friday night and for this week. thank you so very much for spending some of your time with us here. have a good and safe weekend if you can. on behalf of all of my colleagues at the networks of nbc news, good night. it was one of those moments where he's going to go back two minutes. twok minutes ago he was laying beside me and he was alive. now he's gone forever. inside a sleeping house an armed intruder hunts for prey. >> i heard angie scream, oh, my god! oh, my god! i could see blood running down his neck. >> i nudged justin. he didn't respond. >> her fiance had just been killed, but she's calm somehow. >> to me, very calm.

i thought maybe there was a boyfriend on the side. some kind of love triangle. >> but on a dark highway the case would take a dramatic turn. >> all there my body was standing on end. >> a mysterious driver carrying ominous cargo. >> you don't. >> suggest there was some sort ofom conspiracy. unwinding aon mind bending plot revealing a shattering truth. >> evil. inhuman to do something like that. it was a moonless night in iowa. 4:00 in the morning. the quietest of quiet hours. a small time cop glided down the

highway of des moines bound for the early shift at his rural police department. that's where he saw out of the corner of his eye what was that in the ditch, maybe 30 yards off the highway. a car in trouble? he swung around. s someone clearly missed the k curve. airbags deployed, dome lights on. thenig suddenly, who was that knocking on his car window? gentleman didn't have a shirt on. >> seemed agitated, weird. eventually a second cop appeared. >> he'sec excited. he seemed like a -- you know, if you were to talk to somebody after they got done doing a marathon, out of breath. sweating profusely. the entire time i'm out here it's a very, very -- it's an uneasy feeling. my stomach was turning. >> but no law broken. he called the guy a cab, sent him home. no idea what was coming. how could they know?

>> it makes you question the goodness ofon humanity. it makes you question your faith. it makes you question your believes. >> it isyo a point where evil outdid good. >> even here in the heart of the heartland, its lovely capital, its famous state fair. all manner of deep fried delicacies and presidential casting calls here, des moines, a place known for its sweet and gentle nature, for people who are simply nice, like him. >> he was -- he was just very good. >> his name was justin michael. these are his parents. >> he cared about people. he was kind and considerate. >> just a nice guy? >> just a very nice guy. very good person. >> sort of person who

volunteered forn things, like helping to build houses for habitat for humanity. >> he really enjoyed it. >> justin was almost 31, the eldest of three. his brother nathan idolized him. >> all three of us stayed close. playing sports hanging out with justin. >> he was just a great older brother, very supportive and caring and would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it. >> justin saved her life when as a teenager she was caught in a riptide. >> it was absolutely terrifying. i felt like i was literally drowning and then all of a sudden there was justin and he was pulling me up on our boogie board and telling me that everything is going to be okay, everything's going to be fine. >> so you get the idea. just a good person, a nice guy who was about to get as lucky as

a person can in life, that is, lucky in love with her. >> i found him very attractive and interesting and he -- he was fun to talk to. >> her name is angie verhule. what happened to angie and justin was that thing that some people don't even think exists. they fell in love at first sight. bingo. just like that. after our third date and i said, i'm pretty sure i'm going to marry this guy. >> wow. he seemed to feel the same way about you. >> yeah. it was very easy from day one. we both knew. >> so they did what people do, they tried out each other's interests andac angie discovere the man she was in love with also loved things like sky diving which, of course, he wanted her to do too. >> lured you out a time or two? >> yeah. >> he had you jumping out of an

airplane. >> yes. >> what the heck were you a thinking? >> i w am terrified of heights so -- >> so he took you up there? >> yeah. it was so exhilarating though. i was terrified up until the moment that we got in the plane and then i just was calm and it was so much fun. >> which was a little like their court ship really. a jump that some people would find terrifying, but not them. >> you got engaged very quickly. >> uh-huh. when you know, you know. >> was there ever any doubt? i mean, no day you woke up and thought, oh, god, what have i done? >> nope. >> so in august 2013, two months after they met, angie and justin were an engaged couple. in december she moved in with him at his house in a tiny place called grimes about 20 minutes outside of des moines and they planned theires wedding, which would be, they decided, a family event on the beach in north

carolina where his parents live. they set the date, july 20th, 2014. it was may. excitement building when justin's parents came to visit in grimes. >> mother's day weekend. >> and on the wednesday evening before that mother's day. >> we were laughing and talking about halloween costumes for the next year and as it grew dusk we ended up making smores over theiror fire bit. >> justin's dad weld done was on business. >> marie stayed alone. as far as she knew, all was well. across the hall, a couple in love. all good things on their way.he dark now. moonless dark. she closed her eyes and slept,

ands then -- >> so i heard the door opening and my first thought was angie wasug coming in to grab a scarfr a piece of jewelry from the dresser. i know she kept some spare things in the bedroom. the person just stood in the doorway -- >> what did you see? just a silhouette or -- >> i saw a dark silhouette. a person dressed in dark clothing and i could see a red laser light shining in my eyes. then as i was laying there i noticed the red light shine acrossd the pillow and i rememe thinking, that's a strange flashlight. and that's when i saw a much bigger person than either justin or angie so i knew this was an intruder. my heart sank. i'm sure i froze and a second or two later the door was shutting and i remember praying, just

please take what you want and just leave us alone. >> but, of course, leaving them alone was not what the strange, intrusive presence had in mind. not even close. coming up -- >> it was something in a hundred million years you cannot imagine. it just was unfathomable. the night of terror only just beginning. no one was prepared for what would happen only seconds later. >> and i rolled over and saw somebody running out of the bedroom. and i knew that was bad.ha >> i heard angie scream, oh, my god! m oh, my god! >> marie tells detectives a horrifying story, but they're not sure they believe it. >> to me, that was very odd. >> when "dateline" continues. els

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hard to think about it now. that might in may, 2014, when marie michael drifted off to sleep, things were so good, so full of possibilities for her eldest child and his fiance. >> the save the date cards had gone out for the wedding. >> they were just perfect together. >> then that terrifying red light in the dark woke her up and she saw him, it, whatever shrinking away, and the fear that took over her body. she froze. maybe she prayed for those horrifying seconds. how many seconds, three, five? >> across the hall, angie. >> i heard the bedroom door open and i had been in such a hard sleep i just assumed it was justin leaving to go to the bathroom. then i heard a pop, pop, pop. >> and it sounded very muffled so i'm thinking, that could not

be a gunshot. >> and unaware that her world was quite different now, angie opened her eyes. >> and i rolled over and saw somebody running out of the bedroom. and i knew that was bad. and i nudged justin and i said, justin, justin. >> i heard angie scream, oh, my god! oh, my god! i knew something terrible had happened. >> i turned on the light and i just ran out of the bedroom, down the hall. >> did you see him? >> i didn't. >> you just knew? >> yeah. >> i looked in the bedroom doorway and i saw justin laying on his back on the right side of the bed with his head tilted and i could see a bullet hole in his head and i could see blood running down his neck.

>> my instinct was to figure out how they got in the house. we had a really big window, checked to see if that was closed. it was. checked the front door. that was still locked. found out the back door was unlocked and i went and i opened it a little bit and i was like, that's not a good idea, so i closed it. >> did you understand right away that everything was different, that the man you loved was dead? >> it was -- it was one of those moments where you just want to go back two minutes. two minutes ago he was laying beside me and he was alive. now he's gone for forever. >> but in that moment her brain, her fingers wouldn't cooperate.

>> what they say about not being able to dial 911 in an emergency was really true. i had to try like three times. >> somebody just came in and shot my fiance in the head. >> ma'am, what's your name. >> angie. >> can you go over and check the status of -- >> he's -- he's dead. >> okay. >> i know he is. >> marie called 911 too. >> somebody came in and shot somebody. >> do you know who was shot? >> my son, justin michael. >> a few minutes later deputies from the polk county sheriff's arrived and looked around the house as the two women sat in the living room in complete silence. >> as we were sitting there across from the tv we noticed that the dvd player had been pulled out and there was a fluorescent yellow sweatshirt laying there, which -- >> didn't belong? >> didn't belong. we pointed it out to the officer and it was neither one of ours. >> was that what happened, some

awful mistake, a robber hitting the wrong place, the wrong person? deputies told them, get your things, we're taking you out of the house. >> i couldn't go back into the bedro bedroom. i didn't have my glasses on. >> they were in there? >> so, i said, i need my glasses. >> she asked me if i would grab her glasses from the nightstand in their bedroom, so i did go back into their bedroom one more time. i looked at justin and i told him good-bye and how much i loved him and how i couldn't imagine why that had happened to him. >> is it even possible to understand what it does to you to look through the door and see your eldest son lying there with a bullet hole in his head? >> it was something in a hundred million years you could not

imagine. who could have done that to my son who wouldn't hurt a fly? had never spoken ill of anybody or to my knowledge had any enemies or -- it just was unfathomable. >> the sheriff's deputies took angie and marie outside, put them in separate patrol cars, where they sat and watched the activity around them quite stunned. before they took her cell phone, marie called her husband, we weldon. she begged him to hurry. >> i wondered when i heard the news whether they had gotten into the wrong house. i mean, it was so bizarre. >> reality failed to gel in weldon's head. >> on that drive from minneapolis down, i couldn't believe it. i expected to see him there when i got there. i thought it was a mistake. i asked if justin was all right and she said, no, that he was

gone. >> it was a feeling of isolation. and i could see people in and out of the house. i could ceedee tekt tifs with flashlights combing the neighborhood. the house. >> crime scene. >> crime scene. it was a very long three hours of my life just sitting there not knowing what was going on. >> news reporters are setting up everywhere and there's so many police cars and they weren't saying, we got the guy. and like i just felt, they don't have him. they need to catch him. i know i'm safe, but is everybody else i love safe? >> eventually they drove both women separately to the sheriff's headquarters where they installed them in separate rooms for separate interviews because something about this didn't smell right. >> there was just a lack of

emotion, and to me that was very odd. >> coming up, detectives become concerned about something else, too. >> we have to find out why did someone isolate justin and want him dead? and we didn't see a lot of emotion from the mother or angie, and so that was concerning. >> did it say anything to you, that these two women in the house, one of them lying right beside the victim were unharmed? >> yeah. it was suspicious. >> when "dateline" continues. tit this, john. .and on demand. it's boxing, cardio, yoga, and more. it's an interactive, goal crushing, whole family, whole body fitness machine. it's so cool! the future of fitness is at home. the mirror. oh, we love our new home. neighborhood's great. amazing school district.

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on the morning of may 8th, 2014, local tv trucks roared off to a most unexpected place. peaceful little grimes, iowa. population 9,000 was crawling with cops. very unusual, said reporter stephanie moore of des moines affiliate. >> it's the kind of place where they have the convenience store and everyone's there drinking coffee in the morning. >> what about crime? much of it? >> no. people there probably don't lock their doors. it's just a quiet neighborhood. >> sure enough, something big was going down, though just what? the deputy wouldn't say. >> when you talk to neighbors, surprised to see even more than one police vehicle in the neighborhood. and then the dci, division of

criminal investigation van came, that's hard to miss. it's huge. people are coming out with little booties on, full suits going in and out of a house, they're crime tape up. >> nobody's saying what happened. >> neighbors are starting to ask, what's going on here? >> anxiety is like a virus. it spread fast in grimes. >> yeah, they were nervous. people don't just get shot in grimes. they knew justin michael and angie and couldn't imagine anything happening there. >> and if reporters and neighbors were mistified about what happened, so was detective robin bartholomew. >> i was the on call detective. i got called out at 3:30 in the morning. >> who confronted a messy, bloody crime scene, a victim shot point blank in the head, and here was his fiance without a mark on her. blood tends to spatter, but there wasn't a drop on angie. >> i mean, how far apart were they?

>> right next to each other. >> has that ever happened in your experience that you've encountered that before? >> not that i've encountered. >> did it say anything to you, that these two women in the house, one of them lying right beside the victim were unharmed? >> yeah, it was suspicious. >> yes. also, if the killer was intent on robbery, he certainly didn't succeed. that dvd player pulled out of its place in the living room, that was it said detective tim hoper. nothing else was taken or disturbed. >> well, it didn't make sense. >> did it make sense as a burglar ri? >> no. >> why would somebody be messing around? >> stage it. try to throw people off track. >> that sweat thirteenth shirt that didn't belong in the house, had the killer left it behind? >> while officers try to track that down, angie and marie were at the sheriff's office in

separate interview rooms answering pointed questions. >> why not you, too? >> i don't know if he looked around angie and justin and justin woke up and he sensed trouble. i don't know. >> why not kill angie? >> and this was weird. somehow, said detective bartholomew, their tone didn't seem right, especially angies. >> i thought due to what just happened that she would be very emotionally upset and to me it was just like a regular interview. it didn't -- it didn't make sense. >> like when she told detective hoper about the intruder who just fired several bullets into her fiance, an intruder she saw. >> describe it as best you can.

>> it was all black. i'd say probably i would say pretty tall. >> you say black, you're talking -- >> everything was black. >> shad dolly or a black person? >> i don't know. it was -- i just -- i didn't see any color. >> did that arouse any suspicion? maybe she was involved in this somehow? >> i thought so. >> so detective bartholomew pulled angie and marie's 911 call. >> he's dead. i know he is. >> somebody came in and shot somebody. >> same thing. i just really -- >> curiously devoid of emotion? >> very much so. i think there was a panic but listening to trkts it, there was some distance there. >> we have to find out why did someone isolate justin and want

him dead, and we didn't see a lot of emotion from the mother or angie so that was concerning. >> so you do. just then, police were going in circles, nowhere. coming up -- >> somebody came in there for one sole purpose and that was to execute him, so someone was very personal. >> investigators start digging into justin's past, and their line of questioning triggers concerns for angie. >> i was thinking, was i about to marry somebody that i had no idea who he was? >> when "dateline" continues. els

hello, i'm dara brown. here's what's happening. millions of americans will receive their final $600 unemployment enhancement.

mitch mcconnell said the next stimulus package could be weeks away and will likely scale back benefits. the cdc issued new guidance for getting kids back to school in the fall citing the importance of in person learning while downplaying the risk. they have mitigation measures for schools and checklists for parents. now back to "dateline." justin michael was shot to death while lying asleep in his very own bend while lying beside his apparently loving fiance. they adopted when in doubt suspect all about, including her. >> it didn't dawn on me that i could have been a suspect or angie. it didn't dawn on me a bit. >> you know, their minds do have to go to strange places when they're detectives. that's what they do. but -- >> i understand that. >> but it was the calm demeanor,

the apparent lack of emotion in justin's fiance that attracted a particular interest of the detectives. they pushed her a little, wondered aloud if angie might have known the killer or, perrish the thought, even colluded with that shadowy person, whoever it might be? like maybe a love interest. someone in his or her past, more likely hers. >> talked with angie about justin's relationships. he had no serious relationships prior to her. he did -- had dated, but no one that seemed to cause a concern so i went into angie's relationships. >> angie had been married before. divorced in 2010. >> and the ex-husband wasn't a concern? >> no. >> there was no bad blood? >> no. nothing. there was no children involved. there was nothing other than a relationship that ended. >> but then angie revealed she

got involved with a guy named andy. andy wegler, moved in with him, lived with him for three years and then, this was unusual, continued living with him even after their romans ended. andy, or so she said, was well in her past when she met justin. hard to know what if anything to make of that. but then angie told the detective about some strange incidents, especially peculiar for grimes, the sort of thing that just doesn't happen here. >> one night back in november she said she parked her car on the street overnight in front of joi justin's place. i saw the back window had been hit in. i was like, oh, my gosh. then i went around and i saw two of the other windows had been hit in. >> she was shocked. went back to the house to tell justin. they called the police. >> police officer came and looked at it and noticed that it

had been keyed, that it looked like somebody had thrown something at the wind shield because there was a big dent on the hood. >> that wasn't the only incident. somebody got into the backyard and vandalized justin's prized fruit tree. >> there were branches that were snipped off and eventually killed the trees. why would somebody come into his yard and ruin things that he had tried to grow? >> so was the vandalism a warning? did justin actually understand that he was a target? maybe angie didn't know her fiance quite as well as she thought she did. after all, execution style murders, as the detectives knew very well, often turn out to have something to do with illegal drugs. >> did you guys get high? >> no. >> did you party a little bit? >> no. >> no drug involvement whatsoever? did justin ever sell drugs? >> not that i know of.

>> but detective hopper felt it in his veins. something about this didn't add up. >> this morning justin was singled out and murdered. you wasn't. >> i know. marie wasn't. justin was. >> i know. >> okay? give me a second, angie. it wasn't a burglar ri at your home. that takes away the randomness. >> nothing was taken? i mean -- >> as far as we're aware of right now. >> okay. okay. >> somebody came in there for one soul purpose, and that was to execute him. so someone was very personal. for any reason that you would be protecting somebody that you care about, i need to know? >> right. >> because this is not

acceptable. >> uh-huh. >> they were doing their police thing and coming up with different scenarios, drugs and money, gambling. the question just kept being asked, is it possible that these things could have happened? and of course everything's a possibility. for a moment i was thinking, was i about to marry somebody that i had no idea who he was? >> oh, but there were so many questions. one in particular that angie just couldn't seem to answer. coming up -- >> where did you meet him at? >> just at a bar. >> okay. but it was intimate. >> it eventually did get intimate but not right away. >> angie tells detectives from her past who once did something disturbing. >> he said some kind of nasty things about me as a person. that to me was kind of like,

that was a little creepy. >> but does it have anything to do with the case? when "dateline" continues. ntinu. to help soothe occasional digestive upsets, plus stress that can make them worse. align digestive de-stress. from the pros in digestive health.

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call or go online today. detective robin bartholomew was convinced of one thing in particular. justin michael's fiance angie had to be the key to solving their murder case here in grimes, iowa. >> i maybe thought even though she was engaged, maybe there was

a boyfriend on the side. >> right. and if there's a boyfriend on the side, either the boyfriend wanted to get rid of the competition or she wanted to get rid of this one so she could be with the other one? >> yeah, some kind of love triangle. >> it sounds devious to say such a thing, but these things actually do happen, right? >> oh, very much so. detective bartholomew held her suspicions in check while her partner, detective hopper, continued to press angie about the other men in her life. very few of those, her ex-husband and her ex-boyfriend, andy, and then three hours into the interview -- >> all of a sudden a name came up of someone that actually she had dated, an acquaintance that she had met in between the breakup with andy and her meeting justin. >> it was not a relationship. >> did you not remember him? >> well, i haven't -- i mean, i had thought about him but it was

kind of like -- it was like a couple of months of hanging out and it was kind of like a here or there and he i feel like -- i felt like he wasn't being very serious so i wasn't being very serious with it. >> and who was this other guy? >> his name is dave. >> dave what? >> what is his last name now? i just forgot. it'll come to me, i'm sure. >> okay. >> dave, dave, i have da, i have da, dave. god, i don't know why i can't think of it right now. >> wait, she couldn't remember his last name? >> which is very odd. >> when did you first start seeing dave? >> the weekend after andy and i broke up. and it was kind of just like a silly thing and -- >> where did you meet him at?

>> just at a bar. i was like, all right, whatever. the guy is a funny guy. >> angie told detective hopper she didn't spend much time with dave. they maybe texted each other and met up with each other. >> we had kind of had this day and age relationship. we saw each other once a week. the rest of our conversations were through text messaging. i don't think we talked on the phone. >> it was always just -- it was very like playful in nature, not like a serious type of relationship. >> but it was intimate. >> it eventually did get intimate but not right away. >> okay. okay. >> and then it was kind of like a once a week thing, we'd hang out on friday nights generally. >> then of course everything changed. >> and then i met justin. >> and she got the feeling justin just might be the real thing. and so she started avoiding dave. did he sense something?

maybe. that's when dave sent angie a text that referred to a reality television show. >> he had made the comment, i'm going to get your final red rose, and that to me was kind of like, that's a little creepy knowing i didn't feel that same way. >> right. you hadn't given him any sign you felt that way? >> right. we had never talked about being exclusive. i mean, when you're seeing somebody maybe once a week and talking through text messaging the other times, caught me off guard a little bit. >> then just after her second date with justin -- >> that's when i told dave like i had met this other guy. so i had told dave that i was going to have to cancel our plans friday because of this. >> and as angie said, when you know, you know. remember? so she asked her girlfriends how should i break up with dave? >> like is it appropriate to do

this through text messaging? should i meet up with him? they were like, no, go ahead and do it through text messaging, you don't owe this guy anything. >> so she did, diplomatically. she tried to be kind, she said. >> so i just texted him and i said, hey, i want to be completely up front and honest with you. i've met somebody else that i want to spend my time with and we're done. his response was, i knew you've been running around behind my back. we hadn't seen each other for at least two weeks at this point. >> it's hardly a relationship. >> right. >> he didn't take it so well. >> unpleasant? >> yes. i was trying to be kind. he was not. >> what did he say? >> just said some kind of nasty things about me as a person and then at one point he told me to eat [ bleep ] and die and then that was then followed by

niceties and wanting to work things out. >> oh. >> so it was really back and forth all day. at one point it became obvious that he wasn't going to let it go, so i justifiably quit responding. >> you never heard from him again? >> he had texted me the next daze day saying i don't feel like this is over. can you give me another chance? i didn't respond to that. so then after that, yes, i have not heard from him at all. >> that was in june 2013. 11 months before justin was shot to death. angie told the detective all of that. so odd, to say the least, that angie swore she could not remember the guy's last name. >> did you think about what his last name is yet? >> i keep trying to think of it. dave, dave, dave, dave, dave. dave. dave.

i do not know why i am drawing such a blank. >> really? detective hoper turned up the heat. >> about one of the first things i asked you about the very beginning who -- before justin who was your relationship, you said anty. >> uh-huh. >> you left dave out, okay? >> right. >> for whatever reason and it doesn't matter at this point either. is there any possibility that with dave or anyone else that while you've been with justin that you've maintained any relationship with anyone? >> no. >> and then finally, after more than 30 minutes of questions about this dave guy, it suddenly came to her, she said. >> i remember dave's last name, by the way. >> and that is? >> moffitt. >> moffitt. >> moffitt. david moffitt. a name that meant nothing at

all. another dead end most likely, but remember that business about luck? the most useful investigative tool there is. coming up -- new suspicions are raised as detectives realize two people in the case are connected by one -- >> in the same cubical they were. >> coincidences, sometimes they come in clusters, don't they? >> another office person heard the name and recognized dave moffitt, and she immediately said, he had a car impounded this morning approximately within 30 minutes of the homicide. >> when "dateline" continues. in. they will, but with accident forgiveness allstate won't raise your rates just because of an accident, even if it's your fault. cut! sonny. was that good? line! the desert never lies.

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that is? >> moffitt. >> so finally angie remembered the name, the name of the man she dated just before she met justin. >> david moffitt. who was he? sometimes local accountant for one thing but also the sign of a wealthy iowa farm family. not very memorable, said angie. just a guy who liked having fun though there was, she said, this one remarkable coincidence. a couple of months after she stopped seeing david and just before she got engaged to david,

david got a job in the same department in the same wells fargo office building as justin. david left under some kind of clouds months before the murder, but really what were the chances? their desks were just feet apart. >> did he know justin was tate dating you? >> he figured out justin was dating me. >> justin told his parents about it. >> he just said it was an awkward situation but there was no problem. the alignment of that is astronomical. >> in a company of 10,000 people here in des moines, what would be the odds they would be the same. >> in the same cubical. >> but they got along fine, no bad blood and david moffitt had no criminal record so should they add him to the list? >> i don't know if i have the complete story regarding dave or not. >> coincidences, sometimes they come in clusters, don't they? not long after angie's memory

coughed up the name dave moffitt there was another coincidence. >> we figured we needed to continue and focus on dave and see where that leads us. the first thing that was done was a background makeup of dave to include to see if he had a weapons permit, and so while that check for the weapons permit was being conducted, another office person heard the name and recognized dave moffitt and she immediately said, he had a car impounded this morning. not only was it impounded, it was impounded approximately within 30 minutes of the homicide, approximately 4:00 in the morning, and it was six miles approximate north of where the homicide occurred. and dave moffitt resided approximately 28 miles southeast of where the homicide occurred. >> that would be a red flag for sure? >> through an investigation we learned he had an accident.

>> so they pulled the accident report and read about those two cops and their strange encounters just off of highway 141 just at 4:00 in the morning, a place by which all rights cory rose should never have been that particular morning, but life happens to everybody. early on the 8th of may 2014 officer rose was adjusting. >> i was traveling back from the hospital in des moines. my fiance's mother was in the hospital. >> he was on his way to a 5 a.m. patrol shift in the town of boon 25 miles or so up the road where officer rose is an investigator with the local police department, and it was very dark on the highway. no moon at all so he almost missed it. there in the ditch, 30 yards off the pavement. >> what did you see? >> as i was traveling up the road i saw a car, it would be off here to my right sitting on

top of the ditch just on the other side of this pole. >> just over here where the grass is? >> yeah, sitting there with the driver's door hanging open. airbags deployed, dome light on. >> it appeared the car was headed for the highway but missed a sharp curve on the gravel access. cory pulled up near as he could to the crashed car. >> just as soon as i had stopped, noticed there was nobody in the car, nobody around the car, and i was sitting in my vehicle, a male approached my vehicle, knocked on the door, and he had come from kind of off behind me to my left. the knock on the window startled me, you know? was asking if we would give some assistance, offered to pay me to give him a ride. i told him quite frankly i didn't feel comfortable with doing so. >> between doing that and having to get to work and just not being his position, he called

his dispatch. >> can you call the authorities in polk county to see if you can get somebody to come out here? >> they said they would have somebody out there as soon as possible. they were tied up on a shooting in grimes. >> so cory left for his shift, and when polk county deputy responded to a call a little time later, all he knew was there had been an accident. >> so he hit that ditch at some speed. >> yeah, he was going pretty fast. >> just missed the corner. >> just unfamiliar with the area and driving too fast for gravel. >> but it was odd because once again, the driver of that car, david moffitt, was nowhere to be seen. coming up -- a roadside encounter goes from odd to downright unnerving. >> all the hair on my body was standing on edge. >> when "dateline" continues. "ds ♪

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justin michael had been shot to death in his own bed, but his fiancee, angie, had been spared. about a half hour later, angie's ex, david moffett, crashed his car into a ditch about five miles from justin's home. when officer jason tarp arrived, moffett appeared to be gone. >> so i get out of the car and immediately am thinking, okay, maybe they were ejected. i go and start searching to make sure they weren't thrown out of

the carment. i hear somebody yell, "i need help." i was like, "is this your car?" "yeah, that's my car." he has a sweet smell coming off of him. i automatically was like, okay, this is an oui. >> it could be a drunken driving thing? >> the time of day and there's a car accident involved, single vehicle. it's just -- kind of goes with it. definitely smelled like he'd been drinking. >> was he glad to see you? >> i don't know if he was glad to see me. >> you were potentially going to rescue him from a bad situation, you'd think. >> he saw somebody that might be able to help him. i don't know if he was necessarily happy to see me. >> reporter: moffett told him he was on his way home from visiting his brother. >> i asked him, there's no way, any chance you visited a friend named grimes tonight? >> why would you bring that up? >> there had just been within an hour a homicide in grimes.

the suspect was still unaccounted for. >> and you got a guy sweating and smelling sweet. >> exactly. >> what did he say? >> i don't even know where the town is. >> everything about david moffett made the deputy feel anxious. >> all the hair not on my head but all the hair on my body was standing on edge. >> that's weird. i mean, he's just a regular guy, right, didn't seem to be armed. you're a cop, you've got your weapon, and you're feeling nervous? >> i knew he wasn't armed because i did a pat-down for weapons -- if you're going to sit in my car, you're not going to have a weapon on you. >> turned out david hadn't been drinking, there was no reason to arrest him. still, the deputy's instincts kicked in. >> i looked through his car and couldn't find insurance. i impounded it for not having insurance with an accident. >> not that it was drivable anyway. he sent david home in a cab. after reading deputy tarp's

report, detectives bartholomew and harper knew they had to act fast. there could be clues still on highway 141, and surprises, too. the media people, angie and marie, saw hovering around the patrol cars on that awful may morning had no idea what it just happened in justin michael's bedroom middle of the night. the reporters knew only this -- they'd been sent here because of a suspicious death, and it was related somehow to this house. then as they waited for somebody to tell them something, they got a tip. local reporter stephanie moore -- >> we heard that sheriff's deputies were walking the fields along highway 141. so that would be the highway you would take from des moines to go to grimes. and they were just walking these fields. and we asked, are you looking for a body? no. are you looking for someone?

no. are you looking for a weapon? we can't say, but the public's not in any danger. we think what happened in grimes is related, and it's an isolated incident. walking the fields. you know, in a line so they don't miss anything. kind of how they do if there's a missing child. but we thought maybe they were looking for a gun or weapon. >> good guess. in fact, that small army of cops was looking for anything that looked like evidence. hours earlier, david moffett's car went off the road here, and facts were piling up. moffett had worked with justin, dated angie, and wrecked his car the morning of the murder, just six miles away. >> of course that piqued our interest very quickly. that moved david moffett to the top of the list. >> polk county prosecutor steve foratano and bret lucas had been involved all along. >> we sent the detectives and the patrol officers to that location, highway 141, to see what else they could find in that area that might be of use

or might be telling in terms of the investigation. >> that's why the locals saw all these police officers wandering up and down the field as if they were looking for something -- they were. >> they were. >> and imagine what they found there in the ditch along the highway. >> probably the most important thing was they found loaded magazines, they had the same type of ammo that was found at the crime scene. the shell casings found at the crime scene matched that type. ammunition found in the ditch at highway 141. >> right in the ditch near where the car crashed. >> it was actually across the highway and a little bit farther town. but within 500 yards of where the crash occurred. they also located in that ditch some paper targets that you would use for shooting target practice. some shooter's earmuffs. a camo neck cloth that you'd wear -- could wear as a mask. >> like somebody preparing for an act of terror or an

execution. clearly david moffett was their killer, had to be. and then -- well, you know what they say about assumptions. the cops found something else near the accident scene. the sort of thing that could make a person wonder what in heaven's name is going on here. it was one little thing in a sh shoebox. >> shoes were not in it, but there was various paperwork. one of the things was a receipt from a local car dealership. the receipt was for the purchase of three oil changes, had the name of andrew wagner. >> andrew waggoner, the boyfriend angie lived with before justin. weird. another guy without a criminal record, another apparently ordinary person. a des moines funeral director in his case. and yet, there it was in black and white, among all those other pieces of evidence. andrew waggoner. how did he explain that? >> at that time you don't. >> so did andy wegener kill

justin michael, the man who replaced him in angie's party? >> we immediately went to andy's place of business and brought him back to headquarters for questioning. and we asked him about his relationship with angie. >> and more to the point perhaps, his relationship or the lack of it, with justin. >> have you ever met justin? >> once. >> where was that at? >> at joe's pub in johnston. >> random run-in, or was it a gathering -- >> no. it was a gathering with a group of friends. it was an engagement party. >> was justin the person who she was in the relationship after you broke up with her, or was there someone les? >> there might have been somebody else. >> you don't have any idea? >> no. >> the last time you talked to angie would have been when? >> she sent a text that said, "happy birthday," i said, "okay, thanks," that was it. >> i'm asking whether or not he's missing anything and he

never tells me about the receipt for the oil changes. >> the receipt in the shoebox. the reason for suspicion and all these questions. >> i stay on the receipt because that's -- that's where my interest is at. he believes he's in possession of the receipt. >> andy said he thought the receipt was in his car or at his house. >> if it turned up somewhere else, how would that happen? if it's somewhere other than your car or at home -- >> i threw it away? that's about it. i don't know -- >> any ideas how it could turn up in this investigation? >> no. >> then detective hopper asked andy about guns. >> do you go shooting at all? >> shooting? >> yeah. do you have any -- >> i have a .12 gage.

i haven't shot it in six years. >> do you have any handguns? >> no. >> okay. >> and what he did the night before. >> yesterday, what time did you get off work? >> yesterday got off at 4:00. >> okay. can you walk me through what occurred from 4:00 yesterday until we showed up at your doorstep this morning and you were so thrilled to see us? >> andy said he spent the evening and night with his current girlfriend. >> you spent the night with your girlfriend? >> yeah. >> how long has she been there? >> three years, 3.5. >> they have good security? >> not really -- >> is it gate tod to get in, cameras? >> no. no. >> he had spent the night with his current girlfriend at that time. we verified that before he left the office. before he had a chance to make a phone call or anything else. >> at least cording to the girlfriend? >> according to the girlfriend.

yes. >> but that would give him an alibi -- >> an alibi, whether it was preconceived or whether or not it was legitimate, we did not know. >> andy swore detectives would find no evidence against him in grimes. >> when was the last time you were in grimes for any reason? >> oh, there's a basketball court in the u is what they call it. that was a while ago. >> what's a while mean to you? >> three weeks to a month or three to four weeks at least. there's a bunch of guys who get together. we pay $5, and we're able to shoot around this place for a couple of hours. >> let me double check, make sure we're going to go. >> sure. >> the detectives exhausted their questions, took andy back to work. apparently in the clear. unaware that andy's name box office to turn up one more time in a very suspicious place.

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justin didn't deserve this. he always thought of everybody else. always wanted to do for other people. >> as much in love as angie said

she was, the detectives had learned over the years you never know. they needed to search her phone, see who she talked to in the hours and days just before justin was shot to death. they also got a search warrant for david moffett's house, and inside -- no, they didn't find the murder weapon, but they did find these strange notes. seemed to have been written by someone who'd been watching justin and angie's neighborhood. >> those surveillance notes listed addresses in the immediate area around the crime scene. and they were specific about when patients in were turning on and off their lights. the creek behind the house is -- is it wide enough where i can jump across that. it looked like a way to make an escape once the murder was done. >> but then they found what looked like the mother lode, a bill of sale. >> it was in andy's name but there in david modifiyest's house. >> -- moffett's house. >> that is the bill of sale for

a .9 millimeter carving and the name was andy wegenr. how was that remotely possible? >> more evidence to suggest there's a conspiracy. >> we wanted to find out if andy was the the purchaser of the weapon. fortunately that bill of sale gave us the lead to where the weapon came from. >> his name was right here, drew ballman. here he is. he's a small town, high school english teacher in a little place called sigourney 90 miles or so from des moines. there is something you can do with a degree -- >> yes, there it. i love my job. >> an english teacher who likes to tell stories. and this one -- the sort of thing that would make an interesting plot for a novel. >> a novel perhaps, yes. >> drew was a self-described nerd. he also is a target shooter and a metal detector enthusiast.

he's forever digging up old coins and such. loves it. mind you, there's only so much a person can ferret out using equipment that's, well, to say down market may sound cruel but -- >> the metal detector i wanted was about $600. >> are you out of your mind? >> no. >> you buy a $600 metal detector? >> that's the mid-range. you can spend upwards of $900 if you want to. >> you get to be an upper-case nerd. >> very much so, yes. >> he figured he'd sell the gun and use the cash to buy that new metal detector. >> it's what the state of iowa calls a long gun. it's something that you put to your shoulder and you shoot like a rifle or a shotgun. i listed it on line on arms list, like craigslist for guns. >> what did you ask for it? >> $360. >> about a month later he got a nibble via email. >> i told him that i needed cash and needed a photo i.d. so i knew he who was he said he was

and he was at least 21. he said his name was andy wegener. that was the email address he contacted me from. i work part time at a gas station. it's public. there are cameras in the area. and if something bad were to happen, i know of at least two or three people that are there that would probably come to my rescue. >> is that the kind of thing you have to do when you sell a weapon? >> that's the thing i do when i sell a weapon because i've got entirely too much to lose. i have a family. i have a job that -- i love them both. i did not want to jeopardize those. we met at the station. i showed him in the rifle in the back end of my car. i filled out a bill of sale because i wanted to make sure that this was trackable. i kept a copy. he kept a copy. we reviewed everything to make sure it was what he wanted and made sure everything was up to snuff. >> you saw his photo i.d. -- >> i saw his photo i.d. -- >> how carefully did you, you know, store the information? >> i'm kind of a pack rat by

nature. by teacher nature you don't throw anything away. all of the email conversations that he and i had, i kept. all the text messages between he and i, i kept. i still had pictures that i had originally posted on arms list, those are still on my home computer. as he was leaving, again, to cover myself, i wrote down his license plate number. >> you are a careful guy. >> i am. >> was he a nice fella? >> for the very limited interaction we had, yeah, he seemed very nice, very normal. he asked me how to load it. i showed him how. >> that was it? off he sfwhwent? >> off he went. >> a few days later, the school secretary gave drew a message. a polk county detective wanted to talk to him right away. >> and my first thought was i interpreted the law wrong when i looked up the iowa codes, and i'm going to jail. >> you immediately thought about selling that weapon? >> that's the first thing that came to mind. why else would a doctor be calling me? i was going to jail. it was very scary because i had taken so many precautions. i called the detective, and he

said, drew, did you sell a firearm recently? that was my second thought, yes, i am going to jail. i have completely screwed everything up. i told him, be forthright, be honest, i said, "yes, i did." i told him it was a .9 millimeter. he said, drew, we have reason to believe that that weapon was used in the commission a crime. my heart sank. what happened? i have no idea. he told me it was used in a murder. i about dropped my phone. what that does to you -- i unwittingly took part with an accessory in somebody's death. i felt terrible about that. >> you felt that way, i was an accessory? >> how would you feel? i sold something to a man, to a person who later used that to take somebody's life. terrible. just -- god. and i still today, i -- i've rationalized it, gone to a do s counselor about it. >> what's the expression, guns

don't kill people, people -- >> people kill people. i still believe that, but i provided him that method. >> later that day, detective hopper drove out to meet with drew who turned over all the emails and text messages he'd saved, as well as photos of the rifle. three ammo magazines, a scope, and a red laser pointer attached to the weapon, part of the deal. >> and i asked him if he had any shell casings from the weapon that he told. he went, left, came back and had 63 casings. >> wow. person who likes to keep things. >> yes. most of those casings were .9 millimeter. >> the same ones found at the murder scene. >> and the crash set. >> who bought the car beam? >> we still don't know where we're at with david versus andy. >> could drew i.d. the guy in a photo lineup? coming up -- detectives show drew pictures of

david and andy. >> he said, that's very odd, he said, this is strange. >> when "dateline" continues. >> when "dateline" continues around the world, 5 billion people lack access to safe surgery.

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will cross the edmund pettus bridge for the last time this weekend as parts of a six-day celebration of life. his body will lie in state at the u.s. capitol next week. now back to "dateline." i really thought it was a random act, a home invasion. >> during the course of that day you were completely buffaloed. >> correct. >> the investigation raced forward. the polk county sheriff's office told justin michael's family virtually nothing, didn't tell them they found the man who sold the murder weapon, nor that they had to figure out who he actually sold it to. because surely whoever bought the gun must have been the killer. >> i asked him at that point to look at the four lineups. the first set of six photographs i showed him contained the photograph of david moffett.

mr. ballplan lo dsballman looke can't be certain. the guy had a hat and glasses on. wish he had taken it off. he pointed at the picture of david moffett and said, "i'm 90% sure that's the person i sold the gun to." >> what happened when he looked at the picture with andy wegener? >> when i showed him, he looked and immediately looked and pointed to andy and said, that's for odd, he said, this is strange. he was confused. he goes that looks like the i.d. that looks like the person i sold the gun to. he picked out both of them. so we still have our questions. >> it was all very confusing. didn't help that david moffett and andy wegener looked similar. so one last thing to try. earlier when deputies searched david moffett's house, they found the bill of sale for that car beam. they also discovered a receipt for lemonade and a candy bar bought at a dollar general store

in the very town where the rifle was purchased. >> so i requested video from that store. person walks into the store, still wearing a hat, but the sunglasses are hanging off his shirt. and the video depicts david moffett. >> well, well, well. >> and he purchase the lemonade and the candy bar. >> which may have settled the question who've picked up the murder weapon. but here was another question -- how did david moffett get hold of andy wegener's i.d.? the detectives had all kind of reasons for wanting to talk to david moffett. they picked him up about 15 hours after the shooting, took him to headquarters, installed him in an interview room and -- no dice. >> he requested a lawyer. >> just like that, you're done. >> i sat there for approximately an hour with him, offering him a phone book, a means to reach his attorney because we still wanted to attempt to talk with him even if his attorney was present. he never reached an attorney.

>> david moffett wouldn't talk, but it hardly mattered. the evidence they had was enough to arrest him and charge him with first-degree murder. by now detectives understood that angie had nothing to do with the murder, that what seemed like a lack of emotion in angie's demeanor and marie's, too, was shock, pure shock. in fact, the thought that david could be the man who killed the love of her life hit angie while she was still being questioned. and finally, after her apparent calm, she was overcome. >> when dave came up, we talked about that, and the detective came back with a picture of him. >> do you know this person? >> that's dave. and i said, "that's him." and i immediately started shaking and was very visibly upset. i'm just afraid that he had something to do with it and what

if i caused all this? the detective was like, what's -- what's going on? and i said, if he's the one who did it, then -- it's all may fault. >> what do you mean by that? >> because i was the one who had broken off the relationship. i was the one who ignored him the next day. >> you really think if you hadn't ignored him he'd suddenly become mr. sweetness and light? >> well, no, but i felt like i brought this monster into justin's life. >> but the prosecutors needed more evidence if they wanted to prove that david moffett was the man angie saw as a monster. how, for example, did david get an i.d. with andy wegener's name unless andy was somehow involved? >> one of the discoveries during

that first search warrant was a -- a computer box for a laptop. and that laptop was never found during that first search warrant. >> so the prosecutors wrote a second search warrant, and voila, they found it but maybe too late. >> they discovered it in the bottom. a red tub that had a few inches of water in the bottom of it. >> and you know how computer hate water. the waterlogged laptop wasn't all that found. >> the red tub ended up being a gold mine of evidence. >> like what? >> they found ammunition that ended up being consistent with the ammunition found at the crime scene. >> and remember that shoebox they found near the car crash? it was a navotos brand. and in the red tub, what do you know -- >> in that red tub were those nevada shoes, size 11. >> it's almost like he was laying the trap for himself. >> absolutely. >> they sent the wet laptop off to the computer lab hoping maybe

the techs could find something on it, and surprise, surprise, they did. >> and off of that computer we were able to find the work that david moffett had done to create a fake i.d. in andy wegener's name. >> that's the one he presented to the school teacher drew ballman. he also created a fake andy wegener address and stole the oil service receipt from andy's car, all of which made it obvious, said the prosecutors, david moffett planned to get away with murder by framing a perfectly innocent man, andy wegener. what kind of a mind is behind that sort of behavior? >> it was very cold, very calculating. tremendous amount of planning and premeditation that went into this murder. and he tried to execute it so that he would. be blamed. that he would get away with it. >> and remember that sweatshirt left behind after the shooting?

as if the killer had been sloppy. >> in the sweatshirt was a boat registration that we could not figure out why it was there, and what its meaning was at the time. ultimately, several months later, we learned that that boat registration belonged to the father of the registered sex offender that lived within a few blocks of the crime scene. so it appeared to us once we made that connection that that was just another attempt to cast the blame for this on somebody else. >> so convicting david moffett of first-degree murder would surely be about as easy a task as a prosecutor could ask for. or maybe not. coming up -- revelations no one will believe. that's pretty crazy, isn't it? ?

trials are really interesting because you get to really hear the whole picture. >> several detectives, as well as law enforcement officials -- >> finally said reporter stephanie moore after months of secrecy, they gathered in june, 2015, at the polk county courthouse in des moines for the trial. and the prosecutors revealed all those wild details behind the murder of justin michael. first time the public heard any of it. first time justin's family and fiancee finally understood what happened. >> the detectives and the

prosecutors had shared no information with us other than the fact of who they arrested. >> and the little they learned during the pretrial hearings could be confusing and painful. >> as things started to come out a little bit, i texted andy and said, how did he get your i.d.? and he was like, i -- i don't know. and i just had that feeling of what if andy had something to do about it. >> but prosecutors have good reason for keeping the details of their cases from the public and even from the family. >> we don't want the publicity of the evidence to taint the jury panel. >> now as the trial began, they were quite confident they had all the evidence they needed. even without the still-missing murder weapon. what happened to it? i mean, he -- he crashed the car apparently right away. either got rid of it before then or -- >> our theory at least is that

sometime between him getting home after the murder before officers were back out there doing that extensive search. and being arrested that evening, he was able to get back and retrieve the weapon and throw it into the lake. >> and then once it's in the lake, there's no way you're going to find it. >> not without a lot of work. >> with all the evidence collected prosecutors felt they had enough. >> with the physical evidence that we were able to get specifically from drew ballman and at the homicide scene and at david moffett's house from a ballistics perspective we were able to connect all of dots. >> reporter: the ohio state stowed the jury -- the state showed the jury bullet casings and magazines, practice for target shooting, a kindle containing a map of justin's neighborhood, a can of pepper spray, even a flashlight that for all of david moffett's careful planning ultimately betrayed him. it was something that caught the

attention of justin's sister sydney and brother nathan. >> there were two times that he reacted significantly in the trial. one was they found a fingerprint on the battery in the flashlight. so he wore gloves when he was carrying the flashlight but not when he was putting the batteries into the flashlight. when they said that, he goes, ahh. >> as if david just then understood his error. it was at the trial, said justin's mom, that she finally learned what this red light in her eyes was. it was not some kind of strange flashlight as she thought. it was a red laser pointer most likely attached to the murder weapon. >> pointed at my face. that's a very sobering thought. that's -- sitting at the trial brought back a lot of trauma issues, and that being one of them. and the other thing that bothered me was finding out that

this guy had the gun six inches from justin's face when he shot him four times. >> because we had thought he in the hallway at the doorway. somehow it makes it even more invasive that he's that close and -- and just executed somebody -- >> and you look at somebody's face and make that choice to kill them. to me, that's just beyond troubling. it's just -- unfathomable still. like the twilight zone. >> the prosecutors say david moffett's computer searches were last, and then the jury and everybody else heard what david looked up on his laptop in the days before the murder. a window into the mind of a

killer. the only murdering murder guide you'll ever need, seriously. convicted crimes of passion in polk county. traffic cameras in grimes. what does hell look like? and so on and so on. interesting that he would ask what hell looks like. >> there was some reference to the confessional times. >> that is times when some local priest would be available, a priest whose oath would swear him to secrecy. >> he obviously was concerned about what was going to happen if he committed this murder. >> that day that all of the computer stuff came out was a particularly brutal day in court for me. it was hard for me to handle. i had to leave and decided i couldn't go back in the afternoon because it was just -- it was overwhelming. >> you say it was too hard to hear, you couldn't actually go back. but what made it so hard?

>> just seeing my name, seeing justin's name. you know, he'd googled my name, looked at my facebook page or whatever for months, seen the locations from where he was to our house. and i mean, that he was that close. >> here you were totally oblivious living through the happiest days of your life. >> uh-huh. uh-huh. >> in his closing, the prosecutor told the jury what must have happened. >> david moffett i think was obviously fixated on angie, she broke off with him which caused him some pain and hurt. and then that wound was probably reopened when he started working with justin. and justin wound up getting engaged. and david obviously would be

concerned about the fact that it was justin that was with angie, and that he couldn't be with her because of him. >> so he gradually formed a plan that small he was going to get rid of justin, possibly get angie back again. i realize that there's a high bar to cross to be considered insane by the legal system. but that's pretty crazy, isn't it? >> well, he had a goal, and he worked to achieve that goal. so his trying to commit this murder, trying to plan and make sure that he got away with it. >> maybe and maybe something else was going on. maybe david moffett could blame somebody or something else. and sure enough, he did with a legal defense that could defend the worst evidence in the world. david moffett had no intention of going to prison. coming up -- the verdict.

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rarely as a prosecution so replete with evidence of a killer's motives and awful deeds. rarely does that evidence so clearly portray such planning, such deviousness. a man who knew exactly what he was doing when he murdered justin michael, said the prosecution. and then it was time for the defense. >> it was the worst day of the trial. >> ladies and gentlemen of the jury -- >> defense attorney keith rigg

did not dispute the wealth that was presented. david moffett did kill justin said the defense because he was legally insane. and therefore, not guilty. >> what the facts are in this case are not really in dispute. the fact that this happens because of a mental disease isn't really in dispute because this makes no sense otherwise. what happens here for lack of a better term is crazy. >> and why should the jury believe that? this was the defense's star witness, dr. peter bragen, a famous if controversial psychiatrist with a resume of television and other appearances in which he has condemned the use of psych tightropic drugs.

he testified that andy had been taking drugs on and off for gree years and what happened was the drug's fault. >> it evolves out of a an aggressive hammering of the brain by the drugs. >> it was drug-induced violence, he told the jury, drug-induced murder. in the courtroom, angie listened to this and upset would not not quite the right word. >> it was laughable almost. and just that you can -- how much money they had to spend to find this guy who's going to say exactly what the defense wants him to say. >> were auryou afraid the jury would bee uy it? >> of course year always a little afraid because it's scary to think that he could potentially get off with an

insanity plea. and the more he talked, the more it was -- it was frustrating to sit there and listen to him. >> you walked into somebody's bedroom with an assault rifle. >> yes. it's horrible. >> he told you he thought about whether it was right or wrong, right? >> no. he told me in the beginning he thought about whether it was right or wrong, and that it didn't enter his mind anymore. it was like he was in a video game or like in an activity that was outside of the normal reality. he even thought about killing somebody else -- so toward the end, he's just become a victim -- i believe the victim of this manic episode driven by the drugs. just not him. >> it's the jury that gets to make the decision, right? >> of course. >> they do. >> you never know quite what a

jury's going to do. it's always an anxious moment when you're trying to wait for them to return a verdict. >> oh, but it wasn't the moment. hour after hour they waited. then almost seven hours later -- >> judge asked do we have a verdict. the jury says they do. >> we find the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree. >> if david moffett felt anything in that moment, he didn't show it. >> nothing. stone-cold reaction. almost gave you chills up your spine. >> the insanity defense clearly did not work. >> the threshold that you have to reach for an insanity defense is that you don't understand the nature and consequences of your actions or you don't understand the difference between right and wrong. that's an incredibly high threshold. >> yeah. >> you look at the degree of premeditation, the degree of planning that went into that. those are not the actions of an insane person. >> it does nothing to bring

justin back. >> but it would have been history ink if he had not -- horrific if he had not been found guilty so it did help. >> can you imagine if that person was still free in our society? who knows who he would have attacked next. and he would have. >> i think he would have. >> i think he enjoyed -- >> the planning -- >> the planning and seeing if he could accomplish his task. >> the verdicts are always hard, i think, because nobody ever wins in this situation. his family is obviously still in pain. the moffett family is obviously in pain, as well. so there really is no winner here. we want to hold him responsible for what he did. the jury's verdict did that. >> would they have caught him without the lucky breaks? if david moffett had not lost control of the car, had the cop not spotted the wreck off in the

park. if you went on your merry way -- >> my involvement was just the citizen driving up the road, stopping to check on somebody that morning, you know. >> had the deputy's instinct not pushed him to seize david's car, he probably would have been caught eventually. but what do you think about this now when you look back on it? >> thankful. very thankful that i, one, trusted my gut because we're trained ed ted to do that from. 's the only thing you got to back yourself up on calls when you're by yourself. >> sure. if somebody seems a little hinky maybe he is. >> and you investigate further. it's not prying, it's trying to figure out if there's something more to the story than what you're hearing. a lot receive times when you trust -- lot of times when you trust your gut it's right. >> neither david moffett nor his attorney agreed to be interviewed. his sentence was mandatory in atlanta, life without parole.

cold comfort for justin's family. only photos of him now and memories of the good person he was. habitat for humanity, his favorite charity, built a house in his honor. his colleagues at wells fargo worked on it. >> it's one of those -- >> a perfect memorial i think for him. >> he would like to see something good come out of the terrible thing that happened. >> the thing that happens to people when they truly grieve -- it isn't voluntary, and it takes a long time. >> grief is a wave. and sometimes it's -- it just fills you, and it takes you away. and it happens lets frequently now than it did six months or nine months ago. >> yeah. >> but it's still debilitating. and we knew then that physically he was gone and, in our hearts,

we still haven't let him go. >> it's still hard to believe that a person could be that evil. evil is the only word i can think of, inhuman, to do something like that. >> he just seems like he was -- he didn't get his way. and he took justin's life for no reason. >> and the woman at the center of it all, what kind of a life would she have had with him? a thought perhaps best packed away like a lot of things. >> had the -- had the wedding dress, had the houses booked, had the venue booked, had catering booked. i mean, we were just a little over two months out. >> yeah. boy oh boy, a wedding dress is

such a symbol. what do you do with a thing like that in a situation that you're in? >> haven't even looked at it. >> where do you put it? >> it's in my mom's basement. she's moved a couple of times, and it's in her basement. i'll kralg i'll kralg . i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is dataline. you can lose a child without knowing it in a second. it wasn't an if, it was a when are they going to tell us that she's not coming home. this is not what was supposed to happen. >> the note was under her blanket. >> i saw it sticking out and i grabbed it. >> their daughter was a runaway. >> i am frantic because i didn't know how to find her. >> they called police. they searched. then a jogger found a red shoe and a pool of blood. >> here they are, three people at the doo