Endgame

Cold Case Cops Try To Solve A Nearly Decade-Old Mystery

(CBS)  He and the children were already far away in Ajijic, the Mexican town his father Arthur had retired to years earlier.

Arthur and Perry March were living in a Mexican paradise. One year later, Perry March and his children moved into a house along with his new bride, Carmen Rojas and her three kids.

At the time, there were still no criminal charges against Perry March. Asked if he thinks his son was being unfairly accused, Arthur March joked, "Is the pope Catholic?"

But that’s not what Janet’s parents believed. Larry Levine says he was "100 percent, unconditionally positive," that Perry had killed his daughter.

The Levines won a wrongful death suit against their son-in-law, and then showed up in Mexico with legal papers granting them visitation rights to see their grandchildren. But before Perry March showed up to try and stop them, the Levines took their grandchildren to Nashville and fought for permanent custody.

But their victory was short-lived. Thanks to an international treaty, a federal judge forced the Levines to send the children back to Mexico and their father.

Reunited in Mexico, Perry March and his family had a lot to celebrate; besides the return of his children, his wife Carmen gave birth to a daughter, Azul.

But Perry March and his family were totally unaware of what was brewing for him in Nashville.

Back in the United States, Pat Postiglione was determined to seek justice in the disappearance of Janet March. Sgt. Postiglione and his partner, Bill Pridemore of Nashville’s cold case squad took over the case, six years after the disappearance.

Evidence such as the missing hard drive, Perry March changing his tires six days after Janet went missing, as well as his lack of cooperation, convinced detectives March had killed his wife.

But detectives still had one major obstacle. "Do we have a body? No, we don't have a body. Do we have anything that indicates she's dead? Blood for example. We had nothing like that," Postiglione recalls.

The Levines, meanwhile, had never given up. They have been relentless to get custody of Sammy and Tzipi and justice for Janet.

Some eight years after Janet mysteriously vanished, the detectives decided it was time to take a shot.

In Dec., 2004, a secret grand jury indicted Perry March for murder. And as it turns out, the Mexican authorities were also building a case against him for visa fraud and were glad to cooperate. They kicked him out, handing Perry March over to the FBI, who transported him to Los Angeles.

From there, detectives Pridemore and Postiglione escorted him back to Nashville. Back in Tennessee, March was booked on murder charges; he pleaded not guilty, and in the hearing one month later, he was unable to make bond set at a whopping $3 million.

He was placed in an isolation unit at the county jail to await trail. Behind bars, he might not have had much time to socialize, but Perry March quickly made an unlikely friend.

March told Russell Nathaniel Farris he had a plan that could solve both of their problems. "He starts telling this person how good life is in Mexico. How you fellow inmate would enjoy life in Mexico," Postiglione explains.

And then, Perry March made one of the biggest mistakes of his life. "He befriends Nate Farris and solicits him to kill the Levines," says Det. Pridemore.