positions. janet griswold, her warning for voters as conservatives push for harder restrictions at the ballot box. until then, goodnight. >> i'm craig melvin. >> i'm natalie morales. >> this is "dateline". >> i see her laying there, my dad is kneeling, that was the first time i've ever seen him cry. >> they had a tumultuous marriage. >> there would be yelling, and maybe slamming doors. >> according to him, he sees lisa with a gunshot wound to the head. so initially it was ruled a suicide. her sister went to the majority patrol to express their believe that this impact was a murder. >> she had been having an

affair with her boss. >> the pocket cuter says. after he sought his wife, he washed his hands and watched his. >> they call this back at noon. started the trial. >> i thought they made it the worst mistake i headed ever heard of. >> it was obviously there was something that just wasn't right. >> the only thing i've ever wanted was for everyone to hear the truth. i told him that i would find with everything i had and win. that's the promise i made to him. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> hello and welcome to dateline. for many, the holiday season is a special time. but for the jennings family, one christmas eve turned into awaking nightmare. there was an argument followed by a gunshot. then a frantic call to police. lisa jennings was dead. the question for the detectives was, did she take her own life, or was this murder? here is keith morrison with, a

crack in everything. >> it was his secret that started it. a secret gift. it was christmas eve in the year 2006. a little farm not far from a little town called buffalo, buffalo man, missouri. and on that farm a fine new house, brad and lisa jennings had made for their families. the stockings were hung. a little farm not far from a little town called buffalo, buffalo man, missouri. and on that farm a fine new house, brad and lisa jennings had made for their families. the stockings were hung. children were snug in their beds. and lisa was sitting up very late, drinking wine and crying. -- well, who knew. but for one thing, with lisa in the way, brad couldn't sneak that secret of his into her stocking. which is what started the argument of slamming doors and

said it in silence. before amanda woke up to the sound of her dad on 9-1-1. >> and he's very hysterical. you know? he's crying, can't really say anything other than, get here quick. get your quick. i heard that two or three times. >> such a complicated tale. with its secrets, lies, shifting loyalties. and here of all places. this throwback to an idealized past. >> we hunted mushrooms. we picked up walnuts. >> they were inseparable children. brad and his older sister marcia. >> he was my playmate. we depended on each other. >> marcia became a nurse, brad ran the farm. and the center of their families in 1863. that christmas 2006, brad and lisa had been married 18 mostly happy years. >> we had a fairly good life. >> there were three kids. amanda, 16 that christmas eve. >> dallas, who was 11 then. >> but lacey, leases daughter from the first marriage, it was 19 at then just moved into her

own place in town. and as amanda said, life was fairly good. >> we would do lots of things. we vacation a lot. go out in the evening. a dad had pretty good money so we were good on that. >> it seemed like a very good and stable environment. >> brad loved cars. especially classic muscle cars. and extra special, the 1970 shrivel super sport he so carefully restored. >> at the time, he was 12. he was redoing motors and helping put motors in and out of different vehicles. >> so, brad, opened a used car dealership. he was a great people person. >> and i guess that's what you have to be when you deal with cars and stuff. >> and their mom? lisa?

>> very pretty. she could be really happy and the life of the party kind of person. >> yeah, really fun. >> well, brad ran the farm and his car business, lisa worked at a local internet company. >> she was really good at it. >> she became their top employee. >> at home, lisa was the mom who actually liked video games. with dallas, mostly. video games and movies. >> we had a big projector screen that we would put on the wall. watch movies really big. >> did it seem like a happy household? >> overall? >> yes. >> but of course, there is as leonard cohen used to say, a crack in everything. and in the jennings house, those were the sudden blow ups. where the moon went dark and the kids scattered. >> they would fight maybe once every couple of weeks or something. mostly later in the evening, at night. after they had been drinking. they would be yelling. and maybe slamming doors. things like that.

but just arguing about anything, nothing. >> we never really thought too much about it. >> anyway, now it was that calamitous christmas eve, 2006. as always, there had been a happy dinner celebration with brad's side of the family. >> christmas eve, we would go to my grandma's. they're in town. >> and then, back home, games and stockings stuffing. and of course -- >> a real up real early and open all the presents. >> lisa had no idea that brad had brought her a 3500 dollar diamond ring. and got the kids to help him pick it out. back -- he went in for his chance to hide it in her stocking. lisa kept filling on the computer. and the kids were playing a board game. >> i think it was monopoly. >> just played downstairs for a while and then eventually went up to our rooms. >> it was well after midnight when they heard the raised voices downstairs.

>> i heard all the yelling and everything. just a normal fight like they would always have. >> and then a door slammed. which meant that had brad had gone out to his workshop to cool down. >> with lacey, home for the holiday, was furious. another fight like this on a christmas eve no left. and as usual, over some stupid little. think she was done. >> and i told my sister, go said go downstairs to get into it with. her i think one of the last things i remember my mom even seeing was something like, i would never disrespect my parents that we. >> lacey was just fed up was she? >> yes, she couldn't believe they would fight on christmas. >> then, more door slamming and lacey was out of their. >> she went back to her house in buffalo. >> so by the time she left, your dad was outside? in the workshop, alone? >> he was outside. he does that a lot. he would go outside and go out to the shop. >> so amanda side and close her eyes. drifted off.

and then sometime after 1:30 am, that loud, frantic sound. her father on 9-1-1. she ran downstairs to her parents bedroom. >> i opened the door and i see her laying there. my dad is kneeling next to her. and as soon as i had opened the door, he gets up and kind of pulls me out of the room. and he is hugging me and crying. >> their mother was dead. of that, there was no doubt. but how? why? and who? >> coming up -- what had happened in that bedroom? >> i didn't realize the gravity of it. i thought there had been an accident and she was on the way to the hospital. >> the truth would be much worse. >> did you have any suspicion that brad might have done something to lisa? >> when dateline continues. symptom relief

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that awful christmas morning in 2000. takes the morning he lost his mother. but it's probably a blessing that something in his brain has blocked the memory. >> a lot of it is a blur to me. >> amanda, 16 at the time, remembers every dreadful detail. >> just shock, honestly. very upset. but didn't know what to do. you know? >> yeah. >> it was very hard. >> and the ambulance arrived

and policeman -- >> they all arrived and we had to leave the house so they could do all of their work. so we went outside and waited in my truck. because it was cool. >> just huddled together and just talked much? >> just shock, mostly silence. i remember dallas kept saying, she was going to be okay. he didn't really know what had happen. because he didn't see her or nothing. no one was really saying what happened. my dad was just sitting over in the passenger seat, just a mess. that was the first time i had ever seen him cry. >> those news of the sort spreads very fast. but often in confused or incomplete, or fuzzy bits. so when brad's sister marcia heard something happened at the farm -- >> i didn't realize the gravity of it. i thought there had been an

accident and she was on the way to the hospital. >> it was anything but an accident. lisa was gone, dead at 39. killed by a bullet at close range to the head. >> brad tool local sheriffs deputies how he argued with lisa. then went out to his workshop to cool off. and when he came back in, maybe 20 minutes later, he found her on the bedroom floor. his hand the nearby. so deputies tested leases hands gunshot residue's. they did the same with brad and lacey. that could tell them too far the gun. and lisa's right-hand tested positive for gunshot residue. brad and lacey came out negative. meaning it seemed to the corner, that lisa for reasons unknown, must have killed herself. >> did it make sense to you that she would commit suicide? >> nothing made sense to me that night. >> i bet. >> i had heard statements. you know? that she was troubled about reaching 40.

she had had cosmetic surgery. could be a red flag. >> bright and leases brother-in-law, paul, was stricken. what did they miss? >> all the kids loved at lisa. she was just fun. >> lisa had seemed so together. she loved the family events. loved having kids around. >> there was never a time that lisa did not want the kids to spend the night, or to stay. and she might end up with five or six. different children under her room. >> it was fine with her? >> yes, it was fine with her. >> but now, this accommodating, fun loving woman, was dead. it was all very shocking. >> and it's not -- to get prepared. just sudden and >> the idea that she would commit suicide so are broccoli and violently like that. >> that wasn't something that would be expected. no. >> but of course, the alternative was quite unthinkable. did you have any inkling, any suspicion, that brad might have had something to do with it? >> i had none.

brad told me on christmas morning, and you could tell he was still still there really distraught. so, that morning i came over. and he told me the whole story. and no, i never crossed my mind. >> in fact, after all of the lap test results were in, the dallas county sheriff and coroner and prosecutor, all officially ruled leases death suicide. the local newspaper in the buffalo reflex quoted the prosecutor who said, there is zero evidence to show otherwise. so you had no sense, no reason to think that it was anything other than what the coroner and the sheriff said it was? >> absolutely not. >> but there were others in the family and they were not so sure. >> it starts with suspicion. leases sister feels compelled to share what she knows. coming up -- >> she went to the mid zuri state highway control to express their belief that this event was a murder.

>> and then investigators prime suspect, brad jennings. >> they started asking me questions about brad. he goes, what did jennings say to you about his wife having an affair? >> when dateline continues. >> it's a sweet piece of

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america, buffalo, missouri. population 3000 or so. where people tend to know each other's business. and where brad could have a best friend he met when they were both in diapers. so of course, dale potter rushed over to see brad that merry christmas morning. >> he just kept saying, why, dave. why did she do this? he was a mess. >> all of those guns you see in the background there. dale owns buffalo's only gun and pawnshop. so, when the lisa's death was

declared to be suicide and the sheriff return ballads gone, the one that killed her. brad called dale. >> he said i don't really want the gun back. >> i can't imagine why he would. >> he said, do you want it? >> i said yes, i cleaned it up. just put it in the safe and forgot about it. >> and the family tried to move on and didn't pay much attention. but lacey began saying odd things. >> you know, mom was murdered blah blah blah. >> murdered? now that it was anything like an accusation, aggressive or unfriendly. >> she did didn't act any different with that. she still came around. he still helped her. >> but sometimes, the smaller yorktown, the less you know about what your neighbors are saying behind your back.

nothing in your face. nothing like that. >> it was way more subtle than that. >> how do you mean? >> probably everyone else was talking about it, but they didn't talk to us about it. >> no, they didn't. but lisa's younger sister, shawn, was talking. >> she saw a rocky marriage and her sister would not be a person that would commit suicide. >> this is steve pokin, who writes a column in the springfield news -- called poking around. which he did. and discovered that leases sister, sean, got busy, soon after that deadly christmas morning. >> in early january, she went to the office of the missouri state highway patrol to express their belief that this in fact was a murder. >> she looked into a highly experience detective name dan nash. >> longtime investigator who has been involved in several high-profile murder cases in the ozarks. >> and when sergeant nash took

one look at that file, something forensic seemed off. he was inclined to agree with sean. it didn't look like suicide at all. >> he was just struck by the fact that if lisa jennings had shot herself using her right hand, there would be more blow back from that, then one drop of blood. >> three months after that christmas eve, investigator nash drove over to brad's farm, told him he was looking at the case again. >> and wanted to went into the bathroom that mr. jennings was wearing that. >> the real piano on he said when he said he found this a dead and held her in her arms. >> why three months later would a bathrobe be a useful? certainly it had been cleaned or something? i would suspect? >> apparently it had not. >> oh. >> mr. jennings had spent a little time back in that bedroom. from his perspective, his wife had taken her life.

>> so brad gave nash the back bathrobe and sure enough it still had blood on it. so they run some tests and get in touch with brad. >> he was questioned a couple of times. >> then, a month later, this was april, now the sheriff came to call. at dale potter's gun and pawn. >> he says i am here to seize the jennings gun. >> and a few weeks after that, a man with teacher and khakis walked in. >> he was a sergeant within missouri state highway four. joel i'm here investigating the murder of lisa jennings. i said what are you talking about murder? it was in the paper, was ruled a suicide. and he said, no, he killed her. >> that was an all. >> then he goes, what did jennings say to you about his wife having an affair? i said, he never said a word to me about his wife have an affair. why? was she? and he said yes, and we can

prove it. i said, well that explains a lot. he said, you mean why he killed her? i said no. --

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300 injuries were reported. now, back to dateline. >> welcome back to dateline, i'm craig melvin. lisa jennings had died from a single gunshot to the head, her death ruled a suicide, but the file was now in the hands of dan nash, and to him, the details were not adding up. he believed needs lisa had been murdered and that her husband brad, was the trigger man. now nash was about to pay him a visit and the already fractured family would be torn apart once again here is keith morrison, with a crack in everything. >> probably everybody at buffalo, missouri knew that brad jennings the apparent grieving husband was now a murder suspect. everybody waiting for something to happen. and in july 2007, seven months after lisa's death, it did. >> about a mile from his house

and two or three highway patrol officers stopped him and arrested him. took him to the county jail. >> what did you think? >> i thought they made one of the worst mistakes i had ever heard of. >> later we were told there were people around that knew it was going to happen. >> people like lisa's sister sean who went to the highway patrol in the first place, and leases daughter from her first marriage, lacey. we asked for interviews, they declined. >> when my dad got arrested, lacey and sean showed up at the house to pick me and dallas up and then my grandma showed up to pick us up as well, and my aunt and my grandma got into it. >> it sounds like that is sort of the moment when the family broke apart? >> that's when a really blew open. that's when lacey quit coming

around and everything just fell apart. >> that evening brad's brother-in-law paul, who was married to lisa's other sister said he met with the highway patrol officers who led the investigation. >> i asked one patrol officer if he had ever been wrong? and there was a small part of me that wish he was correct, because or not he was going to ruin a lot of people's lives. and he told me straight-up, i've never been wrong. >> never been wrong? >> never been wrong. >> was this investigator, dan nash? >> it was. >> brand posted 1 million dollar bond and it was a lot to remain free until his trial. brad stuttering knee said the state had no case. >> every time that i spoke with him he said that it couldn't go to trial, he said it couldn't. >> he was still saying that the friday before the trial was to begin in august 2009. >> he said will go in there monday morning and we'll see what motions are flying around. >> but by midday monday the jury was picked and the trial

began. >> how shocking was that? >> it was very shocking. and we hadn't been there an hour until i was getting sick to my stomach just listening. prosecution was just running rampant with it. >> that is saying terrible things about brad. >> and i was wanting to jump up and object. >> because two marcia it seemed like brad's attorney wasn't objecting at all. >> mister deputy wouldn't say anything in brad's defense. >> what was it like to be you sitting back there watching that? >> it was the most miserable time of my life. and i didn't know what i could do. i wanted to stop it but i didn't know how. and mr. deputy would say that it is all going to come together, don't worry about it. >> maybe the attorney was thinking of the gunshot residue or -- remember, they found gun rise to do on her hand but not on

brad's hand, implying that lisa shot herself. the prosecutor had an explanation. >> so the prosecutor says it is a logical inference from the facts of the case that mr. jennings, after he shot his wife, before he called 9-1-1 he washed his hands and watched his forearms. >> and blood evidence. investigator nash was the expert the state put up and he said that an his expert opinion the way the spotter hit the wall, and brats black road and leases hand, it left no doubt that he fired the shot. but why would he do such a thing? an age old reasons that the prosecutor. lisa wanted out. >> the prosecution at trial tried to show that she was intent on leaving him and she had an application, at an apartment complex where lacey had lived. >> lisa wooden and her life, said the state, because she was busy improving it. she bought nice clothes. recently had cosmetics surgery. >> the state presented, witnesses that shed that she was in good spirits and it is unlikely that someone who has

cosmetics surgery and is feeling good about themselves would take their lives. >> the defense didn't mention that lisa's father committed suicide, or that she herself attempted suicide back in high school, no secret in town, back then. and nobody brought up the rumor that lisa was having an affair. but, one curious thing did come up. the defense attorney in his closing arguments made a fascinating point about the bath road brad was wearing when lisa was shot. >> the defense attorney in his closing argument said that they had that thing for years, i don't know why they didn't tested for gun residue, but they didn't. we could wrap this up in a heartbeat, whether he did it or not if they had tested that. >> now that was interesting. and a very good point. after all, if they found residue on the bathrobe, it would certainly point right at brad, but the moment passed and

the case went to the jury. two hours and 24 minutes later they found bride guilty of murder. and where else would this happen? they let him go home, one last night before the sentencing began the following day. >> the next morning, he asked me to drive him back, and that was one of the most difficult things i had ever had to do. >> did you want to just say, let's go somewhere else, brad, let's just drive to mexico or something? >> no. that's not who we are. and i told him, that i would fight with everything i had in me to correct it. >> but what could one lone woman do? no legal training, no contacts, no hope. what indeed?

>> coming up. a search for the truth. >> it was obvious there was something that wasn't right. >> and missing evidence. >> i took the photo, i texted it to dwight and just said, jackpot. >> when dateline continues. >> the day after brad jennings was convicted of murdering his wife lisa, he returned to court for sentencing. he got 25 years and they let him away. on a day that would've been, otherwise, auspicious. --

>> the day after brad jennings was convicted of murdering his wife lisa, he returned to court for sentencing. he got 25 years and they let him away. on a day that would've been, otherwise, auspicious. >> that was my first day of high school. >> did either review other thing, maybe he did killer? >> not even once. >> if you know him, even like at all, he is just not that kind of a person. >> true said brad's big sister marcia. she decided she had to do everything she could to help him. it wasn't easy. because he had two kids who needed to be cured for. he had payments that had to be made on the house, on the farm, on the cars. he had a business that had to be wrapped up, and he had this huge problem of having been convicted of a crime you didn't think he committed. what does a person do in a situation like this? >> i had no idea. i didn't even know where to

start. >> but she knew she needed a better income. so she found a job that paid more bulb required constant travel. >> come home on thursday night and leaf thursday, and -- >> by the time your home, you wash your clothes, say hi to the kids, go to prison and see brought in the go back on a plane. >> right. >> the first acclaimed claim that brad had not good representation. >> that was a no-brainer. >> but it failed. appeal court didn't agree, and brad's trial lawyer said he served brad well. anyway, marcia hired more attorneys, but -- >> i couldn't get them to talk to me. i couldn't get them to answer a question. i couldn't get him to call me back. >> did they send you a bill? >> absolutely. i have lots of bills. >> this went on for months, years. she heard about a private investigator named dwight mcneill, but her then attorney told her, don't call him. >> so i sat on it for a little

bit. i was having a really bad day, and i called and dwight picked up the phone and i just started crying. because it had been so long since anyone i called answered me. >> and he did listen but -- >> i told you i would not look at the case. >> dwight was a former sheriff, he told her his job was catching bad guys, not getting them out of prison. but marcia persisted, and so he agreed to see her in person. >> i explained to her that if i concluded, from my review of the file, that there was any basis at all to believe that mr. jennings had murdered his wife, that i was use whatever influence and whatever pressure i could to make sure that he stayed in prison the rest of his life. >> can you accept a deal like that? >> absolutely. >> so dwight scanned the file, just a quick look. and this was strange. >> it was obvious that was

something that just wasn't right. >> remember what the trial attorney said about the black bathrobe, too bad they didn't tested for gunshot residue? dwight, with his years in law enforcement lit up when he saw that. they must have tested the robe. >> it should've been tested for gunshot residue all the way up to the right sleeve. >> sure, if he fired the gun there would've been gunshot residue. >> no such reporting existed for the testing of that sleeve and that robe. >> it did not make sense. the started working with lawyer lindsey phoenix who requested copies of all the crime lab reports. >> we've got a letter saying here you go, here is everything we have. it included every test except the one i was looking for. >> but, it had to be there. so lindsay when in person to the state highway patrol. >> i said i wanted to examine every piece of evidence you have, and i bought a video camera and a cell phone and i photographed everything. trying to be in conspicuous.

i didn't want to take a chance of finding something in the disappearing. >> and that is when she found it, too small canisters, and inside -- >> the stubbs from the gunshot residue steps that were label, i took the photo and texted it to dwight and just said, jackpot. and then i had to go through the rest of those boxes like i was looking for something else. a big deal. i was ecstatic. >> those little stubbs confirmed, the gsr test had been performed on brad's robe, but where were the results? she has the highway patrols for them. >> and they didn't send them to me. >> so she wrote to them again. >> i said all right they are there, i have photographs, i know they are there. send me the results and then they sent them. >> and, the tests were conclusive. there was no gunshot residue on brad's black bathrobe. just as there wasn't any on his

hands tonight lisa died. meaning brad almost certainly did not fire the gun that killed lisa. but why didn't lead investigator dan nash revealed that? well, he said he never received those results. plausible? >> not in a heartbeat. no, i was a prosecutor before this, my spouse is a police officer. dwight is a police officer, we know the care that goes into building a case. and that is not a step that you skip. dan nash had specifically asked for that test to be done. >> so, by now dwight was looking carefully at dan nash, he talked to a retired judge. >> he made it very clear that he had a lot of problems with mr. nash is reputation for truth and honesty under oath. and from there, we started interviewing former prosecutors, and the number of former court personnel who expressed concerns about his reputation for truth and for veracity. >> remember her at the trial,

nash was presented as a blood spatter expert? he wasn't. in fact nash had not even taken a basic bloodstain analysis class when he investigated leases death. he took a 40 hour course the following year, but was still not an expert when he testified in trial. dwight sought out the best in the field. >> i found two of the world's most renowned blood spatter experts. >> he sent the crime scene photos to both of them. >> and they both, independently, came to the same conclusion. >> that dan nash was quite simply dead wrong. one of them wrote, the bloodstain evidence in the presence of gunshot residue on the right-hand of lisa jennings are consistent with a self

inflicted gunshot wound. but if any lawyer would tell you, undoing a jury's guilty verdict is almost impossible. so, what's now? >> coming up. >> a life interrupted. >> he missed out on me turning 16, on me getting married. i have a kid now. he missed that. he missed out on a lot. >> we'll brad jennings miss out even more. >> i don't promise anything to a client other than i will give you my best shot. >> when dateline continues.

>> welcome back, brad jennings was serving 25 years for murdering his wife but his sister marshal was convinced he had been wrongfully convicted. she hired a team of private investigators who uncovered stunning new evidence including the elusive gunshot residue test on a bathrobe pride war on the night of the shooting. they knew the odds of overturning the verdict was low but brad's family was stop at nothing to find justice. with a conclusion of a crack in everything, here is keith

morrison. >> dallas jennings felt like a cheated young man. his father imprisoned, when neither he nor amanda belief for a minute that he killed their mother. >> he missed out on me turning 16. me driving for the first time. my graduation. me getting married. i have a kid now, he missed that. the birth of his first grandchild. he missed out on a lot. >> brad sister marcia would still determined to bring him back to that world he was missing. with investigator dwight's help, she finally found a father daughter team of attorneys who seem to understand the case. and the family. >> these were adjust salt to the earth, small town country people. and they were stunned at the way the system had worked against brad jennings. >> first bob and liz ramsey

read the trial transcripts. >> the first thing that jumped out of me was i don't recall seeing a defense attorney do so little for his client, in my 38 years of practicing law. >> come on? not the worse, surely? >> it was certainly one of the worse. >> but would also jumped out was the work that highway patrol officer, dan nash, confronted with the gunshot residue that might exonerate brad, he said that he had never seen the report. >> if that test had been positive, would it have been lost in a fax machine? >> it was just incomprehensible that he wouldn't follow up and say what happened to my gunshot residue test that i ordered? he was either grossly negligent or he suppressed it deliberately. >> no question about it, the issue of that and reveal gsr test was huge.

>> i thought it is a classic violation, it is the kind of evidence that makes a difference in a trial. >> so they elected to shoot for the moon, there one chance to overturn the jury verdict. they claim that with held evidence could've changed the result of the trial. >> i don't promise anything to a client other than i'll give you my best shot, and all i told him was this gives you a shot. >> vanishing -- still they filed and waited. and against all odds were granted a hearing. >> we were very excited, but cautious. we it was almost like this little dim light at the end of the tunnel. this was the hearing, in november 2017, almost 11 years after that terrible christmas eve, here brad's attorneys reveal the gsr result that suggested his innocence and the experts blood spatter findings that did the same. and witnesses who questioned the honesty of detective nash. >> i think that his credibility

was put at an issue for the entire hearing. >> lawyers from the missouri attorney's office where they're two and told the judge that with the defense came up was not have changed a guilty verdict, that case was so strong. we wanted to hear from the attorney generals office, from sergeant dan nash and the highway patrol, and all declined our requests. and then, months went by and they all had to wait for the judge, until february 8th, 2018. finally, overruling. >> my first reaction was to go right to the last paragraph and see what's the result was. the last sentence of his order is, at a minimum, the suppression of the gunshot residue test undermines confidence in that verdict. >> conviction overturned. >> the it's the first time that we have had a positive outcome. it was wonderful. >> next day on the judges order,

brad jennings walked out of prison, after eight and a half years and into the arms of the people who never for a minute gave up on him. >> conviction overturned. >> the it's the first time that we have had a positive outcome. it was wonderful. >> next day on the judges order, brad jennings walked out of prison, after eight and a half years and into the arms of the people who never for a minute gave up on him. >> love you. >> it's the kind of stuff that you dream about in law school. and i firmly believe that brad is innocent, so to walk him out was one of the greatest honors of my life, i will never forget that day. >> we had all waited so long. and wondered if it was ever going to happen. it was one of the best days of my life. >> it was really awesome to see him walk out. knowing that he was going to

come home with us, that was amazing. >> that ride home had to be something? >> it was. >> it was weird. it was the first time my dad ever see me drive. i drove him home. >> brad jennings was a man of few words, when she met us a few weeks later as if he was still afraid to believe that he had been let go. but, we talked a bit about that christmas eve and the mystery of what so upset lisa. >> she was crying, that's the one thing i asked her, why you are crying? >> and she couldn't tell you. didn't want to tell you. >> didn't want to talk, didn't want to say anything. >> wasn't until years later that he learned she had been having an affair with her boss, and that man had just broken it off, meaning she was also out of the job. >> if she had told me she wasn't coming back to work the day before this. >> he didn't understand this, then. but now, maybe that was an

answer to his long ago question, why did she and her own life? once he might've confronted the other men, now, nothing to be done. >> i don't even know where he's at. the business shut down, closed down. >> in july 2018, the state attorney generals office announced it would not retrial brad. as for the ones close family, when we last spoke with him, they remained badly split. lisa sister, sean, and daughter, lacey, still believe brad was guilty. and for brad, -- >> it feels like starting over. >> and he clings to his kids and his sister and his mom and those who believed in him. to his ancestral farm. and his other longtime love, the old shovel. >> i knew brad was innocent, the only thing i've ever wanted was for finally everyone to

hear the truth. >> that is all for this edition of dateline, i'm craig melville, thank you for watching. >> i'm craig melvin >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline". >> i had a friend from high school had put something on my facebook. diana is one of my oldest friends. i just fell apart. >> i couldn't believe. it is still does seem real to me. >> the wedding was in the woods. >> a really nice, outdoor, forrest wedding. >> a few years later, the marriage was in shambles. >> she wanted to have a clean divorce. >>