prays, to, for justice and closure and how to make peace with a loss they will never understand. >> over six years i haven't focused anything else except for getting justice. there is no closing the book. me and my sister grew up doing everything together, i mean everything. how do you say goodbye to something like that? >> he had a special bond. there are tons or i think, i need to tell brittany about this or you can't call her, you can't email her, you can't text her. all i can do now is go to her grave. and that is not good enough. it's never going to be good enough. that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin, thank you for watching. melvin, thank you for watching. amanda jennings: i see her laying there. my dad is kneeling. hello, i'm craig melvin. and this is dateline.

>> i see her laying there, my dad is kneeling. that was the first time i had ever seen him cry. >> they had a tumultuous marriage. they would be yelling and maybe slamming doors. >> according to him he sees lisa with a gunshot wound to the head. so initially it's ruled a suicide. her sister went to the missouri state highway patrol to express their belief that this, in fact, was a murder. >> she had been having an affair with her boss. >> the prosecutor says, after he shot his wife, he washed his hands and washed his forearms. >> the coldest back in the room and started the trial. >> i thought they made one of the worst mistakes i had ever heard of. >> it was obvious there was something that just wasn't right. >> the only thing i ever wanted was for everyone to hear the

truth. i told him that i would fight with everything i had in me. that is the promise i made. ♪ ♪ ♪ hello, and welcome to dateline. for many, the holiday season is a special time, but for the jennings family, one christmas eve turned into a waking nightmare. there is an argument followed by a gunshot, then a frantic call to police. lisa jennings was a dead. the question for detectives was, did she take her own life or was this murder? here is keith morrison with, a crack in everything. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> reporter: it was his secret. the secret gift. it was christmas eve in the year 2006. a little farm, not far from a

little town, called buffalo. buffalo, missouri. on that farm, in a fine new house that brad and lisa jennings had built further family the stockings were hung, the children were snug in their beds, and lisa was sitting up, very late, drinking wine and crying. meaning, well, who knew? but, for one thing, with lisa in the way, brad couldn't sneak that secret of his into her stocking, which started the flooring argument, the slamming doors, and the sudden silence. before amanda woke up to the sound of her dad and 9-1-1. >> he is very hysterical. he's crying, can't really say anything other than get here quick, get here quick. i heard that two or three times. >> reporter: such a complicated detail with its secrets, lies,

shifting loyalties. and here, of all places, this throwback to an idealized mass. >> we hunted mushrooms, we picked up walnuts. >> reporter: they were inseparable children, brad and his older sister marcia. >> he was my playmate. we depended on each other. >> reporter: marcia became a nurse, brad ran the farm. the center of their family since 1853. that christmas, 2006, brad and lisa had been married 18, mostly, happy years. >> we had a fairly good life. >> reporter: there were three kids. amanda, 16 that christmas eve. dallas who was 11 then. laci, lisa's daughter from a first marriage was 19 and had just moved into her own place in town and, as amanda said, life was fairly good. >> we would do lots of things, go out on vacation a lot, go out to eat, dad made good money so we were good on that end. >> it seemed like a very good

and stable environment. >> reporter: brad loved cars. especially classic muscle cars and -- the super sport he had so carefully restored. >> by the time he was 12 he was redoing motors and helping put motors in and out of different vehicles. >> reporter: so brad opened a used car dealership. >> he was a great people person. i guess you have to be when you deal with cars and stuff. >> reporter: their mom, lisa? >> very pretty. she could be really happy, the life of a party kind of person. >> reporter: brad ran the far and his car business, lisa worked at a local internet company. >> she was really good at it. >> she became their top employee. >> reporter: at home, lisa was the mom who actually liked

video games, with dallas mostly. video games and movies. >> we had a big projector screen that we would put on the wall and watch movies really big. >> reporter: did it seem like a happy household, overall? >> yes. >> reporter: but of course there is, as leonard cohen used to saying, a crack in everything. and in the jennings house, those with a sudden blow ups when the moved went dark and the kids would scatter. >> they would fight every couple of weeks, or something. mostly later in the evening, at night, after they had been drinking. there would be yelling and maybe slamming doors, things like that. but just arguing about everything. >> we never really thought too much about it. >> reporter: anyway, now it was that calamitous christmas eve, 2006. as always there had been a happy dinner celebration with brad's side of the family. >> christmas eve we would go to my grandma's, they're in town.

>> reporter: then back home, games and stockings stuffing, and of course -- >> we would wake up real early and open the presents. >> reporter: lisa had no idea that brad had brought her a 3500 dollar diamond ring, getting the kids to help him pick it out. he waited for a chance to hide it in her stocking, but lisa kept fiddling on the computer and the kids were playing a board game. >> i think it was monopoly. >> we just played downstairs for a while, then went up to our rooms. >> reporter: it was well after midnight when they heard the raised voices downstairs. >> i heard the yelling and everything. it was like a normal flight, like they would always have. >> reporter: then a door slammed, which meant brad had gone out to his workshop to cool down. but with laci home for the holidays was furious. another fight, this one on no christmas eve no less? and about some stupid thing? she was done.

>> my sister tried to go downstairs, and get into her -- one of the last things i heard my mom saying was something like, i would never disrespect my parents that way. >> reporter: laci was just fed up, was she? >> she couldn't believe they would fight on christmas. >> then more door slamming and laci was out of there. >> she went back to her house in buffalo. >> reporter: by the time she left your dad was outside in the workshop? you didn't know where he was, right? >> he was outside. he does that a lot, he would go outside to his shop. >> reporter: so amanda sighed and closed her eyes and drifted off. then, sometime after 1:30 a.m., that loud frantic of sound. her father on 9-1-1. she ran downstairs to her parents bedroom. >> i opened the door and i see her laying there and my dad is kneeling next to her. and as soon as i had opened the door he gets up and kind of pulls me out of the room and he

is hugging me and crying. >> reporter: their mother was dead. of that, there was no doubt. but how? and why? and who? coming up -- what had happened in that bedroom? >> i didn't realize the gravity of it. i thought there had been an accident, that she was on the way to the hospital. the truth would be much worse. >> reporter: did you have any inkling, any suspicion that brad might have done something? >> when dateline continues. don >> when dateline continues. and could reactivate. shingles strikes as a painful, blistering rash that can last for weeks. and it could wake at any time. think you're not at risk for shingles? it's time to wake up. because shingles could wake up in you. if you're over 50, talk to your doctor or pharmacist about shingles prevention.

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keith morrison: dallas jennings was only 11 helps deliver the ultimate clean. that awful christmas morning in 2006, the morning he lost his mother. and it's probably a blessing that something in his brain has blocked the memory. a lot of it's a blur to me. >> 16 areporter: dallas jenning was only 11 that awful christmas morning in 2006, the morning he lost his mother and probably a blessing that something in his brain has blocked the memory. >> a lot of it is a blur to me. >> reporter: amanda, 16 and the dime, remembers every dreadful detail. >> just shock, and obviously very upset. but didn't know what to do. was very hard. >> reporter: and the amulets arrived and policeman? >> they all arrived and we had to leave the house so we can do all our work. so we went outside and waited in my truck, because it was cold out. >> what, just huddled together. did you talk much? >> talk, but mostly silence.

i remember dallas kept saying she is going to be okay. he did not really know what had happened, because he did not see her or nothing, no one was really saying what happened. and my dad was sitting over in the passenger seat just a mess and i was the first time i had ever seen him cry. >> news of this sort spread very fast, but often in confused or incomplete or fuzzy bits. so when brad's sister marsha heard something happened at the farm -- >> i didn't realize the gravity of it. i thought there had been an accident and she was on the way to the hospital. >> reporter: it was anything but an accident. lisa was gone, dead at 39, killed by a bullet at close range to the head. brad to local sheriffs deputies how he argued with lisa. then went out to his workshop to cool off. and when he came back in maybe 20 minutes later, he found her on the bedroom floor, his

handgun nearby. so deputies tested his hands for gunshot residue. they did the same for brad and laci, that, to tell them who fired the gun. and lisa's right-hand tested positive for gunshot residue. brad and laci came out negative, meaning lisa, for reasons unknown, must have killed herself. >> reporter: did it make sense to you that she would commit suicide? >> nothing made sense to me that night. >> reporter: yeah, i bet. >> i had heard statements, you know, that she was troubled about reaching 40. she had had cosmetic surgery, could be a red flag. >> reporter: brad and lisa's brother-in-law paul bryan was stricken. what did they miss? >> all the kids loved lisa. she was just fun. >> reporter: lisa had seemed so together. she loved family events, loved having kids around. >> there was never a time that

lisa did not want the kids to spend the night or to stay. and she might end up with five or six different children spending the night. >> reporter: it was fine with her? >> yeah, she loved it. >> reporter: now, this accommodating fun loving woman was dead. it was all very shocking. >> it's not like a long illness or something to get prepared. this was sudden and. -- >> reporter: the idea that should commit suicide so readily and violently like that. >> brad was not something that would be expected. >> reporter: of course, the alternative was really quite unthinkable. >> did you have any inkling or suspicion that brad may have had something to do with it? >> i had none. brad called me on christmas morning and you could tell he was still terribly distraught.

so that morning i came over and he told me the whole story. and no, it never crossed my mind. >> reporter: in fact, after all the lab test results were in the dallas county sheriff, coroner, and prosecutor all ruled lisa's that suicide. the local newspaper, the buffalo reflex, quoted the prosecutor, who said there is zero evidence to show otherwise. >> reporter: so you had no sense anyway, no reason to think it was anything other than what the coroner and sheriff said it was? >> absolutely not. >> reporter: but there were others in the family. and they were not so sure but. >> reporter: it starts with suspicion. lisa's sister feels compelled to share what she knows. coming up -- >> she went to the missouri state highway patrol to express their belief that this in fact was a murder. >> reporter: and an investigators prime suspect?

brad jennings. >> they started ask me questions about brad. and he goes, what did -- they do you about his wife having an affair? >> when dateline continues. >> when dateline continues. icy hot. ice works fast. ♪♪ heat makes it last. feel the power of contrast therapy. ♪♪ so you can rise from pain. icy hot.

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keith morrison: it's a sweet little piece of america-- buffalo, missouri, population 3,000 or so, where people tend to know each other's business. and where brad could have a best friend he met when they were both in diapers. >> reporter: it's a sweettt little piece of america, buffalo, missouri, population 3000 or so, for people tend to know each other's business. and where brad could have a best

friend he met when they're both in diapers. so of course, dale potter rushed over to see brad that very christmas morning. >> he just kept saying why, dale, why did she do this? he was a mess. >> reporter: all those guns you see in the background there? dale owns buffalo's only gun and pawnshop. so lisa when's death was declared to be suicide and the sheriff return brad's gun, the one that killed or, brad called dale. >> he said i don't want the gun back. >> reporter: can imagine why you would. >> he said i don't want it, and you want it, dale? i cleaned it up, and forgot about it. >> reporter: and the family tried to move on. didn't pay much attention when lacey began saying odd things. >> you know, mom was murdered, blah, blah, blah. >> reporter: murdered? not like anything but an accusation, aggressive or unfriendly. >> she didn't act any different with that.

she still came around. he still helped her. >> reporter: but sometimes, the smaller your town, the less you know about what your neighbors are saying behind your back, nothing in your face, nothing like that. >> it was way more subtle than that. >> reporter: how do you mean? >> probably everyone else was talking about it, but they didn't talk at us about it. >> reporter: no, they didn't. but lisa's younger sister shawn was talking. >> she saw a rocky marriage and her sister would not be someone who would commit suicide. >> reporter: this is steve -- who writes a column in the springfield news leader called poking around, which he did. and this discovered that lisa's sister shawn cuddly soon after that deadly christmas morning. >> in early january, she went to the office the missouri state patrol to express their belief that this was in fact a murder. >> reporter: she lucked into a highly experienced detective named dan nash. >> longtime investigator, who's

been involved in several high- profile murder cases in the ozarks. >> reporter: when sergeant nash took one look at that file, something forensic seemed off. he was inclined to agree with shawn, didn't look like suicide at all. >> he was just struck by the fact that if lisa jennings shot herself using a right hand, there would be more blowback and one drop of blood. >> reporter: three months after that christmas eve, investigator nash drove over to brad's farm, told him he was looking at the case again. >> and wanted the bathrobe that mr. jennings was wearing that night. >> reporter: the robe he had on when -- dead and found her in his arms. >> reporter: why three months later would a bathrobe be at any use at all? truly it cleaned or something after this event. >> apparently, it had not. mr. jennings had spent a little time going back into that bedroom, where from his

perspective, his wife had taken her life. >> reporter: brad gave nash the black bathrobe, and sure enough, that still had blood on it. so the ransom tests and kept in touch with brad. >> he was question a couple of times. >> then a month later, this was april now, the sheriff came to call at dale potter's gun and pawn. >> and he says i'm here to seize the jennings gun. >> reporter: then a few weeks after that, a guy and t-shirt and khakis walked. and >> he was a sergeant within missouri state patrol, and said i'm here to investigate the murder of lisa jennings. i said, what are you talking about? murder, he was in the, paper ruled a suicide. and he said no, he killed her. >> that wasn't all. >> reporter: any goes what did jennings say to you about his wife having an affair? i said he never said we're vote's wife having an affair. why, was she? and he said yes, he can prove

it. well, that explains a lot. he said, you mean why he killed her? i said no, why she did this. i said maybe everything caught up with her, you know. >> reporter: meaning, thought dale, something about the affair pushed her over the edge. then dale offered the sergeant a little family history. >> i said you do no, don't you, that her dad killed himself? and he said your full of crap. he said her dad is alive, and lives way back. i said, no, your full of crap. her stepdad lives in windyville. her real dad killed herself out in kansas years ago. >> reporter: another family suicide? an affair? just where was this investigation going? >> coming up -- a determined detective. >> -- told me straight-up i've never been -- >> in a confused friend. >> reporter: what did you think? >> i thought they made the

worst mistakes i've ever heard of. >> when dateline continues. >> when dateline continues. and it began her family's touching story that is still going on today. vicki: childhood cancer, it's just hard. stacey passed on christmas day of 1986. there is no pain like losing a child, but saint jude gave us more years to love on her each day. marlo thomas: you can join the battle to save lives. for just $19 a month, you'll help us continue the lifesaving research and treatment these kids need now and in the future. jessica: i remember as a child, walking the halls of saint jude, and watching my sister fight for her life. we never imagined that we would come back. and then my son charlie was diagnosed with ewing's sarcoma. vicki: i'm thinking, we already had a catastrophic disease in our family. not my grandson too.

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two leading candidates for senate. two very different visions for california. steve garvey, the leading republican, is too conservative for california. he voted for trump twice and supported republicans for years, including far right conservatives. adam schiff, the leading democrat, defended democracy against trump and the insurrectionists. he helped build affordable housing, lower drug costs, and bring good jobs back home. the choice is clear. i'm adam schiff, and i approve this message.

i, i'm richard louis with the hours top stories. new details were revealed sunday of 118 billion dollar senate deal on the border and foreign aid. the bipartisan bill is aimed at turning u.s. immigration and asylum laws and also providing you support israel and ukraine. and former president trump leading president biden by five percentage points in the latest nbc news 2024 election poll. biden also trails trump by more than 20 points on the question of which candidate would handle the economy. now back to dateline. omy. now back to dateline. hands of sergeant dan nash, >> reporter: welcome back to dateline. i'm craig melvin. lisa jennings had gone from a single gunshot to the head, her death ruled a suicide. but the file was now in the hands of sergeant dan nash, and to him, the details were not adding up. he believed lisa had been murdered and that her husband,

brad, was the trigger man. now, nash was about to pay brad a visit and the already fractured family would be torn apart. once again, here's keith morrison with a crack in everything. >> reporter: probably everybody in buffalo, missouri, knew that brad jennings, the apparently grieving husband, was now a murder suspect. everyone waiting for something to happen . and in july 2007, seven months after lisa's death, it did. >> i was about a mile from his house, and it about two or three highway patrol sergeants in the sheriff's top interested him, took him to the county jail. >> reporter: what did you think? >> i thought they had made one of the worst mistakes i had ever heard of. >> later, we were told there were people around that knew it was going to happen. >> reporter: people like lisa's sister, shawn, who went to the highway patrol in the first place.

and lisa's daughter from her first marriage, laci. we asked for interviews. they declined. >> when my dad got arrested, laci and shawn showed up at the house to pick me and dallas up, and then my grandma showed up as well to pick us up. and my aunt and my grandma kind of got into it. >> reporter: it sounds to me that is sort of the moment when the family broke apart? >> that's when it really blew open. that's when, you know, laci quit coming around and everything fell apart. >> reporter: that, evening brad's brother-in-law paul, who's married lisa to's other sister, said he met with the highway patrol sergeant and patrol investigation. >> and i asked the one patrol officer if he's ever been wrong, because a small part of me wished, or hopes, that he's correct. because if not, he's going to ruin a lot of people's lives. and he looked at me and told me straight-up i've never been wrong. >> reporter: never been wrong? >> never been wrong. >> reporter: was this

investigator dan nash? >> it was. >> reporter: brad posted a 1 million dollar bond and allowed to remain free until his trial. brad's attorney said the state had no case. >> every time i spoke with him, he said it couldn't go to trial. he didn't say it wouldn't, he said it couldn't. >> reporter: was still saying that the friday before the trial was to begin in august, 2009. >> he said we will go in there monday morning and we will see what motions are flying around. >> reporter: but by midday monday, the jury was picked in the trial began. >> reporter: how shocking was that? >> it was very shocking. and we had not been there an hour until i was getting sick to my stomach just listening. the prosecution was just running rampant with it. >> reporter: that is, saying terrible things about brad. >> and i was wanting to jump up and object.

>> reporter: because to marsha, it seemed like brad's attorney darrell deputy was not objecting at all. >> mr. deputy would not say anything in brad's defense. >> reporter: what was it like to be you sitting back there and watching it? >> it was the most miserable time of my life. and i did not know what i could do. i wanted to stop it, and i didn't know how. and mr. deputy would say it's all going to come together here and don't worry about it. >> reporter: maybe the attorney was thinking about the gunshot residue, or gsr. remember they found gsr on leases right hand, but not brats, implying that lisa shot herself. the prosecutor had an explanation. >> so the prosecutor says it's a logical inference from the facts in the case that mr. jennings, after he shot his wife, before he called 9-1-1, he washed his hands and washed his forearms. >> and blood evidence.

investigator nash was the expert the state put up, saying that in his expert opinion, the way the spatter hit the wall and brad's black bathrobe and lisa 's hand, it left no doubt that brad fired the fatal shot. but why would he do such a thing? an age-old region, said the prosecutor, lisa wanted out. >> the prosecution at trial wanted to show that she was intent on leaving him. and she had an application at an apartment complex where laci had lived. >> reporter: lisa was not end her life, said the state, because she was busy improving it. she bought nice clothes, had recently had cosmetic surgery. >> the state presented witnesses that said she was in good spirits. and it's unlikely that someone who has cosmetic surgery and is feeling good about themselves would take their lives. >> reporter: the defense did not mention that lisa's father committed suicide, or that she

herself had attempted suicide back in high school, no secret in town back then. and nobody brought up the rumor that lisa was having an affair. but one curious thing did come up. the defense attorney, in his closing argument, made a rather fascinating point about the bathrobe brad was wearing when lisa was shot. >> the defense attorney, in his closing argument, said they had that thing for two years. i don't know why they didn't test it for gunshot residue, but they did not. so we could wrap this up in a heartbeat whether he did it or not if they had tested it. >> reporter: now, that was interesting. and a very good point, after all, if they found residue on the bathrobe it would certainly point right at brad. but the moment passed, the case went to the jury. and two hours 24 minutes later, they found brad guilty of murder . and where else would this happen? they let him go home one last night before the sentencing began the following

day. >> then the next morning, he asked me to drive him back. [crying] -- and i think that's one of the most difficult things i've ever had to do. >> reporter: did you want to just say let's go somewhere else, brad? let's just drive to mexico or something? >> no, that's not who we are. and i told him that i would fight with everything i had in me to correct it. >> reporter: but what can one lone woman do? no legal training, no contacts, no poll. what indeed. >> coming up -- a search for the truth. >> it was obvious there was something that just wasn't right. >> and missing evidence. >> i took the photo, i texted it to dwight, i just said jackpot. >> when dateline continues. wh 's updated covid-19 shot too.

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keith morrison: the day after brad jennings was convicted of murdering his wife, lisa, he dutifully returned to court for sentencing. he got 25 years, and they led him away, on a day that would >> reporter: the day after brad jennings was convicted of murdering his wife, lisa, he dutifully returned to court for sentencing. he got 25 years, and they led him away on a day that otherwise would have been auspicious. >> that was my first day of high school. >> reporter: did either of you ever think maybe he did kill her? >> not even once.

>> if you know him, even, like, at all, is just not that kind of a person. >> reporter: true said brad's big sister marsha, so she decided she had to do everything she could to help him. wasn't easy. >> reporter: because he had two kids that needed to be cared for , he had payments that had to be made on the house, on the farm, the cars, he had a business that had to be wrapped up. and he had this huge problem of having been convicted of a crime you don't think he had committed. so what does a person do in a situation like that? >> i had no idea. i did not even know where to start. >> reporter: but she knew she needed a better income. so she found a job that paid more, but required constant travel. >> come home on thursday night, and leave sunday. >> reporter: i know the time you are home, you'd wash your clothes, say hi to the kids, go into the prison, see brad, and

get back on the plane again? >> yeah. >> reporter: the first appeal claimed brad had inadequate representation at trial. >> i thought that was a no- brainer. >> reporter: but it failed. appeals court did not agree. and brad's trial lawyer, darrell deputy, said he served brad well. anyway, marsha hired more attorneys. but -- >> i could not get him to talk to me. i cannot get him to answer a question. i could not get him to call me back. >> did they send you a bill? >> absolutely. i've got lots a bills. >> reporter: this went on for months, years. she heard about a private investigator named dwight mcneill. but her then attorney told her don't call him. >> so i sat on it for a little bit. and i was having a really bad day. and i called. and i picked up the phone and i

just started crying, because it had been so long since anyone i called answered me. >> reporter: and he did listen, but -- >> i told her i wouldn't look at the case. >> reporter: dwight was a former sheriff. he told her his job was catching bad guys, not getting them out of prison. marsha persisted, and so he agreed to see her in person. >> i explained to her that if i concluded from my review of the file that there is any basis at all to believe that mr. jennings had murdered his wife that i would use whatever influence and whatever pressure i could to make sure he stayed in prison the rest of my life. >> reporter: you could accept a deal like that? >> yes, absolutely. >> reporter: so dwight scanned the file, just a quick look. and this was strange. >> it was obvious there is something that just wasn't right.

>> reporter: remember what the trial attorney said about the black bathrobe, too bad they didn't test it for gsr, gunshot residue? dwight, with his years in law enforcement, lit up when he saw that. they must have tested the robe. >> that should've been tested for gsr all the way up the right sleeve. >> reporter: sure. if you find the gun, there would have been gsr on that robe. >> no such reporting existed for the testing of the sleeve of that robe in the final. >> reporter: didn't make sense. dwight began working with lawyer lindsey phoenix, who requested copies of all the lab reports from the highway patrols crime lab. >> we got a lovely letter from them say here you go, here's everything we have. and included every test except for the one i was looking for. >> reporter: but it had to be there. so lindsay went in person to the state highway patrol. >> and i said i want to examine every piece of evidence that you have. and i brought a video camera in a cell phone camera and i

photographed everything, trying to be in conspicuous. i did not want to take a chance amit finding something and it disappearing. >> reporter: and that is when she found them, two small canisters. and inside -- >> the stubbs from the gunshot residue test that were labeled rogue. i took the photo, texted it to dwight, and just said jackpot. and then i had to go through the rest of those boxes like i was looking for something else, and act like it wasn't a big deal. and i was ecstatic. >> reporter: there was little stubbs confirmed a gsr test had been performed on brad's robe. but where were the results? she asked the highway patrol for them. >> and they didn't send them to me. >> reporter: so she wrote to them again. >> i said, all right, i know they are there, i have photographs of it, i know there, there and send me the results. and they sent them. >> reporter: and the tests were conclusive. there was no gunshot residue on

brad's black bathrobe, just like there wasn't any on his hands the night lisa died, mean brad almost certainly did not fire the gun that killed lisa. but why didn't lead investigator dan nash reveal that? well, he said he never received those results. plausible? >> not in a heartbeat. no, i was a prosecutor before this. my spouse is a police officer, dwight is a police officer. we know the care that goes into building a case. >> sure. >> that's not a case that you skip. dan nash had specifically asked for that test to be done. >> reporter: so now dwight was looking carefully at dan nash. he talked to a retired judge. >> and he made it very clear that he had a lot of problems with mr. nash's reputation for truth and honesty under oath. and from there, we started interviewing former prosecutors . and the number of former court personnel who expressed concerns

about his reputation for truth and veracity. >> reporter: remember at how at the trial nash was presented as a blood spattered expert? he wasn't. in fact, nash had not even taken a basic bloodstain analysis class when he investigated lisa's death. he took 8:40 hour course the following year, but was still not an expert when he testified at trial. dwight sought out the best in the field. >> i found two of the world's most renowned blood spatter experts. >> reporter: he sent a crime scene photos to both of them. >> and they both independently came to the same conclusion. >> reporter: that dan nash was quite simply dead wrong. one of them wrote the blood stained evidence and presence of gunshot residue on the right-hand of lisa jennings are consistent with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. but as any lawyer will tell you, on doing a jury's guilty verdict is well nigh and

possible. so, what now? >> coming up -- a life interrupted. >> he missed out on me turning 16, me getting married. i have a kid now, he missed that. >> reporter: wow. >> he missed out on a lot. >> we'll brad jennings miss even more? >> i don't promise anything to a client other than i will give you my best shot. >> when dateline continues. >> when dateline continues. vicks vapostick. and try vicks vaposhower for steamy vicks vapors.

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you want to see who we are as americans? i'm peter dixon and in kenya... because breathing should be beautiful, we built a hospital that provides maternal care. as a marine... we fought against the taliban and their crimes against women. and in hillary clinton's state department... we took on gender-based violence in the congo. now extremists are banning abortion and contraception right here at home. so, i'm running for congress to help stop them. for your family... and mine. i approved this message because this is who we are. welcome back. brad jennings was serving 25 years for murdering his wife, but his sister, marsha, was convinced he'd been wrongfully convicted. she hired a team of private investigators, who uncovered

welcome back. brad jennings was serving 25 years for murdering his wife. but his sister marsha was convinced he had been wrongfully convicted. she hired a team of private investigators who uncovered stunning new evidence, including the elusive gunshot residue test on the bathrobe brad wore on the night of the shooting. they knew the odds of overturning the verdict for low, but brad's family would stop at nothing to find justice. with the conclusion of a crack in everything, here's keith morrison. >> reporter: dallas jennings felt like a cheated young man. his father in prison, when neither he nor amanda believed for a minute he had killed their mother. >> he missed an emmy turning 16, driving for the first time, my graduation. me getting married. i have a kid now, he missed that. the birth of his first grandchild. he missed out on a

lot. >> reporter: but brad's sister, marsha, was still determined to bring him back to that world he was missing. and with investigator dwight's help, he finally found the father daughter team of attorneys that seem to understand a case, and the family. >> these are just sort of the earth small town country people . and they were stunned at the way the system had worked against brad jennings. >> reporter: first, bob and liz ramsey read the trial transcript. >> the first thing that jumped out at me is i don't recall seeing a defense attorney do so little for his client in my 38 years of practicing law. >> reporter: oh, come on, not the worst, surely? >> it was certainly one of the worst. >> reporter: but what also jumped out was the work that highway patrol investigator dan nash. confronted about the unrevealed gunshot residue test

that might exonerate brad, nash says he never saw the report, says he never made it to his desk. >> if that test had been positive, would it have been lost in a fax machine? >> it's just incomprehensible that he wouldn't follow up and say, hey, what happened to my gunshot residue tests that i ordered? well, he was either grossly negligent, or he suppressed it deliberately. >> reporter: no question about it, the issue of that unrevealed gsr test was huge. >> i thought it's a classic brady violation. it's the kind of evidence that makes a difference in a trial. >> reporter: so the elected to shoot for the moon, their one chance to overturn the jury verdict, a hideous petition that claimed without evidence could've change the result of the trial. >> i don't promise anything to a client other than i will give you my best shot. and all i told him is this

gives you a shot. >> reporter: vanishing lee few such petitions go anywhere, still they filed, and they waited. and against all odds, were granted a hearing. >> we were very excited. >> reporter: yeah. >> but cautious. it was almost like this little dim light at the end of a tunnel. >> reporter: this was the hearing. in november, 2017, almost 11 years after that terrible christmas eve, here brad's attorney reveal the gsr result and suggested his innocence. and the experts blood spatter findings that did the same, and witness who questioned the honesty of detective nash. >> i think that his credibility was put at issue for the entire hearing. >> reporter: lawyers from the missouri attorney generals office where there too, and told the judge what the defense came up with would not have changed the guilty verdict, the case was so strong. we wanted to hear from the attorney generals office, from

sergeant dan nash, and the highway patrol, and all declined our requests. and then, months went by and they all had to wait for the judge. until february 8th, 2018, finally a ruling. >> my first reaction was to go right to the last paragraph and see what the result was. >> [laughter] see what the result was. >> and the last sentence of his order is -- suppression of the gunshot residue test undermines confidence in that verdict. >> reporter: conviction overturned. >> it is the first time that we had had a positive outcome. it was wonderful. >> reporter: the next day, on the judges order, f brad jennings walked out of prison saw death after 8.5 years, and into the arms of people who never for a minute gave up on

him. >> i love you. >> hey, guys. >> it's the kind of stuff you dream about in law school. and i firmly believe that brad is innocent. so to walk him out was one of the greatest honors of my life. like, all it will never forget that day. >> we had waited so long for it. and had wondered if it was ever going to happen. but it was one of the best days of my life. >> it was really awesome to see him walk out, you know. >> see you guys. >> knowing that he's going to come home with us, that was amazing. >> reporter: that ride home had to be something, wasn't it? >> it was. >> it was weird, it was the first time my dad had ever seen me drive. i drove him home. >> reporter: brad jennings was a man of few words when he met us a few weeks later, as if he was still afraid to believe he had been let go. but we talked a bit about that christmas eve and the mystery

of what so upset lisa. >> she was crying, that's one thing i asked her why she was crying. >> reporter: and she couldn't tell you? didn't want to tell? you >> didn't want to talk, didn't want to say anything. >> reporter: it wasn't until years later, he said, that he learned she had been having an affair with her boss, and she just broken it off, meaning she was also out of a job. >> reporter: she told me she would not come back to work the day before it. >> reporter: he did understand then. but now? maybe that was an answer to his long ago question, why did she end her own life? once he might've confronted the other man. now, nothing to be done. >> i don't even know where he's at. that business closed down now. >> reporter: in july 2018, the state attorneys general office announced it would not retry brad. as for the once close family, when we last spoke with them,

they remained badly split. lisa's sister shawn and daughter laci still believe brad was guilty. and for brad? >> it's like starting over again, you know? >> reporter: and he clings to his kids and his sister, his mom, and those who believe in him, to his ancestral farm, and his other longtime love, the old chevelle. >> i knew brad was innocent. the only thing i have ever wanted was finally everyone to hear the truth. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ i'm craig melvin >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline".