Husband to Blame in Young Wife's 2001 Death?

Wife's family believes husband Jimmy Motz got away with Valentine murder.

ByABC News
October 28, 2010, 4:33 PM

Oct. 28, 2010— -- The controversial and mysterious death of Melissa Huntley Motz is now one step closer to being solved.

Following unrelenting pressure from her parents and a six-month "20/20" investigation that aired this summer, a York County, S.C., coroner's inquest has overturned the initial finding of "undeterminded" and has now labeled the 35-year-old woman's death from a gunshot wound as a homicide at the hands of her husband, James "Jimmy" Motz.

The six inquest jurors ruled Melissa Motz, "came to her death on February 16, 2001, by a gunshot wound to the head and James Pease Motz, by misfortune and contrary to his will ... did kill and slay".

"This is a homicide ... along the manner of involuntary manslaughter," coroner Sabrina Gast told ABC News

Motz's attorney told "20/20" this summer that Motz had explained to police his wife had committed suicide, saying she pulled the trigger from under her chin and fired a bullet that traveled up to her head while sitting in the passenger seat of the family car, while he innocently watched through the windshield from a sidewalk a few feet in front of the vehicle.

Motz' story was contradicted by a witness he didn't notice standing about 40 feet behind him on the same sidewalk.

Witness Christopher Campbell told "20/20" and testified at the inquest that he did not hear a shot as Jimmy Motz was in front of the vehicle. Instead he saw Motz get out of the car, walk to the front, look inside and then return to the driver's side of the car, where he began to scream for help.

A lie detector expert also testified that there were new questions about whether Motz really had passed a polygraph in which he denied killing his wife.

Melissa Motz' mother and father said they never believed Jimmy Motz's version of events and told "20/20" they are now "at peace with the verdict" of the inquest, which not only confirmed their suspicions that Motz was responsible for the death their daughter, but also "took the suicide thing off the table."

What happens next is up to the prosecutor in Spartanburg, S.C., who now is handling the case after York County prosecutors recused themselves under pressure from the media and family.

Jimmy Motz's brother is a high-ranking political official in York County, which raised questions from the community about whether Motz somehow was being protected because of connections.

Now that the coroner's inquest has ruled homicide, prosecution on involuntary manslaughter charges is possible but perhaps unlikely, because the jury ruled her death was "contrary to" her husband's will.

"20/20" reported on the Motz case this past summer, questioning the original coroner's ruling of suicide and the York County prosecutor's decision not to take the case to trial, even though the investigating detectives strongly recommended Jimmy Motz be charged with a crime.