learned

and then the information
from Melanie's statement,

he generated a probable
cause affidavit

and he got a warrant
for her arrest,

and he had that executed
the next day in Maryland.

- When police were taking
Melanie back to Florida,

she showed very little emotion,

really no emotion to speak of.

- She remained in custody
until the time of her trial.

- [Narrator] Now
she will face trial

for the murder of
her ex-boyfriend.

(Tense music)

West palm beach, Florida, 2018.

Melanie Eam, who is accused
of killing her ex-boyfriend

and then fleeing the state,
is about to go on trial.

- She didn't have
a criminal history,

which is, in our court system,

evidence of character is
almost never relevant.

The only thing that
could be relevant

is a possible criminal history

if she were to take
the stand and testify.

Given that we were most likely
gonna play this statement

for the jury because we wanted
the jury to hear the tone,

wanted to hear the nature of
her voice, when that happens,

the likelihood of her
actually taking the stand

is very, very low probability.

We didn't believe that her
attorney would advise her.

I mean, ultimately,
it's her decision

about whether or not to testify,

but his defense really could be-

he could put on his defense

without subjecting her to a
rigorous cross-examination.

Just given her
soft-spoken nature,

she probably would
not have held up well

under a rigorous
cross-examination

and she would've
had to contradict

everything she had
already detective Oliver.

So, from that standpoint,
we really had what we needed

without doing too
much more research

into what makes her
tick, so to speak.

- [Narrator] But the
prosecution's case

hangs on just one thing.

- The only real
proof that they had

of to prove this murder case was
the confession and the blouse.

So, I wrote a
motion to suppress,

that her rights
had been violated

and the confession
and the blouse

were what we call fruits
of the poisonous tree

and should not be used.

So, I went to the state
attorney and said,

"why don't we agree that
this is dispositive?

"If I win the motion to
suppress, you have no case.

"If I lose it, she's
gonna be convicted."

Well, the assistant
state attorney

would not agree to
it being dispositive.

Why was that relevant?

Because you cannot plead
guilty and appeal an issue.

The only thing you
can do under the law

is you could plead no
contest or nolo contendere

and reserve the right to appeal.

Can only do that if the state
agrees it's dispositive.

The state refused.

The only way that
we could appeal

the judge's denial of
the suppression motion,

the judge letting in the
confession and the shirt,

was to go to trial.

- [Narrator] Melanie
Eam now has to face

the full pressure
of a public trial.

- Our focus 100% is on
what does the evidence say

and what admissible
evidence do we have,

and we try not to
get bogged down

in too many of just speculation,
just things like that.

- Because we had the delay of
her being brought to Maryland,

I went to first appearances.

And for homicides, it's not
that arduous of a hearing

because I'm just asking
that she be held no-bond.

She had committed a murder,
she had fled immediately after.

A no-bond is very reasonable
based on the circumstances.

So, I asked for her
to be held no-bond,

but I also had the opportunity
to meet the family.

The family was all
present at the hearing

and I introduced myself
and met the family,

was able to explain a little bit

about how the process would go

and then the circumstances
of the case to them.

- We want the jury
to hear our story

and our theme at that point

and really paint the
picture for them,

which, in our opinion,
the theme of this case

was sorta the tale
as old as time,

that this is a love
gone sideways,

this is an angry person,

and really show all the reasons

why we believe that Melanie
Eam had the motive to be angry,

why she was the only one
who would've had a reason

to even be confrontational
with James, that nobody else-

the evidence didn't point to
anybody else in the house.

And that's what we did,
we outlined for the jury

in our opening statement.

- [Narrator] Melanie's statement
that she had killed James

seems to be sufficient
evidence of her guilt.

- I absolutely knew.

I knew that once-

I knew that, in general,

when a defendant
makes a confession,

when they make
admissions like that,

it is common for,
if there's any way,

for the defense to try to
suppress those statements,

because they were such
a strength to my case.

- [Narrator] But despite this,

the defense still
questions the role

of James's mother's partner
in the whole affair.

- I don't have to come
up with a defense.

The state has 100%
burden to prove the case,

but several things stuck
out like a sore thumb.

One was why guy hand,
the mother's boyfriend,

10 years certified in CPR,

would take this bleeding
young man from the floor,

a hard, flat surface, to a
bed, which is a mattress.

He even testified in trial

that as he's doing the
pumping of the CPR,

there's blood spurting out.

That was one thing that
didn't make much sense.

Another thing which
didn't make much sense

was (pausing) That guy
hand, upon questioning,

admitted to picking
up the murder weapon,

the steak knife,
he was a butcher,

the steak knife and taking
it to the kitchen sink.

Why?

- The fact was the
knife was moved.

There's no disputing that.

I think that the defense is
doing everything they can

to be as effective as possible

and to question a person there

as to why they
would move a knife.

I think it's a fair question.

- [Narrator] One of the
defense's main arguments

is that Melanie had originally
asked if she needed a lawyer

when detectives first
spoke to her in Maryland.

- The defense attorney
filed the motion

to preclude the statement,

not only based on the fact
that she had the word "lawyer,"

but he also tried to argue

that it had been a
custodial interview

because she was surrounded
by surveillance officers

in her neighborhood.

At the time, Maryland had
assisted in setting up,

silver Springs had set up
different surveillance teams,

unmarked cars,
UN-uniformed officers

that were just watching
and surveilling

so that they could
provide detective Oliver,

should she leave, location
of where she went,

just so that he would
know where to meet her,

'cause he was en
route from Florida.

The defense attorney
tried to argue

that she was being confined,

and so I had to present evidence

and testimony from those
silver spring officers,

have them fly here and testify

that they were under no
direction to arrest her.

Their job was simply
to see where she was,

take any pictures,

if she exited the home,
make sure that the vehicle

was the vehicle that
they were looking for,

all of those things.

So, I had to go not only
just based on the contents

of the statement,
which I argued,

just based on her mannerisms,
what was actually said,

that she was not
asking for an attorney

and that it was a
willing interview.

And I also utilized the fact

that the surveillance
team was not,

she wasn't even aware
that they were there.

They never made
contact with her.

And even if she had left, they
weren't going to follow her.

- [Narrator] For
the prosecution,

the case is very
straightforward.

- The fact of the matter
is that Melanie Eam

had gone through a breakup.

We had actual physical
evidence of that.

We knew that for a fact.

We knew for a fact
that Melanie Eam

had fled the state of Florida.

We knew for a fact that she
had confessed to Sean Oliver.

When you put the whole
picture together,

everything pointed
at Melanie Eam

and nothing besides speculation
pointed to guy hand.

- [Narrator] As both
sides wait for a verdict,

there is tension in the air.

- You're always nervous

because you don't know
what a jury will do,

but I felt strong about
our evidence and our case

and how the jury
would respond to that.

- And when the jury walks
out, I mean, it's butterflies.

You're anxious, you're
on pins and needles.

You can see the verdict move
from the foreperson's hand

to the bailiff to the judge.

The judge is
reviewing the verdict.

You're trying to read the judge

for any tell that
he's gonna give away.

And when the clerk stands
up and reads the verdict,

I mean, that's the most
alive you're gonna feel.

If you ever lose that-

I tell the younger attorneys,

"if you ever lose
that, it's time to go."

- The judge understood and
sentenced her to 50 years,

which is a significant
amount of time,

and I felt that he was not
persuaded by her explanation.

- [Narrator] Melanie
Eam gets to spend

a significant amount of the
rest of her life behind bars.

But does her sentencing
and incarceration

bring closure for anyone?

- Her parents actually
came up to my father,

my mother and I, and my
grandma, and this is rare.

This doesn't happen
all the time,

but they apologized
for what happened

and they told us that
they loved my brother

and that they're so sorry.

And the father wasn't there
a lot growing up with her.

He felt the need to tell us

that he was always
working and whatever.

And there's a little bit of
a language barrier too, but-

it was brief, but I
will say that moment of

hearing that from
her family, (sobbing)

It helped me a little bit

just to kinda move on
kinda thing, you know?

It was a powerful
moment in our life

with this horrific thing.

(Somber music)

It's a life sentence
for us, it is.

But I would like,
(Pausing) If it's genuine,

it would be more healing to me

to see her want
to improve herself

and to make amends and
to own what she did.

To me, that's more
of a healing part

of this horrific thing
that has happened

in our life, you know?

It's too soon for me to know.