-It's a day you never forget. The phone rang,
And it was my sister.
She said, "ben's dead."
-Did he fall down and hit his head?
Or did something else happen here?
-Ben amato's death doesn't add up.
-There was a boot print in blood.
-Somebody was there when this was happening.
-There was a lot of questions on what happened to ben amato.
-But when dark secrets come to light...
-Ben caught her and this young guy having sex on the floor.
-He told me several different times
That he would get threatened.
-He wanted it over.
-The truth is stranger than fiction.
-We became aware of a double murder.
-Someone made it look like she was trying to hang herself.
-His immediate response was
"this person hired me to kill ben amato."
-And it all ends...
-If you don't get a conviction, what's the sense of the arrest?
-...With a killer relationship.
♪♪
-We've all heard the term "hopeless romantic" -- a person
Who continues to believe in love
Despite their past relationship struggles.
That is ben amato.
But ben's not just a hopeless romantic.
He's a helper.
As a volunteer firefighter,
He cares about everyone in his small town of effort,
Pennsylvania, and is known to be extremely dependable.
So on November 16, 2001,
When the 52-year-old doesn't follow his normal routine,
People take notice.
[ line ringing ]
[ police radio chatter ]
-Once I got there,
There were two members of the state police there,
Who knew ben amato.
We walked through the door.
It was very dark.
We were in the basement level,
And you could see at the bottom of a set of steps...
...That ben amato was facedown.
There was a lot of blood pooled around his head.
At the bottom of the set of steps,
Right next to ben amato's body we could see ben amato's wallet.
Within his wallet was $1,000 in cash.
So we didn't think that this was
A robbery or a burglary gone bad.
Did he fall down and hit his head?
Or did something else happen here?
You could see there were some items
That looked like they kind of fell on him.
There was a ceiling tile
That just couldn't have appeared there from a fall.
-The ceiling tile is up in a metal framework.
So there had to be some sort of force that caused that to fall.
-There was a lot of questions on what happened to ben amato.
♪♪
-To his family and friends,
Ben amato is known for his warmth and generosity,
The kind of guy you enjoy being around.
-Ben was happy-go-lucky. Just having fun.
Working on cars and things.
-Ben was always giving a hand to help people.
Even if somebody broke down on the side of the road,
He would stop and ask them, "do you need help?
I'll go get you gas."
And he wouldn't ask for the money back for the gas
Or anything -- that's the type of person he was.
-Ben was like a brother to me, loved him.
He was my best man in the wedding
And he was godfather to my son.
We were very close. Very close.
-Ben is in his 20s, working as a mechanic,
When he falls in love for the first time
With a woman named becky.
-Becky was always cracking jokes.
The two of 'em, they were meant for each other.
So, ben and becky got engaged and got married.
It was magical with them.
-Still, we never really know what's going on behind
Closed doors,
Or when that seemingly perfect relationship is
About to go up in flames.
-One day, ben left work early to go home and caught becky
And this young guy having sex on the floor.
And the next thing you know,
They're getting a divorce and everything.
He wouldn't dwell. If he did, he never showed it.
-After ben divorces becky,
He tries to jump back into the dating game,
But his new relationships never seem to work out.
-Ben told me he wants to have somebody,
Have kids, and he's just not finding the right one.
Then he met susan.
He goes, "she's really nice."
-Susan, a copy editor,
Is a recently divorced mother of three.
And ben fits right into the family.
-In June of 1984, I was 18 and my brother was 19.
My sister at the time was only 10 years old.
When my mom first met ben, he was very loving to her.
Pampering her and taking care of her.
So I think my mom was attracted to that.
We all loved ben.
He bought my first car for me and fixed it up.
He was just very thoughtful and generous that way.
-Ben believes he finally found a lasting connection.
-Him and my mom seemed very happy.
And then all of a sudden one day, I just remember them like,
"hey, we got married." and it was, like...
I was speechless. I didn't know what to say
But "hey, I'm happy for you."
-Ben has everything in his second marriage
That he hoped for from the first.
Content at last, he decides to make a big change.
-I was the fire chief at the time.
Benjamin wanted to be a volunteer firefighter
Because he wanted to help the community.
[ siren wails ]
-I knew ben amato from being at the firehouse.
Really nice guy.
If there was an accident in town,
He would be directing traffic.
-It's a 24/7, 360 days a year,
So it was always on alert.
Whenever the alarm went off, he was always there.
We could count on him for showing up.
-That was a problem between my mom and ben.
When their calls come in, like,
If you're in the middle of dinner,
Or it's a holiday, like, he would be out of there.
And I remember my mom saying, "sometimes
I just want to be first."
-Six years later,
And now ben is the reason for an emergency call.
As the day proceeds, csis continue to collect
And analyze evidence found at the scene.
-What was really concerning is we started to find
Impact areas throughout the stairwell.
-There was over 40 impact points
That were visible in the walls and in the wood.
When we started looking at the impact points
We could see a black coloring.
So we knew that was some type of black object with a rounded end.
-It was very clear that someone had to hit
These stationery objects, like the drywall or the door,
With some type of tool.
But at that point we still didn't know
Exactly what was going on.
-It's a tight-knit community.
Ben was involved in the fire department.
The ambulance people, they all lived there.
So it didn't take long before it got out that ben
Was found deceased.
-One of ben amato's stepdaughters
Arrived at the scene, erin stanger,
And she immediately went into panic mode and was very upset.
That's when she he told me that
Ben had been previously married to her mother.
♪♪
-The detectives want to know what happened between
Ben and susan that caused the marriage to dissolve.
-Around 1996, the relationship was kind of,
You know, deteriorating.
They drifted apart.
Ben wanted the relationship to work
And then she left him and he was devastated.
I told my mom like, ben's always gonna be a part of my life
And my family's life.
He wasn't gonna lose us, he wasn't gonna lose the family.
-Ben's second divorce doesn't shake his faith in love.
Shortly after the breakup, he enters into a new romance.
-From a conversation with erin stanger, his stepdaughter,
I also learned that ben amato had a relationship
With an individual named cheryl kunkle.
They had dated for some time,
And as part of that relationship,
They had a child together.
-Cheryl and ben meet in 1997,
And it's a may-December romance, for sure.
Ben is 48. Cheryl is 20 years younger.
-They started out as friends
And then it evolved into a relationship.
I was happy for him because I wanted him to find somebody.
-He was an older man and he found it very endearing,
You know, this young girl is after him.
-They liked to have a good time and she was so in love with him.
She thought they were gonna have this perfect little life.
-Despite their age difference,
Ben feels the same way about cheryl.
And he also forms a bond with her 12-year-old son, greg rowe.
-He was just a really sweet kid, and ben adored him.
And he loved ben.
Cheryl's like, "wow, look at this.
Like, I have this guy that loves kids, and, you know,
If I have a baby with him,
This is gonna be everything I've ever wanted."
-By February of 1998, cheryl is expecting,
But when she shares the news with ben,
His reaction stuns everyone.
-Ben wasn't really happy about it.
I was kind of surprised 'cause I knew
How much he loved children.
But he's like, "you don't understand, peggy.
If she has this child,
I will never get her out of my life."
He said they weren't getting along.
She would call him and yelled at him the entire time.
-Ben told me several different times
That he would get threatened.
And that he was afraid of cheryl.
-Their relationship was going south. He wanted it over.
Which was surprising, 'cause ben never --
With the other relationships,
He was the one that was hanging on.
This one, he was not hanging on.
-Ben breaks all ties with cheryl when his son is born.
To everyone's shock, ben continues to keep his distance.
Three years go by and ben remains single.
That's when the unthinkable happens.
-It's a day you never forget.
The phone rang, and it was my sister, erin.
And she said, um...
[ inhales deeply ]
She said, "ben's dead."
[ sniffles ] and just -- I just remember saying, "are you sure?"
She's like, "yes.
The police are here. He's definitely dead."
It's just heartbreaking.
[ sniffles ] I'm sorry.
♪♪
[ camera shutter clicking ]
-I stayed at the scene for hours and hours
As more and more investigators arrived.
-As we were processing the scene,
One of the first things that I noticed was
There was a boot print in blood.
It's a regular, like, vibram sole like a hiking boot,
Or maybe a work boot.
-That was one of the biggest moments.
Immediately everybody's head turns
And looks down at ben's feet.
-Ben wasn't wearing boots. He's wearing sneakers.
-Police officers in patrol usually wear boots.
We asked the patrol unit members,
"did any of you come up to the top of the steps here?"
And they told us no.
If they weren't at the top of the steps,
Who would it be?
♪♪
-It could be possible that
Another law enforcement officer was involved
In this homicide.
-I just sat across from him and I said, "ben amato sent me."
-How is this person capable of killing another human being?
-When pennsylvania state police find ben amato dead
In his home, they immediately suspect foul play.
Why? A bloody boot print at the top of the stairs,
And ben is wearing sneakers.
So, who does the boot belong to?
-We know for there to have been a foreign boot impression,
It was either somebody that was involved
Or a person that was at least there when this was happening.
-At this point we had a very clear picture
That this was a homicide.
The questions that obviously come to light --
"did ben amato have any enemies at all?
Who would do this to him?"
♪♪
As matt racho was collecting evidence,
He started to notice that he was getting sort of short of breath.
-I was collecting a blue towel and I got quite a reaction,
Which I remember from the state police academy
Seems like it's pepper spray.
-It almost looked as though ben amato came home,
And as he got to the top of the steps,
Someone utilized pepper spray on ben amato to incapacitate him.
-Whoever did it knew that ultimately,
When he came home, he'd have to go up those stairs.
That was the best place for them to attack him.
-We have impacts and blood spatter
All the way down the basement stairs.
So we know it was a frenzied attack,
It was repeated, they were wildly swinging at him.
-This felt very personal.
I have no doubt in my mind that ben amato,
Before he died, knew exactly who did this to him.
-Consider this.
In nearly 75% of murders, some kind of relationship
Exists between the victim and their offender.
In ben's case, he has two ex-wives and an ex-girlfriend.
But did any of them have a motive to kill?
Or is there someone else in ben's life who wanted him dead?
-We started talking to neighbors
And trying to get an opinion on what could have happened.
-We were getting information that the 911 caller, zeke,
Was sort of nosy, sort of odd.
And there were times
When ben amato told his friends and family,
"I think zeke's coming in my house."
It was concerning to us.
So we knew we had to definitely check in to him,
Where he was at the time
And what his relationship was like with ben amato.
We spoke to zeke.
Zeke was adamant that he wasn't in the house,
That he simply made a 911 call because he hadn't seen
Any movement at ben amato's house in several days.
-Zeke seems to be forthcoming,
But there's one thing that can either count him in
Or count him out as a suspect.
-When investigators talk to him, they simply ask zeke,
"hey, zeke, do you have any boots?"
And he had several pairs of work boots
And he voluntarily offered them to the troopers.
-Zeke's boots are sent to the lab
For comparison to the boot print found at the crime scene.
As the detectives speak with more people,
They realize both of ben's former wives
Have been out of the picture for a long time,
But they are intrigued by his estranged ex, the mother
Of his 3-year-old son, cheryl kunkle.
-We did interviews with friends, family, associates,
And we learned that as it got closer
And closer to the child's birth, the relationship soured.
It got worse.
He really shied away from any contact.
This was three years before ben was actually murdered.
-Ben, at the time, he's depressed.
Even if I asked about cheryl or the baby,
He would not answer me.
I'm not getting any conversation out of him.
-He had a breakdown down at the fire company,
And we had to call the ambulance to come to take him
To the hospital -- that's how bad he was.
-While ben struggles with his own mental health,
Cheryl gives birth in November of 1998.
But as the months pass, ben gets the help he needs.
-He got on the right medication. He started to become very happy.
-Ben starts talking about jonathan
Like the ben like I knew.
Like, he wanted to be a part of this boy's life.
-He loved his son,
And at this time he wanted to go for full-term custody.
-As jonathan reaches his toddler years,
Ben is spending more time with him and hopes
For a resolution to his custody petition.
Sadly, ben dies just days before the hearing.
Now, the investigators need to speak with cheryl,
But first, the autopsy results come back.
-As part of the process,
The forensic pathologist does an examination of his head.
Three lacerations were found,
And his skull was completely fractured.
-The medical examiner saw the injuries to ben
And ruled it as blunt-force trauma.
-Based on the size and shape of the wounds, the m.E.
Helps the investigative team hone in on
A possible murder weapon.
-The medical examiner said it seemed
Like some sort of baton type of thing,
A small bat, something like that.
When you look at this case and what kind of evidence
That we found, it's like, "wait a minute.
The asp baton is something that we use."
"our police boots are very similar to the pattern itself.
Obviously, law enforcement uses pepper spray.
Are we investigating another police officer?
What's going on here?"
♪♪
-Two days after the body of ben amato
Is found at the bottom of his staircase,
The medical examiner believes
The murder weapon could be a smooth, baton-like object.
That, coupled with the boot print
And the presence of pepper spray on scene,
Leads the investigators to speculate
Could ben, as a volunteer firefighter,
Be at odds with someone in the police department?
-Talking to his family and friends,
We knew that ben was involved very much
In his volunteer fire company.
But he didn't have any issues with anybody in law enforcement.
-The investigators cross that theory off the list.
In the meantime,
They get the opportunity to sit down with ben's ex,
Cheryl kunkle, hoping to learn more about the custody dispute.
-Investigators went to tell her that something bad
Did happen to ben, that he was murdered.
And she painted a picture that he was this horrible person,
That ben amato never wanted anything to do with jonathan.
And before he died, it was very upsetting to her
That he was gaining ground in this custody dispute.
-Cheryl said she didn't like the kind of parent he was.
She didn't like the kind of person he was.
And you could see her hatred towards the victim.
-Cheryl's older son, 15-year-old greg rowe,
Is also at the house when the investigators interview cheryl.
-We just wanted to get a statement from greg rowe just
Like we wanted to get a statement from everybody else
And we would have even went to the extent
To allow cheryl kunkle to be in on that interview.
-But he was a minor, and she said, "absolutely not."
And she was very in my face.
She was, like, almost putting on a show for greg.
-Why wouldn't you just allow him to just come in and talk to us?
It's odd.
-Also, cheryl could not come up with an alibi,
Where she was on the night of the homicide.
She didn't provide it to us.
So we start focusing more on her.
We start digging into her life at this point.
-Shawn would call me up and I told them
That ben told me that she had this new boyfriend,
And she was obsessed about him.
He specifically said his name was marty.
-Marty reynolds probably had been married 25 years
By the time he had the affair with cheryl.
-It wouldn't be the first time we see a boyfriend kill
A former paramour of the girl that they're with.
So it certainly was taken into consideration.
-There's something else raising eyebrows --
Marty reynolds' occupation.
-Marty reynolds was a police officer
In a local police department.
-So we certainly gave that weight too,
That marty reynolds could be our guy.
Marty did agree to come in and talk to us.
-He said it was strictly this affair with cheryl.
He wasn't really in her business.
Didn't spend time with her children.
He said, "I never even met ben amato."
And, at the end of that interview,
We asked if we could examine his police baton.
It looked brand-new.
There was no paint removed from it,
Like I had seen at the crime scene.
-There was no indication
That it could have been used in this assault.
-So we left him with his baton
Because we felt the baton was not involved.
-The investigators also leave marty reynolds with his boots.
It turns out they won't be necessary.
-We were able to see that he was actually on duty at the time
When we believed the murder happened.
-So he did have an alibi.
-At that point in the investigation,
By all accounts, ben amato was a beloved figure.
There's nothing that pops out in his life other
Than an issue with an estranged woman
And they were involved in a custody dispute,
A very tumultuous relationship.
That's the one thing that was glaring in ben amato's life.
So we were increasingly suspicious of cheryl kunkle.
-So we got a search warrant for cheryl kunkle's residence,
Looking for evidence that might be involved in this crime.
There was no murder weapon found
But three pair of boots were actually taken
From cheryl kunkle's residence
At the time of the search warrant.
-The investigators hand off cheryl's boots
To the forensics team, who now have more information
About the bloody boot print found in ben's house.
-An expert in the state police came back
And told us that that boot print came from a female boot
And it was a size seven.
So, zeke's boots didn't match.
They were much larger than the ones at our crime scene.
Then cheryl's boots were analyzed
And she had a slim-fitted tread.
But it was a size eight.
Still in my gut, it felt that there was a potential
That cheryl was involved in this.
-As the police consider their next move,
Ben amato's loved ones gather to say their final goodbyes.
-Ben's funeral was very -- it was very sad.
It was a closed casket.
-It was pretty much a full house.
[ siren wails ]
A few fire trucks were outside
From several communities.
And all the firefighters get up to the -- where he's laid out.
We have the 911 dispatch set off the alarm,
Call his name as last call.
It was tough.
♪♪
-Three months pass
And the investigators are still searching for hard evidence
To support their hunch that cheryl kunkle
Was involved in ben's death.
-I'm all in. I wanted to keep after the case.
So I start looking outside the box.
I start grabbing police reports
From all area police departments regarding cheryl kunkle.
There was a burglary report that occurred in August of 2001,
Three months before the homicide,
Where she was the victim.
She reported that two people basically entered her residence
And there was a large amount of money stolen.
Cheryl decides within a few weeks,
"I am refusing to prosecute and further this investigation.
I want it dropped."
-There's not gonna be any charges.
Very unusual for that to ever take place.
-So, I look at the bottom of this report
And I see who the author of the police report is,
And it's marty reynolds, her boyfriend.
So, I became very intrigued with this report.
I'm reading through it.
The two individuals that were named as burglarizing her
Were April steinhauser and nathaniel evans.
So, I did an all-out search
For April steinhauser and nathaniel evans.
-We were fortunate because nate evans was in prison
In another county on unrelated charges.
-So, myself and my partner, we go up to the prison,
And we call him to come down to an interview room.
He came in, sat down, never met him before,
And I could tell from nate that he wanted to talk to us.
-We were pretty much just asking him, you know,
"do you have any idea why we're here?"
His immediate response was,
"because that lady hired me to kill ben amato."
♪♪
-It seems like an unrelated twist.
Three months before ben amato's murder,
His ex-girlfriend, cheryl kunkle,
Is the victim of a burglary.
But this was no random break-in.
In fact, the burglar, a man named nate evans, tells police
In a prison interview that cheryl kunkle
Once made him a shocking business proposition.
-He threw this out about cheryl paying him to murder ben amato.
I didn't expect him to say that.
I expected him to talk about this burglary.
But he said that his girlfriend, April,
Was approached by cheryl a few months
Before ben was actually murdered and said,
"hey, do you know anybody that would help me out?
I have this problem, ben amato, and I want him killed."
Nate said it made cheryl furious
That ben was attempting to gain custody of their son jonathan.
Nate says he never had any plan to kill ben amato.
So, he concocts this scheme to get money out of cheryl
And not let her know what his true intention is.
He says, "yeah, you go back to cheryl
And you tell her you found a guy."
We want $3,000."
Cheryl gives a partial payment.
$1,500 is exchanged.
Cheryl also gives a picture to April,
So they could identify who ben was.
And says, "I'm paying for this. Just kill him."
Nate says, "well, now that I know she has money,
I'm gonna break into cheryl's house."
-Nate evans had gone into her house
And stole $6,500 out of a safe.
-She comes home, flips out,
Eventually finds April within the same day,
Corners her, and gets information that
Yeah, they burglarized the house.
And when nate is faced one-on-one with cheryl,
He says, "listen, I'm the one that you paid to murder the guy.
I got the picture that you gave April."
And she gets very nervous and scared and says,
"I want it dropped."
-One thing is certain -- nate evans didn't kill ben amato.
He was in a jail cell on unrelated charges
On the night of the murder.
So, who did?
-After talking to nate,
We really believed that cheryl kunkle is an evil person,
That she was going to stop at nothing until ben was dead.
-But we needed essentially a confession
To ultimately make the arrest for the solicitation
To commit murder.
We're working long hours, months and months of hard work,
And we got a plan together.
-We actually did a consensual wiretap
Where April steinhauser cooperated with us
And made a phone call to cheryl.
And during that phone call
Cheryl kunkle actually acknowledged
That nate evans had a photograph of ben amato from cheryl kunkle
And it was pretty much to point out
"this is the guy that I want murdered."
-At that point we felt that we had enough to make that arrest.
So on July 23, 2003, we went to her house.
We knock on her door,
Cheryl kunkle answers,
And I told her she was under arrest for the solicitation
Of the murder of benjamin amato.
She was taken and placed in the monroe county prison.
♪♪
-I let her in my house and babysit my kids.
There was so much emotion involved.
But, I was just happy at that point that she got arrested.
We all knew she did it.
Even though it was just a conspiracy to commit homicide,
It was something.
-At that point in the investigation,
We still didn't have enough evidence
To prove she killed ben amato.
-Solicitation to commit murder is very different
From an actual murder charge.
And while investigators try to gather enough evidence
To make the homicide charge stick, the unthinkable happens.
After just three months behind bars, cheryl kunkle makes bail.
-After cheryl was released from prison, months go by,
And all of a sudden I get this call from some counterparts
Up in blooming grove station,
Of the pennsylvania state police,
And they inform me they're working on a double homicide
Of a 17-year-old girl and a 7-month-old.
As they're telling me this,
I'm wondering why they wanted to contact me,
But they ultimately tell me,
"well, you're the resident expert on cheryl kunkle, right?"
And I said, "yeah."
And they said, "well, this girl that was murdered,
She was in a relationship with greg rowe,
Cheryl kunkle's son, and the child
Is actually greg rowe's child."
It felt like history was repeating itself.
♪♪
-There was an internet page located that indicated
How to tie a hangman's noose.
-I thought, "how awful.
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."
♪♪
-In may, 2004,
Two and a half years after ben amato's horrific murder,
Pennsylvania state police look into a double homicide
In a nearby town which may involve cheryl kunkle's
18-year-old son, greg rowe.
-It's explained to me that the state police initially respond
To the scene, they found kristin fisher deceased,
And a rope was around her neck.
Right off the bat they had suspicions
That it was a staged suicide.
Someone made it look like she was trying to hang herself
And that the baby was deceased in a bathtub.
[ police radio chatter ]
-Kristin fisher's mother, kathleen,
Is inconsolable as she speaks to the responding officers.
But what she reveals sounds shockingly familiar.
-Gregory rowe and kristin fisher
Had a child-support conference scheduled the day
After the murder.
-I thought, "how awful. Just like cheryl and ben.
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."
-I was thinking there's a potential
That greg rowe knew something about ben's murder.
-Armed with a search warrant,
The detectives enter greg rowe's house looking for anything
To connect him to the double homicide or ben's murder.
-Investigators were looking for items,
If there was anything in a computer,
Or any books about how to commit murders or how to stage scenes.
Within gregory rowe's computer,
There was an internet page located that indicated
How to tie a hangman's noose.
At that time, greg rowe was arrested in the crime
Of killing kaylee and kristin fisher.
-Greg rowe now is in a world of trouble
Because he's being charged with a double homicide.
-And greg's alleged involvement in the double homicide
Only makes the detectives on ben's case more suspicious.
Is greg connected to ben's murder?
And, if so, will he be willing to talk?
-There's a potential that he might be involved.
I knew that he looked to ben amato sort of like a father,
A person he cared about, and I wanted to play on that emotion.
I just sat across him and I said, "you know who sent me?"
And he said, "who?" and I said, "ben amato."
As soon as I said, "ben amato,"
I knew I struck a huge chord.
That's when he told me that, "yeah, I was there.
And I was sort of the getaway driver,
If you will, of cheryl kunkle."
♪♪
He said, "I didn't know what my mother was going to do,
But one day when I was 15, we drove down to ben's place.
She told me, 'hey, come back in like an hour.'"
-Greg said when he came back, she jumped in the back of
The car with a bloody baseball bat
And she had on bloody clothes.
-As they continued to go down country roads in monroe county,
She started to throw her clothing
And the bat out the window.
Ultimately, they return home and they don't talk about anything.
♪♪
He's a 15-year-old kid at that time
And his mother is this aggressive individual
That was controlling.
So we kind of understood what he was faced with,
With a mother like that.
-When we asked him,
"would anybody else know about this?"
Greg rowe gives us the name of gerry terlesky.
Gerry is friends of cheryl kunkle's father.
Gerry terlesky said cheryl had come to him for assistance.
-Cheryl shows up and says, "I need you to go up here
And I need you to collect some stuff along the road."
There were her clothes,
Some boots, and a smaller baseball bat
That were discarded.
Gerry terlesky said
That they find the baseball bat along the road.
They go up to an area called hypsie gap,
Which is a very, very desolate area of monroe county,
And she lights it on fire to destroy the evidence.
♪♪
-It became clearer and clearer to us
That cheryl kunkle stops at nothing
To do what cheryl kunkle wants.
Cheryl was gonna stop at nothing until ben amato was dead.
-We were finally going to be able to contact ben's
Family and friends and tell them, "we're arresting her."
-But if you don't get a conviction,
What's the sense of the arrest?
-Nearly three years after ben amato's murder,
The investigative team learns from two different eyewitnesses
That cheryl kunkle bludgeoned ben amato to death.
The detectives finally have enough to file
Murder charges against cheryl.
But do they have enough to convict her in a court of law?
-A homicide investigation does not end with an arrest.
We continue to work that case.
-Four years of my life, I worked on this case,
Greg rowe and gerry terlesky were very strong witnesses.
[ siren wails ]
On November 3, 2005,
We arrested cheryl kunkle for the murder of benjamin amato.
-She finally got what she deserved.
But you just think, how is this person capable
Of killing another human being?
How do you do that to somebody?
-Before cheryl has her day in court, her son greg rowe
Faces a jury of his peers for the heinous murders
Of his young daughter and ex-girlfriend.
-On January 25, 2006,
Greg rowe was convicted of the double homicide
Of kristin and kaylee fisher.
-And he was sentenced to life in prison
Without the chance of parole.
-In this case of gregory rowe and cheryl kunkle,
It's like mother, like son.
He was shown to dispose of problems
By murdering other people.
-On February 6, 2007, more than five years
After the murder of ben amato,
Cheryl kunkle finally goes on trial.
-Cheryl, if you didn't kill benjamin amato, who did?
-Seeing her in shackles...
...Was the highlight of my [laughs]
Of that whole trial.
-Cheryl, in the courtroom, just looked mean.
She had just a nasty face.
-She's diabolical. She really was.
-Greg rowe testified against his mom
And said he was outside the night that cheryl went in
And killed ben amato.
-Do you hate your mother, greg?
-The investigators don't believe greg willingly participated
In ben's murder, and he is never charged.
Cheryl's trial lasts five days.
-It was about four or five hours of deliberation.
You hope they hear it the same way you think the case is,
But you don't know.
And then you get the phone call,
"hey, come back to the courthouse.
They're ready."
Cheryl was convicted of first-degree murder,
Life without parole.
-She was not going to escape from this and she didn't.
Cheryl kunkle will die in prison.
-You think there's closure,
But there really is never any closure.
Somebody told me a while ago that you die twice.
You die the first time you physically die
And the second time you die is when the last person
Who knows you mentions your name.
I don't want ben to be forgotten.
I want people to know who he was.
He was just very generous, very caring, very loving,
Like, just the sweetest person in the world.
I miss everything about ben.
-Ben amato's giving spirit drew so many people into his life.
But the hopeless romantic just wanted to find
That one special person to love.
Instead he found cheryl kunkle,
Whose unspeakable cruelty ended in
A killer relationship.