True Lies

Lester Holt (0:00)

I'm Lester Holt. Tonight on Dateline, Mystery in Paradise, a classic whodunit along Florida's picturesque Gulf Coast.

Curtis Krueger (0:11)

It's an unusual case from the beginning.

It's almost like an Agatha Christie mystery. There's only three people there, and one of them is dead. The killer has to be one of the other two.

SPEAKER_3 (0:27)

I don't think she's breathing.

Allison Miller (0:29)

It was heartbreaking. It was absolutely heartbreaking. They believe that Diane was both smothered and strangled.

Jim Bining (0:34)

There's some broken glasses at the bottom of the bed, and a shoe, three small spots of blood on her leg.

Dennis Murphy (0:40)

You've got the son and you've got the stepfather. Each is accusing the other of the crime.

Jim Bining (0:45)

Yes.

Bill Kyne (0:46)

I grabbed him, I said, stop! And he throws me to the ground and takes off running.

Kevin Kyne (0:51)

He's very good at making up stories, but that's not true.

Rebecca Kyne (0:54)

No one on our side of the family had any doubt.

Kevin Kyne (0:58)

His story is all lies.

Bill Kyne (1:00)

I didn't do it.

Allison Miller (1:01)

It was just such a battle. Both sides are coming, guns blazing.

Bill Lowry (1:05)

We may have the wrong guy in jail here.

Lester Holt (1:18)

Here's Dennis Murphy with True Lies.

Dennis Murphy (1:29)

Bill Kyne knew he was a lucky man. The single dad with five kids was getting a second chance at love.

Bill Kyne (1:35)

She was the most wonderful lady I had ever met.

Dennis Murphy (1:37)

He first set eyes on her at a nail salon, a business she ran with her twin sister.

Bill Kyne (1:42)

And they're standing in front of this big neon sign that says Nails. And I says, do you all do nails here?

And they just looked at the sign and then looked at me and said, yeah.

Dennis Murphy (1:53)

Her name was Diane, a vivacious blonde with a ready smile.

Rebecca Kyne (1:57)

He saw Diane through the window, so the next weekend I went to get my nails done.

Dennis Murphy (2:02)

Rebecca Kyne is Bill's youngest child.

Rebecca Kyne (2:04)

Gave him an excuse to meet her.

Dennis Murphy (2:06)

Rebecca, you were being used as bait.

SPEAKER_3 (2:08)

Do you realize this now, looking back?

Rebecca Kyne (2:09)

Oh, I was fully aware at the time.

Dennis Murphy (2:12)

It was a light moment and just what Bill needed. Only eight months earlier, he'd become a widower.

Bill Kyne (2:18)

My wife, Krista, she fell in the middle of the night. They say she hit her head and now she drowned in the pool. I pulled her out of the pool Easter Sunday morning in 2000 I pretty much fell apart. There I was, a single dad, trying to raise them and keep the family going.

Rebecca Kyne (2:35)

He loved my mom. He loved her to the moon and back, and he lost her. He was just lonely and you could see it in him. And my brothers were definitely egging him on to get out and meet somebody.

Dennis Murphy (2:46)

And in Diane, Bill met somebody special.

Rebecca Kyne (2:49)

Diane comes into the picture, and he has this beautiful woman, and now she's taking care of him.

He was in love with her. He needed that. He needed her.

Bill Kyne (2:59)

She was actually what I consider my dream girl.

Blonde hair, blue eyes, and just a beautiful person inside and out. She had just a big heart, and she would reach out to family and friends. Anyone who was in trouble, they could always count on her.

Dennis Murphy (3:15)

And the person who counted on her most was her son, Kevin.

Kevin Kyne (3:18)

I'm the only child. I was actually, through my whole childhood, was raised by my nana. Now, my mom, she worked full time and was a single parent.

Dennis Murphy (3:28)

Kevin could be a handful, but he was always a bit of a mama's boy, and Diane doted on her young son.

Kevin Kyne (3:35)

Me and my mom, every day when we woke up, every night before I'd go to bed, we'd say we love each other.

I mean, we loved each other immensely. We were best friends.

Dennis Murphy (3:46)

Things moved quickly for Diane and Bill. Kevin thought they seemed just right for one another.

Kevin Kyne (3:51)

He was a kind person. He did do a lot for my mom. He gave her what she wanted, and they lived a happy life.

Dennis Murphy (3:59)

Bill and Diane married in 2002 Kevin was 15 years old when he walked his mother down the aisle. They moved into Bill's home on a quiet cul-de-sac in Seminole, Florida near St. Petersburg, a solid neighborhood, good schools. For the first time, Kevin had a steady male role model in his life.