trace that ring to its owner in wisconsin, i'm really afraid we'd have two guys sitting on death row for something they didn't do. it's never good news when the phone rings at 5:00 in the morning. he just began sobbing and saying no. no. it was just before midnight when the shooting started. >> he had been shot multiple times. he was on the ground face down. >> a man was dead but not just any man. >> how do you kill super man? how is super man dead? >> he was an olympian an father

killed by an intruder in his own backyard. >> but if her husband was dead outside why was the gun found hidden inside? >> some times she would say i would be better off if dave wasn't around. >> the mystery may not be who did it but why. >> justice will be served. i have to believe that. >> welcome to dateline. he took home a bronze medal.

for dave home was ventura county, california where he met his wife jane and where he lost his life. jane said there was a prowler then gunfire. they found troubling holes in jane's story. what happened at their home that night? here is the hometown hero and the homecoming queen. >> it was late when it happened, very late. the sky had already fallen. no one saw it coming. no one heard the warning but now in the night it was done. >> they worked hard. it is a kind of shrine. >> there is a bunch of pictures

and it's -- that's what makes it special i think. >> these were the moments before they were born, when a shot putter named dave became his family's super man and his little brother watched him win a bronze medal at the 1984 olympics. >> i just cried. how do you not? he was my big brother but he was my super man. >> don is dave's ynger brother by nine and a half years. they inherited a passion from their father. zb >> i remember my first milk was a protein powder. >> it is part of your life. >> it really is. >> here is where that dna was planted oxnard, california on the beach north of l.a.'s

encroaching sprawl. they grow mostly strawberries now. >> you could ride your bike everywhe everywhere. everybody knew everybody. >> she knew them growing up and that big old farming family. >> our dads were both farmers. old farming families were both from. >> they were big here in oxnard. >> it was lots of them around. they multiplied. >> and helen's friend, jane, grew up to be especially beautiful, featured in her high school yearbook as homecoming queen. >> she was not ever concerned with that. she is also very very shy. >> how do you get to be a homecoming queen if you're shy?

>> she is also a very kind person, very gentle person. >> and as that yearbook shows the star volleyball player too. >> she could spike. she is not that tall but she could jump. >> she soon met that other gifted athlete, dave, already on his way to becoming one of the best shot putters in california. they some times let don tag along. >> she was fun. they got along so well. they loved each other. it was just neat. >> when they got married in 1980 jane's friend helen was a bridesma bridesmaid. >> going that morning to jane's parents house and the girls getting dressed up. it was sweet. jane looked gorgeous. he had her on a pedestrian

stool. he always said such wonderful things about him. we would talk once or twice a week on the phone probably for hours. we just hit it off. she was family. >> jane was there as he became a national and then world competitor. >> he was disapointed but he just knew. it's a point when you know something is done but it's okay. you got as far as you can and that door closes. >> and another door opened. dave became a high school biology teacher, coach and athletic director.

if dave missed his former glory he never showed it and of course remained a legend to his niece and nephewnephews. >> one phrase that could best describe him is a gentle giant. he had so much patience and so much kindness. >> at home dave and jane stru struggled to children. >> i felt bad when i would get pregnant. >> they adopted a baby boy from south korea named michael. >> they were happy. >> moments in time, inspiration on a garage ball. >> it did you want make sense. no. it's not right. it doesn't make sense. >> ever since that august night.

when a super man fell to earth. coming up, a run-in with a prowler turned deadly. >> describe how fast they were. >> pop, pop, pop. >> when dateline continues. a complete multivitamin with key nutrients plus b vitamins for heart health. your one a day is showing.

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>> midnight, august 28th, 2009. oxnard, california. >> 911 emergency. >> the woman in full panic. >> what's the person look like that was in your back yard? >> you heard shots being fired? >> yes. my husband is outside. >> the woman on the phone was jane laut, the wife of the hometown hero. >> oh my god. >> dave was still outside, she said, where she heard shots fired. >> where did you last see your husband? >> he told me to get back in. so i came back in. and i heard the shots. >> how old is your son? don't wake him up just yet, okay? >> i can't see dave. >> stay with me. i have officers on the way. stay in the house.

>> the officers had to lock down and call in a homicide team to investigate further. it was a brutal scene. >> ventura county's investigator mike palmeiri arrived, there was no sign of a prowler. but they did find dave laut. >> he had been shot multiple times. he was on the ground, face down, with very obvious gunshot wounds to his back and to the back of his head. >> jane was a mess. she told investigators she had no idea who would do this. >> is there anybody who would want to harm him at all? >> no. >> son michael, 10 at the time, slept through it all. and jane's brother took charge of him while jane went down to the oxnard police department to offer a more complete statement. it had been a perfectly normal evening, she said. they were in bed by 10:00. dave in the master bedroom, she in michael's room, where she often slept because dave had a bad back.

she said it was about an hour later, she said, about 11:00. >> dave came down the hall, she said, worried about the dog. >> so 11:15, she said, she and dave crept over to a sliding glass door to a side yard. >> the gunshots?

>> the gunshots? >> what did it sound like? >> it sounded like pop, pop, pop. like quick. >> how many pops did you hear? >> three. >> describe them to me, how fast they were. >> pop, pop, pop.

>> it wasn't a pop, hesitation pop, hesitation pop? it was one, two, three? >> as jane talked to investigators into the early morning hours, the awful news was getting around. >> we got a call about 5:00 in the morning. >> what happens to a person? you go to bed at night and everything's fine. the phone rings at 5:00 in the morning, suddenly your life is a very different thing. >> it's like an earthquake. it just shakes your whole foundation and being. and things are never the same after. it was awful. >> he just fell to his knees. he was on the phone and he just began sobbing and saying, no, no. >> yeah. >> and -- it was horrible >> you don't believe it, but it's like -- how do you kill superman? how is superman dead? [ singing ]

>> a few days later, dave's friends and family held a candlelight vigil. >> he was so loved. and every step we take, we take because of people like you reach out to us and are here to support my mother-in-law and my husband and our family. we really truly appreciate that. thank you. >> lift up your candles for dave. >> but they didn't know then didn't know what the police had discovered. a key piece of evidence almost overlooked at first. >> the lead investigator in this case walks in, he's just looking around. and i mean, you've got a dining room table, you've got a hutch, you've got a grandfather clock. so he opened up that clock and it was an oh, wow moment. >> now, why would a prowler leave something so important in there? coming up, if the intruder was outside, how did a key piece of evidence get inside? and something else seemed odd. jane's behavior.

>> she actually tried to keep one of the police officers out of the laundry room. she tried to close the door with her in the laundry room and him out. >> when "dateline extra" continues.

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prowler, and gunshots right outside her door. and now her husband, olympic bronze medalist, dave laut, was dead. but some things seemed a little off. for example, said investigator palmieri, when police were still questioning jane at the house, she stepped into the laundry room. >> she actually tried to keep one of the police officers out of the laundry room. she tried to close the door, with her in the laundry room and him out. >> why? well, said palmieri, jane was wearing pajamas when police arrived. but in the laundry room they found her jeans rolled up in a towel tucked between the washer and dryer. her top was lying there as well, inside out. it looked like they had been removed quickly, stashed away. when an officer tried to administer a gunshot residue kit to jane's hands, standard procedure in a shooting investigation -- >> when the officer doing the test began getting the test ready, she did go into the bathroom and either wash her

hands or wipe her hands on a towel, one of the two. before coming back to the table and before the test was done. >> so odd things. anyway, police scoured the place, didn't see any murder weapon lying around. and they were about ready to take dave's body off to the morgue when some instinct told the lead detective to look here. he cracked open the doors of the grandfather clock in the dining room, looked down inside, and there it was. >> this is more than likely the murder weapon. >> a ruger six-shot revolver. surely no prowler would have dropped a weapon right here in the dining room clock. >> the prowler theory did not make any sense whatsoever. with a hidden gun inside the house. >> and so it wasn't long before investigators shifted their focus from unknown prowler to the woman who had reported one,

jane laut. remember those clothes they found in the laundry room? when they tested them they found gunshot residue. so did jane shoot dave, then change into her pajamas before she called 911? and you'll remember, jane specifically mentioned a red flashlight. so police bagged it, tested it, and found gunshot residue. as if she was holding the flashlight while shooting her husband. if jane was the killer, this is about as cold-blooded as it gets. investigators said dave had been shot six times. >> we came up with a fairly logical explanation of how it was done. >> shot one appeared to have been fired from a distance of several feet. grazed his head. deposited pieces of scalp on a garbage can and then the bullet hit the wall. that shot brought him to his knees, where the killer fired shots two and three into his face at close range.

>> we find the one that goes through his cheekbone, it goes down the side yard, it bounces off of the concrete, it nicks the fence, and that bullet we matched out on the sidewalk. >> shots four, five and six hit in the upper arm and back, and the back of dave's head. >> we believe shot six, the final shot, was the shot to the back of the head. >> from the very beginning, jane denied she had anything to do with it. >> i don't know what happened, and i didn't do it. >> but they didn't believe her. especially when they found out that the bullets that killed dave matched the gun in the grandfather clock. and now don and rebecca laut began to look at a lot of things differently, things jane had told them through the years which maybe didn't add up either. >> i honestly felt like she was family, so i'm going to dismiss

the strange feeling i get sometimes. >> like said rebecca the time jane told her two men put a knife to her throat and demanded money. >> and i said, well, did you call the police? did you yell? she says, oh, no, i just -- i just came home. i just wanted to get home. and i said, this was in the middle of the day and nobody else saw? she said, no. >> and then there was her claim that somebody was leaving threatening notes on her car. >> but then you would ask her, and probe her, like what kind of notes? but she wouldn't really tell you. >> so the implication is somebody's after her, she's in some danger? >> right. >> now when they look back at the things they noticed over the years, it was like something fell into place for them. >> there was a separation, it was like jane was the parent and michael was the child, and dave was in the way. >> you had the sense that she was pushing dave away? >> yeah. i think that was a stress on the marriage. >> that there was stress was pretty clear, said rebecca.

>> for a while, every time she would call me, it seemed like it was to vent about something she didn't like about what dave was doing. >> so evidence was carefully sifted for months. and then in february 2010, jane laut was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, and the story, said investigators, was chillingly clear. >> this was an execution. she had lured him out, shot him from behind, and then egressed on him, shot him a second and third time, stepped back and shot him a fourth time, came up super close, and shot him two more times, one to the back of the head. >> there seemed to be plenty of evidence. jane's odd behavior, her lie about a prowler, and on top of it all, the gun in the grandfather clock. so jane hired a lawyer, and pleaded not guilty. and the story that came out then turned the whole case on its

head. >> mr. laut was a monster. he was despicable. coming up, what had been happening behind closed doors? >> you've got one or two choices, flight or fight. she decided to fight. >> when "dateline extra" continues. a complete multivitamin with key nutrients plus b vitamins for heart health. your one a day is showing.

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but secrets emerged, and what she told them next would send the investigation hurtling in a whole new direction. a stunning allegation pointed to another explanation for dave's death. here again is keith morrison with "the hometown hero and the homecoming queen." >> reputation is all we have in the end. how quickly it can turn. sweet jane laut now accused murderer, and now that dave was dead, stories emerged. >> it seemed like she was controlled, in my opinion. >> an across-the-street neighbor. >> i mean, he's there, standing there, while she's, you know, pulling weeds, cleaning out gutters, washing his truck. and he's not lifting a finger to help her? come on, you know. >> while jane seemed, what, nervous? >> almost like a scared little rabbit. >> i was always a little leery about what was actually going on

in the home. >> this close friend said jane's fear reminded her of another vulnerable creature. >> jane looked like a scared cat. constantly doing like a twitch, looking over her shoulder, looking to see if there's somebody behind her. >> this from jane's former co-worker. >> he was very aggressive. he was very demanding. and when he said jump, she would go how high. >> how strange it was, she thought, that jane always wore long sleeves, even when it was hot outside. but more disturbing -- >> there were times when she would come in, and i noticed on her face, it looked swollen. and she would never comment how it happened. >> there were several times that i saw bruising on her.

one time on her face. her arms, her legs. several places. >> this is a monster. he's just a monster. >> ron bamieh is jane's defense attorney. and according to him, dave laut is far from the hometown hero so many believed him to be. the real truth about dave laut, said bamieh, for nearly three decades, he subjected his wife to horrific abuse. >> like all abuse, it's power and control. we have verbal abuse, over a long period of time. emotional abuse. the way he treats her. we have physical abuse, that's everything from the punching to the kicking to the slapping to the hitting, throwing her down, pulling her hair, spitting on her. >> and jane wasn't the only victim. said bamieh. dave was angry that his adopted son, michael, was not athletic. >> neighbors would hear him call michael names, racial names to michael that are just horrible. we have him yelling at him in the street because he can't ride a bike or catch a football or

play baseball. >> all those years jane was afraid to report dave. said bamieh, afraid of what he might do to her loved ones. so she covered up her abuse and her injuries. we obtained this summary of a police report from the 1980s in which jane reported that an intruder attacked her while she was alone at work. at the time, police found the injuries consistent with jane's story. in fact, said bamieh, dave inflicted those injuries. then ordered jane to lie, and blame a nonexistent intruder. a pattern of covering up dave's abuse, abuse which by the summer of 2009 was getting worse, said bamieh. >> from june of '09 to august of '09, it was escalating. >> but jane continued to take it, until that particular august night when something changed.

that night, according to bamieh, for the first time, dave threatened michael's life. she really believed he was going to kill michael? >> yeah. >> so she made a decision to fight. >> jane had taken michael to the beach that day, said bamieh. they were late getting home. >> dave was upset. started screaming and yelling, nobody respects me. i don't get any attention around here. nobody cares about me. >> jane put michael to bed, got into pajamas herself and waited for dave's anger to subside. >> but he wasn't calming down. so about 10:30 or 11:00, he comes out of the room, and he's upset and he's angry. >> and that's when she saw the gun, said bamieh. >> he's holding it and he starts talking about michael, how they don't respect him, and he's going to blow his [ bleep ] head off. he grabs her, throws her against the wall. she falls down. she kind of crawls backwards with her hands and feet like a crab walk towards the back door. somehow she gets him out on the

patio. she's like, calm down, dave, calm down. >> then, out in the darkness, dave stumbled on the patio. >> he loses his balance, and that's her opportunity. and she goes at him and she try toss grab the gun. they go to the ground. there is a struggle for the gun. the gun goes off. and then she eventually gets the gun and she empties it. >> then she ran back into the house, put the gun inside the grandfather clock and called 911. >> she has no idea he's dead. he's down but she thinks he's getting up. women in these relationships have this superman complex. >> so yes, she lied about the prowler, but did it almost automatically. her conditioned response to his abuse. but once the police discovered jane's lie, said bamieh, their minds were made up, that she was a cold, calculating killer. and so when police found those clothes found in the laundry room, bamieh said, they believed it must have been jane's attempt to hide evidence of her crime. but those clothes only had a tiny fragment of gunshot

residue. and police never bothered to test the pajamas jane was wearing when they showed up. but bamieh did. and the tests revealed the pajamas were covered in gunshot residue. proving, said bamieh, that jane was wearing those pajamas when she fired the gun. >> it all supports her story. >> it all does. >> as for the claim that jane jumped up to wash her hands before a gunshot residue or gsr test? that never happened, said bamieh. that was just the police covering up a major mistake. >> the cop lost the gsr sample test. they searched for it and couldn't find it. >> anyway, said bamieh, investigators looked at the crime scene evidence and just plain got it wrong. once they concluded she was a murderer, he said, they actually distorted the evidence to fit their story. >> a bullet that glanced off his headand went about a 90-degree angle and hit the wall. and deposited o pieces of scalp matter on the garbage can. >> you're saying that's physically impossible?

>> yes. it's ludicrous. >> it violated the laws of physics. >> what's more, he said, the dna on the gun was dave's. once again supporting jane's contention, that he had the gun. and then they struggled for it. >> his dna is on the trigger. there's no getting around that fact. >> one more thing, said bamieh, one more bit of evidence that the police missed, even though it was right under their noses. bruising on jane's upper left arm. photographed the morning after dave was killed. >> look at the bruise closely, you'll see there's basically a little hand print. >> a hand-shaped bruise that helps prove, said bamieh, this wasn't murder. it was self-defense. >> if you're fighting for your life reasonably, you have to conclude they're fighting for a gun, you get to use lethal force. >> and now looking back, said jane's childhood friend, helen,

things began to make sense. >> we saw her less and less. >> more than two decades passed. helen had a long career as a social worker, and gradually lost touch with jane. >> i would always send her christmas cards and say, call me, whatever. and i would never hear from her. >> and then helen heard about dave's death. >> everybody was pointing to jane. and like a light bulb went off and i'm like, oh, my god, she was a battered wife. and you didn't get it. you didn't see it. >> but the very idea that jane was an abused spouse, that she killed dave in self-defense? absolutely ludicrous said the lauts. an outrageous allegation about dave. >> i know my brother. he's just a good man. he would give you have the shirt off his back. that's just the way he was. >> can you see him losing his

temper at the woman he's married to, and abusing her, hitting her? >> no. >> never. >> no. >> no, said the lauts. no, said the police. besides, they said maybe jane had quite another motive for killing dave laut. a financial one. coming up, borrowed money -- >> thousands and thousands of dollars. >> and even more money if dave was dead. >> sometimes she would say things like, i'd be better off if dave wasn't around. >> when "dateline extra" continues. ♪ a complete multivitamin with key nutrients plus b vitamins for heart health. your one a day is showing.

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>> olympic glory does not always translate into material wealth. in fact, said detectives, as they sifted through dave and jane's financial records, they found evidence they were struggling. >> the lauts' finances were -- they were just living beyond their means. it was poor bookkeeping, poor management of the bills. it didn't happen just before the shooting. this has been going on for years and years and years. >> after dave was killed, said don and rebecca, they found out jane had been borrowing money from her mother-in-law. >> jane asked her for a lot of money, gave her different excuses why she needed money. >> to pay mortgages or something like that? >> mortgages, doctor bills, school --

>> supplies. >> -- tuition, school supplies. >> how much are we talking about here? >> thousands and thousands of dollars. it was a lot. >> when they found out dave had three life insurance policies? >> i believe we totaled it all up, and i think it came to $300,000, $350,000, somewhere in that neighborhood, that she was likely to see if a prowler had done this. >> was there ever any indication she was capable of violent acts? the sort of person who could be violent? >> yeah. >> she said some things to me, and i dismissed them because i maybe didn't want to believe that she was capable. but sometimes she would say things like, i'd be better off if dave wasn't around. >> meanwhile, justice crawled. a year passed. then two, three, four.

jane remained free on bond. and dave's niece, megan laut, fumed. >> she caused my family so much pain, and it's horrible. it's just -- i hate it. >> nephews aaron and cody took it out on the garage weight room. >> i have a way of bottling and condensing it and i get it out when i lift. >> you get your emotion going, your anger, your adrenaline going. >> in september 2013, don laut pleaded with a judge to get the case before a jury. >> i just want the court to know that there's a family, and there's friends behind my brother. and it's been four years. and it's been very difficult. >> and then in january 2015, more than five years after dave's death, in a move that shocked jane's veteran defense attorney, the prosecution

indicated it would be open to making a deal. >> and i was blown away. >> a plea deal? yes. and what a deal it was. said bamieh. if jane pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, she would be sentenced to just six years and would most likely serve only three. seemed like an admission of weakness from the prosecution. said bamieh. and the opportity of a lifetime for a woman facing first-degree murder and 50 to life. and so -- >> i gave her my strong recommendation that she take it. and she said no. i was just like -- i was stunned. i said, jane, i kept saying, do you understand it? she said i understand fully. it's not on you, ron. this is my decision. and she was crying. and she says, i have to fight for this. >> mind you, by then jane had some powerful moral support from her old friend, helen. >> she rose that night.

i mean, she didn't fall, she rose that night. and, you know, became the -- a very strong, powerful woman. and defended the life of her son. >> and then at last in january 2016, jane laut went on trial for murder. her friend, helen, sitting right behind her. >> do you think she'll go to jail? >> i don't. >> really? >> i don't. i absolutely do not. >> you believe the jury will believe her story? >> i do. >> and see it as a case of self-defense? >> i do. i believe that. i believe that. >> i sincerely believe her. i don't say that about many people. i sincerely believe her. >> do you usually get this personally invested in a case? >> i am always invested in my cases, yes. but do i care as much about clients like i do about jane laut? no, that's -- i would be lying if i said i did. >> but could he persuade a jury to believe in jane too?

coming up, jane takes the stand. >> i get a not guilty, which is what we're shooting for. she has to testify. >> a gun takes center stage. >> pull back the hammer, fire. each and every time. >> when "dateline extra" continues. plus b vitamins for heart health. your one a day is showing.

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>> more than six years after the death of olympic bronze medalist dave laut, the murder trial of his wife jane finally began in this ventura, california, courtroom. prosecutor rameen minoui told the jury jane was a calculating killer. >> if you look at each of the six shots they were administered by this defendant as she was executing her plan to murder her husband. there is just one reasonable conclusion, to find the defendant guilty of murder. >> i'm about to talk to you for quite some time.

>> defense attorney ron bamieh countered the real victim was jane laut, who suffered the utmost cruelty at the hands of her husband. >> he is not the hero of the olympics. he is the monster who abused her for 27 years. >> the defense called family and friends and neighbors who all testified jane was an abused spouse. but attorney bamieh said the most important witness was the defendant herself. >> if you're going to get a not guilty, which is what we're shooting for, she has to testify. >> the judge would not allow cameras to roll when for the first time publicly through tears jane told her story. she said she took dave's abuse for nearly three decades, until the night he threatened their son. >> i think she could live with the fact that he could kill her. she could not live with the fact that he would kill michael.

>> on the stand, jane admitted that she lied in her 911 call. but she denied she had any financial motive for killing her husband. after all, she did not ask for nor did she receive a penny of dave's life insurance. >> jane would never be about finances. absolutely not. >> why do you say that? >> that's not her value. jane is about relationship, she's about family. she's about children. it's never been about money for her. >> the prosecutor got his chance to cross-examine jane. there were a lot of i don't remembers. she simply couldn't recall after she fired the first two or three shots, she said, but she did at admit she was quite familiar with the gun. she had used it before. >> this gun in the hands of this

defendant required her to pull back that hammer and fire. pull back the hammer, fire each and every time for the six times that she aimed that weapon at her husband and shot him. like this, said the prosecutor as he played the video of a woman firing that very gun. >> but said the defense attorney, that's not the only way to fire the gun. >> if you hold the trigger down, you can pull the hammer back. this is called fanning the gun. the sort of thing you would expect to see in an old western. a prosecution expert said a movie is the only place you would see that. >> every expert that came up said that is absurd. the beingalaska raes of hitting far g target six times in the dark is astronomical. >> after seven weeks of

testimony, final arguments from both sides, defense attorney made an impassioned plea to the jury. >> why would jane laut do this? why would she do this? when you think about it, there's only one real reason. it's what anybody would do to protect their child. >> you do not have the right to kill your husband. >> while the prosecutor urged the jury to look past the emotion and focus on the evidence. >> the defense testimony is false. it is untruthful. it is unbelievable. it is a story made up to raise battered women in self defense claim. it is plan b because plan a doesn't work and it's a lie. >> jurors deliberated for three and a half days and finally, march 30, 2016, announced they were ready. jane supported by helen and other friends who stood by her all along walked to the

courthouse and what waited there. >> it appears to be in order. so i will read the verdict. we the jury in the above entitled action find the defendant, jane laut, guilty of the crime of first degree murder. >> guilty of first degree murder. a shock ran through the room. ron, who so believed in her innocence looked distraught. and jane comforted him. the woman who flat turned down six years now faces the possibility of life in prison. it was a victory for dave's family, yes, but not one to celebrate. our faith calls us to forgive and we do. we forgive her. >> but forget, n not the lauts. not their superman. >> it's very difficult. i miss him every day. i miss him every day.

>> i think i'll always grieve. i'm not always going to miss him. he's always a part of me, but it's hard. >> that's august all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thanks for watching. i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and there is "dateline." she had missed a meeting and then not to hear from her, this isn't right. it would have been impossible to get up every day knowing that she was gone. i had to believe we would find her alive. >> text her, she always got right back. >> i've seen her step out of the shower to answer her phone. >> then one day she didn't. >> immediately my spidey senses were high. >> where was nailah? >> i sent her an e-mail all ps