>> she answered the phone call her, text messages. i could see that the windowpane was broken. the glass was on the ground. >> a valentine's day that started with roses and ended in a different shade of red. >> everything stopped. i was just in shock. >> we knew that there was somebody bad out there doing something. >> she was a wife, a mother, a missionary. >> to me, it sounds like a state. >> she probably was. >> but something had been happening behind closed doors. >> there is nothing more important to me than you and this relationship. >> was it love? >> this was his valentine's day present.

>> or hate? >> one shot to the head. >> what was the motive for a valentine's day murder? >> we had a know she had written -- >> she was speaking from the grave. >> that note was powerful. >> it happened on the least likely day imaginable. a day devoted to love and affection. valentine's day. and it happened to the last people on earth you would expect. a religious family dedicated to god and making the world a better place. >> we had a break-in. >> is it going on right now? >> i don't know. the garage doors open. there is glass from the back door where somebody broke in. >> my world had just been shattered. >> they're perfect world broken by and act so evil, it tore a family apart. >> the worst day of my life.

>> and put an entire town on edge. >> the extra extra cautious, locking doors, locking windows. pay attention to strangers in the area. >> they devoted their lives to others. who would ever want to hurt them? >> it's just absolutely a despicable act. >> for a day that ended so tragically, it began in a happy way. with flowers and expressions of love. with nathan and dennis leuthold had met earlier, back in the eighties when they were students at a small baptist school in central illinois. even at that young age, nathan knew there was something to the sparkling little girl. >> i was in third grade and she was in fourth grade at the time. and i doubt she even knew a existed. but even then, i thought she was the cutest girl in school. >> what was it that you liked about her so much? >> it was the curly here and the bouncy curls, and just the happy-go-lucky smile. in junior high, i began to see

her character. and see what kind of person she was that. we >> it was in high school that nathan and denise got to know each other better. but they didn't date, as most teams do. because they both came from religious families. >> our parents didn't really believe in dating. so we are just good friends. i went to her church activities, she came to mind. we saw each other in school. that's how it started. she was my first girlfriend, and i only girlfriend. >> norm junior gotten no nathan and any swell when his wife taught at the high school. death nathan was a basketball player, denise was a cheerleader. >> they were inseparable. they just goof around with each other. just a loving puppy love way. and it just grew into something special between the two of them. and we knew they would be together. >> what's more, with nathan admired denise's parents and was inspired by what he saw as a perfect marriage. >> i looked at denise's mom and i saw what she was as a woman, a wife, a mother. and i saw that denise really

favored her mother. so i said, that's why. want >> for denise's mom, his diane newton, the feeling was mutual. we'll see over all the time? >> yes. he practically lived at our house. >> when denise went off to college in minnesota, nathan, a year younger, soon followed. to no one surprise, the couple got engaged a year later. diane knew it was coming. >> i was surprised when he was the first one that she dated and they ended up getting married. >> that was in july 1995. >> i was always very happy being a wife and mother. so, i was happy for her that she had found someone to love. to share her life with. >> right before we did our vows, denise had peppered a song talking about everything that she had wanted was in me. and that our marriage was going to be the kind that she had always hope for, and dream for as a little child. and it was a wonderful day. >> after the young couple settled in their hometown of peoria, illinois, denise went

to work at an insurance company. while nathan started a career in jails sales. but he couldn't shake a higher calling. for several years he had big dreamed of becoming a baptist missionary. in 1998, they finally seize the opportunity when another young couple at their church began their own missionary work in lithuania. >> i approached the fella and said, what would you think about denise and i coming and helping you guys? he said that would be great. >> they moved in with us for six months. so while their possessions, try to save up money. >> we didn't know any lithuanian at the time. didn't know the language, we were studying it. trying our best. but it was definitely a shock. >> they returned home after a year and sun welcomed a son, seth and a daughter, julia. in 2002, the fan really went back to lithuania, which became their second home on and off for the next eight years. that's a big undertaking -- >> right.

i think it was very hard for denise to leave her family, to leave everything she had known. and to go over to a strange country, you know, with a toddler and a baby. it was traumatic experience for her, i think. >> this is because really, nathan, wanted to do it? >> right. she was supporting him. it was a really her calling. she was basically just being a wife and a mother. >> but denise also became very devoted to the church. there >> denise was very musical and she played the piano for the children, taught them songs. talk a little girls especially, bible. stories >> they grew particularly close to some of the children at their and their families. >> we had helped women who had been in abusive relationships. we had brought several list winnie and students tonight it seized over the years. for cultural reasons, musical purposes. >> their generosity extended to a young lithuanian they had

gone to know well. aina dobilaite. who eventually came to the u.s. as a college student. she even lived with them for a while in peoria. >> nathan has a very big heart for people. he just loves to help people out. and just wants to do the lords work. >> by the fall of 2010, nathan and denise we're living back in the states. by then, they had a third child, jenelle. their days were filled with shuttling kids to school and daycare, and raising funds for their next overseas mission. life with three young kids was busy, hectic, normal. but then came valentine's day, 2013. when nathan pulled into their driveway mid afternoon and discovered something terribly wrong. >> i could see that the windowpane was broken. a glass was on the ground. at that point, i began to put things together that someone had broken into the home. and at that point i called the police, called 9-1-1. >> 9-1-1. where is the emergency?

>> a, we've got a break. in >> a daring burglary in the middle of the day. that would rob this family of everything. coming up -- there would be no more calls, candies or flowers this valentine's day. no one can find denise. >> she hadn't entered her phone calls. she hadn't answered her text messages. >> and what police find is terrifying. >> everything stopped. i just kept looking at my daughter. my world had just been shattered. and i have to tell her at some point. >> when dateline continues. ♪let's make lots of money♪ ♪you've got the brawn♪ ♪i've got the brains♪ ♪let's make lots of♪ ♪uh uh uh♪ ♪oohhh there's a lot of opportunities♪ with allstate, drivers who switched saved over $700. saving is easy when you're in good hands. allstate click or call to switch today.

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overseas as missionaries, the leuthold would return to peoria, illinois. denise, nathan and their three kids. seth, 12, julia, ten and jenelle, were for. we're living with denise is. parents nathan says it felt good to be home. >> we had tremendous friends and family here in the states. and that's always what we miss the most. >> being back in the states also made gave nathan an opportunity travel to churches where he reported on his and denise's missionary work and raise more funds so they could soon return to lithuania. in the u.s., they could also celebrate holidays, american style, as they did on valentine's day, 2013. >> as is our tradition on holidays, easter, christmas, or

birthdays or, valentines -- we started off with first thing in the morning. so, the children had their valentine sack that denise had prepared sitting at the table for them. >> and for his wife? >> well i gave to her was the roses and the card that i had bought the night before in place on the table. >> after the early morning celebration, the family was back to their usual routine. taking the kids to school, shopping, running errands. denise's parents were at work. but that day, something happened that was completely out of character for denise. she failed to pick up julia from school. >> my parents called me, do you want us to pick up her up? >> the i said danny should've been there there. she must of been. late >> turns out no one had been able to reach denise for a while. including nathan. >> she hadn't answered her phone call. she had answered her text messages. i said, just wait for minute. i'll get jenelle from daycare and let you know. and when i picture up from

daycare. they said she still hasn't come, she hasn't called. i said well, i'll run by the house and see if she's there. and as soon as i got to be pulled into the driveway, the garage doors open. >> was that? >> very odd. there's no car in the garage. but the garage door is open. and then as i got we're about halfway into the garage, i could see that the windowpane was broken. the glass was on the ground. at that point, i began to understand that someone had broken into the home. >> did you fear that the person could still be in the house? >> i did. and at that point, i just decided the best thing was to not enter the house. i am not a real confrontational type of person. never been in a fight in my life. if i had to defend my family, i would. but i don't go looking for. i wasn't going to try stopping somebody who is in the house. the police would get them. later >> with his young daughter in the car, nathan backed into the neighbor's driveway across the street, so he could watch the house as he called 9-1-1. >> what's the problem? >> we've got a break in.

>> is it going on right now? >> i don't know. the gradual is open. there is glass from the back door where somebody row in. i've not gone in the house. yet >> nathan waited with his daughter at the neighbor's house, repeatedly calling family members to see if anyone had heard from denise. then the police arrived. >> detectives jason lee and sean curry were among the first on the scene. >> by the time we got here, officers were starting to rope everything off. securing the inside of the house. >> they didn't find an intruder, instead they found something far worse. >> while searching the house, they discovered a female down. that was obviously deceased, in the house. >> 39 year old denise leuthold lying in a pool of blood, had barely made it inside the house, her coat was still on. >> on the other side of their door where we saw him found her laying down. just right in the front door here. >> they quickly determined she had been killed by a single

gunshot to the head. she didn't even have time to take her cool off. her gloves, anything. so when she entered that door, that shot was immediate. >> the weapon appear to be a 40 caliber handgun. but no sign of a gun. >> didn't seem like had denise possibly startled a burglar? >> when we got there, it looked like he interrupted a burglary. when she came home the, house had been ransacked like somebody had broken in through the back door. started going through the house. she had maybe startled a burglar when she came in through the front door. >> well investigators combed the quick the crime scene, nathan anxiously watch the police activity from the house across the street. how did they tell you what they had found? >> the police we're not the first people to tell me. unfortunately, i found out about it through my father. i was calling my dad and dad said well we are on our way. i just heard on the radio.

the local news media just put it on the radio that at your house somebody was shot. >> nathan realized it had to have been denise. when you came to that realization, what is going through your mind? >> everything stopped. i went looking at my four-year-old daughter, who is the image of her mother. curly hair and bouncy step. and i just kept looking at my daughter and i wanted to hug her. i want to just let all of the pain that was associated with knowing. but there she was standing, just smiling. my world had just been shattered.

and i had to tell her at some point. >> denise -- deadly valentine 3--'s had no idea what happened. but she rushed to him when nathan told her they had been a break-in. >> i drove out there, the roads were all real black. was >> that a sick feeling when you see all those? police >> yeah. >> what were you thinking? >> i didn't know what to think. i try to run up there to go to the house and they were like, no you can't going. i'm like well, i just want to know, i just want to know what happened to my daughter. is she in there? where is she? >> they eventually took me downtown and then one of the policeman came in and told me that she had been shot. the worst day of my life. >> now she had to tell her husband, denise father's. >> fell apart, cried. i guess it's every parent's worst nightmare. they have a child taken from them. >> as denise's reeled from their unimaginable loss, this quiet central illinois community was just starting to

grapple with the fall of a murder on valentine's day. >> did you feel like we have a mystery on our hands? we've got to solve? this >> yeah, we knew we had something bad. and we knew that it was going to take a lot of work to get to the point where we knew who done it. >> coming up -- a possible clue. >> and then pulled into our driveway. >> without the headlights on? >> without headlights? >> without the headlights. on >> nathan remember seeing a suspicious car near his house not long before the murder. >> this is kind of weird. pulled in the driveway. i immediately go through -- by the front door and flip the lights on. the car leaves. >> was the killer in that car? when dateline continues. dateline continues.

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denise leuthold, mother of three young children, had been found shot to death in her home in peoria county, illinois. leuthold's friend couldn't comprehend the news. >> who could do this to a great young woman? a family of three children, great husband. >> nathan said when he lost denise, he lost his foundation. >> my wife, my best friend from third grade, the mother of the three most important children in the world to me. how do i function now without her? >> with the house now a crime scene, nathan went with detectives to the police station where they asked him if he could think of any reason his family would be targeted.

>> do you have any personal problems with anybody? >> no. >> does your wife? >> no. >> was there anything of extreme value? >> in the house? >> in your room, in that room in particular. >> i had to watches. a couple hundred dollar watches. nothing -- >> but about money? >> no. >> a laptop, digital camera, and jewelry had been stolen. two guns had also been taken including a 40 caliber glut, the same caliber used to kill denise, had the intruder used that weapon to shooter? >> do you know why anybody would want to break into that house? >> i've been trying to ask myself the same questions i first pulled in the driveway. >> nathan gave it actives a clue, though. he said he remembered seeing a suspicious car in the neighborhood late at night. a couple of weeks before the murder. >> pulled in our driver with the headlights on. >> without headlights? >> without headlights on. they were on in the road, but they turned it off.

you know, this is kind of weird, pulled in the driveway, i immediately go through into the front door, and it'll be outside lights on. the car leaves. >> then a few days before the murder, he said it happen again. >> similar situation, but this time into the neighbor's driveway. >> that time, nathan called police, and spoke with an officer. >> there were people who were casing the neighborhood. >> people in peoria, illinois were spooked. could a burglar going to kill beyond the loose? >> it caused a lot of stress in the neighborhood. political school lock down that day, that step doesn't happen in this neighborhood. >> if you come down during the day people are riding their bikes. people in the, park walking around. it's not like a high crime area where those gunshots all the time. it was enough to scare everybody. >> it was a big story in town. >> be extra cautious like yours, lock your windows, pay attention, strangers in your

area. >> what was the mood of the neighborhood? >> very erie. >> beau ebenezer was a reporter in peoria. >> a lot of people really wanted to know what happened. they're going to sleep every night, not really sure who killed their neighbor. >> one neighbor says with two small kids at home, she's feeling panicked and even a little paranoid. >> tips started coming in right away. diane parish who lived a few houses from nathan and denise remembered seeing a strange man on her street right around the time of her murder. >> describe the man you saw walking along this road? >> he had a black hoodie sweatshirt on with the hood pulled up, and his hands were in the pocket. i will never forget the look on his face. >> what was audible to look on his face? >> he was very agitated. i knew immediately something was wrong with him. >> neighbors were anxious, and

detectives were puzzled. denise's was normally very quiet. the type of place it expect a burglary, even if she had accidentally stumbled upon an intruder, how hot it turned so vicious so quickly? >> why would somebody want to turn it to this particular house? >> it's not typical us for us burglary results in a murder. >> maybe it wasn't a burglary at all. >> coming up, if it wasn't a burglary, what was it? was nathan's life also in danger? >> nathan's parents told me nathan and three children have been moved to a safe house just to protect them. >> when dateline continues. continues except now you have uncontrollable body movements called tardive dyskinesia - td. and it can seem like that's all people see. some meds for mental health can cause abnormal dopamine signaling in the brain. while how it works is not fully understood,

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here's what's happening. senate republicans block legislation friday that would've created independent commission to investigate the january 6th attacks. one gop senator broke with leadership falling short of ten boats needed. it's the first bill of the democratic-controlled congress to be thwarted by a filibuster. president biden formally unveiled his six trillion dollar budget friday. he plans to invest in infrastructure, education, health care, and more. the budget would push federal spending to its highest sustained level since world war ii. now back to dateline. o dateline

>> it looked like a burglary gone bad. denise leuthold, mother and missionary, brutally shot and killed in her parents home where she and her family had been living. >> typical scenario, robberies happening in peoria. this one just happens to be a lot worse. >> it's not typical as far as a burglary that results in a murder. it doesn't happen very often. >> this was an odd one. detectives needed to know more about the needs and begin questioning her family, including nathan, her husband of 17 years. >> you talk to us and cooperating with us is the best information we can get. >> we want to talk to the people closest to her first to figure out what makes her, to what so routine like. >> did you start to think someone may have targeted denise? >> we didn't know. i mean, nathan, he is going to be our best witness, you know?

you're living with this lady, married for a long time, you know her routine. >> did you think maybe someone had a reason to be in that house, outside of just a random burglary? >> we didn't know. but we needed to lockdown at that point. we needed to make sure we locked down what she planned on doing that today. >> and they started at the very beginning. >> she woke about 6:45. i was already shaving and showering. >> where the kids up? what time did they wake up? >> she gets them up at 6:45. >> nathan told police he took the two older children to school and went on a series of arians that day, including going to a spotty by gift certificates for denise. >> was it for? >> a massage. >> do you remember how much you spend? >> $74. >> police learned the spent the morning at home with four year old jenelle until she driver today gear just afternoon. nathan said denise had her own list of things to do that day. >> she had gone to the mall,

head of the errands to run. >> we're going to try and get video of her. we have to figure out where she was at and -- >> we have to place the last time we can see her, and we can narrow the window down. >> it's tedious and we appreciate you cooperating, believe me. >> by mid afternoon, when they need should have been done shopping and on her way to pick up julia, nathan said he tried reaching her but couldn't. at first, he wasn't concerned. >> so i called, she didn't answer. no big deal, she's driving. so i center text. >> he became worried once he got home and saw denise's wasn't in the driveway. it looked like the house have been broken into. >> i don't know what to think. she's not answering my phone calls, she's not answering my mom's phone calls. she didn't go to the school. she didn't call. where is she at? if she's late, if she broke down, if she had a flat tire, she would've called from

herself phone. i'm going through all these 101 options and my head. >> detectives asked nathan the uncomfortable questions they ask anyone who espouse has been murdered -- >> this is kind of a personal question, and take no offense because we have to cover every base. at any time has a wife ever done anything behind your back, have you had any issues, any boyfriends, anything like that? >> no. >> what about you? >> no. >> did he describe a good marriage? >> yes. he described denise as the backbone of the family. if it wasn't for her, people wouldn't be able to do his work. she does everything for the kids. >> she is the main one that holds it all together. she did everything that made the kids lives spin. >> then he sounds like a saint. >> she probably was. >> everyone we talked to had nothing but good things to say about her. >> must have really peremptory tension, that this woman is

considered to be this amazing mom, does this religious work, why would you have any enemies? >> i mean, nothing was coming to the forefront. >> nathan said he was doing his best to hold it together so he could help them catch the killer. he was anxious to be with his children. >> we appreciate the cooperation, and as much information we can get from you, the better. it's going to help us. >> help me get back to my kids tonight. >> we hope you will be. >> i can't leave them all that long. >> nathan finally did leave the police station late that night. hours after his wife had been killed. he went to his sister's home, where his children were sound asleep. >> i was exhausted. i was emotionally spent. i spent the next several hours with my mother, my sister, and at some point i fell asleep. my sister trying to comfort me.

>> the next day, nathan said he was struggling with the fact that his wife was gone. and now how to explain that to his kids. >> i had been with jenelle when i found out. i hadn't been with south or julia. at that point, i didn't know what they, knew what they found, out what they had seen on the news or whatever else. i didn't want them to find out the way that i had. >> how did you tell the children, that their mother had been killed? >> friday morning,. i believe the children suspected something. after they had eaten, and after i had spent time begging the lord for wisdom and strength to know what to say, we come upstairs to one bedrooms, and it was the oldest team at that point, set and julia, and my sister was there with me, and we sat down on the bed, and i

said mom went home to be with god. we know she loves us. we know we loved her. at that point, i reached out for them. and we just hugged. and it was quiet. my tears soaked their faces, and their tiers soaked my face. and then we prayed. and we thank god for the most wonderful mother and wife to have ever been on this earth. >> later, nathan took the children and went to stay at a church mission house a nearby town. >> nathan's parents told me nathan and three children had been moved to a safe house, just to protect them. they didn't know if they are being targeted for anything. >> his friend often brought them home cooked meals. >> nathan was very quiet,

almost in a state of shock, maybe? i noticed him, when we were in the living room alone together, and it was complete silence. it felt a little awkward, but i could see him just staring into space, almost. >> in the meantime, denise's parents made the choice to return to their home, the scene of the crime. a few days later, they ask nathan and the kids to come over to be with family. >> i was with was he with you the first time you saw him after denise was killed? >> he seemed very emotional. he regionally said he didn't want to come back in the house, that the kids were afraid to come in. >> it was a lot to taken. denise was dead. three young children were without a mother. and nathan said he lost the love of his life. detectives worked around the clock to solve the crime, and

as they did, they began to get the idea that not everything was as it seemed. coming up, this is strange. denise had just gotten home when she was killed. so, where was her car? some plus sales? >> she's been shot in the house, okay? i need to figure out how that car got to robinson park. >> when dateline continues. hen dateline continues plus an immediate cooling sensation for your throat. feel the clarity, and live claritin clear. [sfx: kids laughing] [sfx: bikes passing]

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death, nathan and his children's day-to-day church mission houses. friend norm visited. he said nathan seemed quiet, stoic. >> i've never seen nathan in unemotional status far is crying, or in panic, or anything like that. i took it as he was just really stressed out, and what's happening? to my family right now?

why did this happen? >> as denise's parents are wondering the same thing, they also began to ask other questions. >> we kept going over the robbery, like how it would've happened, and it didn't really make sense. >> what was suspicious about what was taken? >> i work at a store that sold high-def tvs, we had a lot of small ones they could've just picked up, taken away. you know, electronics, blueberry players, none of those things were touched. i only had probably three rings that were of any value but those three rings were taken. those are the only three that were valuable? >> something seemed off to police as well. >> the more we start looking at the house, it didn't seem like a real burglary. there was a junk drawer that was perfectly lane on the floor. why would a burglar even go through a jump juror, pans? things like that, scissors. and then lay it?

>> they idolized things nathan had told him during his interview at the police station the night of the murder, like the fact he owned three guns. >> i got a shotgun. >> well do you know what -- >> 12 gauge shotgun. >> what else you got? >> i have a 22. silver with pearl handle, little. they have a primary, one which is a glock. >> which model? >> model i don't know it's a 40. >> a lot of things about mavens guns that didn't add up for police. starting with the fact that he happened to own the same type of gun used in denise murder. >> how did he explain that? >> it couldn't. >> i think he was trying to allude to the fact of the burglar must-have got into it and taking it. >> nathan told police he kept that gun in a plastic case. >> you can't lock? how hardwood before someone departed open? but you need a crowbar something? >> no. >> there is no broken case at the house. that said a lot to the detectives. >> i asked him why out of the

box? he didn't know but tried to insinuate burglar target. burglars aren't going to take a busted lock box after the kill somebody. they're gone. >> we've been told him he last fired that gun in oklahoma. >> a couple weeks ago? >> i could look at mike calendar but yeah, a couple weeks ago. >> nothing here lately? >> i shot the 40 when i was there. >> there is something else troubling police. even though denise had been killed in her home her car was found in a nearby park. the police figure to average over there must have been involved in the nieces murder. >> this is the problem. she's been shot in the house, i need to figure out how that car got to robinson park. >> a key to that car was found tangled in denise is hair, under her head. so, clearly, that key was used to move the car. there had to be another one. >> i'm trying to figure tommy sets of keys are out there because i'm trying to find a set of keys. >> i know there's one set of

keys, and whenever i have borrowed -- when i've driven the card to get something fixed on it, oil change, whatnot. i just ask for the keys and she gives me the keys. or she says, there on the plate. >> none of that made any sense to the detectives. there had to be a second key somewhere visible in the house in order for an intruder to easily find it and drive the car to the park. there was no other way, they said. >> -- and he shoots are. that guy is getting out of town. he's not going to wait to try and find a spare set of keys in the house. he's leaving. >> questions about denise is car lead to questions about nathan's car, and something he said caught the detectives attention. >> was your vehicle, every at robertson park today? >> my vehicle was that robertson park today, yes. >> for what? when was this? >> early this morning. not early, but it would've been before i came back to the

house. >> but was it down there for? >> a pulled over to make a phone call. >> it turns out on the day of the murder, nathan was at the same park where denise is car was later found. and that's when one of the detectives got frustrated with nathan's whole story, and confronted him. >> it's not a coincidence that we're missing a 40 caliber glock handgun, and there's evidence that leads us to believe your wife was probably shot with a 40 caliber handgun. okay? and then, furthermore, to have her car the street at the park, right, where you failed to tell us that you are there prior to going home earlier that day. >> it was a short phone call. i didn't think -- >> i know, but i mean, thing is, we're talking about things that once you start piecing things together, we're trying to figure things out. >> i understand. >> okay, so if you are at the park, at the exact same park your wife's car was at, i need to figure out how your wives car got there. >> okay. i don't have the answer. >> you don't have a key either.

>> correct. >> it wasn't just that nathan stop to take a short phone call, it was who was on the other end of the line that piqued their interest. >> he said he received a phone call from lithuanian exchange student. >> that's how she came on your radar? >> she was 20 year old, the young exchange student who had been close to the family for years. she baby sat for them in the 20th, and they were sponsoring her as a student in the u.s.. what was that call about? >> it kind of kept snowballing from there, we figured we had to go up and track her down. >> coming up, a missionaries an usual close relationship with a young exchange didn't. >> did you outright ask her where you having a sexual relationship with nathan? >> yes, she denied it. >> when dateline continues. ontinues control? hide my skin? not me. by hitting eczema where it counts, dupixent helps heal your skin from within,

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a 39-year-old mother of three, shot to death in her home. at first, it looked like a possible burglary gone bad. after questioning her husband, nathan, and combing the crime scene, detective started to see things differently. >> things weren't adding up. we're not accountants, but we know it doesn't add up. >> police wanted to look more closely at the lithuanian student nathan had spoken to on the phone the day of the murder. he and denise had met her on their first missionary trip in 1998.

>> there is a church that was their already established, and that church really took us in and did their best to communicate with us and helped us out and there was a particular women in the church we worked with, it was aina's mother. >> dobilaite just a child at the time. as she grew, up a relationship with the family grew as well. >> a teenager, very clear she had given her life to the lord and wanted to serve him. she was always the one volunteering, helping out church alongside her mother. she was very gifted, and music, and as we started branching out the ministry, aina was the one that took care of music. >> when she was 16, she became a babysitter for nathan and denise's three children. >> aina was the one helping us with children at church. it was natural for denise to want to hire her, and we trusted her 100% with them. and that's how she came to be a part of our family. >> you ended up bringing her

over to america? >> we were sponsoring, her yes. she came here for education. her desire from the beginning was to go back to help her own country and the church there. how to use music for the lord. >> that sponsorship started in the fall of 2010, one aina came to the u.s. to study at a christian college in florida were nathan would occasionally visitor. but what did denise think about that? >> i asked for more than once, aren't you jealousies traveling around with this young girl? she was like, no. she wasn't jealous. at all. >> this was a girl they wanted to -- >> exactly. and she trusted nathan. >> during school vacations, aina would stay in peoria with the whole family. >> she was really good with the kids. she seemed like she was a sweet girl. >> if your daughter elector -- >> she was a friend of our daughters. and son-in-law. see accepted her into our home. >> in december 2011, aina leapt that florida school. she was so close with the

leuthold family, she moved in with nathan, denise, and denise's parents well she attended a community college in peoria. >> it wasn't the first time we've done that. so aina was one of many we worked with. it was very natural. >> we had sponsored other lithuania students before to come here. it didn't really seem strange to us that's what they were doing. >> they were making a difference in this girl's life? >> they're giving her a chance to come here, get a college education here. >> six months before denise's death, aina transferred to a college in chicago, 160 miles from peoria. police drove there to talk to her. >> when we first art of the interview, there was a lot of background information, and we were coming across this concern for denise. he lived for him for years, you've known the family, and she was fine. as we started ramping up the questioning, getting more direct about her relationship with nathan, all of a sudden

perfectly speaking english girl starts in, i don't understand that. or i'm not going to answer that question. it turned into more of a cold stare, and no emotion whatsoever. >> you describe it like a staring contest? >> we throughout their crime scene pictures of denise laying dead, autopsy pictures to get a reaction. she had no emotion. i called her out on it. i said these people take you into their home, right back from the idea, you live with them. that doesn't bother you? and she just looked at me, stone cold. i cried enough over the weekend. >> detectives asked her about something they learned as they traced nathan's movements today at the murder. remember, one of the places he said he visited was this day spa, where he body valentine's day gift certificate for denise. when detective stopped there, they discovered nathan had been bringing another woman to the spa. it was not other than aina.

it happened so often, the owner said, she thought they were a couple. >> he's taking this woman and her early twenties, an exchange student, to the spa. >> to get massages, to get her waxed up. in the front yard, if my wife found up i was boxing a 20 year old. it didn't make sense. i kept on explaining. i asked her what is he waxing up? she didn't answer. >> they asked her about the bill, which nathan paid. >> she framed it as it's his money, and it's denise's money. if he is spending the money, she should be all right with it. >> did you ask, are we having a sexual relationship with nathan? and what was her response? >> she denied it. >> then aina mentioned some of the sparked her curiosity. she studied music her whole life, and had gone to college in florida to play the piano. but she told detectives she left the school because of problems with her hands. >> it was officially titled

academic withdrawal. >> they subpoenaed aina's school records. >> the records we got said her dismissal had something to do with inappropriate relationships with her sponsor, including staying off campus overnight with just them. >> that sponsor, of course, was nathan. police learned more about their relationship when they pulled nathan and aina's phone records. >> what did you find on her phone? >> the communicated a lot more than nathan lead on. it didn't look like a typical sponsor relationship. there was multiple texts and calls every day. >> she's denying a sexual relationship with the text messages, suggesting otherwise? >> there was one that mentioned the chin, and he asked her if she was wet. i didn't find that appropriate for their relationship they were leading on. the biggest thing was the sheer volume of contact they had.

you're saying you're just checking on her, making sure she's doing good in school. it had the appearance of a dating type of relationship. >> coming up, more questions for and about nathan. >> my husband that he's a missionary, he wouldn't kill anybody. >> >> when "dateline" continues. new workouts. and screening for colon cancer. yep. the american cancer society recommends screening starting at age 45, instead of 50, since colon cancer is increasing in younger adults. i'm cologuard®. i'm convenient and find 92% of colon cancers... ...even in early stages. i'm for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your provider if cologuard is right for you.

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had denise leuthold been killed by an intruder, part of a burglary gone wrong, or had

someone close to her had been involved? denise's parents believed their daughter had been killed by a stranger until their minister came to visit one day. >> he asked us, well, do you have any suspicions that your son-in-law was involved? >> wow. >> and we both answered no, but as soon as i said no i'm like, well, wait a minute, you know, then i of course started having suspicions. my husband was kind of shocked that -- because he just thought, well, he's a missionary. he wouldn't kill anybody. >> but investigators weren't so sure. they began to take a hard look at nathan's whereabouts that day. they collected surveillance video from the places he said he had been. while he was at this places, chase bank, starbucks, the day spa, a car wash, there was a problem. >> we were able to account for him up until about 11:30 in the morning and then there was a gap him leaving the starbucks around

11:30 and shows up at the same starbucks about 12:45 p.m. in between there we couldn't account for him. >> that gap was crucial. it's during that timeframe police believe the murder happened. the detectives traced a route they thought nathan might have taken that day from the starbucks to the park, a quick walk to his house then back to the starbucks to see if he could have done it in time. >> six minutes, 55 seconds. >> not only possible, they said, but probable. more likely, they figured, than a stranger breaking into the house during the roughly 20 minutes denise was out. >> it's unconceivable to think somebody breaks into the house that exact same time, rummages through the house, finds a glock, pries it open, loads it up, hides behind the door to execute her. it just can't happen. >> something else that didn't make sense, they said, was that denise's car was not in her

driveway. after the murder, they found her silver ford here in this nearby park. nathan had told police he only knew of one key, the key that was found at the crime scene, but now police had a second key that they found in this trash can in the park. they believed nathan was lying to them and that he had used that key to move the car. >> another suspicious finding, a black hooded sweatshirt on the floor of nathan and denise's bedroom. investigators say it appeared to match one that a strange neighborhood was wearing in the neighborhood that day. >> it appeared to us that somebody was in a hurry, took it off, threw it down. >> but their was something else that was even more troubling. police had ordered an extensive analysis of nathan's laptop, and a couple of weeks after the murder, they received a report. >> the computer expert explained that his browser was set to delete anything he looked up, but as we found out, just because you delete something doesn't mean it's gone. >> and what they found floored them. >> and it ranged from how to

silence a .40 caliber handgun. >> glock specifically, which is the gun he owned. >> he owned and she was shot with. how to silence that. how to overdose somebody on insulin. >> bathtub. >> drowning. >> electrocution. >> in the bathtub. things like that. this goes back several months before the murder. >> so he's potentially thinking up all these different ways to kill his wife. >> well, you know, i honestly think he planned it out. >> did you straight up ask him, did you have anything to do with your wife's death? >> yeah. >> and? >> he denied it. >> he said no. >> not only did he deny killing his wife, nathan told us there was a perfectly reasonable explanation for all the searches the police uncovered. >> electrocution in the bathtub, how to silence a gun. >> we had a -- started a foundation overseas called hope for tomorrow to combat suicide. and we were doing research and looking at blog sites where young people, where desperate

people were getting information about what they were thinking. >> still, it was obvious from nathan's interview video that detectives had questions about his story early on. >> i would love to think that you're a god-fearing man and you would never do that, but -- >> but you have a preconceived idea in your head. >> no, no, no, i don't. trust me, i do not have a preconceived idea in my head, but when i'm painting the picture and i'm trying to put the pieces together, okay, as a homicide investigator, i have to either rule you in or rule you out. >> and you want to rule me in based upon -- >> no, no, no, no, no, i'd rather rule you out so i can move on. >> rather rule me out based upon what. >> rule you out? i want to rule you out because i hope you didn't do it. >> between learning about aina and all the evidence they collected, police had enough to arrest nathan. three weeks after denise had been killed, they pulled her

husband over. he had just dropped his kids off at school. >> they handcuffed me, and they put me in their car. at that point, i didn't know where we were going. and finally, i asked them, i said, where are we going? what's going on? we're taking you to jail for the murder of your wife. >> he seemed scared. he seemed surprised. i think it was disbelief that he was being arrested. >> it was a shock. nathan leuthold, missionary and father of three, a native son of peoria, was now on his way to jail to await trail for the murder of his wife. his friend, norm alrick, who had known the couple for decades, was stunned. >> there's no doubt in my mind that nathan was arrested because they needed somebody in jail. there's no way that i could ever fathom nathan doing this. to his wife.

>> coming up, hard to imagine anyone doing something this evil, if it's true. >> this was his valentine's day present to aina, and that is despicable. >> when "dateline" continues. on♪ ♪ for the maestros of the creamiest-ever, ♪ ♪ must-have smoothies. ♪ ♪ it's irresistibly delicious. ♪ ♪ more almond breeze, please! ♪ age before beauty? why not both? visibly diminish wrinkled skin in... crepe corrector lotion... only from gold bond.

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three weeks after denise leuthold was shot to death, her husband nathan was arrested for her murder. at first denise's mother couldn't quite grasp it. >> he was part of our family for 17 years, and, you know, he was like a son to us. and to think that he could actually, you know, just shoot

her in the head -- >> and this is a man who has devoted his life to being a good person. >> right, exactly. >> but by the time nathan went on trial, she had changed her mine. mind. >> he had been leading a double life. >> was this just the bad dream that wouldn't end? >> right, it just kept going on and on and on. >> this won't end until -- >> exactly. >> nathan is convicted. >> exactly. >> here at the peoria county courthouse -- >> the trial was big news in town. after all, the defendant was a missionary accused of killing his wife in their home in an upscale neighborhood. things like that just don't happen in peoria. nathan pleaded not guilty. he insisted he would have never done anything to harm his beloved wife. >> ever the time there was a difficulty in life, the first person i would talk to would be denise, and there were several times within the first few days after her death, trying to

figure out what to do with the children next. i wanted to just grab the phone and call her. she was my support. >> but denise was not there to support nathan because, the state argued, he killed her. >> you will have eyewitness identification, dna, gunshot residue, motive, and they all point to one person, and he's sitting right across from you. >> nathan's trial began on july 14th. exactly 17 months after the murder. reporter beau ebenezer covered the trial for nbc's week-tv in peoria. >> were a lot of people anxious for this trial to start? >> i think a lot of people were anxious, especially the family. the family wanted to find out exactly what happened. >> jodi and jerry were the prosecutors who tried the case. they said what really happened was a cold blooded execution. >> ladies and gentlemen,

burglars commit burglaries, killers execute in a style consistent with what the defendant did. hiding in that cubical to kill her the moment she walked through the door. >> the state's theory, nathan put his plan into action when denise left the house to take their daughter to daycare. first, he drove his car to the park down the street. >> parked his car in robinson park, somewhere close to 12:15, 12:20, walked up to the house, went into the house, the burglary was probably already staged. if not, he went ahead. then he knew that denise would be coming back, stood in the doorway, and as soon the door opened, denise tried to take her coat off and he shot her in the back of the head. >> nathan then drove denise's car to that same park, prosecutors said, and hopped back in his own car and drove to starbucks, arriving at 12:45.

>> 12:45 to 12:50, five minutes only, long enough to be on that camera. >> long enough they said for nathan to wash his hands to get the gun shot residue off then leave to start his afternoon errands before picking up janelle from daycare. >> about 3:00, the defendant returns home. wants you to believe he sees the door open and glass. that's the extent of his knowledge. but with that he calls the police. >> he knew full-well when he called the police what they were going to find. >> from our perspective, that's what makes this case so disturbing, the cold, calculated manner in which he did this. >> one of the first officers to testify for the state described the scene at the house just after nathan called 911 that day. >> i observed some kitchen cabinets open, and some kitchen drawers on the floor. in my experience as a police officer and investigator, when a burglary occurs, the kitchen is not a common place that a burglar would look for items. in a burglary, items are scattered about, drawers dumped

on the floor. i felt this was not an ordinary burglary and i described that to my partner. >> while he find the crime scene odd for a burglary, it was nathan's behavior that disturbed the officer even more. >> describe his demeanor. >> as i'm speaking to him, he never showed any sort of emotion or asked any questions of me as to what was going on. >> prosecutors said nathan also showed no emotion during his police interview, even when a detective told him denise was dead. >> you can't tell me things about her that i'm not -- you can't tell me things about her. >> i can tell you she's dead. >> he told me that. >> okay. >> in the elevator. >> prosecutors played the interview for the jurors, hoping they would see what they saw. >> when the police first gave us the case, i watched his videotape statement. five minutes into, i knew he did it, i knew he was guilty.

his demeanor, his attitude, he tried to take over the conversation. not a single tear was shed. >> they presented evidence that the bullet casing found at the scene was from a glock .40, the kind of gun that nathan owned. >> the only firearm that could generate those marks would be a glock. >> and are you able to say that within a reasonable degree of scientific certainty? >> yes. >> but police never did find the murder weapon. did you worry that you weren't able to find the gun? was that a factor -- >> well, obviously it was a concern. >> i think any time in a murder case when you don't have the handgun or the weapon, whatever it was, it's an uphill battle. that's what the jury wants, they wanted smoking gun, and we didn't have it. >> still, prosecutors thought they had more than enough evidence to prove their case. remember diane parish who said she saw a man in a black hooded sweatshirt walking toward denise's house on the day of the murder, she was the closest thing police had to an eyewitness. >> the whole thing struck me as wrong. i thought -- i told my husband

to slow down. i wanted to get a good look at him, and i was worried that he saw us pulling out of our driveway, and if he knew we were gone, that he'd rob us. >> she didn't recognize the man that day, but later when she looked at a police photo lineup, she quickly pointed to this man, and it turned out to be nathan leuthold. >> did you think it was possibly when you're looking at this photo lineup maybe you'd seen nathan in the neighborhood and subconsciously you were choosing that photo because you'd already seen him before? >> no. >> why were you so sure? >> because of the look on his face. i knew i didn't make a mistake. and i was very careful when i looked at the photos so i would not make a mistake. >> when she testified, you could hear a pin drop in that courtroom. i mean, everybody was glued to her testimony. i don't think there was a person in that courtroom that disbelieved what she was saying. >> prosecutors said it must have

been nathan the neighbor saw that day because police found a black hooded sweatshirt on his bedroom floor. what's more, an expert testified it had gun shot residue on the right cuff. >> nathan said that he had been at the gun range. is that feasible that if he was -- >> no. >> shooting off his gun at the gun range. >> what's important about that, too, he said that it was in oklahoma two weeks prior. there is no way there would have been gun shot residue on that sweatshirt still. >> on the stand, another neighbor who did not want to be videotaped, testified she heard a gun shot that day between 12:30 and 12:40 in the timeframe detectives thought denise was killed. prosecutors said that gave nathan the opportunity to kill denise. now they had to explain why he did it. so they called this man to the stand, who said he could answer that precise question, because nathan told him everything. >> would you state your name. >> david d. smith. >> david smith was a fellow inmate of nathan's at the county

jail. he said nathan told him he researched ways to kill denise on his laptop. >> did he talk about how he was planning to kill his wife denise? >> well, first he told me that he was thinking about some poisoning, with some type of incident or potassium. something like that. >> according to the inmate, nathan said he ran a lot of errands on the day of the murder to create an alibi and -- >> he told me he had presented some gifts, some valentine's day gifts and stuff to his wife, and so that everything would look fine. >> how important was david smith, the jailhouse snitch? >> david smith said that nathan was worried that a lady might have seen him while he was walking. well, obviously nobody knows that except nathan, and it's consistent with our evidence. >> what's more, the inmate also testified why nathan wanted denise out of his life.

>> well, he said that -- he said that she was overbearing, and that he had got to the point where he had wanted to move on with his life, and he had met someone else and stuff like that. >> did he tell you the name of that someone else? >> somebody -- some student named ana, alana, something like that. >> but it was what the inmate told prosecutors about the times of the murder that they found particularly chilling. smith testified that nathan told him he planned the murder specifically for valentine's day. >> it was supposed to be some type of present to this other chick. >> to the -- i think you referred to her as ana? >> yeah, yeah. >> and there it was, nathan's motive. prosecutors said he killed his wife so he could be with his true love, aina. >> this was his valentine's day present to aina. and that -- that is despicable. >> aina, who prosecutors said

was nathan's motive for the murder, was about to take the stand. the star witness at the biggest trial in town. >> please state your name. >> aina dobilaite. >> coming up -- nathan's note to aina. >> theirs nothing more important to me than you and this relationship. >> and a note to him from the woman he's accused of murdering. >> she was speaking from the grave in a way. >> absolutely. >> when "dateline" continues.

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here's what's happening. the white house announced it will reimpose sanctions against belarus after its leader had a plane rerouted so he could have an opposition leader arrested. and the conviction in the death of molly tibbets, a farm worker was convicted of murder.

her body was found in an iowa cornfield with multiple stab wounds. riveria's sentencing is set for mid-july. now back to "dateline." nathan leuthold was on trial for murdering his wife on valentine's day 2013. a scenario impossible to have predicted for a man devoted to god, who appeared to have been happily married to his high school sweetheart for 17 years. what would make him commit such a crime? the state argued he was in love with another woman. >> the motive? his real valentine, their 20-year-old lithuanian sponsor student. >> aina dobilaite, his motive for murder. >> i think aina was a big bombshell. >> aina testified in both english and lithuanian through a translator.

>> nathan leuthold visited you in hotels off campus on at least five occasions, correct? [ speaking foreign language ] >> i can't remember how many times. >> during those visits, you went to a hotel with nathan and just the two of you were present part of the time, correct? [ speaking foreign language ] >> translator: i'm not sure if every time we were at the hotel we were together alone. >> did you spend the night with mr. leuthold? >> aina was called as a witness for the prosecution, which granted her immunity to encourage her to talk, but her testimony made it clear she was not eager to help the state. >> when mr. leuthold visited you in chicago, in 2012, did he buy you presents? [ speaking foreign language ] >> translator: i'm not really sure what presents mean.

>> despite having studied in the states for four years, aina seemed incapable of understanding english at times, which frustrated the prosecutors. >> and, in fact, you are proficient in both written and spoken english, isn't that correct? >> translator: yes. >> still, the prosecution thought she was an important witness. >> i think it was significant for the jury to see aina. we could get in the text messages, we could get in the emails, we could get in the phone calls and the jury's going to hear all that. >> the state showed the jury texts between nathan and aina the day of the murder. they started at 6:30 a.m. with mutually hellos. at 8:37 a.m., nathan texted aina. i know there is a lot to do today. i pray there is enough time to do everything. have good lectures and meeting. take care of yourself. then, after nathan arrived home midafternoon, aina texted him, and he replied, i can't now, police checked.

it looks like the house was robbed. aina responded, interesting, followed by a smiley face. >> you would respond with, oh, my, what happened? concern for the family. so i suspect based on that response in all likelihood she had some knowledge of what was maybe going to take place. >> prosecutors accused nathan of coaching aina during jailhouse phone calls on how to cover up their relationship. those calls were in lithuanian. for the trial, english translations of what nathan said were read aloud. >> i am your spiritual adviser or clergy here in america because there is nobody else who speaks lithuanian. this may be important in the future because just as all of your communication with the attorney is private, communication with your clergy is also private. >> but, prosecutors said, there was no covering up letters nathan had sent aina, including this one read by an interpreter during a deposition. >> translator: i love you because you understand me better than anybody else and because i

am a better person with you next to me. my life has a deeper meaning and purpose because you are my world and everything and that will never change. >> with words like that, prosecutors didn't believe aina's denials of an affair. they made her read aloud another note. >> i let you down and i'm sorry. you deserve someone who who respects you and puts the relationship first, and from now on, i want to do all that i can to be that person. there is nothing more important to me than you and this relationship. i'm so blessed to have you in my life and i know it. >> i think she presented herself as she was, she was in a relationship with nathan. i think she tried to minimize the relationship. >> nathan and aina were making eye contact quite a bit throughout the trial. sometimes when she would answer a question or said something he didn't like, he kind of laughed and threw his hands up in the air in disappointment. >> and prosecutors had another piece of evidence they said

proved an affair, a secret that shook the courtroom. it challenged the very core of nathan's defense, that denise was at the center of his life and he would never hurt her. it was a gut-wrenching note written by denise discovered tucked in her day planner. >> in a murder case, you don't have the victim. you never get to hear the victim's story. that person is dead. and here we had a note that she had written that laid the whole thing out. >> the highly personal, very painful note was obviously aimed at nathan. the police investigator read the note in court. >> i have tried to please you for 17 years, and never succeeded. i've never been good enough. never done enough. i know that you want me dead. i'm not stupid. >> denise seemed to confirm that she believed her husband was having an affair. while she didn't name aina, she mentioned a much younger woman. >> you want to humiliate me by running around with a 20-year-old? fine.

i wont grovel. if i haven't pleased you in 17 years, nothing i do now will please you. how long are you going to do this to me? oh, yeah, until i break. that's what you said, isn't it? well, happy waiting. >> it was very devastating. i was -- i was shocked that it had gone that far. so, she really was jealous, even though she said that she wasn't. >> she was speaking from the grave in a way. >> absolutely. absolutely. to the jury. to everybody, her story. i mean, that note was powerful. powerful. >> powerful but not proof, said nathan's attorney. in fact, he argued that there was no evidence that nathan had done anything wrong at all. >> premature judgement that this all happened because he was having an affair, and i would submit as i started off with you, there is not a scintilla of evidence that that was the case. >> coming up, -- >> he was the only person with

whom i could talk in lithuanian. he was a friend. >> were you and nathan ever lovers? >> no. >> when "dateline" continues. there's interest you accrue, and interests you pursue. plans for the long term, and plans for a long weekend. assets you allocate, and ones you hold tight. at thrivent, we believe money is a tool, not a goal. and with the right guidance, you can get the financial clarity you need,

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nathan leuthold had spent a week listening to prosecutors paint him as a monster who had planned the execution of his wife. now it was time for the defense to fight back. >> to say that i killed my wife goes beyond what i ever fathomed hearing from anyone. and to say that i had an affair is absurd. >> i think nathan was being tested by god about his faith. i just thought, you know, nathan, you got to be strong, man. we'll get through this. >> nathan's lawyer was hugh toner, a former prosecutor turned defense attorney, who argued that the investigation was faulty.

>> that there were certain preconceived notions of who did it, for lack of a better term. that never went anywhere. and for that reason, i'm going to ask you to find nathan not guilty. >> toner insisted the cops zeroed in on nathan right from the start and never pursued any other leads. >> this was an incomplete investigation. that while the spouse, nathan in this case, would have been the logical place to start, the problem with that is if you follow that gut feeling, that's going to cause you very likely to miss other things, and in this case simply not look for them at all. >> for instance, what about those cars nathan said he has seen in the neighborhood which he thought were suspicious not too long before the murder? his attorney called a neighbor to the stand who had also seen strange activity. >> i observed a vehicle parked within its headlights on for some extended period of time,

five, ten minutes at least, which i considered to be somewhat unusual. and i felt with the direction of the headlights that whoever was in the vehicle could probably see me in my residence and that would have been uncomfortable. >> when he cross-examined diane parish, who identified nathan as the men in the sweatshirt, she admitted her husband had a different recollection. >> you and your husband had had a discussion about the race of the person who was walking along the side of the road? >> that's correct. >> and your husband, dr. parish, thought that it was a black man? >> that's correct. >> another problem with the investigation, the defense pointed out, was that while the state made a big deal about the gunshot residue on nathan's sweatshirt, they never tested his hands for the substance. >> why not cut to the chase and take a test from nathan? >> toner said there's also an

issue with the state's timeline. based on court testimony, the murder occurred at around 12:30 p.m. after that, prosecutors said nathan would have had to drive denise's car to the park, get in his own car, and then drive to starbucks where he was seen on surveillance video at 12:45 p.m. >> and he would have had to have done all that without leaving any blood smears, getting any blood on him. >> it was all coming down to that crucial 15-minute window. we decided to see for ourselves how long that drive would take. we retraced what investigators said were nathan's steps that day. >> i've just left denise and nathan's house and i'm heading to robinson park, which is just a few blocks away. ♪♪ >> i am now arriving at robinson park. it took me one minute and 15 seconds. this is where police say the

cars were switched. >> so, now we are going to switch cars, take another drive. in this second car, we're going to drive to starbucks. let's see how long that takes. red light's going to add on a little bit of time. we're now at 4 1/2 minutes. going just about the speed limit right on, which is 45 miles per hour. pulling into the starbucks parking lot. we are looking at a travel time of seven minutes and 55 seconds. >> in all, it added up to nine minutes and ten seconds of driving. that would have left him under six minutes to ransack the house and shoot denise. his lawyer, hugh toner, said that would have been nearly impossible. >> the timing just really gets to the point where it's almost not realistic. >> and what about the state's

witness who claimed that nathan had confessed the whole crime to him? the defense argued david smith was a jailhouse snitch, a convicted felon who had gotten a deal for his testimony. he was not even worth cross-examining. >> do you really believe that david smith is the type of person that nathan is going to confide in? and then seek counsel from? >> but according to the defense, the main weakness with the state's case was motive, an affair with aina. toner argued there was absolutely no evidence to support the theory that nathan killed his wife so that he could be with a 20-year-old. no matter who asked her, aina insisted her relationship with nathan was platonic. >> what's the relationship between you and nathan? >> he's my sponsor. i worked for him. i did a lot of translating work and helping with organizing

christian conferences in lithuania. and he is also -- was kind of like my mentor, and here in america, he was the only person with whom i could talk in lithuanian. so it was a friend. >> the defense attorney said the state was making more of those spa visits than was really there. >> would mr. leuthold be there with you when you were having a waxing? >> he was there to drive me and to pay for it. >> but he wasn't there when that was -- the procedure was being done? >> no. >> okay. were you and nathan ever lovers? >> no. >> that's been asked of you many times, correct? police asked you about that, correct? >> that's correct. >> and that answer has never changed, has it? >> that's correct. >> his bottom line was this, the state never even came close to proving a sexual relationship, not even with the hundreds of

hours of taped phone calls nathan made from jail over his 16 months there. >> 1,700 hours of recorded telephone conversations involving nathan leuthold. do the math. at 40 hours a week, you're approaching darn close to almost an entire work year. listening to telephone conversations involving nathan. where in any one of those things do you have any indication at all that nathan and aina are lovers? >> in fact, for all of the searches through nathan's and aina's cell phones, toner discovered something he said is particularly telling. >> how many people, particularly young people, are going to have

a relationship with a significant other and not have a picture of their significant other? did they find any photos, anything where it would indicate that nathan and aina were involved in that way? no. >> without a motive and without hard evidence nathan pulled the trigger, toner said all the prosecution had were lies, misinterpretations and omissions. >> not guilty. that's what nathan is, and i would suggest to you respectfully, that's what i'd ask the verdict that you return. >> though nathan leuthold did not take the stand, he would have plenty to say about the evidence and his innocence, particularly that chilling note left behind by his wife. >> she essentially spoke from the grave, saying that you

wanted to kill her, that you were humiliating her with a 20-year-old. >> coming up, nathan's answer and the jury's verdict. >> i was like 99% sure that they had to come back with a guilty verdict, but there is that 1%. >> when "dateline" continues. esl called tardive dyskinesia - td. and it can seem like that's all people see. some meds for mental health can cause abnormal dopamine signaling in the brain. while how it works is not fully understood, ingrezza is thought to reduce that signaling. ingrezza is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with td movements in the face and body. people taking ingrezza can stay on their current dose of most mental health meds. don't take ingrezza if you're allergic to any of its ingredients. ingrezza may cause serious side effects, including sleepiness. don't drive, operate heavy machinery, or do other dangerous activities until you know how ingrezza affects you. other serious side effects include potential

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nathan leuthold's murder trial was nearing its end when he had to decide whether to testify. at the last minute, he chose not to. >> you understand that that's not something you'll be able to take back? >> okay. >> why did you decide not to take the stand during the trial? >> i had chosen to testify prior to trial, but as the state continued to take things out of context, and continued to throw as much mud as they could on the wall hoping that some of it

would stick, they had moved beyond what i felt were the facts of the case. i wasn't going to give them any more fuel or any more fodder to use or to miss construe. >> but he wanted to set the record straight with us, insisting he's innocent. he also wanted to say that the police never looked past him to catch the real intruder in what was a real burglary. >> the police believe it was staged, that it just looked too kind of perfect, the way that everything was placed, and what was taken. >> but things were stolen. insurance claims verified they were stolen and paid the claim on those items. it was a burglary. did it look like a normal burglary? i'm not sure what a normal burglary looks like. >> but what really upset nathan was how the state depicted his relationship with aina, someone he had known since she was a little girl, someone he had

mentored. >> you can see how it would look bad, going to the spa, getting aina waxing treatments, the text messages that went back and forth. it seems like there was something going on. >> aina had no driver's license at the time. she had no way of getting around. i was a translator. take her for waxing treatments. it's not as if i'm in there watching or whatever else, so you check the records, the waxing treatment was the same day i'm getting a haircut. at the same place. take things out of context, you can make them say whatever you want to make them say. >> like aina's text the day of the murder. >> why did aina say after the robbery, "interesting" smiley face? >> you're asking me what somebody else sent. i just assume that aina hit the wrong prompt. nor did i give much thought to the word "interesting."

i understand it to mean that's interesting, as in that's odd. that's the way i've used the word over and over again throughout the years. >> one of the harshest accusations that has come out of all of this is that you killed your wife and it was a valentine's day gift for aina. >> the harshest statement has been that i killed my wife. it doesn't matter what day it was. i intentionally did it on valentine's day as a gift? i'm not sure what takes a sicker person, the person to actually do that or the person who suggests that. >> and what about those haunting words written by denise in that note found in her day planner clearly aimed at nathan, how would he answer that? >> she essentially spoke from the grave saying that you wanted to kill her, that you were humiliating her with a

20-year-old. >> the part you're referring to says, i know you want me dead. i'm not stupid. now, to say that that implies that she felt in danger seems to go against the facts. she never shared that with her best friend. her super close sister. her mother. her father. she never called police. she never called a counselling hotline. she never did any domestic battery, any restraining order, any anything because there was nothing. >> did you want her dead? >> no. why would i want her dead? >> to be with aina, to groom aina as your new wife. that is the accusation. >> that is the accusation by those who from day one wanted to

portray something that fits modern society, fits the culture we live in, fits the cheater's lifestyle, "the jerry springer" show mind-set. it fits the profile of making things look salacious. >> the jurors, of course, never heard any of that because nathan never took the stand. >> how nervous were you when the jury went to deliberate? >> from a purely selfish perspective, it's my life. my future. my freedom. it means that i could go back to being the father to the children. the children will be robbed of just one parent, not of both. one was stolen away by someone who was seeking gain. and a guilty verdict would steal from the children their other

parent. >> for denise's family, that was exactly what they were hoping for, for the man they'd known since he was a young boy who lived with them, and now they believe lied to them. >> when they went into deliberations, i was, like, 99% sure that they had to come back with a guilty verdict, but there's that 1% you're thinking, oh, no, what if someone, you know, -- >> i really wasn't sure what the jury was going to come back with. there was a lot of evidence provided by the prosecution. i think they did a great job, but at the same time, it was a lot of circumstantial evidence. there was no evidence that actually pointed to somebody do the crime. so i think it was very hard to tell what the jury was going to do. >> it was a highly circumstantial case. no hard proof nathan killed denise and no clear-cut evidence nathan and aina were lovers. but whatever it was jurors heard and saw in that courtroom, it was enough. in a mere 90 minutes, they reached a verdict.

>> we, the jury, find the defendant, nathan leuthold, guilty of first-degree murder. >> what went through your mind when you heard that one word, "guilty?" >> it was very close to the same feeling i had when i heard that my wife had been shot. i just remember hearing that the loss just got that much greater. >> the judge sentenced nathan to 80 years in prison. saying how shameful it was that nathan had killed denise in her own home. >> it seems only appropriate that you will likely end your life in a very different type of place, too. cold and gray isolated in the penitentiary. >> for the state, it was a satisfying ending to a case they had to painstakingly stitch together. >> i think he tried to paint

this image of a wonderful person, when in reality he was nothing more than a cold-blooded killer. >> as for denise's parents, they're still hurting from such a sudden loss, but at least they have her children close, as they are now raising them. >> how did you tell them that their father killed their mother? >> they knew that he had been on trial for murdering their mother, and that a jury had convicted him. and right away, the older boy said, well, everybody makes mistakes. my husband said, no, your dad made bad choices. everyone has choices in life, and he made some really bad choices. >> bad choices that left denise's parents coming to terms with the notion that everything they knew to be true wasn't. >> i felt bad for my husband because he told someone that he always thought that we had the perfect family, the perfect

life, and he just -- you really don't expect something like that to happen to you. when in reality, you know, bad things happen to good people all the time. i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." i have a lot of guilt. it makes me sick how i could do something like that. i was the responsible one. >> a working mom, new at the office. she loved her job, and really loved her handsome young boss. >> the thing that i never wanted to face was the hurt that i was going to cause. >> a passionate 9:00 to 5:00 affair. the problem? she was married. and so was he. >> i grabbed his face and i was like, you know what? i love you.