- They were just happy.
They were very happy.
- It was perfect.
Everything was great.
[faith] in the tony suburbs of upper marlboro, maryland,
Everyone knows dino and clara pantanes.
- Clara was the brains and dino was the brawn.
[gun shots]
[faith] so, when 46-year-old clara is gunned down...
- Some stranger came in and tore our lives apart.
[faith] investigators wonder if it's business or personal.
- Dino was a bounty hunter.
Sometimes it wasn't safe.
[faith] detectives uncover a devastating secret.
- This was hush money
To keep her from going to the police.
[faith] a secret so dark,
It reveals a killer relationship.
- The statement that he made when he was arrested was,
"nobody's gonna believe a crack head."
[dramatic music]
- Everyone has secrets.
You.
Me.
The person sitting next to you.
Everyone.
Some are big,
Some are small.
But some can shatter lives.
And clara pantazes should know.
This dotting mother and dedicated wife
Is usually an open book,
But a scandalous secret threatens to upend her life.
So, what's a person to do?
Confront the truth?
Or take that secret to the grave?
[ominous music]
[light guitar music]
- On April 11th, 1953, clara demoleas was born.
She was the second of three daughters.
- Clara was full of life.
Smiling.
Talking.
Embracing you.
A breath of fresh air to be around.
She was just beautiful young girl.
- My sister was a hardheaded go-getter.
When she put her mind to something,
There was no stopping her.
[ship horn blares]
[faith] a first generation greek-american,
Clara's heritage influences every aspect of her
And her sister's lives in elizabeth, new jersey.
- My grandparents migrated to america
For their future families
To have a better life and get an education.
But, they made sure that we all learned greek,
Went to greek school.
And, at home, we did all the greek foods.
All the greek traditions.
[upbeat music]
[faith] in 1971, clara heads off to
New york state college to major in childhood education.
But, in her junior year,
She's schooled in the subject of love.
- She meets dennis cicone,
And she falls in love.
♪ never in a thousand years ♪
- She's head over heels with dennis and they start dating.
[faith] after dating for less than a year,
Dennis asked 22-year-old clara to marry him.
- He told my mother and father
That he was gonna have a greek wedding.
As long as you have a greek wedding,
It was okay.
[faith] sadly, their love doesn't last.
- He went off to be an airline pilot.
And he called up one day and just
Said he didn't wanna be married anymore.
And she was devastated
Because she loved him.
And my mother said, "it's okay."
It's okay.
You come home.
We start again."
My mother was a strong warrior.
She was like, "swallow it, move on."
She said that all the time.
"swallow it, move on."
[faith] and move on she does.
Not even two years after her divorce from dennis cicone,
26-year-old clara demoleas attends a wedding
In maryland with a friend.
At the reception, she locks eyes with
The man of her dreams.
- And she met dino.
And dino said, "I saw her from across the room,
And I knew I was gonna make her my wife."
[faith] dean dino pantazes
Is one year younger than clara.
And, yes, he's greek.
He grew up in a working class family in greenbelt, maryland.
And, unlike clara,
He skipped college to go straight to work.
- We said, "okay, he's gonna come over, he's gonna visit."
And he was greek-american, so my mother was happy.
- I liked him a lot.
Dino was good looking.
Not too loud.
Very easy going man.
- He was a knight in shining armor,
Because she was so sad from her divorce.
And clara was a smart, beautiful,
Bright, educated woman
Who had so many ideas she wanted to do
And she needed her partner.
[faith] it's a whirlwind courtship filled with romance,
Family gatherings,
Greek traditions,
And after only a few months of dating,
Talk of the future.
- In about 1979, he takes her to a restaurant on the beach.
And then, they went onto the beach,
And a sky-writing plane came by.
And it said, "clara, I love you."
"will you marry me?"
And everybody was clapping, and
Yelling, and hollering.
And she said yes, of course.
[upbeat music]
- 1980, they got married.
I remember the wedding, was a beautiful, beautiful wedding.
The music, the dancing, the food, everything.
We were a lot of people, probably 150 people.
The family, everybody was happy.
We were very happy.
[faith] and they're about to be over the moon.
Dino and clara keep it a secret at the wedding,
But clara is three months pregnant.
Two days before christmas, in 1980,
She gives birth to a baby boy named sateris,
After her father.
Their daughter, elany, follows three years later.
- They were just happy.
They were very happy.
It was a love that she needed.
It was calming.
He was secure.
They had a house, they had a future.
They were gonna build a success together.
- It was perfect.
Everything was great.
[faith] they dance in the living room,
They hold hands in public,
And dino dresses up as santa claus every christmas
To make his wife and children happy.
In 1986, the family of four settles down
In kent island, maryland, near where dino grew up.
They visit clara's tight-knit family in new jersey often.
Dino and clara also start a business together,
Pantazes' bail bonds.
She runs the office,
And he makes sure no one skips bail.
- Dino was also a bounty hunter.
So, when there was people that jumped bail,
He had to go find them and he carried a gun.
Sometimes it wasn't safe.
It wasn't safe.
Clara didn't do that.
Clara didn't go out on those.
But, bail bonding business can be very dangerous,
Because you're not dealing with
Good people all the time.
[faith] it may not be the safest line of business,
But it's a lucrative one.
And, together, they make a mint and a name for themselves.
- As time goes on, clara and dino are becoming
More and more successful.
They leave kent island.
They're building a house into upper marlboro.
They have several businesses now.
They have the bonding, they have apartment services.
They have other things going for them.
Clara was the brains
And dino was the brawn.
- Money was not a problem in that family.
She had the most expensive cars at that time.
They went to greece,
The whole family.
They went to hawaii.
She was coming to new jersey,
Taking her mom out to dinners.
Taking her shopping.
Her mom, helen, always telling us
How beautiful their life was.
[faith] by their 20th anniversary,
Dino and clara pantazes are on top of the world.
Their businesses are booming.
Their marriage is secure.
Their children are healthy.
And their reputation is stellar.
But, just after noon on March 30th, 2000,
Their fairytale life turns to tragedy.
- Some stranger came in
And tore our lives apart.
- We believed he was set up.
- On March 30th, 2000,
A hysterical dino pantazes
Calls the prince george's county 911 center
From his home in upper marlboro, maryland.
He's just found clara, his wife of over 20 years,
On the floor of the family garage,
Shot to death.
- On March 30th, I was eating lunch when
I was notified that we had a homicide in upper marlboro.
Once I get to the crime scene,
We did a search of the residence,
And didn't see anybody inside.
There was nobody else in the home at the time.
I noticed that under a tree in the front yard
Was the victim's husband.
He's sitting there with his dog.
He was definitely upset.
I went up to the first responding officer.
I was then directed to where the body was at the garage.
And you could see blood on her face.
She was laying on her back
With her head leaning up against the door
That actually goes from the garage into the house.
Now, I got other officers responding
That are gonna assist me to determine, was this a robbery?
Was it a home invasion?
- I went through the house looking for,
What is unique,
What would stand out
That would be a sign as to what occurred during this crime.
They had lovely furniture
And electronics.
There were some guns that were in the home.
There was numerous things.
And none of these things were taken from this crime.
- There was no signs of break-in to that house whatsoever.
It appears everything that happened,
Happened right there in the garage.
In fact, there was a suitcase upstairs
In the master bedroom that had clothes in it.
So, it appeared clara was getting ready to go somewhere.
[faith] but where?
And, more importantly,
Why?
Detectives don't have that answer yet.
So, they continue processing the crime scene
And focus on the injuries clara sustained.
- Clara was shot three times.
One shot hit her right on the inside of her right bicep.
Another shot was through her right cheek,
And there was an exit on her neck.
And you could see the bullet was actually recovered
In her sweatsuit, right here on her shoulder.
And then, there was a gunshot wound to the temple.
- It doesn't look like there was any bruising,
Cutting, scratching.
So, no type of fight ahead of time.
So, it looks like direct shots from somebody
Standing a few feet away from clara pantazes.
[faith] but who could have come so close to clara
Without her running, fighting, or defending herself?
Despite a thorough search of the entire property,
The murder weapon is nowhere to be found.
And neither is clara's purse, cell phone,
And one of her cars.
- There was a mercedes that was in the garage.
But we were alerted that she had a jeep,
And her jeep was gone.
So, then, we had to immediately
Put a lookout for that vehicle.
So, if it was seen, it could be stopped and recovered.
[faith] so, was it a robbery gone wrong or not?
Detective smith turns his attention to
Dino pantazes for any clues.
- He was obviously upset.
He told me he was a bail bondsman.
So, one of my thought process was,
He definitely worked in a dangerous profession.
Dino did.
But I didn't really do any on-scene questioning,
'cause by the time we were getting ready to do that,
News cameras were starting to show up.
He was very nervous and worried
About the tv cameras being there.
So, we got him away from the crime scene
And took him back to the homicide office
So we could talk to him.
[faith] at the prince george's county police department,
Dino tells detectives
That clara was supposed to meet a friend that morning.
Investigators are able to estimate time of death between
9:30 am, when clara told dino she was leaving the house,
And 10:00 am, when she was supposed to meet a friend.
- Dino receives a phone call from a young lady
That was supposed to be meeting with clara.
And that lady explains that clara
Never showed up at the meeting.
So, dino goes to the office.
Clara is not at the office.
So then, he immediately drives home.
- He did not have an idea of
Who would've been responsible for killing clara.
But the bail bond business is a shady business.
I mean, is this a person that was upset with him,
Or pissed off at him for something that happened
In one of their transactions of being bailed out,
Or not being bailed out?
- So, as far as motive goes,
Investigators seem to have a good one.
A client from the bail bond business might've been
Unhappy with clara and dino's services
And let them know it in no uncertain terms.
But let's face it,
When a wife is found shot in the garage of her own home,
And the husband is the one that finds her,
I can guarantee you that the husband
Will be under the microscope from the word "go."
- He told us that they had a very loving,
Family-oriented relationship.
They did a lot of things together
Involving their kids.
And they were a tight couple.
[faith] investigators get the same story
From dino and clara's relatives as well.
- Clara never said anything bad about her husband.
Never.
"dino, dino, dino."
"my dino, my dino."
Never said, "oh, he's giving me problems."
Or, "he is not romantic, or he is not this."
Never.
- Dino was able to
Provide us with an account of his
Whereabouts for that morning.
He went to check on something at one property.
Then he went to a location,
Where he said he locked his key in his car.
And he had to knock on the door of some other lady
Who gave him a coat hanger to unlock his car for him.
He went to blockbuster video, he went to the gas station.
[faith] detectives know they'll need to corroborate
Every single detail of his alibi.
But, for now, dino pantazes is released into the arms of
Worried and exhausted family members
Who take him to a relative's house while his home,
Now a horrific murder scene,
Is being processed.
- I waited for dino to get out of the police station.
And then we had to tell my mother that clara was dead.
That some stranger came in
And tore our lives apart.
And nothing was ever the same after that.
Nothing.
[faith] meanwhile,
The night is just beginning for investigators.
- An off-duty mpdc police officer
Ended up behind a jeep with maryland tags on it.
And he ran it through the computer.
And the police dispatcher came back and advised him
That it was stolen in a homicide earlier that day.
We found out there were six young females
In the vehicle at the time of the stop.
So we went down there to interview
All these young ladies.
So, they explained to us, it was an old 7/11
Down all in southeast dc off of benning road.
They had been hanging out there with some guys.
And they basically told us that they saw this vehicle
Sitting in the alley behind this old 7/11.
Had been sitting there all day.
Had the keys in it.
And, at some point,
They decided, "well, nobody's coming for it,
We're gonna take it."
So, she picked up her friends,
And was joy riding, and got stopped.
[faith] detectives searched the jeep,
And dust for fingerprints,
But they find nothing of value.
It quickly becomes clear that the girls' joy ride
Was simply that.
- Ultimately, that was a dead end.
- Having spoken to dino, and with the car yielding nothing,
Detectives turned to the people
Who knew clara better than anyone.
Her family.
They reveal a long standing family feud
Between dino and his brother, nick pantazes.
You see, dino used to work for his brother, nick,
At a different bail bonds business.
But when clara came along,
She and dino went out on their own.
Was the competition a motive for murder?
- Nick, he was tormenting my sister and dino.
He was just jealous of them.
- The statistics are chillin
Roughly 85% of victims know their killer.
Whether it's an intimate partner, an acquaintance,
Or a family member.
And, as the first 24 hours of clara pantazes'
Murder investigation come to a close,
Detectives learned that serious tension started
When clara urged dino
To leave his brother nick's bail bond business.
- He sued them.
He did damage to their property.
He defamed them.
He used to ostracize them from the family.
He opened up another business right down the street
To try and take their business away.
He did everything that he possibly could
To one up them on everything.
Everything.
- Dino and nick did have some legal battles
And squabbles between the two of them
Over business and things like that.
- He was just jealous of them.
When you're someone like nick,
You get very intimidated
By someone
Who has business sense.
And you just have to try and bring them down.
[faith] detectives track nick down and question him.
And, while it's clear that there's no love loss
Between nick and clara pantazes,
His alibi is airtight.
- Yeah, we didn't find anything that brought nick forward
As any type of suspect in this case.
- But, before investigators even have the chance
To cross nick off the list,
Another tip comes in that no one saw coming.
It's from someone named mimi,
Who says she saw the news
And may know what happened to clara pantazes.
- Mimi's real name is kevin young.
And is a drug addict and prostitute
That works the dc-maryland line.
And mimi told us that a guy by the name of steve
Wanted his wife killed,
And was gonna pay $10,000 to have it done.
And, initially, mimi agreed that she would do it,
But she never did.
- She described steve's
Green suburban that he was driving around.
And his cigar smoking.
And what he looked like.
[faith] the details of this description
Are eerily familiar to detectives.
- We put a photo array together,
Which is an array of six photos,
Where you'll have a picture of your suspect,
And then five similar fill in features.
But, this photo array,
The person that mimi identified as steve was dino.
Dino pantazes.
Mimi told us that if we didn't believe her,
To check his cell phone records.
Ultimately, we're doing a search warrant on dino's house.
Happened to look to the trash can,
And the bill was right there in the trash can.
So, we pulled it up and, boom.
Mimi's phone number was on that phone bill multiple times.
Mimi told us that dino had gave her a piece of paper,
And on this piece of paper were
Directions to his house
And the garage code.
So, we actually went to mimi's apartment,
And pretty much tossed the apartment,
And found the note underneath the mattress in the bedroom.
And it was a yellow piece of paper, and it was typed.
They're typed directions and typed garage code.
And, one of the things
That's very significant about that was that,
The night that we interviewed dino,
He gave us the code to his garage.
And the code that dino gave us to his garage
Matched exactly the code that was on this piece of paper
That we found in mimi's apartment in dc.
[dramatic music]
- According to mimi, dino's main purpose
For meeting with mimi was to have sex.
He would go down on eastern avenue to paul's liquors.
And there was only one person
That would approach his vehicle.
And a bunch of the street workers down there
All said the same thing.
"that's mimi's guy."
"we don't go down there."
- Dino pantazes,
The devoted husband,
The loving father,
The well-respected businessman.
It looks like he also had a deep, dark secret.
A secret that could never see the light of day.
- We believe that clara did find out about his extra
Activities with mimi.
And that's probably why we believe
There was that packed suitcase,
And she was getting ready to leave him.
[faith] when asked about the suitcase,
Clara's relatives have no knowledge of a trip
Or of any cheating in the marriage.
But they are sure of one thing--
- She would've left him.
She would've been vicious and left him.
- I believe divorce would've shattered dino pantazes.
This is a person who greatly valued
Money.
And he greatly valued his reputation.
And a divorce would've crushed both of those things.
- Dino
Had made a statement that greeks don't get divorced.
So, there's only one way if he's not gonna get divorced.
[faith] investigators may have finally found
The true motive for clara's murder.
But they're far from making an arrest.
- Knowing the type of person that mimi is,
And the activity that she's involved in,
I knew that we were gonna have to dig deeper
And find out more information.
That was not enough probable cause to go,
Just go lock up the husband.
So, on April 14th,
We decided to have mimi call dino in his office,
And set up a meeting,
And see if dino would meet with her.
And, during their conversation,
We could get any information about the homicide.
[phone ringing]
- So dino, during this phone conversation,
Denies knowing mimi.
Mimi, in turn,
Is trying to get him to come to a location
And meet with him, telling him she has this note,
And that she's gonna give it to the police
If he doesn't give her some money.
- So, dino ultimately agrees
To meet her at paul's liquors.
Now, the key thing there is,
Dino is acting like he does not know who mimi is,
But he never asks mimi,
"what are you gonna be wearing?"
"where are you gonna be standing?"
"where do I meet you when I get to this liquor store?"
"are you driving a car?"
He doesn't say anything.
But dino went out to paul's liquors,
Immediately gets outta the truck,
And he walks right over to mimi
Who was standing off to the side of the building.
So, obviously, they had
Some type of relationship.
Two weeks after clara pantazes
Was gunned down in her garage.
And investigators have zeroed in on her husband, dino,
As the man who may have hired a hit
On his unsuspecting wife.
Or, who did it himself.
They set up a sting operation with a sex worker named mimi,
Who dino originally asked to do the job.
And are anxiously standing by,
Waiting to see what dino does next.
- We went out to paul's liquors.
And she stood over on the side of the building.
A little while later,
Green suburban pulls up,
And dino gets out.
There's other people out there on the street.
But he walks right over to mimi right away.
- We were hoping to get him talking about the crime.
Talking to mimi about the murder.
- We were hoping that he was going to
Make some statement about, "don't go to the police."
Or, "keep your mouth shut," anything like that,
Which he didn't.
[faith] after they're sure dino's left the area,
Investigators retrieve mimi.
- Mimi said, "he gave me this money."
Well, that money was $1,300.
- There's no direct evidence from this sting
That dino pantazes committed the crime.
But, when you use your common sense,
And how human nature is,
It shows a guy who's not trying to
Find the person that murdered his wife,
And that he's trying to keep someone quiet.
This was hush money that he gave to mimi young
To keep her from going to the police.
- He did pay her off with the $1,300.
But, it just didn't provide any evidence for us.
[faith] without the confession
They were hoping to get from dino,
Detectives will need more.
A lot more.
And as they look for other avenues of investigation,
Clara's heartbroken family lay her to rest
Two weeks after her shocking murder.
- The funeral was enormous.
They opened all of the sliding doors
To the funeral, and opened up the entire place.
There were people waiting in line to come in.
There were detectives.
There was police.
There was
All types of people came.
- There were every tv station,
With their satellites,
Covering the event.
And, I said to myself, "oh, my god, this is unbelievable."
- The kids were upset and numb.
Dino wasn't crying, he was just-
It's overwhelming.
You have all these people.
And you just don't have the moment to cry.
I'm not thinking he's the predator here.
- We all grieve differently.
That's what people say anyway.
And the extended greek family surrounds dino pantazes
With love and support during and after the funeral.
At least, most of them do.
For some, doubts are slowly beginning to creep in.
- My uncle was the first family member
To say, "I believe dino is guilty."
He stayed with dino when we all left for one week.
And my uncle called my mother and said,
"this man is not acting like a man who just lost his wife
The way he lost his wife."
"he's not acting like a man in grief."
He's going out.
He's going to these corner stores.
He's going, just about his day
Like nothing.
- At this point,
The family has no idea that dino was cheating.
No knowledge of mimi.
Or that dino may have hired someone to kill his own wife.
And detectives are playing it close to the vest for a reason.
Since the family is so close,
The last thing investigators wanna do is tip dino off.
- There's a theory that,
If someone had a targeted murder and they're a suspect,
And there was motivation behind it,
And if they don't really present
Much of a threat to the general public,
That you let them hang themselves.
You give them rope.
You keep 'em free.
And work the case until you have
The strongest case possible.
- I did a grand jury subpoena
For phone records of mr. Pantazes for a timeframe.
And then, two phone numbers keep popping up
To me on these records.
One, I knew was mimi's phone number,
'cause we had already had that.
The other one, I didn't know who it was.
- And they eventually try to get phone records.
All the numbers that they can't get records on,
That turns out to be a jermelle chambers.
[faith] jermelle chambers is a 36-year-old heroin addict
Who walks eastern avenue on the dc-maryland line,
Looking for clients to support her habit.
Her rap sheet is littered with petty offenses.
So, why is her number on dino pantazes' cell phone bill?
- One thing that it showed to us,
That he was possibly hiring prostitutes for sex and murder.
- So, what do the police do?
They try to locate her.
They go to her cousin to try to find her.
- When we went to that house and knocked on the door,
And told her we were there to talk about
A murder case that we were investigating.
And she had said, "oh, you mean that lady
In upper marlboro that was killed?"
"my cousin killed that woman."
[dramatic music]
- She says, "yes, I committed this crime
At the behest of dino pantazes."
- And we took the gun back.
It was a match to the gun that was used
In the murder of clara pantazes.
- There are people that I'd been friends with for years
Who come up and yell at me, "how could you charge dino?"
[suspenseful music]
- Two weeks after the murder of clara pantazes,
Prince george's county detectives meet with a woman
Who tells them she knows exactly who shot clara.
Her own cousin, jermelle chambers.
- We ultimately find out that jermelle chambers
Was recently arrested in the district of columbia
For some minor burglary charge,
And is currently incarcerated in the dc jail.
[faith] and the story she tells investigators
Is remarkably familiar.
- She's shown a photo spread like mimi young is
Of dino pantazes.
And she quickly identifies dino pantazes
As the person, steve, who told her to commit the crime.
She also quickly identifies his green suburban
As the vehicle that she'd been in numerous times.
And she also identifies a home
Where she had gone with him to service him as a sex worker.
And, lo and behold, that's a home that he had access to
And part of his cleaning business.
- Jermelle chambers, basically tells the exact same story.
The only difference is, jermelle chambers says
That she was paid about five grand to do this crime.
- She says, "yes, I committed this crime
At the behest of dino pantazes."
[faith] what follows is a stunning
And detailed confession of what happened
On the morning of March 30th, 2000.
[dramatic music]
- One of the things that she told us is very interesting,
Is that dino picked her up that morning
And drove her to the house.
He told her there was a gun on top of the refrigerator.
And that clara would be leaving around 9:30
Because she had an appointment.
- Jermelle was in the garage alone waiting.
When she confronted clara,
According to jermelle,
Clara said she was gonna call the police.
At which point,
She shot her three times.
[gunshots]
[ominous music]
- Prior to her leaving the garage,
Jermelle took clara's purse as well.
Purse had her phone in it.
So, she then leaves the house.
Then, she drove the jeep down to dc,
Left it in the alley and took off.
And then, through further interviewing with her,
She told us that she sold a gun to this guy on the street.
- That gun wound up passing through several hands
Over the course of the weeks that it took to recover it.
But the police were able,
Based upon jermelle chambers telling us who she gave it to,
Going to that person,
That person telling us who he gave it to.
And the police were able to recover that gun.
[suspenseful music]
- And we took the gun back.
Immediately submitted to our firearms examination unit.
And they fired the gun in the water tank,
And did all their processing.
And we got a match back on that gun.
It was a match to the gun that was used
In the murder of clara pantazes.
[faith] the gun, along with jermelles' statement,
Gives investigators enough to secure
An arrest warrant for dino.
- On April 26th of 2000, dino pantazes was arrested.
He was charged with first degree murder.
The statement that he made when he was arrested was,
"nobody's gonna believe a crack head."
- It was Wednesday afternoon,
And the news between the family went like wildfire.
Clara's mother was shouting out,
"no, you don't arrest dino, he's innocent.
You go find the killer of my daughter!"
We said, "no, it's not true, it's not true."
- Dino pantazes is arrested
Nearly two months after his wife clara
Was shot down in the garage of their spacious suburban home.
The police are positive they've got their man,
But the public isn't so sure.
- The entire upper marlborough community
Was just in shock at his arrest.
There hadn't been any information released about
What was going on with the investigation.
And nobody could believe this upstanding,
Successful businessman
Would be involved with the killing of his wife.
[soft dramatic music]
I'll never forget dino's initial bail bond hearing.
First and only case in my 35 years as a lawyer,
You had to get a ticket, like you were at the bakery,
'cause there was limited seating.
And he had so many supporters there on his own behalf.
There were people that I'd been friends with for years
Who come up and yell at me,
"how could you charge dino?"
They didn't know any of the evidence that I knew.
[faith] but the judge does,
And he's completely unmoved by dino's reputation.
- Dino pantazes was a bail bondsman.
And here he is,
Being held without benefit of a bail,
Because of the nature of the charge against him.
The irony is profound.
[faith] on April 28th, 2000,
The day after dino's bond hearing,
Jermelle chambers is quietly charged
With the murder of clara pantazes,
Away from the media glare.
- Here is a very sad woman,
Who's living a tough life on the streets,
And she is recruited and exploited by dino pantazes
To do his dirty work,
Because he's a sniveling coward.
- Jermelle chambers agrees to plead guilty
To first degree murder.
We agree to take the death penalty off the table.
And she agrees to testify to the truth of what occurs.
We know going into this trial that
Her credibility is gonna be greatly in question.
[faith] jermelle and mimi's credibility
May be a tough sale for a jury.
So, investigators review the evidence.
And something stands out that takes on new significance,
Considering what's been collected so far.
- When we did search warrant on his house,
We found a letter
That his son had written to his father.
And, part of that letter,
He makes a statement that says,
"I'm proud to call you my dad,
But it appears as though you've forgot where your home is."
Also, in the letter, he talks about
His mom crying and he was upset,
Which kind of leads you to believe that
Dino is involved or doing something extracurricular.
So, put two and two together, that sounds like
Clara may have found out about that.
And that's why we believe
She was getting ready to leave him.
- Nine months after she was killed,
Dino pantazes goes on trial
For the death of his wife of over 20 years.
He's found guilty on seven counts,
Including first degree murder,
First degree felony murder,
And conspiracy to commit first degree murder.
But dino wins an appeal
And is granted a new trial.
- Dino pantazes was found guilty
By 12 jurors unanimously
When he didn't testify in the first trial.
And he was found guilty by 12 jurors unanimously
In the second trial, when he did testify.
[faith] clara's sister, demetria,
Sits through both trials.
It's only then that she sees
Dino pantazes for who he really is.
- Without a doubt, he was guilty.
Without a doubt.
He didn't want people to know he had a secret life.
And his big shot days were over.
Nobody was gonna see him as that big, macho greek anymore.
They were gonna see him as the coward he was.
[faith] dino pantazes is currently
Spending the rest of his life in jail.
He never confessed to killing clara.
And, to this day, dino and clara's families
Remain staunchly divided over his guilt or innocence.
- I told dino at court, that he was there,
If only he was crying and telling me that,
You know, "I didn't do it vula, I did not kill clara."
I said to him, "only god knows who did it."
[faith] jermelle chambers is also behind bars
For the rest of her life.
Kevin "mimi" young,
Who originally came forward to police,
Was stabbed to death in April of 2003,
Just blocks away from where she used to meet up
With dino pantazes.
Her killer was brought to justice.
[somber music]
- Dino ruined our family.
He ruined
What my grandparents came here for.
He ruined
All our lives.
He ruined everything.
We trusted you
With our daughter, our sister.
The mother of your kids.
We trusted you.
And you let us all down.
You killed us.
[somber music]
- When clara pantazes met dino,
He was her second chance at happily ever after.
And they lived a life beyond their wildest dreams.
But, when things went wrong,
Dino didn't even give clara the option of divorce.
Instead, he chose his image and reputation
Over his loyal wife.
Clara loved her children selflessly.
She loved her family intensely.
And she loved her husband until death did they part.
But not even her love could defeat
A killer relationship.