And they, for whatever reason, can't stop.

I think that it speaks to two things.

I think it speaks to, one, the blinding nature of love or the illusion of love, right? Like how you think that you are so with someone that you're willing to look past all sorts of things.

But I also think that it speaks to the fear that so many people have of being alone and of being lonely.

And, you know, we've done stories, you've done plenty, I certainly have, where people do not want to be by themselves, where they would get into a terrible situation where e- even if it's, like, their friends, their family are saying, "Gosh, this seems like a really bad match," but they really, really want to be not by themselves.

And I wanna point out one thing too.

I mean, in this situation, David, he had the money, he had the job, he had the, you know, the, the, the, the...

But, but good guy to furious, angry, lawless, and then murderer, that's something I haven't seen.

I don't know how she did it.

So that was JoLynn.

I mean, you could just hear, Andrea, when she talks about her friend, she just admired her.

I mean, she was kind of a r- a mom role model for her.

Um, uh, she talks about just the many ways that Ella would pour into Alex.

And we keep talking about Alex, of course, because he was the younger one, but it was the very same with Philip.

But by this time, Philip was an adult.

Yes.

Well, I did wanna know how your experience was at Crime Con, and did you feel instantly welcomed by the Dateline lovers? Because you are.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

I...

Well, one, I have to say that I have, from day one, I have felt instantly loved by the Dateline lovers, and I mean, from you guys, but from everybody who writes in on social media to people who, you know, send me Facebook message.

I mean, just people all over the place have just been really, really kind, and I've real- I've really, really appreciated it.

Um, and that love absolutely continued at Crime Con.

Yes

Mm-hmm.

Not to mention the fact that just as a local reporter here, I've reported on UGA stories, I mean, dozens of times.

And so this really is an important place in the state of Georgia.

Then you talk about the fact that you're referring to a student, um, somebody who was found dead in her home.

Um, a home that, you know, it's supposed to be a safe place.

The last time that she was seen, she was studying at the law library with her friend.

Um, you know, leaves, goes home.

I just absolutely love Dateline.

Blayne, just give us a recap on this episode.

Sure.

So this is something that happened in northern Virginia, in a suburb.

Um, you have Christine Banfield, who is a pediatric ICU nurse, her husband, Brendan Banfield, and their au pair, or live-in nanny from overseas, Juliana, and they have a little girl.

Um, a- and so one morning, basically Juliana says that she sees a strange van pull up in the driveway.

The husband and the nanny essentially go upstairs, and they say that they find Christine, the wife, there with Joe Ryan kneeling over her, stabbing her.

Brendan shoots him, and so you have two people dead, Joe Ryan and Christine Banfield.

... and like, see all this?

Like, he was amazing.

When it comes to emotion, Andrea, you know this.

I mean, when we interview, like, police chiefs, prosecutors, like, all these folks, it's not often that you get to see, like, just true emotion, tears from them, right? But, like, that happened several times when I was speaking with Chief McCutchen.

Certainly happened when I was talking with Ben Creekmore, the DA.

I mean, they were tearing up, thinking about the moment that they found Jay- Jay Lee's body, the, the pain that the family went through.

Um, and, you know, I, I...

Several things: One, Oxford is a college town, right? Like, everything revolves around Ole Miss.

Absolutely

Like, he was amazing.

When it comes to emotion, Andrea, you know this.

I mean, when we interview, like, police chiefs, prosecutors, like, all these folks, it's not-... often that you get to see, like, just true emotion, tears from them, right? But, like, that happened several times when I was speaking with Chief McCutchen.

Certainly happened when I was talking with Ben Creekmore, the DA.

I mean, they were tearing up thinking about the moment that they found Jay- Jay Lee's body, the, the pain that the family went through.

Um, and, you know, I, I- several things: one, Oxford is a college town, right? Like, everything revolves around Ole Miss, and so you think about, "Okay, like, either I have college-age kids, or my kids will one day be in college," or you can kind of just put yourself in this feeling of, "Oh, my God, I don't know where my child is," when they've gone off to college, and I think any parent can kind of identify with that, and that's a terrifying thought.

Um, I also think that for Chief McCutchen and, and Mr. Jimmy, Jay's dad, faith really bonded them.

Yeah

Like, he was amazing.

When it comes to emotion, Andrea, you know this.

I mean, when we interview, like, police chiefs, prosecutors, like, all these folks, it's not often that you get to see, like, just true emotion, tears from them, right? But, like, that happened several times when I was speaking with Chief McCutchen.

Certainly happened when I was talking with Ben Creekmore, the DA.

I mean, they were tearing up, thinking about the moment that they found Jay- Jay Lee's body, the, the pain that the family went through.

Um, and, you know, uh, several things: one, Oxford is a college town, right? Like, everything revolves around Ole Miss, and so you think about, okay, like, either I have college-age kids, or my kids will one day be in college.

Or you can kind of just put yourself in this you-... feeling of, "Oh, my God, I don't know where my child is," when they've gone off to college, and I think any parent can kind of identify with that, and that's a terrifying thought.

Absolutely

What can you add to this, a- as far as, you know, stories and what have you noticed now since you just started?

So, a couple of things.

I mean, I think, and I've said this before, but I've been a Dateline viewer much longer than I've been a Dateline correspondent.

So, it's very interesting and fun to come at it from this perspective.

I've always felt that there's a secret sauce about Dateline, right? That kind of makes our show different from the others and stand out, and that's what each correspondent is able to bring.

But I also think it's the connection that we're able to have specifically to the families.

I mean, I think that-

Blayne, what is your, what's your favorite story that you've done so far? I know you haven't done as many, but, like, what stood out? Like, what kinda shook you?

Mm-hmm.

... that we understand and we empathize.

Um, but it also speaks to the level of trust they have in each of us, but also the trust that they have in Dateline and what our show represents, what we stand for, and knowing that we are going to tell the story right and treat it with the respect it deserves.

(applause) Thank you.

And thank, thanks to you two for being here and for being our loyal viewers.

That's it for Talking Dateline this week.

(instrumental music plays) We had so much fun meeting everyone in Nashville and answering questions.

Remember, if you have a question for us, you can send us a video on social media @DatelineNBC or you can leave your question in a voicemail at 212-413-5252.

... yeah.

... that, um, investigators believe that Leo was actually trying to help remove evidence, uh, from Dr. Schwartz, like trying to get the bullet...

A- and so they do believe that he played a larger role in this than he is letting on.

Of course, Leo says that's absolutely not true, that he was just roped into this, that he had nothing d- to do with what was going on and had no idea what he would find there.

But again, um, you saw it in the episode.

I mean, he lied a number of times.

He swore up and down that he had nothing to do with it, that he didn't know about it, and then came back and said, "Well, okay, I actually was there that day," right? And so, uh, there is certainly, investigators look at that and say, "Well, you've lied, you've lied, you've lied.

... what did you think when you heard about that?

I- I get the feeling that this was kind of always in the back of their head.

It was in the front of their head.

I mean, it was, it was, it was, it was forefront in their mind.

I mean, I really think that it was a combination of the death itself being so hard-hitting for people there.

Again, college students.

That was the talk of Minot State University.

That was the talk of anyone in town.

I thought that the two of you really had a great rapport.

when does that happen, this pin drop message?

It was at 2:18 in the morning, uh, on the Wednesday, early Wednesday morning.

So the last time her family saw her was that Tuesday night at the hospital, um, and what prosecutors pieced together is that after that, she had her long phone call with Jason Chen, eventually goes over to his apartment, and then in the overnight hours, like 2:00... around the 2:00 AM-ish hour, that's when she sent that pin.

And that was also within three minutes of when Jason Chen's neighbors told the family that they heard a scream come from the apartment.

And so you know that something happened in that timeframe that- that Jazzy realized, one, "She's in trouble.

I need to call for help." She obviously couldn't do much, but the best she could do was send a pin, and it's something you can do on an Apple Watch, too, even if you don't have your phone beside you.

So somehow, she was able to send off a pin.

It brings it home in a way that's kinda shocking for him.

That's not an age where you think about people dying and you replacing them. Uh, I, I just thought that was really weird, and the other thing I thought was really weird was Paige's text saying, "I've been wanting to do away with you." Because she was done away with.

She ultimately was. You know, the, the, t- the text messages, I have to say, what Paige said, once she said that she didn't remember it clearly, but she said what she believes was that they were talking about life insurance or arrangements or something like that. And then I pushed her on that. I said, you know, we have all of the 40 pages of text messages or something. The context before, the context after has nothing to do with life insurance or anything like that. It kind of goes on to talk about Desiree saying she would be upset if there were anything sexual that were to happen between her husband and, and Paige, or if they were together. In talking to Paige, Paige says that it was actually Desiree who invited her to live with them. I think that diving into those text messages, there was a portion in there where, though they never explicitly said it, uh, certainly kind of alludes to the fact that there was a more than platonic interaction between Paige and Desiree at some point, but it's also very clear that this wasn't an ongoing, long-lasting relationship between the two of them.

Very, very odd relationship between Paige and Marty.

Paige, I, I asked her about this, right? I said, "What would you describe him as? Friend?" I mean, they were coworkers. They, they worked at the same place. Her mother had actually set her up on a blind date with Marty. Um, thought that this was a stable guy. "He's making money. Might be a good guy for you." She said okay. She was doing her daughterly duty, as she put it. Went out on a date and then kinda thought, "Okay, great. It's over. Bye." Marty didn't see it that way, according to Paige. And so that plus the fact that they worked together, she said she was trying to make things not awkward, and so when he would, you know, say hi, she'd kinda keep going and, you know, talking with him, but that kept growing. But what's interesting is Paige said that at some point, she was in a very difficult situation that she was trying to leave, whether it was a relationship, I'm not sure, but just a difficult situation. And Marty was giving her the money to do that, right, like, helping her financially, helping her make a, you know, a, a, a deposit on a new apartment, helping her with gas money, helping her with groceries, with her car, things that she couldn't have done on her own. And she said because she was so desperate, at first, she was uncomfortable with it, but, you know, always the arrangement was, "Hey, I'll pay you back." She says she did pay him back for some of that, but again, it... All of it goes beyond the normal kind of scale of a friendship.