you love! and who knows? it just might be the key to a happy life. and on that note, i wish you all a very very good night. from all of our colleagues across the networks of nbc news. thanks for staying up late with us. i will see you on monday night! he was well liked, 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. while it opened smile. a handsome young veterinarian and big sky country. >> he loved helping animals. >> he asked me out that night. i was excited. >> and then they found him. dead on the floor. >> two shots went off. and then the third shots entered his chest. >> three gunshots that had a

long running mystery. who killed the veterinarian? >> i think the perpetrator stood there and watch him die. >> there were so many different leads and murmurs. >> i felt like it wasn't for me. >> jealousy? rage? revenge? >> it was a question of who done it. >> 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 the sad summer breeze sang around the modest dwelling in the grass. >> this is marlene -- >> they called it the bunk house. though it was really just a single wide trailer.

>> my husband just went down. richard. to see if he wanted to go to pasture. >> an honest little place out on the montana prairie. along the edges. >> do you know where he shot himself? >> okay. is he still alive? >> there's blood everywhere. >> i place a young vet could achieve while he built his business. >> we'll, if you can have somebody go check and see if he's still alive. i have paged the ambulance. >> the local charities deputies arrived and they found the body lying on its back. blood had pulled under his head. under one foot was the shoe that some people wear in the water. the other was bare. a.357 magnum was on the floor not far from his left hand. marlene saw all of this too, the same time as the deputies. but she could tell right away, as apparently they could not, that she had been wrong on the 9-1-1 call, the man did not shoot himself. >> brian had a cut on his nose

and the way that his shirt was ripped and there was some blood on the floor. >> it looks like a struggle? >> yeah. it was not a suicide >> but? the deputies went around their work as they saw fit and thus, on sunday july 14th 1996. they caught 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 a classic whodunnit. >> or perhaps a classic nightmare. >> i lie awake at night and i asked god to give me some insight here, where do i go now? the >> victim. the man on the floor was bryan pine a veterinarian. charlie and teresa's big brother. >> he was my brother, my best friend, my business partner. >> they grew up together in scott city, kansas. >> we shared bedrooms, we shared clothing, everybody shared. >> brian was the oldest.

>> what kind of an older brother was he? >> protective. ornery. >> ornery? >> we were always playing pranks on each other. and he didn't take them so well. >> brian was very smart, it was a given. maybe a little too smart. >> i remember turning it 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 four h. a future farmers of america. they raise their special animals, show them up at fairs, and exhibitions. bryan knew from the very beginning that there was one job that he was meant to do. >> i never knew brian not wanting to be a veterinarian. he always said that being of that 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 that school, brian moved to montana. a big wide open country. cattle ranches galore.

an outdoorsman's paradise really. which absolutely suited brian. he took full advantage of what montana had to offer. and often. so in 1995, a year before the events in our story. doctor ryan 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. >> when doctor ryan hired marlene to help run the office. and moved into the unused bug house. marlene and the husband built on the property miles out of town. so she was both -- and employee. >> brian had a heart of gold. he was part of the family. >> brian no a good-looking young vet, in a tiny place. there was interest lots of it. >> i remember asking, is there anyone they're your dating? and he said well there are some girls, but they're just not the

ones. >> it was possibly an old really modest answer. the handsome young vets arrival was practically a news event. heads turn, hearts may have followed certainly gossip did. and then summer of 1996. >> 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 does things for me. >> and i said things like? >> he said while shell cleanup my house and stuff >> so i said shame on you. you should be over their 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. >> he didn't tell you what he thought it was? >> no >> or? who >> knows. he did find out footprints out in the back of the building. but nothing really ever came of it. >> not long after, dr. ryan called both sisters with a request.

>> at one point he told me, quick calling and hanging up. >> and i was like, brian i'm not hanging up. >> he just paused it often said it's not a big deal. it's not a big deal. >> but was it? on july 10th of 1996, doctor brian ryan drove three hours away to attend the conference he returned home on friday evening, at 12. no one saw him on saturday. and then on sunday, the 14th. marlene's husband drove over to bryant's bug house. >> it was about, i don't know, five or 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 doctor ryan committed suicide but later that same day, when marlene heard a share and repeat the mistake to bryant's grandparents. here is what happened. >> grandma made jumped up and she said, no way and how would

my grandson commit suicide! >> then the next day. the state investigators, led by agent kent thompson of the department of criminal investigation arrived and looked at the ruined crime scene. >> my partner and i looked at each other and said, oh my lord you know, it certainly makes things very difficult. >> difficult? oh yes. difficult was not the half of it. >> coming up! what did happen to doctor ryan? >> 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 could this happen? why would somebody do it? >> the search begins for a killer! >> i think the perpetrator stood there and watched him die. >> when dateline continues! hen dateline continues with the home and auto bundle from progressive, but there's no saving that casserole!" [ both laugh ] i just love that word "bundle." it's so fun. two things coming together like a force of nature,

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death, they delivered the message to doctor ryan'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 mom that her son is dead. >> yeah. it was hard. and he was, he was that child, that perfect child. >> it was evening, before the news found younger sister charlene. >> i was actually in las vegas. we have 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? >> how can this happen? why would somebody do it? >> those questions because none of them believed that ryan was capable of suicide. and sure enough, the autopsy revealed the bridge and's and contusions on the doctor's head. the swollen right i. clearly, there had been a struggle and he had been struck by three gunshots. two in the lower right forearm. and 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 and i think 19 years. >> it was monday when state department of criminal

investigation, agent can thompson was called in. and by the time it got to the doctors bunk house, the locals had been gone. a scene left unguarded. for more than 48 hours. >> montana is a remote state. sometimes you have over eight hours to get to the crime scene. so it's not like a big city where you can roll in and everything is pristine. >> no, not even close. in fact, the deputies had spent just a few hours trumping around the kitchen. and taking about a dozen photos. and in the process, had done things that could be undone. like cleaning up blood on the floor under the victims upper body and tossing it into the garbage a telephone handset found under doctor ryan's head without swapping for dna, or dusting for fingerprints. those discarded materials were beyond recovery. by the time investigator thompson arrived the local deputies did tell him that they found a water shoe on the bunk house 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 is where the shooting had occurred. blood had dropped straight down. so it was just outside >> do 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 caption cabinets on the other side. >> thompson and his partner used the 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? >> played a close range. >> so, a struggle when the gun went off. it would be? >> some type of conversation went on and a struggle ensued. two shots went off. and then the third shot into his chest. i think that brian struggled to

get into call for help. that he sat there. i think the perpetrator stood there and watched brian die. >> and as for the location of the gun so close to doctor ryan's own hand? >> the killer must of blood there? >> correct. >> 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 for at managing just then. but there was no clear answer, in fact the pathologist who conducted the autopsy left a space for a time of death blank. remember, dr. brian returned home from a conference on friday evening. but his body wasn't found until sunday investigators canvas nearby farms and? >> there was a neighbor that

lived probably about a mile away. maybe a little less. crowed lives that had seen an atv go by that night and then said he heard two loud reports around that time >> that is, friday night. but? >> could've been that night. or next morning? >> at first he wasn't sure. and then he wasn't sure of the dates. >> phone records show that the last time doctor ryan receive the phone call was at 10:15 on friday night >> nobody heard from brian after that last phone call on friday night. the thought that he would go all day saturday without having any contact with anybody was really, highly unlikely. >> on the other hand, doctor ryan could've hung around his bunk house that saturday morning. or maybe had 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. ryan. the question that was consuming everyone who knew him. >> my mind was just, spinning. trying to think, who? any little league at all? >> there was, she knew, this friend of dr. ryan's. larry who had recently erratic behavior. and she also knew some people in town that said larry was brad mouthing brian at a local bar. but he denied it. but investigators, almost immediately had a different league. that they were pursuing. and it was related to that broken window at the vet clinic. and the hang-up phone calls that doctor ryan had asked his sisters that they were making. >> so he had no idea who did it? >> after he eliminated me, he had an idea. >> oh he knew, or thought he knew who the hang-up caller was. but he didn't seem very worried

about it. >> everything was gonna be okay. bryan was not afraid of anything. >> maybe, he should've been? >> coming up! a new relationship. >> i thought he was handsome. i was excited. >> and the 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 a crime of passion. >> when dateline continues! hen dateline continues does it worry me? absolutely. sensodyne sensitivity & gum gives us the dual action effect that really takes care of both our teeth sensitivity as well as our gum issues. there's no question it's something that i would recommend. alice loves the scent of gain so much, she wished there was a way to make it last longer. say hello to your fairy godmother alice and long lasting gain scent beads. try spring daydream, part of our irresistible scent collection.

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went into a tailspin, the the news of his death. and when they heard that somebody murdered him? >> i fell apart after that half? >> yes. it was difficult to figure out what to go, and what to do. >> his mom was practically paralyzed in grief. and so much of the dreadful work that demands to be done after such a death, felled on teresa. >> i remember going to the future and sitting there and thinking, i am so tired i want to go to bed. >> and maybe that played a role in teresa's mood. because on that july day, 1996. when he was buried in his hometown in kansas, and a large contingent of montanans made the trip to say goodbye. among them was that young woman from geraldine. the one who had gone over in

clean this house. the one that brian had recently started seeing. >> i was almost annoyed that 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 felt had a place. because i felt, you know, they did not know who i was. >> her name was an. she was 21 then. she had known doctor ryan just two months. madam at rusty's bar in geraldine. >> he was so handsome, i was like what is this guy doing in geraldine? it was 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 >> but complications and a live in boyfriend. tom. her high school sweetheart. they had been together four and

a half years and though the relationship had its issues, who knows? she may have married him and then she had that hard to heart with doctor ryan. >> he said, you are too young to be settling down and somebody telling you what to do. >> and how did that strike it when he said that? >> i agreed with him. >> like why if i've been with that guy all these years? >> yeah. he made me see that i would be better without it. it hadn't been a good relationship for a while. i had a reason to move on and let go and that. >> and she was going to tell tom. as soon as she got up the nerve but then, oh boy, dr. ryan 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 ask me what the hell is 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 said, i can't believe that

i was doing this. and how i was throwing away everything. >> but she was done, she moved out to the family farm outside of geraldine and tom begged her to come back. promised to do better. >> he told me that, when he got tired of me brian would dump me. >> and then the phone calls started. over and over again. >> i asked him to leave me alone. i said i needed time, i need space. >> he wasn't giving you? any >> no. >> one day, she agreed to go for a ride in tom's new pick up truck. so they could have the car. big mistake. he drove out of town and kept on driving. wouldn't let her get out of the truck. >> so i said okay. i started looking at a ditch. thinking that i could land in the grass, i would be okay. so i opened the door, i was gonna jump out. and he grabbed my arm and said 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 brian if i could stay with him. because i did not want to be home alone >> it's a big step. did you feel safer? >> yes. >> but then tom, all of 20 for three years old barged into bryan's place in the middle of the night. when she was there. demanding to know the 31-year-old dr.. >> he thought it was a super kid. >> he was being a stupid kid. you have to agree with that. >> yeah. i asked them should i follow a restraining order, should i do something? >> and he said no he'll get over it. just give him time to get out of its system. >> but he didn't get over it. and one night when nobody was home. he went into an's house. into her bedroom. >> and, he said he found my journal and read it. >> what did it mean like to have your personal journal read by him? >> it felt like i had been violated. >> how did and learn about it? tom told her. and quoted from her journal.

>> at the end i said, and it was in a sarcastic way. that it was, like here i can't believe i am thinking i met the man of my dreams. he'll probably get killed in a car wreck and probably kill himself just thinking of, -- >> all the negative responsibility? >> thinking something is gonna help in. >> and it turned out to be a prophecy did knit? >> yeah. it plays back like a bad dream now. >> how she told brian what tom had been doing. and then discovered, it was even worse than she thought. >> there was one night, he came over here last night. saying he had car trouble. and ask you the phone. he said he lent me his phone, and went back to bed. >> had to be a ruse, brian figured. decide solely to see if and was sleeping there. >> it must have confirmed that you made it the right decision breaking up with him? >> yeah. the more it solidified i'm not going back with him. >> all of that was just before

that conference that bryan attended out of town. the one that he returned from on friday night. that last phone call he was on? 10:15 pm? he was talking to and? >> he said i gotta go. and >> before i got to say goodbye he hung up. >> really? >> i thought it was really weird but i didn't want to read too much into it at the time. but i kind of wondered. >> and now that brian was dead. and wondered a lot about something that she remembered tom said years earlier. >> if you ever cheated on me i will kill him, and i will kill you. >> so, it will not surprise you to know that when he heard all this. x can thompson made a -- >> you don't know the kind of person you're going to encounter. and with my limited knowledge of what had happened here. i was beginning to form an opinion that it was somewhat a crime of passion. so, i thought, let's see where this goes. you know? maybe if this is heavy on his

heart. it was just a tragic situation. maybe we will get to the truth tonight. >> if only the life had been investigated that simple. >> coming up! >> everybody is gonna suspect me. >> police have questions for the envious x. when dateline continues! en dateline continues! and in the dark. but what if you could begin to see the signs of hope all around you? what if you could let in the lyte? discover caplyta. caplyta is a once-daily pill, proven to deliver significant relief from bipolar depression. unlike some medicines that only treat bipolar i, caplyta treats both bipolar i and bipolar ii depression. and, in clinical trials, feelings of inner restlessness and weight gain were not common. caplyta can cause serious side effects. call your doctor about sudden mood changes, behaviors, or suicidal thoughts right away. antidepressants may increase these risks in young adults.

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here's what's happening the buses department has asked the appeals court to grant them access to 100 classified documents seized from former president trump's florida residence the doj said the document should not be turned over to the special master for review, because it would hamper a critical national security investigation meanwhile, the newly appointed special master judges set to meet with the lawyers on thursday. he's been tasked with reviewing some 11,000 documents. the potential attorney client or executive privilege. now back to dateline!

back to dateline it was dusk that monday in montana, after the weekend murder of doctor brian ryan. when investigators drove out to a farm, 11 miles east of geraldine. here, agent can thompson of the local under sheriff contented to confront 23-year-old tom. the young man who was lost in love. and didn't take it well. >> when you arrived, what was his durham meaner? i >> think his demeanor was to be helpful. he was welcoming, very polite. >> when my mom told me about brian, the first thing that i thought was oh they're gonna suspect me. the ex-boyfriend. that is not the case at all. >> tom admitted loving an, and being upset when he heard another man, dr. ryan, leave a phone message for his live in girlfriend. >> so what i did is, i called and said right away.

oh you got a call here from brian. she didn't say anything. >> and i said, so tell me what's going on. she said nothing. >> tom did not deny that he behaved badly. he freely admitted that he found, and family and her friends. he even called some of bryant's former girlfriends. >> what did that say to you? that behavior? >> he was literally doing his own investigation on brian. he was calling and friends. trying to get all the dirt that he couldn't brian so he could turn around and give it to an and say, you need to end this relationship. this is a bad day. he is using you and you need to come back and be with me. >> in fact, tom admitted nearly all of those strange behaviors that and described the constant hang-up calls, showing up at bryant's police in the middle of the night. sneaking into ends empty house at 3:00 in the morning. snooping around in her bedroom. reading her diary. >> after reading it, i knew

that, you know, brian is a big reason that he dumped me. >> he was aggressively pursuing her for her to change her mind. to end that relationship with brian 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, purse pathetic. like when he drove an atv and head over in her farmhouse. just hoping for a glimpse of her. and was then chased off by her brothers. >> i just apologize to them and said i'm so stupid. i can't believe i did this. and i told them you know, there is more to life. i don't deserve to live. and he said don't say that >> but tom had an alibi and a pretty solid one. for most of the weekend when doctor ryan was murdered except for friday night. and yes, he did admit that he

phoned doctrine that night. >> so my intentions were to call him, and just tell them that, you know i didn't have any grudges against him. and i wasn't gonna interfere with him and aunts relationship. because you know, she's a really special person. he answered the phone and i just couldn't do it. i chickened out. >> and when was that? >> this was last friday. >> about quarter to ten. >> investigators have been thinking that though the medical example couldn't tell them, friday night was possibly when doctor ryan was murdered and after they heard tom story, how he didn't have an alibi for that friday night? that seemed to them to clinch it >> you called him up at 10:00. on friday night to say, i don't hold any grudges against you? >> that's right. >> within hours the guys dead? >> and then tom dug a deeper hole for himself. remember, it appeared that dr. ryan scuffled with somebody before he was shot dead well guess who told the agents that he hurt his back that very friday night, falling out of

the pickup truck? >> so anyway. i heard 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 that tom denied in that interview? faking a vehicle breakdown ten days before the murder. and knocking on doctor ryan stored to use the phone in the middle of the night. >> that didn't happen? >> no. >> but investigators weren't buying tom story. >> all the facts are pointing to you tom. >> everything we've got has pointed to you. >> at this place, that's all you have against me? >> tom it's all being worked on. >> okay good. >> there is stuff. >> cause there's. >> there's gonna be a bunch of stuff going to the crime lab. >> well good. >> when you left at the end of the first interview what did you think? did you think this is our guy? >> i thought that clearly he was a suspect he clearly had

done some things that were very troubling. >> sure. >> but did that mean that he was the killer? what would tom say? if we asked him? >> coming up! >> he started accusing me of killing brian. i was scared to death. i was worried they were gonna charge me that night >> and arrest? hang on could there be another person of interest in this? >> we looked at them very seriously >> when dateline continues! continues! ♪ ice works fast... to freeze your pain and your doubt. ♪ heat makes it last. so you'll never sit this one out. icy hot pro with 2 max-strength pain relievers. (dog barking) we love our pets. so you'll never sit this one out. but we don't always love their hair. which is why we made bounce pet hair and lint guard with three times the pet hair fighting ingredients. just one sheet helps remove pet hair from your clothes! the planes of montana are no looking good starts in the dryer with bounce pet.

stranger to sudden, violent death. history is littered with it. but for the people living that history, in july of 1996 after the murder of the town veterinarian brian ryan, it was all very, very hard. >> mom, for probably the next five years, crawled in the hole and did not come out. >> and and? the young woman in the middle? >> i was devastated. i thought, i met somebody who treated me nice. treated me like an equal. >> someone you spell special weight? >> yeah. and have that ripped away and no nothing came of it. i didn't even get the chance to find out. >> but what was worse? and felt an overpowering sense

of guilt. >> you felt responsible? >> i felt like if it wasn't for me, it never would've happened. >> because, of course, she broke up with him. >> it's just unbelievable >> and here he is tom jerry's a ski. an ex. otherwise known as the prime suspect. >> it seems like a bad dream that i cannot wake up from. >> how did you found out that he was killed? >> from my mom. she just got a phone call that the veterinarian had been killed. >> and of course tom knew perfectly well who his mother was talking about. his rival. the man who had taken his girlfriend. and made his life so miserable. and so? >> he had to be sort of, a little bit decay with that. >> no, not at all. i had no ill feelings towards bryan. >> oh really? come on. you might have had real feelings towards brian. he took your girl away!

>> not enough to for him to lose his life. >> he 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 camp thompson and the local other sheriff showed up at the family farmhouse. >> i was nervous i mean both guys had guns on their hips and were coming into my house. and i proceeded to tell them all these things that i was doing. as far as the phone calls, and the stalking. >> and? >> and when i told them all about that. they totally change their tune and started accusing me of killing brian. and i was scared to death. i was worried that they were gonna charge me that night. >> but they didn't. while it was true, as we said, that the crime scene was compromised. there were heroes and fibers and fingerprints. and blood samples. yet untested. so the investigators said their goodbyes.

and told tom that they would be back. >> all these years later? >> sitting here now two decades later. tom told us that yes he did love and. he thought they had a future together. >> i felt like she was the one and we would be together forever. >> but when he heard that phone message left by doctor rain at the apartment that he shared with and? >> what did it feel like? >> like my heart was torn in half. >> you did some things that, which, and what respect you thought were not the brightest in the world. >> yes. >> what bothers you to think about it? >> well i didn't know anything about him so i called up some of her family and some of her friends to see what they knew about him. i was concerned because he was a veterinarian and, he had access to drugs. i thought maybe he was giving something to and. >> because why would she leave you for another guy? must be drugs involved for something like that. something other than wanting to make a switch.

>> yeah that was my initial impression. >> and all the other stuff? the hang-up phone calls. the stalking. the 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 wanted to say about me. what you want to me to say about brian. >> some trouble? >> yes there's no manual on how to get over a relationship. and for me it took a while. >> but he swore to us, here, as he did when he stop to the investigators really back then. that he had nothing to do with the murder of dr. ryan 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 a friday night. i had no alibi. and, sorry, i was kind of stuck. >> although remember, the medical examiner was unable to settle on the time of death. so despite what the deposit tactics told tom.

the murder could've happened on saturday. when tom did have an alibi. which meant another of the detectives interviews particularly interesting because, yes in fact there were other persons of interest. and another man that they went to visit did have an alibi for friday. but not saturday. that man happened to be a close friend of the victims. his name was larry hagan bush. >> how seriously did you look at larry? >> we looked at him very seriously. >> he was the one who encouraged bryant to move from kansas to montana. but larry was not a stable man just then. his wife was leaving him, he had been drinking a lot, he tried to commit suicide a month before the murder. using animal medication that he had gotten from brian. in fact, it was doctor brian who intervene to help save larry. and here's the thing, detectives had heard that larry seem 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 stay the same when he's even revealing it. at one point he said there was bullet holes everywhere. later he would say that there was only two holes. at one point he indicated that it was a rifle. and then it was a pistol >> this's agent thompson from montana. >> still from the sound from this 20 year old recording agent thompson wasn't accusing him of murdering his friend in cold blood more like, things got out of hand somehow. >> i could just see this happening. i could see larry thinking, well, he's got to drinking again. whether he's the press. whether he's mad. i don't know whether it's just going out to talk to somebody, and just ending up in a stupid shouting match. oh, there is the gun that's always laying around. i'll take care of this myself. i'll get out of here in student

myself. and know you ain't gonna do that, it's spite with a gun. i can see all that happening. and then we got an accident. you know? we have a tragic accident. is that what happened? >> no. >> makes sense though doesn't. it >> makes sense but it didn't happen like that. >> it didn't happen like that. >> not much more they could accomplish at that point. in those days, dna took its sweet time getting tested with the results? with evil or of those men at the crime scene firing the gun a doctor wry? and 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 that we had to a link. >> calamity jane smith out a clue. and a sister's discovery is about to change the case. >> i said, well where is the gun case? the gun case was missing.

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brian 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. she was horrified. >> have you ever heard of such a thing before? >> no. he said, we cleaned it up, we didn't want the family to see it. i was like, why? where is everything? we got rid of it >> but then, when she went to her brother's bunk house. charlene discover that someone else must have gotten rid of something to. something the cops didn't know existed. and in an instant, charlene's discovery change the whole theory of how the murder happened.

>> they had found the gun beside him. and, i said well where is the gun case? the gun case was missing. it was a grand gun case that ryan had made. >> and 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 brian's initials was found lying in tall grass. 84 feet from doctor ryan store. how did they get way out there? as he's thought about it, the whole seem seemed to gel in killed thompson's mind. the way it happened that is. the killer must have stolen brown's own gun in his case, while he was away at the conference. then brought it back that night expressly to kill brian. discarding the holster on the way out the door. >> if it hadn't been for that holster out there, it could've been someone came at the door, brian came to the door with a

gun. to maybe threaten him. and a tussle. changed hands. >> could've been. absolutely. but the holster being out there? there's just no other reason why the whole snow will be out there. >> that was agent thompson's theory, anyway. as tom capable of such a thing? well, he already admitted that he sneaked into and south with it was healthy. and, they thought he was perfectly capable of talk walking into brought to ryan's place and going in to get the gun. >> he had many time to get the gun. it was never locked. >> but why would he get the gun anyway? in montana everyone has 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 hagan bush, the doctor's

troubled friend, if that's truly what he was, remained a person of interest. but the primary suspect, no question. we're still tom. 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. they let the dogs sniff the baseball cap. and? >> the dog went into the trailer. went right to, right out the back door, went right to where the holster had been found. right to the bushes where there was an indication that somebody had been standing there. >> what do you think? >> well we believe that that was a connection. that was the closest thing that we had to a link. from tom, to the holster. to a possible hiding spot. >> so you must of thought, we had him? >> it was the best that we had. we had no physical evidence.

>> of course they kept trying to find some of that to, at tom's place. >> what did they want from here? >> they took everything imaginable. shoes, was the biggest thing. at least ten pairs of shoes. and 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, brian 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. >> he was always wanting to know where we were in the investigation. >> turns out, tom also had

something to share with investigators. coming up! >> and he says okay i'm going to tell you something i did not tell you before. >> tom changed his story. and investigators pounce! >> it was just devastating. >> another family distraught! >> i felt angry. you want to do anything you can to help them. and >> help would arrive for tom in the most unusual way. when dateline continues! when dateline continues! who have become their parents. hey, what's the lowest you'll go on one of these mugs? ah, remember -- no haggling in stores. oh, yeah, chapter six, yep. they may have read the book, but they still have a long way to go. was hoping to get your john hancock on there. well, let's just call it a signature. i noticed there weren't any refreshments, so i'm just gonna leave a couple of snackies. folks, the line's in shambles, let's tuck it in. -sir? -come on, come on. okay. all right. progressive can't protect you from becoming your parents, but we can protect your home and auto when you bundle with us. okay, we don't need a line monitor.

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shot in his own gun police zeroed in on tom. a young man who admitted to some strange behavior after the doctors told the love of his life. but with no evidence linking tom to the crime scene, the case had stalled. finally, january of 98, a year

and a half after the murder. the detectives ran a bit of a bluff with tom. >> we pose it to him that, why would we find anything in the house that would lead us to believe that you are in the house? and he says okay a minute tell you something i did not tell you before. >> perhaps you remember, detectives heard that tom one showed up at doctrine place in the middle of the night. saying his truck broke down. he needed a phone. back then, tom swore up and down that that did not happen. but now? 18 months later? >> this is something i didn't tell you guys the first time that i talk to you. well that did happen, and it was at night, i just wanted to see if and was there. and, i asked if i could use his phone. >> what type of evidence would you have left in that place? or could you have left? >> could i have left? i could've left some prints on the table. >> they didn't have tom sprints anywhere on the table of course. but tom had admitted lying the first time. and now was explaining how they

might have found his dna or prince at bryan's place. >> he was only telling us things that he knew we could confirm. >> and in your experience, that's where guilty people do? they changed their story when they believe that they're involved? yes. >> and it wasn't long before. >> i was leaving my apartment or go to work. some guy was standing by the stairs and said tom? and they put the handcuffs on me. >> what was that like? >> shocking. i couldn't grasp that it was actually happening. >> tom road in that police car. where they booked him into the county jail. and charged him with deliberate homicide. >> what was it like to hear that? >> refreshing. good to have it solved. and put it behind us. and hopefully, mom and dad could pick up and keep going again. >> meanwhile,'s parents and

five siblings trying to get their head around and reaches accusation. cruel and unjust. >> what is it like to have your little brother charged with murder, facing life in prison? >> you feel angry. you want to do anything you can to help them. >> it was devastating, we never been through anything like that in our family. >> it simply wasn't the money to hire some high priced attorney. so he got a state appointed lawyer. mr. peterson. >> what was your impression of this kid? >> when i met him? i met knew that he could not have done it. >> come on! and what a typical thing for a defense attorney to say. >> i've represented hundreds and hundreds of defendants. and you get a sense of people. and i got a sense of tom. and, i was pretty sure that he had not done it. so then, as the evidence started rolling in. then, i became very certain that he was not the one. >> mr. peterson could've said

lack of evidence. because in fact, despite tense after test, not a single physical thing. not dna, or fingerprints, or anything else connected tom to those few square feet where it all happened. except. there was plenty of circumstantial evidence. the phone calls. the stalking. the middle of the night visits to the bunkers in the days and weeks for the murder. but most of all, there was that dog. calamity jane. who was once enough of tom's baseball cap, led them from the bunk house to a bush where they found some footprints. the theory being that tom waded to confront dr. ryan at the door. so calamity jane did her sniffing, a full ten days after the body was found. what did attorney peterson think of that? >> to me it was not evidence. i made a motion before the

judge to decide whether or not it should go before a jury. >> besides, he said, tom already admitted that he had been around their days earlier. maybe that's what calamity jane head on? so they got calamity jane's handle on a witness stand in the courthouse. and what do you know? neither dog, nor handler, were properly certified. >> when i asked him for all of the paperwork, he told me about how he had put the paperwork about the dog and himself on the top of his suburban, and it had all blown away. so he could not provide it. >> not quite the dog ate my homework, but close agent thompson was also in the courtroom that day. >> what really hurt us was, when they asked him on the stand, well that had happened 18 months earlier where are your training document since that time? and he said he didn't have any.

i mean, i just thought, oh my god >> so what did the judge do? he threw out the evidence. and just like that, the states dismiss the case against tom. because, without calamity jane, the prosecution decided, there simply wasn't approvable case. charm was a free man. >> i feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. this is done and over with no interrogations. no search warrants. i can go on with my life. >> but brian's family felt like they had lost him all over again >> i was very disappointed. >> yeah? >> yeah. >> do you think at that point it's all over. we're never going to find out? >> i think in the back of your mind, you think. maybe one day. >> there was a reason that she kept that in the back of her mind why both sides did. because the judge, that day in 1998, dismiss the charge

without prejudice. >> meaning? >> meaning that the state could bring it back up if they choose to. >> how much of a worry was that to you? >> you always have this nagging thing in the back of your mind as a defense attorney when something is dismissed without prejudice. you know that something could happen. in the future. >> agent ken thompson could've simply filed it away as one laugh cause a tough case they did not work out. >> i mean, you talk about a case where it seemed like everything was stacked against you. and this is that case. >> but he did not let it go. just could not. there were new assignments, and lots of other cases. years went by. but? >> i kept, you know, those ten binders. i move them from one office to another office to a third office. it was always on the bookcase in my office >> always on your

mind? >> it was always on my mind. and you know. that's. to solve it. >> there were times that he would call us and say we are working on it. or we just don't have anything. it just laid there. >> two years, five, ten, 13. to file, it's a rare down from the shelf like an accusation. but of course, we wouldn't be telling the story if something did not happen. now would we? but what? turned out to be quite a surprise! coming up! >> this is a homicide. we owe it to the family to go forward. >> another chance to solve the case. >> i said, what is going on here? >> when dateline continues! continues

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that chant tom can do corrosive things to a person. sour the joy of a sunrise on

the montana prairie. alter the look on a neighbor's face down at the local store. after prosecutors decided to dismiss murder charges against him, tom felt like he just couldn't live here anymore. >> i couldn't say in montana. i needed to move away. and i decided to move to south dakota. >> did you set up a new life there? >> i did. i got married. had a couple of kids. life is good. >> and truly? you thought it was over? >> i really did. i never thought it would ever come back again. >> neither did tom's old girlfriend, and. although she firmly believe that tom killed bryan. the man that she had left him for. montana soured for her to. she went to visit her sister in arkansas. and stayed. never found out that tom moved

away. >> i didn't feel that i could go back home to date montana. >> why? >> because tom was there. and i thought if he is willing to kill somebody to be with me, i didn't know what he would do. >> corrosive. that's what it was. but then, 13 years after doctors murder, this man had a new job. this is brandt, who in 2009, became the top prosecutor in the montana attorney generals office. and one of his duties was to help small counties prosecute particularly difficult cases. cold cases. >> we don't get the tat slams dunks turned over to us. we have the older cases, they're difficult cases. and we're expected to go forward with the cases >> like the one that his old friend kemp thompson had not given up on solving. >> so i called him up and said would you just review this. see what you think? >> what did you think as you reviewed the information?

something that was worth trying again? >> yes we had some work to do. i wanted them to go back out and to make sure that everybody is still around. we had to see what kind of shape that the evidence within. >> evidence was resubmitted to the crime lab. witnesses were re-interviewed. more years past. >> was there ever a case to be made to just let it go? how do you look at these things? >> i will let it go if we don't have evidence beyond a reasonable doubt. i will not roll the dice with somebody's life. this is a homicide, we owe it to the family to go forward. and in my borough, that's what we do. >> and then, in february of 2014, nearly 18 years after the murder, agent ops and traveled to south dakota, with an arrest warrant for tom who heard his name called out one day at work and was assured into the back of a police car. >> that's when i wondered what the hell is going on here? maybe a minute went by and then ken thompson popped his head

through the door and said tom, remember me? i told you i would be back for you. >> tom called his family and asked for them to track down that attorney who helped them so much all those years before, bob peterson. who, for some reason, had been listening to a nagging little voice in his head all those years that told him to keep the file. >> usually i destroy on my files after ten years but for whatever reason, i maintain his files. >> and so, when tom was charged again with murder, peterson got busy. first he got tom out on bond attached to a gps monitor. then he read through his old files and asked to see the prosecutions new evidence. >> my whole position was, let's see what they think that they have >> when he did? attorney peterson could not have been more surprised. >> it was almost verbatim the

same affidavit that was used in 1998 to charge him. >> no new evidence? >> none. i could not believe that they would bring these charges back up again and not have one piece of new evidence to justify them doing that. >> you are mad? >> it made me mad. yes. i know i'm not being very outraged about that. defense attorneys have to control our emotions. [laughs] >> who was he angry with? >> we had a prosecutor with a big ego. fashion himself to be a cold case expert. and, an investigator who was sued about the case since the beginning of it in 1996. and had an obsession with tom. and all he wanted to do was get this case squared away. before he retired.

>> you are not really suggesting that a detective would persuade a prosecutor to go ahead with the case, a favorite case of his, just because he happened to be retiring? >> yeah. i really am. >> to which both investigator thompson, and the prosecutor, replied. no, it was justice that they had in mind. not retirement. and when attorney peterson asked the judge to throw out the murder charge? the answer was, oh no. it wasn't going to go away not this time. >> coming up! >> it was murder! it was murder that was planned. it was a murder that was premeditated >> after almost 20 years, the case heads to court. >> if you ever cheated on me, i will kill him and i will kill you. >> i think tom had made up his

mind. i don't think he had any problem going in the trailer. and i think he located the gun. >> tom in a fight for his life! when dateline continues! when dateline continues! enager the pain has taken me away from my family and friends. but i finally found relief with nurtec odt it's the only medication that can treat my migraine right when it strikes and prevent my next attack. treat and prevent all in one. don't take if allergic to nurtec. most common side effects, in less than 3%, were nausea, indigestion/stomach pain. with quick dissolving nurtec i can get back to normal fast and prevent my next attack. treat & prevent - all in one. (dog barking) we love our pets. and prevent my next attack. but we don't always love their hair. which is why we made bounce pet hair and lint guard with three times the pet hair fighting ingredients. just one sheet helps remove pet hair from your clothes! looking good starts in the dryer with bounce pet. (geri) i have copd. because i smoked. so i have to pace myself. my tip is, if you're having people over for thanksgiving,

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happening, ukrainian forces discover mass graves in the eastern city which was recently reclaimed after a six month russian occupation. investigations found more than 400 bodies, mostly civilians. some of you showed signs of torture. and the united nations voted overwhelmingly to allow ukraine's president to deliver a prerecorded address at next week's general assembly. out of more than 100 nations, only seven, including russia, denied the request. now back to dateline! now back to dateline in this little bunk house was

[inaudible] putting in the prairie. the young woman who had fallen was a happily married mother of three. the young man had growing sons of his own. but two decades were a mere whisper of time to the law and the historic county courthouse. where, in september of 2015, six years after the case was reopened. 19 years after the murder, tom sister and the rest of the family assembled on one side of the courtroom. >> it was hard seeing people that you thought were your friends, sitting on the other side of the courtroom. that would be a number of local people. along with doctor ryan's family. whose attitude, must be said, was unlike that of many victims families. >> i remember having a huge sinking feeling in my heart

thinking, can we not just let this go? and be done with it? >> so you weren't excited at the possibility that finally justice would be done? >> nope >> well a tough case to be sure. said prosecutor. i just -- might be a, a prosecutor like himself could not be in the courtroom. he had another fight on his hands. young cancer. so he handed the file to two trusted deputies. dan and mary. >> it was murder! it was murder that was planned, it was a murder that was premeditated. and it was a murder where no evidence would be left. >> the big evidence, was of course, tom's behavior in the weeks after and broke up with him and began dating doctor ryan. his friend testified. >> i thought that bryan just

wanted her back. >> and she herself told the jury about the hang-up calls, about the time that tom snuck into her house and read her diary. about the middle of the night visits. >> i was scared, i didn't know what was gonna happen after he had been acting so weird >> stalking was just unbelievable. and he was overwhelmed by the fact that he had lost and. he had done everything that he could to try to break them up. and i think at the very end, when he understood that that was not going to happen, the only thing left was to take brian out of the picture. >> in fact, remember this? and testified about that time she said that tom once threatened to do just that. should she ever cheat on him with any other guy. >> he said, if you ever cheat on me. i will kill him, and i will kill you. or i will want to kill you. >> tom, by the way, has long

denied ever saying that but, even after the murder. and said. he kept pursuing her. letters, cars, phone calls. >> he said he dreams that we had gotten married and got kids. and was telling me, went into detail about a life that we were living together. >> then there was a strange story, one of tom's next girlfriends told the jury. >> did he ever mentioned to you an ex girlfriend named and? >> yes that was the love of his life. he said that he wished that he was that because that was how they would get back together. because that was what was keeping them apart. >> by then, he was already long dead. by tom's own hand they argued. >> nobody else had the opportunity, and nobody else had the means in this very tiny community to kill brian as tom

did >> so, how did he do it? he put his plan into action, said prosecutor, when doctor ryan was away at that conference. before returning home on friday, july the 12th. >> i think that tom had finally made up his mind, not only did he not have any problem going in the trailer. i think he located the gun. >> yes, he argued, tom stole doctor ryan's own gun. then that friday night? he plays a hang-up call to doctor ryan. at 9:45 pm. to make sure that he was home. and soon after that, a second call. to a second location. in another town, a half an hour down the road. >> he calls, and answers, and he hangs up. so now he knows that and is there. that's 36 miles away. so he knew that he could go over there and not find anybody there. besides brian. but >> then he got into his atv. headed over to the bunk house.

is that what his neighbor saw? >> well later, towards the evening. i did see a fort wheeler going by the atv was dark. >> mr. tom owns a black atv. and 19 years, no one has ever stepped forward to determine who else in that small community had a green and black atv. nobody dead. >> when tom arrived at the bunk house, said the prosecutor. he waited in the bushes. where he could see doctor ryan store. >> he has the weapon there. and, i think at the appropriate time, he decides that he is going to walk up to the backdoor. >> and that must have been when tom threw the holster in the grass. where it was found later. said prosecutor. >> now it just so happens that and makes the call the brian they've been talking about getting a restraining order against tom. and then and says that bryan almost abruptly gets off the phone as if it's somebody else there. >> according to an, that was

about 10:40 pm. >> i think brian then heard him. went to the back door, and i think at that point, when there's tom sitting on the back porch, has a gun, i think immediately that brian knew what was going on in the fight was on and i think it was a struggle. i think that he shot him twice in the arm. i think he then struggled back to try to get the phone and thomas shot him in the chest. left the weapon got on the atv. and took off and then he hurt his back so the next day he had to go to the hospital and there you go and that was the prosecution's case. all circumstantial, no physical evidence was never found to link tom to the murder scene. but the pieces, said the prosecution, fit together to tell quite the story. but only the story comes defenders were about to say.

a tall tale if you will. which they added, a good montana steak couldn't do in a hurry. >> coming up, -- >> the state had concluded at the time of death was friday night. why? >> a whole new theory of the crime. >> it doesn't seem like a plausible time of death. >> doctor ryan's last meal -- of its own. when dateline continues. dateline continues. try downy light in-wash freshness boosters. it has long-lasting light scent, no heavy perfumes, and no dyes. finally, a light scent that lasts all day. downy light! new astepro allergy. now available without fin a prescription.ent that lasts all day. astepro is the first and only 24-hour steroid free spray. while other allergy sprays take hours astepro starts working in 30 minutes. so you can... astepro and go. host: tell me the... mom: chimichanga!

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>> like attending a nightmare version of the funeral. >> but at this funeral we are not seeing anything nice about him. >> why would that be because the sister's new defense attorney bob peterson and his new co-counsel or -- would not only attack the case against tom, they would bring up all the old long forgotten gossip about brian, about what a ladies man he was reported to be. >> when they went on about how he was a womanizer and having multiple affairs -- >> though she knew it was coming. but in fact the defense went beyond that and cast doubt on the very idea that this 19 year old mystery could be solved at all. >> throughout this trial we will have the urge to want to solve this, and that is -- but this case can not be

solved. >> that was really the biggest point of stress to the story. your desire is going to want to close this book close the chapter, give this family the relief they deserve. but it just cannot be done. >> all that amateur behavior said the defense, could not change to facts. tom had never been a violent person, and that not a shred of physical evidence linked tom to the murder scene said this forensic scientists. >> you've never found any fingerprints belong to tom in any of the items that you tested did you? >> i did not. >> i mean they had all his creepy behavior sure but beyond that they had nothing. i mean they had nothing inside the house that connected him to this fence, there was no hair, fiber, blood, tissue, or anything like that found inside that trailer, found on mr. bryan himself, found outside

the trailer, it belonged to tom. and, trust, me they looked. >> the first responders all those years ago certainly gave the defense a juicy target, given how they treated dr. ryan's murder in first like a suicide. >> you did not take any blood swaps that day. >> not that day. >> you did not take any fingerprints that day. >> not that day. >> what about throwing away potential evidence like that telephone they found at dr. bryant's -- >> we all looked at, it i'm sure we decided it was nothing on it to say whether we would have thrown out. >> the defense called them to the stand one by one to admit their mistakes. >> looking back now, deputy,, you probably shouldn't have done that. >> no, we shouldn't have. >> and if the state could make such a mess of things that the crime scene, confusing the manner of death said the defense maybe it is theory enough that time of death was

wrong as well. >> the state had concluded that the time of death was friday night, and our question to them always has been, why. why did they choose that time other than it is the only time really tom does not have an alibi. >> what if the state was wrong. in fact said tom's defenders, the state was wrong. how did they know well for one thing there was cody doctorate reince dog. >> if the state's theory was correct, cody would have been left in that trailer with no exit for friday to saturday night, to sunday morning without going to the bathroom at all. there was no evidence that he had gone to the bathroom at all in the house. >> doctor reince sisters disputed the idea that cody couldn't have found some way in and out of the trailer, but the defense that it had even more

traumatic evidence that the murder did not happen until the earliest saturday morning when tom had an alibi. remember, dr. brian returned home from the conference on friday night, but, at about 7 pm that evening, to local men testified ryan stop for dinner at a place called the square butte country club. >> we ate with him, -- >> and what doctor ryan had for dinner according to these -- destroyed the states theory of time of death. it was this retired -- too ill to testify in person who delivered the -- by remembering clearly he said what bryan had on his plate. >> can you recall what he was doing when you sat down across from him? >> i other then eating the big

montana state you seemed to be -- >> a steak why it was that important because the autopsy the one in which time of death was left blank did not reveal any stake in his digestive track. how could that be if he died friday night? the defense called a forensic pathologist. >> so if he had eaten a steak at 7:00 at night, and was shot and killed at 11:00 at night, would there be state still in his stomach content. >> yes. my opinion is that it does not seem like a plausible time of death. >> so, what was in doctor reince stomach, according to the doctor who did the autopsy, -- >> it appeared to be scrambled eggs, green pepper, and tomato. >> and in the bunk house, eggshells in the garbage, dirty dishes in the sink, as if he

had made breakfast. >> although doctor erwin's sister testified that it was his habit to stay up late make acts and work late into the night, the defense said the evidence pointed to doctor ryan being killed not friday night, but sometime saturday. and there was a certain someone who had no alibi for saturday. someone you have already met. remember him larry hagman bush he was about to take the witness stand. >> and it is your statement that you within just one home. is that right? >> correct. >> you are home alone that night? >> correct. >> a question, but the defense was about to imply that the killer could have been him. >> coming up. >> he told us woman that mr. ryan was shot with his own gun. >> a 19 year old mystery takes

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don chesky's defense team attempted to flip the playing field. not only did they challenge the prosecution theory that dr. brian -- murder occurred on a friday night they also pointed their suspicion at a man who had no alibi for saturday. larry hagan bush. that friend of dr. ryan's whose wife was leaving him, who had used medication he prolonged from doctor brian to trying 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 -- >> to me. it is very possible larry goes to mr. winds trailer, he is upset, he has been drinking, he

wants either more pills for mr. ryan, mr. ryan refuses and there he goes for the gun. >> the thing is, the date ryan's body was discovered, larry admitted he had gone over to the bunk house and the morning after larry broke down crying in the waiting room of a counselor's office and while people around him listen, he describes 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. he, that mr. ryan was laying on his back, that his feet crossed, blood all over, but the one fact that i think is the most important that stood out to me, was that he told this woman on a monday morning that mr. ryan was shot with his own gun. >> in fact, this woman who worked in the office overheard larry. >> did mr. hagan book make any

statements about who's gonna was? >> he said it was brian. sunday during that investigation, these officers did not know that this was mr. ryan's own firearm that had been used in this. in the shooting. so to me, that stood out as a major red flag. >> how did you know brian was shot with his own gun? >> i don't. i probably set a gun. at that time i was in pretty good shock. >> do you recall telling her that ryan was? shot saturday night? >> no. do you recall telling her that you would 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 for me. but i don't remember any of that. i do remember telling her that my best friend got shot. >> so nobody saw you from saturday morning, through to

seven in the morning until -- they didn't see a all saturday night, is that right? >> correct. >> and sunday, you come out to ryan's trailer right so that is the first time anybody sees you from saturday morning until sunday morning? >> correct. >> larry tonight any role in the shooting, and remember, detectives did not charge him with anything. but, the defense had made its point. >> it comes back to, the media discussion that mr. wright died on friday night, and so, larry was around some people friday night, but all day saturday and saturday night and sunday morning, he wasn't around anyone. >> then, finally, as if to twist the knife, the defense brought up one more thing, the thing that so upset dr. bryan's sister's. the fact that in the underwear he was wearing at the time of his death, there was a dna that was unidentified. >> so my question would be, as

to when that would have gotten their? and how, and more importantly who? >> the implication of course, that he was seeing and having sex with someone in addition to -- another potential suspect added to the plot. >> we are just saying, tom might not be the only ex-boyfriend out there who would have been upset with mr. ryan. >> that in essence was -- defense. anyone but tom. >> did you kill him? >> no i didn't. >> do you think larry hagan bush did kill doctor? >> you know, i have no idea who killed brian. i know what it is like to be an innocent person, wrongly accused, and i'm not going to sit here and accuse somebody else. >> the and was coming very soon. coming up, -- >> palm coast whiskey was the only person with the

opportunity, the only person with the motive to take brian ryan 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? >> i went down on the, table and i cried. >> when dateline continues. hen dateline continues

>> 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, that and suspicious behavior by the defendant, but no physical evidence, but they did have to answer the question, did tom just ask you pull the trigger. for prosecutors the question for the jury was, who else could have done it? >> tom just how ski was the

only person with the opportunity, the only person with the motive to take brian ryan out of this world. and he did it, and he committed this crime masterfully. >> the defense and its closing took a swipe at -- the agent who for two decades would not 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 had carried around so long. >> i just felt the need i had to get out of, there i don't want to listen to, it had to get away and reflect. >> 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 is just the worst time when you have -- every hour that went by, it was pretty painful. >> and then minutes before the 5:00 whistle -- >> or a, thank you ladies and gentlemen as the jury reached a verdict? >> i kept thinking, if they said guilty, i thought i'm going to fall down. >> my heart beating so hard and so fast. either i was going to have a life, or i wasn't going to have a life. >> we the jury duly empaneled and sworn to find the issues of the embattled caucus enter the final in animus verdict. so the charge of deliberately homicide, not guilty. >> not guilty. >> i cried. i put my head out on the table, and i cried, i just put my arm around and said, it is finally over. >> the cases dismissed, the defendant is three to go. >> thank you. >> his family, overjoyed,

watching them off the gps monitor. >> did you realize it was finally over? >> yeah. it was a sense of relief. seeing the tears of happiness for my family, it is 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. >>.

? -- i remember walking out of, they're thinking, it turned out exactly the way i thought it would. why did you waste our time? >> did he? >> ken thompson did nothing, so of course, but -- >> of course i was disappointed. my heart fell, but i truthfully 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, the easier believed he did, or he didn't. >> what do you believe? >> that he got away with murder. >> apparently not what the jury believed. we asked judge greg pinsky 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

whether weaknesses of the case? >> the timing. the 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 is some new scientific technological advance. >> dna, or something? >> dna that suddenly cracked open this court case after 19 years, and brought it forward. and, that is not this case. >> a couple of months after the verdict, we went to arkansas to spend some time with the woman at the center of the long ago love triangle, and it discovered she is still tormented by a guilt that will not go away. she wonders, if it hadn't been for her, would dr. rain be alive? it is odd really. whether or not trump killed doctor ryan, and especially if

he didn't, she could have had nothing to feel guilty about. and yet, she does. >> i know everybody says it is -- stop it, it is not your fault. it truly isn't. not even for a moment. >> i was hoping that if he was convicted, it would go away. that is what i wanted. i wanted to say he is guilty. then i could quit feeling guilty. and i didn't. no, you didn't. >> so no i have to figure out. >> so do they all. the prosecutor believing he had the right guy all along, closed the case, but the judge -- >> i mean 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 is another world that they go to sunday, look up brian rain when you get there, and ask him who is guilty, because that is the only way that we are ever going to know who killed brian ryan. >> i'm craig melvin and this is "dateline". >> this was the christmas choir banquet. she was dressed up to the nines. >> this young girl catches his eye. >> she got everyone's eye. she didn't come home that night. there was blood everywhere. there was blood splatter all over the inside of the car. it was very frenzied attack. >> the theories were just awful. drug rings, prostitute rings. >> and the entire town was going crazy. >> i thought eventually,