i wonder why i didn't do more. i should have done something different. i'll live with that forever. forever and ever it will haunt me. >> high school sweethearts with a growing family. then it all went up in flames. >> there's a fire and my wife was -- >> his wifeif was inside. >> i believed somehow it wasn't true. >> noneme of it made sense to m. >> but buried in the ashes, secrets. >> i don't care what you think you're seeing, you are dealing withee a murder. >> how did it end up completely

underneath her body? >> in the front drivers seat was what appeared to be a note. >> she had rekindled her relationship with one of the executives. >> did someone have something to hide? >> did you murder her? >> no. >> didr you pull the trigger? >> no. >> did you kill her? >> no. >> it was like a script.ke he had answers for everything. >> your head's spinning. you realize this is it. >> you're going to hell for wha you've done in this case. it was dark, past 3:00 a.m. a crescent moon struggled to penetrateoo the area. kingman, kansas, population of 3,000 was asleep except on a quiet presidential street a

woman unable to sleep watched a crime show on tv. was that popping noise coming from somewhere in the neighborhood or was it her tv show or just a remnant of the windy day licking around your window sill? the silent night closed in again. april 30, 2011, tornado season. oh, 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. >>th 911, do you have an emergency? calm down. >> there's a fire. >> 3:51 a.m. the man on the phone with m 911 was frantic, o ofas breath. here is the actual video of the one officer on duty that night running to his police car and speeding to the burning house where he met the 911 caller r

outside. you can hear them both recorded by his patrol car's dashboard videor' camera. the man said his wife was still in the master bedroom in the back of the house, second floor. and if that was true, didn't look good for her. a passerby caught this video on his cellphone. 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 only able 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? t the man on the street said his wife's name was vashti, vashti seacat. >> it was a name out of the

bible. my dad thought the name was neat so we named her vashti. >> vashti's sister kathleen lived three hours away. they couldn't believe what they heard that darkt morning. >> the first thing i did was call the sheriff's department just to verify. >> did they help you, did they tell you anything? >> first they asked who i was and ike explained my relationsh to vashti and he said, yeah, there's been a fire and we believe she's deceased. >> and the man standing outside hisin burning house, that was vashti's husband, brett seacat, her very first love. >> yeah, they met in high school. she did some stats for a team and he was a wrestler, first little love in high school. first boyfriend, girlfriend. >> 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 byin dawn on the 30th of aprile 2011 though as you'll hr brett certainly knew what to do inkn a crisis, there was nothin anyone he or anyone could do to get a it back, now motherless boys, brandones born in the fal of 2006, branson less than 2 years later. >> when they had their babies, it was a very happy time. my sister was mother of the year. the award goes to her. >> and at 4:00 in the morning she would get up and hand make baby foodd so her kids could he organic healthy food. >> she lived for those babies. >> and not just her own kids. >> she was the first to help someone. at the f boy's day care the litr boy had cancer, leukemia, something and she stayed up and baked mini loaves of banana bread and sold those to raise

money for t the boy's treatment. >> what was brett like? >> he did lots of things with the kids. i will tell he did walks with them, he would play outside with them. he was very engaged as a dad. he was proud of his sons. >> brett was a lawman from a family of lawmen, a sheriffs deputy. and for the last few years he'd been teaching officer recruits of all types at the training center where bobby seacat, one of his brothers worked before him. >> he was actually hired to replace me when i left there. >> so what was the job? teaching what? >> brett got into accident investigation and collision gat investigation, but he was much more inton, physical training a defense tactics than i ever was. >> he had more interest in that kind of thing? >> he did. >> personal combat stuff. >>l he got into martial arts, was into wrestling in high school and got into

bodybuilding, martial arts ia things. he was a lot bigger than i was. >> the training schedule gave him a set number of hours. >> he was close to the boys but he was very masculine with the boys. they were tough.h. they wrestled a lot, and he would wrestle with him.th he'd toss them across the room ontoth the couch and they'd boue back and run back to be tossed again. >> a terrible thing to happentoo 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 ton

vashti? >> she was t lying on her left side like she was under the covers waasleep. >> 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. the bed when dateline continues. d chew comes the confidence, you're doing what's right, to protect your dog from fleas and ticks for a full month. and it's the only chew, fda approved to prevent infections that cause lyme disease. nexgard. what one little chew can do.

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the sun rose over grief and chaos the april in 2011 in kansas. vashti 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. these things do happen and for all but loved ones are soon forgotten by the rest of the

world. >> we get a lot more training and exposure to the scientific side of things. 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. as you made your way back there was very heavy fire damage to include collapse of the second and third floor which is significant. >> so you really had the front facade that was up and the rest of it was badly damaged? >> it wasn't down. but anybody going by 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 -- with brett seacat and he indicated that his wife was inside. >> reporter: 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 monty 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. >> reporter: also there, a weapon. >> the firearm was actually under her left hip which would have been against the mattress with the barrel facing downward. >> reporter: 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. had to be, agent monty 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, her back on the mattress itself. >> plastic container for what? >> it was a gas can. >> clearly a gas can? >> yes. >> so what'd 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 intentionally set the fire. >> well, that certainly would make a suggestion, wouldn't it? a gas can on the bed. >> that would be an indicator, yes, sir.

>> reporter: 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. >> reporter: 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. >> reporter: brett seacat has some secrets to share. >> he informed us that she would put on one face for the public and then she would be a different person at home. >> inside a relationship on the ropes. >> i made a perfectly clear i was going to do everything i could to make sure never sees the kids again. >> when dateline continues. agan >> when dateline continues

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>> reporter: fire is a terrible thing to happen to a family. but fire was only half of the deadly event that ruptured the 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 falletti welcomed the chance to hear what happened directly from brett seacat himself. >> this is david falletti. >> hi brett.

>> reporter: brett, remember, was in law enforcement himself, and understood that agent falletti needed to hear the whole story, warts and all. >> we interviewed him for approximately seven and a half hours, just two cops talking to each other. >> seemed to be forthcoming? >> yeah, he was very forthcoming. >> well i'm sorry we have to have you here. i just want to talk about what happened. i know it's been a tough -- terrible time for you. >> reporter: the agent was about to discover that brett was dealing not just with grief, but with a heavy burden of guilt. though it took awhile to get to that part of the story. >> usually when we interview people, i want it to start at the very beginning, and we did. >> reporter: 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, really worked on that. she really cared what people thought about her almost to the point of neurosis, i always thought. >> reporter: and maybe that's

why in recent years she'd been 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 you know the kids and i may be playing in the living room and she'd be in the office working. >> reporter: 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 would 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 was because i was the guy who spent the nights with her.

>> reporter: 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 you look back on it then in the interview with you as, "oh my gosh, i told her how to kill herself?" >> right. >> reporter: 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, you know, 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. >> reporter: 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. >> anyway, i answer it. she said, "are you awake? you need to come get the boys." >> reporter: brett said he jumped up and heard a loud noise. >> it sounded like somebody just hauling off. slamming the door closed as hard

as they could. >> reporter: then, he said, 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. and vashti was laying on her back right in the spot where she sleeps. >> reporter: he said he reached over vashti's right shoulder and around her neck. >> and i pulled her up and she sank down. she just like waffled in arms down straight, not like somebody who's getting picked up. then all of a sudden it sort of came to me, "dead, fire, kids." and i just dropped her.

>> reporter: 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, and then ran back into the house to try to get vashti. he covered his face with a wet dish cloth, 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, and i told myself to get out. >> reporter: and now, vashti was dead, and brett couldn't stop wondering, he told agent falletti, wondering if she was thinking about the kids as she prepared to end her life. >> i have a question, "did mommy say good-bye? or did mommy tuck you in and say night-night? or did mommy say goodbye?" was the big one. because she did love those kids and i could see her going in there and kissing each one of them goodnight. >> reporter: brett said he explained to the boys,

especially the older one, that mommy's in heaven now, that she's with god. >> we talk about that every night right before bed. >> reporter: 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 -- >> 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 what appeared to be a note to her two children and to brett. >> none of it made sense to me. >> when dateline continues. o me >> when dateline continues

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hello. i'm lindsey riser. here's what's happening. two people in florida have died from the coronavirus. the first reported deaths outside california and washington state. meanwhile at least 21 people onboard a grand princess cruise ship tested positive for the coronavirus including 19 crew members. the ship is currently being held off the coast of california. and president trump has named congressman mark meadows his new chief of staff replacing acting chief mick mulvaney. that's what's happening. now back to dateline.

>> reporter: 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 falletti. 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. >> reporter: 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 falletti knew was absolutely key. >> in the front driver's seat was a journal.

as you open that book, go past some of the notes that she had written in reference to her children, kind of bookmarked with the string 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 the note she's trying to explain. "tell the children i love them." and she's telling her children to keep -- take care of each other. and then made the comment, "and brett, i took care of the house for you." >> reporter: 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 good-bye 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 that 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, "well yeah, she filed for divorce." and he told me they'd been going through counseling for six months. and i said, "what would cause her to do this?" and he said, "i used the boys as a weapon, something i never should have done. if she tried taking -- taking custody of the boys, i would take the boys and run away with them." and he was beating himself up about that. and i, of course, said, "probably half of all the people who've gotten a divorce that have kids involved have said something similar." >> reporter: bobby was learning things about vashti he'd never known, he said. like when brett told him that before vashti died, she'd 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 -- it's upsetting to be made aware of it. >> reporter: 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 a duty to protect her, i understand. but there are other people there to help you through this and in hindsight, i'm sure he wishes he would have shared those things. >> reporter: but one thing jumped right 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 is 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. >> reporter: 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." >> reporter: and 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 friends, they stay in your office and cry on your shoulder for an hour." >> reporter: 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. 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 -- 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. >> reporter: 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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>> reporter: the vigil for vashti seacat was held across the street from her burned out house. 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 are dealing with a murder." >> reporter: 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 emotions, very calm. no tears. no -- no hysterics. just -- >> very matter of fact. >> and i'm hysterical. i'm not married to her and she's not the mother of my children and i'm hysterical. but he -- he wasn't.

>> reporter: a week or so later, brett drove down to oklahoma to speak with 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. and 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." >> reporter: 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 -- >> possession. >> --than -- >> they were his. "mine."

>> 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. >> reporter: 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? her personality? >> those boys were her life.

so i think she was so focused -- >> wrap -- yeah, focused and wrapped up in the children that, you know, she probably didn't notice it like we did from the outside. >> reporter: 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 divorce. >> this wasn't a spontaneous, "oh, i think i'll just get divorced." and i know she had thought it through well enough. >> reporter: she'd had enough of him and told kathleen so. >> she said, "he's a grandiose narcissist. and it's not going to get better. it's not going to change." >> reporter: but was 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 thinkin', "i can't keep up with her." >> reporter: so they didn't buy brett's story at all. >> she was not depressed. she was anything but. >> reporter: 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 a hold 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 -- and just talk? i begged her not to 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." >> reporter: rich talked to vashti that friday about dinner time. >> the whole conversation was, you know, "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. >> reporter: 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. >> reporter: coming up -- brett seacat under scrutiny. >> if he'd been over a bed that's on fire to get his wife, i woulda expected his chest to have some type of singeing. there was absolutely nothing. >> and a desperate family. >> i remembered grabbing just somebody that was working the scene. i said give me some hope, and he said in this instance justice will be served. >> when dateline continues. >> when dateline continues your occasional digestive upsets 24/7. so where you go the pro goes. go with align, the pros in digestive health. introducing the future of fitness. it's every class you

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>> reporter: 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 at the seacat house for clues. >> i remember grabbing one of the kbi or fire mar -- just somebody that was working the scene, and i said, "give me some hope or are ya finding something that's gonna let every body know what happened?" and i remember he looked at me

and he said, "i will tell ya this, in this instance, justice will be served." >> reporter: 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're here to collect facts." >> reporter: 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 -- 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 that an officer or an investigator would be looking at when they're investigating a death of some sort. >> well, that might make sense, though if it was -- if he's a teacher of policemen that he

might have that. >> right, individually that -- that probably could be looked at as that. >> reporter: "in fact," said brett, "that's exactly what it was." ]>> it was paperwork that he'd brought home school or from class -- >> yeah. >> -- that he had taken, i believe, in college and it was just scrap paper and 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 uh, for their bills together because they had separate accounts, so they were -- 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 a kind of cooperative activity. >> according to mr. seacat, yes. >> reporter: also, brett said that when he ran into the burning bedroom to try to save vashti, he was only wearing pants, no shirt or shoes. so -- >> i would expected to see some type of injury to fire. all we ended up finding when we photographed him later was some very, very minor singeing on his legs from hair.

you get more than that if you're lighting a barbeque pit and you singe yourself. and he had a couple minor blisters on one of his feet. if he'd bent over a bed that's on fire to get his wife, i woulda expected his chest to have some type of singeing. there was absolutely nothing. >> reporter: what's more, the 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 that there were no breaths taken prior to the fire kind of getting into the -- >> fire was lit after she was dead. >> you could make that assumption. >> is it possible that she could have poured the accelerant around these various places in the house, lit them all, hopped back into bed, covered herself up, shot herself and then died and still had no -- no soot in her lungs? i mean, the fires are just getting started?

>> it's -- 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, very rapid and so she would be breathing heavy. >> there'd be something in her lungs, some kind of indication. >> that would be my experience as i've worked multiple fatality fires over the years. >> reporter: but, atf investigator's 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. >> and ultimately they showed him a torch and he used a torch

to -- basically an oxy acetylene torch that burns at a very high temperature. he used that to torch the hard drives. >> reporter: 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 believed 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.

>> reporter: exactly when each of those things happened she couldn't say for sure. but, reviewing the tv show she'd 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 -- >> giving him time -- >> --that gunshot. >> --to do someting. >> right. >> reporter: and the atf's monty discovered the fire was not simply a matter of lighting 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. >> reporter: interesting, but it didn't rule out the possibility that vashti herself started the fires. >> there's a lotta things in limbo at that point. >> reporter: 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. >> reporter: was it just appearances? or was it more than that? coming up -- >> things are not looking good

and they're adding up that you had something to do with this, brett. we need to know why. >> oh, no. there's no why, okay?.

>> when bret arrived for that chat with investigators discussing the death of his wife. it was like he could finally relax. >> it is nice to talk to you guys. i do better in this room. >> i did little talking. asked few questions. we just let him talk and he talked for hours. >> he was content to chat back and forth for something like seven hours. didn't bring a lawyer or ask for one. even when investigators zero in on what appeared to be holes in his story. >> things aren't adding up. we just want to get to the truth. >> bret willingly answer all

questions. like there was no evidence on his body about what he did the night she died. >> you had no blood on her. >> no blood when you held her close. >> no fire on your feet. >> i don't know why the bottom of my feet aren't burnt. did i know that i stepped in the fire. >> investigators were starting to think the note in the journal was forged. >> when i look at that notebook, i'm going this ain't right. it slants one way part of the time and the other way another part and the ds were different. >> it was not on my handwriting.

>> why the night before did bret spend time in his office. i was crying. >> i was looking at my divorce papers. >> the problem is you are in love. she was going to leave you. >> that's not why you kill people. >> some people do. >> you have no idea. >> could he answer this central question and explain the thing that didn't make sense to anybody. why vashti was intent on suicide. why she would destroy the house too. why would she set it on fire? >> she did not like that house.

we were going to have to fix it up and we didn't have the money or the resources. she started really hating that house. >> at his heart, her reason might 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 herself and assumed her face would be really messed up. so she set a fire and charred herself. >> a couple of week a feet, the agent all but shook his head and said he didn't believe it. >> we asked him if he thought sitting in my shoes, interviewing me and saw what we saw, would he think the things added up?

>> oh, god. >> you see where we are coming from? >> i do. this is 100 times worse. before i thought i lacked any evidence. now you are saying there is a lot of evidence things look bad. >> things are 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 vashti. >> i'm sure you still do but people do things to people they love. >> i wouldn't [ bleep ] like

this ever. when her [ bleep ] family and [ bleep ] my family. i don't -- i didn't want to give up vash. i fought hard to try to keep us together. >> in fact, said bred, if he had murdered vashti, he would have done a better job of it. >> i'm smart enough if i wanted to kill my wife, i could have come up with something better than this. this is insane. this is what a crazy person does. >> not necessarily. crazy in love, crazy for his kids. >> don't try to twist it around. >> did you murder her? >> no. >> did you pull the trigger?

>> no. >> bret left the station then. not for long. no matter how big the denials were, they didn't add up. however depressed she was, it made no sense she would have lit the house on fire with her two sleeping sons sleeping in bed. >> the next day he was taken into custody and formally charged three days later. >> bret seacat unlawfully, intentionally with premeditatin kill vashti. >> he was also charged with trying to kill his children. bret could not make bond and went to prison. what really happened in the

early hours of april 7, 2007. >> coming up, the note. >> some of his actions were wreckless because the clock was winding down. >> the gun. >> how did it end up completely under her body. >> the threats. >> she said, do you think bret would burn the house down with me in it? i was taken a back and i said, not with the kids at home. >> the prosecutors came on strong. >> when those threats didn't work, he had to kill her to maintain control. >> when dateline continues. now no fruit is forbidden. nexium 24hr stops acid before it starts for all-day, all-night protection. can you imagine 24 hours without heartburn?

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>> as they coped with the tragedy, the smallest victims of the story endured what horrors we cannot imagine. kathleen left her home to help care for her sons shortly after her sister died. >> we held those babies all night. they would wake up. they were traumatized. to rock the little two a2.5-yea, please ask jesus bring back my

mommy. i'm be good. it is heartbreaking. >> those poor kids trying to processing. these people over here thing mommy killed herself and these people think daddy shot mommy. >> two years after the fire, the local media covered the seacat case in a big way. >> bret was entitled to ask to have his trial moved to another county which might have been less saturated but he elected to keep it right here in kingman a mere two blocks from his ruined home. >> the defendant intentionally and under pre-mmeditation committed the murder of his wife. >> for all the talk around town,

not even an autopsy report because the corner hadn't labeled her death a homicide. it was not hard. it was circumstantial asking the jury to look at all the circumstances and put two and two together. >> he 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? simple, bret did not want the divorce but he did want custody of his sons and he would do what it took to keep them.

>> their marriage counselor talk the stand. he said he felt like she was going to run and if she divorced him, she was divorcing the entire seacat family and he would take the children and she wouldn't see them and he would leave the country. i told them it was not legal and it wouldn't help, it would hurt the children a great deal. >> did you talk about divorced couples having two households? >> yes. >> what was his comments about that? >> he said he had seen children of divorce and thought it wasn't worse to have one parent or one household, it was better. >> as to the question if she committed suicide, the therapist didn't believe it for a second. >> i asked her if she would

commit suicide. she said, no. for two reasons. one her religious belief and faith and second, she couldn't do that to her boys. she just loved being a mom, she couldn't leave them. they needed her. >> the prosecutors showed a photo with the contexts which contained a post it most including funeral expenses. >> vashti seacat was very organized as both a mother and a career. that list is somebody planning out what they might do in their future if they get divorced which we know she was doing. >> the power point papers, the presentation about suicide and

fire. he was a law enforcement instructor. >> he wasn't teaching fire, or homicide or wound. >> the evidence was premeditation. it was bret's deadly homework. what about the last enter industry in her journal. what about the final farewell, forced by bret. the handwriting expert said it wasn't well done. that slight shakiness. he called that. >> the term we use is tremor of fraud. >> it appeared that bret forged that note the day before she died, the same day he was torching hard drives and if he asked a staff member where he could find an overhead

projector. it appeared he used the projection light to recreate her writing. >> some of his actions were wreckless. >> she told bret she could stay in the house until noon sunday. she was planning to go out saturday night. >> it is friday. this was his last opportunity while they lived in the home together to kill her. >> then this was a lack of evidence when there should have been some. >> any soot in the airways? >> no. >> in the lungs? >> no. there was no soot in her longs, no carbon monoxide in her lungs. she didn't breath in any smoke.

the fire was set after she was dead. >> something else. weird little detail. yet according to the prosecution, it was telling. when she died, vashti's bladder was quite full. >> there probably would have been urgency or needing to go to the rest room. >> the importance of that is that vashti is walking around the house setting a fire, holding her breath while she has a strong urge to urineate and that didn't make any sense. >> another unlikely hood to add. >> that's right. the claimed suicide weapon

didn't make sense either. the 44 magnum. such a big heavy gun. >> how was she able to get that heavy handgun up to her head and pull the trigger in the right downward angel and slice through her spinal chord? how did it end up completely under her body when she was sleeping on her side. >> the angel of the bullet proved one thing. that is consistent with someone standing over her shooting her. >> because, said the prosecutor, that's what he said he would do. bret not only woke her up one night to tell her he had a dream he killed her. in the weeks before she died, she said incredibly, bret threatened to kill her and burn

the house down and make it look like suicide. >> she said, do you think bret would burn the house down with me in it? >> i said, not with the kids home. >> when those threats didn't work, he had to kill her to maintain control of her. [sfx: doorbell]

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. >> hello and here is what's happening. at least two people in florida have died from coronavirus.

the first reported deaths outside california in the united states. fears prompted austin city officials to cancel the south by southwest festival. more than 50,000 people signed an online petition for the canceling. now back to "dateline". >> bret seacat, unable to pay a lawyer to represent him was lucky. his court appointed attorneys were veterans of murder cases. men who understood perfectly well that the puzzle didn't always go together the way the prosecution made it look. >> there is a second side to

this story. that is that vashti seacat, depressed with either losing her career or staying in the marriage decided in ststead to e her own life. >> why would she do that? >> she con tied with bret that she had rekindled a relationship she was having with one of the executives at cox. >> bret gave her an ult mative, stayed in marriage or i'll expose the affair. and his vow to take the children were the triggers that sent the already depressed woman over the

edge. >> she suffered from absolute depression. what can that lead you to? suicide, one. >> the therapist testified that vashti had a history of depressive symptoms starting when her brother died when she was young. >> major depressive disorder would be that occurring more than once, possibly in a pattern. >> in regards to what you wrote down, were you describing an episode or a disorder? >> an episode. there had been others prior. >> a lot of folks think since you had been depressed a week ago. and not today, you are occurred. >> that's not the way it works. >> discussing if or when a depressed person might commit

suicide. >> suicide is still possible, the defense argued. they about to say it also wouldn't have been the first time for vashti. bret was about to claim she had attempted before. >> bret wanted to test before the suicide attempts before. some within their marriage and some before. >> the judge said, show me the evidence on this. >> couldn't find hospital records that far back but that should be no surprise because hospitals don't keep records anymore. >> even show, he would not be allowed to pak that claim in court. >> what about the post it note 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. who knows. nobody knows? >> remember how the prosecution argued the suicide note was a forgery? >> the defense had a hand writing expert of his own that vashti did in fact write the note and hours before she died, he cross examined bret's co-worker. >> he was not the least bit seek tiff when he asked this?

>> he goes and asked someone to find an overhead projector. he carries it down in full view and he carries it back. that sounds like somebody who didn't have anything to hide. >> what about the point that no soot was found in her lungs. the corner allowed that it could be possible that vasthti lit a fire just before killing herself. >> if someone lit a fire and shot themselves within seconds, would you expect to see soot in their lungs? >> not necessarily, no. >> as for the power point found on the table that discussed homicide and suicide and fire investigations, meaningless, said the defense. >> what the prosecution would have you assume is that this

really, really smart cop was stupid enough to be looking at all of this stuff the night he tries to burn the house down? please, i certainly wouldn't try to hide evidence by setting a house four blocks from the fire department on fire and praying that they would not get there until the whole thing burned to the ground. that's silly. just silly. >> what is more, most of the print out had been in a tray in the room as scrap paper. they must have moved those papers to the table to make it look suspicious like the use of an overhead projector and the destroying of cell phones and the hard drive. >> the state would want you to believe he was trying to destroy evidence of a crime. what evidence was he trying to destroy?

they never say. this guy is such a super criminal, where does he go to destroy that? he goes to the kansas law enforcement training center full of former cops and he gets somebody to help him destroy those things. if he wanted to destroy those, there are innumeral farm ponds. nobody would ever find it. >> the state's whole investigation was at best incompetent or worse. >> claiming that her car disappeared from the crime scene for three days even though the entire scene was supposed to be sealed off. they showed different photos that made it look like the car had been moved in the days after the fire. >> this neighbor lived across

the street. >> when you first observed the driveway was the volkswagen there? >> no. it was not. >> do you ever remember seeing it again? >> three days later. >> you didn't see anybody bring it back? >> no. >> i thought he was telling the truth. >> to me, it implied that the investigation itself was faulty. how do you let somebody get into the crime scene and drive it away. >> it was gross incompetence or intentional. >> my opinion, it was both. if that happened, what other mistakes did they make? >> there is something else about the investigation that stinks. >> they claimed they found gasoline on bret's hands. >> i would not make a determination it was gasoline.

>> they did not even bother checking for gun shot res due on his hand. that would have revealed if he actually fired that gun that night. >> if you've ever seen what that gun looks like, gun powder comes out and goes somewhere. on to your skin is where they are looking for it. they didn't look. >> he's a cop. they are a cop. >> bret seacat doesn't have much faith in the kbi. >> the star witness would be the last witness, bret seacat himself. >> coming up, cold blooded killer or grieving husband. >> i didn't think it was appropriate to drag her name through the mud. >> did you love vashti?

>> i did. >> did you kill her? >> no, i did not. >> it wouldn't make any difference. bret wanted to testify. >> when "dateline" continues. free,free free free. about the colonial penn program. here to tell you if you're age 50 to 85 and looking to buy life insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three p's. what are the three p's? the three p's of life insurance on a fixed budget are price, price, and price. a price you can afford, a price that can't increase,

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>> call it unusual for a defendant to test. >> in my heart of hearts, i know it wouldn't have made a difference because bret wanted to test. he wanted to. he had to, he believed.

>> bret theodore seacat. >> no video was taken of him. audio only. >> as he set out with confidence to tell the jury what happened, beginning 21 hours or so before the fire. >> on that morning, when i said goodbye, she said see you tonight and actually gave me a big kiss, which i thought was odd. >> why did 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. so it let me know we were back on the not divorce track. >> but by the time he returned that evening, said bret, things had changed.

>> i couldn't figure out why she was in a big hurry. which was something that never happened before. i told her we haven't really worked on our marriage very much. my angel in the discussion was, i'll give you a collaborative divorce if we work on the marriage for three to six months. >> bret said vashti agreed especially when he said what he would do if she went through with the divorce right then. >> basically i told her if this went through, i would do everything in my power to destroy her. >> bret told the jury things he had never told the kbi. he threatened to share private

photos and had several recent affairs including one with an executive at cox and he threatened to expose her. >> i didn't think it was appropriate to drag my wife's name through the mud. >> bret and the defense team didn't put on any evidence about an affair with the executive or anybody. then his lawyer finishes with the key questions. >> did you love vashti? >> i love her. >> did you kill her? >> no. i did not. >> did you pull the trigger that resulted on a bullet going through her neck and serving her spien? . >> no, i did not. >> his direct testimony went well but now here came the

prosecutor to put him on the spot. >> prosecution. she wanted bret to explain how was he able to do what was impossible. making that 911 call trying to get her body out of the house. there is smoke everywhere. >> how he was able to make that call and talk to a dispatcher running up and down the stairs twice in smoke and fire holding on to his phone. turn the water faucet on, grab the dishcloth, holding the phone still too. >> i don't know.

>> you were talking to 911, right? >> correct. i just don't remember. >> you asked about the divorce. vashti wanted the divorce, right? >> depends on which 10 minutes you would talk to her. >> when she woz tell you that, you'd threaten her? >> i'm sorry? >> you would threaten her, wouldn't you? >> no. we talked about divorce a lot. the first time i found out she wanted a divorce is when she told me she had filed. >> then point blank, she accused him of 34urder. >> you threatened to kill vashti and burn the house down and make it look like suicide? >> i never said anything remotely like that. >> you never made that threat. >> absolutely not.

>> you killed had eyour wife? >> no, ma'am. >> you shot her in the head. >> i would never burn our house. >> you did it while your two kids were in the house. >> absolutely not. >> the investigation was thorough. the agent looked for any sign that would lead us to a different conclusion. all the evidence that was uncovered and presented at trial by both sides led to toer that conclusion. >> vashti's family was upset about things he said on the stand about her character and found his testimony revealing. >> i was almost embarrassed that he was still claiming he was innocent when there were so many things that would have had to have lined up perfectly and

would have had to have been a fluk. >> bret's brother said it confirmed what he believed. >> i left there 100% convinced he didn't do it. >> your head is spinning because you realize this is it. it is scarey. >> coming up. double drama in the courtroom, the verdict. >> ladies and gentleman, have you reached a verdict? >> and something the judge never saw coming. when dateline continues.

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>> there is no rule of thumb. to allow a person to successfully predict the amount of time it needed. >> what does that mean? whether bobby was nervous. >> we the jury find the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree.

>> guilty on all accounts. the action in the courtroom was muted. >> there is this strange mix of emotions. part of you thought, when they say guilty, i'm just going to get all of this off my chest and feel good but then you realize at the end 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. he needs to be behind bars but the lives that it affected will forever be affected. >> his lawyer all but said, i knew it. >> i don't think he got a fair trial and i will never think that. >> it was bret who insisted on being tried in his home town and

in his lawyer's view he paid the price. >> i'm not blaming the jury. it was to me, it became obvious that this jury did not look kindly on mr. seacat. >> it was an uphill battle. >> the agent saw things very differently indeed. >> i believe he believed that whole house was going to go up in flames and law enforcement and fire were not going to find very much there. he knew this local police department and probably would think it was what he said it was and would go on about their business but they called in other agencies and fortunately for her and her family, we were able to find evidence to charge him. >> but bret seacat is an unusual man. add mat he is innocent. certain that he was set up by

the state, by inlaws that didn't like him and even by the judge. in fact, particularly the judge which become abundantly clear when seemingly out of the blue, bret lashed out with a truly remarkable venomous attack against judge solomon. >> this day belongs to you judge solomon. you get to take your case in front of the cameras and pass sentence on a man you worked so hard to convict, a man you know is innocent to get the day, your day. go ahead and collect 30 pieces, sell custody of my little boys to vashti's family, do what you need to do to guarantee your spot in hell. just like you and the 12 jurors

and attorneys, you are going to hell. the evidence will be presented and i will be reprieved. i'll step aside and let you have your day. you purchased it with your soul. you earned it? >> what did you make of that? >> i like what he said what he thought. >> when you believe you are innocent why not say it. say it. it isn't going to make any difference. >> this is how the judge responded. >> i heard a few things i didn't anticipate. i won't bother addressing them because they are 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 and in the next breath said the evening in question you would destroy her. at trial, you've made every effort possible to drag her name and her memory and reputation through the mud. she was not indecisive about divorcing you. she was not depressed and she was not suicidal. the families hit it on the head and so did several witnesses about you being ar owe gent and controlling, self-centers and naritistic and you live in some bizarre reality.

you haven't admitted guilt. even this morning, you haven't expressed remorse that she is no longer on this earth. >> with that, he sentenced bret seacat to the maximum. he'll serve 30 years before his first shot at parole. and now, the once graceful home has been torn down. the reputation of his family has been tarnished. and their sons will grow up without their mother. >> i miss her every day. just some things like seeing a dragon fly or fire works 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. with time, they say it gets better. i just think. i hope it does. i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." i believe that he had an old soul, like, beautiful soul. i know he's my son, but -- he was the kindest person i've ever met in my life. >> he was definitely god's gift to me. >> reporter: a beloved teenage boy who disappeared. >> they saw his truck with caution tape around it. >> the police told my father that he was gone. >> i said are you sure? what are you talking about?