lot of boat trips. >> reporter: she watches, and rewatches, the one tape that she still has. >> she was tall, and beautiful, and made everybody laugh. >> she was a loving and caring person. goofy. she had a big heart. and we sure do miss her. >> sonya where did you go? ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ hello, i'm andrea canning, and this is dateline. when >> reporter: they danced on their wedding day as beauty and

the beast, lived the good life until that strange terrible day . >> he found her at home, the barbell was across her throat. >> reporter: dead, a tragic freak accident. or was it? >> i'm like, the weights machine? she does not lift weights. >> reporter: a home gym mysteriously turned death trap. a husband mysteriously turned suspect. ♪ ♪ ♪ hello and welcome to dateline. it is the case of a fit young woman, who died suddenly. her friends and family said it was a freak accident in a jam, the kind of thing that could happen to any wine. equipment does malfunction, at times, but so do relationships. here is dennis murphy, with the beauty and the beast mystery. >> reporter: the images are fuzzy on the old home video of

the wedding reception, but anyone who was there remembers the event vividly. the bride all in whites, the groom he is the dance partner in the goofy beast costume. kind of a strange way to start a marriage, beauty and the beast, but it was a union that would and strangely. last dance, still more than ten years away. lisa, the bride of course had no idea what was in store for the two of them. she collided about with her signature, 50,000 watt smile. >> you cannot fake a smile like that, that was just her. >> reporter: she had been a single mom in raising her son, when she joined her sister for a rare girls night out in fort wayne indiana. there, a big guy a bodybuilder, slipped her his business card. when lisa's party called it a night. in the car going home, she pulled out the business card and showed it to her sister christine.

>> it said jean-claude van damme lookalike. >> reporter: you're kidding? >> and i said you're not going to call that guy are you? >> reporter: but she remembered him didn't she? >> yes. >> reporter: not only remembered, but being pursued who turned out to be scott patterson and worked in construction. within a year they were married. >> she came in on a white carriage, of course, very beautiful. and, she was so happy that day. she was very happy. >> i'm scott patterson, i'm the groom here. this is my wife. >> reporter: when you left the wedding that night lucy how did you feel about your daughter? >> i was happy for her. >> reporter: the newlyweds set up housekeeping in indiana, he became everything contractor, she the go getter marketing manager at a local mall. her son dylan, from a previous relationship grew to call scott

todd. >> growing up i did not really have a fatherly figure. >> reporter: 13 years on, all were living a comfortable life together in a nice big house with acreage out in the complete tree. soaking in hot tubs, snorkeling with sting rays, scott liked that people thought of him as a good time guy, mr. big. >> if you are sky you knew that he wanted everything to be the biggest, and the vast. >> reporter: and he kept up on his fitness regimen, he did not want to slide into flab. kept after lisa to stay in shape with him. her best friend from the mall a woman name leah frazier became leases workout body. >> always conscious about what she was eating, that she was exercising. she would do aerobics and the stepper. >> reporter: he installed some jimmy quitman in the house, jim a treadmill, a weight machine,

a tanning bed. the weight machine, it was there that something catastrophic happened in the morning of july 2nd, 2009. scott in his truck, racing for help calling 9-1-1. >> 9-1-1 with your emergency? >> yes my wife has had an accident at home. >> reporter: as scott spread through summer cornfields, his wife was in the back of the cab in very bad shape, as he told the dispatcher. >> i need an escort or something, to get to the hospital quicker. >> what kind of accident has she had? >> i found her in the workout room, with bars on top of her. >> reporter: scott would say later that he had gone downstairs, just before noon and found his wife straddled face up on the exercise branch, with the barbell weight crushing her throat. >> she's blue, she's not breathing. >> reporter: paramedics intercepted scotts truck minutes from the hospital. a police car followed behind, dashcam rolling. doctors could not revive her. at the age of 36, lisa pattison

was gone. how can any of their friends and family -- with that smile being just a memory now. >> she was always in good spirits, always smiling. >> she was just an amazing woman, through and through. >> reporter: dylan have been up early that morning, off to the job site where he was helping his stepdad and his crew. it had been the quickest of goodbyes to his mom. my last >> words were i loved you, and she said the same thing back. >> reporter: suddenly they, were all gathering at the hospital. dillon got the news from his dad. >> i just lost it. she is the person that i had been dependent on my whole life, and she was gone. >> reporter: lucy's mom was taken to see lisa's body. >> reporter: lisa's best friend from the mall, was likewise saddened.

>> i have lost my best friend, someone who made me a better person [crying], someone who was good. >> reporter: because lisa had been in her prime, sound health, her death was categorized as an attentive. which means the police would take a look before could be ruled an accident. but what else could it be? a woman home alone working out, a husband coming back at launch only to find a ghastly scene in the basement. it could not be anything but an accident, could it? coming up police do some investigating, and something does not make sense. >> i tried cpr, i'm an ex first responder. >> he's turning down 9-1-1 help. >> he had red flags. >> something major knows? twitch. >> yes. when dateline continues

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♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> reporter: when you are an on call detective like wabasha counties mike davis, you know that days off like the outcoming fourth of july sometimes have a way of going up in smoke. the assignment he was catching did not sound like one of those, check out -- of the young woman called in. >> the other detective that worked with me said come on out, i got a case you can work on, a lady passed away on a weight bench. >> reporter: the victim worked at a local mall, lisa paxton.

even as her friends and family were racing towards the hospital, a sheriff's detective took scott aside and the ambulance pay for a brief recorded statement. >> talking with got patterson. >> scott explained what had happened, how he came home from work to shower and eat lunch before an afternoon doctor's appointment for his bad back. lisa had taken the day off. >> i went downstairs, that is when i saw her, on the bench with the weight bar thing, across her neck. >> reporter: he said he lifted the weights off, and started cpr. as an ex first responder he had been trained in that. he said he could not revive her. >> so i acted out of impulse, simply picture up, and carried her upstairs to her in the truck , and that is when i called 9-1- 1. >> reporter: another officer, jason page with the state police was assigned to document his

truck, and examined lisa's body. he found a bruise on the woman 's neck, an aberration on the shoulder. >> reporter: seeing those injuries did explain to you what happens? >> we take it at face value, his her husband stated that he found her, the barbell was across her throat, the injuries seem consistent with that story. >> reporter: signs were pointing to an awful accident, some cleanup paperwork to do and on to the next case. still, the detective whose case it was, the detective davis, elected to bring scott down to the station for a formal videotaped interview. >> first of all scott, i want you to know, i am sorry for your loss. >> reporter: interview began with a more detailed accounting of scott's day. he had got now if he said at quarter to five in the morning, kissed lisa goodbye, made a run to the landfill. he got back home around 6:30, in time to meet his step son

dylan, an employee and, they all headed out to the job site together. >> i did a couple errands, i came home, ballpark 11:30 probably. >> reporter: he said he called out for lisa, but she did not answer. music from downstairs told him that she was working out. 10 to 15 minutes went by before he went downstairs to discover. >> she had a bar across the bench. >> okay what kind of bar was it? >> the bench press bar? okay. >> she was purple, totally purple. her arms were dropped down to her side. >> reporter: he said he lifted the bar off lisa's neck, felt for a pause, then tried to give her cpr on the bench. >> i probably should've called 9-1-1, but i just went straight over picture up, carried her upstairs and threw her in my truck. >> reporter: as he was backing out, he told the detective he

called 9-1-1. >> i had my flashers on -- i was turning that corner, and my wife was in the back seat, and she fell onto the floor. -- you know, it is hard to drive and reach back and hold on to her. >> reporter: he said when he saw the ambulance, he rolled down his window and pulled over. and that's what happens? >> at that time. yes >> reporter: there was something about the way scott was acting that was not passing the detectives smell test. >> i tried cpr, i'm an ex first responder i have tried. this he >> is turning down 9-1-1 help. >> it had red flags to me. >> reporter: then scott was asked about the state of his marriage. >> how is your relationship with lisa? >> is there ever a perfect marriage? >> well i don't know. >> reporter: they had been married for 13 years, scott

said, just a few months ago they filed for divorce. >> when you say we, do you mean you are. her >> why are we going to divorce her? >> i had an affair. >> reporter: an affair. but he insisted the relationship with the other woman was over, in fact the divorce with lisa was on hold, they had had a change of heart and we're trying to work things out. >> okay, so there is something else we're going to look into. >> reporter: after taking his statement, they did a physical check of the husband. noting, no fresh injuries on his face, arms, or hands, routine stuff. then the officers headed out to the patterson home. the crime scene agents camcorder documented a house in pristine condition. no forced entry signs, nothing to suggest a struggle. they did note to exterior cameras, they checked the recorder in the garage and the dvd tray was empty.

>> didn't get lucky. there >> didn't get lucky. >> downstairs in the weight room they found the weight bench. it was not a freeway like they had a measured, but something like called a smith machine. a professional gym device, where the way barr goes up and down between two cylindrical whales. it weighed about 105 pounds with weights attached. investigator page took a close look at the apparatus to see if it's supported his story. he talked us through the analysis. >> this is the way tantrum the patterson home. >> reporter: he noticed two things right away. >> when he lay down on the bench as it was set up a lined up not with his chest, but rather with his neck, so if you complete the lift it would align with the body in this fashion. >> or on the throw, it matched scott's story. >> reporter: also making a note of a circular smudge on the bar itself, had that spot been left by lisa's neck. it looked like body -- perhaps

sweat. >> so you suspect that this part of the bar was making contact. >> it appeared that way to. me >> reporter: that fit with the husband's account as well. when he tried the machine, it appeared to be in with working order he could not make it feel accidentally. when in use it was fairly easy to re-rack using a hook along the frame. >> when you complete your repetitions, once they are complete, rotate your wrists and these hooks engage. >> reporter: but, maybe something important. to safety stoppers which would have afforded a lift or extra for attention was resting on used. >> when these are engaged a gives you an added layer of safety. that's all cold air in place, but if you don't have -- that >> reporter: no safety stoppers. >> if the bar slipped while in use it could have plummeted onto her neck with bone breaking force. >> could thank.

theoretically could it be a fatal accident? >> oh yes, i would certainly consider fatal. >> reporter: there it was, perhaps it happened just as he said. certainly nothing jumped out screaming homicide. still, an important voice and not been heard from yet, and that was the medical examiner. his autopsy proved to be crucial. >> reporter: the medical examiner uncovers a small clue, one almost invisible to the naked eye. but, it could have a big impact on the case. coming up getting that information, at that moment, did the case change for you? >> absolutely. when dateline continues absolut. when dateline continue i saw how easily it picked up my hair every time i dried it! only takes a minute. look at that! the heavy duty cloths are extra thick, for amazing trap & lock. even for his hair. wow. and for dust, i love my heavy duty duster. the fluffy fibers trap dust on contact, up high and all around

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♪ ♪ ♪ >> reporter: 36 year old, lisa pattison was dead. detective mike davis and crime scene investigator jason page for not sure yet what kind of case, if any, they had. on the suspicious side of the ledger, lisa's husband scott raised red flags when he declined emergency services help, as he raced with his wife to the hospital. likewise, what he said about that drive in a recorded interview -- >> it's harder to drive and reach back -- there >> i wouldn't think someone would refer to their loved one as a body, when you are claiming that she is not even dead yet. >> reporter: still, maybe it was a freak accident. first pass look of the way

branch that lisa had been on when she died suggested an accident was plausible. after the autopsy, the medical examiner did not find anything to explain a sudden death. nothing like a stroke or heart attack. she had been in good health. what the autopsy did provide, was an unexpected finding. something that now made the investigators very troubled. lisa had died, not from a sudden crushing blow to the neck, guillotine effect, but a slow neck compression, as if the barbell had rested on her throat and gradually cut off her air supply. >> you tested the machine at the house, when you let go of that bar it was a very convincing thunk on the bench. >> oh yeah. >> reporter: you would have seen that on the autopsy here? >> i would've expected crushed bones in her neck, did not find them. >> reporter: what had happened to lisa patterson that morning? >> we know that her neck had

not been crushed, her spine had not been fractured, no stroke, no harder tack, we did not know what we had. >> reporter: meanwhile people who knew her breast wondered what she was doing on the weight bench in the first place. christine smith knew her sister liked to work out, but she was a treadmill girl not weightlifting. >> she was doing treadmill, more aerobics stuff. and the dead woman's best friend from the mall, leah, knew that she could not lift heavy things, not with the neck injury she suffered from a minor car accident. even in the holiday ornaments in the storage room were too much for her. >> i did the lifting, i did the boxes, i did the carrying up. the weight machine? she does not lift weights. >> reporter: then there was the elephant in the room, or subject her friends and family did not feel comfortable putting words to. that was how they felt about scott, all the years he'd been married to lisa, impressions that ran from self-centered jerk to nasty drill info

specter. now they're asking if scott had something to do with the so- called accident in the basement. >> there he is, asleep [laughter] . he was lisa's husband but the rest of the family did not get. it he had been an awkward fit. at holiday gatherings they could not help but notice how tough he was on lisa's son dylan, bossing him around like a raw recruits and meeting out harsh punishments for the slightest miss step. dilemma called what he was ordered to do, when the boy neglected to take out the morning mail. >> it was six in the morning, he actually said, take your clothes off, leave your underwear on, and you are going to walk out to the mailbox. i always wanted a better fatherly figure. >> reporter: when it came to his mom, he could put on the

charm. >> oh for pietz sake. >> reporter: but to lisa's mother and sister, scott never measured up. >> i wanted her to be with someone that totally respected her. and, loved her with all their heart and, i did not see that with scott. >> reporter: it was not a big dark family secret that lisa and scott had been crashing into the rocks for a while. he was having an affair, and lisa found out, they talked divorce. when lisa visited her sister at her home in virginia, about a month before she died, without saying as much she telegraphed that the marriage was over. sister christine acted as her financial adviser. >> she said well, i need to make some changes on my life insurance policy. when she said that to me, i knew that she was getting ready to leave. >> reporter: how much was the policy for? >> $450,000. >> reporter: naming scott and

her son is coburn a fisheries, quietly changed to dylan alone. she had not gotten back by the day lisa died. the day after lisa died, the family met at the mall where she used to work. scott had gotten wind of the policy change. went to the sister in law and asked insurance questions. >> basically if he signed it? >> reporter: he want to know if he was off the policy? >> right. >> reporter: back at the sheriff's office, jason page was still puzzling through the autopsy results. death by slow pressure to the windpipe, rather than a bone crushing -- >> were left with the neck impression, a slow neck impression. >> reporter: then the medical examiner came up with an additional finding, and it would be significant for investigator page. >> on her back, from her neck down to her waistline, he noticed what appeared to be petechiae.

>> miniscule bruises, hardly visible to the naked eye. not just on the back of her neck were pressure was applied by the bar, but down her back and along her waist as well. what could have caused that? >> perhaps, somebody straddled her and sat on her chest, or torso at the time of death. >> reporter: straddling her? but she had been home alone working out. the all but invisible bruising was not enough to rule it's a homicide, but it did set a fire under the investigators. getting that information how did it change for you? >> absolutely, you are now following a homicide. >> reporter: a theory of homicide, but the case was mostly innuendo. they needed to come up with hard evidence to show to a prosecutor. they needed a lucky break. as it turned out, one was a phone call a way. coming up there has been

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i'm richard louis with your ourselves stories, the u.s. warplanes striking dozens of targets in iraq and syria in retaliation for more than 160 attacks on u.s. troops. the latest of which a drone strike in jordan, killed three u.s. soldiers. signs of trouble in the georgia federal election case, against donald trump in georgia the district attorney there confirming an intimate relationship with the top prosecutor. and, in d.c. there, judge dropped the march 4th trial date from the calendar pending an appeals court decision. now back to dateline. to datel ♪ ♪ ♪ welcome back to

dateline, i'm andrea canning. lisa patterson's husband told police he came home to find his wife dead in their home jam. but, police are about to discover new evidence that suggests otherwise. once again, here is dennis murphy with the beauty mystery. >> reporter: it is funny in criminal investigations how sometimes things fall into your lap from the most unexpected places. that is what happened in the middle of july, 2009. lisa had been dead for a couple of weeks. detective mike davis have been ahead of his desk preparing subpoenas for the patterson case, when he took a call from the manager of a local burglar alarm company. he told the detectives that one of his salesman had gotten off the phone with the customer, who had some questions about how his home surveillance system worked. the customer was scott patterson. did the cops want to know something more about this. detective davis said indeed they did, and explain how they went out to the partisan house and

checked out the video set up. notice when they pick popped the tray on the recorder, there was no dvd. no dvd no pictures right? detective davis almost fell out of his chair when he heard what the burglar alarm man said next. >> he said you don't need one that records to a hard drive. my mouth just kind of opened up. >> reporter: a hard drive. the detective got a warrant and screamed over to the patterson house, the recorder still untouched in the garage. what a video festival the detective was about to have. >> this is july 2nd, 2009 looking from his garage to the side here. the unblinking camera documented scott's run to the landfill at five a.m.. it's motion detectors came alive, an hour and a half later as he got back home to hook up with dylan and his employee as they head out to the job site. the camera was showing, the same thing that scott had talked to the detective about.

>> reporter: so it's a good accounting of his day at this point? >> sure. >> reporter: and then scott's timeline went haywire. remember, scott told the cops he did not get back to the house that morning until 11:30, just a few minutes before he came upon lisa in trouble. >> i came home, ballpark 11:30. >> reporter: but what did the surveillance system have to say, a completely different story. >> who is the head? . >> that was scott patterson, no question at all. 8:32 atm. >> reporter: not 11:30, 8:30 to 8 am. scott paterson is walking in the door. what do you say to one another? >> holy cow, he really did it, he really killed her. >> reporter: fast forward around 10 am, this time in a change of clothes, a t-shirt and shorts. talking into a cell phone outside the garage. zap forward, 11:40, he has changed again, back in work

pants. then, at 12:10 he's on the move, it backs into frame and off he goes to the hospital with lisa in the backseat. when wabash county prosecutor laid eyes on the video, he knew he finally had a case. >> i got goosebumps, i was like oh my goodness. >> reporter: in september 2009, a grand jury convened. a week later, scott paterson was indicted for murder. detective davis handcuffed scott at his mom's house, and escorted him to the wabash county jail. the state of indiana versus scott patterson, went to trial in late october 2010. the key, prosecutor hartley told the jury was the timeline. scott's own security camera video was the star witness against him. no cameras were allowed in court, but they were audiotaped. >> but these are still images from his own system show that

he had been home that whole time. >> reporter: hardly brought the weight bench into the courtroom, and planted it right before the jury. crime scene investigator jason page demonstrated for the panel, how lisa should have been able to wriggle out, given that she was in good health and it had not blocked down on her throw with force. a demonstrator he later repeated for dateline. >> reporter: how much effort to 50 expand to get these folks to catch? >> it's a turn of the race. >> reporter: and then you are out of trouble? or failing that the investigator says, lisa could have used her shoulder to shimmy off to the side. could you wriggle out from under there? >> yes i could you do it like this. >> reporter: but, if someone had been straddling over her, sitting on her chest preventing her from reracking that bar. you're in a very bad way. you're in a bad situation.

>> reporter: dead and 30 seconds, or unconscious? >> i don't want to speculate, but i don't think it would take very long. >> reporter: if the government's theory that scott has straddled his wife and killed her was correct, a question is why do it. prosecutors say money was not a small thing for scott, it would have cost. tim >> he owns trucks in this business, probably concerned he would have to split that with lisa. >> reporter: then there was the business of being dropped from lisa's insurance policy. his share a quarter of 1 million dollar windfall. investigators have excavated another rich mine of clues. that had to do with the other woman that he admitted having an affair with. he claimed it was all over by the time of her death. >> do you still have a relationship with a female? >> reporter: the prosecution responded that it was not, not by a long shot. and the real headline grabber, was that the other woman was a prominent person in the

community. the former chief of staff to the mayor of marion indiana, a woman name stacey henderson, a wife of a local police officer. in exchange for immunity, prosecutor hartley put henderson on the stand. she testified that she was still involved with scott on the day lisa died. >> july 2000, i am for you in love with scott. >> yes. >> did you tell him? that >> yes. >> reporter: to underscore the point in polled strokes, the prosecutor introduced scott's phone records. the logs reveal on july 2nd, the day of her death, scott and stacey who was away on vacation, exchanged no fewer than 130 text messages. plotting the calls and texts on a timeline, you can see that not only is stacey on the receiving end of scott's 10 am call seen on the security cam video, she is also getting a

text message from scott that is three characters law longer while he's driving his wife to the hospital. >> here he is driving his wife to the hospital, but he has the state of mind to think about his girlfriend, and sent her a text message. >> reporter: so there it was, a divorce in which scott would likely lose part of his business, life insurance policy in which he would gain a bundle, and a continuing relationship with the girlfriend with whom he seems very much involved. part of the circumstantial pieces of the puzzle, and lisa's death was no accident. it was now the defense's opportunity to chip away at the case. >> scotty of anything to say? no >> i do not raining the say. did >> you kill lisa? >> no i did not. >> time will tell. coming up, at trial the defense comes out swinging. >> there was no physical evidence that proved to me that scott patterson murdered his

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♪ ♪ ♪ >> reporter: and wabash indiana, the scott patterson murder trial was riveting stuff. a bizarre alleged -- damning security cam pics, thought not to be recorded. and a prominent other woman on the receiving end of a blaze of calls and texts of the accused, on the day of the wife's death. now the defense, led by veteran attorney stanley campbell had a small mountain to climb. the team started with the illicit girlfriend, stacey henderson. a fling the defense contended,

not a romance for the ages. >> there was no evidence that mr. pattison was thinking about killing his wife, or that he was going to kill his wife for this other woman. >> reporter: so what about the flurry of text messages? just routine chitchat. the three character tax, sent by scott on the way to the hospital, that was benign too. >> do you remember what the message was? >> reporter: the numbers 9-1-1, simply signaling to someone he loved that he was under duress. the phone call at ten a.m., seen on the surveillance video was henderson said more of the same, just checking in on each other's day so far. >> did scott ever indicate to you that he was responsible for lisa's death? >> no. >> reporter: as for the divorce, maybe it was on hold just as scott told the cops. a retainer fee for lisa's attorney had been returned to her bank account.

about scott being taken off her insurance policy, the defense claims that scott knew nothing of that until dylan told her hour told him hours after lisa died. not being husband of the year with this kind of evidence, or nothing to say he was the killer. >> nothing to say he was the killer, no. >> reporter: so if he are the defense what you do about the way branch? deference team said police never understood the difficulty of getting out from underneath its grab. sure a fifth state trooper kimbrell out from 105 pounds, but what about lisa who is not used to working out with weights. maybe she was tired, or disoriented. plus accidental's fixation is not unheard of in these types of machines. referencing a case in iowa about a young boy working out alone, similar equipment, he suffocated, an accidental death. >> who dies on a branch farhan? that's bizarre, that's strange, people in iowa died on bench bars. >> reporter: in that iowa case

the safety stops had not been secured in place, just as they had not on the partisan machine. the defense moved on. it would call its own expert witness the, medical examiner from kentucky named dr. greg davis. giving a counter explanation with the minute bruising with the funny name, the petechiae. >> >> reporter: after reviewing the autopsy photos, dr. davis concluded that the bruises were not pity gear caused by someone straddling her when she died, but rather bruises that occur naturally when blood cools after death. >> pro bowl, discoloration can be easily mistaken for petechiae but they are caused by a different mechanism. >> reporter: same witness offered a different picture of the murder scenario, had scott patterson indeed been on top of her pressing the bar down, dr. davis said he would expect to see more significant damage to her neck. >> i would expect to see

fracture of the cartilage right there, the item sample, more injury. >> reporter: they talk to their jurors about a toxicology report that showed what the defense characterized, as a dangerous cocktail of drugs in her system. particularly our diet drug, that is down to produce side effects like fainting spells, and irregular heartbeats. lisa, the defense said, had three times the therapeutic amount of that drug and her system. >> she's already exerting herself, heart pounding, that could tip her over the edge. at that point, the bar comes down on her neck. it could take anywhere from just a few seconds at that point, for unconsciousness to occur. >> that quick? >> that quickly. >> reporter: the conclusion from the expert witness, lisa patterson's death is not a homicide, but one of an undetermined cause. >> there was no physical evidence that proved to me that scott patterson murdered his wife. >> reporter: what about the defense's biggest obstacle?

the damning surveillance cam video. they conceded that scott lied to the police about not coming until 11:30 in the morning. his rationale, said the defense, was that scott knew right away that husbands was suddenly dead wives always looks suspicious in police eyes. he simply panicked and made the bad choice of lying about his timeline. but a liar, is not a killer argued the defense. >> the fact that he was there does not necessarily mean that he was responsible for her death. >> reporter: a lot of people look at this case a lot of people ask, why didn't you destroy the tapes? >> well, maybe, the answer is that if you have not done anything wrong you don't have any concern or fear about what will be on the tapes. >> reporter: and by the way, when you think lisa fighting for her life would have been able to put some scratches or marks on scott, but there were nine. i did all of, the defense

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♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> reporter: after three weeks and nearly 30 witnesses, the case against scott pattison was finally in the hands of the jury. either they believed the defenses version, lisa pattison's death on a weight bench was a horrible accident. or, they were convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant killed his wife by suffocating her with a barbell. upstairs in the jury room, tense deliberations began. >> it was game on, it was time, it is your decision. >> reporter: we spoke with four from pattison's 12 member jury, the first order of business a strong vote. foreman larry vaughan was stunned by the results. >> 75, and that shocked me. >> reporter: that's a big gap. >> yes that's huge. >> reporter: seven guilty, five not. for those in the guilty camp, the pivotal piece of evidence they say was the surveillance

tape. scott at home, when lisa died, and then lying about his day to the police. those voting not guilty, like sure dan ford were not convinced. >> that makes him a liar, not necessarily a murderer. >> reporter: the jurors did agree on one thing, mistress stacey henderson. to the jurors eyes scott pattison was still very much smitten. >> one of the questions was are you still in love with scott? i watched scott's reaction when she said now, he was devastated. >> reporter: as for the petechiae bruising, for the jury not so much. the >> petechiae just did not do it for me either way. >> grated it was there, very hard for us to see. >> reporter: as the jurors debate, the absence of evidence placing him in the workout room kept them locked in and even balance. there is >> no smoking gun, no witnesses that this happened. it depended on us making what we thought was the right

decision. >> reporter: eight hours of deliberations swayed one side to agree with the other. word came down, that a verdict had been reached. lisa's sister christine held hands with family praying. >> i kept envisioning the word guilty in my mind, it has got to be guilty. >> the verdict reads as follows we the jury, find the defendant guilty of the crime of murder, felony. >> reporter: guilty as charged. lisa's family could not hold back the tears. >> we just could not stop, we were just weeping of relief. >> reporter: scott hung his head when the verdict was read, remained silent and stonefaced as he was escorted back to jail. >> scotty of anything else to say? >> reporter: teachers said the foremost factor that breach the divide was an experiment that they conducted in the courtroom. they asked the judge if they can re-examine the weight bench. one of the female jurors agreed to play lisa. they wanted to know how easy it

would be to wriggle out from behind the bar. >> it wasn't two seconds, and she was out. and we said okay one of you ladies, straddle her and do the same thing. she could not move. >> reporter: lisa pattison died on a hard july morning, on a cold december day scott was sentenced. the judge cited harm to leases signed dillon gave him a sentence of 60 years. >> july 2nd in 2009 you were a human disaster leaving death and destruction in your wake. >> reporter: scott left the courtroom, defiant, and pledged continued silence. >> scottie everything to say? >> a wise man's better to keep his mouth shot, that's what i'm going to do. >> reporter: scott declined datelines request for an interview. the beauty from all those years ago is gone. friends and family who tested them, or left to reflect on whether her life's companion really was the beast,

in more than just costume. was the last face she saw that of her husband, looming over her using the bar down onto her throat? >> i hope not. i hope that is not the last thought she had, of someone she had loved, someone she thought had loved her. someone she was loyal to. >> reporter: in the months following lisa's murder, her son dylan had to come to terms with the best he could with that terrible day, and the man he wants called dad. people believe scott patterson murdered your mother? >> i do,. >> reporter: press the bar into her? throw >> yes i do. >> reporter: why? >> greed, money. >> reporter: stuff that really means nothing. >> stuff that means nothing. >> reporter: dillon by all accounts is doing well. with the steady support of friends, and his mother's family, he is doing his best to navigate life without his guiding star.

>> the worst part is not hearing i love you from her, not hearing her words of encouragement, not hearing hey you are an awesome kid, keep out the great work. >> reporter: what has he stolen from you? >> my precious lisa. just her smile. she would call me the, you know, every morning and say hi mom. took that away from me. so, just our whole family is not complete without her. >> reporter: there will always be an empty chair at the family table. only images of the smile, and memories remain. that is all for this edition of dateline. i'm andrea cannon, thanks for watching. cannon, thanks for watching. good morning, right now on this special two hour weekend