Texas Confidential

Who Killed The Bookie's Wife?

(CBS)  This story originally aired on March 11, 2006.

Doris and Bob Angleton lived in an upscale Houston neighborhood, raising their twin daughters and leading, on the surface at least, a perfect life. But there was trouble brewing and the family was shattered in 1997 when Doris was murdered inside their home.

As correspondent Richard Schlesinger reports, the subsequent investigation uncovered a crucial piece of evidence, an audio tape on which two men could be heard discussing the details of this murder. What would follow is a story of secrecy, money, affairs, and murderous accusations between two brothers.

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Niki Angleton says it's not hard for her to remember her mother Doris. "I remember really specific things. Like every morning we would wake up to her laughing, and she had an incredible laugh like, really, really loud, really like vibrant, and it just made you want to get up and go downstairs and see what's going on."

Niki and her twin sister Ali Angleton were 12 years old when their mother Doris was murdered.

And then, four months after the twins lost one parent, they lost the other. On their 13th birthday, their father Bob was arrested for killing their 46-year-old mom.

Asked if she understood the charges her father was facing, Niki says, "No. Nothing was ever explained to us very well." The twins say they have never believed the charges are true.

"Well if you knew my dad you would know. I just, I just know," Ali explains. "I know him, and he didn’t do it," Niki adds. "That’s just the bottom line and it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks, really."

We've been checking in with Niki and Ali through the years, and now, 10 years after the murder of their mother, the twins are in their early 20's and college educated.

But this story is still not over for them, or their father. In the beginning the question was who killed Doris Angleton and why. Now it isn't so much who did it, it's how to prove it and how many times Bob will have to stand trial for it.

Bob has always maintained his innocence; he spent one full year in jail waiting for his trial.

"Can you imagine when your children come visit you when you're in jail that you have to put on an air of everything being ok, and that it will work out, because they're still counting on you," says Bob.

In July 1998, more than a year after the murder, the trial finally got underway.

By far the best piece of evidence against Bob was a garbled audio tape of two men planning Doris' murder. The prosecution claimed one of the voices was Bob's, a claim he has denied.

In the end, the jury thought the voices on the tape were too muffled to identify and they couldn't be sure if one of them was Bob's.

Bob was acquitted and the girls got their father back. For the next few years they settled into what one could call "normal" teenage life.

When Bob heard "not guilty," he thought his legal ordeal was over but it was far from over.