serves, every dog who has ever lived a human. we need them now more than ever. we learned that again tonight. and so, that is our broadcast for this friday night and for this week with our thanks for being here with us. have a good weekend, unless you have other plans. on behalf of our colleagues at the networks of nbc news, goodnight. >> what goes on behind closed doors of a marriage is not always apparent to the outside. >> my wife, she fell asleep. i just came up here and she was laying a face down in the bathtub. >> something was right. she was just unconscious. >> a b mcbride, a hunting death. >> she was telling me he could never ever love another woman as much as he loved her. >> what had happened? >> did you have an aneurysm? did she have a seizure? >> police were baffled. >> they expected something to be wet. they are expected there to be water on the. floor >> things we're adding

up. >> something screen to me, something is wrong. >> could this murder had been deliberately. >> she was murdered. >> i loved sarah. i would never have hurt her. >> sarah crying because i felt so bad for her. >> there is just no chance that he had anything to do with. it >> three trials, three juries. >> we are scared that the truth may not come out. >> sometimes the shades are drawn early in a marriage. even for a young couple so in love like newlyweds sarah and ryan. everything in life was still fresh. even at home on your average monday night. after his workday as a sports writer, ryan said he plop down on the sofa on an august night to chill with the bengals preseason opener against green bay. sara, he says, went upstairs to draw a bat in the bathroom. she liked her calling baths. the young dental hygienists had

been tormented with more of her headaches that afternoon. the young couple in the suburban state in that the home that evening had been married for just under four months. 114 days to be exact. they vowed till death do us part. that moment was only minutes away from arriving. they began with a blind day at a pub they worked out. sara stewart have been set up by her friend dana. she had it dana had an inkling that sarah would really hit it off with her husband's former roommate, ryan widmer. >> i've said i think their personalities would really get along. i said let them go to dinner and see what happens. >> what happened over dinner was chemistry. laidback ryan and college dog baseball player, super organizer who needed everything just so talked about getting together again. >> she said, will let me check my book.

so she gets out her little black book and she's looking through it. he speaking over, looking. he said later and calls us and tells us, there was nothing written in her about black. book [laughs] >> it was a fast-track of courtship and before very long, ryan was bringing his new girlfriend home to meet his mom, jill. >> i liked her a lot. the one thing that struck me the most was how beyond her years and mature she was. sara didn't have a problem telling anyone anything. so if you made sarah mad, you knew you made her mad. >> as for ryan, he never seem to listen. he doesn't get upset, he doesn't get mad. >> he so laid back and so easygoing, go with the flow. she so on it, organize. this is what it has to be. and he just says, okay. >> jill widmer enjoyed her days with ryan and his new girlfriend, sarah. >> our family tends to do a lot of barbecues, picnics, things like that. we would spend some time down

at the lake in kentucky. they would come down there. >> replay she was becoming a serious part of his life? >> i was very pleased, yes. >> the insufferable couple bought a nice four bedroom house together in a good neighborhood. and ryan surprised sarah with an engagement ring. >> he put a ring and around the dogs color. she was very excited. he was very excited. >> and soon the wedding invitations were in the mail. the bridesmaids knew they better snap to. >> she's a planner. so she had everything ready to go. she wanted to make sure all of the girls were the same makeup, same eye shadow. we all of the same. >> how is ryan doing? >> he's just as happy as i've ever seen. >> it costs sarah a big screen tv to seal the deal. but she got brian to take ballroom dance lessons for the wedding. >> i was amazed. >> your son, at dance lessons? >> yes, she could get him to do more things than any woman he

had ever dated. >> the wedding, in april 2008, was a formal affair. the bride was beautiful. ryan's dance came off without a hitch. and the happy bridesmaid all matched, just a sara one to. >> very beautiful. every detail was planned obviously to a tee, because it was sarah. she was gorgeous. >> it was awesome. >> probably one of the most fun weddings we've ever been to. ever. >> the newlyweds went to costa rica for their honeymoon and had a great time. then it was back to cincinnati, to begin their journey together as mr. and mrs., ryan widmer. >> they worked really hard. they built a beautiful deck on the back of their house. they took a trip to flank cancun. they had everything to live for. >> so august 11th should've been just another day for on the calendar, for a young marriage? >> august 11th, monday night. ryan remembers being downstairs watching monday night football. sarah had gone upstairs to her bat. she was in trouble.

>> 9-1-1. what's your emergency? >> my wife she, fell asleep in the bathtub. i was downstairs. i just came up and she was laying face down in the bathtub. >> i got a call, it was ryan. something has happened to sarah. >> the emts were rushing sarah to the hospital. by then they had worked on her for 45 minutes but hadn't gotten a response. minutes later, jill widmer was with her son, waiting anxiously together in a room off emergency. >> finally a woman came in and said -- we said is she gone? and she said yes. he just dropped down to his knees and was balling and sobbing. >> sara widmer, 24 years old. a bright of less than four months was dead. her husband ryan told the emergency services people he thought he had fallen-ish sleep in the bathtub and drowned. but those emts doing cpr, trying everything to save her, didn't understand one crucial observation that they made that night. something here doesn't look right.

coming up. a drowning in a dry bathtub. >> i expected something to be wet. there's a toll on the floor. there's a math on the floor. everything is pushing quickly dry. >> the questions deepen. when dateline continues. ntinues. with dupixent adults saw long-lasting, clearer skin and significantly less itch. don't use if you're allergic to dupixent. serious allergic reactions can occur including anaphylaxis, which is severe. tell your doctor about new or worsening eye problems, such as eye pain or vision changes, or a parasitic infection. if you take asthma medicines don't change or stop them without talking to your doctor. talk to your doctor about dupixent. this past year has felt like a long, long norwegian winter. without talking to your doctor. but eventually, with spring comes rebirth. everything begins anew. and many of us realize a fundamental human need to connect with other like-minded people. welcome back to the world.

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cincinnati murphy bengals we're looking more than decent against green bay. fans a car hostile like jeff braley, wondered if this could be a miracle season for the hapless local franchise of the nfl. but braley didn't get see all of the game. he was a cop, a detective. and you don't get to pick your downtime. >> i i'm at home watching the bengals game. i get a call from my sergeant. lieutenant, we're working to drowning. something is not right here. >> as he wrote to the house that night, he knew some of what to expect. when you're a cop for more than a decade, you become familiar

with the signs of a drowning. like the froth about the victims nose and mouth. >> your mind starts running immediately about possibilities. they initially tell me i've got a 24-year-old drowning victim that died in the tub. i'm thinking we're going to find evidence of something. we're going to find some drugs. or evidence of an overdose. or something. >> as he pulled up, the victim was already loaded in the back of the ambulance. the arriving police officer was still inside the house. he gave the detective a fill on what he found when he was led to the master bedroom. 24 year old woman laid on the carpet of the bat. he >> felt for a pulse. he assisted with cpr on what he described as a completely dry body with the here being down. >> wet head, dry body? >> correct. >> for someone who drowned in the bathtub? >> it's strange. >> go ahead, get out her out of the bat to get on a flat surface. >> the 9-1-1 dispatch or had been quite clear about it. he had instructed the husband to get his wife out of the bathtub and put her on the

floor. >> i'm dropping, the phone. >> the husband went away and came back on the line to say that he just moved his wife from the tub to the bedroom. >> okay. go ahead and get back to cpr. go and try cpr. they'll be there in a little bit. okay? >> okay. >> detective braley wondered along with the emts and arriving officers why a woman who drowned in a bathtub would be mostly dry. he needed to see the scene. what story would it tell? >> i start mentally prepare myself based on what they've told me. what do i want to see what versus what do. icy >> he headed for the master bathroom. >> i expected something to be wet. i expected her there to be water on the floor. towels or whatever it might be. it simply was. they're >> dry, dry? >> there is a very small bit of water, what you might call droplets, around the tub right around the drain. other than that, there is. nothing >> for there is a toll on the floor. there's a math on the floor. but everything is perfectly. dry >> now you have not only a drowning victim who didn't appear to be wet.

someone who supposedly fell asleep in the tub and pitched face down in the water. but a bathroom itself that was both dry and undisturbed. even though presumably the husband had to wrangle her lip body out of the tub as he moved her to the bedroom. >> whether it's lotions, soap, other things on the side, they were knocked off. if you're pulling somebody very quickly out of the tub, that still together. that bothered me. >> the detective, maintain mental. that's >> something screen to me something really bad has happened here. and more so than just a tragic accident where she drowned. >> the forensic techs arrived and were taking photos. cutting out sections of the bedroom carpet where the mixture of blood and fluid common in drownings had steamed. what they wondered is, was there another explanation for the states? >> we wanted to get those things to our lab right away to start checking out some things. >> even though it was early hours and so much would depend on the findings of an autopsy, the detective knew that this

was not a case that was going to be closed down that night. >> when i left the house at 2 am, i knew i had a suspicious death. >> still there were questions. how long had syrup been out of the tub? and had she been out of the tub long enough for her body to air dry? >> it was impossible. if you're pulling somebody directly out of the water, the body has to be wet. there is no other way around it. unless a substantial amount of time has passed. or we are not being told an accurate story of what actually transpired. >> question, was it possible for ryan to lift has sarah out of this cub without knocking over their bottles that the detective noted were undisturbed? was it possible for water not to be slashed around as she was moved to the bedroom? and that overriding question, what had happened to the young wife in her master bedroom? >> we knew that she had drowned just from the scene itself. it was the manner in which she had drowned that raised questions. >> but detective braley would have the most questions for the seemingly met happily married

husband. was it possible there was stress in the marriage that no one knew about? >> i had to rely on the fac in the back of my mind that nobody knows what goes on the enclosed doors. >> coming up. was there something bad behind this mystery? >> she was complaining with headaches. i told her how long has it been since you've been to the doctor. >> when dateline continues. turns out you were right about the general. i just misjudged them based on their commercials. they're actually a quality insurance company that's been saving people money for nearly 60 years. i'm pretty sure i said all of that. our bad, let's get out of here. five more minutes, my skunk is almost done. oooh, is that what i smell? for a great low rate, and nearly 60 years of quality coverage - make the right call and go with the general. we do it every night. like clockwork. and nearly 60 years of quality coverage - do it! run your dishwasher with cascade platinum. and save water. did you know certified dishwashers... ...use less than four gallons per cycle, while a running sink uses that, every two minutes. so, do it with cascade. the surprising way to save water.

[sfx: kids laughing] [sfx: bikes passing] [sfx: fire truck siren] onstar, we see them. okay. mother and child in vehicle. mother is unable to exit the vehicle. injuries are unknown. thank you, onstar. ♪ my son, is he okay? your son's fine. thank you. there was something in the road... it's okay. you're safe now. >> sarah widmer had died of

drowning in her home and her body would be examined by the county coroner. there is nothing for ryan, her husband for months, to do at leave the hospital and head home. his mother, jill, took him back to the house in the wee hours. >> ryan said to me mom, i can't go back in their. can you go in and grab some clothes shop for me. so, i went upstairs and when i got upstairs to her bedroom, they were a couple pieces of carpet cut out of their carpeting. which i thought was. odd >> it hadn't occurred to mother or son that the authorities were already looking at sarah's death as anything but a tragic, explainable incident of some sort. >> there were 1 million questions in our mine. did you have an aneurysm? did something medically happen to her? did she have a seizure? >> daylight, and word was spreading that sarah was gone. dana and chris, the couple's who had fix the newlyweds up, could not believe what they were hearing. >> we had just gotten back from a trip and i told her that i would call her as soon as i got

back so we could get together for dinner. and i didn't even get a chance to do that. >> shocking news, to say the least. shocking news. >> dana, a nurse, try to make some sense out of what had happened to her dear friend. she thought back to her last conversations with sarah. she was complaining of headaches. she would call and say, what do you think from a medical background? i said, maybe you should get your blood pressure check. i said basically you need a checkup. how long has it been since you've been to the doctor? >> and then there was that funny -- that sarah had that people used to kid her. about the way she would fall asleep at the drop of a hack. well, maybe that wasn't so funny. maybe that was part of an underlying condition that help explain her sudden death. her mother in law noticed it when she first got to know sarah. >> it was christmas 2007. jill was taking home videos. >> all of a sudden i panned over and there is >> there is sarah spending time at the family. christmas sarah was sound asleep in a chair in my family room. we were 15, 20 people in the

room. laughing, talking, kids running around. and she was just a. sleep >> sarah asleep at the dinner table. snoozing in the car. friends kidded her about. it >> she would always fall asleep at the beginning of the movies. so he would always be nudging her the whole time. sarah, i sarah wake up and watch the movie. >> was it so noticeable that you guys joked about it? >> every time we went somewhere, even at the dinner table. we would be like sarah don't fully. >> i told her she had narcolepsy. she would say i do not i'm just tired all alone all the time. >> had she fallen asleep and drone? is that even possible to? do >> ryan seem to think so. she said as much of the 9-1-1 dispatch. or >> my wife i'll asleep in the bathtub and i think she's dead. but all the observations about sleepy sarah, sara with her headaches, was just anecdotal information on the not the stuff of real medical investigation. the medical examiner would have the first real results about sarah's death. what was he finding? no evidence of stroke. no evidence of heart attack. but >> the medical examiner had discovered something else.

bruising to sarah's head and neck. what had causes injuries? the investigators checked off what they had so far. a young man supposedly drown in the bathtub with a damp head of here and a dry body. it didn't figure. >> if you're pulling somebody directly out of the top of water in the body has to be wet. there is no other way around it. >> a victim with unexplained bruises. and he has been whose stories they didn't believe. about a boring monday night watching football then finding his wife dead in the. buff >> rice story, it isn't fit. it doesn't fit at all. we determined we had a homicide. >> sarah widmer murdered, and that has authorities believe her husband ryan did it. how shocking was that to you? they charge ryan with murder. >> i mean, you've got to be kidding me. why would they think -- >> why? i can't even tell you what that was like. so on top of losing this beautiful member of our family. he didn't even get a chance to

grieve because now we are scared to death and, he is scared to death that he's going to be charged with murder. >> and that is exactly what would happen. just two days after his new bright's death, a warrant was issued for ryan widmer's arrests. >> by ryan's own admission, he was the only one in the house. so, ryan murdered sarah and he's or he's covering for somebody that. did >> it didn't seem possible at first glance. a clean cut young couple. him without a criminal record of any kind. them with no clear cut klete history of arguments. no problems in their marriage. where was the motive for murder on a monday night? >> any boyfriend girlfriend issues here? there is no >> evidence whatsoever. money >> trouble? >> not like we could. fine >> we are really not getting a negative picture of this couple? >> no, we're not. >> as unlikely as it may have seen, police said there was no other explanation for sarah's

death. ryan widmer was charged with his wife's murder. >> this is the state of ohio versus ryan widmer. his family >> his family and friends were devastated. >> ryan and i were both so brokenhearted. i could not have ever conceived, nor could ryan, that they would have had any idea that he would have been the person to her. and that it was in just a tragic accident. >> it just broke my heart. just knowing that he was feeling that grief and fear for his own life, to. >> is there any moment when you think, i don't know the guy. maybe -- >> never. >> this instant of something awful happen? >> never, i never saw anything where he was remotely like that. >> ivan's sarah's family was behind ryan. so much so that the two families decided to delay service funeral funeral until ryan was out on bond. >> his family were very livid about the fact that he wasn't guilty and that we were going to fall forward with the service until ryan could be

there. >> the families are both on the same page here. >> yes. >> that you are fully behind ryan. >> you are even going to grieve together formerly until he's there. >> mike stewart asked for ryan to be able to attend the funeral. >> we in our hearts of hearts we don't believe ryan did. this >> but eight days would pass before the judge lowered ryan spawn from emily in dollars to 400,000. but by then it was too late. the funeral had already been held so out of town relatives could return home. >> it was a nice ceremony. my brother got up and said a few nice words. and i know that ryan would have read a letter that was read during the service. the minister of that did the wedding did their funeral. >> chris and dana greed for sara. and also try to comfort a shattered with ryan. and i remember him >> telling me dana, i love her so much. >> ryan was so distraught he felt he could couldn't go back to the home he had bought with

sarah. so, while he waited for his trial date. he moved in with his. whether >> it was great to have him staying with me -- >> but there's only one topic in the household. >> well there's two. one was continuing to talk about how much we miss sarah. trying to grieve for her. but at the same time, this young man who lost the love of his life, is trying to grief a's wife, he's got a murder charge hanging over his head. and he might be present for the rest of his. life >> ryan widmer wondered why can everyone just see that he left his wife. and that she died of death that perhaps even the medical examiner could never satisfactorily explain. but that it was a murder. coming up. that case goes to court and outcomes the evidence. >> it would be virtually possible for somebody you fall asleep and not wake up. >> when dateline continues. ne continues ♪♪ ooh, that's a low price. huh. that is a low price. what's a low price?

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here's what's happening. the white house cuts its tooth

0.3 trillion dollar infrastructure plan to 1.7 trillion in a bid to buy parts in sport. the new proposal reduces funding for broadband, roads and bridges. but republicans still oppose the plan. and louisiana state police released the body cam footage of ronald greens arrests two years after he died in police custody. police initially said greene was killed in a car crash, but footage shows officers using excessive force. greene's death remains under investigation by state and federal agencies. now back to dateline. encies >> sarah was wonderful. the most loving person. she was just a great person. >> sarah widmer had been a daughter, a wife, a loyal friend in her brief life. but in death, to those who would never know her, she had become simply the victim. and the case can be summarized as reasonably as the title of a true crime paperback, the

bathtub murder. on top radio in the greater cincinnati area, host bill cunningham could feel the court of public opinion responding to the story. the bathtub murder case had the phones ringing. >> the idea that at such a young man could be watching a bengals game, and within a few seconds turn from a bengals fan, long suffering, to a murderer was a little bit shocking. >> for months, listeners debated whether the husband could have done it. >> i had a large number of callers who said to me, he didn't do it. he doesn't fit the profile. there's no history. and i said to them, wait a minute. wait till the trial takes place. i farm led to believe there is going to be clear and convincing evidence. >> seven months after sarah's death, the only jury that mattered was sworn in to hear the case against 28 year old ryan widmer. a charge of aggravated murder. a couple's friends were sticking by him. >> basically his life hangs in the balance for those jurors. >> it's a scary. thought >> it's a scary. thought >> there is a chance

that he could go to jail. >> in the courtroom, sarah's family sat cross room from ryan 's. much as they had a previous year, during the couples fairytale wedding. but now, sarah's family support for him have eroded. for ryan's mom that was just another unexpected twist in the situation that seem to get stranger by the minute. her son, on trial for murder. >> to see my scared baby we. he was scared to death. >> but the prosecution's message for the jury was blunt. there had been a violent confrontation in the widmer house that night. >> ryan widmer purposely killed sarah stewart widmer and murdered her by drowning. >> the prosecutors began with the first moments of the case. ryan's call tonight one one. >> my wife, she fell asleep in the bathtub. i think i was downstairs. i just came up and she was lying face down in the bathtub. >> on the stand, the emergency dispatcher testified that the voice on the phone that night was giving more details than

normal. >> it seemed that the color was rather calm. usually when i can't get anything out of them. >> she's in the bathtub? >> yes, she's in water it's draining now. i was downstairs watching tv. she falls asleep in the tub all the time. >> to prosecutors john arnold and travis vieux, the husband was trying to place himself as far away as possible from the bathroom were sarah had died. >> he really gives very little information about her condition. it's really more for him to say, i was out there. i really do anything to do with this. >> i could sarah even be dead face town in the bathtub? couldn't body control that way? >> that seems opposition for somebody who has fallen asleep, to be faced down when with your face near the faucet. >> in terms of the possibilities of how the king kong space of the bathtub is shorter than she is long. we're >> not talking about a month mansion, whirlpool tub

here? >> right. >> and so much more of the prosecution case was bill upon the observation of the first arriving officers and emergency responders. they noted not only was ryan not wet, this man who had lifted his wife somebody out of the tub just minutes before they arrived, sarah was also mostly dry. >> we noticed that her body was dry. her here was. dan >> and others on the scene corroborated this observation. >> damp head, dry. body >> things were not adding up. it seemed to me the body would've been wet. the floor would have been wet. the carpet would have been wet. >> you're talking about, from the time he says i'm taking out of the bathtub, to the time that other people are there. her here is described as simply damp. not even. wet carpet is not wet. there is not water dripping off of her here on the rest of her body. the floor is not. wet >> and the officer noticed something else. the victims fingers and toes. we all know what happens to them when they've been soaking in a bathtub. >> it was my understanding she had been in the water for 20 to

30 minutes. and i would've thought that her fingers would have been pruned up. her toes would have been pruned. up >> did you see any indication of that? >> no. >> from simple observations of in the murder case bedroom. the jury was being told that ryan widmer's story didn't drive with what officers had seen. like the bathtub and surrounding tells that should have been soaking wet but weren't. and that implicitly raised the question for the jury. is it possible that this young woman who drowned had ever been in the top in the first place? >> bottom line is, there would have been water everywhere. if there wasn't, it was cleaned up. and if there was a cleanup, then there is something to hide. and there was a murder. >> and the expert witness for the prosecution spoke to the issue of whether a person can actually fall asleep and drowned in the bathtub. her testimony was no. it can't happen. >> it would be virtually impossible for somebody, without the influence of drugs or alcohol, or something

external, to fall asleep and not wake up. so, first, the sensation of water on your face would wake you up. to, it would be the gag reflex. water entering your air with a weaker and choking. and three, for some reason if that didn't, the drop in oxygen would actually cause you to stimulate and we can. >> but maybe sarah haven't fallen asleep. perhaps she had suffered a castor straw fake but perfectly natural event. something to her heart, her brain. the coroner didn't find anything. >> and the evidence apart of drug problems? >> no. >> any evidence of brain injury or seizure? >> no. >> one of the amazing things about sarah widmer is that she had regular medical care for a person her age. she went twice in two years for just a regular physical. this is not a person who didn't have the opportunity to interact with her medical professional. >> and to the coroner the bruising he saw on sarah's neck and scalp will perform in the autopsy were ominous. the wounds, to significant. and not in the right spot to

have been caused by emts lifesaving efforts. >> the things that were the most disconcerting were the three bruises seat on the right side of the scout. she had another bruised on her forehead. she's got a significant degree of neck hemorrhage. she's undergone significant cpr. however, there was no hemorrhage anywhere in the area of the chess. so, it is difficult to try to rationalize that the hammer judge in her neck can be the result of cpr. >> as the corridor saw it, the significant bruising on sarah's neck was caused by ryan's forceful drowning of her. >> do you have an opinion as to the manner of sarah's death? >> yes, in the manner of death was homicide. >> and that took prosecutors into the realm of speculation. what had happened in the bedroom that night if sarah has been drawn by herself in the bathtub? this forensic pathologists had one scenario explaining the damp head but dry body.

>> her head was pushed over the edge of either the bathtub or the sink, or the toilet, either forwards or backwards. either in a pool of water or under running water. that is how she died. >> an expert also noted the strange prince, invisible to the naked eye. he couldn't say when they were left on the tub. or even that they came from sarah. but feel confident the prince will most likely made by a -- if ryan had force sarah over the side of the tub, had she tried to brace herself as she was pushed into the water? >> from experience, those are prints that are going down with force. >> how do you fight back? >> do you try to keep your head out of the water? do you put your hands against the back of the tub? or do you put your hands on the bottom of the top and try to lift out of the water? or do you grasp at somebody and lose your hold on life? >> a stark image. the husband pushing his wife's head underwater and holding her there until she drowned.

>> this was our drowning. she had been subjected to forcibly holding her throw over some object and drowning. >> but the jury had to wonder what the motivation could be for such an awful crime. sarah's mother who, had initially supported ryan, was now testifying for the prosecution. she said that when she was out shopping with sarah, her daughter seemed to feel that she needed to check everything with ryan, who could see her purchases on her his computer. >> she'd buy something and ryan would call her so she bought it sometimes. telling him did you really need it. he thought he was spending too much money. >> he was very concerned about her shopping? >> that's correct. there was still stresses, things they were going on in their family. but >> even the prosecutors had to acknowledge that this didn't necessarily add up to a clear motive for murder. but they believe there were things happening in the little house that no one but sarah or ryan knew about. >> anybody who's been married or in a relationship knows that what goes on behind closed doors of a marriage is not

apparent apparent to the outside. >> but was the prosecution's case too thin? too much observation like but without enough persuasive hard evidence? the defense would argue passionately that it was. and that ryan had nothing to do with his wife sudden death. coming up. ryan's side of the story. sarah friends's take the scent. >> i know that she had fallen asleep in the bathtub before. >> when dateline continues. continues >> what was the toughest thing

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you had to surmount? >> you had a lovely 24 year old woman who was dead and no one could explain why. >> the defense wasn't going to be able to tell the jury what caused sarah widmer to drown that night. but they were going to show that ryan widmer had no reason to hurt his wife. and as far as damp here dry body, they would explain. that bottom lane for the defense, -- >> we know one thing ryan widmer had nothing to do with his wife dead. >> ryan with men's defense attorney argued that his client -- why his unhappy towards of words on that 9-1-1 call. >> is she still a bathtub? >> yes, she falls asleep in the tub all the time. >> saying she falls asleep in the top all the time. >> exactly. >> in other words, had ryan told the 9-1-1 dispatch are

only that his wife was unconscious it wouldn't have been so suspicious. >> the only thing ryan knows is she, fell asleep in the tub. but they jump on that as say he's a liar. >> the defense attorney argued the coroner had been all too quick to rule the death of homicide. >> he had no idea if she had unusual sleep habits. he had no idea that she was suffering from a headache that day. >> remember, an expert witness for the prosecution had said it would have been impossible for sarah to fall asleep and die in the tub. but those who knew her sleep abbott said it may have been a sign of an undiagnosed, underlying medical condition. sarah's boss, the dentist, testified that her quirky sleep patterns were well known around the office. >> she would normally grab a quick lunch and go out to her car and take a nap for 30 to 45 minutes. because people don't generally. do that >> and the dentist recollected that sarah hadn't been feeling well on that last day of her life. >> she had a sore throat. her stomach had been bothering

her during the. day >> she was still feeling crummy later that evening when she spoke to a friend. >> she had a headache and the back of her neck was hurting. she sounded tired and she did it sound like she felt very good. >> sarah turning off the day a retreating to her bathtub. that sounded just like the sarah they knew. >> she would always leave our house and say she had to get home because she had to take her bat. >> and sarah dozing off in the tub was a -- as a friend from childhood days was very familiar days. >> she had fallen asleep in the back to before. we had talked about that because i had fallen asleep in the bathtub before, to. the >> sleeping habits. the headaches. the defense claim they could very well have been the symptoms of an underlying and potentially fatal condition that went undetected. something and otherwise healthy young woman wouldn't take all that serious. and even with all their scientific argument, sometimes pathologists simply cannot see why it person dies. the doctor who specializes in

emergency medicine testified and unexplained deaths occur far more often that many of us would guess. >> nationwide, there are approximately 300,000 episodes of sudden death per year. and of those episodes of sudden death, one to 2% occur in young people. but one third of those in young people that die have normal autopsies. >> in other words, people sometimes just die. their autopsies may never reveal the cause. but the issue that might decide the case was the observation by the arriving officers and emts of dam here, and dry body. what looks suspicious was easily explainable said the defense. here simply stays wet longer. >> if they get out of the swimming food or bathtub, your skin dries before. >> yes. the >> defense told a court you have to look at the elapsed time of the incident. the defense claim that sarah's body dried off in the time between ryan for speaking to the 9-1-1 dispatcher and when

the police officer arrived. and will about the fingers and toes that should have been pruned up but weren't? well, no one knows what time sarah got into the top. >> we don't know if she was prepping in front of the mirror. we don't know any of this. staff >> and by the way, suggested the defense, you can't have it both ways with the dry bathroom theory. if ryan had killed sarah in the small bathroom, there's also should have been water splashed everywhere. >> there was a violent struggle there would be water on the floor, the counter, the walls, everywhere. her and if they want to claim that there was a stage scene where he cleaned up the water, then where is the wet towel? >> and investigators looked for wet towels. in the drier, even in the garage. nothing. and say for arguments say there had been a struggle. do you think ryan would've scrap stopped a series of fought her life. but ryan didn't have a mark on him. >> how would sarah have reacted if she was being attacked? >> sarah it was a very spunky

person. she was small in stature. probably five foot one eye. think she weighed around 140 pounds. she was at frail by any stretch of the imagination. she was a strong girl. >> so she would have gone for attacker? >> eiffel heartedly believe. yes. >> and sarah's french manicure was in pristine condition when the emts found her. no sound sign a. fighting >> there was no damage to the nails. >> she had beautiful french manicure nails. none of them were damaged at all. she didn't have skin from ryan underneath her. >> and the very notion of ryan attacking sarah is preposterous, say they're. france >> ryan is a lot like my husband chris and. the aspect of when there is an argument chris just says, okay what can we do to fix it, and let's move. on and that's kind of how ryan was. >> and as far as accounting for their bruise noted to her neck and scalp, the defense said they were certainly caused by the emts working on sarah. >> you have about 45 minutes of

resuscitation. not five, not ten, 45 minutes. >> it looked perfectly consistent to this urgency room doctor an, expert for the defense. i >> was not surprised at the on the injuries at all based on the prolonged cpr and the

>> the jurors were hard at work. they asked for the tub where sarah had been found dead to be brought to them in the jury room. by the second day, ryan's defense attorney was getting anxious. >> when they're out more than 20 hours, it's clear that somebody is saying that this isn't as

straightforward as it seems. >> correct. >> but the prosecutors weren't worried by the long jury deliberation. >> we knew it was going to be a lot of evidence to weigh. >> they had two counts to died. count one, aggravated murder. and count two, nonpremeditated

for ryan widmer. the jury did not believe that he killed his wife with premeditation. but he still faced the second count. >> the verdict reached we the jury in this case find the defendant ryan widmer is guilty of the lesser included offense of murder -- >> guilty. the jury had decided that ryan widmer did indeed murder his wife, sarah. >> mr. whitmer is there anything you wish to say? >> they accused, and now the convicted, kiss his wedding ring and then address the court for the first time. he hadn't taken the stand as was his right. >> i love my wife. i did not hurt her. i was never given a chance. the day after she passes away, they charged me with murder. if i had an answer, i would give the answer to what happened to her. i can't. i was not in the bathroom with her. >> he was very upset.

he doubled over. wouldn't address the court. that surprised that he was outspoken as he was. but he indicated to the judge and everybody that he loved sarah. he would never have hurt her. >> i love my wife and i did not hurt her. >> coming up. something amiss in the jury. she said that to her three of the female jurors had done home experiments where they had showered and then air-dried. >> when dateline continues. so with your home & auto bundle, you'll save money and get round-the-clock protection. -sounds great. -sure does. shouldn't something, you know, wacky be happening right now? we thought people could use a break. we've all been through a lot this year. -that makes sense. -yeah.

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ryan widmer had been convicted of murdering his wife sarah and given the mandatory sentence, 15 years to life in prison. he was cuffed and moved to a holding cell. >> he stopped next to me and said can i say good-bye to my mom. they said, no, just keep moving.

>> how difficult was that? >> beyond difficult. >> dana, who had set up her friend with her college roommate, was devastated. >> she wasn't murdered. one of my best friends. >> there isn't a whisper of doubt that said my best friend may have been killed by this -- >> absolutely not. >> as close as you were, you still defend him? >> i do. ♪ our grace will lead us all ♪ my impression was that the community was stunned by the verdict. ♪ amazing grace ♪ >> the verdict was so unpopular in the court of public opinion that candlelight vigils were staged to protest the jury vote. >> there has never been a case where hundreds of americans come out of their homes carrying candlelights to listen to prayers about a condemned, convicted killer. it's never happened before. >> talk radio host bill cunningham, a lawyer by

training, regards himself as a hang 'em high conservative. but even he felt this was a case of justice denied. >> judging this case against a hundred other murder trials, this is one of the flimsiest and one of the weakest i've ever seen. >> my name is mike, i'm the creator of the website. >> someone out there following the trial was mike, a young newlywed himself and a web page designer. even though he never met ryan, he so believed in his innocence that he launched a free ryan widmer website. >> the goal is for him to get a new trial. if he doesn't get a new trial, i believe it's going to outrage a lot of people. >> angry citizens, taxpayers, voters. even though the trial was over, the prosecution hadn't entirely called it quits. in their post-verdict victory lap, they spoke of things the judge had not allowed the jury to hear. before she died, they say ryan

had visited a site called adult friend finder, an organization that bills itself as the world's largest site for swingers. >> if they were such a happy couple, why was somebody on the computer surfing for a hookup spot. that makes no sense to me. >> the judge had not allowed the web surfing or other pornography found on the computer they found on the computer to be introduced as evidence since there was no way to know if sarah knew about it. but was it a sign, as the detective thought, that their marriage was not has anticipate as friends and family believed? >> my understanding that some of these sites supposedly that he visited ended up being pop-ups on a computer. i'm not the most computer literate person, but i don't think the full story was told there either. and i don't understand, if they got the verdict they want, why they have to continue to attack my son and my family. >> and ryan's mother said if the couple had fought over anything,

the family would have known. sarah, always outspoken, wasn't the type to suffer in silence. >> sarah told everybody, she's a chatty person, she had just been with her family for an entire weekend without ryan being there. if there were any problems, believe me, they all would have known it and i probably would have known it because sarah probably would have called and yelled at me about something that my son was doing that wasn't nice to her. >> but none of that mattered now. the jury had spoken and the defense lawyer still couldn't get over the guilty verdict. >> it was awful. it was on my shoulders. it was my duty to get a proper verdict and i failed. >> ryan had become more than a client to him. >> i absolutely believed him. i had him to my home, i had him around my wife and kids. there was no question in my mind he was innocent. innocent. >> he did what lawyers often do after losing a case. he wrote a motion to have the judge let ryan go free or order a new trial.

a long shot. ryan was in prison and would likely stay there. >> it's been a roller coaster ride. i can't let my hopes get up. >> he may be in prison 15 years. >> he may be. the appeals process can take forever. >> in fact, as ryan widmer got processed, it was far from over. the day after the defense attorney filed his motion, his fax machine spit out some shocking information. >> as we speak, it isn't the end of things. >> that's correct. >> the fax was a letter from a juror. >> he was having problems living with himself. he said it was a moral dilemma for him to allow it just to go without bringing it up to somebody's attention. >> the juror claimed there had been forbidden monkey business during deliberations, monkey business over nothing less than the biggest issue in the trial. damp head, dry body. >> he said that two or three of

the female jurors had done home experiments where they had showered and air dried. >> they were testing out this theory of how quickly the body dries coming out of the tub or shower? >> yes. >> at home? >> at home. >> if the faxing juror was correct, the panel had directly violated the judge's instructions to consider only what they had heard in court. the allegation was jury misconduct, a serious matter. attorney mark godsey runs the ohio innocence project. he saw the juror letter as a way to persuade the judge to grant ryan a new trial. >> it's unusual for a juror to come forward and say the jurors had violated the rules and performed experiments and brought that into the deliberations. >> the judge began reviewing affidavits from the jurors about just what went on during the deliberations. in one of those sworn statements, a juror said of those taboo home experiments, the times to air dry influenced my decision. >> jurors are not supposed to go home and do experiments.

>> in the end, the judge agreed. four months after ryan widmer's conviction, he ruled that the husband would get another trial. the not guilty verdict on the aggravated murder count, however, would remain. so the prosecution could only retry him on the second count of unpremeditated murder. his mother scraped together enough cash to post the $400,000 bond for him. ryan was released from prison. by then he had already spent five months behind bars. >> the quest for justice can deplete both bank accounts and emotions. >> yes. >> how far are you prepared to go? >> i'm prepared to go to the day i die, if i have to live on the street in a cardboard box at the end of this, i'll do what it takes to get my son out of this. >> ryan and his family ended up not only at the brink of financial bankruptcy but also at the edge of emotional collapse. >> he says he can't sleep. he says he sees her when he closes his eyes. >> he misses her. he still wears his wedding ring. >> everything in brian's life was spiraling downward.

he lost his job after the guilty verdict and was left to do odd jobs for supporters. the house he and sarah bought together went into foreclosure. now another jury would be asked to peer inside the mystery of a marriage and decide what happened behind those closed doors on cressed owl court. the prosecutors would have to convince another jury that ryan widmer had killed his wife. it's got to be hugely frustrating. you got a guilty verdict, you've got to do it over again. >> on the other hand, we knew how a jury would react to our evidence. >> on the other side of the coin, the defense has seen your case. >> they certainly have. >> and they can now counterpunch. >> and we can't change it very much. >> ryan widmer trial, take two. a new jury makes a dramatic >> imagine them interacting with him. >> a new jury makes a dramatic return to the scene of the drowning. and later, ryan widmer tells his own story. did you kill your wife, sarah? >> no, i did not.

i couldn't hurt sarah emotionally let alone physically. >> you're saying you're wrongly convicted? >> i'm 100% wrongfully convicted. i'm going to fight until it's made right. >> when "dateline" continues.

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♪♪ a little more than a year after a jury found ryan widmer guilty of murder, only to have the verdict thrown out, it would start over again. this time a new defense team would take over ryan's case. defense lawyers jay clark and lindsay gutierrez worried that even though they were starting the trial with a clean slate of jurors, the verdict from the first trial would still hang over the accused. >> he's still innocent until proven guilty. everyone thinks and knows he was proven guilty. >> across the courtroom, the prosecution team was the same. it would hammer home the argument that a healthy

24-year-old woman just does not die alone in a bathtub. >> did you see any evidence that sarah suffered a seizure that caused her death by drowning? >> no. >> sarah's body dry to the touch, the officers and emts testified. and the bathroom where her husband lifted her soaking body out of the tub was also not wet. >> towels, a rug, magazines, all appeared to be dry. >> the juror would again hear the 911 call that to the prosecution's ears, sounded odd. >> i just came up here and she was laying face down in the bathtub. >> the message was, my wife's dead and i wasn't around when it happened. >> but unlike the first trial, the defense lawyers asked to take the jurors to the home where ryan and sarah had lived to inspect for themselves the very bathroom where she died. the lawyers had made a pretrial visit. >> the first thing we said was, man, this is small. >> they wanted the jurors to see for themselves that this was a cramped space in a modest

builder's home. >> imagine ryan at 6'2" and sarah, 5'1", 5'2", and imagine them interacting in here. >> it was such a small bathroom, a defense expert argued, that if there had been a violent struggle, both husband and wife would have shown more obvious bruises and scratches. >> i would have expected to see more injury if a violent struggle 4 occurred. >> but the prosecutors argued that widmer, in an explosion of anger, could have overtaken his wife so quickly that she would have had no time to fight back. and in their closing arguments, they told the jurors that ryan widmer not only killed his wife but also delayed calling 911 to buy time to cover up his crime. >> things looked so nice because ryan widmer had the opportunity to reset the scene. he had time to put things back into place. >> but ryan's defense lawyers were hopeful this jury would see the case the way they did. an innocent man on trial for a

murder he did not commit. >> absolutely believe him. no doubt in my mind. >> the case was given to jury number two. and it seemed as though everyone in cincinnati was on the edge of their seat, waiting for its decision. but three days into deliberations, nothing. the jurors asked to see the judge. >> there's an impasse. >> he sent them back to deliberate some more. >> it is desirable that the case be decided. >> it was turning out to be the longest deliberation in warren county history. as the jurors left for a long holiday weekend, the specter of a mistrial hung in the air. >> dana and chris again waited with ryan. >> we have to make sure he knows we're here. that's what we do as friends, support him and be hopeful and have the faith that this is going to turn out the way that it's meant to turn out. >> the jury returned to work on tuesday morning. but at 5:00 p.m. on the fourth day of deliberations, they asked to see the judge again.

>> the note reads, we have decided that we cannot agree and further deliberations will not serve any purpose. >> a hung jury. no verdict. by best count, they were deadlocked seven guilty, one undecided, four not guilty. at a press conference, ryan's parents vowed to stand by their son. they had already spent more than a half million dollars on his defense, tapping out bank accounts and retirement plans. >> we know he's innocent and we'll do whatever it takes. >> we'll move forward. >> ryan's dad gary was firmly behind his son. but in another odd twist, it had taken ryan's arrest to reunite the pair. he had been out of his son's life for 13 years, the consequence of a bitter divorce. he hadn't even known there was a sarah until he learned his son had been charged with her murder. father was reintroduced to son while ryan was in jail. >> this is the first meeting you've had with your boy in a long, long time. >> through a glass wall. >> he's on the other side of the

glass and you're talking through one of those phone devices. >> mm-hmm. >> that's kind of a hard thing to take right there. >> it was. it was hard but so sweet to see him. >> a poignant reunion, father and son. and a father who completely believes in his son's innocence and would will anything to help. >> if there's any avenue to take, you have to take it. it's my son. you have to take it. >> your son didn't do it. sarah widmer died for reasons unknown. >> yes. >> give yourself a round of applause. >> beyond ryan's family and close friends standing behind him, it was a case that had galvanized a personal army. there were free ryan widmer t-shirts and wrist bands. >> he was getting a lot of support -- >> including an anonymous donor said to contribute $60,000. a stranger. >> yes. >> even the prosecutors were a bit worried. so much taxpayer money would be spent on a third trial. so many ryan widmer supporters beating very loud drums. a plea deal was floated.

>> we felt it was a subject worth bringing up. >> but the kists said there was no way ryan was taking a deal. >> they offered him a plea, which they hadn't done in two trials. >> and he turned it down? >> of course he turned it down, he says i'm innocent, why would i admit to something i would never have done that i did not do? >> ryan widmer was gambling that the next jury would acquit him. but his roll of the dice was taking its toll not just on him but on his family as well. ryan's mom made headlines when she was stopped for drunk driving. she had pleaded not guilty to the driving under the influence charge. but police say they found two open bottles of vodka in her car. >> she broke down, hospitalized. a terrible toll on her. i lived with it. many times all the three of us are together, and you could just feel her going deeper and deeper into this. >> but it seemed for every person that came out to support

ryan widmer, there were those who believed just as strongly on the other side that he had deliberately drowned his wife. one of those people would soon change everything. ten days after the jury deadlocked, a phone rang in the prosecutors' office. it was a woman with a hand grenade of a story. someone came forward and said this guy confessed to me. >> we want to find out more what she has to say and what she knows about this. >> the prosecutors came away convinced they had the long missing pieces of the puzzle. both a confession and a motive. jay clark, the defense attorney, would have to worry overtime about the state's new bombshell of a witness. did you guys know what they had up their sleeve? >> no -- >> literally no. >> because the new witness feared for her life, saying that ryan widmer had threatened her, her identity would not be disclosed to the defense team until the beginning of the trial. and trial three would begin with virtually everyone holding their breath. who was this person and what did she know? coming up --

>> she strolls in wearing a suit with decently done hair, normal make-up. >> the mystery witness takes the stand, and what a story she has to tell. >> sarah had found out he had cheated on her when she went away with her mom. she said they were arguing about this pornography. >> but why there story now? >> i saw the sadness and the pain and the hurt in her mom's face. and i'm a mom, and i couldn't do that to them anymore. they needed to know the truth. >> when "dateline" continues. -hey shaq. -oh hey. remember when you kept saying we should check out the general for auto insurance, and we thought you were out of your mind, so we buried you in cement? kinda rings a bell. turns out you were right about the general, we just misjudged them based on their commercials.

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free premium delivery when you add a base. ends monday hello. i'm dara brown. president biden met with the south korean president on friday. it was aimed to renew the commitment to denuclearize the peninsula. earlier in the day, both leaders attended a medal of

honor ceremony for lieutenant colonel ralph puckett for his service in the korean war. he was wounded after repeatedly exposing himself to enemy fire to protect his men during an attack. now back to "dateline." ♪♪ >> mr. widmer is there anything you want to say? >> the first trial ended in a guilty verdict. the second in a hung jury. would the next jury reach a verdict? these three jurors from the last trial said the prosecutors failed to convince them that ryan widmer had killed his wife. >> there's just nothing to prove to me he had anything to do with her death. >> and the next group of jurors would also not be able to reach a unanimous decision.

>> we sat in jury deliberations for 36 hours. the likelihood of 12 jurors coming to the same conclusion was very unlikely. >> we really didn't think that another jury would not be deadlocked. >> they would soon find out. ryan widmer's extraordinary third trial for the murder of his wife was about to start all over again. the prosecutors felt it was their duty to argue their case for sarah. >> we're committed to seeing that justice is done for the victim of this case. and that's what we've got to think about. >> it promised to be a judicial groundhog day. repeat testimony from the emts and arriving officers at the widmer home. the oddity of a bathtub drowning victim with a damp head and dry body. a 911 call that to some listeners volunteered too much. and injuries to the wife's neck and head that spoke to the prosecutors of homicide and not resuscitation. >> the facts which came out in this case gave rise to the idea that there had been an assault that occurred which progressed into an instance of domestic violence. >> and this time, sarah's own mother described the couple's

relationship as more tense than she had in the previous trials, telling the court that ryan and sarah's arguments made her very uncomfortable. >> they would just call each other names and get hateful with each other. i told them, you guys have to stop, i can't take it. >> but what was really new and stunning, was something that haunted the defense since they learned about it the previous summer, the prosecution's mystery witness who would testify that ryan had confessed to the crime. it was a woman named jennifer crew from iowa. it was the first time the defense would get a look at this person that ryan had allegedly confessed to. and they worried. >> she strolls in wearing a suit, decently done hair, wearing makeup. >> how did this woman who lived 500 miles away from ryan widmer have such a starring role? it turned out she watched "dateline," of the first trial. that "dateline" segment aired in

2009. after watching the show, she sent ryan an e-mail telling him how bad she felt about his plight. >> i felt sorry for ryan. i asked him what i could do to help him. >> before long, the two were in frequent touch. >> struck up e-mail, texts, ultimately a phone relationship. >> correct. >> as the relationship continued, ryan sent her photos of his dogs and asked her to send him a picture of herself. initially she sent this one of a friend. she says things got a little racy on the phone. >> he told me he was watching porn in his mom's basement. >> there was even talk of jennifer visiting ryan in ohio for a three-way. >> ryan asked me to ask my friend and i said i would. >> but the reason jennifer was on the stand was to testify about one phone conversation in particular. one very different than their usual banter. it was october 26th, 2009. jennifer said she had been asleep when ryan called. it sounded to her as though he had been drinking. >> he was crying. and he was saying, i did it.

i did it. i killed sarah. i did it. i thought what he meant was that he didn't do enough to save her life that night. he said, no, jen, listen to me, i did it. >> she said ryan told her it had started with a fight between the two of them. >> sarah had found out that he had cheated on her when she went away with her mom. he said that they were in the living room and they were arguing about his pornography. >> what happened when she came upstairs? >> she was getting ready for the bath. ryan said that the argument continued, said he couldn't open do it anymore, and that the marriage was over. >> ryan, she testified, then told sarah -- >> nobody leaves me, nobody ever leaves me, and i mean nobody. >> that's when jennifer crew says ryan hit his wife. >> she fell backwards and hit her head. he said, jen, i blacked out, i blacked out. >> but why this story now? jennifer crew waited until

almost two weeks after the second jury had deadlocked before coming forward, even though ryan had allegedly confessed to her eight months earlier. she said she had promised ryan she would not reveal his secret and said she was unnerved when he gave her a veiled threat. >> i promised him i would never tell anybody. he said, i hope not, i don't want you to be where sarah is at. >> but she said she thought the jury like the first one would have convicted ryan. when they didn't, she contacted authorities after seeing pictures of sarah's mother. >> i saw the sadness and pain and hurt in her mom's face. i'm a mom, i couldn't do that to them anymore. they needed to know the truth. >> "dateline" returns after the break. sh so, everyone is right. it's got to be tide.

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♪♪ surprise prosecution witness

jennifer crew had just taken the stand, and her story was a lot to absorb. ryan confessing, fighting with a wife who was leaving him, blacking out in the bathroom. would the jurors believe any or all of it? the defense had to make certain they didn't. but they were worried that they might. >> i think she had invented this story and started to live it and really wanted to believe it. >> so they aimed for the jugular. could this woman be trusted? >> she had a jaded past. theft convictions, stealing. that's not something that an honest, credible person does. >> a one-time bartender at a strip club who managed the dancers, jennifer crew admitted to misdemeanor brushes with the law. >> you were convicted of theft? >> yes, sir. >> you were also convicted of fraudulent practices, correct? >> i believe that's when my record states. >> she was also in a methadone treatment program for her addiction to painkillers. >> you were using oxycontin for approximately five years? >> about five years, yes. >> you've used false names to

get drugs? >> yes, i did. >> the defense indicated because of her addiction to drugs, her memory was not to be trusted. >> when detectives talked to you, you told them that your memory is not very good, didn't you? >> i don't recall saying that. >> do you remember telling them, i don't remember exactly verbatim the conversation between you and ryan? >> i do not remember the conversation verbatim. >> the defense hammered on her confusion on what hour the phone call came through, even the day it was placed. >> when investigators met with you, you told them the call was in the middle of the night. >> i was asleep and i thought that the call came in later than it did. >> everything critical in terms of time, duration, any memory about the call, was all different once she got to testify, but only after she saw her phone records. >> after jennifer crew stepped down, the prosecution called the woman's fiance to try to undo any damage to her testimony caused by the defense. he confirmed that she related the alleged confessional phone call to him immediately after hanging up that night.

>> she came downstairs crying, she's like, he did it. she was scared, actually. she was upset. >> if the jury believed jennifer crew's story, ryan widmer was sunk. so the defense called a witness that refute the iowa woman's story that night about the emotional call from ryan. it was another woman who had become interested in ryan widmer's case after seeing our first "dateline" report. melissa walker from seattle, like jennifer from ohio, struck up a phone and e-mail relationship with ryan in 2009, she said was she drawn to the case after the death of her sister-in-law. >> how often do you think you guys talked? >> three times a week. ti sometimes more, sometimes less. he talked about sarah a lot, he was having a hard time accepting everything. >> she flew to ohio to visit a friend and go with another supporter to a bowling fundraiser organized for widmer's defense. she even made this video tribute

to ryan and sarah that she posted on youtube. melissa's husband supported her friendship with ryan. >> was it a little out there? yeah. but i'm so comfortable with her and our relationship that without a shadow of a doubt, i was 100% behind her. >> i did feel strongly about supporting him. there's just no chance that he had anything to do with it. >> but the importance of the seattle woman's story for the defense was that she too had a lengthy phone call with ryan that finished six minutes before he called jennifer crew in iowa. the call in which he allegedly confessed to killing his wife. melissa walters said ryan was perfectly composed when she spoke to him for two hours that night. >> how do you know he was not drunk, not upset? >> every phone conversation i've had, he has never been intoxicated or emotionally distraught. all the times i talked to him, he was never drunk or upset. >> melissa was convinced that

jennifer crew with made up the whole story. >> i was shocked that somebody would go under oath and lie on the stand. >> but still, had the defense paid a price by putting yet another woman on the stand? >> is there risk for you about these women getting involved with ryan widmer? >> it's easy to get sucked into that. i think you have to understand what ryan has been going through. he's never been able to grieve for sarah, he's never been able to mourn properly for her. it was companionship. >> it was time to wrap up trial number three. the prosecutor saying it was a sudden violent murder. >> anybody who's been in a relationship knows that sometimes things go off, they snap, for no good reason. i think something like that happened. at some point ryan saw that his perfect marriage was falling apart and that's what led us here. >> the defense arguing a medically undetermined death by natural causes. >> it's probably going to bother me for the rest of my life, what

happened to sarah, we'll never know though. >> sarah had drowned. but how? a third jury retired for deliberations. coming up. >> he was just telling me how much he loved sarah, and he could never ever love another woman as much as he loved her. i think i started crying because i felt so bad for him. >> another stunner. a new sarah enters ryan's life. do you live ryan? >> i love him. yes. >> just who is she? later, ryan tells all. >> she's awesome. so loving, caring. there's similarities i see in sarah my wife as i see in sarah now. >> you guys kept it secret, didn't you? >> oh, yeah, i knew they would try to make it into something negative. >> when "dateline" continues.

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♪♪ the jury had been out for a day. again, it seemed everyone in cincinnati was waiting for a verdict. while widmer still had a number of ardent supporters, trial watchers say this time things were changing in the court of public opinion. >> you have a candlelight vigil for him now, and you could probably hold it in a phone booth. >> one strong voice that had turned against widmer was radio talk show host bill cunningham. he was disgusted saying widener had exploited the free ryan

widmer website. >> he used it to pick up chicks. instead of using it to get evidence, he was using it to get hot babes. >> it sounds like it fell apart for you on the character issue. >> it did. for me, by the third trial, the facts incident change, but the wallpaper of the case changed. >> day two in the courthouse was going round and round. >> my stomach was cramping. my shoulders were starting. i felt awful. >> i was nauseous. i hadn't felt that way for 20 years. >> the jurors were working their way through the evidence. they parsed the 911 call. >> my wife fell asleep in the bathtub, i think she's dead. >> the more you listen to it, the more and more it starts to sound like it was staged. >> there was sarah's body. officers testified it was too dry. >> 2 1/2 minutes later after being removed from a tub, you would expect a body to be wet. >> the alleged confession as recounted by jennifer crew. >> i just don't believe anything she said. >> the prints in the tub. >> under normal circumstances

you cannot leave those kind of fingertips on the side of a tub trailing down. >> the bruising to sarah. >> i think both the defense and the prosecution put up good arguments about that. that that's teetering on a razor's edge with me. >> at the end of the second day, they took their one and only vote. they had a verdict. a blast of calls went out. the kists grabbed a stunned ryan. >> we immediately jumped in the car, ryan said i can't believe they're back so soon, i'm worried. >> when everyone was back in the courtroom, the judge asked for the jury ballot. anxious? >> very. sick. >> ryan widmer stood with his lawyers. his life hanging in the balance. >> i can actually hear ryan shaking. i can hear it. it's that silent in there and he's that nervous. >> the verdict. >> we the jury in this case find the defendant ryan widmer is guilty of murder.

>> guilty. ryan dropped his head to the table. >> he was hysterical. he was crying. he was a mess. >> a bad, bad, bad dream. >> ryan composed himself enough to proclaim to the court his innocence. >> judge, i did not do this. i don't know why this has to keep going on. my life has been ruined. i love sarah. i would never have hurt her. never. >> outside the court, ryan's father gary slumped to the ground. the son he was recently reunited with after years apart taken from him again. >> it was a horrifying moment. i think it just totally caught up with me at that point, the whole total shock. i just went weak. >> ryan widmer for the second time was given the mandatory sentence, 15 years to life. as court officers handcuffed him and led him away, few people were aware of a young woman on his side of the benches, crying. this is also a sarah. sarah manhurst. she's another twist in the story that has had so many.

>> do you love ryan widmer? >> i love him, yeah. >> sarah wore an engagement ring and is the mother of ryan's son, born in the summer after trial number two. >> what did you name the baby? >> his name is ryan. >> you see ryan's face in the baby's? >> yeah. >> sarah, a canadian via new york, like jennifer from iowa and melissa from seattle, also became aware of ryan after our first "dateline" program on the case aired back in 2009. >> i thought that he was railroaded. i really did. >> she sent an e-mail to ryan saying how sorry she felt with him. he sent one back. soon they were talking on the phone. a little more than a month later, sarah came to cincinnati to visit ryan. she stayed at his mother's house. >> i thought it was a little awkward, because we had talked on the phone but hadn't met. he was telling me how much he loved sarah and could never love another woman as much as he loved her.

i think i started crying because i felt so bad for him. >> sarah went back to new york and three weeks later returned to cincinnati as ryan's guest at his mother's thanksgiving dinner. that was the weekend they became intimate. >> the first time we were together i got pregnant. >> how did ryan take the news? >> he was shocked. obviously very bad timing. >> they kept the pregnancy a secret, as ryan's second trial would take place the following may. >> i decided, yeah, i was going to have the baby. and he was okay with that. but it was just difficult, because i'm thinking, here i am pregnant, and you're facing another trial, and my child could potentially grow up without a father, which -- [ crying ] -- now he's in jail. >> with ryan sentenced to 15 years to life, sarah is raising their son.

>> i'm still in shock. i can't believe this happened to him. >> if in your own mind you couldn't get to beyond reasonable doubt, if there was a sliver of doubt that he had done this thing, would you have stayed? >> never. i would never have stayed with him. there's no way he could have done this, ever. >> but had he? in the course of three trials, played out before three juries, ryan widmer's guilt or innocence has been passionately debated. he is now telling his story. widmer speaks from prison, when we return. >> did you kill your wife sarah? coming up -- >> you think they fabricated this? >> i know they did. >> why would they lie? emts and police officers done even work for the same agency. this young husband is about to make a startling claim. when "dateline" continues.

this is ryan widmer's story as he tells it. he remembers a loving relationship with his wife sarah that was right from the first date. >> we hit it off perfect. >> was there any friction? >> none whatsoever. >> everything was cool? >> perfect. perfect. >> he only had one worry about sarah. >> my biggest problem with her was her sleep. she would work a regular day and need to be going to bed early or taking a nap. i just thought something wasn't healthy about it. you're 24 years old. >> but still he says they fell into their everyday lives, their jobs, walking the dog, building a deck on their house. all routine, he says, until that august night. sarah had come home from work, he says, with a headache. they had dinner, watched tv. >> she's what? >> laying on the couch. >> because she doesn't feel so hot? >> she says her neck is killing her, she's going to get in the bath and go to bed. >> ryan says he stayed downstairs and watched the game

until he, too, was ready for bed. upstairs to the master bedroom and bath. tell me what you see, just like a videotape recording. >> i walk in the room. i walk over to the nightstand. and i put some things down, turn on the tv. and then i walked in the bathroom. that's when i saw sarah, i knew something wasn't right. she was just unconscious. >> how did you see her? >> her head was just underneath the water. i don't even remember. >> was she face down in the tub as you told 911? >> all i remember, yeah, just finding her. i mean, i knew it wasn't good. she was laying in the water. i don't know what else to say other than it wasn't right. the only thing i remember certain things because of what i heard on the 911 tape. >> it's such a shocking image, you would think you would remember. >> i wasn't thinking i would have to remember. what did i see, what did i do? >> head, nose, under the water? >> everything, yeah. >> what did you do next? >> i tried to get a reaction out of her, nothing. >> that's when he says he called 911. >> my wife fell asleep in the

bathtub, and i think she's dead. >> when you chose that word, i think she fell asleep. >> it's not about choosing a word, it's about what i said. her whole sleeping issue or whatever, i don't know. >> they would say that 911 call is suspicious because this guy is giving us too much information. he's telling us he's downstairs, he's giving us too much information, she's upstairs. do you know why you told them you were downstairs watching the game? >> i was watching the football game. i don't know what they wanted me to they will them. >> maybe just get an ambulance here quick. >> i don't know. i called and that's what i said. i don't know. >> prosecutors say the first arriving officer was at the house no more than six minutes after the 911 call was answered and less than three minutes after ryan lifted sarah's body out of the tub. the observations of the arriving officer, what do we have here, why is this woman's hair damp and her body dry? >> yeah, well -- >> it doesn't make sense, ryan. >> i understand that. >> how do you explain it?

>> how do i explain it? i left the house and there was cops there by themselves and they came up with the story they came up with. >> you think they fabricated this? >> i know they did. >> you think they wanted to make a case here? >> i know they did. why would they arrest me the day after if they didn't want to make a case? >> why would they have it in for you? why would they lie? emts and police officers don't even work for the same agency. >> they clearly do when they get up to testify, they're clearly coached in what to say. >> what about the story of the woman who says ryan confessed to her that he killed sarah? >> listen to me, i did it. >> here's jennifer crew from iowa on the stand saying he called me one night, he was sloppy, and he confessed to me. >> right. >> jennifer, i did it. i'm telling you i did it. >> mm-hmm. >> did that conversation happen? >> nope. it never happened. >> jennifer crew's story is made up? >> 100% made up. >> the same goes, ryan told us, for sarah's mother's testimony about hearing hateful

arguments between the couple. >> they would just call each other names. >> she's a liar. >> sarah's mom is making this stuff up? >> we were never mean to each other. never. >> a one-time mother-in-law from an earlier life who he says is embellishing the reality of his marriage. now ryan widmer has a baby with a new sarah. >> she's awesome, so loving, caring. there are similarities i see in sarah, my wife, as i see with sarah now. >> you guys kept it secret? >> oh, yeah. because i knew they would try to make it into something negative. >> in that court of public opinion, the women from far away places, iowa, seattle, new york, who became involved in his case, didn't go down well with everyone. a character issue. we talked to somebody who says you're abusing the free ryan widmer website as a dating service, just a way to meet women. >> that's not true. i don't know who said that, but it's not true. >> but investigators wondered how good the marriage really was based on what they found on widmer's computer. >> did you have an unhealthy addiction to porn? >> no.

>> you looked at porn? >> yes. >> ryan says that dose enmean anything, and that certainly doesn't make him a murderer. did you kill your wife sarah? >> no, i did not. i couldn't hurt sarah either emotionally let alone physically. >> she didn't get in your face and say she's leaving you? >> no. nope. >> didn't happen? >> didn't happen. >> you were watching the ball game, went upstairs and found her in a bad situation? >> yeah. >> that's it? >> that's it. >> you're saying that's why she died? >> yeah. >> and you didn't put her head under the water? >> no. >> you say you're wrongly convicted? >> i'm 100% wrongfully convicted. >> and the 30 jurors or more found you guilty after hearing the story? >> yes. >> they're not getting it? >> they're not getting it at all. >> these jurors from his third trial are confident they got it right. they say among other things, it came down to what they saw as sarah's too-dry body, oddities in the 911 call, prints on the tub, and the unlikeliness of an out of the blue medical event striking sarah in the bath. >> i went into it believing he

was innocent. but everything that was put together with the evidence came down with four or five facts that we could not deny. we believe he intentionally drowned her. >> and the guilt of ryan widmer will also never be doubted by the prosecutors. >> do you believe he actually did this thing? >> absolutely. she was murdered. >> and he killed her. >> and he was the only one who could have done it. >> ryan widmer lost a federal appeal in february of 2017. >> i'm not letting this stand. i'm going to fight this until it's made right. >> the passage of time hasn't made the events inside the little house on crested owl court any clearer. and time, of course, brings changes. sarah manners and ryan are no longer a couple. but she told us she still believes in his innocence. and more change. his mother jill passed away. nothing, it seems, stays quite the same except the central mystery itself.

and that will likely be argued for years still to come. i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." he was definitely charismatic. >> he was the new kid in town. all about adventure. >> this kid was like, awesome. >> he just jumped right into the culture. >> kind of liked to show off a little bit to the girls. >> they were neighbors just down the block. a family in fear. >> they had had their vehicles broken into. >> she was scared. z z >> someone had been sneaking into their home, and now someone was in their garage. >> i'm sitting there panicking. like, he's coming at me. >> in a flash, it was over.