A multimillionaire oil heir who was sensationally acquitted of double murder 40 years ago has spoken of the grisly deaths he was accused of carrying out.

Cullen Davis, now 83, was the first suspect in the 1976 murders of 12-year-old Andrea Willborn and basketball player Stan Farr at the mansion where he used to live with his wife in Fort Worth, Texas.

He was in the midst of a bitter divorce with Andrea's mother, larger-than-life socialite Priscilla Davis, when the child was shot dead and left in the basement of her gargantuan family home by an unknown gunman dressed in black.

Farr, Priscilla's new boyfriend who she'd been out on the town with, was killed when they arrived home from their night out. Priscilla was wounded in the attack but survived and one of their friends was left paralyzed by one of the gunman's bullets.

Suspicion immediately fell on Davis who was known for his hot temper. Despite being fingered as the killer, he was acquitted of double murder by a jury.

In a new episode of CBS'S 48 Hours, he maintained his innocence. Others who were rocked by the crime reiterated their belief that he is guilty and recalled the unbelievable chain of events which has allowed him to continue living freely for 40 years.

Cullen Davis is now 83 and still denies murder. He and Priscilla Davis (right together) married in 1968. They separated in 1974, two years before her daughter and boyfriend were murdered by a gunman in their former home

Andrea, Priscilla's 12-year-old daughter, was killed by a single gunshot wound to the chest

Cullen and Priscilla married after striking up a lustful romance at a tennis club. Both of them already had children from a previous marriage and Andrea was one.

When they first married, they lived like royalty in Fort Worth. Cullen was well known for his extravagant wealth and Priscilla made good use of it.

They lived together with their children in a sprawling 176 acre estate named Stonegate Mansion which was sprinkled with expensive oil paintings and decorated with fine furniture.

In 1974, Six years into their marriage, the pair parted ways acrimoniously and began dating other people.

Priscilla's blossoming romance with Farr, a former Texan Christian University basketball player, kept her in the local newspaper. Cullen moved on with Karen Masters.

Their divorce was steeped in arguments over how much money Priscilla should be given.

Her ex-husband's exact worth at the time is not known but he is believed to have been spoiled with a wealth of more than $500million.

At some point in the divorce proceedings, Priscilla was granted temporary ownership of Stonegate Mansion and continued living there with her children.

On August 2, she and Farr went out with friends leaving 12-year-old Andrea in the house alone to do her homework.

Andrea's lifeless body was found in the basement when police arrived at the house. Stan Farr, her mother's boyfriend, was shot four times in the chest

Davis was charged with Andrea's murder but was sensationally acquitted after a three-month trial in 1977. He is shown above leaving court with his then girlfriend, Karen Masters, after the verdict was returned

When they arrived home around midnight, Priscilla was confronted by a gunman dressed in black who was wearing a wig.

She told police how he said 'hi' then opened fire on the couple, wounding her and shooting Farr four times. He died at the scene and she fled.

Their friends, who had been following them back to the property in a different car, also saw him.

Beverly Bass ran away from the house in an opposite direction from Priscilla. Her boyfriend, Bubba Garvel, was shot and paralyzed.

Davis returned to court in 1979 when he was accused of trying to hire a hitman to kill his ex-wife and the judge presiding over their divorce

None were aware that 12-year-old Andrea had already been killed by a single bullet to the chest and that her lifeless body was in the basement. Police discovered her once the gunman had run away too.

Both Beverly and Priscilla named Cullen as the assailant without hesitation. He was arrested at his girlfriend's home the following day and charged with Andrea's murder. Within hours of his arrest, he was released after meeting his $80,000 bond.

The trial served as juicy news. For the first time in the city's history, the defendant had equal if not more money to spend on his defense than the state did on its prosecution, Christy Jack, the District Attorney at the time, said.

Cullen hired notorious Texas criminal defense attorney Richard 'Racehorse' Haynes who used his cross-examination of Priscilla to lay bare her tawdry sex life and detail the life she led before they were even married.

'I remember … that she came home and she said, "It is now day 17 and Andrea's name has not been spoken … But the fact that I was wearing a powder pink -- feather suede suit in the summer has been really given a lotta press,'" Dee Davis, Priscilla's other daughter, recalled.

Defense attorney Richard 'Racehorse' Haynes defended him at both trials successfully

They suggested that Farr, who was known in the Fort Worth nightlife scene, was the real target and shifted blame off of Cullen.

They paid an investigator for the state to slip them information and brought in their own team of experts to undermine prosecutors' claims that he murdered Farr and Andrea collaterally after going to the house with the sole intention of killing his ex-wife.

A jury acquitted him in less than four hours.

Nine months later, he returned to court to face charges of attempting to hire a hitman to kill his ex-wife and the judge presiding over their divorce.

Priscilla, a larger-than-life socialite, received $3million in their divorce

Despite being recorded by an FBI informant responding 'good' when told 'I got Judge Eidson dead for you,' the jury could not reach a verdict.

Cullen's defense strategy was to claim that he believed he was working for the FBI to catch the hitman and not the other way around.

He insisted he had been approached by federal agents, which was never confirmed, and that he'd agreed to help them build a case the hit man. At his retrial, he was acquitted again.

No one else has ever been arrested for Andrea or Farr's murders. In the end, Priscilla was awarded $3million in their divorce.

She struck up a romance with the prosecutor in her ex-husband's case afterwards and the pair planned to get married but never made it down the aisle.

She died in 2001 from breast cancer.

Cullen continues to live in Fort Worth. He married Masters, the girlfriend who he moved on with after his divorce from Priscilla, and adopted her son from a previous marriage.

He still supports him and his innocence.

A born again Christian, Cullen told CBS: 'The only -- admission a person has to make is to God. …The Bible does not require confession of sins to anybody.