RIVERVIEW — Not long after Virgil and Shirley Best were shot to death in their Riverview home, sheriff's deputies searched the trailer where their daughter-in-law lived.

Inside, near a computer, they found a handwritten diary that appeared to belong to Marisol Best. In an entry dated Nov. 3 — eight days before the killings — the writer expresses frustration over a series of misfortunes.

"Every time I pray and ask for something good to happen, the opposite happens," the entry read. "We need good in our life. My children deserve better than stressed out parents who are always at each other's throats.

"I can't do this anymore."

A photograph of the diary entry was among more than 1,000 pages of material released this week in the murder case against Best. She was accused almost two years ago of killing her in-laws.

Since then, Best, 32, has been sitting in jail awaiting trial on two counts of first-degree murder. She faces the death penalty if convicted.

Some of the materials, including statements that could be interpreted as confessions, were not released. What remains visible, though, is the fullest picture yet of the unusual circumstances surrounding the killings..

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At the heart of the case is an interview that Best gave with detectives. She was tired, having not slept much in the more than 24 hours since her in-laws were killed, the record reflects.

In that interview, she admitted she had visited Virgil and Shirley Best the night before they were found dead. She stopped in on her way back from Orlando, where she had taken her children, she said.

"We talked for a good 20, 30 minutes," she said. "And then I blanked out. Honestly."

She became irritated, she said, because of the way the couple spoke about her husband, Robert Best.

He is a convicted felon who spent several years in prison for various crimes. In the early 1990s, while locked up in state prison, he wrote to a blind North Carolina woman and convinced her to send him $1 million. When he got out, he spent almost all the money. When the con was exposed, he returned to prison.

He married Marisol in 2008, when she was 23 and he was 42.

That morning, Nov. 12, 2015, he was supposed to go on trial in Polk County over allegations that he had engaged in sex acts with a teenage girl.

"They were not happy with him and they haven't been since his mess up with the federal case years ago," Marisol Best said. "They've never forgiven him for it. And I wanna say that he needed them to be with him. They weren't. None of his family was supportive."

She mentioned his brother, William Todd Best, a former Hills- borough sheriff's deputy who had been fired for exchanging sexual text messages with a 15-year-old girl. When he faced those criminal charges, the family had rallied to his defense, Marisol Best said. Todd Best was ultimately found not guilty.

But the family was disappointed when Robert Best ran into new troubles, she said. She said her in-laws felt he should know better, having been in trouble so many times.

"To have family just deny you the loyalty is just heartbreaking," she said. "Especially a family like that, that is so caring and loving."

Detectives asked her to describe what happened inside the house. She said her in-laws were frustrated and angry. What she said next is unclear. But a criminal report affidavit says Best shot the couple in their heads as they prayed.

After the murders, Best called her husband. She told him she was on her way home, she said. Cellphone records showed the couple exchanged 18 calls between 9:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. on the night the elder couple was killed.

"He didn't know what was going on," she said. "He just knew that I was tired, had gone out to see his mom. That's it. He didn't know anything else."

The detectives questioned her about whether her husband was with her when she visited the house the night of the killings.

"I'm telling you, Robby was home," she said. "I had left him home. . . . And trust me, he didn't want to deal with his parents. He was upset at them as much as I was. It's because they refused to be a supportive system for him."

It was early the next morning that Robert and Marisol Best arrived at the home for a scheduled prayer and coffee before Robert's trial. He entered the home first and found his parents dead. He called 911.

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In speaking with investigators, the family and friends all described Virgil and Shirley Best as straight-laced Christians, rigidly conservative. They attended services twice a week at First Baptist Church of Gibsonton.

They owned several guns. Photos from the crime scene show a jeep with bumper stickers stating "Benghazi Four Died Hillary Lied" and "If Obama's Lips Are Moving He Is Lying."

A safe in their home, which investigators cracked open in their search for evidence, contained silver bars, a collection of rare coins and a stockpile of cash.

They were married 45 years. For many years, they had operated a fish farm in the rear of their Riverview property, where about 80 fish ponds were visible from the air. They raised their three children there.

As adults, William Todd Best and his sister, Stephanie Knapp, settled on properties adjacent to their parents' home. Only Robert lived elsewhere.

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Almost from the moment the investigation began, detectives looked at Robert Best. That was partly due to his criminal background. But it was also because of what his siblings said about him.

"He's a con artist, basically," his sister, Knapp, told investigators. "Everything he did always seemed a little fishy."

His siblings described him as a habitual liar.

"He talks. We hear him, but we don't listen," Todd Best said.

Robert Best was arrested that day for failing to show up for his trial.

But the investigation turned toward Marisol Best when detectives learned of two missing guns. The Sig Sauer .40-caliber and .45-caliber were supposed to be in a truck that the Bests borrowed from Robert's business partner, Joe Ruffolo.

A spent .40-caliber shell casing had been found on a leather sofa in the living room where the killings happened.

Later, investigators enlisted Ruffolo's help, driving him to the couple's trailer, where he asked Marisol about the missing weapons. She left the trailer and returned minutes later with both guns in a multi-colored backpack.

Times staff writer Tony Marrero contributed to this report. Contact Dan Sullivan at dsullivan@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3386. Follow @TimesDan.