it that in the end had nothing to do with knowing too much about inventories scandal, but a victim simply of an all-consuming jealousy. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin, thank you for watching. weu fo watching we but at the same time you do not want to know. this woman had gone out to get the mail. and disappeared in her pajamas. because we're never close. it was consuming all of us. >> the individual who was wearing a baseball cap, hoodie with the hood pulled off, and large mirrored sunglasses. >> oh my gosh did this really happen. >> i'm like don't do that, i

can do this. >> there was a scream -- a drop of blood came from her mouth >> it's like a game, he was a part of the scheme. we were done with the games. and needs to stop. it needed to stop. michigan snow blankets fields and -- sometimes encasing a guy secrets never meant to be disturbed. until finally the revealed, and always made clear. i know a lot of people say that they wanted to find her, and yes i wanted to find her, but then it would become so real. to me >> maybe you don't want to find her. >> yes. . start with the mother of two who vanished as she stepped outside her door to pick up

male. >> she wasn't there and i was walking back into the house, there were limestone gravel all over the sidewalk. and they were bare spots right down to the dirt in the driveway and it looks like a struggle had taken place. >> an awful confrontation that she herself had predicted. >> she had a conversation with my dad, the day before the night had happened. and she says i think he's going to come killing. >> this was a night before? >> the night before, she just felted. i don't know if you have an idea about somehow you know when your time is up. >> she said that when i'm gone just remember this conversation. the next day she was gone. it was a mystery, a disappearance that will take to investigators years to finally unravel. i think it becomes kind of personal. it's just how we do business. we don't leave those it'll pieces on turn >> a fiendishly complicated crime said in rural

west michigan, kept the rumor mill turning for eight years. where was she? this victim of a murder scheme in which an xbox live game, had detective seeing double. >> it's country out here. corn fields everywhere. two lane roads. and it's where a cheerful kid near venus was growing up with her family. the youngest child of larry and teresa. venus, i got a storm on, even before she was born. >> i dreamed about this beautiful little took earl with dark eyes. and when she came out, and i looked at her, i said that's venus. i can't even tell you how much i loved her. i can't even describe the love. but was venus a little more trot where the than she should've been. it was her naive today that always troubled her parents. she came home one day and told us that she met this guy, and that he had secretly confided in her, that he was mafioso. later we found out that he worked at mcdonald's and he was

just embarrassed to tell her. that but she believed him. >> in 2002, venus was 24. and ready to go out into the. what a soon to be college graduate with a degree in criminal justice. she wanted to be a officer of the law. and then she found out that she doesn't like guns. so that didn't work. >> what did work and instantly, was her attraction to a kind the dog steward. phoenix had a friend from work, jamie hess, who knew that venus had a soft spot ferguson uniform. and amy's brother doug was a marine. >> we set up the first day, there was probably three or four of us as couples, we went out to a movie. they hit it off early. what >> so we'll see that soon after, hello my name is, the two had become inseparable. >> what did you see in her? . >> she was smart, she was articulate, she was beautiful. some people i guess we call it love it for side. and four days later we were married. >> that's pretty fast. >> pretty fast. >> a lot of people will go on a

second day before getting the. i think we made it to our second, and the third it was a marriage. >> to say that penis's parents were little surprised by the turn of events, is an understatement. >> she showed up and she was married, and we were dumbfounded. >> all very sudden but dustin jasper, eunice's older brother, got along okay with his new brother-in-law. they both liked outdoorsy stuff. >> yeah we were hunting together, fishing together. we always had a pretty good relationship. >> it was a year after their quickly wedding, that doug left the marines to keep his bread happy. >> i was looking at appointments, and other different things. and she had a fear that something was going to happen to. me so she wanted me to get out of the military in 2003. so in 2003, venus and dog begin civilian life together. they moved into this house in school craft michigan, not far from where they both grew up. venus worked in a bank, and doug i had applebee's an pizza hut.

a year later a daughter came along. then in 2006, a second baby. >> venus always prefer to little girls, i helped her pray for two healthy babies, and we both got our wish. >> so did venus like being a? mom >> while she loved being a mom. that was her number one priority. >> but stay at home mom wasn't in the picture for venus. not right away. they were to reliant on her check from the banks. as she was the families figure breadwinner. so you became mr. martin? >> absolutely. >> and it was the best years of my life. >> when he kept back, mr. mom enjoyed his xbox. thanks to the game live feature he would talk in realtime to other first person shooters, far and wide. they blew up stuff together and became fast friends. he spent so many hours wandering the virtual world, he stopped looking for work in the real one. the marriage began to crack. arguments led to timeouts, separations, and shared custody

arrangements. >> he was very immature we, and venus wanted to bmo. >> then venus had an idea for a fresh start. >> she wanted to live in williamsburg virginia. miami, florida or houston texas. >> why did you want to go to such for places? >> she said whoa, florida there's disney world. and houston there is seaworld, and six flags. and williamsburg there is u.s., bush gardens. >> simon on the video, i'm gone. >> and newport news turned out to be the place. yes they put us smack dab in the middle of what we wanted. specifically about the kids if you want our kids to go up don't you think that we should give them excitement and fun everyday. >> and you? said >> i can argue with that, because i would want nothing. more >> while displaces gorges isn't? it >> there's a carousel i told. >> if the home videos from 2009 are to be believed.

the move from mexican to virginia was. working >> do you like bush gardens? >> best place on earth. >> doug had found a job as a truck driver. and homes wasn't apartment on a knife of this. building >> she wanted to live in a skyscraper, it's always been a dream of. first >> so things were okay if you look back at? that >> things were better than okay it was the best years of our marriage. the best years of our life. >> but doug and businesses problems around deeper than anything an amusement park ride could paper over. >> i'm before long there were screaming arguments again. and a year after making the move, venus had had enough. and suddenly bolted with the kids to her parents place in coal income chip michigan. doug was left alone in virginia, more than 700 miles away. >> big surprise to you? >> very big surprise. >> 2010, a chilly monday morning started like any day of venus's parents house. her mom went off to work.

her dad was sleeping. and venus and the kids were slowly getting up. then about 8 am, venus is that, also a truck driver, was groggy from a late shift on the road, he was startled. week >> i heard the girls being really loud out in the front. room and i thought why isn't she crying-ing them down. >> he got up to see what was going. on >> the girls were up in the front room, jumping on the couch, watching tv, i asked him whether mom was, and they said i did. no oh i thought maybe she's downstairs, maybe she's living in the laundry, but she wasn't. downstairs >> venus wasn't in the house, but herself phone keys, and purse, or. >> now i'm scared. an outside i looked for her but she was in. the >> he immediately called 9-1-1. >> she's just not there? >> is their vehicle missing or anything? >> no.

>> venus wearing nothing but i think pajamas, had vanished. >> coming up. left her purse left her phone, left all of her identification. left everything >> we're hatching? on the search for venus begins. >> i kept calling over and over again, where is. venus >> signs of a struggle, and signs of trouble. >> we might have a crime scene here, i think the hair on the back of my next up. >> when dateline continues. >> >>

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>> this woman had gone up and disappeared in her pajamas. >> the disappears of venus, the mother of two, in april 2010, was the first big story that reporter danny carlson covered for nbc affiliate in western michigan. left her purse left her phone left all of her identification left everything. >> venus's father layer macomb, made the 9-1-1 call that

morning. >> the vehicle is here, her kids are here, but she is gone. >> okay. have you tried calling her anything? >> yes but we can't get a hold of. her >> lawyer also called her wiped hurries. who is already at her restaurant job. her coworkers tried to calm her down. >> and they said, she probably just one around the block. you get a group, my daughter doesn't do that stuff. and i said i'm out of here. and i ran out the door. and i'm shaking the whole way home. >> trooper aaron's dean the michigan state police was on scene. whenever a young adult coast mission. police customarily ask the parents to weigh 24 to 48 hours for things to shake up. but right away, the officer suspected this might not be somebody who had taken a hike of her own volition. >> i don't know exactly what we had, you know after speaking to the macallan's and what i saw, we might have a crime scene here. so that's why we cordoned it off. >> businesses that show strippers steam the patch of

her gravel driveway that was cuffed up. the father also pointed out upping here tie on the ground. and something else he hadn't spotted earlier. >> a tarp color, a piece of plastic wrapping, with the bar code on it, i didn't realize what it was or anything. i just know that it's out of police. so he put a rock on and so the wind will blow it away. and they have people, i guess the crime scene specialists that gather of a dense -- >> crime scene tesco are able to lift off a fingerprint off the rapper. that rapper was for a tarp so that warmer. but officer steams was most troubled by what he heard from venus's current. just a week prior, their daughter wanted custody of her two daughters. >> i think the here in the back of my next it up after speaking to the macomb's. by this time mike scott won of westerns michigan's top detectives, had been brought up to speed by officer steams about the marriage on the

rocks. >> and as he put it,. it didn't look good >> and there was a history between them was in? it >> yes there. was >> so you certainly want to talk to this? husband >> yes, we want to find him. >> you knew that he was living in virginia? >> yes. >> the day venus went missing, mike scott and venus's mother repeatedly doubt doug cellphones. >> i just kept calling over and over again to see if doug within, to where he was. >> finally detectives got reached in that night. >> what did he say to you? >> that he had been in virginia all day. you're in virginia receiving this call. >> yes i'm about 20 minutes away from my apartment. and he said the your wife is missing. and my first reaction is if my wife is pulling. something by missing do you mean that she's just missing from the house. or -- what's going on film. he said i can do this at this, time where were you today. >> he gave me a couple of occasions which was to support

that he wasn't in virginia. one of those being at his lawyer's office. >> and he said, well can you lower verify, no mueller wasn't there, it was just to secretaries. >> detectives got asked them to run his story, and infect. up to women on the lawyers stuff confirmed. they said they saw him come in that day. >> a bit shocking when they said, well we checked it out and he is an alibi. >> so over the investigators to do? the parents were adamant in their believe that doug had come and snatched venus away. to cooperate their theory, they described to investigators this fight to plenty the daughter and had with their. husband but eyewitnesses were putting in in new sports news virginia. more than 700 miles away. and there was surveillance camera video in his apartment billion, in his car to backup this. how good dug the into places at once? that was impossible wasn't it? >> coming up, a mysterious man

by the lake. >> you're getting citizen? calls >> people saying i saw funny looking guy over at the lake the other day. and had been is gone missing before? >> i came home she wasn't there. my kids weren't. there i don't know to. do >> when dateline continues dateline continue hey shaq. remember you were talking about the general being great insurance and we stopped letting you sit with us at lunch? i do. well turns out you were right. they're actually a quality insurance company. that's what i've been telling you. -can we sit with you? -(sips) ahhh. for a great low rate, and nearly 60 years of quality coverage, go with the general. [swords clashing]

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went missing, she found religion. her brother dustin was the

[inaudible] one of the family. and he was thrilled that when venus was baptized at the age of 30. in the first day after first appearance, dustin would need his faith to believe should be found soon, and alive. but he also still had hope in his own theory that dog was holding her hostage. >> my figure it was another desperate attempt of his to triangular back. so she wasn't having contact with him and stuff, so he tried to manipulator and concern to coming back to him. >> so we just stay on the fence -- >> but police feared the worst and became looking for a body. they searched miles of rolling farm country, thick wooded areas throughout western michigan. >> helicopters came out. >> yes the helicopters came out. >> and they were searching, dogs are searching. >> there's a lot of water around? here >> we ran around the river -- >> immediately after her disappearance lead detective, mike scott, had zeroed in on

the obvious, the husband. but when fbi agents verify dog story that he'd been in virginia, scott had to start thinking bigger pictures. >> the woman goes out the front door in her pajamas, and never seen again, someone would be rightfully fearful. somebody crazy on the loose, abducting people. and you're getting students and. calls people saying i saw funny looking guy at the look the other. day >> now police are looking for this man, two witnesses spotted him at nearby adams lake, the night before stewart disappeared. he was wet and approach the witnesses for cigarette. >> i mean right now with this case, we have so few clues to go on, we're not going to discount anything. >> police dread that chilly week after reports of the soaking wet man by the water's edge. they worked around the clock. but found nothing. >> it was miserable conditions, i don't want to hear anybody complain. once >> doug stewart was not involved in any of the searches. when detective scott reached him that monday night april 26.

he was in virginia, and he remain. there he gave a reporter from would tv a telephone interview. >> now that the timeline has gone so far, i'm getting very word and very concerning. >> despite their ceaseless marital battles. doug insisted he still cared about her. i don't know what is next, to be honest with. you i'll just keep watching the news and pray and hope for the. best >> but it was also still bitter about losing his kids, in that custody showdown just two weeks before. so his take on her disappearance was a unique. one it wasn't upset he said because he believed venus was a runaway. mom >> my theory my wife pulled another fossil, and runoff, couldn't handle the commitment of the situation she was in, for the children, by herself. >> the way doug saw, this was no different from that time two months earlier. when venus had suddenly and surprisingly bolted with the kids. >> came home, she wasn't there.

my kids weren't there. my dog wasn't. there i didn't know what to do. >> doug said he thought venus had disappeared that they too. >> it was starting to get a little darker, i called her cell phone but she didn't respond to pick up the phone, i got very worried, i called the police and i said i'm very worried that my wife is in home, i don't know what to. do >> newport used to -- dog tried to file and listens pursing reported, but police told dog not to bother, venus had been to the station herself earlier that day to follow complaint against him. one police refused to look into it. she decided to take off from michigan with the kids in the dog. effectively, ending the marriage. >> the police officers informed him that she was not missing, that when you were her whereabouts were, and that she was not coming home. >> now it was early may, and her prints in michigan were certain that venus was really messing this time and in serious danger, or worse.

>> and even though doug had an alibi, michigan police went down to newport news to talk to him. >> so we just went down to investigate the disappearance of -- steward. we don't know what we were gonna. fine >> shame crude or detective of the michigan state police, rolled in with his own forensic. team they met up with top followed the detective from newport. news together they all went to his house. >> we did not disclose to him that we were from michigan. >> michigan police did not want to clam up or lawyer of. so they let -- him do the talking. he didn't seem overly concerned about the disappearance, he felt like she had simply run away and that this was some sort of start that she was pulling. byler said he didn't jump to any conclusions. i hadn't made a decision one way or the other whether she had simply run away or been abducted. with a search warrant in hand, detective fowler and the michigan officers, listen to

dog story, search the apartment, and seized his computer. he was very cooperative, he told us about all the computers that were in the house. >> the michigan cops on you all about the bad blood between doug and venus, we're looking for any trace of her, dead or alive. and what were you expecting to do and hoping to find? their >> we knew we wanted to search his apartment for her clothes. because that's the last thing she was seen in, and we wanted to try to find a close if possible. >> any sense of venus being around that apartment? >> no nothing. >> but the forensic investigators kept looking. then they went outside to look his truck still hoping to find a sign of business or other signs of hopeful. leads the truck was an absolute mess. the debris from a disordered life. but there, a mr. french fries, plastic lid and bits of crumpled up paper, was an unexpected coup. once it was analyzed, the investigation would shift into another gear. coming up >> when he called me he said are you sitting? down >> a tiny piece of paper,

is about to provide a very big break. >> they were able to locate a receipt in. they're the purchase of a tarp in a shovel and gloves -- >> and where was the receive, from israel warmer. when dateline continues dateline continue yardwork... teamwork... long walks.... that's how you du more, with dupixent, which helps prevent asthma attacks. 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. dupixent can cause serious allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis. get help right away if you have rash, shortness of breath, chest pain, tingling or numbness in your limbs.

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what's happening. according to an fbi official body to bleep the dead of gaby potato was found on the eastern border of the national park in wyoming. florida investigators are still searching for her fiancée, brian laundry, who disappeared after being named a person of interest. and the u.s. attempt to block the mexican border, where haitian refugees are having to cross for nearly three weeks. meanwhile, officials begin flying some of the migrants back to their homeland. now back to dateline. ten days into the investigation, the search were mina stores, and whoever dumped her was now

heating up into states, michigan, and virginia. in michigan, police were trying to find to the lab a few clues that they found outside the. principles the fingerprints they lifted at the scene we're still waiting for analysis of the state crime. lab and then the plastic rubber for a tarp, the police believed have been used in venus's abduction. police and detectives were running down it's far cold looking for where the dart came from, and who. body >> it looked like it had been recently purchased from walmart, but we didn't know which. warmer >> that wrapping it up as, which you believe at the murder scene. >> yes i think that's the best place to, north side. >> venus's two daughters did with her put grandparents in michigan. while friends and family search for the girl's mother. >> she's around this area somewhere,. businesses and mary organized the search groups. and even when she wasn't ill looking she kept a shovel in her car, so she could rush over to help dig anywhere, anytime. >> you look for anything that's out of please.

if the ground has been dug up even a year ago, you're gonna be able to tell. >> more than 700 miles southeast in newport news virginia, investigators were also searching. after nothing had jumped out at, them index apartment, the special forensic unit began combing through his truck. >> the truck look like a sky, the truck was in disarray, yes it has not been. clean >> scraps of paper, old french fries, and crumpled up four seats. it looked like a overs from a college road trip. but all this dirt was about to become -- one smudged receipt suddenly got the forensic team's attention. >> they were able to locate a receipt in there for the purchase of a tarp, a shovel, gloves, and a hat. >> they couldn't believe their eyes, or their look. >> we thought they were joking, because who leave that in their truck, but inevitably that was. lucy >> maybe your biggest single piece of evidence, this crumbled tossed the receipt? >> yes.

>> an investigator on the forensic team immediately called detective got back in michigan. >> when he called me, he said are you sitting, down -- and in all the garbage there was this receipt. the had, some gloves, large shovel, and any by ten tarp, that was the item that we were looking for because the rapper found at the macomb residence was for eight by ten times. >> and where was the receipt? from >> it was from a walmart. specifically the walmart in vanport ohio. about two hour southeast from where venus disappear. but not one of the walmarts michigan investigators have checked. up i doubt we would've found that purchased if we have not had the. received >> the data on the receipt itself was smudged. we don't know when these items are purchased. so the investigators begin contacting the van word walmart stored to try determine the date, we learned right away that those items were purchased the evening before venus went

missing. >> now that word ohio is not near michigan, so what's with the walmart in the state of ohio. it's indirect route of new sport and michigan. >> but the feds had prove that doug had been in virginia when venus disappeared. so how did the ohio receipt get? the detectives got had prosecute job mick ghana, meeting in their war room suspected someone else was involved. but if that was true they had no idea how. that didn't matter to mcdonald, then the youngest elected prosecutor in michigan, who was itching to arrest duck right now. >> i said all right we gotta, let's go. let's charge him. now >> it didn't happen. >> cooler heads prevail. >> i had to listen to chug, and detective scott telling me to calm down, let's get everything ready to. though the fact was the investigation was still mission key evidence. it's these a body. a major hope. maybe even a case buster for anyone who would be

prosecution. >> let's go slow nobody is going anywhere, let's see where this takes. as i still thought there was more to be done, to tie up any loose ends and put this case together better. >> mike scott working his last case before retirement, knew the biggest loosen was discording dogs i worked in virginia alibi, so he asked a detective for newport news to keep digging. this case became a top priority for me, todd father who kept an open mind when you first interviewed dug in his apartment, was no skeptical. it's looking for us that the sea was not in some landfilled, somewhere between here in the state of michigan, so follow me back to the law office were duck advance bonded the day because disappeared, the local lawmen had some follow-up questions to. once the fbi had put off villas. , my visuals wearing a baseball cap a hoodie with a hood pulled

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missing, her father, a truck driver, had a heartbreaking journey to. make by then dug had moved out of the couples newport news apartment. and returned to michigan. solar macomb headed south. >> the people that ran the apartment complex where she lived cold this, and they said, there's all kinds of stuff like versus the kids toys, pictures, would you be interested and i'd send them to? you >> i said i'd come and get them, so i went down, i got all the girls toys, like all the pictures like a fine, it's very painful. he found comfort the from venus's neighbors. that's all my daughter live and they're also supportive, like nobody like doug and everyone loved being next to the girls.

somebody call bruce it sounded like venus, then towards the end of the phone call it didn't sound like venus, he said because all they would say is i'm so sorry. he couldn't get nothing out of them. but they kept saying that didn't do this. don't undo this >> entering the phone call venus's grandfather the woman said i'm in illinois near a relative's home, but the phone records didn't support that. we did not believe that phone call being from the. so we think that there was people playing a joke on the family. do you think it was done, putting somebody up to? >> i can't say for certain tea but i did suspect. >> and back in there was a court taking. place but not the one that venus's parents had in mind. >> the preliminary hearing today as doug stewart works at the custody of his two young

daughters. change it seems that the court is going still had with the whole custody. issue >> yes drug is dragging us into court to try and get his girls back. and there's no way he's getting custody of those girls. >> that's claim was that he is the father, he's around, and the mother isn't but that was the reason why his, venus's father didn't pull any punches. >> i asked if you murdered, and just something that popped out of my mouth. >> the judge scheduled another hearing for three weeks later, but in the meantime denied the custody and visitation rights with his young daughter. >> really, i feel really relieved, that's all i have to. say >> while the corpus delaying a final decision for the children, detectives in michigan we're stepping up their investigation. in newport news, detective

taught file are now suspected dogs alibi was part of some rules, what with the warmer street in his truck saying ohio as an area code four one nine, when doug had been telling he virginia. >> michigan state police told us doug had gone to his lawyer's office to make a payment on the pending child custody dispute. they stated that the fbi has got to the lawyer's office had confirmed that he had showed up and made a payment to them the morning that she disappeared. >> but detectives followed her heart's own followers for the secretary, and what he was beginning to think look like one pretty outlandish talking. he had two theories, one that the secretaries could've possibly had some sort of relationship with him, i'm even lying to the fbi to cover extract or somebody posing who come to the law office and make a payment, and indeed it

wasn't. the >> so the women describe the man that they have see that they, but december greater detail. >> the individuals wearing a baseball cap, a hoodie with the hood hold of, and large merit aviator type sunglasses. generally speaking people to come in with hoods up and large glasses disguising their appearance, unless they're up to something of questionable activity. >> so detective eller asked them if they were positive that it was doug stewart and he got an important admission. neither one of them said that they were 100% sure was. that >> as they never called it even though the man in the porta-potty and dark glasses made a payment as doug, he never let them in the high, and there was no small talk. then he rushed off, instead of waiting for his receipt. father called be detectives got in michigan with his take, i don't think a ton of the lawyer 's office, he said that's great, now that work one step closer. we have to solve the.

kate a complicated, maybe even clever scheme was not coming into sharper focus, centering around dexter and some mystery man in virginia, these points all represent cell phone towers. >> back in michigan detective corker was choking like cell phone records hoping to come up with some answers. what jumped out at you? >> the biggest part was there for days just prior to venus's disappearance, there were numerous calls between seven and 15 calls per day to and from doug from one particular number. , but the detectives notice again, the day for venus when missing, the cell phone turned, off until the next. night >> and then all of a sudden the calls kept coming to and from the same number >> so the question becomes who was at the other end of this phone call? or >> yet. >> it was quick finding out who the person on the other side was. it was traced to a young man named ricky spencer.

ricky was a college kid living in suburbia with this. fans >> you're checking to see if he has in the office for point is that has its own veterinary clinic, there will to do, the mother and father of addiction looking yes image of a week since venus won wishing mission injected venus and his lieutenant chuck christian decided to find out, they got in the car and headed east. destination bear delaware. would the man on all those phone walks, hold the key to what happened to venus stewart? coming up, >> we got a guy who i believe is making a lot of calls to doug, he looks a lot like. doug he could pass for. doug we did not want him to know that we were. coming >> please pay a surprise visit to this mystery. caller >> how do you know that? story >> through xbox live.

>> and he's gotta hit spinning some parts of his own? the go see his wife. >> okay did he say why? i. >> to hide or. when dateline continues

to months in here's where things stood in the investigation into the disappearance of venus stewart. the western michigan mother of two had gone out to the mailbox in her pajamas one morning in april 2010. and hadn't been seen again. investigators suspected her extreme hunts been dug was behind. it is one solid alibi that he'd been elsewhere, was now on shaky ground. cops theorized that he maybe had a stand in virginia so he could sneak off to michigan. but could be. private to find out detective chain krekor, and chuck christiansen, drove from

michigan to an upscale mid -- amber delaware to question a student. >> we got a guy who i believe is of interest and making a lot of calls to, doug he looks like, doug you get past for doug -- >> on june 21st 2010, the detectives made an unannounced visit to this house, where rickie lived with this. fans we did not want him to know we were coming. correct. rickie's mother came to the door. explain to them that we needed to talk to, ricky we thought he might have some information to help us out on a case we are working on from michigan. at the burton and interview, room the two cops a priest ricky. 20 years old. polite, clean cut. >> how do you know that? to >> the rex fox live. >> he told the detectives that we've been friends in the virtual. world playing should him up, and talking long distance for a year and a half. then they met face to face for the first time, during ricky spring break from college on

april 1st 2010. april fools'day. ricky said he was invited by the, and then ten years his senior, to stay at his place in newport news. rickie was there for a week. . we want to throw on time for a day, and we were trying to get into the clouds but i'm not 21 yet so. are you're not 21 yet? okay we played xbox, i mean is a chill guy, but it was just awkward you know. because he's like closest thirties. and i'm like in my twenties. once the last 70? sign. my spring break it might be the beginning of april. >> but the detective suspected that that was untrue. by then the stitch together a solid timeline of the rookie duck communication based on cellphones logs. on april 25th, the morning

before venus disappears, ricky cell phone pink in bare delaware. the last call he made before shutting off his phone, was to distort. ricky briefly turned his back on, good for the investigation, bad for. ricky his phone hit off the tar just north of that department leaders that morning >> so he's on in delaware he's in coastal virginia. >> ricky than told the detectives that he recently learned from dog that something happen to us. why >> he was like, she rickie she's missing >> i'm like what do? >> because he's tying like that she does weird, stuff like we're. ta-da >> was rickie still covering up for both doug and himself? lieutenant christians thought so. he tried to shake him up taking a turn us the bad cop. >> i'll be blunt dogs do it abducted and killed his wife. okay? we also know that somebody went

into a legal office down there in newport news virginia to pay legal bills for. him we also know that you were down in that apartment during, yeah wait for what. on the 25th of april on the 26. >> now of april, no i was only there on spring break. >> he was reluctant to admit the truth. >> but he was starting to distance himself from, dog bit by bit. >> i go to his name again and i saw, some which it like they, feel like a receipt or something from a different state close to michigan. and i was like what the? >> at that point i was, like i'm not talking to this guy that's where. >> so detective crater put on his good caught hat, soothing, supported, sympathetic. >> you're probably thinking am i gonna get in trouble for, this one i'm gonna, do add in 90 of this was gonna. happen you know one of? saying >> that's really some,

and i don't think involved in the playing in that it, then it was just more, him and you got it got caught up in everything, you realize after the fact i don't any part of doing this. anymore he got a couple sis? it >> would have this happen to your sister, are you close at the, game pretty close at them >> would've somebody took your sister? >> i'd be upset. >> you'd be upset with him to. >> this is what's going on with venus's family. they're right now, they need coach to this, we really do, you need to help us with that, because you are part of the game now. but not our main concern whatsoever >> the detective -centric he was ready to come clean. i want to seem said if we thought that you were a main player in this do you. really think we'd be dealing with you like this. absolutely not so my first question is, did he tell you he was gonna kill her before this

happened? before you went? down there what did he? say >> he needed to take her business up in michigan. >> finally ricky side and started to unspool his story. a spellbinding thriller involving doubles, and deception, with doug stewart has his mastermind, >> what was the business he said he need to take? are >> the go see his wife >> did he say? why >> to hide her. >> to hide? or >> to get rid of. or >> lieutenant christiansen called detective scott back in michigan. they broken. >> he's our guy, and makes reaction was something to the effect of holy cow. >> mike scott who preach patience with the prosecutor, before immediately dispatched officers to apprehend doug stewart. trooper aaron steamboat was part of the team that tell them to that convenience store, he was parked in and were you

surprised? >> absolutely. not that it was a mistake. and i get an apology. >> doug had thought that venus kept on him in the. kids after his arrest, he said it again, to detective. scott >> and i got very upset. i told him i said that i worked with you from day one. i do not know where my wife and. >> teresa how did you know that that could be the? >> the police came to the house and told us. the same day they told us that she was deceased. >> they said that they arrested him for murder. and [inaudible] >> i couldn't accept it, i don't want to accept it, i don't want to accept that he could do that to her. >> police had declared her dead even without finding her body. and prosecutors were preparing to file a first degree murder charge. but as that stuart got ready to stand trial for murder, venus's

family child for far from over. coming up. douglas tua caused the death of minister. >> courtroom he was very we're presenting himself is coming up a scenario. got it was very bizarre. young child for the murder and your wife, and none of this seems to affect anyone. when dateline continues.

on

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>> douglas stewart caused the death of venus stewart. >> she did at the defense table, doug stewart, wearing casual guy sweaters, and sweater vest. >> what did you see,. he was very good defending himself, it was very bizarre. because we would go into chambers, he would talk out loud like he was one of the guys. you're on trial for murdering her wife, and none of this seem to affect him one bit. as the prosecutor began his case, his opening witnesses focused on april 26 2010. the date venus vanished. state trooper first on the, same testified that he believed he was looking at a crime as soon as he talked to venus's parents. i pulled in the driveway and i was met by a female who was hysterical and crying. >> did you do next? >> she told me that he took her, he took her. >> early on he wanted to meet

one of the parents, to see him as a stable decision and loving parents that they, were venus won this in some kind of wild child bad mother. >> was it odd that your daughter would've left her children along? >> it was more than on, it was something that would not have been. >> after sketching out the last day that things might ever be normal for venus's parents, the prosecutor turned the clock back 24 hours. and move the scene from michigan to northwest ohio. april 25th had been a chilly night in van with a higher. and the man who walked in the front door of the walmart was easy to remember according to the walmart security officer. despite the weather, he was wearing a lot shirt and flowery hawaiian shores. >> that's the customer entering a here. and there is a here. >> what is this a clip? of >> this is associate rebecca hill, with a customer following her. this is jurors watched intently

watching doug marching through the. alice and the defendants tabled the accused knew what was coming next. an inventory of the items he bought that night. he picked up a shovel, gloves, a time, and had. >> what does he have in this? and >> this appears to be a shovel and a tarp as often. >> that looks at walmart had no trouble remembering the customer. >> most people weren't wearing shorts at that time. >> donna stiffer a cashier in the lawn and garden section remember approaching the customer who looked like he was going to a law. >> i said welcome to walmart gonna help. you and the first thing i think he asked for was live. why would you ask for a lot? >> if you throw lime on anything that's taking, it could almost ask like how base king soda would, to observe. orders >> donna told that they didn't sell, i she said he granted and kept on. moving minutes later he was back at a register to check out. >> do you remember with that

person? by >> a tarp, shiny shovel, silver, i think that day, in gloves. >> did you see that person in the courtroom today. >> yes. >> could you point a modern describe what he was going. >> i'm so nervous, he's over the. >> what is he wearing? >> a white fest, i remember his eyes more than anything else. >> you can tell that she was just terrified of this guy. my god i saw this guide these things, that helped him kill his wife. >> and there was something else that trip dug up, a credit card blunder, before he went to michigan, that body throw a cell phone call the truck, phone that normally-inchers amity, except as you can see

that swipe in here he's just bought it with a credit card. that created any electronic receipt revealing the phone tunic i.d.. that made the phone, and that movements, easily traceable. >> he didn't think that would find these track phones that he had. master criminals don't save receipts and credit card. >> pretty good and follow the path of that particular track from their gps acknowledging. just as if it were personal cell phone. using the phones how close could you get into the wife's driveway? >> pretty close. within 5 to 7 miles. >> but by night something else put him even closer. old-fashioned forensics. remember this image on the plastic tarp proper found outside businesses parents house, it was a fingerprint, turned out but stewart's fingerprint. placing him at the scene of venus's disappearance. prosecutors believed it was damning evidence. >> do you swear to tell the truth, >> but to close the deal they had to put on the sound

the college kid impostor with the headbutting tale to tell. would it be too incredible to be believed? coming up. listen this, i want you to come and to be mild. by >> ricky lays it all out, a plan to murder, it was like a game, he was a part of this game. when dateline continues when dateline continue ooh, that's a low price. huh. that is a low price. what's a low price? ♪ ♪ ahh, that's a low price can you let me shop? hmm, that's a low price. i'm gonna get it at amazon, anytime is a good time to save. find your rhythm. your happy place. find your breaking point. then break it. every emergen-c gives you a

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that you hear. >> chief prosecutor john macdonald in the course of two, days would tell one of the most mind-boggling stories ever heard in the st. joseph county michigan courtroom. >> please call your next witness and will have a sore name. >> rickie now 21, seems like a young boy in a grown-up world. his gesture not as customary teeth ran big in the sleeves. how do you know mr.? >> i met him on xbox live.

how often did you play xbox i've with mr.? stood >> anywhere from 6 to 10 hours. >> and? the >> u.s. on a daily basis. >> this was his life. my people might see the really, that he played xbox. >> even though he never met him, we keep told the jury he felt a strong time to the four mentoring. would you say with your best friend. yes he called us brothers from another mother. >> probably one of the very few people he had social contact with. >> logan reid kyi met in person on a in 2010, nearly a month before venus is appeared, douglas living alone and had invited ricky down for spring break, surveillance camera footage showed ricky in virginia. >> the party didn't drink, and -- >> we can testify that for the first three days they want to the bush garden to me isn't a, puck played xbox, live and.

during the hung out like fred brothers. on the for the prosecution lesser that the got down to business. let me finish before you interrupt me. we can testified that that began to vent on this exchange wife venus. we said douglas portraying venus as an abusive here that wasn't true but ricky didn't know that. doug then told ricky that he needed to do something desperate. he was gonna go, cohen he was telling you this what were you thinking? >> i was just shocked. i couldn't believe what i was hearing. >> he said this is where i want you to come in rickie. i want you to be malady. just pretend to be me, i live in my apartment. >> yankees immediate reaction was wasn't emphatic no. >> no dude i don't hear anything about. this he didn't talk about it

for the rest of the day. >> but that kept at it over the next two days. this by anyone else's portrait of venus's mom of the. here >> that push negative stuff on, telling him how he gets back on his older. daughter >> academic? you >> i felt that, it felt like -- he was saying someone could be. alba i said noted i can do. this >> the reckoning upstairs about these concluding's but the most coffee. cohen's venus had tried to choke one of the. girls >> if i wasn't there that moment, what if you asked you to gaza? what did you say? >> i said yes all the. alabama >> ricky cave done according to the prosecution doug had a plan ready to go. he took his recruit to a nearby park for a crash course in how to get away with. murder, >> yes electric if

you're trying until someone and you don't want any evidence to pull them not a gun because of this evidence. right not again so it is >> not a nice cause that these evident >> so it is? >> doug said you took somebody. >> all right there in the park duck demonstrated on ricky, his military chuckle. had, doctors thinking they put me down, and i'm out of breath. he says if you do that to somebody for tens, against the pass, the 32nd and they're no longer alive. >> the coach ricky to be higher in the surveillance camp to pull off this ruse, rickie would need to worsen classes a cap and a hoodie pulled up in. over ricky return to delaware to wait for ducks signal. it came on april 15th 2010. doctor of up from virginia, and ricky from delaware, and they met at a gas taishan in the first normally, outside the

nation's capital. look that's when national where he did the things to turn to. got his clothing, his cell phone, keys to harness up department, and the kissing the. this is the parking space area where i met with doug stewart. where did you go. i drove to virginia. >> where the dog told to he was going? >> to michigan. >> he didn't say, nicholas alive, he said to take out this this. sure enough surveillance cam pictures taking april 15th we're show ricky easy into ducks live newport news. he prompting ducks garage as instructed, and hung out index apartment, this is the lobby of virginia this is the window 10:11, he has a hoodie on, he has a, favor he's sticking around out of his park. >> with doug's credit card week he had bought a doubles to spur

grand fisa wendy's. why did he want you to use the credit card? to make it look like he was in virginia. somewhat deep down prosecutors wonder if we get a little show on the update, think that this is all pretend. keep your head down where this was such a. it was like a game, he was a part of this game. this is ridiculous omission. but the mission more than motion wanting gave up to be, had gone a missed, doug had to hit the reset. but in on his way to michigan he'd been pull over in the wee hours by a state trooper in hawaii, he said he's leaving wind, the traffic stop and it's irrefutable proof that he wasn't in virginia the plains off. and i was relieved to hear. but douglas ready so that after one bump in, the role he kept on talking, hey i want to try doing this again. it was a onetime, deal you don't to do it the first time. but then according to ricky eta

-- you told rick if you didn't get on board with the original, plan he was going to wi-fi everyone. a massacre. into that just making it look like he disappeared, he was talking about going down killing anyone who was inside the house besides his kids. what did you do not, okay will do it again i'll be all via. there would be a mortal mission to. coming. up >> drop of looking for no, >> or virtual world and sudden violently via, alice fallon courtroom here's the most airing part of the story. when dateline continues.

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according to an fbi official. the body of that of gaby potato was found a national forest in wyoming, the cause of death has not been determined, foreign

investigators are still searching for his fiancée, brian laundry, who disappeared after being name a person of, interest and at least two were injured after military plane crashed into outsider ford's, is the two crew members ejected from the aircraft and what is hospitalized in critical condition, now back to dateline. do you recognize the person in that photograph? >> that store was on trial for murder. but his sister jamie could not bring herself to be in the courtroom. >> i don't know what to believe, that's the hard thing. you just don't know what to billy and i really don't want to think that my brother did anything terrible. >> but dustin jacked are the victims brother was there on most days. grabbing up and see we think could stare down ranged of the accused doug stewart. he never kept in contact with, when he was too ashamed. but on the stand watching did

not see -- that ricky spencer was telling the jury >> how after the first one to michigan was a bus. doug called ricky again. and he said hey dude i colder, i like that, >> and i somewhat? >> and he said no i'm kidding >> and i told him that wasn't funny. >> so he said he killed her and you told him that it wasn't funny >> yeah. >> prosecutor mcdonald picked up his questioning with ricky's description of mission number. to the assault on venus. >> did you attempt it again? >> yes we did. >> it was déjà vu all over again, this time sunday april 25th. >> i went down to virginia, later that dated ricky said he made a call to tex faust, pretending to be dug under the weather. and i said in a voice, hey this is me i can't get to, work he

said all right, so that didn't have to come to work on monday. >> monday wooded venus has lost a alive. as he explained this chilling story of explicitly and. it began the prosecutor, said with doug in a field across from venus's parents house >> he parked there with this truck, kind of watching things from eunice's prayers, house the cold rickie at 7 am from a truck, phone and give him his instructions. ricky i want you to leave anywhere from eight to a 15, nothing lead. that then sneaked up close to the house, but he said. hiding behind this word paul he was next and instructions was to wait for ducks call that came right before nine. am >> what did he say? >> on, he said okay dude it's done.

i was gonna flock to hear. that i said would happen? >> he said that he called venus's parents house, in michigan, and said that he was the moment, that he had a package for her, and she came outside. >> just like that rickie's virtual world had turned. through game over. he was displaying a motion on the stand for the first-time. >> douglas showing. nothing >> and he jumped out and he said that there was a scream, she screamed once. and that she tried putting up a fight, but he was able to get her in a headlock -- and a drop of blood came from or no and that was it. i asked him if it was worth it? and he said it was. protecting his kids and giving

them some kind of future. and he told me that he was going to call me later, because he was gonna go it's a barrier >> divvy understand the consequences, ricky? >> i think when it was over finally. him this really with the home of, it's not somebody bowing a cartoon figures it's a real person. leader ricky continued in a supporting actor role. he wanted doug floors office just into hoodie and sunglasses. that told him to make a payment to one particular secretary. he said that she is not all

there in the head, and that just handed the envelope, and say who you are, and tele-you're in a hurry. tell in the military receive. did you do that? >>. yet, that the iraqi drove to the spot exchange clothing, cell phone, keys, and the credit card. they talk briefly, rickie popped up to express and you. fanfare i was asking him if he was going to kill me >> he said no >> and i said good cause if you did that with bob. >> and then he asked why i wanted to ask >> and i said because i know you did. >> that was the first thing that came to my >> why didn't i kill this kid. why did he leave this witness out there. for somebody to. find the prosecutors fully expecting the case with the jury would rise or fall on the soldiers of ricky spencer, and yet you have to work across

examination because the defense are gonna rattle his case. that's always a worry he probably could hold his own but we didn't know >> ricky spencer story under scrutiny. what evidence do you have that we have stewardess that. when dateline continues judy? d-con. mice love it to death. much less killing his wife i

believe at the end of this case the prosecutors going to ask you to guess >> it fair >>

after expenses riveting testimony, anticipation was building. >> with the defense be able to rock the wild story from the so-called double? >> the defense lawyers jeff and kimberly shoulder, married and highly regarded, team were poised to attack more than rick's testimony, they were going after his character to. and the deal they claimed he made drilling in sea with the prosecution. >> my defense. my story had to do with ricky abating life in prison, ricky being an accomplice liar. >> cross-examination strategy number one was to most of the clean cut young man image he projected from the stand. they started with the ex rated screen made the tag he picked from self when he played xbox like. >> give you a game or tag is dark bleep isn't it? >> yes that's correct. what's a >> it's a bunch of guys who >> ricky explain to

him the overdid sexual connotation of his online name >> the defense wanted the jury to look at ricky as an unsavory young man without a moral compass. >> and if you believe his testimony, you decide to help to commit murder rather than deciding to call the authority. >> of course you don't want the jury to believe that story, but there is a more is true the hands of the testimony. this guy could've thrown a wrench in the work and stopped it. he could've done the right thing but elected. not to >> if you believe this testimony, and i think that's one of the reasons why his testimony is unbelievable. >> evidence that he could be shifty with the truth, he already admitted in direct testimony that he lied to his parents when he was doing a response. >> did you want them to know that you are going to visit mr. stewart? >> no. >> because it seems kind of strange, comey is someone that you played xbox with that's a lot ordered in. you >> but the defense took a heads off report, by challenging ricky in almost

very detailed recollection of the story. >> what he did which day in virginia. what he bought with a credit card >>? which security council played? to the defense times was doors a lot of detail here. but it's all a fantasy from a young man trying to save his own skin. after only 20 minutes of less than explosive cross-examination, they got him off the. stand >> quite honestly his testimony was just so bizarre. it's a strange story isn't it. it's a very strange story. >> so we could cut a sweetheart deal with the prosecution and return first testimony rickie would not be charged with conspiracy to commit murder but he would have a plea to a lesser chart i think that he was coached, many many times did give the testimony in the way that he gave it he was taught to become a good witness you think? i think so, i think that he had to do a good job, if he didn't bring in the case home for the prosecutors it's my belief that

he thought he would be facing those charges the defense calls no witnesses. >> ready for closing arguments >> doug story didn't take the stand but he did state down with daylight for an interview. after hearing everything that i, heard everything that i've seen, i still haven't seen anything showing me that my wife is hurt, that she is hot. >> so what did he make of the star? witness the sensational testimony of ricky spencer. his young xbox buddy. i don't understand any of his testimonies on the stat. i mean he got locations right as far as when he came down he wasn't doing. break what is ricky come down? he >> mentioned to me, well i got spring break coming up from college, and i'm coming down there with some front, april 1st i got a phone call and he said i'm almost there he said i'm almost at your apartment he just showed up now the guys in your apartment and your the host with another by the guest is that what's happening about comfortable enough within that i felt you could stay here so

the story that he would tell authorities and that testified under oath when the court almost like a spy movie plot none of that stuff is true the whole idea of hurting my white or doing any of the stuff is very were none of that is true in his closing statement jeff stroller hoped he could convince at least wonder without a body there was reasonable doubt whatever didn't of that time if in this case you had the demonstrate to you that venus stewart is dead so what about all about all those purchases are warmer doug stewart seen walking the aisles in love lower short they asked rhetorically women about the committed murder be so domestic all that kind of attention to himself is you trying to hide things he's wearing a hawaiian shirt asking people where things are now the dawson like somebody who's going to use

anybody to shovel defensive tierney noticed whatever themself they shown that the shovel was used the killing of being the story they have you had an illusion of evidence that circumstantial case woven together with ricky's been to tell they tried to make him think that he had all of this but they don't and they have improved their case and you have a duty to do a bus to find doug stewart not guilty coming out you believe she's alive i got publishes alive well with the jury to >> the clerk will hear the. verdict a verdict and a whole new chapter in the mystery. she showed up to the door, he said that it was part of a. case and the case was never

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the jury had been deliberating. was dogs do it responsible for the murder of his white business? >> i think about a lot, thinking that she still alive, and then i'm hugging her, you know. and then i wake up, and it really hits me. >> do you believe she's alive or not? >> i got ably she's alive. if she's not, i don't think i could handle, it i don't think my kids can handle. it >> if she's alive that would be incredibly cruel what's she's doing. i could never forgive her. on the record versus steward. they have reached a verdict >> the moment had arrived. venus's brother and mother knew a guilty verdict would be small consolation. but they wanted to hear it anyway. >> a few feet away stood the accused, ice blinking, face

twitching. >> the clerk will read the verdict. >> members of the, jury find douglas harry steward, as to count one, guilty of first degree premeditated murder. >> guilty. >> there is clearly believed the star witness richard, being the alibi, but they also determined that ducks fingerprints found at the crime scene on the plastic wrap, or was powerful evidence. >> it's a scheme, it's a conspiracy, and only one other person knows what's going on, rickie. >> is he lucky to be alive in your opinion? >> yes, he made the case. first >> and if doug had killed him, it would be very difficult to prove this case without rookie. >> inside the courtroom, the young prosecutor john macdonald, hugged venus's mother. >> i was so happy to be able to reach out and say to her that we got him. we promised or we would do it, and we did it. >> what difference does a? make >> my daughter is not

here. >> not all i could think about that venus is. here >> whatever, scone chuckled at the lakes and hands, doug wasn't giving an inch. >> i'm innocent, i did not do these crimes. his story rejected out of hand by a jury who needed a need three hours to convict him, was nothing if not. consistent dateline found that out in our interview the month after the verdict, at the st. joseph county. gia >> why did you want to talk today? because you don't have to. top >> the biggest issue that i want to talk about today is that at the end of the trial, i wanted to know what happened to my wife. or where my wife is, if anything up into my wife, i wanted enters and i did not. get them so i guess i would ask that the police department does not fold the skates close. because even though they believe it is it's not. >> you're saying you didn't do it, and you don't know where she is?

>> absolutely not. >> the judge saw differently. >> i'm sentencing the defended to live in the michigan department of corrections without the possibility of parole. >> doug stewart was sentenced to life without parole, and ricky after testimony this way to the jury, was allowed to plead guilty to a lesser charge, a conspiracy to commit manslaughter, and was sentenced to one year in county. joe >> venus's family didn't think that that was, enough not by long shot. >> he could've saved my sister. he could've let the authorities know, they could've been waiting for, him i'm a parent's house. and it would've been. over >> the killer was put away for life >> before two detectives in michigan, the story of being a steward when in the case close until they found venus's remains. but where to? look >> do you want to spit, up you go on the side, and i have on the side. >> the search pick that up right now said again in this vast countryside of, would feels informs, too long and driven. >> so our person? >> i mean the case was never

clothes. the criminal part yes. but because her body was never located, that's the missing piece to the case. to the case that we were never able to locator. >> and venus's family waiting and hoping for closure. >> it's not too late for that to do the right thing, he can repent furs wrongdoings, tell us where my sister's body is. >> four years after the, child lieutenant christiansen and detective peterson of the state police, decided to call on that in prison, maybe he'd be able to tell them where. now >> our first strategy when we went to the president was to simply go and talk to him. and see if anything a. change that was back in 2015. and i know we both felt after meeting that he was hostile, he was still hanging on to the fact that he had nothing to do with it, he was still >> wrongfully accused, wrongfully convicted, he's still holding on to? that >> he's still holding on

to that so much that that we walked out of the room we both have the conversation that, i don't think he's ever gonna get. but >> douglas no help. so detectives decided to reinvestigate ahold rumor, one that had bus through the community for. yes >> it had to do with a bar, owned by dog sister jean, the same sister who introduced doug and venus years ago. jamie had poured a new concrete floor in her barn right after venus had gone missing. >> i'm always a question you had for her dog? >> i told you that there was a tip that venus had been buried i was underneath the concrete in our barn. she immediately knew what i was talking. about she was aware of those rumors that were in the community, and she was really motion about it. because it always kind of weight on her mind, what if he could've actually done. >> do you remember that? we expecting it in? >> no, not really. >> they showed up to the door and i knew they were there for doug. he wanted, to go over the

country. he said that i was part of the. case >> investigators had to asleep before but now they were armed with new technology. a ground penetrating radar that could see through congress. >> these rumors have been going on for years have been, the oh yes and we're gonna follow that in a pick up shop and there sure he was gonna figure out the mover, you, know it will. side >> she knew full well there was nothing in that barn but compacted soil. and sure enough the radar revealed nothing. >> but that didn't mean jimmy believed his brother was innocent. >> i had an old employer that i ran into grocery shopping, and she goes you think he? did >> i just kind of, and she's like in your heart do you think he did it? yeah. i do. >> a heart that was also heavy with, guilt the responsibility she fought for introducing her brother dug to venus back then.

>> that just goes through your mind thinking if i never introduce them this would've never. happen >> so the data detective showed about adored step, it was at though she been waiting all these years for just this kind of. because she wanted to show the detective some rumpled pages of. writing she mentioned to me that she had the southern her purse. and she pulls it out and obviously you can tell it have been there for seven. years and it was to venus's mother teresa. >> and never delivered? >> no, she said she couldn't get herself to deliver, she was afraid of the. rejection >> but now reaching out and making the first move, the convicted killer sister, would set in motion a sequence of events leading to the unraveling of the last mystery in the case. the sister of the victims, mother would unite and work together to find venus. coming up. >> i wanted her to have venus back, i wanted everybody to stop hurting, where was? venus >> after all these years

would they finally learn the truth. >> you want to know, you want to know where she is, but at the same time we do not want to know. when dateline continues. dateline continues.

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because it's made with greek yogurt. so, thanks for everything ice cream, but we'll take it from here. yasso audaciously delicious wouldn't go away, jamie dog sister wrote two letters, one for her two nieces, one for venus is. mom >> was the message? >> it was just me telling her how bad we felt. you know what's stuck at. done and that venus was my friend, she was michael worker, she was family. and basically, i just wanted to be a family again, missing out on these last eight years of these girls growing up. and i miss. that i missed eight years. >> so a detective peterson knocked on her door that day, jamie asked him for help and reconnecting with venus's mom, victories. he set up a meeting at his. office >> had doesn't speak in with words or wary glances at

one another? >> no i was just a blabbering but the rainfall. i just sat there inquired for effusively, and i was there to tell or i was sorry for my brother done, and here she comes across the room and gives me a big hug, and she sorry for what her brother did to her family. >> where were you coming? from philosophically. what's this about forgiveness. we shouldn't do anything to be forgiven for. you never done anything to be forgiven. for >> the building a family bridges was too late for businesses that lure. cancer had taken him six months earlier. but the two families had all four years, we're not talking again doing their best to reconnect, and. he'll dug in the meanwhile, was sitting in the cell, still insisting he had done nothing. ron >> you know he complaints about being in there and how terrible it is. but guess what, we'll all hear living. it >> his sister and had, enough and she told himself. i wanted her to venus back. i wanted everybody to stop hurting, and that's the

approach that it. took it to going to doug and telling him, that were done, were exhausted. once we found out that we were talking. and we were friends. he was sort of a. because he lied to her. he lied to me. with this appeals. exhausted and its family applying pressure to reveal where the remains. we're detectives went back to see doug, seven years after the trial now, his stance had changed. i didn't sense the anger that was there from a prior meetings. we spoke in hypotheticals about if you work with us, can you bring us to the location of where she is buried. a few months in a couple of visits later. dug a lifelong game, or was ready to. flea humid demand first cooperation. when we spoke to him he had a specific list that he gave to us in terms of what he would like for consideration. >> so i will take you guys to the body, but i want this stuff

on my list? >> apathetically i could take you to the body, but i would like to have these items for me. >> on his list, doug wanted to teach in person, joined the canine program, and be permitted to attend his parent funerals when their time came. that one more request first unit. a game in council. and not to 70, he wanted no substitute, and next. look >> you're kidding that's where this whole thing? started >> yes. >> he wanted one for inside? >> specifically mentioned xbox. because they were being used throughout the country. and some of the other presidents. >> how much of that stuff was doable, or would you consider? to >> what do you think about the? >> at first we both thought that there probably wasn't a really good chance that we would get that. i believe at that first meeting, we said if we can't get 100 percent of, this does not mean the deal is off. and he said no. so i think that was an

eye-opener to us that he was serious about getting some things to make of circumstances better in return. >> the michigan department of correction said yes to his request, the xbox was already in the works. anyway detectives want to see doug again, the delivered would he? >> i don't know specifically this is the time right, now if you want to do this, we're gonna do that, if you don't want to do this, we're out, we're done. detective say he took a long pause, and then. he started out i believe by saying you know i didn't kill her at home. that's kind of where the nerve agent started, where he described getting into the house and calling her from the house that morning. that when she came out is where he attacked. or and began to put her in a chuckle. >> doug said she passed, out and he put her in the bed of his truck, he then drove to a wooded clear he remembered from his teenagers. there he said venus revived,

and they argued before he stepped. are detectives weren't sure believe the details of the, story but were struck by the fact that duck showed no sign of remorse as he laid out the grisly details. >> i don't see a whole lot of feeling better. there's a little bit of a motion, right at the moment where he described where he takes her life. next doug needed to reveal the site where he buried the body eight years before. he quickly zoomed in on it and pointed to the spot on a global map. so a dirt road, in the southern portion of kabul where the county, right at the entrance at the top of this toronto soybean feel, very. would >> it lead on apparent shackles and you're walking to the site? >> yes. >> how certain was he that this is where he disposed of the? body >> positive. >> he knew. >> no doubt in the. so >> this police video shot into thousand 18 shows dug in shackles, leading the detectives through the rush.

>> this was the biggest open area, without hesitation, he pointed to the place where they should dig to find his wife's remains. >> walked right through, here that there were so many tree stump and debris, this was the open spot. >> and then you start? today >> what's he doing the whole time that you were digging. because it takes on our >> we brought him up to the crying and headed him away from it >> i think you could tell he really didn't want to be near where was actually taking place. but he knew that we had to keep him here just to confirm that we were in the roads. for and it was the right spot. after about an hour and a half of digging, and sifting, the years long search was over, the remains were positively ided, and detective to reach out to venus's mom and ducks esther, whose rediscovered friendship had led to this moment. >> do you want to know, you want to know where she she is? you want to know where she is

but at the same time you don't want to. >> i don't want to build the particulars. i never. i'll never want to know. that >> the family had a burial service for venus in december 2018, the bond between the two families, want thundered has been growing strong every day. >> how do you describe your relationship? >> she's just like my daughter. >> demi? >> yes i agree. >> we could be a family, and we adore each other's company, we. she loves the girl so much >> several cold winters, ordered the ministry of the missing minister has finally been put to russ, but memories of a loving mother, a daughter, unafraid will be kept alive by those who hold the story of venus coasted their heart. she was my best friend. i've never gonna do without talking to. never. the girls missed out on a really good mom.

>> and she alive in the? memory >> all you. i talk about all the. time >> we all do. >> as for doug stewart the game, his decision to finally confess and give it, up changes nothing in his sentence. he and his new ex will be imprisoned for the remainder of ♪♪ this sunday, the battle over boosters. >> we made the decision. just get a third dose. >> an fda panel says no to covid booster shots to everyone. >> it's not clear to me the data we're seeing right now is applicable to the general population. >> yes, to those 65 and up or at risk. the split vote undercuts president biden's plan announced last month. >> eight months after your second shot get a booster shot. >> and leaves many confused. my guest this morning dr. anthony