>> he was well liked. he was well-loved. he was smart. he was fun. i had the most senseless, empty feeling. this is how it ends? why would somebody do it? now what? >> white hat. wide open smile. a handsome young veterinarian in big sky country. >> he loved helping animals. >> he asked me out that night. i was excited. >> then they found him dead on the floor. >> two shots went off, and then the third shot into his chest. >> three gunshots that launched a long-running mystery. who killed the veterinarian?

>> i think the perpetrator stood there and watched him die. >> there were so many different leads and rumors. >> i felt like it wasn't for me, it never would have happened. >> jealousy, rage, revenge. >> it was your classic whodunit? >> could anyone solve it? >> look at what it's done to our family. >> it was hard. >> i wanted justice for my brother. >> there was a broad swath of prairie where the cattle outnumbered the people and a sad summer breeze sang around a modest dwelling in the grass. >> emergency. >> this is marlene protsman in geraldine. >> they called it the bunkhouse, though it was really just an old single-wide trailer. >> the veterinarian shot

himself. my husband just went down to check to see if he was going to pasture. >> a nondescript little place out on the montana prairie. a bit worn around the edges. >> do you know where he shot himself? >> he doesn't know. >> is he still alive? >> there's blood everywhere. >> the sort of place a young vet could live cheap while he built his business. >> well, if you can have somebody go check and see if he's still alive. i have paged the ambulance. >> when the local sheriff's deputies arrived, they found the body in the middle of the kitchen floor lying on its back. blood had pooled under its head. on one foot was a shoe of the sort people wear in the water. the other was bare. a.357 magnum was on the floor not far from the dead man's left hand. marlene protsman saw all this, too, same time as the deputies. but she could tell right away, as apparently they could not, that she'd been wrong on the 911 call. the man did not shoot himself. >> bryan had a cut on his nose.

and the way his shirt was ripped and just the blood on the floor, it just -- >> it looked like a struggle? >> yeah. it wasn't a suicide. >> but the deputies went about their work as they saw fit. and thus, on sunday, july 14th, 1996, they clouded a mystery that has come down all the way to us. >> there were so many different theories, different suspects, and so much conflicting evidence, it was your classic whodunit. >> or perhaps your classic nightmare. >> i'd lay awake at night and ask god to give me some insight here. where do i go now? >> the victim, the man on the floor, was bryan rein, veterinarian. charlene and teresa's big brother. >> he was my brother. he was my best friend. he was my business partner. >> they grew up together in scott city, kansas. >> we shared bedrooms. we shared clothing. everybody shared. >> bryan was the eldest. so what kind of an older brother

was he? >> protective. ornery. >> ornery? >> we were always playing pranks on each other and especially teresa, because she didn't take them so well. >> that bryan was very smart was a given. maybe a little too smart? >> i remember turning to him once and saying, i just want to know what time it is. i don't need to know how the clock was made. >> here's what they got to do growing up in a small town. they joined 4-h, future farmers of america. they raised their special animals, showed them off in fairs and exhibitions. and bryan knew from the very beginning there was one job he was meant to do. >> i never knew bryan not wanting to be a veterinarian. bryan always said that being a vet was way more difficult than being a doctor because an animal can't tell you where it hurts or how they feel. you have to figure out how they feel. >> after finishing vet school, bryan moved to montana. big, wide open country. cattle ranches galore. an outdoorsman's paradise, really, which absolutely suited bryan

rein. he took full advantage of what montana had to offer. and often. and so in 1995, a year before the events in our story, dr. rein set up shop in a speck on the map called geraldine, population 300. >> it's always a struggle starting a new business. and starting a vet clinic is very expensive, but it was doing very well. >> young dr. rein hired marlene to help him run the office and moved into the unused bunkhouse marlene and her husband owned on their property 11 miles outside of town. so she was both landlady and employee. >> bryan had a heart of gold. he was, you know, part of the family. >> mind you, a good looking young vet in such a tiny place? there was interest. lots of it.

>> i remember asking him, is there anybody there you're dating? and he's like, well there's some girls, but they're just not the ones. >> it was possibly an overly modest answer. the handsome young vet's arrival was practically a news event. heads turned, hearts may have followed. certainly gossip did. and then, summer of 1996. >> i was like, again the same question that i ask. so what is going on? do you have a girlfriend? well, there is this one girl. she comes over and she does things for me. and i said things like? and he said, well, she'll clean up my house and stuff. so i was like, shame on you. you should be over there cleaning her house. >> it was strange what began to happen after he took up with that young lady. weird things. not exactly frightening. more like unsettling. like the rock that crashed through a window of the clinic. did he tell you what he thought it was? >> no. >> or who? >> no. and he did find a footprint out in the back of

the building. but nothing really ever came of it. >> not long after, dr. rein called both sisters with a request. >> at one point he told me, quit calling and hanging up. i was like, bryan, i'm not hanging up. he just ha-ha'ed it off. he was like, it's not a big deal, teresa. it's not a big deal. >> but was it? on july 10th, 1996, dr. bryan rein drove to bozeman, three hours away, to attend a conference. he returned home friday evening, the 12th. no one saw him on saturday. and then on sunday, the 14th. marlene's husband drove over to bryan's bunkhouse. >> it was about, i don't know, five, ten minutes later, he came back and walked in the door and was very distraught, crying. >> such a shock, which is maybe why her husband got the mistaken idea that dr. rein committed suicide. but later that same day when marlene

heard an undersheriff repeat the mistake to bryan's grandparents, here's what happened. >> verna mae jumped up and she said, no way in hell would my grandson commit suicide. >> then, the next day, when state investigators led by agent ken thompson of montana's department of criminal investigation arrived and looked at the ruined crime scene -- >> my partner and i would look at each other and think, oh, my lord, you know? >> yeah. >> it certainly makes things very difficult. >> difficult? oh, yes. difficult was not the half of it. >> so what did happen to dr. rein? >> we had been told that he had committed suicide. >> did you believe that could be true? >> absolutely not. >> blood on the doorstep. bullets in the kitchen. >> how can this happen? why would somebody do it? >> the search begins for a killer. >> i think the perpetrator

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afternoon outside tiny geraldine, montana, local sheriff's deputies used towels to mop up the blood around what they took to be a suicide. the town's veterinarian, dr. bryan rein, age 31, was dead. his own. 357 magnum lay near his left hand. and the emissaries of sudden death delivered their message to dr. rein's sister, teresa, back in kansas. >> i remember saying, mom, i need to talk to you. >> i can't imagine what it would be like to tell your mother that her firstborn son is dead. >> yeah. it was hard. and he was that child. that perfect child. >> it was evening before the news found younger sister, charlene. >> i was actually in las vegas. we had been told that he had

committed suicide. >> did you believe that could be true? >> absolutely not. it was a long plane ride home. >> do you remember what your mind was doing to you during that plane ride? >> how can this happen? why would somebody do it? >> those questions because none of them believed bryan capable of suicide. and sure enough, the next morning an autopsy revealed abrasions and contusions on the doctor's head. a swollen right eye. clearly, there had been a struggle. and he'd been struck by three gunshots. two in the lower right forearm, then a fatal shot to the chest. the conclusion? obvious. it was not suicide. it was homicide. how is it possible at first they thought it was a suicide? >> i can't answer that. i think you have to understand that that county had not had a

homicide in, i think it was like 19 years. >> it was monday when state department of criminal investigation agent ken thompson was called in. and by the time he got to the doctor's bunkhouse, the locals had been gone, the scene left unguarded for more than 24 hours. >> montana's a remote state. sometimes you'll drive eight hours to get to the crime scene. so it's not like a big city where you can roll in and everything's pristine. >> no, not even close. in fact, the deputies and local coroner had spent just a few hours tramping around bryan's kitchen, had taken about a dozen photos. and in the process, had done things that couldn't be undone. like cleaning up blood on the floor under the victim's upper body. and tossing into the garbage a telephone handset found under dr. rein's head without swabbing for dna or dusting for fingerprints. those discarded materials were beyond recovery by the time investigator thompson arrived. the local deputies did tell him they found a water shoe on the bunkhouse doorstep. it appeared to have been knocked off in the struggle. the other one was

found on bryan's left foot. and then investigator thompson saw the blood drops out on the doorstep. >> we knew that that's where the shooting had occurred. blood had dropped straight down and so it was just outside the trailer. >> did you find some bullets around there? >> they found two bullets lodged in the kitchen cupboard. so the two shots that went through the arm, went through the arm and through that wall and came out into kitchen cabinets on the other side. >> i see. thompson and his partner used string to simulate the path of the bullets. they even tried to act out what might have happened. and before long, they came to some conclusions. how far away was

the shooter? >> pretty close range. >> so, if they struggle and the gun went off, it would be, right? >> yeah. some kind of conversation went on and a struggle ensued. two shots went off, and then the third shot into his chest. i think that bryan then struggled to get in to call for help. that he sat there. i think the perpetrator stood there and watched bryan die. >> and as for the location of the gun so close to dr. rein's own hand? so the killer must've put it there? >> correct. >> but were there any fingerprints on the gun? >> no. it looked like it had been wiped off with a solvent. >> so investigators now thought they knew how the murder occurred. but when it happened? that wasn't clear at all. friday night? saturday? it was an important question, of course. but just how important they might not have fully imagined just then. but there was no clear answer. in fact, the pathologist who conducted the autopsy left the space for time of death blank. remember,

dr. rein returned home from a conference on friday evening, but his body wasn't found until sunday. investigators canvassed nearby farms. and? >> there was a neighbor that lived probably about a mile away, maybe a little less as the crow flies, that had seen an atv go by that night. and then said he heard two loud retorts about that time. >> that is, friday night. but -- it could've been that night or the next morning or something? >> at first he wasn't sure, and then he wasn't sure of the date. >> phone records showed the last time dr. rein received a phone call was at 10:15 on friday night. >> nobody heard from bryan after that last phone call on friday night. the thought that he would go all day saturday

without having any contact with anybody was just really highly unlikely. >> on the other hand, dr. rein could have hung around his bunkhouse alone that saturday morning. or maybe he intended to go fishing. there were those water shoes, and they found a fishing pole near the door. of course, all this when and how did nothing to shine a light on who killed dr. rein. a question that was consuming everyone who knew him. >> my mind was just spinning trying to think who, you know, any little lead at all. >> there was, she knew, this friend of dr. rein's, larry hagenbuch, whose behavior had recently been erratic. and she also knew that some people in town said they'd heard larry badmouthing bryan in the local bar. though larry denied it. but investigators almost immediately had a different lead that seemed worth pursuing, and it was related to that broken window at the vet clinic and those hang-up phone calls dr. rein had asked his sisters if they were making. so he had no idea who was doing it? >> after he eliminated me, he had an idea. >> so he knew, or thought he knew, who the hang-up caller was, but he didn't seem very worried about it.

>> everything was going to be okay. bryan was not afraid of anything. >> maybe he should have been. coming up -- a new relationship. >> i thought he was handsome. i was excited. >> and a jealous ex. >> should i file a restraining order? should i do something? >> what would investigators make of him? >> i was beginning to form an opinion that it was somewhat of a crime of passion. >> when "dateline" continues. namaste... ...surprise parties. aww, you guys. dupixent helps prevent asthma attacks... ...for 3!... ...so i can du more of the things i love. dupixent is not for sudden breathing problems. it's an add-on-treatment for specific types of moderate-to-severe asthma that can improve lung function for better breathing in as little as two weeks. and can reduce, or even eliminate, oral steroids. and here's something important.

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family went into a tailspin at the news of his death. and when they heard that somebody murdered him? you kind of fell apart after that, huh? >> yes. it was difficult to figure out where to go, what to do. >> bryan's mom was practically paralyzed in her grief. and so, much of the dreadful work that demands to be done after such a death fell on teresa. >> i can remember sitting through the funeral and sitting there thinking to myself, i am so tired. i just want to go to bed. >> and maybe that played a role in teresa's mood. because on that july day in 1996 when dr. rein was buried in his hometown in kansas and a large contingent of montana ns made the trip to say good-bye, among them was that young woman from geraldine, the one who had gone over and cleaned his house, the

one bryan had recently started seeing. >> i was almost annoyed she even came. and she was standing in our home and i really thought, why are you here? i was pretty irritated. >> and those feelings were not lost on that young lady in the middle of her own grief and confusion. >> i just felt out of place. because i felt like, you know, they didn't know who i was. >> her name is ann. she was 21 then. she had known dr. rein just two months. met him at rusty's bar in geraldine. >> i thought he was handsome. i was like, what is this guy doing in geraldine? it was just kind of surprising to me. >> they talked all night, she said. and in the morning, how did you feel? >> i was excited. i felt giddy, just excited that somebody would be interested in me. >> ah, but complications. ann had a live-in boyfriend. guy named tom jaraczeski. her high school sweetheart. they'd been together 4 1/2 years. and though the relationship had its issues, who knows, she might

have married him. and then she had that heart to heart with dr. rein. >> he's like, you're too young to be settling down and somebody telling you what to do. >> how did that strike you when he said that? >> i agreed with him. >> like, why have i been with that guy all these years? >> yep. it made me see that i would be better without it. because it hadn't been a good relationship for a while. i had a reason now to move on and let go of that. >> and she was going to tell tom as soon as she got up the nerve. but then, oh, boy, dr. rein left a message on her answering machine at the apartment she shared with tom, who, of course, heard the message. >> he called me up and asked me what the hell's going on. >> well, a boyfriend would want to know what the hell is going on, right? >> yeah. >> and when she told him? >> he started crying and saying

he couldn't believe i was doing this and how i was throwing away everything. >> but ann was done. she moved back to the family farm outside geraldine. and tom begged her to come back. promised to do better. >> he told me that bryan would, you know, when he got tired of me he'd dump me, and then i'd see. >> and then the phone calls started. over and over again. >> i asked him to leave me alone. i said i needed time, i needed space. >> and he wasn't giving you any? >> no. >> one day ann agreed to go for a ride in tom's new pickup, so they could have the talk. big mistake. tom drove out of town and kept on driving. wouldn't let her get out of the truck. >> so i was like, okay, i started looking at the ditch thinking, i can land in that grass. i'll be okay. so i opened the door, and i was going to jump out. and he grabbed my arm. he's like, what the hell are you doing? >> how did it eventually end? >> he finally took me back. >> did you go home that night? >> no. my brother was out of town so i asked bryan if i

could stay with him. because i didn't want to be home alone. >> that's a big step. did you feel safer? >> yeah. >> but then tom, all of 23 years old, barged into bryan rein's place middle of the night when she was there, demanding to know the 31-year-old doctor's intentions. what did bryan think of this? >> he thought he was a stupid kid. >> well, he was being a stupid kid. you'd have to agree with that. >> yeah, because i asked him, should i file a restraining order? should i do something? and he said, no, he's just a stupid kid. he'll get over it. just give him time to get it out of his system. >> but he didn't get over it. and one night when nobody was home he went into ann's house, into her bedroom. >> and he said he found my journal and read it. >> what did it feel like to have your personal journal read like that by him? >> it just felt like i'd been violated. >> how did ann learn about it? tom told her. quoted from her journal. >> at the end i said -- and it

was in a sarcastic way, but i can't believe i'm thinking i met the man of my dreams. he'll probably get killed in a car wreck. and tom will probably kill himself. >> just thinking of all the negative possibilities? >> yeah, like here something wonderful's happened. something awful's going to happen. >> and that actually turned out to be kind of a prophecy, didn't it? >> yeah. >> it plays back like a bad dream now. how she told bryan what tom had been doing and then discovered it was even worse than she thought. >> he goes, well, i got one better than that. he came over here last night saying he had car trouble and asked to use the phone. he said he let him use the phone and went back to bed. >> had to have been a ruse, bryan figured, designed solely to see if ann was sleeping there. must have confirmed that you made the right decision breaking up with him? >> yeah. the more he did, the more it solidified that i'm not going back.

>> all that was just before that conference bryan attended out of town, the one he returned from friday night. that last phone call he was on 10:15 p. m.? he was talking to ann. >> and then all of a sudden he's like, well, i got to go. and before i could say goodbye, he had hung up. >> really? >> i thought it was kind of weird, but you know, it was late. i didn't want to read too much into it at the time. i kind of wondered. >> and now that bryan was dead, ann wondered a lot about something she remembered tom said years earlier. >> if you ever cheat on me, i'll kill him, and i'll kill you. >> so it will not surprise you to know that when he heard all this, investigator ken thompson made arrangements to call on young tom jaraczeski right

away. >> you don't know the kind of person you're going to encounter. and just with my limited knowledge of what had happened here, you know, i was beginning to form an opinion that it was somewhat a crime of passion. so i thought, well, let's see where this goes, you know? maybe if this is heavy on his heart and it was a tragic situation, maybe we will get to the truth tonight. >> oh, if only the life of an investigator were that simple. coming up -- >> one of the first things i thought, everybody's going to suspect me. >> police have some questions for the envious ex. when "dateline" continues.

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montana after the weekend murder of dr. bryan rein when investigators drove out to a farm 11 miles east of geraldine. here agent ken thompson and the local undersheriff intended to confront 23-year-old tom jaraczeski, the young man who'd lost in love and didn't take it well. when you arrived, what was his demeanor? >> oh, i think his demeanor was to be helpful. he was welcoming, very polite. >> when my mom told me about bryan, one of the first things i thought of, oh, everybody's going to suspect me, the ex-boyfriend, but that is not the case at all. >> tom jaraczeski admitted loving ann and being upset when he heard another man, dr. rein, leave a phone message for his

live-in girlfriend. >> so what i did is i called ann right away and i said, oh, you got a call here from bryan, and she didn't say anything. and i said, so what the hell's going on? she didn't say anything again and i said, you tramp. because i knew right then she must have cheated on me. >> tom did not deny that he behaved badly then. he freely admitted that he phoned ann's family and her friends. he even called some of bryan's former girlfriends. what did that say to you, that behavior? >> he was literally doing his own investigation on bryan. he was calling ann's friends trying to get all the dirt he could on bryan so that he could turn around and -- >> give it to ann. >> give it to ann and say, you need to end this relationship. this is a bad guy. he's just using you and you need to come back and be with me. >> in fact, tom admitted nearly all the strange behaviors ann described. the constant hang-up calls. showing up at bryan's place in the middle of the night. sneaking into ann's empty house at 3:00 in the morning, snooping around in her bedroom and reading her diary. >> so after reading that, i knew that, you know, bryan was

the big reason why she dumped me. >> he was actively pursuing her, aggressively pursuing her for her to change her mind to end that relationship with bryan and come back and start over. it was just a continual spiral, the things that he was doing, the more obsessed he got with her. >> it was, by his own admission, pathetic. like when he drove an atv over and hid outside ann's family farmhouse just hoping for a glimpse of her. and then was chased off by ann's brothers. >> i just apologized to them and i said, i'm so stupid and i can't believe i did this, and i told him, you know, i'm lower than life. i don't deserve to live. and they're like, oh, no, don't say that. it's nothing to

beat your head over. >> but tom had an alibi, and a pretty solid one, for most of the weekend when dr. rein was murdered. except for friday night. oh and yes, he did admit, he phoned dr. rein that night. >> so my intentions were to just call him and just tell him that i didn't have any grudges against him. and that wasn't going to interfere with him and ann's relationship. and i hope you take good care of ann because she's a really special person. he answered the phone and he said hello twice and i just couldn't do it. i chickened out. and so i -- >> and when was that? >> this was this last friday, about quarter to ten. >> investigators had been thinking it, though the medical examiner couldn't tell them, friday night was possibly when dr. rein was murdered. and after they heard tom's story, how he didn't have an alibi for friday night, that seemed to them to clinch it. >> you called him up at 10:00 on friday night. >> yeah. >> to say, i don't hold any grudges against you? >> that's right.

>> within hours, the guy's dead. >> and then tom dug a deeper hole for himself. remember, it appeared dr. rein scuffled with somebody before he was shot dead. well, guess who told the agents that he'd hurt his back that very friday night falling out of a pickup truck? >> so anyway, i hurt my back. >> did you get any bruises or anything? >> no, i didn't. >> no bruises on your chest or anything? >> no. >> but the next day tom went to a hospital and was treated for back pain. the only thing tom denied in that interview? faking a vehicle breakdown ten days before the murder and knocking on dr. rein's door to use the phone in the middle of the night. >> that didn't happen? >> no. >> but investigators weren't

buying tom's story. >> all the facts are pointing to you, tom. everything. everything we've got. >> what evidence at his place do you have against me? that's all you've got to worry about right there. >> it's all being worked on. >> trust me. >> there will be a car load of stuff going to the crime lab. >> good because you won't find anything against me. >> when you left at the end of the first interview what did you think? did you think this is our guy? >> i thought clearly he was a suspect. he clearly had done some things that were very troubling. >> sure. but did that mean he was the killer? what will tom jaraczeski say if we ask him? coming up -- >> they started accusing me of killing bryan. i was scared to death. i was worried that they were going to charge me that night. >> an arrest? hang on. could there be another person of interest in this case? >> we looked at him very seriously. >> when "dateline" continues. same growing up in a little red house, on the edge of a forest in norway,

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stranger to sudden, violent death. history is littered with it. but for the people living the history in july 1996 after the murder of the town veterinarian, bryan rein, it was all very, very hard. >> mom, for probably the next five years, crawled into a hole and didn't come out. >> and ann, that young woman in the middle? >> i was devastated. i just thought, here i'd met somebody that treats me nice and treats me like an equal. >> somebody you felt special when you were with him? >> yes, and to have that ripped away and not even know nothing may have ever came of it, but i didn't get the chance to find out. >> but what was worse, ann felt

an overpowering sense of guilt. you felt responsible? >> i felt like if it wasn't for me, it never would have happened. >> because, of course, she broke up with him. >> it's just unbelievable. >> and here he is, tom jaraczeski. ann's ex. otherwise known as the prime suspect. >> it seems like a bad dream that i couldn't wake up from. >> how did you find out that he was killed? >> from my mom. she just said that she'd gotten a phone call that the veterinarian in geraldine had been killed. >> and of course, tom knew perfectly well who his mother was talking about. his rival, the man who'd taken his girlfriend and made his life so miserable. and so -- you had to be sort of a little bit okay with that? >> no, not at all. i had no ill feelings toward bryan. >> oh, really? come on. you had to have ill feelings toward bryan. he took your girl away.

>> yeah, but not for somebody to lose their life. >> tom said he knew immediately that he would be high on the list of suspects, as, of course, he was. so he wasn't surprised when agent ken thompson and the local undersheriff showed up at the family farmhouse. >> i was nervous. i mean, both guys had guns on their hips and came into my house, and you know, i proceeded to tell them all these things that i was doing as far as the phone calls and the stalking. and when i told them all about that, then they totally changed their tune and started accusing me of killing bryan. i was scared to death. i was worried that they were going to charge me that night. >> but they didn't. while it was true, as we said, that the crime scene was compromised, there were hairs and fibers and fingerprints and blood samples yet untested. so the investigators said their goodbyes and told tom they'd be

back. all these years later. sitting here now, two decades later, tom told us, yes, he did love ann. he thought they had a future together. >> you know, i felt like she was the one and we'd be together forever. >> but when he heard that phone message left by dr. rein at the apartment he shared with ann? what did that feel like? >> like my heart was torn in half. >> you did some things then which, in retrospect, probably you must think were not the brightest in the world? >> yes. >> what bothers you as you think about it? >> well, i didn't know anything about bryan. and so i started calling up some of ann's family and some of ann's friends to see what they knew about bryan. and i was concerned because he was a veterinarian and he had access to drugs. i thought maybe he was giving ann

something. >> because why would she leave you for another guy? must be drugs involved? must be something like that something other than just wanting to make a switch? >> yeah, that was my initial impression. >> and all that other stuff? the hang-up phone calls, the stalking, going into her bedroom to read her diary? not great behavior. >> no. it was wrong of me to do that. i wanted to see her thoughts, what she had to say about me, what she had to say about bryan. >> you're having a lot of trouble letting it go? >> i did, yes. there's no manual on how long it takes to get over a relationship, and for me, it took awhile. >> but he swore to us here, as he did when he talked to the investigators way back when, that he had nothing to do with the murder of dr. rein, even though it looked pretty bad for him. >> they told me right away that this happened on a friday night. and i was home alone on friday night. i had no alibi. and so i was kind of stuck. >> although, remember, the medical examiner was unable to settle on a time of death. so despite what the detectives told tom, the murder could have happened on saturday when tom did have an alibi. which made another of the detective's

interviews particularly interesting. because, yes, in fact, there were other persons of interest. and another man they went to visit did have an alibi for friday but not saturday. that man happened to be a close friend of the victim. his name was larry hagenbuch. how seriously did you look at larry? >> we looked at him very seriously. >> hagenbuch was the one who encouraged bryan to move from kansas to montana. but larry wasn't a stable man just then. his wife was leaving him. he'd been drinking a lot. he'd tried to commit suicide a month before the murder using animal medication he'd gotten from bryan. in fact, it was dr. rein who intervened to help save larry. and here's the thing, detectives had heard that larry seemed to know intimate details of the crime scene which had not been made public, as if he was right there when it

happened. the problem? >> his story never stayed the same when he's even revealing it. i mean, at one point he said there was bullet holes everywhere. >> yeah. >> later he would say there was only two holes. at one point he indicated that it was a rifle and then it was a pistol. >> agent ken thompson -- >> still, from the sound of this 20-year-old recording, agent thompson wasn't accusing larry of murdering his friend in cold blood. more like things got out of hand somehow. >> i can just see this happening. i can see larry thinking, well, [bleep] he gets to drinking again, whether he's depressed or whether he's mad. i don't know whether it's just going out to talk to somebody and it just ended up in a stupid [bleep] shouting match. oh, well, here's the gun that's always laying around. but hey,

i'll take care of this myself. i'll go out here and shoot my [bleep] self then. and then the fight. nah, you ain't going to do that. let's fight over the gun and bang, bang, bang or whatever. >> yeah. >> i can see all that happening. >> yeah. >> and then we got an accident. you know, we got a [bleep] tragic accident. >> yeah. >> is that what happened? >> no. >> makes sense, though, doesn't it? >> makes sense, but it didn't happen with this cowboy. it could happen but not with this cowboy. >> not much more the detectives could accomplish at that point. this in those days, dna took its sweet time getting tested. would the results put either of those men at the crime scene, firing the gun at dr. rein? seemed like maybe it was time for something hands on. or nose on, if you will. enter calamity jane. well named, that dog. coming up -- >> that was the closest thing we had to a link. >> calamity jane sniffs out a clue, and a sister's discovery is about to change the case. >> i said, well where's the gun case? the gun case was missing.

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bryan rein near his childhood home in kansas, sister charlene came to montana curious about the progress of the investigation. and that's when local deputies told her about the mess-up at the crime scene, how they threw away some potential evidence. charlene was horrified. have you ever heard of such a thing before? >> no. he goes, no, we cleaned it up. we didn't want the family to see it. >> wow. >> i'm like, why? where is everything? we got rid of it. >> but then when she went to her brother's bunkhouse, charlene discovered that someone else must have gotten rid of something, too. something the cops didn't know existed. and in an instant, charlene's discovery changed the whole theory of how the murder happened. >> they had found the gun

beside him. and i said, well, where's the gun case? the gun case was missing. it was a gun case that bryan had made. >> so the gun was always in the gun case? >> the gun was either in it or beside it. >> a perimeter search of the property was organized. and lo and behold, the gun holster, a leather case inscribed with bryan's initials, was found lying in tall grass 84 feet from dr. rein's door. how did it get way out there? well, as he thought about it, the whole scene seemed to gel in ken thompson's mind. the way it happened, that is. the killer must have stolen bryan's own gun in its case while dr. rein was away at his conference, then brought it back that night expressly to kill bryan, discarding the holster on the way to the door. if it hadn't been for that holster out there, it could've been somebody came to the door, knocked at the door, bryan came to the door

with a gun to maybe threaten him and there was a tussle. >> that could've been, sure. >> the gun changed hands and boom boom. >> it could've been, absolutely. but that holster being out there, there's just no other reason why that holster would be out there. >> that was agent thompson's theory anyway. was tom jaraczeski capable of such a thing? well, he already admitted he sneaked into ann's house when it was empty. and so, thought agent thompson, he must have been perfectly capable of walking into dr. rein's place too and stealing that gun. >> he had plenty of opportunity to get the gun. i mean, the trailer was never locked. >> but why would he get bryan's gun? he could get a gun anywhere. it's montana, for god's sake, everybody's got a gun. >> he certainly had the ability

to go over there undetected and walk into that trailer. ample time to look around, to grab the gun. >> so that became the leading theory. larry hagenbuch, the doctor's troubled friend, if that's truly what he was, remained a person of interest, but the primary suspect, no question, was still tom jaraczeski. but how to prove it? well, as luck would have it, a bloodhound was at the crime scene that day owned by a local guy. a dog named calamity jane. so they let the dog sniff tom's baseball cap. and? >> the dog went right into the trailer, went right out the back door, went right to where the holster had been found, went right to the caragana bushes where there was an indication that somebody had been standing in there. >> what did you think? >> well, we believed that was a connection. that was the closest thing we had to a link from tom to the holster to a possible hiding spot. >> so you must have thought, we got him? >> well, it was the best that we had, given that we had no physical evidence. >> of course, they kept trying

to find some of that, too. at tom's place. what did they want from you? >> they took everything imaginable. shoes was the biggest thing. they probably took at least ten pairs of shoes. they took other items like a sleeping bag, binoculars, the inside lining of a winter coat. >> but not one thing from those searches could link tom to the crime. months passed. a year. and more. back in kansas, bryan rein's sisters watched their mother suffer. >> it got very difficult to talk to her on a daily basis because she was so down and she wanted answers. >> she also frequently called agent thompson. and this was curious. so did thompson's prime suspect, tom jaraczeski. >> he was always wanting to know where we were in the

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>> can you recall what you were doing when you sat down across from him? >> from him >> and killed at

would there be steak still in his stomach content? >> yeah. my opinion sit doesn't seem like a plausible time of death. >> so what was in dr. ryan's stomach contents? >> yeah. my opinion is that it doesn't seem like a plausible time of death. >> so what was in dr. rein's stomach? according to the doctor who did the autopsy -- >> there appeared to be scrambled eggs and green pepper and tomatoes. >> and in the bunkhouse? egg shells in the garbage. dirty dishes in the sink. as if he'd made breakfast. although dr. rein's sister

testified that it was bryan's habit to stay up late, make eggs, and work late into the night, the defense said the evidence pointed to dr. iranian being killed not friday night but sometime saturday. and there was a certain someone who had no alibi for saturday. someone you've already met. remember him? larry hagenbuch was about to take the witness stand. >> and it's your statement that you then just went home. is that right? >> correct. >> and you were home alone that night? >> that's right. >> no question what the defense was about to imply, that the killer could have been him. coming up -- >> he told this woman that mr. rein was shot with his own gun. >> the 19-year-old mystery takes a sudden dark twist. >> he started describing things that you wouldn't know unless you had been there.

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on day eight of his trial, tom jaraczeski's defense team attempted to flip the playing field. not only did they challenge the prosecution theory that dr. bryan rein's murder occurred on a friday night, they also pointed their suspicion at a man who had no alibi for saturday. >> the defense will call larry hagenbuch. >> larry hagenbuch, that friend of dr. rein's whose wife was leaving him, who had used medication he purloined from dr. rein to try to commit suicide a month before the murder. >> you took this combination of pills so that you could check out. you wanted to kill yourself. >> it was time. i mean, i was done with all the b.s. >> it's, to me, very plausible larry goes to mr. rein's trailer. he's upset. he's been drinking. he wants either more pills from mr. rein. mr. rein refuses.

and larry goes for the gun. >> thing is, the day bryan's body was discovered, larry admitted he had gone over to the bunkhouse. and the morning after, larry broke down crying in the waiting room of a counselor's office. and while people around him listened, he described things only someone with intimate knowledge of the crime scene would know about. >> he started describing things you wouldn't know unless you had been there. that mr. rein was lying on his back with his feet crossed, blood all over. but the one fact that i think that's the most important that stood out to me was that he told this woman on monday morning that mr. rein was shot with his own gun. >> in fact, this woman who worked in the office overheard larry. >> did mr. hagenbuch make any statements about whose gun that was? >> he said it was bryan's. >> sunday, during that investigation, these officers

did not know that this was mr. rein's own firearm that had been used in this, in this shooting. so to me, that stood out as a major red flag. how did you know bryan was shot with his own gun? >> i don't. i probably said a gun. by that time i was in pretty good shock. >> do you recall telling her that bryan was shot saturday night? >> no. >> do you recall telling her that you were going to go out and have a six-pack of beer with him? >> no. >> so if she knows all of that information monday morning, do you know where she would have gotten that information? >> i guess from me. but i don't remember any of that because i do remember telling our counselor that my best friend got shot. >> so nobody saw you from saturday morning, 7:00 in the morning until -- they didn't see you all saturday night, correct? >> correct.

>> and sunday you hear -- you come out to bryan's trailer. right? >> yeah. >> so that's the first time anybody sees you from saturday morning to sunday morning? >> correct. >> larry denied any role in the shooting, and remember, detectives didn't charge him with anything. but the defense had made its point. >> it comes back to they made a decision that mr. rein died on friday night. and so larry was around some people friday night, but all day saturday and sunday morning, he wasn't around anyone. >> and then finally, as if to twist the knife, the defense brought up one more thing. that thing that so upset dr. rein's sisters. the fact that in the underwear dr. rein was wearing at the time of his death, there was dna that was unidentified. >> so my question would be as to when that would have gotten there, and how, and more importantly, who?

>> the implication, of course, that he was seeing and having sex with someone in addition to ann. another potential suspect added to the pot. >> we're just saying tom may not be the only ex-boyfriend out there who would have been upset with mr. rein. >> that, in essence, was tom jaraczeski's defense. anyone but tom. did you kill him? >> no, i didn't. >> do you think larry hagenbuch did kill the doctor? >> you know, i have no idea who killed bryan. i know what it's like to be an innocent person, wrongly accused. and i'm not going to sit here and accuse somebody else. >> the end was coming very soon. coming up -- >> tom jaraczeski was the only person with the opportunity, the only person with the motive to

take bryan rein out of this world. he committed this crime masterfully. >> did he or didn't he? >> this was an incredibly tough case. >> the jury's decision. what would it be? >> put my head down on the table and i cried. >> when "dateline" continues. els #1 for diabetic dry skin* #1 for psoriasis symptom relief* and #1 for eczema symptom relief* gold bond champion your skin hey, i just got a text from my sister. gold bond you remember rick, her neighbor? sure, he's the 76-year-old guy who still runs marathons, right? sadly, not anymore. wow. so sudden. um, we're not about to have the "we need life insurance" conversation again, are we? no, we're having the "we're getting coverage so we don't have to worry about it" conversation. so you're calling about the $9.95 a month plan -from colonial penn? -i am.

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imagine the poor jury with such a decision to make. the dreadful loss of a young man with a bright future. but 19 years, a whole generation ago, bad and suspicious behavior by the defendant. but no physical evidence. but they did have to answer the question -- did tom jaraczeski pull the trigger? for prosecutors, the question for the jury was who else could have done it? >> tom jaraczeski was the only person with the opportunity, the only person with the motive to

take bryan rein out of this world. and he did it. and he committed this crime masterfully. >> the defense in its closing took a swipe at ken thompson, the agent who for two decades wouldn't let the case go. >> we don't convict people because the lead investigator is retiring and wants this case resolved just so we can close the book. >> but agent thompson wasn't even in the courtroom to hear the lawyers and the case he carried around for so long. >> i just felt the need i had to get out of there. i didn't want to listen to it. i had to get away and reflect and think about it. >> the jury went out first thing in the morning the next day. they did not return as quickly as one side at least expected.

>> it's just the worst time when you have a jury out. every hour that went by was pretty painful. >> and then? minutes before the 5:00 whistle -- >> all right. thank you, ladies and gentlemen. mr. foreman, has the jury reached a verdict? >> yes, your honor. >> i kept thinking if they said guilty, i thought, i'm going to fall down. >> my heart's beating so hard, so fast. either i was going to have a life or i wasn't going to have a life. >> we, the jury, duly impanelled and sworn to try the issues in the above-entitled cause enter the following unanimous verdict. to the charge of deliberate homicide, not guilty. >> not guilty. >> i cried. i put my head down on the table and i cried. >> i just put my arm around him and said, it's finally over. >> the case is dismissed. the defendant is free to go. thank you. >> go get a group hug. >> yeah. >> his family, overjoyed,

watched them cut off the gps monitor. did you realize it was finally over? >> yeah. it was a sense of relief. and seeing tears of happiness from my family, it's the greatest thing ever. calling my boys up in south dakota, telling them i'm coming home. that was a wonderful call to make. >> but while that was going on, across the courtroom -- do you remember that moment? >> i do. >> yeah. almost like you lost him all over again?

>> i remember walking out of there and thinking, and it turned out exactly the way i thought it would. why did you waste our time? >> did he? ken thompson didn't think so, of course. but -- >> of course, i was disappointed. my heart fell, but i truly was more at peace that people got to hear it all. because a jury said he was not guilty, i don't think that changes things. for most people they either believed he did or believed he didn't. >> what do you believe? >> that he got away with murder. >> clearly not what the jury believed. we asked judge greg pinski who spoke to the jurors after the trial. >> this was an incredibly tough case to prove. it was a tough case to prove in 1998. it became an incredibly tough case to prove in 2015. >> what did the jury think were the weaknesses in the case? >> timing. timing. they wanted to know why this

case was coming to trial after 19 years. i think juries are motivated a lot by what they see on tv. and when they see an old case on tv, they expect that there was some new scientific technological advance. >> some dna or something, yeah. >> some dna that suddenly cracked open this cold case after 19 years and brought it forward. and that's not this case. >> a couple months after the verdict, we went to arkansas to spend some time with the woman at the center of that long ago love triangle and discovered that she is still tormented by a guilt that will not go away. she wonders if it hadn't been for her, would dr. rein be alive? it's odd, really. whether or not tom killed dr. rein and especially if he didn't, ann could have had nothing to feel guilty about. and yet she does.

i know everybody says this to you, but stop it. it's not your fault. it really isn't. not even for a moment. >> i was hoping that if he was convicted, maybe that feeling would go away. that's what i wanted. i wanted them to say he's guilty. and then i could quit feeling guilty. and they didn't. >> no, they didn't. >> so now i've got to figure out a different way. >> so do they all. the prosecutor, believing he had the right guy all along closed the case. but the judge? >> i mean it when i told the jurors when they wanted to find out who did this, when they wanted to solve this crime, that literally if they believe there's another world that they go to some day, look up bryan rein when you get there and ask him who killed him.

because that's the only way we are ever going to know who killed bryan rein. . >> i'm craig melvin. >> i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." >> i now she would never leave her kid in the middle of a hurricane. brian always knew it wasn't going to be good. >>. >> you have the brother and the husband. >> all the same day. >> i'm like what is going on? >> the answer would have to wait. >> hurricane harvey is moving in this direction. >> i knew she would never leave her kids just in the middle of a hurricane. so i always knew it wasn't gonna be good. >> we're stuck in the house. immediately we went to social media. >> what kinds of things did you