somewhere like a storm, surprising and devastating when it hits. >> this is "dateline." >> someone sucks the life out of you and tells you your dream life isn't going to happen. that wedding you're planning, you don't get to have it. evil exists. evil dwells in people. >> it was a night like this just before halloween, a killing that still haunts. >> found him, he's lying there and i couldn't feel a pulse. >> the young dad, engaged to be married, dead on the ground. >> they determined that it was a murder. >> and here is what made this mystery so chilling.

the possible suspects were all in costume. >> the cattle boy and the penguin, everybody is dressed as somebody else. how are you going to be able to identify people in? >> cowboy? penguin? costumed killer? sounds like something ripped from the pages of stephen king. but in this case the horror was real. >> we had this piece of a costume. we didn't foe what it wknow wha >> a halloween crime that will send shivers down your spine. >> i was terrified. something had happened. i didn't know what. ♪ hello and welcome to "dateline". just days before halloween joel lovelien and his fiance, heather eastling, headed to a local bar packed with costume-clad partygoers, but the night took a horrific turn when joel stepped

outside and walked into a troubling mystery. in a case filled with un"news 4 new york"s -- enknowns one thing was certain, a man was dead. police rounded up suspects but could they unmask a killer? here is josh marchinkiewicz wit "under a halloween moon." >> it is the one time when everyone pretends to be someone else, when being two-faced is part of the deal. there's a feeling that maybe the rules don't apply and that during those moon lit hours we all have license to eat, drink and be scary. halloween has morphed from our national salute to sugar into a coast-to-coast alcohol-fuelled party, and nowhere is that more true than in the rough rider state of north dakota. but in october of 2007 several lives would collide under that

halloween moon, and at least one person may have used a costume to try to hide his true identity, a murderer. that weekend before halloween here in grand forks heather eastling and her boyfriend, joel lovelien, were putting on costumes, getting ready to go out. >> it was a nice night, a nice night with friends. >> he dressed up as a hockey fan, wearing his favorite green jersey. >> i dressed in a mechanic's outfit. a friend of mine texted me and said meet us at the broken drum. >> the broken drum, half casino, half bar. heather and joel had a lot to celebrate. she had just moved here from texas after dating long distance. it was nearly love at first sight. >> how long did you go out with joel before you realized this is the guy? >> a week. >> that's it? >> yeah. he was taken aback when i told him. i said, i'm going to marry you,

that's what is going to happen here, and he wasn't really ready for me to say something like that to him but i was ready to say something like that, that's how sure i was. >> but joel, the divorced guy who loved golf, fishing and his friends, would soon be ready for marriage, too. just ten months after they met this smart hospital computer i.t. tech proposed to this 31-year-old elementary school teacher. >> he proposed on a dance floor in front of about 200 texas dance hall two steppers. >> they were to be married the following year. but that evening inside the broken drum they were completely unprepared for the most frightening night of their lives. it all started when a bus packed with partygoers arrived at the bar. heather watched as they started piling into the broken drum. the partiers were mostly well-oiled 20-somethings on an all-night public crawl and they

had been fuelled by an estimated 325 jello shots that were on board that bus. heather and joel were suddenly in the midst of people in halloween costumes. as the security video shows there was a clown with a bright rainbow colored hair, there was a cowboy, a hunter, a lion, a gangsta and a woman who went as paris hilton. joel in his green hockey jersey was enjoying a rare cigar and playing blackjack next to a man dressed as a penguin. >> how was the night going? >> it was fine. at one point he had to take a call, but it was too loud inside so he went outside to take the call. >> while joel was outside on the phone that party bus was getting ready to go on to the next bar but suddenly someone from that bus needed help. >> joel had come back in the front door and said, somebody got left by the bus, i'm going to go check on them. he kissed me and went outside.

>> within minutes someone else would come running into the broken drum yelling to call 911. >> 911 emergency. >> i got a emergency at the broken drum. >> the 911 call wasn't for the person joel went to help, it was for joel. >> went through the back door and around the cars and found him on the ground. joel was laying there with blood all over the cement near his head. >> could you tell what had happened to him? >> no. no. >> heather says that when she got outside she didn't see the party bus or any of the people in costumes, but joel, the good samaritan who had gone to help a stranger, had himself be the victim of a savage beating. >> i remember hearing the ambulances coming and the cops coming, their sirens. >> joel lovelien was rushed to an e.r. in the same hospital where he worked as a computer tech. >> then the doctors came in and

told me they did everything they could, that joel was gone. >> 800 miles away in montana joel's mom and stepfather received the most terrible news parents can hear. >> you raise your children and the things you do to protect them, and somebody in one minute takes his life, like you've stolen my child. >> joel, just 38, left behind not only his family and fiance but also a daughter, alexa, from his first marriage. >> when you hear there's an accident, you know, you think that it is something that can be fixed, you know. so i went to the hospital thinking, you know, he's hurt, not dead. >> later, joel's stepdad learned more about the horrible details. >> the grand forks police department called us. they determined that it was a

murder. >> who would want to hurt him? >> i don't know. i don't know anybody who had that much hate in their heart to commit a crime like that. >> so this was just what, bad luck, being in the parking lot at the wrong time? >> yeah. >> trying to help the wrong person? >> yeah. evil exists. evil dwells in people and it comes out and things like this happen. >> what evil had killed joel lovelien? for grand fork's police, the answer lay somewhere on a long list of potential suspects, and maybe one of them had left a calling card, something found at the scene, a bloody piece of a halloween costume. police thought it might be the key to unmasking a killer. coming up -- a case playing out like a deadly

real-life game of clue. the round up of those possible suspects begins, the penguin, the cowboy and the clown, when "dateline" continues. nues antioxidants and real superfoods new protein shake new snack break new emergen-c protein fuel & superfoods emerge & see. could you email me the part great about geicon, tim. making it easy to switch and save hundreds? oh yeah, sure. um. you don't know my name, do you? (laughs nervously) of course i know your name. i just get you mixed up with the other guy. what's his name? what's your name? switch to geico®. you could save 15% or more on car insurance. could you just tell me? i want this to be over. i don't have to worry about that, do i? harmful bacteria lurk just below the gum line.

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♪ a night of halloween drinking in grand forks, north dakota, had somehow ended with joel lovelien's death. police were trying to figure out

who'd used their fists to beat joel outside the broken drum bar in a fight that apparently no one witnessed, and joel's fiance heather was trying just as hard to understand what had happened to the man she loved. >> inconceivable that he picked a fight with somebody else? >> oh, of course. totally inconceivable. he's not a fighter. >> what would he do if somebody wanted to fight with them. >> he would back away and use logic. he didn't feed into anger like some men would. >> joel was so badly beaten that the coroner could feel and hear the broken bones in his face when she touched it. the cause of death? joel choked on his own blood. it was now up to police to find the killer or killers of joel lovelien in grand forks, a city that averages about one murder a year. the chief of police is john packet. >> this was probably one of the more challenging cases that

we've ever had because of alcohol involved, large crowds, people in costumes. >> the night of joel's murder police interviewed about 80 people still left at the broken drum, and here's what they heard. the party bus went downtown after it left the broken drum and police heard descriptions of some costumed people last seen near either joel or that bus, a clown, a cowboy, a penguin, a gangster and a construction worker. and while searching for people in costumes sounds almost comical, it actually helped police identify some persons of interest, if the cops could locate them before they took off those costumes. >> so you're going to find the pe penguin, the joker and the rest you have to find them pretty quick. >> got to find them pretty quick. >> there was an interesting piece of evidence, police

thought it was a bird foot and it had blood on it. >> it could be the penguin. >> yes. at that point we didn't know how the foot played into it or not. >> was it webbed? >> you know, i guess i don't recall if it was webbed or not. >> but the thinking was this came from if not the actual person who had done the beating, at least somebody who was there during the fight. >> yes, absolutely that was the thinking. >> police swarmed downtown ground forks, and at another bar they found one of the costumed-characters they were looking for. >> that same night we found the clown. >> and the clown was crying? >> yes, he was. >> what was he crying about? >> well, you know, initially that's something that made us wonder, why is this guy crying. >> the tears of a clown, it made police suspicious. one officer reported the clown's hands were shaking. from the cold or from something else? >> october 28th, 2007. >> by the time the clown was brought to the police station, he had dried his tears but he

was not cooperative. >> what is the big deal. i heard there's a fight. >> listen to me. i'll tell you what the big deal is, someone's dead because of this fight. your name specifically has come up as being [ bleep ]. now, that's what i think -- >> the clown told police he had nothing to do with any murder and was crying because of a domestic argument. >> that night he explained to us that, you know, he had had a bad argument with his girlfriend. that's not real clear and convincing to us. >> police say the clown then asked for a lawyer. >> you shouldn't accuse me. >> no, no. >> i want an attorney now. >> but police just let him go. >> you have the clown who is crying, who is belligerent and who asks for a lawyer, and one of the things that could say to me is maybe i saw something terrible happen, like i saw somebody get beaten nearly to death, but it didn't strike any of your investigators as anything other than, well, this

guy is upset and he's probably drunk? >> yes, it is a challenge. one has to determine whether those tears are of remorse, whether they're tears of fear, or maybe they had onions for lunch. >> that same night police also found the cowboy, but the cowboy gave police a fake name, a fake birth date and became physically aggressive. police placed him in handcuffs even though he wasn't arrested. >> and what does the cowboy say? >> the cowboy is very difficult to deal with. he wants really nothing to do with us, he doesn't want to cooperate with us. >> there is no record of his interview, but an investigator says the cowboy asked a very interesting question, if the victim was wearing a green shirt with the initials und on it. >> who was wearing a university of north dakota sweat shirt that night? >> joel lovelien, the victim. >> suggesting that the cowboy

witnessed that fight, right? >> on face value it would appear like that, yes. >> police also let the cowboy go, but soon after they got the break they needed. the owner of that bird's foot would come forward. police believed it would lead them straight to the murderer. >> coming up -- a new witness offers to help the police. how much help would he be? >> let me see your hands. >> what's the cuts here? >> more than he realized when "dateline" continues.

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♪ in those first hours and days after the murder of joel lovelien grand forks police had been rounding up the unusual suspects. >> we're looking for a subject that was dressed as a penguin, someone dressed as the joker from "batman," someone wearing just a yellow-colored sweat shirt with a hood. >> those investigators including veteran detective mike sholes were scratching their head over what appeared to be a bloody claw from a bird costume found near joel lovelien's body. >> you're looking for somebody, what, in 90% of a bird costume? >> we didn't know what it was. all we knew was we had a piece of a costume. >> detectives invited the guys on the party bus who had been so

difficult the night of the murder to come back to police headquarters the following day. they did, and this time sang a different tune, one that seemed to get them all off the hook. they told cops they didn't see joel lovelien's murder, but told of a fight outside the broken drum earlier that evening between one of their pals dressed as a hunter and a guy in an odd costume with a yellow sweat shirt who had also been on the bus. because of that fight, they told the guy in the yellow outfit he couldn't get back on the bus and then they drove downtown to another bar. the now-sober and cooperative cowboy told detectives that he last saw joel lovelien alive and well. >> the guy in the green was talking to the guy in the yellow sweat shirt. >> the unhappy clown.

>> i got jumped not too long ago and i thought of it and i'm like, well, that could be me, you know. >> meanwhile, across town the guy who had been wearing that yellow costume was just waking up. his name was travis stay, a 23-year-old nursing student at the university of north dakota, and today he was nursing the mother of all hangovers because he had had so much to drink on the bus and in the bars the previous night that he slept away most of the next day. when he awoke one of his friends shared some worrisome news. >> one of my roommates had seen that they were looking for a guy in a yellow sweat shirt, so i went down to the police station. >> did you bring your attorney with you? >> no. i had nothing to hide. >> nice to meet you. >> so two days after joel lovelien's death travis sat down across from grand forks detectives. >> i seen on the internet that you guys were interested in speaking to a man with a yellow-hooded sweat shirt. >> when the nursing student

described his lion costume, detective sholes' antenna went up. he suddenly realized it wasn't a bloody bird's foot next to joel's body but a lion's paw and travis then confirmed it. >> i had a yellow-hooded sweat shirt on, i had some paws. >> the cops became even more suspicious when they noticed the injuries to travis's face and asked how he got them. travis explained he had been punched out by the hunter in the parking lot of the broken drum. >> let me see your hands. >> detective sholes noticed some scraps on travis's hands. >> what's the cuts here from? >> where's your costume at now? >> my costume? my costume, we threw it away. >> why did you throw it away? >> because it was full of blood. >> when i was looking at him i saw what appeared to be a blood drop on his shoe. >> sholes pounced on that new lead. >> travis, would we be able to take your shoes? >> take 'em? >> yeah. >> yeah.

>> travis gave the cops everything they asked for including a dna sample and permission to search his apartment where his lion costume was still in the trash. >> i give them everything. >> without them needing to get a search warrant. >> because i just knew i didn't have anything to do with it. >> but investigators were suspicious, in part because travis said he couldn't remember anything from the time he was punched until the time he got into a cab more than an hour later, and on the cop's timeline that was the time when joel lovelien was killed. >> once he said he was gonna go check on him, that was the last anybody's seen of him and he was found dead in the parking lot. >> you guys think it was me? >> we don't know. >> we don't know. >> but we want to eliminate you and that's why we appreciate you coming in. >> what kind of murderer not only keeps the bloody clothing that they were wearing during the murder but actually wears

some of it into the police interview? >> one that's probably not too smart, and there's plenty of them. >> the cops let travis go home but they weren't buying his story. he was now a definite person of interest and two days later they had more questions for him. this time around the questions were more pointed about just what happened while travis was in his blackout. >> where were you? it's very important that we try to remember this, travis. >> i do not remember talking to that man. >> i can almost guarantee you that the cops are thinking to themselves, come on. >> right. >> you don't remember, really? >> yeah, i think that they probably thought i was conveniently drunk. >> well, it is convenient. and then you walk out of the police station? >> yep. >> and you think, what, that's the end of it? >> i knew things at that point had, you know, taken a swing in the wrong direction and, you

know, we were gonna look into getting an attorney. >> travis stay was about to find out he'd need a lawyer sooner than he thought. coming up -- police make an arrest and the case moves into court. two distraught families and two sides of a murder case. >> he was just lying there. i was screaming his name out. >> when "dateline" continues. ♪everybody needs somebody to love♪ ♪someone to love ♪someone to love ♪i got a little message for you...♪ ♪when you have that somebody, hold on to them,♪ ♪give them all your love.... wherever they are♪ ♪i need you, you, you ♪i need you, you, you ♪i need you, you, you ♪i need you, you, you ♪ our mission is to provide complete, balanced nutrition... for strength and energy! whoo-hoo!

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♪ hello. i'm dara brown. here is what is happening. former mayor of new york city michael bloomberg is reconsidering a bid for the democratic nomination, citing concerns about the ability of the current political contenders. bloomberg plans to skip early voting states like iowa and new hampshire if he indeed decides to run. and american airlines said on friday it is suspending cancellations of flights using the boeing 737 max plane through march following a similar

announcement with southwest airlines. that's what is happening. now back to "dateline". welcome back to "dateline", i'm natalie morales. travis stay voluntarily went to speak with police, then found himself in the middle of a murder investigation. turns out travis was the man in the yellow costume detectives had been looking for, but he told them he blacked out from drinking. investigators doubted him and were about to get new evidence that they thought would bring the details of that hazy night into focus. here again is josh mankiewicz with "under a halloween moon." >> in the month after her fiance's murder heather eastling's pain was beyond words. >> like someone just sucks the life out of you and tells you your life isn't what you wanted it to be, and your dream life isn't going to happen. >> grand forks detectives had been working around the clock to solve this rare murder case, and

then those dna tests of travis's lion costume came back. some of that blood on travis was his own, but some of it belonged to joel lovelien. and with that police had everything they needed. >> and then one morning -- >> there was a knock on the door and, you know, there was detective sholes and detective simon, and they came in and they said that there was bad news and that joel's blood was on me and they arrested me for his murder. >> a nervous travis was arraigned from jail via closed circuit tv. >> state versus travis stay. >> his anguish and misery is evident in his call home. >> mom. >> hi, travis. it's going to be okay. it's going to be okay. >> i don't know. >> i know this is difficult for you, trav. >> it would get even tougher.

a little more than a year after his arrest, travis found himself on trial for murder, facing the rest of his life behind bars. prosecutor nancy yon laid out the state's case. >> joel lovelien, a 38-year-old man -- >> for a jury that would decide travis's fate. >> travis brutally beat joel lovelien while he was down on the ground and did not seek help for him afterwards, left the scene, allowing mr. lovelien to choke to death on his own blood. >> jurors heard joel's fiance heather as she relived that awful night. >> he was just lying there. i was screaming his name at him and he didn't say anything, he didn't do anything. >> he was the last person that we believe was seen with mr. lovelien. >> grand forks detectives felt they had given their prosecutors an open and shut case with overwhelming physical evidence. >> when we looked at travis's

clothes it was covered in blood, and, most importantly, none of the other costumes matched the paw that was left behind at the crime scene. >> we tested four different areas of travis stay's sweat shirt. three out of the four samples tested positive for joel lovelien's blood. >> and prosecutors argued they could prove travis was there with joel lovelien prior to the murder. their eyewitnesses? the guys who had been so sloshed and uncooperative the night of the murder, the hunter, the gangster and the cowboy from the party bus. bryce larson, the cowboy, took the stand and told a story both his friends would echo. >> mr. larson, did you ever witness the murder of joel lovelien? >> no. >> did you ever see him assaulted in the broken drum parking lot? >> no. >> when you left that parking lot where was he? >> talking to the guy in the yellow. >> and that guy who had been

wearing the cheesy yellow lion costume? he was sitting right there at the defense table. prosecutors laid out their timeline using security video from the broken drum. there's travis in his lion costume, which by this point in the evening is little more than a yellow hoodie. moments later he's gone outside. joel lovelien, wearing his green hockey jersey, can be seen heading out a little later, never to return. the tape, prosecutors said, proved travis was in the parking lot when joel was killed. and according to the state's witnesses from the bus, it was impossible for any of the other partygoers to have attacked jerusaljoel because their party bus was gone at the time of the murder. >> the bus was not at the broken drum when joel lovelien was murdered. >> the prosecution argue that joel's last words to his fiance heather supported that timeline.

>> he made comments to his girlfriend, some guy missed his bus, i was out there helping him, and then he went back out. >> the guy who missed the bus, they told the jury, was the defendant. the state used travis's own words against him. they played every frame of those police interviews in which travis claimed not to remember the most critical part of that alcohol-sodden night. >> you don't remember between the time you got hit until the time you got into the cab? >> jurors heard testimony that later that night travis was in another fight. >> after mr. lovelien was killed travis stay left the broken drum on foot, walked to a location in an alleyway where he confronted another individual. >> travis through a push at that man and missed. he then got into a cab and went home. if prosecutors were to be believed, the defendant was a halloween nightmare come to

life. just add alcohol and nurse travis turns into a drunk and dangerous mr. hyde. >> joel was bleeding from his face. >> that theory helped them explain to jurors how the slightly-built travis was able to take down and kill the much larger joel with his bare hands. police also say the fact that joel had had a few drinks made it easier for travis. >> he was drunk, and so the fact that a little guy comes at him unsuspecting and he's unstable on his feet because he's intoxicated too makes perfect sense that he could drop him. >> aspiration -- >> eight days into the trial the prosecution called its final witness, a blood spatter analyst. >> this is a possible position -- >> who used photos to demonstrate that joel's blood on travis's clothing was consistent with travis standing over joel while beating him. >> travis was either standing right next to joel lovelien or

straddling joel lovelien as he was punching him in his face. >> the prosecution 'eviden's ev was stacking up against travis stay. no question he had been in a fight with the hunter before joel was killed. no question he had taken a swing at someone else afterwards, and now he would have to explain why there were traces of joel's blood on his costume, which travis was either unable or unwilling to do because of his suspiciously convenient amnesia. coming up -- could someone else be behind this? >> do you think there are other people who are covering up their own involvement in this? >> i do. >> when "dateline" continues. nus so nice to meet you june, jay, ji, kay, raj, and...

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♪ all of the evidence will show -- >> travis stay's defense team faced a difficult task. prosecutors had portrayed their clint as a two-faced killer who changed personalities after he had a few drinks in him and who in a blind rage had mercilessly beaten joel lovelien to death. >> travis stay is not guilty. >> in the defense's opening statement, attorney peter wold told jurors this was simply impossible. >> the beaten, drunken, small, stumbling travis stay was not

capable of inflicting the multiple brutal injuries. >> wold, along with joe freedberg defended travis. their argument to the jury, travis stay was too slight, too drunk and too decent to have killed joel lovelien, a man who was trying to help travis. joel, they argued, was killed by the same halloween costumed partygoers he was trying to protect travis from. first, travis's legal team had to address the image prosecutors had crafted. was he, in fact, a cold-blooded killer prone to alcoholic rages? >> the prosecution's theory, which was also the police theory, was travis became a different person when he was drinking. >> they made that up out of whole air. if they had a witness that said that was travis's history, if they could provide anecdotal evidence that that had happened twice before, 100 times, once

before, we never saw it. we never heard of it. >> and they never had a witness that said that? >> no. >> no. nobody had even sniffed at that. they just made it up because it was clear to the jury that this was a nice, young man. >> so we know -- >> he's sitting unprotected in front of cops for hours, answering questions and willingly baring his soul to them. >> where were you? it's very important that we try to remember this, travis. >> i do not remember talking to that man. do you guys think this is me? >> we don't know. we don't know. >> he was credible. he leaned across in the second interview and said, you think it was me? >> we have to be, you know, as honest as we can about it. >> next, the defense tried to convince jurors just how improbable it was that the 5'7" travis could have hurt the 6'3" joel at all, let alone when he

was knee-walking drunk. >> when we read the autopsy and it gave the inches and pounds of the deceased, said, he outweighed him by 75 to 80 pounds, was seven or eight inches bigger. then it began to take on kind of a different color. >> so the defense offered suspects of its own, the first people rounded up the night of the murder, the posse of costumed-guys on the bus. >> mob mentality are a recipe for tragedy. >> you think other people were covering up their own involvement in this? >> i do. >> what do you think happened that night? >> i think that the cowboy, the gangster and the construction worker came back outside and confronted joel and i. you know, they didn't get back on the bus and leave us standing in the parking lot. i think that, you know, they beat us both up.

>> travis stay was -- >> the defense team tried to prove that. they conducted a withering cross-examination of the man who was wearing the cowboy costume that night. the cowboy admitted he had lied to police the night of the murder about not witnessing the fight between travis and the man in the hunter's costume. the defense wanted the know what else he might be lying about. >> what is it that we can look for that will help us determine when you're telling the truth? >> i don't know. >> well, if you don't know who does? i don't know. >> the lawyer's strategy was to hammer away at the partygoers' shifting stories. >> are you sure -- >> under cross-examination that crying clown, who cops found weeping and said things had gotten out of hand that night, now said on the stand he didn't remember crying or being upset. >> were you shaken up?

do you remember that? >> i don't remember that. >> could i look at your shoes as well? >> and as for that blood detective sholes noticed on travis's shoes during his initial interrogation? dna tests proved it was travis's, not joel's. >> i guess one possible source would be -- >> the defense introduced testimony suggesting travis might have gotten joel's blood on himself when he was trying to help him, not hurt him. >> as appears somewhat evident on the -- >> an er doctor who examined him took the stand and determined travis's hands would be more battered and scuffed if he used them to beat joel. >> do you find the injuries to mr. stay's hands consistent or inconsistent with having to deliver the blows that did that damage? >> that would be inconsistent. >> prosecutors had argued that the party bus, along with all of those theoretical suspects in it, was long gone at the time of joel's murder.

but the defense countered that the broken drum security tape proved just the opposite. on that same tape was something important that police and prosecutors apparently missed, the clown. everyone agrees the clown was on the bus when it left, but here he is still in the bar after joel leaves, which means as long as the clown was in the bar the bus was still in the parking lot. >> you can see joel leave the bar? >> absolutely. >> and you can see the clown leave the bar? >> no doubt. >> three-and-a-half minutes later? >> right. >> plenty of time for any of the people in that crowd to have confronted and attacked joel? >> and we know the cowboy, the gangster, the construction worker had already gone out and the bus was still there. >> in court the lead detective was forced to concede the police timeline was flawed. >> we know that they have

three-and-a-half minutes to do that, have this face-off and be back on the bus, right? >> right. >> three-and-a-half minutes, plenty of time for plenty of people other than travis stay to murder joel. travis never took the stand, leaving open the question of what the jury would make of his amnesia during the most important hour in his young life. >> you had lost your memory before? >> right. >> because of alcohol? >> right. >> every time you went out and got drunk? >> no, i mean not every time, but it was -- you know, i didn't drink that often. but when i did go out, i -- i drank hard. >> what as far as you've been told, what's the worst thing that you ever did when you were drunk and didn't remember? >> certainly nothing violent. >> anybody ever tell you that your personality changed when you were violent? >> no. my friends usually described me as more of a happy go lucky.

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because beyond technology... there is human ingenuity. every day, comcast business is helping businesses go beyond the expected. to do the extraordinary. take your business beyond. happy veterans day. happy veterans day. happy veterans day. happy veterans day. student veterans of america champions those who have served and also prepares them for their next chapter in life. please take a moment this this veterans day to remember service members, who put their education and careers on-hold to give back to all of us. we thank you. feliz día de servicio. happy veterans day. happy veterans day. please visit studentveterans.org travis stay was looking at a

real-life halloween nightmare. more than 60 years in jail if he was convicted of murdering joel lovelane. after a nine-day trial, jurors began deliberating. feeling confident? >> absolutely. >> really? even though you're looking at what basically is life in a north dakota prison if you're convicted. >> yeah. i mean, i'm nervous, but have confidence. >> joel's fiancee heather was also confident -- of a guilty verdict. >> it seemed like, okay, we have the right guy. yeah, done. >> the jurors said prosecutors presented their case as if it were open and shut. >> i would not say their style was cockiy at all, they were confident and will felt they had enough evidence. >> the jurors began examining the evidence and the testimony. one key issue was the prosecution's timeline in which the bus had gone by the time joel was killed.

>> the bus was there at the time. had to have been. the bus was there longer than the prosecution was saying. >> reporter: jurors were also troubled by the clown. remember, he was found crying soon after joel was murdered. >> and that just struck me as completely odd. out of character for a young guy on a halloween night. >> they were also concerned by what the clown told police that evening. >> it was pretty important that he would say things got out of hand. >> yes. >> and they questioned why only travis stays' lion costume was tested for blood. >> why didn't they examine any of the people's clothes that were on the bus? you know, why didn't they check anyone else, any -- anything else bides this lion? >> it took the jury only about five hours to reach a verdict. >> we, the jury, found the defendant travis robert stay not guilty of --

[ cheers ] >> my attorney said a quick verdict is a good verdict. in this case he was right. it was a vindication. >> travis, what are you going to do with your life now? any reaction to the verdict? were you surprised? >> then the verdict comes in -- >> redevastated. >> not guilty. >> yeah. i didn't understand that. i still don't understand that. i don't know everything, but i do know that joel's blood was found on one person. >> detective mike sholls. you don't think justice was done here. >> the fact that he's acquitted by jury doesn't mean he's acquitted by me. there's not one stitch of physical evidence to suggest anybody else was involved other than speculation. >> grand forks police consider this case closed. and in an unusual move, some of the evidence was destroyed. "dateline" contacted the cowboy, the gangster, and the construction worker who were all

on that bus. all declined our requests for interviews but told us on the phone that as they've maintained from day one, they had absolutely nothing to do with joel lovelane's murder, and they feel they've been unfairly accused by the defense. >> people talk. and when you're accused of something like, this i'm sure it has a negative impact on your reputation. >> since the trial, even joel's parents have been divided over travis' guilt. joel's mom believes he is most likely guilty. joel's step dad thinks travis didn't do it. >> travis was so drunk he couldn't hit the ground with his hat. how is he going to beat up a 240-pound fella that's 6'3" or 4 when he can hardly stand himself. >> you think people know more than they're saying? >> yes. >> more than travis? >> yes. somebody knows something. >> joel's daughter alexa is left with just memories of her dad.

>> he was kind of my best friend. >> when you remember him what do you think about? >> he laughed a lot. he liked to make other people laugh. >> travis stay never became a nurse. after going through the legal system himself, he enrolled in law school and became a practicing attorney. the last time we spoke with travis, he wanted to publicly apologize to joel lovelane's family. >> i'm sorry for being a part of the equation that night. you know, i -- i drank too much, and it was irresponsible. it was reckless. it was shortsighted and regrettable. but, you know, i didn't kill joel. >> the idea behind this night at the end of october is that all that fear, danger, and horror are supposed to be imaginary, manufactured for the child living in every one of us. >> trick-or-treat. >> of course, there is genuine

evil out there no matter what the calendar says. and sadly, sometimes the horror of halloween is the real thing. that's all for this edition of "dateline." thank you for watching. good morning, i'm jo ling kent at msnbc world headquarters here in new york. it's 6:00 in the east, it's 3:00 a.m. out west. here's what's happening -- we've got an impeachment inquiry, and it's on the march. new transcripts released just moments ago with key moments on the ukraine saga. details on how it will all spill into public view in the inning week. -- coming week. explosive new details. the book by anonymous about the trump white house. what it tells us with a view from inside the oval office. and wintry blast and early chill sweeps across parts of the country, and some places are already battling the snow.

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