and won. fought for her life. and won. that's all for this edition of "dateline extra." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. did have . i wondered why i didn't want to do more. i should have done something different. i'll live with that forever. forever and ever had will it flb high school sweet hearts with a growing a growing family. then it all went up in flames. >> there's a fire and my wife is -- >> his wife was inside. >> i believed somehow it wasn't true. >> none of it made sense to me. >> but buried in the ashes secrets. >> i don't care what you think you're seeing, you're dealing with a murder. >> the gun. how did it end up completely

underneath her body? >> in the front driver's seat what appeared to be a note. >> she had rekindled a relationship with one of the executives. >> did someone have something to hide? >> did you murder her? >> no. >> did you pull the trigger? >> no. >> did you kill her? >> no! >> it was like a script. he had answers for everything. >> your head's spinning. you realize this is it. >> you are going to hell for what you've done in this case. it was dark, past 3:00 a.m. a weak center moon struggled to penetrate the night in the middle of america. kingman, kansas, population 3,000, was asleep. except on a quiet residential street a woman unable to sleep

watched a crime show on tv. was that popping noise she heard coming from somewhere in the neighborhood or was it her tv show? or just a remnant of the windy day? licking around her windowsill. the silent night closed in again. april 30th, 2011. tornado season. and there was a storm that night. a whirlwind even then sweeping all of them into its vortex. but it began not with wind. with fire. >> 911. you have an emergency? >> yes. >> what's the problem? calm down. >> there's -- there's a fire. >> 3:51 a.m. the man on the phone to 911 was frantic, out of breath. >> and my wife is -- >> here is the actual video of kingman's one officer on duty that night running to his police car and speeding to the burning house. where he met the 911 caller outside. you can hear them both recorded by his patrol car's dashboard

video camera. >> where are you at? >> the man said his wife was still in the master bedroom, in the back of the house, second floor. and if that was true, it didn't look good for her. a passerby caught this video on his cell phone. by then the volunteer fire brigade was arriving. not much any of them could do for the woman inside. as the man calmed down a little, he told the officer he was able only to rescue his 2 and 4-year-old sons, carry them to safety. so somewhere in there his wife, their mother, was dead. there was more to his story, as you'll hear. much more. but for now the dismal business of sorting out what happened. so where to begin? 9 man on the street said his wife's name was vashti. vashti seacat. >> it was a name out of the bible. in the book of ester there was a queen vashti.

my dad thought the name was neat so he named her vashti. >> vashti's sister lived three hours away. neither she or her brother rich could believe what they heard that dark morning. >> first thing i did was call the kingman county sheriff's department. just to verify. >> did they help you? did they tell you anything? >> first they asked who i was. and i explained my relationship to vashti. and then he said yeah, there's been a fire and we believe she's deceased. >> and the man standing outside his burning house? that was vashti's husband, brett seacat. her very first love. >> they met in high school. she did some stats for a team and he was a wrestler. first little love in high school. >> they broke up and got back together a few times, as people, do until they finally married in 2004. >> that first love always holds a special place in your life.

>> but by dawn on the 30th of april 2011, though as you'll hear brett certainly knew what to do in a crisis, there was nothing he or anyone could do to get it back. the life he had with vashti and their two boys, now motherless boys. brandon, born in the fall of 2006. bronson, less than two years later. >> when they had their babies, it was a very happy time. my sister was mother of the year award goes to her. >> and at 4:00 in the morning she would get up and hand-make baby food. >> wow. >> so her kids could have organic, healthy food. >> she lived for those babies. >> and not just her own kids. >> she was the first to help someone at the boys' daycare a little boy had -- it was cancer, leukemia, something. and she stayed up and baked mini loaves of banana bread and sold those to raise the money for that boy to have treatment. >> what was brett like as a dad?

>> he did lots of things with the kids. i will tell you, he did walks with them. he would play outside with them. he was very engaged as a dad. he was very proud of his sons. >> brett was a lawman from a family of lawmen. a former sheriff's deputy. and for the last few years he'd been teaching officer rekrufts all types at the kansas law enforcement training center, where bobby seacat, one of his brothers, worked before him. >> and he was actually hired to replace me when i left there. so. >> so what was the job? teaching what? >> brett got into the accident investigation and collision investigation, but he was much more into physical training and defense tactics than i ever was. >> he had more interest in that kind of thing? >> he did. >> personal combat stuff. >> he did growing up. he got into martial arts. he was into wrestling in high school. and then got into bodybuilding, martial arts things. he was a lot bigger than i was.

>> the training center job gave brett a set schedule with regular hours, which was a welcome change from being a deputy sheriff, especially with those two boys clamoring for his attention at home. >> he was close to the boys, but he was very masculine with the boys. it was raise them as boys. they were tough, they wrestled a lot. and he would wrestle with them. he'd toss them across the room onto the couch and they'd bounce off the couch and run right back to be tossed again. >> a terrible thing to happen to such a beautiful young family. even if the fire was all you heard about it. but now brett seacat headed to the local law enforcement center a few blocks away. and there he repeated to fellow law enforcement officers something he'd said on the 911 call. that the fire was not what killed vashti seacat. coming up -- what did happen to

vashti? >> she was lying on her left side like she was under the covers asleep. >> a surprising piece of evidence right there in the bedroom. >> the firearm was actually under her left hip, which would have been against the mattress, with the barrel facing downward. >> firearm? a gun in the bed? when "dateline" continues. have a skincare routine. but what about a lip care routine? pay your lips some attention. the chapstick total hydration collection. exfoliate nourish naturally enhance your lips. chapstick. put your lips first.

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the sun rose over grief and chaos that last morning of april 2011. in little kingman, kansas. ashley seacat was dead, her house burned around her. and her husband and two little boys were just beginning to understand what had happened to them. the "can't believe it" stage. just like her siblings kathleen and rich. >> like i believed somehow it wasn't true. you plead with god or you just want a miracle to happen. >> no miracles to be had. and that might have been the end of it really. an awful tragedy but these things do happen. and for all but loved ones they're soon forgotten by the rest of the world. except those volunteer firemen weren't quite sure what they were dealing with. so they took the prudent step and called in the state fire marshal and the atf, the bureau

of alcohol, tobacco and firearms. >> we get a lot more training. we get a lot more exposure to the scientific side of things. >> and that morning doug monty was the agent that showed up to the house to have a look around. >> if you looked at it from the front of the house all you really noticed was the fact that part of the roof had collapsed and as you made your way around back there was very, very heavy fire damage to include collapse of the second and third floor, which is significant. >> so really you had the front facade that was up and the rest of it was badly damaged. >> it wasn't down but anybody going down could tell there was a very significant fire that occurred inside. on the second and third floors. >> and you heard there was a body inside. did you hear anything else about it? >> normally when i arrive at a scene like that i'll meet with the on-scene investigators, the fire chief, local officers and they had informed me that as the first arriving officer got there he made contact with brett seacat and he indicated that his wife was inside. >> they also told him that when the first responders arrived the windows in the master bedroom

were still intact, which would have tamped down the fire inside the room where vashti was last seen. and that meant there was some chance at least that some evidence would still exist in there. wouldn't be completely incinerated by the flames. and sure enough, when monti got inside what was left of the house, he saw the body of vashti seacat, lying on the mattress in the master bedroom on the second floor. >> she was lying on her left side. her knees were slightly drawn up. it appeared that her elbows were bent. there was still a significant amount of blanket or covering on her, like she was under the covers asleep. >> also there, a weapon. >> the firearm was actually under her left hip, which would have been against the mattress, with the barrel facing downward. >> it became clear the gun had been the source of a single gunshot wound to the side of her lower skull.

there were other wounds, too. oddly enough, you can hear gunshots going off during the fire in that cell phone video shot by a passerby. [ gunshot ] >> agent monti said when the hot fire exploded the remaining bullets in the gun sending bullets into vashti's body. and something else that courtesy of those unblown windows didn't burn up completely. >> we noticed a red plastic container very close to her back on the mattress itself. >> plastic container for what? >> it was a gas can. >> clearly a gas can? >> yes. >> so what did that tell you? >> well, our job that day was to determine the origin and cause of the fire and to classify it, whether it was accidental -- whether we couldn't determine a cause or whether it was incendiary, or someone had intentionally set the fire. >> that certainly would make a suggestion, wouldn't it? a gas can on the bed. >> that would be an indicator, yes, sir.

>> suspicious? oh, yes. but maybe not what you're thinking. maybe not murder. in fact, the answer to what happened to vashti seacat was right there in her husband's panicky call to 911. >> she shot herself but she's in the fire. >> but why would a mother of two little boys kill herself? that was a story only her widower, brett seacat, could tell. coming up -- >> she wanted to make everybody happy. >> brett seacat has some secrets to share. >> he informed us that she put on one face for the family and the public and then she'd be a different person at home. >> so that brett knew and nobody else. >> right. >> inside a relationship on the ropes. >> i made it perfectly clear i was going to do everything i could to make sure she doesn't

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fire is a terrible thing to happen to a family. but fire was only half of the deadly event that rufrptured th seacat family of kingman, kansas. this was a fire and a shooting. apparently, both the suicidal work of vashti seacat. and because it occurred in a small rural county it triggered a call to the kbi, the statewide kansas bureau of investigation. whose special agent dave filleti welcomed the chance to here what happened directly from brett seacat himself. brett, remember, was in law enforcement himself and

understood that agent filleti needed to hear the whole story, warts and all. >> we interviewed him for approximately 7 1/2 hours. just two cops talking to each other. >> seemed to be forthcoming? >> yeah, he was very forthcoming. >> i'm sorry to have you here. i just want to talk about what happened. >> okay. >> it's been a terrible time for you. >> the agent was about to discover that brett was dealing not just with grief but with a heavy burden of guilt. though it took a while to get to that part of the story. >> usually when we interview people, i want them to start at the very beginning, and we did. >> brett told them the story of how he met vashti in high school and how he was smitten from the very first moment. >> she was great. she wanted to make everybody happy. she really worked on that. she really cared what people thought about her. almost to the point of neurosis, i always thought.

>> and maybe that's why in recent years she was paying way too much attention to her job, he said, even when she was home. >> she was very dedicated to her job, and i always thought that that kind of took away from her time with the kids because the kids and i may be playing in the living room and she'd be in the office working. >> but making matters worse, said brett, was that vashti was depressed, had been for a long time. something almost no one else knew. >> he had informed us that vashti was basically two vashtis. she would put on one face for her family and the public and then she'd be a different person at home. >> so that brett knew and nobody else? >> right. >> she would get depressed over something. but she would never talk to anybody about being depressed because she was -- she was always worried about how people would view her. and even as her boyfriend, as her husband, the only reason i ever even got exposed to it is because i was the guy that spent the nights with her.

>> things got so bad, brett said, her depression was affecting their marriage. they started seeing a therapist. he also told investigators that to help her lose weight, vashti took a hormonal supplement, hcg, which has been linked to depression. and he remembered something that now came back to haunt him, he told them. that one night he and vashti were watching a drama on tv, during which -- >> someone had committed suicide with a firearm and she had asked him if that gun would be a good gun to do that with. and he said yeah, i've got one of those, but the dirty harry gun, which he indicated was the .44 ruger magnum that they had, would be a better tool to do that with. >> so he looked back on it then in the interview with you as oh, my gosh, i told her how to kill herself? >> right. >> but it got even worse, said brett. when vashti told him, to his

dismay, that she wanted to split up and served him with divorce papers and he, very upset he said, told her the night she died -- >> you and i will go to the mat and i made it perfectly clear, whether it was truthful or not, that if this went to court i was going to do everything i could to make sure she doesn't see the kids again. >> there was no sharing a bed anymore. and after he fell asleep on the couch downstairs, he said his cell phone rang. it was vashti calling from the bedroom upstairs. >> anyway, i answer it. she said, are you awake? you need to come get the boys. >> brett said he jumped up and heard a loud noise. >> sounded like somebody just hauled off and slammed the door closed as hard as they could. >> then he heard what sounded like somebody walking around on the second floor and he bounded up the stairs to the bedroom. >> i remember that clearly now.

and there were small flames around the door. the flames were about that high off the ground. >> then he said he ran into the master bedroom. >> the bed was on fire. and where the whole room could have been on fire, i'm pretty sure it was, but i was just looking right there. and vashti was laying on her back right in the spot where she sleeps. >> he said he reached over vashti's right shoulder and around her neck. >> pulled her up and she sank down, like waffled in my arms down straight. not like somebody getting picked up. then all of a sudden it sort of came to me. dead, fire, kids. i just dropped her.

>> that's when he ran to the boys' room, he said, scooped them up, ran downstairs, put them in the car, and then called 911. then ran back into the house to try to get vashti. he covered his face with a wet dishcloth he said and ran back up the stairs. >> by the time i get to the top of the stairs, it's pitch black. i can't see anything. not even my hand in front of my face. i told myself to get out. >> and now vashti was dead and brett couldn't stop wondering, he told agent filleti, wondering if she was thinking about the kids as she prepared to end her life. >> i have a question for her. did mommy say good-bye or did mommy tuck you in and say night night or did mommy say good-bye was the big one. because she did love those kids. and i could see her going in there and kissing each one of them good night. >> brett said he explained to the boys, especially the older one, that mommy is in heaven now, that she's with god. >> we talk about that every night right before bed.

>> and here, cop to cop, it was as if brett seacat was in a confessional booth. full of sorrow for threatening to take away the boys, the trigger, he was sure, for her suicide. did he seem remorseful about having said that? >> yes, he did. he showed remorse that he had driven her to commit suicide. he had given her no other out other than to take her own life. >> coming up -- a journal. >> in the front driver's seat was what appeared to be a note to her two children and to brett. >> could it be a final message to her family? >> she told her children to keep -- take care of each other and then made the comment "and brett, i took care of the house for you." >> none of it made sense to me. >> when "dateline" continues. of 1 2 3 medicines with trelegy. the only fda-approved 3-in-1 copd treatment. ♪ trelegy. the power of 1-2-3.

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the known facts were stark, quite clear. vashti seacat was dead, a fatal bullet wound to the head. her house burned around her, her boys motherless, her husband a widower. now the trick would be finding evidence for or against the story behind the apparent suicide, brett seacat's story. which wasn't long in coming said lead kbi agent filleti. in vashti's purse they found a post-it note with a list of expenses. >> indications of money that she needed in her life insurance. >> the list included funeral expenses. and then they had a good look through vashti's volkswagen and in her trunk they found printed material about coping with stress and anxiety, but more important, investigators discovered something filleti knew was absolutely key. >> in the front driver's seat was a journal. as you open that book and go past some of the notes that she had written in reference to her

children, kind of bookmarked with the stream that you usually find in those types of books was what appeared to be a note to her two children and to brett. and in that note she's trying to explain, tell the children i love them and she'd tell her children to keep -- take care of each other and made the comment "and brett, i took care of the house for you." >> the note also said she'd be watching over her sons from heaven. all those words on that page seemed pretty clear, it was a goodbye note. investigators also talked to vashti's friends and family, colleagues at cox communications, where she worked in human resources, and others who knew her well. they said vashti had been going to a therapist for several months, that she'd been losing a lot of weight recently and taking the hormonal supplement hcg. could it have affected her mood? brett's half brother bobby was dumbstruck by what happened, couldn't comprehend it, so he

peppered him with questions. >> none of it made sense to me. i said were there problems? he said yeah, she filed for divorce. and he told me they had been to see a counselor, they've been going to counseling for six months. i said what would cause her to do this? he said i used the boys as a weapon, something i never should have done. if she tried taking custody of the boys, i would take the boys and run away with them. and he was beating himself up about that. i, of course, said probably half of all of the people that have ever gotten a divorce that have kids involved have said something similar. >> sure. >> bobby was learning things about vashti he'd never known, he said. like when brett told him that before vashti died she had been spending evenings out. >> going out partying and dancing and drinking. >> so where would the kids be when she did that? >> with brett. and i'm not saying that those kids didn't mean a lot to her.

she was a wonderful person on the surface. and there was a different vashti that we were unaware of. and it's upsetting to be made aware of it. >> to brett, vashti's going out was a sure sign she was sinking into depression. fit a pattern he'd seen before, just as he told the investigators. and again, bobby was shocked, didn't know a thing about it. >> before this happened, i had never heard anything about her being suicidal. and that's why i have some disappointment in my half brother. i mean, if he felt the duty to protect her, i understand. but there are other people there to help you through this. in hindsight, i'm sure he wishes he would have shared those things. >> but one thing jumped back at bobby, something he saw the weekend before vashti died. she seemed sad and withdrawn that time he saw her

sitting by herself in the house while her young sons were hunting for easter eggs outside. >> she was not typical vashti who was usually bubbly and talkative and it was unusual that an easter egg hunt occurred and she didn't even get off the couch and come outside. >> bobby and his wife noticed. asked how she was doing. >> all she told us that day was she really didn't like work, and work was a struggle for her daily. she said i got into hr to give people a future and hope and i don't remember the last person i hired. >> according to bobby, vashti said when she had to lay off employees it was difficult for her. especially if she was close to them. >> she said, if they're not your friends, they take the news and they leave. if they're your friend, they stay in your office and cry on your shoulder for an hour. >> as brett filled his half brother in on everything, bobby came to understand that apparently the emotions of vashti's job, the strain of her divorce, her depression, and brett's threat to take the kids

from her proved too much and sadly she took her life, leaving brett and the boys to go on somehow themselves. >> i've gotten past anger towards her, now it's just -- it bothers me. there's just things i think in her life that derailed. >> but to set the house on fire with her own little boys inside? >> we're trying to assign rational thinking to someone that i believe was getting ready to take their own life. >> so for brett's family it was starting to make sense. but for vashti's family it just made no sense at all. coming up -- questions and suspicions. >> he didn't like people. he more wanted to isolate my sister and have her all to himself. >> i don't care what you're being told. i don't care what you think you're seeing. you're dealing with a murder.

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the vigil for vashti seacat was held across the street from her burned-out house. >> her life was grounded in her love. >> kathleen and rich were there. so was brett with his two sons. not easy for any of them. and truth, as vashti's siblings kathleen and rich knew, has a way of looking so very different, depending on who is doing the looking. which is why the minute rich found out something happened to his sister, he called the kingman county sheriff's office. >> i said i don't care what you're being told, i don't care

what you think you're seeing, i said you're dealing with a murder. >> a murder. even as they grieved, kathleen and rich had become suspicious of brett. ever since brett called kathleen to tell her the news and phrased it in such an odd way. >> he said vashti killed herself and then set the house on fire. so how it was said to us was backwards. and just from conversations her and i had had, i knew. i just -- i knew. >> what did he sound like? >> no emotion. very calm. no tears. no hysterics. just -- >> very matter of fact. >> i'm hysterical. i'm not married to her and she's not the mother of my children and i'm hysterical. but he wasn't. >> a week or so later, brett drove down to oklahoma to speak directly with kathleen and her husband. >> and he had answers for everything. like why she did what she did.

why she thought what she thought. it was like a script. answers for everything. where normal people would be confused. there was a picture of her that was a poster size picture on my fireplace, and i looked over at it and said she was such a good mother, and i broke down and he said, "oh, i'm over that. i'm just kind of angry at her and ready to move on." >> but they had to admit that brett's social interactions had always been a little cold, sometimes inappropriate, and his reaction to vashti's death was not out of character. >> he didn't like people. he more wanted to isolate my sister and have her all to himself. i almost felt like vashti and the children were more of a possession than -- >> they were his. >> like your clan. >> everybody stay away from my

stuff. >> yeah. so it was a different kind of love than maybe what i would define as love. >> early on, at least according to her siblings, vashti questioned her decision to marry brett, wondering if she should stay in the marriage, that is, until she found out she was pregnant with the first of her sons. >> i do think brett treated her well while she was pregnant. he was very proud he was going to be having sons. and the seacat name was going to be, you know, pushed on. but several times in their marriage, it didn't feel right. i know she missed family. she wanted to reconnect with friends. she felt forced to not have the same friends. and that bothered her. >> did it change the way she was or personality? >> those boys were her life. so i think she was so focused -- >> focused and wrapped up in the children that she probably didn't notice it like we did from the outside.

>> by the fall of 2010, said kathleen, vashti was miserable again. she was feeling depressed then and so she and brett started seeing a therapist together and alone. but things didn't get any better. and so in the spring of 2011 vashti filed for a divorce. >> this wasn't a spontaneous, i think i'll get divorced. and i know she had thought it through well enough. >> she had had enough of him and told kathleen so. >> she said he's a grandiose narcissist. it's not going to get better. it's not going to change. >> but was vashti depressed as brett was saying? not anymore said kathleen and rich. they talked to her all the time they said. and though she was sad about the divorce, she was looking forward finally to a happier life. she felt liberated, they said. was excited about her job, was losing weight, starting new

friendships and planning a vacation with you. >> and a concert and a hawaii trip and a springfield trip, and we had just gone shopping the week before, and the clothes were still in the bag at her house. in fact, she had so many things lined up for us to do that i was thinking i can't keep up with her. >> so they didn't buy brett's story at all. >> she was not depressed. she was anything but. >> the wednesday before vashti died when brett was served with the divorce papers, she spent that night with their sons at a friend's house and was going to stay there until friday when brett was supposed to be out of the house. that was the plan, said kathleen. >> he got ahold of her on thursday and told her to come home, that she owed it to him to let him say goodbye to his kids. he told her he couldn't be out by friday, he had nowhere to go. his parents didn't even know

they were contemplating divorce. he didn't have any friends to go stay with. he said he needed a few more days to get out. could she please come home and let him tell his boys goodbye and just talk. i begged her to not go and she said, "kathleen, my only way out is to try to reason with him." and she said, "i'm not a monster. i'm not a monster. he has nowhere else." >> rich talked to vashti that friday about dinnertime. >> the whole conversation was hey, sis, how are things going in light of the situation? and everything she said was, well, brett's having a really hard time with this. and brett's really struggling with this. >> it hurt her. it hurt her that he was so torn up. >> and less than 12 hours later vashti was dead. kathleen and rich told investigators that's the truth as they saw it. they were certain brett killed

vashti, made it look like suicide and because he was a man who actually trained law enforcement officers -- >> you were worried that because of his training he knew how to beat the system? >> oh, yeah. he would brag about it. he had books. you know, he knew how to do it. >> coming up -- brett seacat under scrutiny. >> if he bent over a bed that was on fire to get his wife i would have expected his chest to have some type of singeing. there was absolutely nothing. >> and a desperate family. and i remember somebody who was working the scene, i said give me some hope. and he said in this instance justice will be served. >> when "dateline" continues. like yard-sale savers. tee-time savers. and especially med d savers. select a medicare part d plan with walgreens as your preferred pharmacy and get co-pays for as low as zero dollars

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switch now and see how you could save up to $400 a year. and get 50% off when you buy any new lg phone. xfinity mobile. click, call or visit a store today. it's not always so straightforward determining from evidence what's suicide and what's murder. brett said it was obviously suicide. her family said no way. so now investigators had to figure out who was right. they scoured the wreck of the seacat house for clues. >> i remember grabbing one of the kbi or fire -- somebody that was working the scene and i said give me some hope. are you finding something that's going to let everybody know what happened? and i remember he looked at me and he said, "i will tell you this.

in this instance justice will be served." >> but what did that mean? as another investigator told them -- >> justice will be served and maybe justice is he didn't do it. we don't have emotions in this. we are here to collect facts. >> and collect they did. including a bit of unburned material on the dining room table in the seacat home. quite odd. >> it was actually a powerpoint that included -- almost like an instructor would be teaching a class on different types of death. suicides, homicide i believe was listed on there, fire, blunt force trauma, things of that -- that an officer or investigator would be looking at when they're investigating a death of some sort. >> that might make sense if he's a teacher of policemen, that he might have that. >> individually, that probably could be looked at as that. >> in fact, said brett, that's exactly what it was.

>> it was paperwork that he brought home from school or from class that he had taken, i believe, in college and it was just scrap paper. he had pulled it in there because on the night before the morning she passed away, they had been working on a budget and we did find it looked like somebody was preparing a budget for their bills together, because they had separate accounts. so he was trying to show that he could help her out in paying off some of these bills. >> and that was the activity in the evening before she died. >> correct. >> so it was kind of a cooperative activity? >> according to mr. seacat, yes. also brett said when he ran into the burning bedroom to try to save vashti he was only wearing pants no, shirt or shoes. so -- >> i would expect to see some type of injury to fire. all we ended up finding when we photographed him later was very, very minor vin singeing on his legs from hair. you get more than that if you're lighting a barbecue pit and you singe yourself. and he had a couple of minor blisters on one of his feet.

if he bent over a bed that's on fire, i would expect his chest to have some type of singeing. there was absolutely nothing. >> what's more, the k bichlt fou kbi found a small amount of gasoline on the pants he was wearing. suspicious? maybe. but proof of murder, staging the scene? not even close. there was an autopsy, of course. the results of which could be seen as suspicious or not. >> there was no soot in her airway or in her lungs. that would indicate there were no breaths taken prior to the fire kind of getting into the atmosphere. >> the fire was lit after she was dead? >> you could make that assumption. >> is it possible she could have poured the accelerant around the various places in the house, lit them all, hopped back into bed, covered herself up, shot herself, and then died and still had no soot in her lungs? i mean, the fires are just getting started. >> it's possible.

but if she's made that decision, to go to that length, i would expect that she would be very excited, her respirations would be very rapid and so she would be breathing heavy. >> there would be something in her lungs, some kind of indication? >> that would be my experience. i've worked multiple fatality fires over the years. >> but atf investigators' opinion aside, facts are facts and the coroner said there just weren't enough of them to determine whether vashti's death was homicide or suicide. just too much fire damage to know for sure. so agent falletti and his team poked around for whatever circumstantial evidence there might be. they went to where brett worked and were told by co-workers at the law enforcement training center that on the day before vashti died, brett took two computer hard drives to the maintenance shop there and asked how to destroy them. >> ultimately, they showed him a torch and he used a torch to basically -- oxyacetylene torch

that burns at a very high temperature. he used that to torch the hard drives. >> and then threw them away. two different trash cans along with a couple of cell phones which he had first pulled apart. troubling. on the other hand, wasn't like he was skulking around or hiding any of that unusual activity. he even asked his colleagues for help. so back to the house and the neighborhood around it. door to door went falletti and his team of investigators. and three doors down from the seacat house was a woman who said she was having trouble sleeping that night and so was awake in the wee hours watching tv in her living room. >> and at some point she believes she heard what was a gunshot and she believed that was sometime before the fire trucks and the police officers showed up in front of the seacat residence. >> exactly when each of those things happened, she couldn't say for sure.

but reviewing the tv show she had been watching, she could tell them which scene was playing when she heard that gunshot. and that's how the kbi was able to determine the gun went off long before brett called 911. >> we believed it was about 30, 35 minutes prior to mr. seacat calling 911 is when she heard that gunshot. >> to do something. >> right. >> and the atf's monty discovered the fire was not simply a matter of lithe the bed on fire. >> was that where the fire was started? >> in my opinion, there were multiple fires started on the second floor of the residence. >> interesting. but it didn't rule out the possibility that vashti herself started the fires. >> there's a lot of things in limbo at that point. >> yes. but their suspicions pointed in one direction. toward brett seacat, who was going from grieving, guilt-ridden widower to a serious person of interest. which his half-brother bobby found preposterous, especially

when it came to what the kbi thought was brett's suspicious behavior at the training center. as a former cop and cop trainer himself, bobby just knew his brother didn't do it. >> when you are in law enforcement and you know about identity theft, those are things you do. you break cell phones and you burn hard drives. not only was he well versed in identity theft, he was a substitute instructor of it. i think in hindsight, if he had known what was about to happen that very night, he wouldn't have thrown cell phones away. he wouldn't have burned hard drives. he would not have done anything, and he especially wouldn't have spent the night in that house. >> because it would draw attention to him, make him look guilty? >> absolutely. >> was it just appearances or was it more than that? coming up -- >> things do not look good and they're adding up to that you

had something to do with this, brett. we need to know why. >> there's no why. okay? i didn't do this. >> anger. accusations. >> did you murder her? >> no. >> did you pull the trigger? >> no. >> did you kill her? >> no! >> when "dateline" continues. es with the best prices of the year on appliances to help you handle anything and everything. emreplenished,d, fortified. emerge everyday with emergen-c. packed with b vitamins, electrolytes, antioxidants, plus more vitamin c than 10 oranges. why not feel this good every day? emerge and see. oh, come on. flo: don't worry. you're covered. (dramatic music) and you're saving money, because you bundled home and auto. sarah, get in the house. we're all here for you.

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when he arrived for that

chat for investigators looking into his wife, it was if he could finally relax after the worst two weeks of his life. >> honestly, talking to you guys distracts me from all the thoughts that eat me up of late. so actually i do better in this room. >> i did very little talking, very few questions. we basically het him go and he talked for multiple hours. >> he knew the rules of course, but he was content to chat back and forth for something like seven hours. didn't bring a lawyer with him. didn't ask for one. even when the investigators zeroed in on what they saw as holes in his story. >> we just want to make sure we get all the facts right and get to the truth. >> he willingly answered almost every question they had like why

there was no real evidence on his body to back up the story of what he did on the night valshi died. >> if you walked through the fire you should have kind of injuries than the small injury on the top of your feet. >> i don't know why the bottom of my feet aren't burned. i had some sort of weird black charring, but you guys have pictures of that. >> investigators were also starting to think that the note in the journal was forged. >> but to be haonest with you, when i looked at that notebook, i'm going this ain't right because it slants one way part of the time and slants the other way part of the time. it's not my handwriting. >> or before she died before

destroying hard drives and cellphones he spent time in his office with the door locked which was pretty unusual at the training center. >> oh, my god, you know i was locked -- screw you. i was crying. >> you had the door locked and what were you looking at? the problem is you're in love, you're still in love with her. >> yeah, i am. >> and she was going to leave you. there was no doubt about that. >> you have no idea how impossible it is. >> but could he answer the central question, explain the thing that didn't make sense to anybody? why vashti even if she was intent on suicide, why she would destroy the house, too, why set it on fire? >> she really did not like that house. we were going to have to fix it up. you know, we didn't particularly

have the money or resources to fix it up. she started really hating that house. >> but at its heart, he said, vashti's reason might well have had more to do with vanity. >> she was a very, very beautiful girl and always thought about what people would see. i think she might have shot of herself and then assumed her face would be really messed up, so she lit a fire and charred herself. >> sitting just a couple feet away the agent shook his head. >> we asked if he saw the things he saw and heard what he had told us, would he thinks that things just didn't add up? >> but you see where we're

coming from? >> i see where you're coming from. this is a hundred times worse than what i had pictured in my mind. before i just thought i lacked any evidence, and now you're saying this -- there's evidence i never knew existed. >> things are just not looking good and they're adding up that you had something to do with this. we need to know why. >> there's no why, okay? i didn't do this. i loved ashti. >> i'm sure you still do, but people do things to people they love -- >> i wouldn't [ bleep ] my kids like this ever.

[ bleep ] i wouldn't her family. i wouldn't [ bleep ] my family. i don't -- i didn't want to give up ash. i fought hard to try and keep us together. >> in fact, he said, if he had murdered her he would have made a better job of it. >> i'm smart enough if i wanted to kill my wife, it would have been -- this is what a crazy person does. >> not necessarily. >> crazy in love, crazy for kids. you know. >> don't try to twist it around. >> did you hurt her? >> no. >> did you pull the trigger?

>> no. >> he left the station with whatever his thoughts might have been but not for long because no matter how adam his denials were they didn't add up. however depressed he said she was it made no sense she would have lit the house on fire with her two sleeping sons in harms way. the next day he was taken into custody. he was formally charged three days later. >> did then and there unlawfully feloniously, intentionally and with premeditation kill vashti. your bond is $1 million. >> he was also charged with arson and endangering his children. brett could not make bond and so remained in jail to await a jury's decision on what really happened in the home in kansas in the early hours of april 30th, 2011.

coming up -- the note. >> some of his actions were reckless because the clock was wipedi winding down. >> the gun. >> how did it end up completely underneath the body when she was sleeping on her side? >> the threats. >> she said do you think brett would burn the house down with me in it. and i -- i was taken aback by that, and i said not with the kids at home. >> the prosecutors come on strong. >> and so when those threats didn't work, he had to kill her to maintain control. >> when "dateline" continues. co. >> when "dateline" continues frequent heartburn? not anymore.

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as kingman coped with the trag ed in its midst the smallest victims endured what horrors we could not imagine. kathleen left for oklahoma to help care for her young sons after her sister died. and she was learning what violent death could do to a family. >> we held those babies all night. they would wake up. they were traumatized by the fire. so to rock the little 2 1/2-year-old begging you please ask jesus, bring her back, i need a mommy, that breaks your heart. and this went on for a long time at night sobbing for hours. >> those poor kids.

you're trying to process mommy's gone forever and these people over here mommy killed herself and these people over here think my mommy shot my daddy. >> the trial began in may 2013, two years after the fire. two years in which the local media covered the seacat case in a big way. brett was entitled to ask to have his trial moved to another county which might have been less saturated with news of the case against him, but he elected to keep it right here in kingman courthouse, a mere two blocks from his home. >> the defendant with premeditation committed the murder of his wife vashti seacat. >> but for all the talk that had been around town the then assistant attorney had precious hard evidence to draw upon, not

even an autopsy to wave around because the coroner hadn't labeled vashti's death a homicide. no, the evidence was not hard. it was circumstantial. >> he got his .44 magnum revolver, approached her in bed while she was sleeping. he shot her in the head. he set fire to at least two places in the house to cover up his actions. and he did all of this while their two young sons were in the home. >> the motive quite simple said the prosecution. brett did not want a divorce, but he did want custody of his sons. and he would do what it took, even kill vashti to keep them. their marriage counselor took the stand.

>> he said that he felt like vashti was going to run, he could just feel it, that she was going to leave him. and that if she divorced him, she was divorcing the entire seacat family including the children and that he would take the children and she would never see them even if it meant leaving the country. so i told him it was not legal, that it wasn't going to help the children, it would hurt them a great deal. that they needed access to both their parents. >> did you talk to him about divorced couples having two households? >> yes. >> and what was brett's comments about that? >> he said he'd seen children of divorce and he didn't think it was worse for them to have just one parent or one household, he thought it was better. >> and as for brett's claim vashti committed suicide the therapist said she didn't believe it for a second. >> i asked her whether she would commit suicide, and she said no

for two reasons. one, her religious beliefs and her faith. and the second was that she couldn't do that to her boys, that she just loved being a mom. she couldn't leave them. they needed her. >> the prosetors showed the jury a photo of the contents of vashti's purse which contained that post-it note listing various costs including funeral expenses. >> vashti seacat has all her friends and family testify. and that list is simply somebody planning out what they might do in their future when they're going to get divorced, which we know vashti seacat was doing. >> prosecutors also showed jurors the powerpoint papers found on the dining room table. the presentation about homicides, suicides and fire. >> he was not teaching arson.

he wasn't teaching homicide. he wasn't teaching wound evidence. >> no, but those materials proved said the prosecutor, premeditation. it was brett's deadly homework. but what about that last entry in her journal, the one that read like a final farewell? forged. the thing is said the handwriting expert, it wasn't well-done. look closely, he said. that slight shakiness. he called that -- >> the term we use in documents is tremor of fraud. >> the tremor of fraud and it appeared said the prosecution that brett forged that note the day before vashti died, the same day he was torching hard drives and same day he asked where he could find an overhead projector. something so out dated it was in

storage. it appeared brett used the projection light to re-create her writing in the journal. >> some of his actions were reckless because the clock was winding down. >> she was planning to go out saturday evening in wichita and spend the night there. >> well, it's friday. it's friday evening. this was his last opportunity while they lived in the home together to kill vashti. >> then there was the lack of evidence where there should have been some, if this were a suicide, that is. >> did you find any soot in the airways? >> no. >> any soot in the lungs? >> the autopsy finding that she had no soot in her lungs, her airways and there was no carbon monoxide in her lungs, what the jury could infer from that was that vashti seacat didn't breathe in any smoke.

and if she didn't, the fire was set after she was dead. >> and something else. weird little detail, and yet according to prosecution it was telling. when she died vashti's bladder was quite full. >> there probably would have been a urinary urgency or the need to go to the rest room. >> and the importance of that from the evidence is that the claim from brett seacat is vashti is walking around the house, setting these fires, holding her breath, not breathing any smoke while she has a strong urge to urinate. that doesn't make sense. that's something that the jury needed to decide whether or not in their common sense and experience, whether they thought that made any sense at all. >> just another point to add to the whole unlikelihood of this story he was telling. >> that's right. >> a claimed suicide weapon didn't make sense either, said the prosecutor.

such a big, heavy gun. >> if she killed herself, how was she able to get that heavy handgun up to her head and pull the trigger and do so in just the right downward angle that it slices right through her spinal cord, and then there was some kick, some recoil to the gun. how did it end up completely underneath her body when she was sleeping on her side? >> the prosecutor said the angle of the bullet proved one thing. >> that's consistent with someone standing over her while she was sleeping shooting her. >> because, said the prosecutor, because that's what he said he would do. brett not only woke vashti up one night to tell her he had a dream he killed her, but friends and colleagues testified what they told the kbi, in the weeks before she died vashti told them incredibly brett threatened to kill her and burn the house down and make it look like suicide.

>> she said do you think brett would burn the house down with me in it? and i -- i was taken aback by that. and i said, not with the kids at home. >> the tragedy was, said the prosecutor, vashti didn't believe him either. >> and so when those threats didn't work, he had to kill her to maintain control of her. >> in other words, said the prosecutor, planned, premeditated murder. looks bad for brett, doesn't it? but then you haven't heard the bombshell the defense had in store. coming up -- >> vashti had confided in brett that she had rekindled a romantic relationship that she was having with one of the executives. >> an affair. that wasn't the only surprise

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we are kaiser permanente. thrive. here's what's happening. the bolivian president resigned from his post on sunday following accusation of election fraud. the results were not validated. upwards of 25,000 veterans and active duty personnel are

set to march through new york city along fifth avenue on monday for veterans day. president trump will join the march in commemorating the sacrifices veterans have made for the country. now back to dateline. brett seacat unable to pay a lawyer to represent him was lucky in one particular way. his court appointed defense attorneys just happened to be veterans of murder cases. >> my grandmother used to love to put together jigsaw puzzles. >> a man who understood perfectly well that the puzzle didn't always go together the way the prosecution tried to make it look. >> there's a second side to this story. and that is that vashti seasat depressed and confronted with

either losing her career or staying in the marriage decided instead to take her own life. >> but why would she do that? here came the bombshell. >> vashti had confided in brett that she had rekindled a romantic relationship she was having with one of the executives. >> vashti, claimed the defense was having an affair with the vice president and the evening before vashti died brett gave her an ultimatum, stay in the marriage or he'd expose the affair. the triggers that sent an already depressed woman over the edge. >> she suffered from an absolute depression. what can depression lead you to among the various things that can go wrong, suicide is one.

>> under cross-examination the seacat's therapist testified she had a history of what she called depressive symptoms starting when her brother died in an accident when she was young. >> a major depressive disorder would be that occurring more than once for a longer period of time, possibly in a pattern. >> and regarding what you wrote down regarding mrs. seacat, were you describing an episode or disorder? >> i was describing this was an episode but there had been others prior. >> a lot of folks think that if you were depressed a week ago but you ain't been depressed since, you are cured. now, i got their expert to say that isn't the way it works. >> nor is it impossible to anticipate if or when a depressed person might commit suicide even when someone is making future plans as vashti was. suicide is still possible, the defense argued.

mind you, they were about to say it also wouldn't have been the first time for vashti or at least brett was ready to claim she'd attempted suicide before. >> brett wanted to testify about the suicide attempts that vashti had made on herself. some while they were married, some before. judge said, well, show me the evidence of this. and i -- we had looked and looked and could not find hospital records -- >> couldn't find anything. >> couldn't find hospital records that far back. but that should be no surprise to anybody because hospitals don't keep records anymore. >> even so by judge's order brett would not be allowed to make that claim in court. and what about the post-it note found in vashti's purse, the one that listed funeral expenses? >> it could very well be that that is her figuring out what things cost and whether or not

insurance is going to cover it. that's what i think it could be. but who knows? nobody knows. prosecution doesn't know. i don't know. >> but it has some significance you think? >> well, you certainly could portray it as being significant. you could also portray it as being a load of hogwash. >> but remember how the prosecution argued the vashti's suicide note was a forgery probably committed by brett, the defense had a handwriting expert of it its own who concluded that vashti did write it. and cross examined brett's coworker the one who helped him find the projector. >> and mr. seacat was not the least bit secretive. >> he goes and asks someone to help him find an overhead projector, those people take him

up to where it is, and carries it down from there in full view of anybody possibly in that place, and he carries it back. now, that sounds like somebody who didn't have anything to hide. >> and what about the state's point that no soot was found in vashti's lungs. under cross-examination it could be possible vashti lit a fire before killing herself. >> if someone lit a fire and then shot themselves within seconds, would you expect to see soot in their lungs? >> not necessarily, no. >> as for the powerpoint found on the seacat's dining room table the one that discussed homicide and suicide and fire investigations, meaningless said the defense. >> what the prosecution would have you assume, right, is that this really, really smart cop was stupid enough to be looking at all this stuff the night he

tries to burn the house down. please. i certainly wouldn't try to -- to hide evidence by setting a house four blocks from the fire department on fire and praying, right, that they would not get there until the whole thing had burned to the ground. that's silly. it's just silly. >> what's more, brett said, most of the powerpoint print out had been in a tray in another room as scrap paper. but the kbi must have moved those paper tuesday the table to make it look suspicious like they made brett's use of using a overhead projector suspicious. it's all too ridiculous said the defense. >> the state wanted you to believe he was trying to destroy evidence of a crime. what evidence did he try to destroy? they never say what evidence he tried to destroy. now, this guy is such a -- such a super criminal that where does

he go to destroy that? he goes to the kansas law enforcement training center, which is full of what? former cops. and he gets somebody to help him destroy those things. now, if he wanted to destroy those things, there are innumerable farm ponds. if you wanted to get rid of that you throw it into a farm pond and nobody will ever find it. >> in fact, the state's whole investigation said the defense was at best incompetent, maybe worst. brett and the attorney claimed that vashti's car disappeared from the crime scene for three days even though the entire seacat yard was supposed to have been sealed off, a crime scene. they show the jury photos which made the defense argue looked like the car had moved in the days after the fire. this neighbor lived right across the street.

>> do you remember seeing it in that driveway ever again? >> three days later. >> three days later. if you didn't see -- if i understand your testimony, you didn't see anybody bring it back? >> no. i think he was telling the truth. to me it implies the investigation itself is faulty. how do you let somebody get into the crime scene and drive it away? >> so it was either gross incompetence or intentional. >> in my opinion it would be both. and if that happened, then what other mistakes did they make? there's something about the investigation that stinks. >> it just smelled bad, he said, that the state claimed it found gasoline on brett's pants when the defense expert says -- >> i would not make a determination that it's gasoline. >> and maybe worst of all he said the kansas bureau of investigation did not even bother checking for gunshot residue on brett's hands, the

test the defense claimed would have revealed if he actually fired that gun that night. >> if you've ever seen what that gun looks like, everything just comes out the side of that cylinder. so that stuff goes somewhere. and onto your skin is where you're looking for at it. >> yet they didn't look. >> they didn't look. >> but he's a cop, they're a cop. >> brett seacat doesn't have much faith in the kbi. >> but the star witness for the defense would be the last witness, brett seacat himself. coming up -- cold-blooded killer or grieving husband? >> i didn't think it was appropriate to be dragging my wife's name through the mud. >> did you love vashti? >> i loved vashti. >> did you kill vashti? >> no, i did not. >> brett's story from the stand, his life on the line.

>> in my heart of hearts i know that it wouldn't have made any difference what anybody said to brett because brett wanted to testify. >> when dateline continues. nted testify. >> when dateline continues and suddenly my migraine takes me somewhere else, where there's pain and nausea. but excedrin pulls me back in a way others don't. and it relieves my symptoms fast for real migraine relief. and it relieves (employee)oms fast half a millionar sales preowned vehicles,er most with tech features like blind spot detection, back up camera... [kristen gasps] (employee) because you never know what might be behind you. (kristen bell) does the sloth come standard? (kristen bell vo) looking to buy? enterprise makes it easy.

you may come forward and be sworn, please sir. >> it is, call it unusual for a defendant to testify at his own murder trial. dangerous, his lawyer might advise, to subject himself to the aggressive questions of a skilled prosecutor but -- >> in my heart of hearts i know that it wouldn't have made any deference what anybody said to brett because brett wanted to testify. he wanted to. he had to. he believed that if people would just listen the truth would out. >> at his own request no video was taken of him.

audio recording only. as brett setout with confidence to tell the jury what happened. beginning 21 hours or so before the fire. >> on that morning when i said good-bye, she said see you tonight and actually gave me a big kiss which i thought was odd. >> why'd you think that was odd? >> because in the last week, week and a half we had been back and forth about 50 times on divorce. and so it just let me know that we were back on the not divorce track. >> but by the time he returned to the house that evening, said brett, things had changed. >> i couldn't figure out why she was -- she was in a big hurry to get a divorce, which was something that had never happened before. i told her we haven't really

worked on our marriage very much. my angle in the discussion was i'll give you a collaborative divorce if we work on the marriage for three to six months. >> brett said vashti seemed to agree to that especially when he made it clear what he'd do if she went forward with the divorce right then. >> basically i told her if this goes to court, that -- that i was going to do everything -- everything in my power to destroy her. >> brett told the jury things he never told the kbi investigators, that he threatened to share private photos of her and that vashti had several recent affairs including one with the executive and that brett threatened to

expose her. as for why he didn't tell the kbi earlier about those alleged affairs. >> i didn't think it was appropriate to drag my wife's name through the mud. >> they didn't put on any evidence about the affair and then his lawyer finished with the key questions. >> did you love vashti? >> i loved vashti. >> did you kill vashti? >> no, i did not. >> did you pull the trigger on the rigor red hawk that resulted in the bullet going through her neck and severing her spine? >> no, i did not. >> so his direct testimony, hours of it, seemed to go pretty well. but now, of course, here came the prosecutor to put him on the spot. >> cross-examination. >> she wanted brett to explain

how it was possible for him to do what she thought was impossible, make that 911 call and stay on the phone while trying to get vashti's body out of the burning house. >> my wife is upstairs. i'm about to go upstairs. oh, there's smoke everywhere. >> how he was able to make that call and talk to a dispatcher while he was supposedly running up and down the stairs twice in smoke, in fire, wetting a rag, holding onto his phone, how he didn't drop the phone, fall, cough, gasp. >> turn the water faucet on, grab the dishcloth. >> yes, ma'am. >> you're holding the cellphone too? >> i don't think i'm holding it to my ear but it's certainly still in my hand. >> well, you're talking to 911 at this point, right? >> correct. it must have been to my ear. i just don't remember that

element of it. >> and then she asked him about the divorce. >> vashti wanted the divorce, right? >> depended on which ten minutes you talked to her. >> and when she told you she was thinking about divorce, that's when you'd threaten her? >> i'm sorry? >> when vashti told you she wanted a divorce you'd threaten her, wouldn't you? >> no, vashti never -- we talked about divorce a lot, but the first time i found out vashti wanted a divorce was when she told me shat she had filed. >> and then point-blank she accused him of murder. >> you threatened to kill vashti, burn the house down and make it look like she committed a suicide. >> i absolutely have never said anything even remotely like that. >> you never made that threat to vashti? >> absolutely not. >> you killed your wife, didn't you? >> no, ma'am.

>> you shot her in the head. >> impossible. >> you burnt the house down around her. >> i would never burn our house. >> and you did it while your two kids, 2 years and 4 years old were in the house. >> absolutely not. i would never suppose my kids to anything like that. >> the investigation was thorough in this case and the kbi agents looked for any sign that would lead us to a conclusion that brett seacat would kill his wife. and all the evidence uncovered and all the evidence presented by both sides led to that conclusion. >> vashti's family was upset about things brett said on the stand about vashti's character but they said they found his testimony revealing. >> i was almost embarrassed that he was still claiming he was innocent when there were just so many things that would have had to have lined up perfectly, that would have had to have been a fluke. >> but brett's brother, bobby, felt the trial only confirmed

what he'd always believed. >> i left that courtroom 100% convinced that he didn't do it. >> up to the jury now. >> your head's spinning at that point because you realize this is it. and it was scary. >> coming up -- double drama in the courtroom. the verdict. >> ladies and gentlemen, have you reached a verdict? >> yes, we have, your honor. >> and something even the judge never saw coming. when dateline continues. e never saw coming when dateline continues. a littt never bothered me. until i found out what it actually was. dust mite droppings! eeeeeww! dead skin cells! gross! so now, i grab my swiffer sweeper and heavy-duty dusters. duster extends to three feet to get all that gross stuff gotcha! and for that nasty dust on my floors, my sweeper's on it. the textured cloths grab and hold dirt and hair no matter where dust bunnies hide. no more heebie jeebies. phew. glad i stopped cleaning and started swiffering.

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there's no rule of thumb, nothing that works anyway to allow a person to successfully predict a jury's verdict based on the time it takes to make it. brett seacat's jury deliberated six hours. what did that mean? brother bobby was nervous, of course, but had a good feeling. >> i think that the state in every respect failed to prove and make their case. >> ladies and gentlemen, have you reached a verdict? >> yes, we have, your honor. >> we, the jury, find the defendant brett t. seacat guilty of murder in the first degree. >> guilty on all counts. the reaction in the courtroom was muted.

>> it was a strange mixture of emotions because there was this part of you that thought when they say guilty i'm just going to get all this off my chest and i'm going to feel good. but then there's this big part of you that realizes that the e of the day it didn't bring her back. >> the truth is everybody was just as hurt. no one won, so you think why am i not feeling better? because what got better? he is behind bars and he needs to be behind bars, but the lives that it affected will forever be affected. >> the lawyer all but said i knew it because -- >> i don't think mr. seacat got a fair trial in kingman, kansas, and i will never think that. >> but it was brett who insisted in being tried in his hometown and in his lawyer's view that paid the price.

>> certainly not blaming the jury. just to me became patently obvious that this jury did not look kindly upon mr. seacat. it was an uphill batter before we even got started. >> i believe mr. seacat believed that whole house was going to go up in flames and law enforcement and fire were not going to find very much there and that he knew this local police department and they probably would just think what he said it was and go on about their business. but the kingman police department and the sheriff's office called in other agencies to assist, and fortunately for vashti and her family we were able to find evidence to convict him of these charges. >> but brett seacat is an unusual man, adamant he's innocent, certain he was setup by the state out to get him, by in-laws that didn't like him and even by the judge.

in fact, particularly the judge which became abundantly clear at brett's sentencing when seemingly out of the blue brett lashed out with a truly remarkable incendiary venomous attack against judge solomon. >> this day belongs to you, judge solomon, this is your day. this is the day you get to take your place in the front of the cameras and pass sentence on a man you worked so hard to convict. a man you know was innocent but a man you helped convict so you could get your day. go ahead and pass sentence you think will land you a spot on the kansas supreme court. go ahead and pass the sentence that guarantees your spot in hell. you're going to hell for what you've done in this case. your corrupt decisions will go on appeal and i will be freed.

and with that i will step aside and let you have your day. after all, you've purchased it with your soul, so you've earned it. >> what did you make of that? of his statement? >> i like the fact that he said what he thought. when you believe you're innocent, why not say you're innocent. why not say what you think was wrong? say it because it isn't going to make any difference. >> did it? >> here's how the judge responded. >> i heard a few things i didn't anticipate. i won't bother addressing them because they're so bizarre they don't deserve a response. they merely affirm to me that a jury of 12 kingman county citizens made the appropriate decision in this case. you claim to be vashti's

protector in and the next breath on the stand said on the evening in question you would destroy her. at trial you've made ever effort possible to drag her name and heremory and her reputation through the mud. vashti was not indecisive about divorcing you. she was not depressed, and she was not suicidal. the families hit it on the head, so did several witnesses at trial about you being arrogant, about you being controlling, about you being self-centered and narcissistic. you live in some sort of bizarre alternate reality. you haven't admitted guilt. you haven't admitted responsibility. and you didn't this morning even express remorse that vashti's no

longer on this earth. >> and with that he sentenced brett seacrat to the maximum allowed under kansas law. he'll serve 30 years before his first shot at parole. and now their once graceful home has been torn down. the reputation of brett's family, a family of lawmen is tarnished. the seacat sons are growing up without either parent and know that fair was convicted of killing their mother, vashti, a woman named for a queen. >> i miss her every day. just dumb things like seeing a dragonfly or fireworks or something. it will not go away. i hope that i figure out what my new life is going to look like at some point and i can accept it.

but with time they say it gets better. i just think -- i just hope it does. i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is dateline. >> one of the investigators brought somebody over to me saying this is our violent crime advocate. i was steeling myself for it already because of the massive police presence. they said that they believed he'd been murdered. >> a dad of seven cared deeply about his kids. >> he was a loving man, provider, warm. >> so it was puzzling and alarming when he vanished. >> she says craig's not here. i said that's