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tv   Dateline  MSNBC  May 12, 2024 11:00pm-12:00am PDT

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can show thanks to patrick is to show how our family has risen far above this from a moment in time that he had control of. >> i've seen the beauty of these two people. especially lonnie. she adopted those girls. good people. does my heart good to see that and know i did the right thing. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm andrea canning. thank you for watching. i'm andrea canning. this is stateline. >> i walk in the front door and i could see the victim in the back door area through the
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hallway. >> are there many murders like this? >> no. it's very rare. >> it was devastating. >> did he have enemies? >> i really don't know. >> we were having couplets of people were having sex in the parking. >> it's not possible. >> she is responsible for the choir at church. >> in alabama, there is my low's hamburgers. absolutely some of the best french fries. >> cindy didn't stay and eat her fries. >> as bizarre as it sounds, yes. >> he wasn't around when the murder took place. >> that is what he said. >> who do you feel you are looking in the eyes? >> cold-blooded killer.
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hello and welcome to dateline. cindy hauser sent a michael reese needed the same thing. change. the relationship was a second chance at love for both and they fell hard. then, after five years of marriage, tragedy struck. investigators would have to sort through small town golf gossip to uncover the truth. here is even the devil went to church. out here in rural sweet home, alabama, where churches outnumber streetlights, faith is a way of life. >> i grew up in the church. everyone i knew went to church. >> sunday sermons, wednesday services, church picnics. >> faith is a huge part and always has been a huge part of southern my. >> a small town outside of birmingham, they come together to celebrate life and the word.
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>> the values are integrated into every bit of southern society. >> when salacious rumors involving a church started swirling, the god-fearing folks who live here hoped the whispers were not true. they had to wonder. >> even the devil went to church. >> on a cold february night 2015, the truth began to emerge . >> police department. >> i just got home and walked in the front door. i don't know if the house has been broken into. the table has been knocked over. >> who are you? >> cindy henderson reese. >> cindy reese? >> she couldn't find her husband who was supposed to be home. police arrived quickly, very quickly.
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the station was right across the street. a small town, remember? officers into the home and made a call of the room. >> we have been called for a system by the mars police department. >> the detective was on call that night for the jefferson county sheriff's department. you will arrive on the scene a what do you see? >> the whole scene was taped up with crime scene tape. i walk in the front door and there's a table turned over right inside the door. i could see the victim lying in the back door area, through the hallway. >> a victim? yes. a man shot to death. it was clear to the detective he had a murder on his hands. are there many murders like this in morris? >> no. it's very rare. it's a small town. >> it must've been a big deal. >> for morris, yes. >> who were you told was the victim? >> michael reese. >> michael reese had been
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killed in his own home. the only potential witness was his wife who had called 911. she was outside being cared for by police officers while the detective took in the crime scene. >> i needed to see what the scene looked like and wanted to see where the body was, the position, anything i could tell right away. >> where was the body? >> there was a new construction area that was being built into the existing house. his feet were at the back door and he was leaned forward into the unfinished room. >> michael had been shot once in the back of the head. does that say anything to you and summon a shot from behind like that, in the head? >> it gives an indication that somebody did it to him and not self-inflicted. >> was the house telling you anything? >> when we walked in, it was consistent with what cindy reported on the 911 call. there were things turned over.
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>> didn't look like a burglary? >> yes, ma'am. >> whatever happened, it happened after michael got home. a dinner from a popular fast food joint sat untouched on a table. detective street had to wonder of michael surprised a burglar and paid for it with his life. or, did someone have it out for him? what are you being told about michael reese? >> nothing at this point in time. the police officers knew him from living across the street but not on a personal basis. >> michael's friends and families would fill in the gaps for the detective. in the process, laid bare secrets that would rock the small religious community. could one of the secrets lead to michael's killer? >> coming up. michael, it seems, was loved by everyone. >> he was a huge part of so many people's lives. he was just gone. >> he was a console.
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>> investigators wondered if his wife knew something different. was is about figuring out if there was someone they had issues with? >> absolutely. >> did he have enemies? >> no. i really don't know. know. i hear that. that's why we protect all your vehicles here. but hey...nothing wrong with sticking it to the boss. ooooh, flo, you gonna take that? why would that concern me? because you're...the... aren't you the..? huh...we never actually discussed hierarchy. ok, why don't we just stick to letting dave know how much he can save when he bundles his home or auto with his boat or rv. wait, i thought jamie was the boss. [ laughter ] it's funny because i'm not boss material! wanna know a secret? more than just my armpits stink.
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don't miss out on our fastest speed plans yet! switch to comcast business and get started for $49.99 a month. plus, ask how to get up to an $800 prepaid card. call today! the investigation into michael reese's murder was just hours old but news of his death
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was already spreading. >> i couldn't fathom what was going on. >> josh was one of his best friends. >> he was like an uncle to my kids. he was a huge part of so many people's lives. such a rock to so many people. and then, he was just gone. nobody had a chance to say good- bye. i talked to him three days before he died. you never think that's going to be the last time you talk to him. >> josh had known michael since the seventh grade. he said his friend was smart. a computer whiz who worked at i.t. in a hospital in birmingham. >> he was the computer nerd what we called him. >> michael was funny and kind and always there if you needed him. >> to think he's not going to be there anymore, you don't know how to work that out.
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>> a cousin to michael's wife cindy was also reeling from the news. >> it was devastating. he was a kind soul. >> her heart broke for cindy. her husband was gone and it was a tragedy cindy experience before. she lost her first husband to suicide eight years earlier. >> she sort of way through and herself more than anything. i think she didn't have any motivation or any hope that life was going to get better anytime soon. >> all that changed in the spring of 28. they thought he might be a good match for cindy, his first marriage had ended in divorce, leaving him shattered. >> my best friend said, hey, he's a good christian guy and very involved in the church. very family oriented. >> they started dating, much to the delight of their family and friends. were you happy for them? >> absolutely.
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if anybody deserve to be happy it was michael. >> these were two people coming together for a fresh start. >> absolutely. they both have their bad times and we thought this was good. >> the couple married a year later --
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>> she and michael went to church from 6:00 until 7:00. >> we stopped at milo's. to get something to eat. >> milo's is a fast food chain. it's known for is season french fries as soon as a couple got home at their food, cindy said she realized they needed a few things from the grocery store. >> she set the food down and hollered at michael saying, i'm going to run to piggly wiggly and get some items. >> i grabbed the landline, the cordless phone. >> the detectives asked cindy if she had any idea who could've done this. >> i really don't know. >> did he have any enemies?
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>> i really don't know. >> there had been a contractor at the house cindy said building the extension. she doubted it was him but it was a potential lead. there was someone else detective street needed to ask cindy about. heard gossip, people had seen things. things that might reveal the motive for michael's murder. >> he was a baptist -- pastor. >> coming up. ugly rumors about cindy. >> she told me none of it was true, and i believed her. >> this is the woman in charge of the choir at church. the kind of gossip that spreads fast. >> we had some complaints of people were having sex in the parking deck. >> when dateline continues. n show off their clearer skin and noticeably less itch with dupixent. because children 6 months and older with eczema
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it's a beautiful... ask your child's eczema ...day to fly. wooooo! the murder of 40-year-old michael reese had investigator scratching their heads. homicides didn't happen in morris, alabama, especially not across the street from the police station. >> i remember helping him get the milo's in . >> detectives spoke to cindy for hours taking her step-by- step through the murder. >> when i saw the table and the stuff on the floor i did not walk past that. >> there was something on the detective's mind.
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something delicate he needed to talk to cindy about. it had to do with her and a man who is not her husband. >> we had complaints of people were having sex in the parking deck. >> the county employee parking deck. the detective was told it was cindy being intimate with a man and a pest control truck. it was a lead he shared with his partner. >> sergeant street called me at home the night the homicide occurred and woke me up and said you will never guess who homicide i'm working. michael reese. then told me that cindy is the one that was in the parking deck. >> the investigators learned the rumors had made the rounds in morris. cindy's cousin had heard about it from cindy herself. >> she told me none of it was true and i believed her. >> it's the woman in charge of the choir at church who spends many days a week going to church. >> and always had. everything about her life up to
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that point was completely pure. >> what was even more outrageous is to cindy is accused of being in the truck with. it was the pastor of cindy's church. he baptized michael. his name was jeff brown. >> the elders of the church said they had seen them in the car together. they were accusing them of an affair. i said ergonomically, that's not even possible. >> like the two couldn't fit in the car to have a sexual act because of their size? >> yes. it didn't make sense. >> at the time, jeff got a job at a pest control company. his truck had a two seat cabin they agreed the rumor was laughable. did you ask him michael was handling the rumors? >> i did and she acted like he didn't believe them either. that they were working through things.
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soon she started to hear things that made her wonder of her relationship with pastor jeff had crossed the line. >> do something start to feel a little off? >> cindy's said she had started working out. she said i am walking with jeff. that's when i started thinking this really doesn't feel right. >> they feel closer than pastor and parishioner? >> right. >> now cindy's husband was dead, shot in the back of the head. sergeant street was looking for answers. using a gentle touch, he asked cindy about the most intimate details of her private life. >> i am so sorry that we have to talk about such intimate things and to a stranger. >> cindy admitted that she and michael were having marital problems. >> he just didn't want anything to do with me. we just -- we stopped having sex. he started playing on the computer more.
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it was like he doesn't love me anymore. he started singing a lot. it was time for me to leave. >> she revealed she turned to pastor john for solace. >> i finally asked him if we could talk. the more i opened up, the more -- >> with him helping you through what you were going with at home , is that, do you think that's how you became closer? >> probably. >> she said the relationship started innocently enough, but -- >> the more we talked, the more we fell in love with each other. >> so you did fall in love with jeff? >> yeah. >> she was adamant the rumors of them having sex and the parking deck were not true but
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she said the elders in the church could not be convinced otherwise. >> the more we tried to fight it, the worse it got. i just resigned. >> she left the church and her position as music director. the detective knew there had to be more to the story. >> when did your relationship actually, excuse me, progress to the point of physical, or whatever else? >> it was around the time i resigned. started having an affair. >> there it was. what are you thinking when she tells you this? pretty scandalous. >> absolutely. an affair and a southern baptist church is bad enough. then coming in the middle of a homicide makes a suspect. >> that led the detective to
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his next question. >> did you shoot michael? >> no. i couldn't do it. i would not be able to do that. i can't even shoot an animal when it is dying. >> she admitted she was an adulterer. not a murderer. she told the detective there was no reason to kill her husband. michael already know about everything. >> i had a lot of guilt. i told michael that i had an affair. >> so you did tell him. >> yes. >> she said they were trying to make their marriage work and went back to disney world for a second honeymoon. >> we just went back for our fifth anniversary. eight even got the picture to put in a frame. >> of the three people from the love triangle, michael was dead. cindy claimed she was innocent and that left pastor jeff. what would he say?
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investigators were about to find out. >> i will come in and ask you. did you shoot michael in the head? >> was a day fall from grace or a murder? tough questions for the pastor. >> jeff brown seemed as shocked by anyone by the death of his rival. >> how do you feel about michael being dead? >> i don't have words. i just don't have them. >> this guy turned up dead, shot in the back of the head. the only two people who have motives are you and his wife. >> this is what mattered most. he claimed to have an alibi. he was not around when the murder took place. murder took place. after waitings for it to grow? meet new pantene pro-v miracles. with our highest concentration of pro-vitamins yet, infused with ingredients like biotin & collagen. strengthens hair bonds and repairs
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thousands of palestinians continue to flee the city of rafah ahead of a potential
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invasion by israel's military. the gaza health ministry said over 35,000 people died in the territory since the war began. crews are expected to blow up sections of the collapsed key bridge in baltimore today. officials hope it will allow the port to reopen and remove the cargo ship they had been trapped beneath the wreckage. welcome back to the dateline. i'm andrea canning. michael reese had been shot dead in his home. his wife cindy admitted having an affair with pastor jeff brown. police were about to both the pastor and the hot seat. it wasn't his answers by body language that spoke volumes. continuing now with even the devil went to church. >> less than an hour after police finished interviewing cindy reese about the murder of her husband, they brought in jeff brown. the man who had been cindy's
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pastor and are not so secret lover. >> how do you feel about michael being dead? >> i, i don't have words. i just don't have them. >> detectives had words. they considered jeff a suspect and told him so. >> you are a preacher with two kids and you had an affair. >> that's right. >> this guy turned up dead. shot in the back of the head and only two people who have motives are you and his wife. sound like a lifetime movie. >> as you're watching, he seems nonchalant as you bring up the affair. >> he was very defensive about the affair. he was grabbing the arms of the chair so tightly that his knuckles were white trying not to give away any indicators of deception. >> are you in love with cindy? >> i am.
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>> still? >> absolutely. >> at this point jeff had been fired as pastor because of the affair and he said he and his wife are getting divorced. >> did it bother you at all that you were following through with your divorce and cindy was not? >> it concerned me. >> he admitted it concerned him and that cindy and michael were still sleeping together. >> it sickened me. him touching her. she would describe some of the to me and it was nasty. >> but he said it was not a motive for murder, and he seemed to have a good alibi. he said he was 50 miles away at the time michael was killed. >> i was headed up carson road, and i was trying to get to my buddy's house because i wanted to go to the storage unit. >> jeff had no problem answering the next question. >> did you shoot michael in the head? >> no, did not.
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>> do you know if cindy shot him? >> i do not have a clue. >> even though i had suspicions, i did not have enough probable cause for arrest. >> the investigation was just getting started. so many leads to follow and questions answer. who was pastor jeff brown? pastor learn this married father two with one on the way had an eclectic past. we had he come from? what jobs had he done? he is driving a pest control truck. >> he was in the military previously. >> he was a marine. >> he worked as a police officer and for a moving company and a hairdresser. >> he was a jack of all trades. good at none, i guess. >> as you can imagine in morris, alabama, michael reese is order was a talk at the town. everyone had an opinion. the town building inspector certainly did.
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he thought jeff was obsessed with cindy. >> i saw him in the park all the time, sitting on the bench looking at cindy's house. was he waiting for mike to go to work or for cindy to come out? what was he doing down there? >> there was one story that delaine heard about jeff literally getting between michael and cindy. it happened after they moved to a new church. what happens to pastor jeff? >> he starts showing up at the church and there were elders of the church that said, when he would arrive, if cindy and michael were already seated that sometimes he would sit in between them. >> what? >> yeah, that is what i had heard. >> the more police looked into jeff, the more they found people who just did not like him. what had you heard about jeff brown around town? >>
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>> can you say man >> roy henderson, cindy's uncle, agreed. >> the only opinion i had from the beginning is this is a con man. he tries to warm himself into environments to make himself look better. to get what he wants. >> what he wanted was cindy. according to her mom, judy, michael knew all about it. >> he said jeff is trying to take my wife. >> what advice do you give to your son-in-law? >> i said michael, are you sure? he said yes. he said, i am afraid of jeff. i said you think jeff might hurt you? he said yeah, i know he would if he got the opportunity. >> detectives were surprised to learn about one month before the murder, jeff allegedly asked two of his coworkers at a
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moving company to kill michael. >> he was offering his car and possible money after the deed was done. >> the men reported jeff to a different police department. that is why the detective was only hearing about it now. it's a nice gift to your investigation. >> absolutely. >> things were not looking good for pastor jeff. he did have the one thing working in his favor. he was not around when the murder took place. >> that is what he said. >> detectives waited on a cell phone records hoping to prove or disprove his alibi. in the meantime, they turned their attention back to cindy. there was something they needed to clear up. one of the clues that stuck out to you involved food. >> correct. as bizarre as it sounds, yes. >> unusual clue involving fast food gives investigators something to chew on. a trip down the money trail reveals new details about
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cindy's affair. coming up. >> she is laying out the love triangle in her office. >> that is correct. >> was jeff brown a kept man? >> there was a file in inside there was the lease of an apartment she rented for him. >> she is paying for everything. >> she is paying for everything. >> did you hope one would turn on the other? >> we were counting on it. want the power of 5 serum benefits in 1? olay super serum activates on skin to hydrate, smooth, visibly firm, brighten, and improve texture. it's my best skin yet. olay
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a weak into the murder investigation of michael reese, detectives had questions for his wife cindy. things she told them or not adding up beginning with the 911 call when she said she could not find her husband. >> stuff has been dumped around the house and i could not find my husband. >> as soon as i walked in, i could see the victim lying in the back door which was standing wide open. it would've been hard for her to be looking for her husband and not have seen him laying there. >> her description of a possible burglary gone wrong? on closer inspection, the detectives were not sure. was the burglar theory making sense? >> the first thing i noticed was there was no forced entry. >> is for the construction
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worker who had access to the house? he had a solid alibi. >> his alibi was he was in church and we were able to verify that. >> police were becoming more suspicious of cindy and they wondered about the death of her first husband by suicide. a gunshot to the head. >> we did reopen the case and looked at it but we could not find anything to validate that she was responsible. >> their list of clues in this case was growing, including a highly unusual one. >> in alabama, there is milo's hamburgers and they have some of the best french fries i have to say, in the world. >> everyone here knows you have to eat the fries while they are hot. police were puzzled when cindy said on the night of her husband's murder she dropped out of the bag and told michael she was off to buy groceries at the piggly wiggly. >> before or after you ate? >> that was a red flag moment
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that cindy didn't eat her fries. >> as bizarre as it sounds, yes. >> not only that but cindy said she raced off without eating because she needed orange juice and lunchmeat for the next morning. >> there was ample lunchmeat and orange juice and there refrigerator and there was no need to go to the store. >> what happened next may their ears perk up. she told him as she was headed to the grocery store, her phone rang. >> jeff called and said he left his wallet at home. he needed some gas. so, i met him at the gas station. i gave him $15. >> if cindy was claiming she was trying to make her marriage work, they wondered why she was meeting with her ex-lover to give him money. the wheels must be spinning as the stories are not completely adding up. >> right. >> with a warrant, they searched cindy's office. >> the first thing i saw was
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there was a picture of her and michael reese in and a byton and underneath was a frame of a picture of her and jeff brown. >> she is laying out the love triangle in her office. >> that is correct. >> detectives found more. >> there was a file labeled jeff brown and inside was the lease for the apartment she rented for him. the car note. >> she is paying for everything? >> that is correct. >> detectives were keeping prosecutors in the loop. it was becoming clear to everyone in law enforcement, two people, cindy and jeff, might be guilty of murder. >> i think there was an idea they wanted to be together in the way for them to be together was to eliminate michael reese. >> prosecutor set out to build a case against a former pastor and his music director. sometimes, they said, the work
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was disturbing. >> i don't know how many naked pictures i had to look at from jeff's phone or cindy's phone. >> sex sting that continued up to the murder. what was more important was what the cell records show the night michael was shot. while cindy sat with michael in church, jeff sent her a text that said, keep me posted. >> i think that came in at 6:57. right before church lets out. >> prosecutors believe the text meant they were plotting to kill michael that night. they had even more proof. >> after they leave the church, she is contacting him again. >> they assumed cindy called jeff and secretly left the line open so he could listen to what was happening between her and a husband. >> at some point there is an open line for about 30 minutes that stays open all the way through, presumably, to when michael was killed.
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>> they had evidence that showed when cindy got home after going to the grocery store, she was still on the phone with jeff. even when she use the house phone to call 911. >> what she did knows 911 call start recording as soon as the ring starts. you can hear her talking to jeff. >> cell phones almost dead. >> it is a calm, my phone is about to die, after she's dashed before she's acting hysterical. >> i had no idea. >> while prosecutors were able to gather information from the cell phone records, they could not tell who actually shot michael. they could tell that contrary to his alibi, jeff was not 50 miles away. >> it is not specific enough to say was inside the reese house but it specific enough to say within hundreds of feet. >> since i had no evidence placing jeff in the house, their best guess, cindy was a shooter. >> most likely he was lying in
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wait either around the corner or on a nearby street. >> the take-out dinner had not been touched. they believe the murder happen as soon as michael and cindy came home. michael headed to the back of the house to let the dog in, and that's when they think cindy shot him in the back of the head. even though the could prove who pulled the trigger, they were not worried. >> under alabama law, does not matter. if you are involved and take steps in the process, you are in for the whole deal. it does not matter who pulled the trigger. >> it was time to get the disgraced lovers behind bars. detectives arrested them the same time aside cindy's office. they just came back from lunch together. did you hope that one of them would turn on the other? >> we were counting on it. >> absolutely. >> with a trial on the horizon, they remained typed tight- lipped. >> there is no reason to think
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he would plead at that point. >> it doesn't sound like anyone is going to squeal. >> she looked me in the eyes and says my lawyer has nothing to worry about. to worry about. now, there's skyrizi. ♪ things are looking up, i've got symptom relief. ♪ ♪ control of my crohn's means everything to me. ♪ ♪ control is everything to me. ♪ feel significant symptom relief at 4 weeks with skyrizi, including less abdominal pain and fewer bowel movements. skyrizi is the first il-23 inhibitor that can deliver remission and visibly improve damage of the intestinal lining. and the majority of people experienced long-lasting remission at one year. serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine or plan to. liver problems may occur in crohn's disease. ♪ now's the time to ask your gastroenterologist how you can take control of your crohn's with skyrizi.
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welcome back. police thus solving michael reese's murder was a simple case of geometry. in this deadly love triangle,
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the two surviving members were to blame. now, with trial dates looming, tension was mounting. prosecutors hoped one of the defendants would make a deal. would pressure strengthen their resolve? or was one about to crack? now, the conclusion of even the devil went to church. >> less than a month after the murder of michael reese, all eyes were on his wife, cindy. >> what's the saying? if the spouse is killed, talk to the one that's breathing. >> and the when she is sleeping with. police talk to cindy and her lover, former pastor jeff brown and both up and charged with murder. as a follow the case, resident jerry vincent wondered if one would flip on the other? when he bumped into cindy who was out on bail -- >> the first one to squeal gets the best deal and i think you know who was squealing. she looked me dead in the eyes and said my lawyer says i've
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got nothing to worry about. they can't prove a thing. >> hood you think you're looking in the eyes? >> cold-blooded murder were. >> it evaporated by 2015 when jeff's trial was set to start. >> there is no reason to think he would plead at that point. >> just minutes before they started picking a jury, jeff turned to his lawyer and told him he wanted to make a deal. it's one of those tv moments where you are ready to go. you have been prepping for months, and suddenly, this is flipped on its head. >> there is some peace knowing he will take some responsibility for his part in the murder. >> jeff brown finally admitted he had a haddon michael reese's had dashed death. he agreed to testify can cindy. her murder trial's started in november, and his family and friends were there. >> we had a large group of people there just for michael
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to make sure that he got the justice that he deserved. >> there were others in the courtroom like cindy's mother and uncle who had a different view of what justice should look like. in -- >> in my heart, i knew she could not of done it. she is not a murderer. >> you believed you knew who murdered michael? >> beyond a shadow of a doubt. jeff brown. >> prosecutors believed both were involved in michael's death but they were convinced cindy was a mastermind. her motive? >> getting a divorce in this community is looked down upon. rather than her looking like someone who was having an affair and got a divorce, she would be looked at as a victim of her husband got killed. >> prosecutors knew they needed to shatter the image of cindy reese, the god-fearing music director.
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>> this christian lady, grieving widow damage that she was working so hard to portray, it made sense to show that she was not the person. >> they laid out all the evidence i had been gathered again cindy. the paperwork for the car department found in her office. the cell phone data. the cold milo's fries and her affair with their star witness, jeff brown who told the jury an astonishing story. >> i think what jeff did as it relates to cindy's trial is a filled in a major piece of the puzzle. >> that major piece? how the murder went down. >> while he was on the phone with her, he heard a pop, and then after the murder, at a local gas station, she told him it's done. >> cindy shot michael, jeff claimed. he wasn't even there. he testified that cindy gave him the murder weapon at the gas station that night and told
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him to get rid of it. >> it pretty much was the final nail in her coffin, so to speak, as far as her trial. >> or was it? >> we hoped the jury would see he was a liar. >> cindy's defense attorney told the jury she could not of killed michael. michael was three inches taller than cindy but the trajectory of the bullet indicates his killer loomed above him. >> the angle was in a downward angle. cindy was too short to create that angle. >> not too short, jeff brown, said the defense. he reminded the jury that there was no physical evidence linking cindy to the crime. no blood. no gunshot residue. not only that, he said, jeff had the motive and not cindy. would you characterize their relationship that jeff was obsessed with cindy? or was it vice versa? >> i would think jeff was obsessed with cindy because she
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was kind of his gravy train, so to speak. >> do you think that gave jeff brown the perfect motive that a native michael out of the picture to continue that gravy train? >> that is certainly a motive, isn't it? >> and to arrest cindy's image from the stay, they took a calculated risk and put her on the stand. she told the jury she did not shoot her husband. while she admitted her marriage was rocky, she didn't want him dead and was adamant she knew nothing of jeff's plan to kill him. why did you decide to have cindy testify? >> she wanted to. two, with jeff on the witness stand, i think she had to. >> which image with the jury believe? the churchgoing grieving widow or the churchgoing cheating widow? it did not take long to find out. the jury deliberated for just 90 minutes, and the vertical?
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guilty of murder. how are you feeling in that moment? >> it was great she was found guilty, but she is still alive. she eventually will get out and live her life and michael doesn't get that chance. >> on the other side, different emotions from cindy's family. >> heartbroken. destroyed. >> in a state of shock. really not believing what i had heard. >> she was convicted for being an adulterous and sentenced is a murderer. >> delaine thanks a jury got it right. >> there was overwhelming evidence that cindy was involved. >> why is something she continues to struggle with. >> did she get consumed by the moment and get caught up emotionally and it got out of hand? or is she a monster and did she plan it?
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>> important questions unlikely to be answered. as part of his plea deal, jeff brown received a 20 year prison sentence. cindy reese got 40 years. as for michael reese, the unwitting victim of a love triangle he wanted no part of, all that's left are memories. memories of a kind and gentle soul with a big laugh and an even bigger heart. how do you want people to remember michael? >> he was just a funny guy. he enjoyed life so much. he was just a good person, and anybody who ever knew him would tell you the same thing. >> that is all for this edition of dateline. i'm andrea canning. thank you for watching . hello, i'm andrea canning. , this dateline.

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