telling

“There were three men, and one of them shot her, and the cops are looking for him right now,” the neighbor is heard telling a 911 operator.

In recent years, the program has dominated investigative journalism in prime time as its competitors “Dateline” on NBC and “20/20” on ABC have moved exclusively into telling true crime stories.

Reflecting on his love of the show, he added: "I was skipping into the diary room even if they were telling me off - I loved it. I loved the whole thing."

He acknowledged he had read the indictment against him before entering his plea, telling the judge: "not guilty".

"I used to like telling anecdotes and he also liked that sort of thing. The last thing he ever said to me, two weeks ago, was, 'don't lose your sense of humour'."