daughter went missing. hoping that one day they will get answers. the woman had so many years ahead of her. >> what would you say to heather? >> if i could talk to her right now? >> if that little sliver of home is -- help is out there. i will bring you home. >> we've said it every time, we are not giving up. we would never give up. >> it doesn't matter what it takes. >> everything else takes a back seat. it really does. life does not go on. you are still stuck. you are holding on to hope. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i am andrea canning. in queue for watching. ♪ ♪ something wrong with him. my brother was crying as well. >> did bill have any problems

with anyone? >> he believes that there is this lady out there stalking him. someone starts tapping on the window. >> now he is murdered and you are coming to me? >> there was anger behind this e that did not go away. >> did you shoot your dad? >> what actually happened the other night? >> i'm not sure how you want me to despond. >> pretty horrible stuff. >> i couldn't fathom this. >> how much can one family bear? >> how do you contain horror? if this happened to you, where would you put it? in a box? would you carry it with you

everywhere? an anchor? chained to your soul? >> bucks is full of demons. >> would you live in dread of the day you knew you would have to pry it open and look inside? >> a box full of the ghosts of my past. you have to be ready. >> or would you put it off, would you wait till next year? >> i moved from state to state and that box found me. it followed me to. >> of course it did. it was his past inside that box. and now, here he was prying it open. will he ever be the same? >> it's a story of a family and in this case the story of my family.

>> here or more or less is where the whole thing announced itself. derby montana, deep in the bitterroot valley, i town conceived in iniquity and born in crime. maybe so. i mean, diabolical hardly begins to describe it. smart people do crazy things. >> it's such a waste. such a beautiful family. >> it was june, a sunny sunday afternoon when a woman called 911. >> my name is ann stout, i just got home and there's something wrong with my husband. there is blood and his eyes are all bruised and he's cold. >> is he breathing? >> he's not. know he's not.

>> the ambulance wailed down local highway 93 that of the west fork of the bitterroot river. >> i can't. i can't. >> like supplicants beneath the staggering beauty of 10,000 foot trucker peak, on board the ambulance was dona renick or. >> what is it like going out on a call like that? >> as an emt, you get this adrenaline rush when you get a call and you are thinking about all the things that you are going to possibly be faced with. >> don't hang up on me. >> i don't know if somebody is in the house or what. >> woman on the line said she had driven across a broad grin meadow to a neighbors house to make the call. dispatch told the crew the call was a possible code black, meaning?

>> possibly the person was dead. but you still don't know what you are walking into. >> as the ambulance approached, donna's partner suddenly realized something. >> you know this must be bill stout's house. she said, remember been, it had been a big thing in the community. >> indeed, about which more later. but just then, memory snapped to attention. and so they couldn't help but wonder. >> couldn't have possibly been a suicide? >> what happened when you got to the house? >> we walked in the house and my partner went to the left and i went to the right. i get almost to the laundry room and my partner says, donna, and here. >> here was a bedroom on the east end of the house. there was something, someone,

under the covers. >> she was on one side of the bed and i went to the other side. she said, he has recognize. and i said, okay, and so, the comforter was kind of hiding his head a little bit. >> use of the body? >> i lifted the comforter and you could see come obviously, it was a gunshot wound. >> didn't look like a suicide? >> that was my first thought. he shot himself. the way he was laying in the bed. >> as the ambulance went back down to the house, investigators want to look at the body in the bed. county attorney bill fulbright. >> there was definitely some appearances that maybe this was a suicide. started to unravel pretty quickly once the detectives and deputies got the scene under control.

>> was there anything about the body that told them anything? >> you can tell that his body had been moved. the body had clearly been rearranged after death. >> how could they tell? there was blood, a lot of blood , dried on his skin but not in the places that blood would be. unless, somebody rolled him over after he had been dead for a bit, and then of course there were the bed linens that didn't make sense at all. >> there's a pillow that is partially covering his head, which struck everybody's odd that this was a person who committed suicide. there were blood spatter on some of the bed linens that the comforter had been put over. and when they analyzed it up close, it was a very straight down spatter so you can tell whether blood is coming at an angle, straight onto a surface or what angle leaves a

different impression. this blood had come straight down and there was a comforter covering that part of the bedsheets. >> finally, after all that complicated analysis right trained professionals, there was this. >> it was a pretty obvious thing right away that the handgun was not around build body. >> no gun. not in the bed or anywhere near build body. >> early this was on a suicide. >> that became apparent very quickly. killed by the hands of another. >> hands of another, such a loaded phrase. coming up, turned out his murder wasn't the only high-profile death in the stout family. >> i will never forget crying on my bed thinking my life will never be the same. my hero is gone. >> later, frighten the knights. >> someone was tapping on my

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talk to your doctor noah stout, slim and strong, loved to run. noah stout, slim and strong, loved to run. was a cross- country man, and like a university in washington state. that summer home from college, he had taken a weekend trip with old friends and return on sunday. to the nightmare waiting on chapter meadow road. >> mom was hysterical and my brother was crying as well. rumor hearing that's gone. and thinking, what do you mean he's gone? >> did they tell you he was murdered? >> i don't think they used the term murdered. is that he had been shot. >> no one knew more than most

the ways grief can drag a family down., though it had begun so well. bill, his apparently murdered father, grip and california, central valley. where he met and married and, adopted her little boy been. no and t sued followed and they idolized big brother been. their dad bill was a tradesman a drywall installer. that's how he met mark and denise eckert. >> we had downturn here in construction during the mid- 1990s. he would take the family, load up the three boys and ann and start driving to montana after he got off work, on a friday. bill wanted something else and he found what he was looking for on several trips up to montana. >> founded here, outside the

town of derby. a few miles as the crow flies from the montana out of hobart or. jenny leyva was a reporter around here. >> it's a really beautiful place that attracts a diverse group of people. you have retirees and young families. >> but there's another side to the place, too. >> right, there's an interesting group of people in the west. i think they prefer to live on the boundary of wilderness. >> and in this side of the place, bill bought 20 acres on chapter meadow road and built this house with his very own hands. >> de remember that move? >> i wasn't pleased about it. i was a strong dissenter in our move. my dad was telling me bedtime stories about montana mike who was living all these adventures. when he moved, he said i'm going to be montana mike. he was telling the stories as much to himself as he was to

me. that was his dream, to live somewhere where he felt unencumbered, feel free, i think. >> bill was happy, content. he did all the things montana mended. >> there's bill, there's montana. that rugged, handsome, quiet, hunter fisherman. >> he put up drywall around the valley and worked at a guest ranch, and later in a long-term care facility. >> ann put so much of herself into raising those boys. and making a happy family life. >> those boys were gentlemen. bill would tell me how proud he and ann were of the grades the kids had because academically, they were killing it. >> until ben was 18 and had been away at college. he was home on winter break. one to he left an and obscure note and walked into the woods

and killed himself. his death, that first family horror, now just a page in a file in a box, but noah was just 11 and felt responsible somehow. >> i will never forget crying on my bed and thinking, my life will never be the same. my hero is gone. and four years i dealt with that. i think about ben every day. >> did you know there was pain there? did anybody in the family knew? >> i don't know what made them think about it but they sought out counseling for him. there was an artist. he was in a rock band. i was his outlet for his pain. i still have copies of his poems that i read. >> you are morning him still. >> yeah, four years i had these nightmares of being chased and i'm trying to carry my brother and i can't carry him. i don't know what it is but in so many ways one of those

things chasing me was my guilt and i couldn't save my brother when i wanted to. >> nothing was really the same after that. >> there was a stress that piled onto my parents as a result of my brothers death. >> marriage does come under enormous strain especially when your child dies that way. >> it wasn't their fault. he had a challenge he felt he couldn't overcome and he chose to make a decision that was entirely his own. >> market suggested counseling. bills answer was unyielding. >> no. no, we're good. so it's kind of that hackett down inside and maybe we can deal with it some other day. >> but now, seven years after the date of ben's suicide on the same property, bill was dead? >> i couldn't fathom this. gone, dead, murdered? none of that seemed real.

>> oh, but it was. did your mind go anywhere in particular? >> this is not something that happens in our small town. two high-profile deaths in our committee and they were my family in that house. how is this happening? >> how indeed? what is the old adage? start close? there were sheriff's deputies coming to the door. coming up, a town with eyes everywhere. >> at the best cameras you can get. >> what did they see? hard questions for us on. >> did you shoot your dad? >> why would you ask that? >> when dateline continues. wou

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as a flock of investigators settle into the house in the meadow whether there probing eyes and endless questions. >> one question was asked, why would you ever want to hurt your dad? it was a very kind person, fairly introverted. >> so, said noah said bill's friends, no one would want to kill him. >> we would sit and talk and try to -- how could this happen? was the house broken into? and they just lost ben. how much can one family bear? >> as a look carefully at bill's body, his wound, his bed, investigators were focused on more specific things. they would get to who did it, sure, but first, a question that just might leave them there. what time did bill breathe his last? in his bed, before a bullet ended his life? >> on the detectives first arrived, what was the estimated amount of time that bill had been dead? >> when they first arrived,

there was some indications that he had been dead i believe it was 8 to 10 hours at that point. >> if they arrived at 5:00 p.m., most likely that morning? >> correct. >> that morning, and all day, bill had been alone at home. and their 16-year-old spent the whole day at 70 miles up the highway in missoula shopping. they both told the detectives bill must have been killed soon after they left. >> what was bill doing when you left? >> he was in bed sleeping. >> met confirmed they left that morning. >> 830, 815. >> and alibi, but who would have seen them way out here in rural montana? you might be surprised. >> they put him at the right place at the right time. >> this is larry rose, who probably wrote the war the badge

as marshall of derby, population 800. >> his office is right on main street, a cowboy movies favorite read and animal skins, old-fashioned jail cell just like time stopped at about 1880. >> but then walk over here to the desk in the corner, that is a townwide very sophisticated surveillance system. >> i got the best cameras you can get. >> there are video cameras everywhere. peering from flowerpots, storefronts, platter barrels. how many cameras? 60? no, more than that. he's always watching. >> he monitors speed through the little main street of derby. it is often a useful tool during investigations. >> unusual for little town like derby.

>> it's a little unusual. >> if the marshall can verify matt and ann had driven up to missoula, they would be in the clear. >> we just planned the night before to just go first thing in the morning and do things. in missoula. >> sure enough, there were ann and matt driving the truck headed for missoula, 8:28 a.m. they had breakfast at ihop where ann placed a call to bill and got his voicemail. >> were having breakfast at ihop and probably got hit costco last. if you can think of more stuff that i need to pick up, call and let me know. talk to you later, love you, by. >> she said she and matt went to walmart, the mall and so on. later in the afternoon as promised, costco, oregon she tried to call bill. >> i haven't heard from you yet, so you must not need anything. call me right away.

by. >> the marshals, show them heading back to derby on the way home at 3:40 p.m., just as they said. >> we walked in and we were putting things away and i was yelling for bill and it was really quiet, so i didn't think anything of it. i figured, he had gone somewhere. >> about 40 minutes after no bill showing up, ann opened the door to their bedroom. and --. >> he was in bed and he didn't look like him. >> and then, said matt, panic set in. >> my mom yelled, we left the house and called 911. >> he backed up his mom's story about what they did that day. their movements and timeline. >> yes. they had gone to missoula and done various errands, correct. >> she was telling the truth. >> yes. >> investigators had to ask the

obvious questions. >> do you have anything to do with the death of bill? >> no. i love bill very much. he -- he was very important to my life the way it was. i had enough bad things happening in my life and he was always the stable person. >> matt, on the other hand said things that were a little surprising. >> would you say you loved your dad? >> i did. i mean, i just didn't really feel like there was much love for me and it. >> did you shoot your dad? >> why would you ask that? >> i need to know. >> no, i did not shoot my dad. why would i shoot my dad? >> see, i don't know. if there are answers, i need to hear them from you because there is a wonderful woman in there that needs to know. >> i don't know. i honestly don't know anything

about it. >> okay. would you suspect your mother would? >> i don't think so. i mean, occasionally they didn't really like have -- they've had their little things. >> they, little things? now, that was certainly true. the untold story, maybe not so little. coming up, someone is out there and i'm terrified. >> late-night visitor, who for some reason, is targeting noah's father. >> do you remember what you were thinking? >> what did you do? >> when dateline continues. nues

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join the millions of people taking back their privacy noah stout unpacked the case file of his father's murder, pulled out page by page, and was transported right back holdout page by page, and was transported right back to that sunday evening in june. when bills body was found and those investigators were so full of questions. >> the only thing i knew was going back to two years before that. >> the thing was, know what did no about someone who seemed to want to hurt his dad. and so did his mother , ann. though it took a few painful questions to get there.

>> did bill have any problems with anyone? >> no. he got along well with everybody, but he had an affair a couple of years ago. >> and there it was, a path to follow. ann told the investigators, two years before the murder he attended on old friends wedding in fort smith arkansas. spent the weekend in a hotel where he became reacquainted, shall we say? with an old flame. >> he told me they only had a couple of times, but i think it was more -- then they talk on the phone. >> it was midlife stupid said bill. after she confronted him and he

confessed. he swore it was over and it was. for him, that is. not for her. when and how did you become aware that something had happened, that your dad had transgress? >> was there a time my parents set my brother and i down and said this happened? i don't remember a time like that but i remember the fights getting more heated. there was more yelling. i remember overhearing what was being yelled and putting two and two together. >> why were they fighting? because, said ann, that woman , that arkansas woman wouldn't let it go. and what began to happen here on meadow road was terrifying. >> it was late at night and my parents were arguing and at one point i hear one of my parents say , she's coming here.

and i was like, what is happening? and who is coming here? >> then said noah, the still silence of a montana night , he heard a car up there longer i wait. heard it stop outside the house. >> i heard the door shut and my parents made a point, like they are still in the bedroom and locked the door. they are panicking. and i'm closest and hear someone crouching around the window. and someone starts tapping on my window. i'm facing away from the window and i'm terrified. and, someone is out there. it's like a horror movie. our cars have been egged and some other things had been thrown on our cars. like him up and things had been thrown on our cars. >> that's pretty disgusting. >> yeah, it was. yeah.

>> do you remember what you were thinking? >> what did you do, dad? what is happening? >> 911. >> 5:00 the next morning. >> yeah, might car got eggs. >> what's your name? >> bill stout. >> he called the sheriff's office to report the vandalism and to tell them about the enraged woman who, with a sister now, was making his life a kind of hell. >> if you hurry, you might catch them. >> bill told them he had been getting weird hangup phone calls and he and his kids and even his friends started getting hateful emails from someone with a strange handle. >> i started getting an email from frank of arc but i started getting his emails and emails with say things like, bill and ann are not going to remain

married and i'm going to marry bill and when i'm married to bill, ann is going to have to leave. i'm paraphrasing all this, but these emails kept coming in. >> i'm reading this and thinking, what does this mean? why are they sending them to you? >> so many emails, this one said was changing her email address to montana barb 2001. letters arrived too postmarked from fort smith, arkansas, one containing an imitation to a welcome to montana together again barbecue from barbara and bill. an engagement party of sorts. market finally decided to say something to bill. >> we are seeing in a restaurant and at one point during berquist i said, hey, i'm not sure exactly how to say this, but i'm getting several emails -- and he stopped me.

mark, it's this crazy person and i said, okay. so i shouldn't be worried about any of these? he said no, don't be worried. so we let the whole thing go at that point. >> but then less than two weeks before bill's death, two things happened. a car followed noah home late one night. >> what did your dad say? about that car following the driveway? >> he said something like i should have gotten my gun or something like that. >> then a few days later, somebody took the gun. >> i thought, you probably misplaced it or something like that. >> the gun, a nine millimeter was stored in a gun safe in the bedroom closet. bill was in a panic. had that woman got into the house? >> he called to report to the sheriff's office saying this handgun is missing and he is concerned because he knows or he believes that there is this

lady out there who won't leave him alone. stalking him. spoke and there has been evidence that she has been there at the house. tapping on the window. putting feces on the car. eggs. >> it's very clear that this deeply affected bill. he was worried. >> and now bill was dead. sheriff's detectives received calls from nearly a dozen friends and family members of bill's. about the woman in arkansas. her name? barbara miller. >> my reaction was, we have a murderer running around. find this woman. >> there were people all the way from here in montana to california that were pointing the finger on barbara miller, yes. >> did that angry woman have something to do with what happened to bill? barbara miller of arkansas was about to receive a visit from investigators looking into a homicide.

coming up, she was definitely a person of interest to a suspect somewhere in that category. questions but will there be answers? >> i'm just wondering. >> i'm not going to let you spy on me. >> when dateline continues. dates you can feel it when your dream becomes a pursuit. and with vitiligo, the pursuit for your pigment is no exception. it's time you had a proven choice to help restore what's yours. opzelura is the first and only

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astepro and go! [♪♪] your skin is ever-changing, take care of it with gold bond's age renew formulations of 7 moisturizers and 3 vitamins. for all your skins, gold bond. bill one detectives made their move on the woman from arkansas. not personally though. they didn't rush to the airport. instead they picked up the phone , called the sheriff in fort smith, arkansas, asked if they would mind sending detectives to barbara's place. that is, the woman with whom bill stout had a brief affair who was suspected of harassing him and his family sending humiliating emails, perhaps stealing his gun and maybe killing him. >> she was definitely a person

of interest to a suspect, somewhere in that category. >> is that the miller residence? >> at first she said she had no idea why those detectives were so ramped up about her. >> i see the guy for a weekend and talked to him for a couple months and now he's murdered him and you are coming to me ? >> we are asking everybody. were tried to find -- with everybody that he knows. >> what am i being questioned? >> because he knew you and so we were just wondering. >> why would someone in arkansas want to hurt him? you should be looking for somebody who killed him. >> right. >> i don't see how i can help. >> so the detectives change tactics a little bit and ask her about her email, and that produced a response. >> i'm not going to let you tap into my email. >> i'm just wondering. >> i'm not going to let you spy

on me. i haven't done anything. i haven't seen him. >> her mind raced as the detectives asked their invasive questions. and then the penny dropped. >> they think i did. >> they certainly suspected, which made perfect sense given what the police heard about barbara from bill's family and his friends and coworkers. she was a little reluctant at first to tell us the story of how she got involved in all this. her liaison with bill and all the rest of it. understandable, really, given. barbara said she and bill sort of slid into a relationship in their late teens. he was a friend of her brothers and things happened. >> when he first got together with him, did you have expectations that this was forever? >> i did. >> before long, it seemed bill had other ideas. >> he basically told me he had

already gotten married once out of high school and it didn't last very long. he was very disillusioned with marriage. >> how was that for you? >> i that i could change his mind but obviously he didn't feel the same way about it. >> and with that, it was over. >> it was my decision to move on. >> how did he take it? >> he was fine. as far as i know, i didn't have any more contact with him. >> pretty soon, barbara married someone else. moved with him to arkansas. had a couple of kids and forgot all about bill. >> until it was 2005, a newly divorced barbara attended her sister's wedding at this hotel in fort smith, arkansas and it just so happened bill was invited too. he kept up his friendship with barbara's brothers. >> were you looking for another husband at that stage?

>> no. i was fine. >> but on the evening barbara got to the hotel where the wedding was being held. >> we had been to the bachelorette hardy. when we got back, he was there. >> so, what was it like to see him at this family gathering? >> it was surreal. i didn't know he was going to be there. he looked the same. yeah, --. >> did your heart do a little flip? >> yes. we had a lot to talk about. >> and that bartok turned into hotel room talk. turned into something else. along the way, for bill anyway, inconvenient truths took a little holiday. >> what did he tell you about his circumstances? >> he told me he was separated and living apart from his wife. >> was he looking to get a divorce? >> yes. >> might even have minted, as biology worked it eternal magic

in that little weekend hotel room. and then barbara drove home and bill flew back to montana still both blissfully wrapped in a gauzy veil. four weeks there were calls every day, letters, cards, according to barbara, plans were made for her to visit, and then moved to montana. until a couple months later, something changed. >> tell me what your first intimation was that there was something wrong. >> he didn't call that night and the last couple times i talked to him he sounded distant, and like, he was having second thoughts. >> after that, they never spoke again. >> what was that like? >> it was sad i was hurt, but i understood. >> now, two years after she said she last heard from him, detectives were at her doorstep.

detectives who weren't so sure she was all that surprised and defended. >> you can ask all the questions you want. that is the story. end of story. >> but it wasn't. not even close. coming up, barbara miller seemed to be completely baffled spirit >> there was someone she was frightened of. >> i'm very scared of her. i don't want to upset her. >> when dateline continues. the source of with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medicine directly at the source. voltaren, the joy of movement.

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they were all here in the file, the pages that revealed his father's betrayal of his mother's trust. in the awkward questions those detectives had good reason to put to barbara miller, the woman he bedded and then feared

. he was terrified of her and what she might do. he was sure it was barbara who sneaked onto his property, vandalized his home. >> 911. >> my car just got egged. >> who tapped on his suns window at night. who repeatedly emailed bill's friends and family from an account called freq of arc. >> he said, it's a crazy person. >> when bill told the sheriff's nine millimeter pistol suddenly vanished, he said he was pretty sure barbara was behind it. >> he said i had a problem with this woman in the past but it was killed less than a month later. >> a strange thing happened when arkansas detectives questioned barbara all about this. >> barbara miller seemed to be completely baffled by the sudden appearance of law enforcement interested in bill stout.

she said. >> barbara's version of events was very different. like, after bill made it clear the relationship was over, she said she sent only one angry email. after all that, nothing, no cards, no letters. said she knew nothing at all about an email address called freq of arc and didn't do any of the awful things bill thought she did up in montana. in fact, she said she was the one living in fear, not of bill, but of bill's wife, ann. >> i'm very scared of her. i don't want to upset her. i don't want to be involved in this. >> scared? of sweet, kindhearted, ann stout? please. if that's what she claimed, barbara miller told those detectives that after the affair with bill broke off, it was she who started getting a series of unnerving emails and phone calls. from ann, or so she said.

what was the nature of the conversations? was she angry? were they friendly? >> as far as i can remember, she was trying to like be calm about it. i could hear the animosity and the anger come through every now and then but she was trying not to let that come out. i didn't want to be rude. it's almost like she wanted to be my friend. i didn't want to be her friend but i didn't want to hurt her feelings either. >> southern manners? perhaps. or maybe she was only too aware that bill's wife might want to teach her a lesson. >> my boss called me into his office and told me. he asked me, what's going on? he got a phone call from a woman who said that i was using the company email for personal business because she had threatened to put a restraining order on me have the police come and serve it to me there.

>> as detectives stood in front of barbara's house outside fort smith, arkansas, none of that mattered now. the only thing that did was to find out whether barbara killed bill stout up in montana or not. barbara needed an alibi, right quick. >> i showed them my telephone bill, i go to work every day. i said, what did this happen? >> well, as we told you, it was a sunday. happened to be the 10th of june , so where was barbara then? >> i said, i was at walmart. i have a receipt. >> this walmart in van buren, arkansas, to be exact, or so she said. so, the detectives checked it out. >> they went to walmart and got the footage of my husband and i buying groceries for a birthday party we were going to. >> here it is.

just before 1:00 p.m., more than 1600 miles across the country, a good 25 hour drive away from where bill was killed. >> i was at walmart. and i had never even been to montana period. >> once they saw that they were probably a lot nicer to you. but though they searched high and low, detectives could not find even a hint of evidence that barbara played any part in bill's murder. didn't shoot him herself and didn't hire anybody else to do it either. >> couldn't have been her. >> i think this is perhaps the first time that i have sat across from a person accused by at least 10 other people of committing a murder and you're really kind of a nice person who lived 1500 miles away from where it occurred. >> i had no knowledge of it until after it happens. >> so then, who did?

what about all of those cards and letters and emails? all the harassment of bill stout and his wife ann and his two sons and his friends by someone called the freq of arc. there is a devious architecture to this sort of thing. unexpected, complicated, even sophisticated, but almost always with a little flaw. coming up, when ann stout came home he had been detonated in hours, pretty big window. it could mean bill was alive when they left. could mean he was dead when they left. it's very much in the air. >> correct. >> have you ever seen a murder case in which so many people close to the victim were pointing at the wrong suspect? when daylight continues -- when daylight continues. wh -- en da ylight continues.

rning to our story. bill stout, a husband and father has been found dead in bed. did they tell you he was murdered? i think they said like, he'd been shot. narrator: detectives questioned a woman

with whom bill had an affair. he believes that there's this lady out there stalking him. i'd never even been to montana period. narrator: eventually, his ex flame was cleared. so who was it? the handgun was found in the garage. that's a big clue, of course. narrator: and there was another. the stomach stops digesting at the moment of death. narrator: but even as investigators closed in, not everyone was convinced. stomach stops digesting at the moment of death. >> but even as investigators closed in, not everyone is convinced. >> i was leading a charge of the mountain. the wrong person. >> a few days after bill stout's wife was so cruelly ended, his family and friends

gathered to say their goodbyes to a man who loved montana. >> it was back. people should a lot of nice memories that i did-- i haven't heard of, things like, you know, i was in need and your dad fix my house for free, things like that. we don't care about you, we care about your family. and it was a day i will never forget. >> but investigators were right back at square one, their initial suspect, barbara miller, now ruled out as the person who killed bill in his bed. and yes, there seems to be so many red flags. how could bill have been so wrong? >> up until the day he died, he believed barbara had been stalking him and had ill intent. >> so, if barbara didn't kill bill, who did? detectives called and bill's family. they had questions to ask. >> i've heard from the valley county sure's office.

>> again, they went over, hour by hour, the last weekend and bill's life. >> is there something that you feel that we missed in our ur first conversation? >> remember, the first quarter on the scene said bill likely died about 8-10 hours before his body was found, and that was sunday afternoon about 5:00 p.m., meaning he was likely murdered in the vicinity of 8:00 a.m. when an and matt had been leaving or just left from the day of shopping. both and and son, matt, repeated what they had said before, they simply did know what happened. >> it could mean he was alive when they left, it could mean that he never really left, but it was very much of the air. >> correct. and matt that he was absolutely certain he did not hear a gunshot. so, the detectives went back to pay another visit to the

marshall in his cameras. and told detectives that on the day before he was murdered, saturday, june 9th, bill went for a ride and said he was going to missoula. and sure enough, one: 58 p.m. , saturday afternoon, there is bill, riding his motorcycle through town, heading north, then, 3:31 p.m., detectives found bill walking into the harley-davidson store in missoula, walking out 10 minutes later, 3:41, but from there? for several hours it was unknowable, riding his harley maybe? he told his wife he stopped and had a beer, which, according to and was out of character. >> anyone who knows him would tell you that he never drinks during the day, never. >> was an wondering if bill, given his past affair, had been cheating on her again? well, no, detectives found the

barwell bill stopped and found he had one beer, apparently alone. but a few hours later, 7:55 p.m., the marshall's cameras caught bill writing back through the home, which meant he went for a ride a few minutes after 8:00 p.m. which purported with exactly what and had told him. she said she was grilling a steak for dinner. >> bill through up right when i was on the barbecue. >> that i put broccoli on for bill, which is steamed broccoli. >> okay. did you have a potato? >> it potatoes. >> bill and anne were in for the evening. matt had plans. >> after dinner, matt had left for a bonfire with high school f friends. >> the marshall's cameras caught matt writing through derbyin at 9:08 p.m.

and then made love. at around 10:00 p.m., bill called a friend and made plans to go horseback riding on sunday. cameras caught matt driving back home through derby 11:28 p.m., saturday. and said she waited up for matt and joint bill in the bedroom, where he was already fast asleep. >> i went to sleep in my bed. >> and it all fit with these cameras. but there was one more thing. when little piece of paper noah fished out of that box. what could and stout tell investigators about that? coming up. >> we know knew we were dealing with a very narrow window of time.

>> good broccoli solve this murder? >> the stomach stops digesting at the moment of death, the floor is on the broccoli are re still recognizable. >> when dateline continues. dat with my psoriatic arthritis symptoms. but just ok isn't ok. and i was done settling. if you still have symptoms after a tnf blocker like humira or enbrel, rinvoq is different and may help. rinvoq is a once-daily pill that can rapidly relieve joint pain, stiffness, and swelling in ra and psa. relieve fatigue for some... and stop joint damage. and in psa, can leave skin clear or almost clear. rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. serious infections and blood clots, some fatal; cancers, including lymphoma and skin; heart attack, stroke, and gi tears occurred. people 50 and older with a heart disease risk factor have an increased risk of death. serious allergic reactions can occur. tell your doctor if you are or may become pregnant.

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numbers move you. but some can stop you in your tracks. like the tens of thousands of people who were diagnosed with certain hpv-related cancers. for most people, hpv clears on its own. but for those who don't clear the virus, it can cause certain cancers. gardasil 9 is a vaccine given to adults through age 45 that can help protect against certain diseases caused by hpv. including cervical, vaginal, vulvar, anal, and certain head and neck cancers such as throat and back of mouth cancers, and genital warts. gardasil 9 doesn't protect everyone and does not treat cancer or hpv infection. your doctor may recommend screening for certain hpv-related cancers. women still need routine cervical cancer screenings. you shouldn't get gardasil 9 if you've had an allergic reaction to the vaccine, its ingredients, or are allergic to yeast. tell your doctor if you have a weakened immune system, are pregnant, or plan to be. the most common side effects include injection site reactions, headache, fever, nausea, dizziness, tiredness,

diarrhea, abdominal pain, and sore throat. fainting can also happen. help protect what counts. talk to your doctor or pharmacist about gardasil 9. talk to your doctor narrator: it was friday, five days after anne stout called 911 to report the death of her husband, bill. you're on trapper meadow road. narrator: it thwas friday, fiv days after and stout called 911

to report the death of her husband, bill, on chopper middle road. the scene, raleigh county courthouse, up the road in hamilton, montana. >> today's date is june 15th, 2007. >> investigators were about to deliver some unpleasant, because after bill's death, an autopsy had been done. and according to the medical examiner, bill did not die on sunday morning at 8:00 like the corner on the scene had guest. how do they know? broccoli. that last meal they cooked for bill on saturday night when he got back from his motorcycle ride, it was one of his favorites, steak, broccoli and potatoes. now, said the medical examiner, that last meal had told his story. >> the stomach stops digesting at the moment of death. >> what the medical examiner noticed was usually upon seeing

the stomach contents things digest very quickly, potatoes which they had had in digested. they said that the florettes on the broccoli were still recognizable and those delicate things in our food are what you would see disappear first and they were still there. >> meeting that bill stout must have been shot to death after eating his last meal, 9:00 p.m. or soon after on saturday night. >> how did that change your theory of this crime? >> at that point, it dramatically changed the landscape of the investigation, because we know knew we were dealing with a very narrow window of time, which became pretty evident it was a window of time in which and was alone with bill. >> was bill stout killed when he was alone, with anne ? well,

that changed everything. and stout knew nothing about what she was walking into. >> this is the results of our investigation. >> i do not want to see. >> i don't have any-- >> i don't have that. >> the thing is, it wasn't just that last meal, they wanted to talk to anne about . crime seems to tell a story, even if sometimes it is hard to discern exactly what that story is. and from the moment investigators walked into an and bill's house, something didn't smell right about this one, literally. >> one of the pervading things spoken of, by people who have

been in the house early on was that there was a very powerful smell of bleach throughout the house. narrator: almost like someone had been cleaning up, and sure enough they came across three loads of laundry smelling strongly of bleach and stuffed into various places, like in this laundry hamper. inside the hamper? more than just clothes. what was a holster doing in here? a rubber glove. >> what did they find? >> on the outside of the glove and the inside of the glove, dna matching. >> of course, there might have been an innocent answer. these could have been her regular cleaning gloves, but as for the holster, it was in for him nine millimeter pistol, and now things were about to get worse for anne . that gun bill had reported missing from his death? it turned up too, maybe 50 feet

away from bill's prostrate body. >> the handgun was found to be in the garage. inside one of the saddlebags on bill's motorcycle, a big clue of course. >> the gun, the glove, the cleanup. was there another logical explanation? one that pointed, not to anne, but another person in the household? maybe? the killer? so far she had an explanation for everything. so, maybe she had another one. maybe. coming up. >> i guess at this point, we ask you what actually happened the other night? >> and in the hot seat. >> i have got the time of death that shows bill wasn't alive when you left. you told me he spoke to you he

died before he left. >> when dateline continues.

po, you need to bring peace to the valley. [ choking ] the chameleon is nothing like anyone you've ever faced. she is capable of mimicking any shape. awesome. i mean it's disturbing, but it's awesome. narrator: all the transcripts were here for noah stout to read if he dared. read, for example, about the moment all the transcripts n were here for noah stout to read if he dared. read, for example, the moment of the police interview with his mother, when things got real. when those detectives in the room with anne were about to

link her with bill's murder, her husband, noah's father. the moment was this. they read her her rights. >> with those rights in mind, you want to talk to me? >> yes. i want to hear everything. >> then they seemed to back off a little. they complemented all and for the fine young men she and bill raised. uncomfortable interviews about their mother and father about what happened. >> he was a young wonderful young man, i just wanted to ask you is your impression that they are fruitful? >> yes, very much so. >> then here it came. no more niceties. >> i guess at this point i would ask you what actually happened there? >> i don't know what you are asking. i'm not sure what you

want me to respond. >> well here's-- here is what i would ask you to respond. i will tell you that we can-- we will, if you want, work our way through all of this. and i will tell you also that the results of our investigation show that you killed victor. >> they do not show that, they do not prove that and you do not know that because it did not happen. >> her reaction was one of how could you say that about me? >> oh, but they were just getting started. >> we know the gun wasn't stolen, it was taken. we know, because no one told us what you just told me is truthful. >> it is truthful and so is matthew. >> bill told him, i didn't believe that gun. i didn't misplace that gun, someone took it out there. someone with a key opened that

gun safe and took that fire. both of your boys have told me they did do it. i don't think they did. >> yes me and i didn't do it. >> i've got a time of death that shows that bill wasn't lying there when you left. you told me he spoke to you. he died before you left. okay? now that is science. >> no, that is not science. what was his time of death? >> well, actually i wish that you would tell me that. >> oh god. >> see? i would like to work through this with you. >> you keep-- you are asking me a question that i don't have the answer for. >> we need to take a test. >> oh god!

>> i'm not that tough. you have to take him into custody? you know where i met, i will give you my password, you can take every-- any physical object, you can release me to somebody's custody, you don't know me. you don't know me. >> anne, you are under arrest for the murder of victor. >> nothing was wrong that might, good stuff happened. >> i need to have your turnaround. >> oh god. i never get in trouble, please. >> put your hands behind your back. >> oh god, i've never done this. everything i've lost in my life, everything when bill died, you don't know what happened. i didn't think i would need an attorney. >> anne, i want to remind you .

here is what happens now, anne . i will escort you to the detention center in the valley county jail. you will continue to have access to counsel. >> please don't leave me. >> that friday, when i came back there was a voicemail from the sheriff, and he said i want you to know we have arrested your mom. >> what was that like? >> i was in shock. i have lost one parent at five days later i was essentially losing another parent. narrator: no wasn't the only one in shock to telephone you-- >> to get this phone call, i'm

thinking to myself, that's crazy, she was the wife of the year, mother of the year. it hit me hard. i just wanted to do something, i wanted to make some phone calls to talk to somebody up there and see if i can make heads or tails of this, because there's no way she would have done that. >> it was just unbelievable that anne could have done anything like this. narrator: not anne, they thought. not anne. all of that thinking, planning, orchestration, not the kind of thing anne would do, was it? coming up. >> she was very kind and very well-liked, and i think when it came out in the public, she is charged with homicide, that is a very big gasp and a very small town. >> had detectives made a massive mistake? >> i was leading a charge up the mountain that you have got the wrong person.

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and richard louis with a news update. president biden and first lady, joe biden express condolences after two u.s. national guard members in boulder patrol agents were killed year a rio grande city in texas. the third guardsmen was also badly injured after a helicopter went down during a support mission. utah has officially unveiled a new state flag, which features a beehive and a five cited. state leaders and members of the public have been involved in the creation of that flag, since 2019. now, back to dateline. was his wife, well, reaction was-- >> when word spreads through montana's valley that the suspect and bill stott's murder was his wife, well, reaction was , anne? surely not anne. reporter, jenny leavy.

>> she was very kind and very well-liked and i think when it came out in the public she is charged with homicide, that is a very big gasp and a very small town. >> back in california, their close friends weren't just gasping, they were yelling, hell no. >> i was leading a charge up the mountain that you have got the wrong person, anne did not do it, anne would not do it, anne could not do this. >> but when anne's trial began a year later, it soon became apparent that prosecutors believe the murder was just the final act in a richly complex and inventive two year campaign her intent? to humiliate bill, and long before she pulled the trigger to kill him to make sure that

family, friends and colleagues, the police would point the finger of blame at the woman, with whom he had had his fling, barbara miller. >> have you ever seen a murder case in which so many people close to the victim were pointing at the wrong suspect? >> that was one of the unique things about this case was the success anne had at diverting attention to a very specific person. >> it is just hard to get your head around. >> it was the product of some detailed planning, before the crime. >> but as so often happens with would be diabolical killers, there were mistakes. when detectives visited anne's office at the long-term care facility and took a little dive into her computer, they uncovered what looked like research into something uncaring. >> the internet search histories included things, like

how to poison people, how to murder somebody. >> those hangup phone calls? bill thought it was barbara breathing into the phone before hanging up. investigators traced the calls. steps from anne's desk. and the ip address? it was the stout's own home computer. >> it all fit together and everybody's mind that this email was actually barbara miller. >> and it turns out to come from anne's basement? >> correct. >> and the letters and cards starting soon after bill confessed to his intemperate weekend the bill and barbara barbecue invitation? they were all postmarked, fort smith, arkansas. clever. how did she do it? detectives talked to the fort smith master and received occasional envelopes, full of letters addressed to montana.

they dutifully put it into the mail. detectives discovered subterfuge and anne's car. unsent cards and letters. >> anne's finger prints were on the letter, which isn't unusual, but not only did the dna seal the envelope, but the only things found on the letter inside were latent prints from anne stout. >> so many mistakes. cnbc mistakes, yes, but more a level of the business. >> it sort of smelled like, really incredible sublimated anger, that was really calculated and directed at hurting bill and embarrassing him and humiliating him. >> first you destroy him while he is alive and then kill him, my goodness. >> i think too there was a lot of sympathy for this victim and it seems that bill really tried to recover from that affair and

wanted to, and maybe anne falsely welcomed him back in and said, let's move forward, but immediately thereafter, there were this trail of letters and phone calls and this trail of harassment. narrator: the state's theory? the culmination of anne's multiyear plan the day before the murder, when they claimed anne stout stole bill's gun and stored it in the laundry hamper, where bill would never look. but there was a problem, anne had no experience firing a gun. so, look at this. detectives found this list in her bedside table. with an entry anne the claimed were instructions to use the washing machine. but? >> hourly detective looked at

it, and anne said, if you can read between the lines, that might be instructions on how to load and shoot a firearm. the red being when the safety is on, there's no red showing when the safety is off, there's a little bit of red color showing. which didn't seem to have a lot of consistency, with how to actually run a washing machine except for the fact she used the word close. >> sure. >> perhaps instead of the word bullet. narrator: but to make sure she could actually fire the gun? the state believed she fired a practice round. how do they know? on the case of detection beginning in this box of ammunition, from bill's gun safe. >> when you open open the box toward the middle of the box, three missing round. in addition there was a little flower that was inside the box and inside the box of ammunition.

>> reporter: a flower? that was a puzzle until an investigator noticed an unusual plant just outside the stout's front door, the same little flower. so he looked at the dirt beneath the plant and there it was, a spent showcasing, one of the missing round. >> we believe she took a practice round when nobody was home, this shell landed by that plant, one of those little flowers gets in the box, she puts the box back, and the botanist narrowed the time of that plant bloom to about a 10 day window of time. that all happened, within 10 days or so of bill's death. >> which is right around the time he is reporting the missing gun? >> exactly. narrator: after she killed bill? >> i have every reason to believe she simply carried it out of the garage, wrapped it in a towel and stuck it in the

handbag. narrator: oh, and there was insurance too. half 1 million. the beneficiary? anne. >> so, the affair with barbara miller. >> right. >> 5000 an insurance money, an angry woman scorned? if you had to pick a motive here, what was it? >> it is difficult to ascribe a single motive, the question stands out as what would motivate someone who put in multiple years of planning and carrying it out? there was a level of anger behind this that did not go away. narrator: my, my. what could anne stout's defense attorney say to all of that? coming up. >> someone came in the house and did it, not her. >> and the searches for how to kill someone on anne's computer? >> other people had access. >> why would other be people be looking at a way to kill him when her husband is one who

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po, you need to bring peace to the valley. of 7 moisturizers an[ choking ]s. the chameleon is nothing like anyone you've ever faced. she is capable of mimicking any shape. awesome. i mean it's disturbing, but it's awesome. narrator: noah stout was not allowed to sit through his mother's trial since he was a witness, after all. that's why when he opened up the box holding her case file, he finally learned what he was privy to. noah stout was not oallowe to sit through his mother's trial, since he was a witness, after all. that is why when he opened up the box opening her case file, he finally learns what he wasn't pretty to. as he waited patiently here outside the courtroom for his turn to testify.

>> time seemed to just take forever. we know that little hallway pretty well. it was strange, it kind of replace from the day. i was still meeting with the police. i was still, you know, talking with people, interacting in town. it is on the front page of the paper. and yakima so i'm hearing about all of this. >> it has to be so bizarre. >> it was. it was definitely surreal. >> surreal too for bill's friend, mark, who, by now, had testified and heard enough of the case against anne to feel betrayed. >> she duped me. i did not feel comfortable making eye contact with her, just knowing what she had done. to a very dear friend of mine. >> yes, what she had allegedly done prompted prosecutors to make it known, however briefly, they were considering pursuing the death penalty. but, as we all know, a

competent defense can make all of the difference. this is anne's attorney, eddie jean. >> i guess what you inherited was a pretty bad set up act. >> some of it, yeah. >> so, what did she think happened? >> someone came in the house and did it, not her. and they were gone, >> all of that evidence that seemingly pointed to anne? just poorly interpreted. examples? anne did know about that insurance policy on bill's life, despite what appears to be her signature on it. or that welcome to montana barbecue invitation. envelopes bearing msnbc's dna. who could no? the emails created on the family computer? it wasn't her. and at anne's workplace, the

search is on her office computer how to poison someone? how to kill someone? >> other people had access. >> why would other people be looking up a way to kill somebody when her husband is the one who winds up dead. >> there's lots of stuff you can't explain. >> sure. >> reporter: what about bill's nine millimeter, the pistol that went missing shortly before his murder that was used to kill him and later found on the settle back of bill's harley? she argued this. if anne was the cunning mastermind of some diabolical plot , why would she dump the gun in the garage? >> you use common sense. if you are smart enough to do all of that, you are not going to be dumb enough to stick it in the saddlebag. narrator: besides, he said, the towel the pistol is wrapped in was unlike any other in the house. it must have maybe belongs to

somebody else. you get the picture. so then, back to the main question, how did bill stout and up with a bullet in his head? >> when i hired the pathologist, that is when i thought maybe we have a shot. >> maybe you have a shot how? >> the that he committed suicide. >> you think there's a chance that he did commit suicide? >> yup. >> all kinds of reasons, said the defense attorney. bill was underwater on his mortgage, couldn't pay his bills, basing tax leaves. >> my pathologist demonstrated to a jury how you could put the gun behind the back of your head, and he testified that he had prior autopsies where people had done that. >> had committed suicide that way? how would he commit suicide when there was no gun on the bed? >> well, i have a theory. >> which is what?

>> that someone moved the gun, not her. >> who would have taken a gun, put it in his harley, but not killed him. i mean, who would do such a thing? >> i have some ideas, but i don't really want to discuss that. >> the defense seemed to imply that if not and, it must have been someone else in the house. so, might it be? will there was an obvious, if unstated possibility, the prosecutor didn't appreciate the inference. >> there was apparently a strategy to point to the various items, using the handgun for an example. and the phrase over and over is used, well, we can't prove specifically who moved that handgun. it might have been met, it might have been noah. >> it is not a strategy you like? >> i did not like it. i thought it was offensive to these young men and the memory

of their data. >> but the defense attorney said that wasn't his intention. in fact, he said if anyone did move a gun it might have been out of concern for anne, who, remember had already lost her son, ben, two suicide years earlier. the theory that would be? >> 70 would come in the house, find a person who committed suicide in order to spare the feelings of the family and then take a gun and hit it somewhere? >> it happens. it happens. >> reporter: anne's attorney said she had evidence to back up the idea that the medical examiner was wrong, that bill wasn't killed right after that saturday evening meal, he was still alive sunday morning before he killed himself. the evidence? coffee. there was caffeine in his bloodstream. >> why would that make a difference?

>> because that means someone got up and made coffee. suggesting it was morning? narrator: and stout said when she returned home, the tv was on, tuned into cnn, bill's favorites channel. the part about the steak and broccoli and bill's stomach? what the medical examiner used to pen the time of death to saturday night. sometimes bill got up and ate leftovers for breakfast, and he likely did that on sunday, as he sat alone in the house. >> but to ask anybody, somebody has got steak and broccoli in their stomach it is not breakfast you are talking about. >> he would eat it for breakfast according to his sons and her. >> that is weird. >> i think it is weird my own son eats pizza for breakfast. you never know. >> was all this a little too clever, even sinful? well, there is one more thing you will never know and that is

what a jury might do. coming up, the verdict. >> these 12 people are making decisions that can impact you the rest of your life. >> when they read it, she was standing up and i had to push her back down into the chair. >> she was in shock? >> yup. >> when dateline continues. anti-inflammatory medicine directly at the source. voltaren, the joy of movement. numbers move you. but some can stop you in your tracks. like the tens of thousands of people who were diagnosed with certain hpv-related cancers.

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narrator: the streets of the county seat, little hamilton, montana were alive all that june. the whole town seemed to be watching the streets of the county seat in little montana were alive all that june. the whole town seems to be watching as this soft-spoken, respected woman, mother of three tried for a crime if you could even conceive of it. >> there were a lot of people in the courtroom that day it was packed. but the defense attorney, ed sheehee argued that this was all a mistake. they waited for 6 hours while the jury decided what to believe. and that? >> can you describe what it was like when you are watching him come back in? >> like a roller coaster. these 12 people are making a decision that is going to impact you the rest of your

life. narrator: there were no cameras present for the verdict . but the picture is vivid still in attorney, ed sheehee's mind. >> when they read it, she was standing up, she had her hands on the table, she became as stiff as a board, and i had to push her back down into the chair. >> she was in shock? >> yup. narrator: in shock, because the verdict was guilty, and seconds later, and stout was let out of the courtroom and into these hallway. >> the judge that you can say goodbye to your mom now. and so we go in there, my brother and i, and i've never seen someone in as much shock as she was. and she was just bringing us close to her and telling us that she loved us. and that was the last time that i saw my mom on the side of the

prison cell. narrator: except for one time, before her sentencing, with the prosecutor asked the judge to send her to prison for life, without parole, and noah took the stand on his mother's the half. >> i really take offense at the suggestion by someone that my mom has no redeeming value. i think about the fact that the only contact that my father's grandchildren will have with my mother-- with their grandmother or grant father will be putting their hand against a bulletproof glass and that-- that is not justice to me. narrator: it was a slightly surreal scene in the courtroom, and even more so when anne, herself, rose to speak good >> i cannot explain to you how this death had devastated my life and our families.

today, speaking for myself, as the widow of my husband, bill. narrator: it was, in a word, bizarre. >> bill's death has left those who cared about him morning for the man that he was, gone forever, as the friend he was too many. the sunny was to his mother. and father to the young men that he was so proud of. and the husband he was to me. narrator: it also left the judge on move. >> your children will be

deprived of your company is not because they committed this crime, it is because you committed this crime. of course, the judgment in this case you will be committed to montana state prison for the rest of your natural life. narrator: anne stout, who declined our request for an interview will be eligible for parole, but not until 2038, which is 73 years old >> i think giving somebody a life sentence removes someone from the equation in the case that we don't even think about this person anymore, and that person, my mom included, is still going to live and still has their life and if we are going to house that person, we need to think about how can we actually rehabilitate this person, not just punish this person. narrator: son, matt, declined

our request for an interview. but he keeps in touch with his mom, visit her in prison. noah does too. in fact, after his mother went to prison, no it attended law school, where the murder of bill stout was used as a case study for students on a class on evidence. when we last spoke, he was his mother's attorney of record. >> being front and center, being witness at a trial, being the child of a victim and someone who went to prison, it definitely gave me an interesting view on the justice system. >> i imagine. narrator: the young men who finally had the courage to look in the box of the case file that told his family's story. >> has it helped to look inside? >> it didn't help right away, definitely pretty sad when i was reading it, because i-- it is something you live with every day, knowing that i have opened it, i have looked at it, and it doesn't change me as a

person. it doesn't make me view my family any differently. >> narrator: oh, he read those dreaded files, saw the terrible evidence in there, and relived the worst days of his family's life. >> what has happened to you has been a terrible thing, a series of terrible things, but you have chosen a deliberately positive, kind of uplifting path to follow. and that is not easy. so, it seems to me, it is like walking along the ridge of a mountain, you can get knocked off pretty easily. >> yeah, it is like putting one foot in front of the other. life happens. >> reporter: he is a bright man, he sees the world clearly, but this, this is just different. >> did you have a problem profoundly sad feeling that your mother killed your father? >> it doesn't matter, i know that my dad raised me that,

regardless of the worst possible thing my mom could do, i would still defend her and be her supported. >> did you take her at her word? >> yeah. >> that she didn't do it? >> yeah, i mean, it is my mom. it is my mom. >> narrator: no matter what he saw in that box, no matter what it proved to a court of law, or what others may say about his choice, he is and always will be his mother's son. and he loved them both up there in their place of paradise. still does. regardless of the horror he carries around in that box. [music playing] hello, i'm andrea canning, and this is "dateline."ow? if i had to put it into one word, hello, i'm andrea canning and this is dateline. dateline.