On the night of Sept. 21, 2001, Sherri Malarik’s home was bustling with activity. The Navy air traffic controller was hosting a family sleepover with pizza, video games and a large group of kids that included her own — her blended family had five — and her sister’s.
At one point, Malarik, 34, stepped outside. She never returned.
The next morning, her body was found inside the family’s Dodge minivan in a parking lot just outside Pensacola, Florida. She’d been shot twice with a .25-caliber gun.
Nearly two decades passed before there was an arrest in Malarik’s killing. In two first-degree murder trials that followed, prosecutors failed to convict the suspect, her husband.
The first trial against Greg Malarik, now 61, ended in a hung jury, and when he stood trial again last year, he was acquitted.
The proceedings exposed a lingering fracture between relatives, one that has left them divided not only over who’s responsible for Sherri’s killing, but over their family’s shared memories.
For more about the case, watch “The Sleepover” on “Dateline” at 9 ET/8 CT tonight.
“I don’t even know how to describe, to be honest, the way it feels to go through all of that and then see nothing come out the other end, other than a broken-up, torn-apart family,” Tera Malarik, Greg and Sherri’s youngest daughter, told “Dateline.”
Tera, 26, has publicly supported her father, who has always denied killing Sherri. She testified for the defense during his second trial and, after his Oct. 13 acquittal, posted words of support on Facebook: “Thank God, justice prevailed and dad is innocent.”
Tera’s older brother, Jacob, 33, testified for the prosecution in both trials, however, and believes Greg killed his mother. He told “Dateline” that while he and Tera are “very close,” their connection is broken for now.
“I texted her on her birthday,” Jacob said. “Just to let her know, like, I’m not done with you. I haven’t written you off. I’m just not…
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