Hey there, 2020 listeners. This is Deborah Roberts, co anchor of 2020. We've got a new spinoff series we think you're going to want to hear, so we're making it available for you right here on our podcast. It's called Bad Romance. Have a listen.

Am I ever gonna let.

It?

Am I ever gonna love again?

They're the perfect high school couple. Prom dates, the cheerleader and the football player. But their story ends with a hooded man hammering on the front door, frightening texts, a mysterious kidnapping, and a deadly shot in the dark.

Am I ever gonna love, gonna love, gonna love again am I ever gonna love, gonna love, gonna love again.

Knoxville is a rural community. There's a lot of mountain folks around here.

It's like a slice of americana, really. It's a really suburban, beautiful city, a nice place to raise your kids, and presumably, a safe place to raise your kids.

Everybody goes to the football games Fridays. Everybody's excited at school to see how well we do. It's what our school revolves around, so it's exciting.

The central high Bobcats are a big deal here, and it's just as big of a deal to be on the cheerleading squad in the fall of 2014. Emma Walker was 14 years old.

Emma really took cheerleading seriously. She really loved doing it. It was one of her passions. She loved leading, and she loved football games. She loved just being part of crowd appeal.

Going into high school, being a freshman cheerleader, was that a big deal for her?

She had done competitive gymnastics as a young child and then competitive dance. When she tried out for cheerleader, she was the only freshman that made it so. She was very tickled with herself. People described Emma as bubbly and fun loving and positive. I think it was really effortless for her because it's kind of who she was. Anyway, Emma was very kind and warm hearted, but she was goofy, too. At the same time, she could do the know. All of her other moves were kind of like, okay, Emma, you should probably stop now.

So before long, freshman Emma is going out with a junior on the football team, number eight, Riley Gall. Riley Gall and Emma Walker were just this sort of quintessential high school couple. You know, the cheerleader and the football player. Was he the classic jock in high school?

No.

He's a little nerdy on the side, a little to himself, kind of from the outside looking in, you would just think he's just a normal guy.

What did you think right away of this new boy that she was smitten with?

Boy next door? He came in very polite, very nice in the beginning, I thought he was.

A very nice looking young man, well mannered.

What were the rules about dating and.

Going out and never would let them go out on a formal date. He could come over to the house. They would meet up after football games to eat and things like that.

They had fun. They seemed like they really liked each other. We were happy for her that she found someone that she really liked.

If you look at Emma's social media, they look like the couple so many envied in high school. And what was the relationship like?

At first, it was just kind of normal, like, nothing out of the ordinary. He didn't really talk to us, her friends, a lot. But I was just like, oh, he's shy. Like, new boyfriend. It just seemed normal. But then after a while was when we got kind of concerned.

What concerned you?

That he didn't really have any interest in getting to know her friends. And he kind of became controlling over her, what she did, her activities. He got more possessive and more clingy towards her and wouldn't let her do certain things. Over time, I do think cracks began to emerge in this veneer, and they looked like another typical high school couple, an archetype that people are familiar with, which is the makeup and breakup couple.

And when they had fights, were they big fights?

They were really dramatic, I would say, just because it was usually just, like, yelling at each other or just, like, harmful words towards each other.

The relationship did not seem healthy at all. They argued fiercely, and then they sort of made up fiercely. But it was always drama, always drama with those two. He would comment on what she wore and tell her what not to wear.

Yes.

And what would you say to that?

We're the decision makers in that, not your boyfriend. When things got really intense and bad, he would wait outside her work for her to get off, and he would just wait outside for hours. Just wait.

Did you all relate this to Emma? Did you feel concerned for her? Did she seem to feel concerned?

I told her and some of the other friends told her, we're just like, you could do better. We don't like him. But she just kind of brushed it off. She did her own thing.

Riley didn't speak to her the way that a guy should talk to a girl. It was just disrespectful. I hate you. I hate everything about you. You're the biggest bitch I've ever come into contact with.

I felt like the texts were getting worse and a little bit threatening. We, on one occasion, saw when I'll see your name in the obituary he wrote that. He wrote that to her and we questioned him about it. He said, I was just angry. That's when it started to get many more red flags.

Soon, Emma's parents have had enough. They ban Riley from their home and take away Emma's cell phone so the couple can't talk. But it doesn't work.

Riley gave Emma an ipod touch and she texted him through the wi fi so they could text and it go undetected. Emma, I'm sorry for however I act to you. I love you more than words can describe.

Did you attempt to break them up or advise her to break up?

Yes, several times. But as you do that with a teenager, the more you butt heads, the more she is going to think he's than the right because he had a way of isolating her and making her think that he was the only one.

Typical high school fights. But then weird things begin to happen.

Out of the blue, someone just starts banging on her door and was like.

I'm getting these really weird text messages.

Saying that Riley's been kidnapped and that's only the beginning.

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By the fall of 2016, Riley Gaul is now 18 and away at college. He and Emma are still together for two years now. So when Riley went off to college, how did things change with Emma?

She was dating him. She didn't see him probably as much because he was busy. But I think she started to see he's out there living life, and I'm sitting in my room. You want to have fun with your friends, and she should be.

At 16 years old, she'd never had that opportunity in this relationship without him saying that he didn't want her to go or repercussion on her wanting to do things. She did become like her old self again. She would come out, out of a room, eat dinner with us, socialize with us, instead of being so withdrawn.

So was she interested in breaking it off?

Yes, and I think she.

Yes, I believe so.

Emma realized she didn't want to be with Riley, and she broke up with him. What was supposed to be for good. And then we're all like, yes, finally, like, it's happening. Like, what we've been waiting for. Her friends and her family, they're relieved, they're excited. They think they have Emma back. Hallelujah. Thank you, jesus, that she didn't plan on going back to him.

But Riley isn't taking the breakup well. Over in his college dorm, he takes some Vicodin pills and washes them down with alcohol in an attempt to take his life. One of the things that Riley gal was known for is when things would not go the way he wanted, he would sometimes claim he was going to kill himself if they didn't reunite. How did you hear that? He might have been suicidal.

Just be off to the side, like, moping, saying things like, I just feel so depressed, like, I want to hurt myself, blah, blah, blah. But it was just things that he would just say a lot as. It's like a cry for help, I guess, in a way. It's Friday night, the big playoff game, and the central high Bobcats win. So Emma's off to a party at a friend's house to celebrate. Then around 11:30 p.m. Something strange happens. I walk in, and Emma's, like, coming out of the bathroom, and she's like, zach, I'm getting these really weird text messages. Come outside alone if you don't want to see a loved one get hurt.

Was she spooked?

Yeah.

She was just feeling really weird about it. I mean, it was a random number.

She starts off being very dismissive of them, saying, you know, I don't believe you. This is Bs. You're full of it. Riley put you up to this.

We end up going back outside and we look and we see a body laying face down. Like just a dark figure.

It's a terrifying moment. And even worse, when they see who it is. It's Riley.

And then we finally get to him, and he's holding up his head kind of has this confused face on. He's like. And was like, why are you here? He's like, I don't know what happened. I don't know how I got here. I've been kidnapped. Someone dropped me off here. I don't know what's happening. Where am I? How'd I get here? Holding his head like he got hit upside the head, kind of. It was just very weird.

And when you stepped out, where did you see him?

He was kind of up there, near, like, kind of the shrub, like, where those thin trees are kind of laying down. Part in the driveway, maybe.

Lying down?

Yeah, like face down, like this.

Kind of.

And how did Emma react? Very uneasy.

She was very upset.

She was crying.

Emma doesn't know what to think because this is a boy she loved, who she's realized now has become very unhealthy. But part of her is, like, who would do something this elaborate if it weren't true?

And if that's not bizarre enough, Riley simply walks away and calls his friend Noah. He sounded like he'd been crying, or like he was sounding fatigued, I guess. And he basically told me that these people knocked him out, took his car and threw him in a van. And he didn't know where he was.

Essentially kidnapped?

Yeah.

Did you believe him?

Not at know. But what am I supposed to do?

Did anybody offer to call the police?

We talked about it, but he's like, no. No cops.

Then the morning after Riley's supposed kidnapping, things go from strange to sinister.

While she's home, out of the blue, someone just starts banging on her door. All she can see is this person. She's not opening the door. She's home alone. She's scared. She's talking to her friends. At the same time I'm home alone. And somebody in all black walked down my street and came to my door and rang the doorbell over and over again. I thought I was going to die. Emma's obviously shook. And who do you think she calls? She calls Riley. I'm shaking and crying. I hate you, but I need you right now.

I'm coming. I'm speeding. Just give me a minute.

She was supposed to come meet me. She didn't show. I had an intuition. Something's going on. So I drove to home, and Riley's car was sitting out front of the house. And they were in the driveway.

What was your first thought?

I thought, you're kidding me. He knows he's not allowed here. And I just said, you're not allowed. You need to leave. And he did leave.

Were you worried?

Yes, I was worried, yes. And tried to calm her down and take her mind off of it, but she's thinking what?

That some stalker or maybe some burglar is trying to get into the house?

I think we were watching her. I mean, Sunday. We followed her to work, followed her back home to make sure she was safe.

She said, I'm craving ice cream. So we drove to sonic. We had a nice, cold sonic blast, and I wished her good night. I love you. See you tomorrow. I went to bed. She stayed up.

And how does she seem?

She seemed very happy. Very happy and relaxed. More of like a weight had been lifted off her shoulder. Everybody says goodnight, but her parents don't know that. They're actually saying goodbye. Where is your emergency?

You have to imagine how Emma would have been feeling at this point. Friday, Riley is coming out of a ditch, claiming to have been abducted. The next day, she's home alone. She's taunted at home by someone dressed in black banging on her know, that is rattling. And two days of this now had to have been wearing her down. The next day, I went in there to wake her up, which is usually very easy, to wake her up and said her name. Didn't hear anything, bumped her leg, didn't hear anything. And then went to her face and realized and checked for a pulse and couldn't find anything. I don't remember a whole lot from that moment. I mean, I know I called 911. Emma's mother makes maybe one of the most heartbreaking 911 calls that I've ever heard.

Where is your emergency? What's going on there?

I just had to wake up my daughter for school, and she has no pulse. How old is she? She's 16.

You said that she's non responsive.

And you hear in real time this mother's sort of visceral response to realizing that maybe she's not going to be okay. The call came out as a suicide. It was about 30 minutes before shift was over.

Officer Nikki Buells is sent to the crime scene. She's now the lead forensic tech on the case.

When I first got there, I started my photographs on the outside of the residence. I walked in, photographed the interior of the residence, photographed the bedroom.

It's a classic teen girl's bedroom. A little messy, clothes and makeup all over, pictures and cheer trophies on the wall. Except.

There was a hole in the wall. It appeared to be a bullet hole. At that point, I knew that it probably was not a suicide.

It's been upgraded from a suicide to a homicide.

Lead detective Alan Merritt arrives.

You know, I'm standing outside here. The bullet hole is just about shoulder height there in the wall.

Big hole?

No, it's just a small bullet hole, about the size of a ballpoint ink pen.

But there's no gun inside Emma's bedroom. Instead, there's a strange discovery on the outside of the house.

Roughly in about this area here, I locate this spent shell casing, the first spent shell casing.

And on the far side of the walker's fence, another piece of evidence. A second shell casing.

Yes, ma'am, a second shell casing. So now I've got a second shell casing. Why is it here? Where'd it come from? Obviously, there was a second shot fired.

So another hole right there.

Once the detective got there, we were asked to leave the residence. They were up in tape around our house and walking around outside. So obviously it had turned into a crime scene at that point. But we still had no idea what had happened to her.

What had happened? Emma Walker was killed by a gunshot wound to the head from somebody shooting into the house from outside. Those two bullets fired through the walls of her bedroom, one striking Emma behind her left ear, the second into the pillow by her head.

You know, to hit a target that you can't see, you would have had to know exactly where Emma's head was going to be. That realization, I think, is a stunning and chilling one.

You talked to her parents. Did you ask them if they thought there was somebody who could be out to hurt her?

We spoke to the family, we spoke to her friends. And everybody kept giving us the name Riley gall because of their relationship, because they had seen the way that Riley had treated her, the way he had talked to her.

The Knox county sheriff's office goes to talk with Riley, and he's distraught.

He didn't say a whole lot. He was just kind of in the daze a little bit. He was sad over his girlfriend losing her life.

Riley goes to social media, posting. Rest easy now, sweetheart. I love you forever and always what.

Stood out to me from these tweets immediately was the repetitive nature of him saying, I love you, I love you, I love you. If you just saw that, you would think that this was an ex boyfriend who just lost his first love. The people of Knoxville were floored. Emma's a cheerleader who everyone knows and loves.

I was confused. All I knew is she was dead and there's nothing I could do.

It didn't register in my mind. No one would expect our Emma to know. Dead.

Students will be gathering at central high school tonight to remember the life of a classmate who recently died.

Riley seems devastated, but he doesn't go to the vigil that is held for Emma. You know, he justifies his absence at this vigil as he's just too broken to attend.

Remember, Riley had attempted suicide once. So his friend Alex gets nervous and tells detectives about the night Riley was found in a ditch outside the party. He ended up telling me, like, that night, he was so fearful for his life that he had stolen his grandfather's gun. He showed it to me.

He showed you his grandfather's gun?

Yes. And I held it in my hand that night.

So he's been acting strangely, and then he shows you a gun. How worried were you about him?

I was very worried. He reassured me over and over again that he was the farthest thing from suicidal. He's just so scared of these people. To get him, to get Emma.

He said he had the gun for.

Protection from the kidnappers.

What did you hear from the friends about what struck them as odd?

There had been a series of events leading up to the homicide. One particular incident, an all edged kidnapping. There was another incident the next morning where a person dressed all in black, head to toe, even sunglasses, a hoodie on, face covered, goes to Emma's house, tries to get in, scares her.

Did you think maybe there was some other suspect out there who had been stalking her?

Sure. Now investigators are screening everything they can find on security cameras. We had the exits from this residence. We saw cars going by. We couldn't identify them. The cameras didn't have enough resolution.

But surveillance footage from a neighbor's house has something.

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A shot for Knoxville and a Knox county high school. A cheerleader shot and killed Knoxville teen found in her home dead.

An investigation right now underway this afternoon and the death of a Knox county teen.

Riley Gaul's social media portrays him as the grieving boyfriend.

And this is from a gun case.

Police want to talk to him. 16 hours after Emma's body is discovered, Riley is brought in for questioning.

You have the right to remain silent.

Detectives with the Knox county sheriff's office want to know about his whereabouts over the past weekend.

I went over to my friend Nova's house and stayed there. I think I spent the night there, actually, I think. Who else? When you get there Friday night, it was just me and him. And then I think it was just me and him all night. I don't remember anybody else showing up. And you said you spent the night? I'm pretty sure I did, yes, actually, yes, I'm positive I did. I did spend the night. You can't remember if you spent the night at. No. Or stayed at your grandparents?

Did that strike you as strange? That he couldn't remember if he spent the night here, what time he went there?

We're talking about what'd you do yesterday and not what you did two years ago. His answers were vague.

They were expecting someone who's 18, emotional, heartbroken. And instead of referring to Emma by her name, he keeps calling her the girl.

The girl she texted me. Which girl? The one that passed away. Okay, what's her name? Emma.

If that's your girlfriend of two years, who you're in love with, who you're posting these heartbreaking tributes to on social media, why aren't you using her name?

When I first met him at his grandpa's, that he might have been a grieving boyfriend. When we got into the interview room and sat down, I felt like there's a dark side. He didn't have a whole lot of passion or concern.

Riley tells them he'd been trying to speak with Emma all weekend, but she wouldn't engage, that she even blocked his number.

And she just kept blocking me on stuff, so I just kind of. But she said if I would help her write her paper, she would talk to me. And I used one of my friend's phones on campus to call her. Tell me about this phone call. You and Emma. I was crying, and I was trying to get her to reason with me on being back together with me, and she just kept saying no. She said she didn't even care about the relationship anymore. She said, you need to stop. You're crazy. You need to get a life. Hung up. The phone blocked me.

Riley offers police his alibi, saying after Emma hangs up on him, he goes to his grandparents'house, then drives back to his dorm, where he breaks down in the parking lot and just sat there.

For about two to 3 hours and just wept, just looking at pictures of us and stuff like that.

He was really, really upset about this. But when you saw him, was he broken up?

In my opinion, he was emotionless. His interview was probably one of the most disconnected. It almost seemed rehearsed, deliberate. You have no idea where the grandfather's guns at? No, sir. Okay. And you do not own a handgun, correct.

You began to ask him about the gun.

He did not have the gun, didn't know where the gun was, and basically didn't have anything to do with it?

No. You had already talked to friends of his who had told you that he had this gun?

Yes, ma'am. What if I told you someone told us that they saw you with a gun? What would you think about that? I would wonder who said that and where they saw him with a gun. Alex McCarthy said that you showed him a handgun. Where is the gun? I did not know. You understand, though, for us, Alex has no reason to lie about something like that. Yeah, but I'm telling you, I don't know where it's at. He said that you showed him the gun, you told him that you had it, and you told him that you got it from your granddad. Don't have the gun. I don't know why he would say that. I knew immediately. Within minutes of sitting down to talk to him. Riley gall wasn't going to confess to anything. He wasn't going to do it.

Detectives. Then turn up the heat. Pressing Riley about an OD question he had for his friend Noah.

Do you ever remember having a conversation with Noah about getting fingerprints off a gun? How do you get fingerprints off a gun? No. He asked if I knew how to get fingerprints off a gun.

How to get fingerprints off a gun?

He said he was asking for his roommate. I told him obviously not and not to ever ask me anything like that again, and he said, I know, I know. It was for my roommate. I thought it was weird. Am I a suspect in her passing? Should you be? I just feel like I'm being badgered as question. I hope to God I'm not a suspect in her death. Did I say you were? I hope you don't think it, because I wouldn't hurt that girl. Did you shoot into Emma's house? No, sir.

By the time you finish this interview with him, is there a bell going off in your head saying, this is the guy?

It's more like a horn. A bell would be putting it mildly, yeah. Everything about the interview, his answers, his body language, it's screaming that he's got something to do with this, that he's involved in some form or fashion. Riley Gaul has gone from person of interest to suspect in the death of Emma Walker. The problem is they don't have enough evidence to hold. I do want to thank you for coming in and talking to us. I do appreciate it. Coming.

Following Riley's interrogation, he reaches out to his friends, and he's really angry.

Why did you tell him about the gun? They think I shot her because of it. I told him he had no reason to withhold the weapon if he had nothing to hide and that if anything, it could prove that he was innocent. At that point, I asked him just outright, like, what happened to the gun that you showed me? And he said, I returned it to my grandpa. You don't have to worry about it. And his mom walks out and begins questioning Riley in front of me about the whereabouts of the gun.

So what are you making of this?

He bold face lied to me just then.

That's when the two friends, Noah and Alex, start to realize that something is really wrong here.

I didn't kill her, and I'm probably going to jail.

What's his demeanor like?

He's frantic about getting caught. He was on edge, and he was like, the only thing we can do is I just have to get rid of it. I have to get rid of the gun in order for me not to get pinned for something that I didn't do, in order for me not to go to jail for something that I didn't do, I have to get rid of this weapon. That's when I knew, like, he did it.

Riley starts scheming ways that he can help his friends backpedal out of what they said.

Tell them you're on LFC. You were drunk.

But what Riley doesn't know, his two friends have a plan of their own. They want justice for Emma, and to do it, they're going to have to go undercover and get it all on tape.

I'm trusting you guys, like, with my life. Alex McCarty and Noah Walton are convinced their longtime friend killed Emma, his high school sweetheart. After all, she was shot. Riley had a gun.

He said he wanted to go and throw the gun away.

Yeah. I just knew that if there was a chance that he could get rid of the murder weapon. You should stop it. I had to stop it.

The teens decide to work with police to lay a trap for Riley.

So the two friends reach out to the detectives and offer to help in any way they can.

If they could help us get what they believe to be the murder weapon. Huge, huge piece of information.

At this point, all the police really have is circumstantial evidence against Riley. What they needed was the gun to conclude and prove that the bullet that left the barrel that entered Emma belonged to Riley's grandfather. Which meant that Riley was the killer.

They wire up the two guys with microphones, a transmitter so they can listen in, and a video camera hidden in a key fob. So you two now offer to help the police in a sting operation. Were you worried about that?

I was just fearful that maybe justice couldn't been done if we made the wrong move. The camera was right on the tip of the key fob and we set it down pointing right at the couch.

It's now Tuesday, the day after Emma's body was discovered. Alex and Noah invite Riley over to play video games.

I don't know who shot Emma. I put that on my not. I wouldn't lie to you. Right here, right now. I don't know who did. I would never hurt her a day in my life. I had that gun because I was scared about what happened. I know you don't believe me. You probably don't either. Whatever.

Riley starts scheming ways that he can help his friends backpedal out of what they said.

If the cops talk to you again for any reason, tell them you're on lse. You were drunk and you were high. Your mind was altered. Whatever statement you give them wasn't a straightforward answer. He basically wanted to nullify all our previous statements by saying we were under the influence and we didn't know what we were talking about.

What do you say to that?

I said, okay, I didn't do it. But I was like, okay, sure, bro, my bad. I didn't know I was going to get you in trouble.

So you're playing him at this point.

But I'm trusting you guys with my life because, I mean, this is 70 years in jail if I get convicted of something I didn't do. Are you busy right now? Like, are you about to do anything? Well, can we go to the bluffs? Because I need to get rid of the gun at the bluffs. I'm going to throw it into the water. They'll never find it in the river.

The bluffs is out in the woods overlooking the Tennessee river. They've all been there. It's a place where teenagers go to hang out.

I want to get rid of it. Well, do you guys want to go right now?

And just like that, the sting operation is on. Now, Riley doesn't know, but three unmarked suvs are tailing the boys.

Hey, we got to go up to step's house first. Yeah. He tells us that he doesn't have the gun on him, and we have to go pick it up from his stepfather's house. He said he hit it down in the basement. Me and Noah wait in the car. He didn't want us to come in. And he comes back with his trash bag of truth. I just threw it in there. I don't know what's in there. We had told the boys that it was imperative that they actually physically see the handgun before they give us the signal to take him down. I just want to throw it and be done.

Are you anxious? Like, you want to see it right away, or do you know that you've got to pace yourself? What are you thinking?

We tried a little bit. We did try to coax it.

Dang.

Is it in there? Like, let me see. It's cool. I don't see guns a lot.

And he doesn't buy it.

No, he doesn't. He actually is kind of weird about it.

Throughout the ride, Alex and Noah try to keep things as casual as possible. They're telling jokes and singing along to the radio and even going on a run for some fast food.

I can't imagine what the mood was like inside of that car. We have two friends in danger and putting themselves in this situation because Riley is armed.

This is where the trail is that leads you to your bluffs area. So they parked here, and they sat in the vehicle for, I'd say, probably 510 minutes or so talking. He was, like, putting on white gloves and waiting everything. He's very meticulous about how he got everything out. And then we just, like, kept waiting and kept waiting.

And. Are you texting at that point, the police?

I told him when we got the bag, I told him we didn't see it yet, but he had a bag full of black clothes, and it's supposedly in there. And it was about to happen soon.

I don't know when they're about to reach the apex. Sort of the climax of this entire mission, and things could go wrong at any minute.

Oh, my God. This is a real gun. Actually, it was a good three or four, maybe up to five minutes of him having the gun out and getting other things out after Noah had already texted the keyword and that the cops finally did show up to every word. Everybody, put your hands out of the vehicle now. Oh, my God. Leave your hands out of the vehicle.

It actually goes down in less than 90 seconds. Police spring. Guns drawn.

Step out of the vehicle. Riley. He's just freaking out. He swearing left and right. He says, I can't go to jail. I can't go to jail.

We didn't suspect that this would be the person we would be filming at eleven as the suspect tonight, a Maryville.

College football player behind bars accused of killing a Knox county teenager. Investigators believe he was trying to destroy evidence.

Once he was taken into custody, Riley was charged with first degree murder and six other felonies.

It was a major relief to me knowing that he's going to pay for what he done.

And after investigators searched the trash bag Riley was using, they believe he's responsible for even more than Emma's murder. What was in there with the gun? Gloves?

There was gloves and trash bags and tennis shoes, the black tape, some of the black clothing.

You think those were the shoes that were used?

Yeah, I really think that that was the clothes used not only the night of the murder, but I think also that was the clothes that was used the morning of the man in black incident.

Those bizarre events leading up to Emma's death all make sense now to investigators. They're convinced that Riley faked his own kidnapping and posed as that mysterious man in black to stalk Emma. Emma's parents are now facing the young man accused of murdering their daughter. What are your feelings toward him, Mark?

I don't know that I can tell you that on camera, but I would like to tell him one day, it seems like they've got him until Riley's trial, when the defense team delivers an unexpected twist. We looked at each other and said, did you hear?

Did he just say that? By May 2018, nearly two years after Emma Walker's death, it's finally judgment day for Riley Gaull.

This was a very different person that I didn't recognize. You know, every day he dressed in a polo slacks, didn't look up, didn't talk to anyone. Riley had denied being involved in this period, so opening arguments occur. Day one, we'll ask you to find Mr. Gall guilty.

Of reference.

Homicide.

There's a defense lawyer, Wesley Stone, admitting that Riley fired the gun into the house, but he says it wasn't to kill Emma. He wanted to scare her into calling him for help. That way, he could be her hero. To me, the hero defense was laughable in his mind.

Oh, I'm just going to scare her by shooting at her through the wall.

Where she's laying her head.

And if it was his desperate attempt to get attention from her, then it was really, truly a bad idea. Prosecutors point out the trajectory of the two bullets that struck Emma.

The trajectory was a crossing pattern that came where both would have struck her. This is an absolute intent to kill. Did Riley gull murder Emma Walker? By the definition of murder, no. I do believe it was a reckless homicide. You didn't play football.

After a week of testimony and more than 30 witnesses, the jury has a verdict.

Guilty.

And when you heard guilty, it's a good feeling.

I mean, it doesn't bring her back, but that's the best we could get. He shouldn't get to live his life either.

19 year old Riley Gaul, sentenced to life in prison.

Take a life, give a life. This is exactly what he deserves.

Honestly, why do you think he killed Emma?

If he couldn't have her, then nobody can have you.

And so that's really the only thing I can think of. He claimed he loved her, but it wasn't a healthy love. More of just ownership of her he felt. At his sentencing hearing, Gaul breaks his silence, offering a scripted apology.

I'm sorry I took Emma away from me. My intentions that night were never to harm, let alone take her love. I wanted to scare her.

Bradley, you are not Emma's hero. You ended her life. No punishment will ever bring Emma back. But what helps is knowing that you can't do this to anyone else.

What do you want to see come out of this that might help someone else?

If your boyfriend or girlfriend is telling you you can't go there, or what to wear, who to hang out with, or who to talk to, that it's not okay. And I think when they become quiet and withdrawn, it's a big sign, too. It's not just bruises. It's emotional and controlling.

Riley Gaull appealed his sentence. Three years after his conviction, he was back in Knox county criminal court to request a retrial. But the judge said no, since there was no new evidence, and the state supreme Court has since rejected any further consideration of the case. Riley remains behind barbs, serving a life sentence for the murder of Emma Walker. He'll be in his 70s before he's eligible for parole.

Love you so much.

The Walker family finding comfort in unexpected surprises. Emma left behind. And you didn't know she'd put this on?

That's her thing.

Very cute. Do you find yourself going back looking through these? They're home like a living photo album, locking Emma in their hearts and memories. You can watch fresh episodes of bad romance from 2020 on Monday nights at 10:00 p.m. Right after the Bachelor. And, of course, tune in on Fridays at nine for all new episodes of 2020. Thanks for listening close.