this is dateline. >> i think i was just in shock to find out that she's gone and the cause is a gunshot wound. you just wonder how could this happen, it seems very surreal. >> the quiet night at home shattered by a gunshot. >> i heard a pop, and there's blood. >> young wife dying on the floor. >> she wasn't talking at all, asking konrad, what happened

here. >> i was utterly confused. >> so many different stories about what might have happened. >> he said many things that night. >> maybe somebody could have shot something at the house? >> one time he said 80% suicide. >> police had their own theory. >> own man, something going on here. >> don't see a lot of women commit suicide naked. >> konrad's story wasn't adding up. >> something else wasn't adding up, key piece of evidence. >> walk in, thought aha. >> would a mistake in measurement send innocent man to prison or free a guilty one? >> we thought this was settled. >> so many stories, only one could be true. >> something's going to break, when it does, the truth's going to be known.

♪ hello and welcome to datelidat "dateline "dateline," they had a deep love, envied by others. one fateful night the young couple tragedy fingers were pointed but were they aimed at an innocent man? josh mankiewicz with as night fell. >> the soaring majesty of utah mountains and story of beautiful woman shot down in her youth. it was a lot of things, crushing, stunning. but was it an accident? or a suicide? or a murder? police felt they knew. but as most cops will tell you, both the evidence and the jury

have their own stories to tell, and the answer's not always so clear. certainly that is true for this story, and quite possibly for the woman at its heart. her name? heidi wagner. >> as a baby, she was favored, everybody loved her. she could do no wrong. >> anna was one of heidi's four sisters. >> she was just special, she'd walk into the room and she was ready for that good time. >> heidi grew up with no fewer than seven older siblings. tell me about her growing up. >> she was fun-loving girl, rather shy tho, heidi seemed like appropriate game. >> heidi's mom, janet. >> family got together, loud and boisterous, she got embarrassed easily, would hide her face. >> as heidi got older, she was still cute and bubbly but no

pushover. >> kind of intimidating actually. for being so small, you wouldn't think so. >> at just 20 heidi started working in the not entirely feminine gas and chemical industry just outside salt lake city. cindy sanchez was one of heidi's coworkers. >> we worked with hazardous chemicals and gasses. >> thrived in workplace that favored hard hats over heats. >> it was dangerous if you didn't follow the rules. to quote from heidi, everything is dangerous, it's just what will kill you quickest. >> more than just a coworker. >> my best friend, never stab you in the back, always have your back. >> in person could be sweet and salty, and that caught attention of one of her colleagues, 25-year-old conrad truman.

>> noticed her first in the hallway. i thought she was cute. hard hats have personalities or stickers, hers said it's all about me, deal with it. i thought this is kind of a feisty girl. >> conrad asked heidi out on a date. >> i'm not that type usually, don't get super serious right off the bat but it was like we were inseparable after that. >> that first night? >> yeah. >> this tough girl even shared conrad's interest in guns. >> would go to the range out of town and shoot in the hills. >> heidi knew how to handle a hand gun? >> yes. >> decided to pop the question, in true utah form, chose a mountain to do it. she had no idea it was coming? >> no, i got on one knee, asked her and i started balling. she said yes off the bat. >> couldn't believe it when her

little brother introduced heidi to the family. >> i was sort of surprised when i first met her, how did he land that girl? such a great match. >> you saw love and chemistry there? >> it was almost awkward. they were definitely an enviable couple. >> another year later came the wedding. >> it was amazing. went up on a chair lift and all the guests left down these slides, just so them. they said their vows and he's doing this champion pose like he was just -- everything was right with the world. >> the enviable couple was just starting out. with a future as bright at their smiles, until that is a sunday evening in september 2012, three years after the trumans were married. >> tell me about that day. >> that day was just like any other day. >> as night fell, heidi decided

to take a bath. conrad said he went to the kitchen to get something to eat. as he fixed himself a sandwich, he said he heard a noise from the direction of the bathroom. >> like the new year's poppers or halloween poppers, pull two strings or one and confetti and stuff comes out. >> that's what conrad said he turned and saw heidi standing there in the hallway, naked. >> she wasn't talking at all, coughing and heaving. >> and bleeding? >> out of her mouth and nose. >> needed to call 911 immediately. >> what city is your emergency? >> come quick. >> unimaginably shocking scene, heidi on the floor in pool of her own blood, conrad pleading for help. >> i really don't know what happened, swear to god.

>> bad to begin with, got so much worse. >> as you will learn, truer words may never have been spoken. >> what happened in that house? coming up. >> asking conrad what's going on, he said i don't know what happened. everything was different answers, theories and little things. >> a search for answers and a race to save heidi. >> this is not happening, this is really not happening. >> when "dateline" continues. show your gut some love. only activia has billions of our live and active probiotics.

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something was wrong at the truman house. >> she came out of the shower, and i heard a pop. and there's -- there's blood. >> i have officers and paramedics on the way, okay. >> the 911 call came into the orem police department at about 11:00 p.m. that september night back in 2012. >> we got a call of a gunshot wound or some sort of injury. >> sergeant bill crook went to the truman home. >> so we all rushed to our cars and headed to that direction with lights and sirens. >> on the other end of the phone was conrad, kneeling on the kitchen floor, covered by blood and consumed by panic. >> it was devastating. it was a nightmare. you can't even explain it. >> with one hand he held the phone, with the other, his bleeding wife. >> it was so hard when it's your loved one like that. i had no i just did the best i

could to keep her breathing. >> by then, conrad said, he realized heidi had been shot in the head. >> when you went to heidi, did you see a gun? >> no. >> he remembered the pop and wondered if a stray bullet might have came through the bathroom window and hit heidi. >> i was trying to think of the noise how it wasn't very loud, maybe someone could have shot something at the house. >> it seemed far fetched. but, he said, neighborhood vandals had recently been shooting the back of his house with paintballs. >> i was utterly confused. >> within minutes sergeant crook arrived, conrad had moved to front of the door. >> he had blood on his hands, he was shrieking and screaming. >> conrad led the soldier upstairs and into a scene straight from the horror movie. >> i can see heidi laying there. she was naked, blood everywhere.

just right at the top of the stairs. this horrific scene. >> what's conrad doing? >> well, he's screaming, he's yelling. >> and as these police photos make clear, covered in blood. >> i'm asking him, conrad, what's going on? what happened here? he said, she was in the bathroom, just, i don't know what happened. everything was different answers and different theories, different little things. >> right away he went to check one of those theories a stray bullet perhaps coming through the bathroom window. >> the window is closed. there is no bullet hole. >> nothing to indicate that anybody fired anything. >> correct. >> crook returned to the kitchen and that's when he discovered a gun lying on the kitchen floor. >> what do you think happened? >> honestly, i didn't know. >> was this an accident, attempted suicide or something far more sinister? at least for now, those answers would have to wait. heidi was clinging to life. >> my focus at that time honestly was to help heidi.

>> paramedics took heidi to a nearby hospital. conrad followed in a police cruiser. a dash cam recorded the absolute desperation in his voice. >> this is not happening. this is really not happening. i really don't understand any of this. this is so crazy. >> about an hour after conrad arrived, hospital staff delivered the devastating news. heidi wagner truman could not be saved. >> it was pain. it was misery. it was why? how? >> in a neighboring town, heidi's mother, janet, would soon agonize over those very same questions. it was after midnight when two police officers came to her door. >> what must that be like? >> the most horrendous thing ever, and i would never want anybody to have to feel that and that pain that agony of knowing that your daughter for whatever reason is dead, is gone. >> the officers wouldn't give

janet any details. only where her daughter had been taken. >> i'm driving down to the hospital and i make a comment to my daughter. i go, you know, autumn, as hard as it is that we lost heidi, we're going to have to be supporting conrad because he must be overwhelmed with grief. >> conrad's sister colette was thinking the same thing as she raced to the hospital. >> what kind of condition was your brother in then? >> he was just a total wreck, just absolutely hysterical, didn't know how it could have happened. >> no one did. but back at the truman home, sergeant crook had started analyzing the evidence and was already developing a theory. >> i thought, oh, man, there is something going on here. >> you got a feeling? >> i got a feeling. it wasn't just me, everybody was looking around like there is something wrong here. we need a detective. >> coming up, was it an accident? suicide? >> she's completely naked. we don't see a lot of women that

commit suicide naked. that's not common. >> or something else? >> i feel like they thought i did something. >> when "dateline" continues. [ "one more time" by daft punk ]

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as the sun inched above utah's wasatch mountains, questions swirled at their base, how did

heidi truman wind up on her kitchen floor, shot in the head? for sure, police were wondering about her husband. after all, conrad truman was in the house when heidi was shot and there was no evidence of an intruder. >> i feel like they thought i did something. >> soon after he arrived at the scene, sergeant bill crook did begin to have his suspicions. >> we're telling him, conrad, back off, the paramedics are here, he wouldn't. >> he was what moving around? keeping paramedics from getting to the body? >> yes, sir. >> there were other scenarios that needed to be explored like accidents and suicide. that's where detective tom wallace came in. >> there were a number of theories. we will obviously exhaust them. that's going to happen. >> the medical examiner didn't make wallace's job any easier. his preliminary finding, heidi's manner of death could not be determined. so wallace tackled each theory one by one. accident seemed hard to believe, thanks to conrad, heidi had

firearms experience. >> can you think of any way it could have been an accident? >> no heidi wouldn't have been so careless. ? so what about suicide? >> she's completely naked. we don't see a lot of women that commit suicide naked. that's not common. >> did you find anybody that heidi had spoken to about suicide or being depressed? >> no. >> neither heidi's mother janet nor her sister autumn could imagine heidi even thinking about taking her own life. >> heidi would never do that. in fact, heidi was against that. she had a friend that committed suicide. she felt it was selfish in her words dumb. >> did heidi ever tell you she was depressed? >> no. >> ever act depressed? >> no she was probably one of my happiest most upbeat kids. >> that left wallace with homicide and put conrad back in the police crosshairs. wallace decided to speak to the officers first on the scene about their experience with conrad.

>> everyone felt his behavior is odd. >> he's yelling, but it's a violent yelling. he's like, if you don't save her, i'm going to [ bleep ] kill you. >> crook found those threats so alarming, held took out his phone to record them. >> die, 97 everyone in your life is going to die if she dies. >> it could just be the way this guy reacts to trauma. i'm telling you, it was a red flag at that time. >> also a red flag, conrad was drunk. he admitted he and heidi had been drinking earlier that night. >> i could see in his eyes the redness. >> red flag number three, conrad told crook he and heidi had been arguing. a minor dust-up, he said. no big deal. but enough for heidi to draw a bath and ask to be left alone. >> she went and locked herself in the bathroom. then he details how he picked the lock and went into the bathroom. then she kicked him out. to me that's another -- it's just more proof of there was an argument,

a bigger argument. >> as for the location of the gun, itself, that, too, was suspicious. >> that gun is how far from heidi? >> i would say eight feet, ten feet maybe. far enough way it wasn't like a normal if she shoots herself and falls to the ground type of thing. >> later that morning, police ask conrad to come to the station for more questioning. >> they can say whatever they want. i did not hurt my wife. and i know. from the bottom of my heart i did not hurt my wife. >> heidi's family thought otherwise after learning from police the details of how she died. >> the minute i heard how she died, i knew he did it. >> it sounds like he had a temper and he was very intoxicated, and he did something that perhaps he didn't plan. i just knew he did it. >> detective wallace next poured over conrad's statements to police about what happened that

night. as wallace saw it, conrad's story went like this conrad was in the kitchen. heidi was in the bathroom. at some point conrad heard a pop. when he turned, he saw heidi standing somewhere between the kitchen and the bathroom hallway bleeding. >> and he either runs over to catch her or she falls down. >> wallace then went back to the truman home making detailed measurements of the kitchen and surrounding rooms, he wanted to see if conrad's story checked out. his conclusion, it did not. >> her body is at the top of the staircase. it doesn't add up she would have traveled the distance he's saying she would have gone and fallen at that location. >> it was hard for wallace to believe heidi could have traveled from the bathroom to the top of the stairs after sustaining such a severe head wound. >> she would have fallen immediately to the ground. >> wallace shares his findings with assistant district attorney craig johnson. johnson agreed, everything pointed to conrad. >> why would conrad truman want to kill his wife?

>> under the circumstances, i'd say the motive was based on the heat of passion argument that they were having. alcohol, a fight and guns, that's where we got murder. >> at the same time, johnson was still reluctant to press charges. remember, the state's own medical examiner couldn't say whether heidi's death was a homicide and johnson knew that would be a hurdle in court. >> based on my experience in courts with juries and medical examiners, it carries a lot of weight. >> so johnson and wallace showed the m.e. a 96-page powerpoint presentation of all their arguments, including those measurements, hoping something will sway him. the presentation worked. the medical examiner changed his ruling to homicide. >> it sound like one of the things that got the medical examiner to move from inconclusive to homicide was the measurements of the crime scene suggested her body was too far

from where mr. truman says she had been shot? >> exactly. >> so after a ten-month investigation the orem pd and the d.a.'s office arrested conrad truman and charged him with the murder. >> my mom called me and i fell to the ground crying and so happy that he was finally behind bars. >> going to trial, what did you think? >> i felt we had a strong circumstantial case. >> at trial the prosecution argued domestic violence ending in homicide. the defense, self inflicted gunshot wound. the jury sided with the state, conrad truman was convicted of heidi's murder. >> it was like, finally got him. finally got him. >> as far as you knew, that was it? >> that was it. >> did you think that was it? >> i did. >> but if you think that was it, well, then you haven't been watching enough "dateline."

coming up, heidi's heart break. >> she did not know her dad and she had always wanted that. that really bothered her. >> and conrad truman's hope. >> this is going to work out. it has to, because i didn't do this. >> when "dateline" continues. protect your pet with the #1 name in flea and tick protection. frontline plus. trusted by vets for nearly 20 years. frontline plus. tv sports announcer: yeah, that's my man there. tv sports announcer: time out. let's go to a commercial. nooooooo! not another commercial! when you bundle your home, auto and life insurance with allstate you could save 25%. in fact, the more you bundle the more you can save. put the other game on if it's important to you allstate can protect it. ...home auto and life insurance you could save 25%. if it's important to you allstate can protect it. what? bundle and save with allstate.

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just more than two years after his wife heidi's death, conrad truman stood convicted of her murder. he was looking down the barrel of a life sentence when he returned to a utah courtroom to learn his punishment. this is the moment where some convicted killers ask for mercy because of their difficult lives or tell the court they have been misunderstood. sometimes, of course, they don't speak at all. but not conrad truman. >> listen to me please, i can't say sorry for something i did not do. >> i understood speaking out would make it way worse, but i was like, i don't know, to hell with this, i need to speak my mind. >> i didn't kill my wife. there is just no way. if there would be some proof that i did this, i didn't. that's why there is no proof. you know, this is just a big injustice. >> the judge had heard that before. the sentence he imposed. 16 years to life.

crushing for conrad and his family sitting behind him, including sister colette. >> you want to believe that things turn out the way that they're supposed to. and that's just not always the case. >> in prison, conrad did what many do, he retraced the steps that led him there. he thought a lot about the night heidi died. as conrad saw it, the police rushed to judgment, began precisely when officers first rushed through his front door. >> they felt this guy the is drinking. there's firearms in the house, so he must have shot her. >> well, why couldn't it be exactly that simple? this wouldn't be the first time that mixing alcohol, an argument and a handgun went straight to a prison sentence. conrad told us what he told police. it isn't that simple. sure, he and heidi had been

drinking and yes, they had been arguing, he said neither is an explanation for what happened. >> i could have upset her with this things that i said or i've acted with not being attentive to her. i know i do that sometimes when i drink, i don't pay a lot of attention. >> it still doesn't seem like ground for a gigantic fight. >> it got to the point where i think she was -- i upset her. i was really -- i just know she went to go take a bath. >> which is what she did when she was a little irritated? >> yes. >> conrad also shared with us how he picked the bathroom lock. not he said to confront heidi just to apologize. >> she just said, get out. and i was like, okay, so i just let her be. >> as for conrad's behavior after police arrived at his door. he said he had good reason for acting that way. >> i was trying to save my wife. i don't know, does that make sense? i just wanted her to live. >> i get how frantic you must have been.

i'm not sure i understand the threatening part of that. i think that's one of the things that ended up getting you in trouble. >> it could be. i was like, do i have to, how do i explain this to you guys, like get her help. when you can't explain that to someone, i just started making threats. >> well, if all that's true, then why and how did heidi wind up with a bullet in her head? >> i think police found it hard to believe that you could be right there with her in a very small area and she's shot and you don't know what happened. >> yeah, maybe in their heads. in mine, i was just confused. >> could this be an accident? >> what i say to that is, i didn't see, i don't know what happened. >> that's how he felt just hours after the shooting. but as the months passed, conrad came to the conclusion, heidi may have taken her own life.

his wife, he said, wasn't as tough as she appeared. was she a sad person? was she a depressed person? >> when she drank little bit, you could see it come out. it wasn't every time, but it did. >> heidi's friend sandy sanchez also saw another side to heidi. >> that strong, funny, you know, person also had some things inside that were very painful. >> according to sandy, those things had to do with heidi's upbringing, most significantly, heidi grew up not knowing the identity of her father. >> that really bothered her. you know, she did not know her dad. and she had always wanted that. >> it bugged her, tremendously. >> enough to take her own life? had she ever attempted suicide before? >> never to my knowledge, no. >> she never talked about it?

>> no. >> it's hard to believe what's going on in heidi's life at the time, what seemed like a happy marriage to you she will spur of the moment commit suicide like that >> that's a tough question, how do you know someone will do that, you know? >>s he lived his life behind bars, conrad continued to speculate and tried to stay helpful. hopeful. >> i was like this is going to work out. it has to, because i didn't do this. >> conrad's family never gave up on him. so they scraped together the money to hire conrad some new attorneys. >> mark and addie looked into the case. to them, it was immediately apparent that there were a lot of problems. >> mark moffett and anne talafaro were one of those attorneys. one of the first things they did was visit the scene of the crime. >> we went to the house. and we walked in and we think, aha. >> within moments of being in that home, we knew immediately that there was a huge problem. >> not a problem for them, more

for the people who had put conrad truman away. coming up. an innocent man in jail for someone's mistake in math? >> i remember thinking, well, that's strange, that couldn't be right. >> we immediately started measuring. we knew right away that there was a big problem. >> when "dateline" continues. a mighty small pill with concentrated power that works at liquid speed. you'll ask... what pain? advil liqui-gels minis.

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while conrad truman sat in a utah state prison marking time, his sister colette searched endlessly for ways to get him out. >> was there a time when you or anybody else in your family thought maybe we don't know him as well as we thought we did? >> no. >> he couldn't have killed her? >> not possible. >> so much about conrad truman's trial bothered his sister colette. one detail in particular kept gnawing at her. had to do with the documents used by the state, depicting the area where heidi's body was found. >> i remember thinking, well, that's strange. that couldn't be right. >> post-verdict. colette shared her concerns with conrad's new attorneys. mark moffat and ann taliaferro. the defense team decided to visit the home to see if the

plans were accurate. we later made that same trip with moffat who showed us what they discovered. >> this is the area in question? it's pretty small. >> it is, it's really small. we immediately started measuring. we knew right away that there was a big problem with the diagrams and the measurements. >> the problem, all those measurements were off. >> instead of 139 inches. somebody took the figure 139 and interpreted it to be 13.9 feet. 33 inches became 3.3 feet and on and on and on. >> according to moffat, those flawed measurements, which were used in court, made the house appear to be much bigger than it was. >> they used the theme of distance to argue that mr. truman was lying about where he said his wife was when he heard what turned out to be this fatal shot. >> at trial, the prosecution argued, to believe conrad, you have to believe heidi shot

herself in the bathroom then walked 12 feet before falling to the floor and according to medical examiner, that was impossible. he testified heidi's head wound was so severe that she could have at most walked a step or two. >> this issue of distance was this big issue. >> but for anne taliaferro, just seeing the house and how small it was was proof enough that the prosecution's argument was flawed. >> when you walk in the house, there is no way there is even 12 feet there. >> what's more, according to defense team, conrad never told the police heidi shot herself in the bathroom. instead, he told them he had no idea where she was when he heard the shot. >> tell me your theory of what happened here. >> we believe that heidi truman shot herself in this very area and we believe that she fell right in the area directly in front of me on the ground and it's the very area where she was

found when law enforcement entered the home that night. >> which they also said was completely consistent with the m.e.'s testimony that heidi would have fallen after only a step or two. >> she would have gone to the ground immediately. >> your argument is she did fall down? >> exactly. >> and she fell about here? >> yes, that's exactly what our argument is. >> according to moffat, this was not a simple mistake. is this just the case of a small town police department making incorrect statements or adding up some figures wrong. >> i don't believe so. i think they willfully lied to convict a conviction against conrad truman. >> and for these attorneys, there were more issues with the state's case. one had to do with gunshot residue tests. they swabbed both heidi's and conrad's hands, but those swabs were never sent to the lab. >> when you have gunshot residue

that was never tested, those things matter. >> the defense team decided to test those swabs, themselves. conrad's hands were negative for residue. but there was a question as to whether conrad had washed his hand before they were tested. so those results were meaningless. >> that's probably why they didn't test in the first place. >> as for heidi's swabs, there was no residue on her left hand, but there was on her right hand and significantly, heidi was right-handed. >> when have you gunshot residue in a location and in a quantity that is absolutely consistent with her firing a semi automatic weapon, one of the possibilities is that she fired a gun. you can't discount that. >> the deeper moffat and taliaferro got into the case, the more it seemed to them that heidi's wound was self inflicted. they believe the head wound, a contact wound ruled out homicide. >> a contact gunshot wounds to the right temple are the most common site of self inflicting gunshot wounds there are.

>> they decided to take their findings to the m.e., hoping to sway his ruling on the manner of death once again, just as police did prior to conrad's arrest is >> we gave him a bunch of information. then he on his own with his investigator went to the home to look at it. >> and the result was just what they had asked for, heidi truman's manner of death once undetermined, then a homicide, was now officially once again undetermined. it was manna from forensic heaven. how often do forensic examiners change their findings and change them back? >> i've never had a case where this has happened ever. >> it took another year, but conrad truman's conviction was overturned and he was granted a new trial. >> i never even thought that was a possibility for the medical

examiner to change. i never would have thought that. >> is there a part of you that thinks i can't get upset about this. >> that was how i felt. >> i was beyond happy. we were just absolutely over the moon. >> for heidi's family, it was just the opposite. >> we couldn't believe it. >> you thought this was over? >> we thought it was over. we thought this was settled. >> that was a hard, hard, hard moment. we hated it. we just thought, so, what are they going to come up with this time? >> and we know that's what you're thinking, too. coming up, a new trial. new jury. a different verdict? >> there was enough "there" there beyond a reasonable doubt. >> why would things work out if it didn't work the first time? >> when "dateline" continues. you wouldn't accept an incomplete job from anyone else. so why accept it from your allergy pills? flonase relieves your worst symptoms which most pills don't. get all-in-one allergy relief for 24 hours, with flonase.

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conrad truman had been . >> that stunned everyone, especially responsible. >> took us by surprise. >> defense said you had to know.

>> that's their take, that's categorically incorrect. >> just as stunned, the team that took the measurements, lead detective, tim wallace. >> what happened? >> in the process of transposing numbers from the scene to the crime scene program, numbers were transposed wrong. >> wallace admitted the error but said it was minor, that conrad truman did not deserve a new trial. >> not as big as they made it out to be. >> did it change your opinion of truman's guilt? >> not my opinion. >> nor of deputy district attorney tim taylor who decided to take on the task himself of prosecuting truman again. >> wanted appreciafresh eyes. i still felt there was enough to

go forward but we know going into it it was going to be tough. >> the prosecution's case was familiar. starting with the officers who tested about conrad's rambling, often incoherent description of what happened that night. >> core of our case were his inconsistent statements. >> story was hard to follow, jumping around all over, wasn't making sense to me, it was hard to follow. >> also told the jury about conrad's threats. >> told us he was going too slow, needed to hurry up or he was going to kill us. >> [ bleep ] or i'll take your life. >> how are you treating your wife when it's you and her alone? >> taylor tackled the question of suicide, by calling witnesses who testified that heidi was not suicidal. >> in your experience as heidi's

mother, was she sad or depressed person? >> no, i didn't see her that way. >> did heidi's not knowing her father, knowing who he was, make her depressed or sad? >> no. >> prosecutors pointing out conrad's story evolved over time. on the trip to the hospital, insisted heidi would never commit suicide. >> i think something shot her, she would never shoot herself. >> taylor argued it was only after suspicion mounted he changed his tune. as for the gunshot residue on heidi's right hand, called an expert to say it proved nothing. >> nobody can identify shooter based on the test. that is major limitation of the test. >> defense attorney mark moffat

countered that before washing his hands, conrad pleaded with police to confirm he had to recent due on them. >> did you wash your hands before saying that? >> absolutely not, until they said go wash your hands. >> conrad's attorneys were working hard to establish reasonable doubt and medical examiner's shifting opinion on heidi manner of death only helped them. >> that's your case, if he has reasonable doubt, hard to argue a jury shouldn't. >> in final analysis, he didn't know the manner of heidi truman's death. >> i finalized the autopsy report with cause of death as gunshot wound, manner of death as could not be determined. >> also testified how in his experience a contact wound like heidi's is rare in homicide

cases. >> would be consistent with a wound that's self-inflicted. >> the jury began deliberations. >> you felt good leading up to the verdict? >> yes, there was enough "there" there beyond a reasonable doubt. >> conrad having a harder time. >> why would to work out if it didn't the first time? >> eight hours later, the verdict. >> hold up your hands, not wearing handcuffs, not in custody. >> i'm free. >> that's right, this time conrad truman got the verdict he wanted -- not guilty. >> conrad just kept saying did they say not? >> grabbed my arm, he goes are you sure? >> in the courtroom conrad's family shared tears of joy. >> i was giggling and crying at the same time, it was weird. >> on the other side of the courtroom aisle were tears of a different kind.

>> i don't know, my heart sank and i just was in shock. >> you fainted? >> i did. i couldn't believe there was this -- situation where that long shot happened where he would be freed. >> juror brian christianson said he and his fellow jurors are no choice but to set conrad free. >> i believe that we all pretty much felt that he probably did it. >> but you voted to acquit. >> we vote totd acquit. >> because you had reasonable doubt. >> we had reasonable doubt. >> whether you believe he was innocent or not, measurements either put innocent man in prison or let a guilty man go free. >> you're right, but my opinion hasn't changed. do i think he got away with murder? i do. >> when your work frees a guy you helped convict?

>> frustrating to know that a measurement that was inconsequential ended up freeing him. >> what's life been like for your family? >> trying to put the pieces together. >> easeier said than done. >> i miss the things we had together, simple conversations, her sassiness, her wonderful personality. she lives on forever in our hearts. >> conrad is left looking both backward and forward. >> i mean i'd do anything to take another day, another walk with her. i loved her, and i do love her, still. >> you got a lot of life left, a lot. how are you going to live it? >> to the best of my abilities. >> there are jurors who think he might have done it but i had reasonable doubt, couldn't vote to convict. >> god bless them. there's a lot of people that do believe in me.

>> he's made his own peace with a simple truth, the very thing that freed him, reasonable doubt, could also shadow conrad truman for the rest of his life. >> that's all for this edition i'm craig melvin. >> i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." marie was a very loving person. she had a heart of gold. what happened to this woman? my job is to be a truth teller and seek out the truth. i wanted to solve it. >> reporter: her case was a mystery for years. the mom with the tender heart and tough-as-nails career. >> she was part of the sheriff's department. her ultimate goal was to try to get into the fbi. >> reporter: she'd found a new sense of purpose in the church