kids all playing together, and it was just one day after the next after the next, and you just fall together. i mean, it is the one good thing that came out of this tragedy. dom has a whole family, and he is happy about that you know, he says i've got a mommy in heaven. i've got a mom here. >> in time, laura and john got engaged, and the nelson family grew by a few more. just one empty place. >> you never fill the hole in your life, do you, when you was a child. >> no. >> how often do you think about jessyka? >> every day. >> that is all for this edition of dateline. i am andrea canning. thank you for watching. ing. thank you for watching.

i'm craig melvin, and this is dateline. >> my dad was my best friend. he just liked to make people smile. he would always post about how his an fbi agent. he was so proud. my brother and his friend came running down to the neighbors house. >> just call 911. >> i'm calling. >> his body did appear to be concealed. >> robert is not to take the time to cover your body. it's personal. >> it seemed like it was forever, maybe 10-second silence in the room. >> he was an fbi agent. >> that was many criminals. >> could take care of themselves? >> they thought so.

>> hello. welcome to "dateline." with special agent scott retired from the fbi, it seemedt he left crime and violence behind him. then, he was beaten to death outside his own home. it was a puzzling mystery, leading police to wander, as someone from his past resurfaced for revenge, or was the killer much closer to home? here is josh mankiewicz with "the house." >> a young man walks toward his house in the middle of the evening. he is wearing a gopro camera to do that. now, if it sounds strange for someone to start recording a video of their own actions, stay tuned. this is actually one of the less weird things you will hear about. what happened next was nothing short of terrifying. >> call on one.

>> what is going on? >> what he found then i would spark an investigation and a mystery that would only deepen overtime. it is all linked to the drama that began just hours earlier when a daughter couldn't find her father. scott horne wasn't the kind of dad to disappear. you see, scott had spent 23 years as an fbi special agent, even in retirement. he would still schedule his life like clockwork. >> if he did something he normally did that same thing every day at the same time. he never slept in either. he was up every morning, 7:30. >> scott's daughter kelly was living on her own by age 18. even so, she remembers her dad starting each morning with the same phone call. >> her dad called to wake her up every day.

>> yeah. he will call and say, are you up, then five minutes later, he would call and say, are you up? >> not just the alarm clock, he is also the snooze alarm. >> yeah.. >> except on that morning, or 16th, 2017. kelly's phone was silent. >> i texted him, and he didn't respond, and i called him, and the phone went straight to voicemail. i text him and i said, i hope you are okay. >> this is unlike him? >> totally. >> wouldn't respond to you? >> yeah. >> kelly reached out to her dad's next-door neighbors, marty and cindy >> kelly called and asked me if i had seen scott all day. i said, no, i hadn't. >> she said, call him on this, so i called the police. they came out. >> scott, right? >> yes. >> nice house. >> officers from the laurel maryland police department met kelly at the house to do what is called a welfare check. when

police go to an address, essentially, to make sure something bad hasn't happened. >> officer walks into the house. >> police -- >> bobby! >> they moved from room-to- room. >> my dad would typically >>tak the dogs out to make sure they went potty outside, and there was p all over the floor. >> which meant the dog have been inside for a long time. >> right. >> now, not just the morning he has been missing. >> nobody has seen him. >> since the day before? >> right. >> they went into the basement. another officer searched upstairs. officer matt zimmer was there. f >> nothing appeared to be in disarray. nothing appeared to be a struggle. she grabbed some belongings and stated that she was going to continue to try and locate her father. >> i guess i will wait until later. >> okay. >> later eventually arrived,

and kelly still hadn't heard from her dad. by this time, -- >> you have to be really scared. >> i was. i was. >> kelly had been talking with her older brother riley. he hadn't seen their dad and was worried too. that evening, riley went over to the house with a friend. that's when riley hit record on his gopro and headed up the lawn of his family's large suburban home. as they walked, riley and his friend heard banging and clattering on the left side of the house. when they went to the area where the sound had come from, they could make out something in the darkness. they lifted it up. what they saw sent riley running to a neighbor's house where his sister's waiting. >> police officer, ems. >> what did you mean?

>> kelly ran to the house. >> i didn't understand what was happening. >> they saw a body, didn't know who it was. >> i honestly don't remember. i was so -- my adrenaline kicked in, and i ran up to the house, and i stopped right before the door, and i just fell to my knees. i was crying and screaming. >> went up to the porch, and saw her prostrate in the snow, s just screaming. it was 10 minutes or so before i can understand what she was saying. that her dad was dead. >> for the second time, officers were first on the scene. >> my father is under -- >> what is that? >> a gopro. >> started moving down the driveway. i said, show me where you found the body. >> [ screaming ] >> right here. i can't look. >> scott horne was dead. now, the mechanics of a murder

investigation began. >> got crafting tape on the body there. >> who killed scott on? as police search for clues outside the house, someone inside is apparently unaware of it all. coming up -- >> can we come down here, ma'am? we are conducting an investigation right now, ma'am. >> and whoever murdered scott horne didn't just kill him. this was overkill. >> someone shoots him from behind, and then after he is on the ground, begins beating him. >> that's right. >> when "dateline" continues. immune systems may have a lower response to the vaccine. the most common side effects are injection site pain, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, and joint pain.

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police were swarming the house of this quiet residential neighborhood. scott horne had been found by his son, murdered in his own backyard. >> you all, contact kinsey. >> detective kenzie anderson came to lead the investigation. he didn't need a medical examiner to tell him that scott horne had been the victim of a brutal murder, and it wasn't just a beating. another investigator noticed a bullet lodged in the shed.

>> he was shot in the neck. >> with the neck would have killed him by itself? >> no. the neck will would have disabled him. >> someone shoots him from behind, then after he is on the ground, begins beating him? >> correct. >> could you tell what he was beaten with? >> firewood. >> you didn't find the specific piece of firewood he was beaten with? >> no. unable to find it. >> unable to find it, maybe because the next to the body was a wood-burning stove. they connected to a boiler that he did the whole house.scott had installed the system. he was quite proud of it. suddenly, it seemed scott's on accomplishment might have helped his killer destroy the murder weapon. >> possible someone just threw the boiler after they were done using it? >> detective anderson had a sense of how scott died. to get to the who, the detective needed more about his victim's life. right there, at the crime scene, family and friends were eager to talk.

>> i go right into the officers, identify who i am, and i let them know he is one of hours, and they know he is a retired fbi agent. >> one of scott's supervisors at the bureau. >> has to be weird being both an fbi agent and a friend of the victim in that situation. >> it is a tough place to be. you want to do so much more. >> more friends than special agent now? >> yes. i am there for the family, i am there for him. >> not surprising. that was the way scott had been there for the bureau. having carried fbi credentials for more than two decades after serving in the air force. >> he just liked to laugh and make people smile. >> in suspect interviews, he was the perfect guy. >> he was pretty would say, listen, be honest with us, listen to us and i will talk the prosecutors and my boss. we'll see what we can do for you. >> then, you would come out? >> right. exactly. tell us the truth. >> on drug cases, bank robberies and kidnappings, scott horne's good cop persona came in handy. after a wild,

family considerations made him ask for a lower octane assignment. background checks for people seeking government jobs. >> that is why he handled polygraphs, presidential up on us, new recruits came through. >> that is not exactly the sexiest of fbi details. >> it is not something everyone shoots for, but it really had consistent hours. >> a dad schedule. >> exactly. >> scott's wife anne work long shifts as a nurse. daughter kelly said dad liked being mr. mom. >> nature the eight a well- balanced meal every night, make sure we went to bed on time, got all of her homework done, that our clothes were clean. my dad was my best friend. he took me everywhere with him and taught me so much. >> scott loved his family, including the four-ligand numbers. >> mama bear, papa bear, k-9

bear. >> and running a close second a family, scott's passion for this four-bedroom house. had more than just his fingerprints on it. >> our house is so wonderful. i know it sounds really conceded, but it is something to be proud of >> of all the nice things about it, he had personally worked on it? >> yeah. lots of projects, solar panels, wood-burning stove, even the pool had solar panels that he did it. >> all his doing? >> yeah. so many projects he was excited and did in the house. >> now, that house scott had loved so much had become a crime scene. outside, officers stood watch, but inside -- >> hello, police department. can we come down here, ma'am? >> yes. >> someone was walking down the

stairs. >> who else lives here? else >> my husband. >> your husband? >> anne had no idea what was transpiring just outside her front door. >> what has happened? >> there's an investigation right now, ma'am. >> it would be up to a detective to tell anne what was going on. >> basically, a man in the yard , okay? >> a deceased man in my yard? what? >> investigators break the news to anne, and she shares troubling details about scott's personal life. coming up, did scott have money problems? >> did he gamble? >> or other problems? >> some tenants had bad blood. >> when "dateline" continues.

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as he began his investigation, detective anderson.it best to keep some details of scott's murdered himself. as he talked with scott's wife anne in the couple's kitchen, anderson was careful not to share everything he knew. >> where was the last place he

saw scott? >> the last place i saw scott was early this morning. >> in the yard, okay? >> there's a deceased man in my yard? what? >> anne seemed to have no idea what was going on. if you are wondering why anne hadn't been out searching for her husband earlier, the answer is that, after two decades of marriage, anne and scott were living separate lives under the same roof while negotiating a divorce . >> he doesn't talk to me. he won't tell me anything. i rarely ever see him. he is gone most of the day, every day. i don't know what else to tell you. >> right away, anne helped police with this detail, where scott had likely been the night before his body was found. >> he would gamble all the time. >> he had been at the casino. >> we established a timeline for him. we wanted to look at, maybe someone followed him.

>> security footage from the live casino showed scott spending some of his final hours playing cards. after midnight, he cashed out and headed to his car. >> the video footage of him walking around inside a casino, he is by himself. no one tagging along behind him. went to his car, no one following him in the parking garage. >> the night of his murder, scott won less than $100. kelly says that was typical. her dad was hardly a high-roller . >> i wouldn't call it gambling. if anything, what my dad went to play with, he would go and strategize what table was the best table to sit at because of winning. >> detective henderson still had to determine if this was a random crime of opportunity. a robbery gone wrong. investigators at the scene had noted scott's cell phone and

wallet were missing. >> we checked into the activity on his bank cards. there were no activity. in my experience, when a robber takes property from a victim, they end up at a gas station. >> they're trying to use the card as quickly as possible. >> yes. >> didn't them? >> not in this case. >> anyway, the crime scene was telling the investigators, this wasn't random. >> there was a lot of emotion involved in the way scott was assaulted. >> whoever murdered him shot him , he falls to the ground, they could have shot him again, but instead, they choose to beat him to death. >> that's correct. >> which sounds like anger. >> it is. >> as an fbi agent for 23 years, scott horne had come into contact with plenty of bad guys, many of whom might have

carried a grudge about scott putting his hands or his cuffs on them. so, they looked at scott's cases and found a whole lot of nothing. >> there had never been any threats in his past that i'm aware of there had never been anything like that that i'm going to get you and curse you. >> even though it happens. >> it does. >> that didn't seem to apply with him. >> that is correct her did not apply with him. >> what about scott's second career? after fixing up his own house, scott had done several properties in the neighborhood. he was not a landlord with more than a dozen tenants. >> we started to think maybe some tenants had bad blood. >> detective henderson found out scott had recently evicted somebody over one of the rental properties. >> possibility one of those the book and have been angry enough at scott's want him dead? >> we received the information, followed up on that as a lead. >> a lead that, like others, didn't go anywhere. as they went through the possibilities, investigators were thinking the heart of this

mystery was closer to home. that included considering scott's son riley. detectives new the person who discovers the body is sometimes the murderer. >> i want you to listen to me. i want you to go out front on the porch, have a seat.have a seat. >> we brought riley back to the station. he voluntarily came, and he also voluntarily gave us a detailed description of what he found and how he found it. >> and where he had been. >> and where he had been. >> but detective henderson quickly determined riley had been at work all day. >> as far as you know, he had no history of being at odds with his dad. >> he actually loved his dad, and his dad was one of the stronger figures in his life as a mentor. >> like kelly, riley said his dad had been his best friend, so than who were scott's enemies? the big house looked beautiful from the outside.

inside, another story. coming up -- >> he said, if you ever see her gun again, call 911. >> i said, scott, you should leave the house. >> life behind closed doors. >> sort of, keep the details of this from other people? >> yeah. it is embarrassing. to the point where there were locks on everyone's doors. >> when "dateline" continues . s that only treat bipolar i, caplyta is proven to deliver significant symptom relief from both bipolar i & ii depression. and in clinical trials, movement disorders and weight gain were not common. caplyta can cause serious side effects. call your doctor about sudden mood changes, behaviors, or suicidal thoughts right away. anti-depressants may increase these risks in young adults. elderly dementia patients have increased risk of death or stroke.

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i'm jessica laden with the latest stories this hour. the park fire is continuing to grow with coloring temperatures helping contain it. a rocket attack in hights left 12 dead. is bella -- israel, blaming hezbollah who denies responsibility. now, back to "dateline."

welcome back to "dateline." i'm craig melvin. scott horne was murdered in a violent rage. police suspect the crime was personal and set out to find anyone who may have held a grudge against the former fbi special agent. but there leads quickly fizzled. all but one. turns out, scott did have an enemy, someone local police knew very well. back to josh mankiewicz with the house." >> the celebration of scott horne's wife drew quite a crowd. >> no one can make scott laugh more than scott could make scott laugh. >> there were jokes and tears and an air of awkwardness too. scott's estranged wife was in the front row. just about everyone was close to scott

knew there had been trouble inside the marriage and that home. >> ivan said, scott, you should leave the house. >> debbie wright was it an fbi colleague, one of scott's best friends. she said the clashes with anne started years earlier, mostly over the kids. >> what i saw, sometimes, she would be really sweet and nice to the kids, and then she could just turn on a dime and be mean to them. >> you saw that? >> i saw it. yeah. i saw that on occasion. >> did he tell you about it all the time? >> yeah. >> turned out scott's friends were getting only glimpses of what happened at home. daughter kelly says, growing up, her mother was volatile, sometimes violent. >> you sort of keep the details of this from other people? >> yeah. >> you know, you don't want anybody to know that you are living in this atmosphere? >> yeah. it is embarrassing.

>> kelly says, want them, she got in trouble for breaking a rule and having a facebook account. then, for borrowing a pair of her mom's heels. before that, she says, anne made her sleep in a hallway for months. her dad, she said, pushed back. >> we were in the hallway, where i had been sleeping, and an argument arose, and my dad said, you know, i deserved to have my bedroom back, and my mom got so angry. >> out of nowhere, kelly says, anne pulled a handgun from underneath her bathrobe and pointed it at scott. >> she said, you know, we made an agreement. you said, i am taking care of the kids, and if you get my way, there's going to be a problem. his whole demeanor changed. it was more like, okay, we're just going to take a step back. >> and you left the house with him? what did he say?

>> he said, if you ever see her gun again, call 911. >> you never saw that gun again? >> no. >> kelly says that happened about five years before the murder. she says the fighting escalated in the years that followed. >> it was bad to the point where there were locks on everyone's doors, on the outside and on the inside. >> both spouse s padlocked their bedroom doors to keep the others out. scott and anne became two sides of the same coin. bound together, but unable to face one another. it was a toxic atmosphere that seemed beyond repair. riley began recording his interactions with his own mother . that's why he was wearing a gopro the night he went looking for his missing dad by that point, the family home was already quite familiar to the laurel pd. how many times did the police come to that house? >> they knew us, regularly, they were there a lot.

>> you lost count? >> yeah. >> we did lose count between 2012 and the start of 2017, laurel police responded to that home at least 15 times. sometimes, it was anne calling. sometimes, it was scott calling sometimes, it was the kids. sometimes, they went down and filed paperwork on their own. we found 30 cases, ranging from domestic violence to second- degree assault, to numerous protective orders.all of it, representing more contact with law enforcement and the criminal justice system than most of us have in a lifetime. none of those cases resulted in convictions for anyone. kelly said her mom told her to move out of the house at 18. scott, however, stayed. this was, after all, his house that said, debbie believes scott may have underestimated his wife's resolve, and that anne's engine

was running on spite. >> she said, he loves this house. she said, i hate this house. and if he thinks that he is going to live here and keep this house, he has another thing coming. she said, because i will take this house from him, and i will take everything he has. and i can do it. >> detective henderson heard all of this and thought back to the first night he spoke with anne. was she really as clueless as she seemed? >> a deceased man in my yard? >> she seemed calm. >> may be too cold, thought detective henderson, and definitely too eager to offer up alternative theories, every day, he will gamble all the time. he has got a lot of people who are angry at him.

>> scott has enemies, scott has gambling problems. >> did you find any evidence that scott had any enemies other than his wife? >> no. >> they did find evidence that anne was likely home all day. she said as much to police. that would mean she was there that afternoon. when kelly and the officers went to check on scott. how could anne not hear them? investigators now believed scott was already dead at the time of the welfare check. as for those sounds, riley said he heard by the side of the house when he went over there that night, he later told police there was more to that he had seen someone out there. >> did you see who it was? >> i did not. more of a shadow. >> okay. >> yes. >> he said, he believed that shadow was his mom. police asked anne about it that

night. >> have you been outside? >> i was outside on the side, but that was it. >> you didn't see scott out there? >> no. >> investigators.anne was hiding something. are they all just dead wrong? >> as suspicion mounts, friends and family share another side of anne. coming up -- >> anne was very kindhearted, very compassionate. >> and wood chips in a washing machine. >> that suggested a cleanup. >> suggested a cleanup. >> wind "dateline" continues. introducing new advil targeted relief. the only topical pain reliever with 4 powerful pain-fighting ingredients that start working on contact to target tough pain at the source. for up to 8 hours of powerful relief.

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as investigators dug into the circumstances surrounding scott horn's death, his estranged wife, anne, was quickly emerging as a prime suspect. police spoke with neighbors like cindy and marty. you thought it was anne from the get-go. >> i did. yes. >> they said anne seemed aggressive and never missed a chance to spread what they said were lies about scott. >> i just wanted to give you a call. >> a voicemail anne left them months before scott was killed. >> he was brutal, and because

he ran the streets -- until i married him at age 37, he was nothing but a man horror. >> another neighbor shared with police this video of an interaction she had with anne on the street. >> i left because i was not going to be beaten up by anne. >> at the time, anne was claiming her family was abusive to her. >> i have a really hard time believing that that happened. >> i know. because you are stupid. and you don't know how deceptive an fbi agent can be. >> and its neighbors shared these stories, one name kept popping up. jason berg. >> jason berg is a person who was previously employed by scott horn. >> he was one of scott's contractors. melissa was the prosecutor and had her dejan of to make her think jason should be investigated.

what was the gossip in the neighborhood? your people went out and talked to a bunch of neighbors. >> that anne was out to get scott, that they had a very contentious divorce, that she was having an affair with jason, wanted, i don't know, i guess, ride into the sunset with jason. >> anne denies they were anything more than friends. still, police wondered if anne who's friend had helped her after the murder, maybe disposing of the gun and scott's wallet and cell phone. it turns out jason's truck was spotted at the house, and neighbor cindy took this photo of the person police thought was jason leaving the house that afternoon. that led to a police there. anne had asked jason to get rid of scott's things. he doesn't seem to be caring anything in his hands. he could have had scott's property in his pockets. >> yes. he could have had scott's property in his pockets, could have had the handgun in his

pockets. >> weeks went by, and there were no arrests. kelly thought it was just a matter of time. >> i never had any doubt that she did it. >> you were still sure it was her? >> yes. >> could kelly be right that her mom killed her dad? anne's friend rita lipinski said, she and anne went to high school and rita said anne's life is marked by her goodness to others. >> anne was very kindhearted, very compassionate. >> she says anne used that kind heart and compassion over her 30-year career as a nurse part of it, at walter reed national military medical center. >> she would tell me how sometimes she would actually home or softly sing to her patients. whether they were soldiers, or infants.

>> anne's back on is not something you would typically associate with someone who is a murderer. >> correct. >> anne's divorce attorneys at the picture they got was clouded by a tumultuous marriage and a bitter divorce. and she says, don't blame anne for that. why was that house is a toxic place? why didn't anyone want to leave? >> at the a lot of the issues that developed between anne and scott actually arose from their daughter kelly. anne had a difference of opinion from scott as to how to deal with kelly. >> despite anne's long hours at work, lauren paints her as an evolved parent. scott, as overly permissive, and kelly is an out-of-control teen. >> there were many allegations that anne made against kelly that kelly was physically violent with anne. >> kelly denies all that and says her mom lied. so, was anne mean, erratic or

violent? her attorney, lauren, says, not at all. she was just a mom trying to compensate for her husband's lacks parenting. >> grew up in a very strict catholic family, had her idea of how to do with kelly. >> she said, scott turned the kids against their mom. kelly's story about the gun -- anne's lawyer says it never happened. police found no proof anne had ever bought a gun. as for what neighbors and friends.and heard, lauren says anne was just trying to defend her reputation and get a fair settlement. >> anne knew that scott was going around telling these individuals their personal business, painting a terrible picture of who anne was as a wife and mother. >> lauren says, she hoped the police's suspicion of anne would subside. it did not. once again, body cams were out june 30th of 2017. >> police, open the door. >> hands behind the back. you are under the arrest for

murder. >> a hotel to a half miles from her former home, anne was arrested for scott's murder. jason berg was later arrested as well. >> i was like, a weight off of our shoulders. you know, something finally is going to be done. >> after anne's arrest, the crime lab gave the police some welcome news. some wood chips found in the family washing machine had scott's dna on them. >> it linked the house, the person in the house -- anne allen -- to the murder. >> suggested a cleanup. >> it suggested a cleanup. >> even with this new evidence, prosecutors were worried the case against anne allen was threatening to fall apart before it even got started. coming up -- >> there's no way that anne would do something so heinous. there is no way. >> from the moment detective

henderson arrived on the scene, anne was the one and only suspect. you can see it when you watch his first interaction with her in the kitchen. >> if you know anything about this, you need to be honest. >> on my know is -- >> detectives rushed to judgment? did the jury hear enough to make a judgment? >> they were limited to what the jury could hear with what went on in the house. >> when "dateline" continues. and with once-daily trelegy, it can still be beautiful. because with 3 medicines in 1 inhaler, trelegy keeps my airways open for a full 24 hours and prevents future flare-ups. trelegy also improves lung function, so i can breathe more freely all day and night. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it.

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but it's under siege from big out-of-state media companies and hedge funds. now, california legislators are considering a bill that could make things even worse by subsidizing national and global media corporations while reducing the web traffic local papers rely on. so tell lawmakers, support local journalism, not well connected media companies. oppose ab 886. paid for by ccia.

welcome back. anne allen and jason berg were arrested for the murder of anne's husband, scott horn. investigators believed she shot him. then, bludgeoned him to death with a piece of firewood. wood chips found in the family's washing machine appeared to link anne to the crime, but the defense was about to attack the very foundation of the prosecution's case. here is josh mankiewicz with the conclusion of "the house." >> charge with her husband's murder, anne allen pleaded not guilty and waited in jail for her trial to begin. her friend, rita, was stunned. >> it was like, you have got to be kidding me. there's no way that anne would do something so heinous. there is no way. >> anne's defense attorney, andrew jessica.

>> she is in jail and couldn't conceive that anybody would think that the slaveowners would harm anyone. >> jesek said he look at the city's case and found no evidence. he said, common sense told him there was no way anne could have pulled off such a brutal beating, since she walked with a cane, or a crutch >> the scene itself is so important, and the manner of killing. before hand -- presumably whatever was hitting him, a piece of wood. anne didn't have that strength. >> i guess, people who are furious enough that other people can do superhuman things. >> they can say that. right? then again, there needs to be evidence of that. >> not long after anne was arrested, the state's case seemed to fray. after first arresting jason berg, prosecutors decided not to move forward, and dropped all charges.

>> we got to the point we're going to present evidence to the grand jury, to make a decision, there wasn't enough. >> search warrants were executed for jason's home, for his truck? >> correct. >> nothing, none of scott's stuff was there? >> correct. >> prosecutors forged ahead, hoping a jury would see what they saw. a woman who appeared sweet and harmless, but was actually filled with murderous rage. prosecutors were also hampered by what they could say in court. >> the law doesn't allow prior bad acts to come in in maryland. because of that, we were limited to what the jury could hear about what really went on in that house. >> do they get a real perspective or a real picture of what life was like there? >> i don't think they did. >> the jury did get to hear just how toxic that marriage was, didn't get to see the entirety of those police files in the family. >> because you are stupid. >> and didn't get to hear any

of the neighbors' recordings of anne. prosecutors said anne was the only person who hated scott enough to kill him. >> it is personal. >> you think anne killed scott, not as a result of some argument that flew off the handle. you think that when she woke up that day, that was the plant? >> i think she waited for him to get home that day. i think she knew he was going to put a few logs on. i think she waited, went out there, and attacked him. >> i was outside to put wood on the fire. >> they said, anne's story about going outside to throw logs on the fire was beyond suspicious. >> and you didn't see scott? >> no. >> literally, in order to open the said, would have had to have stepped over scott horn's body. >> and she saw nothing? >> nothing. >> on top of her hatred for scott, the state said there was another motive.

>> life insurance. >> how much? >> $500,000. >> prosecutors knew the defense attorneys would say anne was physically too frail to beat scott to death, so they were ready. a security camera and neighbor cindy's house showed that, sometimes, anne used crutches, and other times, she did not. >> the crutch and the cane would come and go. it seemed that will. >> neighbors saw her, both before and after, walking around. she was fine. was she a person in her 60s? absolutely. but she is not incapable of committing this crime. >> the jury heard about the wood chips in the washer, except anne who's dna wasn't on them, just scott's. in fact, prosecutors couldn't prove that anne's dna was on scott's body at all. >> juries like dna. >> injuries like dna. >> you didn't have it? >> i didn't have a. >> you go with ibuprofen or advil every night? >> wine. >> the defense.prosecutors had every reason to worry, because,

they said, there was zero proof anne killed scott. he argued the whole investigation was a classic case of tunnel vision. >> i think, one 100%, from the moment detective henderson arrived on that scene, anne was the one and only suspect. you can see it when you watch his first interaction with her in the kitchen. >> listen, listen. if you know anything about that, then you need to be honest . >> he was interacting with her like he knew that he found the person that did this and that was it. >> the defense argued there was nothing suspicious about anne not seeing scott's body in the yard video proved how dark it was. even police didn't find it when they went there for the welfare check that afternoon. the defense pushed back at the state's theory that anne was motivated by money. turns out, she wasn't the beneficiary on the life insurance policy. scott had taken her name off of it. a deep dive into the family finances showed this.

>> scott had 220,000 plus in credit card debt, spread amongst 21 different credit cards. >> she was on the hook for that. >> absolutely. >> the defense rested, and jurors went to deliberate. after one day, they told the judge, they were deadlocked. she sent them back, and on day two, there was a verdict. >> when the verdict was read, anne started wailing, just wailing. she kept on to say, thank you, god, thank you, god. >> i had a lot of people who were praying for anne. when i heard the verdict, it was like, yes.the prayers were answered. >> anne allen was found not guilty, and she was set free., i think she got away with murder. >> everybody got up, and on to the next case. >> scott's friends at the fddi were devastated. >> i wish there was more justice for him.

he worked as an investigator solving crimes. his crime will never -- i don't think -- ever be solved. >> laurel police later opened the case pending new information, and since she was acquitted, anne cannot be tried again for murder. anne, after the verdict, moved to another state. as for riley and kelly, they told us they are moving forward and trying to live each day the way their dad would have. >> you know, riley and i determined, how would dad do it? so, just doing the scott horn way. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. you evg committing the perfect murder? this is dateline. >>