>> i haven't heard anythin about it since >> it's unheard of >> now it is >> yeah. >> diren's friends help that people won't forget the on deadly mistake he made and instead, the bright, charming guy they loved. >> you know, you are all prett and to go through this do you feel like this ha changed you? >> yeah. >> one hunted percent. yeah everything, every day you think, obviously, something the fac that happen. and you would do things that matter >> life seems more precious now? >> it's encouraging us to do a lot of things. i think is still pushing us. >> that is off at this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin thank you for watching and this is dateline

>> i'm gonna leave the house and the phone rings. you could see the area where heidi was. i was lost for words just doesn't make sense. >> a vibrant young woman stalked by killer. >> i cringe every time i think about it >> found dead by her boyfriend >> my brother was just a mess. he was devastated. >> the most ominous clue, >> u on the wall to the left of you heidi's body was, was a number one. she's number one and get ready because here comes trouble >> exactly >> it was not a break-in the windows, the door, nothing was broken did the killer have a? keith >> the question always was, how did the person ge into the house >> a decade later, in a stat 1500 miles away, detective finally found their answer got a dna hit. >> and more questions. >> we knew there was more of

the story than just some guy come in colorado to meet a murder and go back home again. >> did someone closer to hom want her dad >> you are 99% sure he had something to do with it. but, there's no smoking gun. >> so many secrets still to be revealed >> i know more about the sun i said >> and one more killer still o the run. >> he knew it was in tha house. he knew what he was doing. the doesn't get any worse in them >> hello and welcome to dateline. heidi burnett south coast sk had been living with her boyfriend steven cook in a baltimore suburb for about two years. there were whispers of a wedding, but those plans wer tragically cut short whe stephen arrived home to a scen that was both brutal and bizarre. heidi, sprawled in the livin room floor, who would want her

to and why? here's dennis murphy wit indiscretion >> she was a bubbly woman in her early twenties, just looking for a clean break. the heidi bernadzikowski, baltimore pool league ace, had in recent years under some tough times. but now the shots were startin to drop. a steady job as receptionist, boyfriend she could take to be the parents, top even of a summer wedding in las vegas. and then, it was game over for heidi. just like. that >> someone had made their way into her role house on a thursday night in april back i the year 2000, and killed he in the most brutal fashion >> baltimore county 9-1-1. >> migrants been murdered. >> what happened was she shot, or - >> she's cut her throats cut. >> any parents opens a doo exam, there's two cups-ing

their. you know less. docket >> it was a murder case that wasn't going to be solved in a few hours or a few weeks. or even a dozen. nick >> the heidi moor investigation would go stone cold until one day, and matter of hours really everything became clear and ho strange and terrifying it al turned out to be thank >> when donna and walter up bernadzikowski miniatur social, top of a family even proceeded the engagement ring. >> he used to scare the girl away by saying that he wante 12 children, and i said wow want to have 12 children he said oh my god. >> he did have 12, but thi devout roman catholic couple i did raise their five in baltimore maryland suburb. heidi, the only girl in a se of brothers. >> when i hear that, i think for. heidi >> yep >> growing up with all those boys >> she wasn't treated like she

was little princess, that's fo sure >> heidi grew up to be a happy outgoing, athletic girls surrounded by friends. it was a noisy loving fairly with strict rules. every one of the two for dinner, mass on sunday, and no backtalk how do you see brothers franke harold when >> your mom was known t wash applauding out with a bar soap, it was not a metaphor? >> yeah, they are very strict, and definitely had a bar soa there from time to time. he >> knew as you get your lat teens, high search of bristl onto our parents stric household rules. by 19, she, the next youngest, became the first to leave th family nest. but the grass wasn't greener right away, reality offered up a deadbeat roommate and succession of low paying job that evaporated like the morning to three and yet she can always count on her girlfriends t buoy her up. and it was one night with he bff's, shooting pool, sh

caught the eye of a guy holdin accused tech it was steven cook >> they were shooting agains one another, and he nursed hiding in the bar. >> kim's steven cook sister. >> the first night, they actually went home together an three days later they moved in together back >> fast romance >> it was really fast, reall fast >> steven was five years older than heidi his sister says he could b quiet and shy, put alway wanted to be around heidi. >> they did everything together i don't think that they really did much without each other. look >> and i tonight, stephen heinie moved to this renta down a house and done do maryland steven's dad, steve senior says after living together for nearly two years, the couple was talking about taking the next up. >> was it your understanding steve, that they were gonna ge a hitch? yes, in vegas. every time i talk to them, tha was their plan that never changed he loved her >> the timing seemed good.

hiding it just got a promotion at the insurance company where she worked she was finally a 9 to 5 o after years of temping >> she was just getting started, or getting settled into a nich when things happened >> strange things that reveled hy-vee in april that year, and appear someone was trying to brea into their town house. there was tripping around lock on their basement or. it >> looked like the jurors have been lucky with >> yes >> and not long after that discovery of mischief on the locks, a stranger knocked in the front door one night saying he was forming neighborhood - >> he is scared howdy so muc that she told her friends, and describe the stranger as african american with a tattoo >> stephen demanded new lock ink east from the town house manager. they were installed on april 19th 2000. the very next evening was when it happened. >> you signing somebody? >> yes i am, okay. >> just sensibly >> i'm going to, just stay wit me, okay >> an officer dispatched t

their home saudi and live in floor. her boyfriend leaned up agains the wall, cradling her, an crying uncontrollably. and appeared she had bee strangled, her throat so severely slashed that her bloo had trip through to th basement and, there was something else. something manson ask scrolls o the roll and red lipstick over heidi's body was the numbe one. he >> coming up. a possible suspect >> i'm thinking maybe this i our guy. new just kept the knife. gwen dateline continues. >> claritin-d. ha-ha! it was me the whole time. -whoo-hoo! -[ laughs ] well done, ma'am. what...did i do exactly? with snapshot from progressive, you get a personalized discount for doing exactly what you're already doing --

being a safe driver. congratulations. this is a bowling trophy. yeah, it's the biggest one they had. okay, thanks. mm-hmm. oh. have a good one. (vo) if you've had thyroid eye disease for years and you can't get any shuteye because you can't shut your eyes, or...if your itchy eyes have you itching for a fight, it's not too late for another treatment option for thyroid eye disease, also known as t-e-d. to learn more, visit treatted.com that's treatt-e-d.com. my asthma felt anything but normal. a blood test helped show my asthma is driven by eosinophils, which nucala helps reduce. nucala is a once-monthly add-on injection for severe eosinophilic asthma. nucala is not for sudden breathing problems. allergic reactions can occur. get help right away for swelling of face, mouth, tongue, or trouble breathing.

infections that can cause shingles have occurred. don't stop steroids unless told by your doctor. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. may cause headache, injection site reactions, back pain, and fatigue. ask your asthma specialist about a nunormal with nucala. she found it. the feeling of finding the psoriasis treatment she's been looking for. sotyktu is the first-of-its-kind, once-daily pill for moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis for the chance at clear or almost clear skin. it's like the feeling of finding that outfit psoriasis tried to hide from you. or finding your swimsuit is ready for primetime. [dad] once-daily sotyktu is proven to get more people clearer skin than the leading pill. don't take if you're allergic to sotyktu; serious reactions can occur. sotyktu can lower your ability

to fight infections including tb. serious infections, cancers including lymphoma, muscle problems, and changes in certain labs have occurred. tell your doctor if you have an infection, liver or kidney problems, high triglycerides, or had a vaccine or plan to. sotyktu is a tyk2 inhibitor. tyk2 is part of the jak family. it's not known if sotyktu has the same risks as jak inhibitors. find what plaque psoriasis has been hiding. ask your dermatologist about sotyktu for clearer skin. so clearly you. sotyktu. a female police officer was th

first on the scene >> she's seeing steven cook, holding heidi evidence the wall he's got corruption's arms >> steven cook, heidi burnet sitkowski is live in boyfriend of nearly two years, told th arriving officer that he cam home that night only to find and apparently lifeless heid and their living room. nonetheless, he said he trie cpr. at a 50 8 pm, he called 9-1-1. >> are you sending somebody? >> yes, they're on their way >> all right >> now, i will say we -- are >> no, i can't stay with you. i've got to go to her. >> baltimore county homicide detectives elmira angry gary chiles are out there tha night. it appeared to him that heid had been strangled it was obvious that her throat had been deeply cut with something sharp edged. probably a knife >> when you go to a scene like that, it's detective, does i speak to you does explain itself about what happened here? >> it's kind of an odd scene

in the living room the house there was no real furnitur speak of up on the wall the left of warehouse body was, was number one written on the wall. so, found that obviously t beyond >> she's number one and ge ready, because here come trouble, have? >> exactly >> those first few hours lef investigators wondering. was this the first signature o a budding serial killer? was there going to be a number to or, was it something else? >> the house was tossed, ransacked. you've got a potential motiv of brutally, and you have th other motive on the wall of serial murder. >> see 20 miles away, walter and gianna bernadzikowski got knock on their door on their suburban car melon home. it was the police. >> they say you have a daughte heidi, and yes and i said what's the matter and she's been an accident

>> how do you stand. now >> it is quite a shock i started like pinching myself gotta wake up from the stream. this is gonna be a dream >> i think our whole world jus change >> a short time later, steve sister kim got a knock to. >> i remember running to the bathroom, and getting sick and i -- i can do anything. >> heidi is boyfriend stephen, meanwhile, had been zero polic station the whole time being interviewed. officers snapped this picture. his clothes bloodied, he said, from trying to perform cpr and then cradling heidi is pleading body >> how much did you kno about him? >> not a lot, we just knew the were her relationship. the relationship was good. >> husbands and boyfriends are always persons of interest but homicide investigators say stephen was cooperative. he told them how, after a shif ending at a local lowest-, h picked up heidi from her job a the car they shared a 1994 red

honda civic. it was 5:45 pm, he thought when he dropped off at their home it was, he said, the last time he saw her life. the detectives put together timeline for the boyfriend, wh had run a bunch of aaron's offer dropping her off a stop at the atm, followed by a haircut he, an oil change jiffy lube, i'm in a swing b home depot for a plumbing piec needed to repair his siste sink that night. he had time stamp receipts for virtually everything, and turn them over to the police. when >> he's got a very soli alibi for his whereabouts from the time he left work to the time he picks up the phone and calls 9-1-1. >> he does you slip to take into accoun it doesn't take long to do wha had been done. you know, she strangled and he throat is slip, that can happe in a matter of seconds >> after about six hours a police questioning, stephe

went home. his sister remembers him being a rock >> i could certainly tell my brother was just a mess. he was devastated. i could cena's face that he was, just looking at him, that he's been crying. >> and the days that followed, i'll mayer and other investigators filled a seria killer unlikely. the robbery gone bad theory to because there were no signs of a forced entry but dna was found under hous fingernails, presumably from her killer their hopes were soon dashed however, when the sample turne out to be virtually useless. detective gary chiles. >> and a mixture of dna from the victims, and a mixture o dna for the suspect, and technology in those times -- you can separate a but detective meyer did have one suspect that was ver interested in finding. that suspicious neighborhood block watch person the dark skin man with a tatto who scared heidi at the fron door and one person of interest was a local butcher.

>> terry gilley worked wit stephen sister at a safe way just miles from high's house >> i'm thinking, okay. he's african american. i'm thinking maybe this is our guy. but sure, heidi is killed with a knife. >> investigators theorize connection through stephen sister >> it looking for somebody tha comes to the door. did you ever go to how you store a knock on the door? >> no. >> saying from the black watch association? >> actually, i don't even know where he lived no, never doctrine hurt or >> but the cops would just accept the butchers denials an be done with that. there were other reasons to di deeper, including an irregularity on his wartim card a time had been changed on one specific day >> it's the day the murder when his time is handwritten and. so the only day the month, everything else is machines. >> i can have him not bein able to account for himself th day of the murder. >> and, there was somethin else heidi herself had said this is

spacious blocking person had a tattoo on his left arm >> you have to junior? >> yes i do. >> on your left arm? >> yes >> terry, let me ask you now did you kill heidi >> definitely not. >> officials weren't done ye with a butcher heidi's boyfriend steven coo remained a suspect to, despite his recent heavy alibi >> a lot of time starts to g by, doesn't. too much >>. >> at first, months go by. then years more than a decade, no arrests but there would be one advantage to the passage o time breakthroughs in dna technology, and it finally gave police a suspect. look who it was, shocked everyone he >> coming up. >> it's always the husband o the boyfriend, right that did not seem to be with this investigation was going >> the headline here is steven cook is not the guy. >> right >> when dateline continues he

ah, with flexible payment options to keep you covered. so today is your lucky... oh! [crash] ...day. meteor! [screams] dangit. for a great low rate, go with the general. frustrated by skin tags? dr. scholl's has the breakthrough you've been waiting for. the first fda-cleared at-home skin tag remover clinically proven to remove skin tags safely in as little as one treatment. my mental health was much better, but i struggled with uncontrollable movements called td, tardive dyskinesia.

td can be caused by some mental health meds. and it's unlikely to improve without treatment. i felt like my movements were in the spotlight. ingrezza is a prescription medicine to treat adults with td movements. ingrezza is different. it's the simple, once-daily treatment proven to reduce td that's #1 prescribed. people taking ingrezza can stay on their current dose of most mental health meds. ingrezza 80 mg is proven to reduce td movements in 7 out of 10 people. don't take ingrezza if you're allergic to any of its ingredients. ingrezza may cause serious side effects, including sleepiness. don't drive, operate heavy machinery, or do other dangerous activities until you know how ingrezza affects you. other serious side effects include potential heart rhythm problems and abnormal movements. it's nice people focus more on me. ask your doctor about #1 prescribed, once-daily ingrezza. learn how you could pay as little as zero dollars at ingrezza.com ♪ ingrezza ♪ the heidi bernadzikowski murde

case got colder and colder detective al mayer was frustrated he was promoted out of homicide, but he never forgot the case >> even when he was in another unit, he would come back up to the homicide unit and go through the file >> never got squirrels away, ha? >> no, he never let it go.

>> how these grieving family was trying to get on with thei lives. remembering her on her birthda by eating her favorite shrim alfredo. but family events were hard, t say. >> you couldn't really enjoy the special occasions becaus you are always painfully aware that - >> you've got an empty chair >> yes that she should be there, an she's not. >> heidi's boyfriend, steven cook, was trying to move o with his life as well. he married, had a child, and landed a steady job. >> he's got a normal life fo the first time in a while. >> he does, things are looking pretty good for him. >> then, in 2011, 11 years after heidi's birth, mayer rejoined the homicide unit and once again, he cracked the file this time, he and vetera baltimore county detective gary childs, got an idea >> dna technology ha progressed, and we knew no that there is a possibilit that heidi's fingernails may contain some physical evidence

>> so let's run it again, se what happens >> so the thought was, let's resubmit >> to their surprise, th criminal database spit out a match. >> we got a dna hit. i couldn't believe it. >> but the hit wasn't fo anyone in heidi's known circle even in her geography. it was a name completely off the radar from a state 150 miles away >> they tell me if this guy, alexandra medic, from colorado and i'm like, wow, that's no good >> baffle detective started to dig. they called the colorado authorities and learned that i was an unlikely suspecte killer in his early years, he showe promise as an opera singer ♪ ♪ ♪ performing recitals and winnin scholarship to the prestigious manhattan school of music. after moving back to colorad though, he had gotten into som small-time trouble but then, he did something jus

plain crazy. >> he is a pretty talented guy but he had some issues wit some people he hung out with and one of these issues with a friend of his named grant luis >> in 2003, ben and grant lewi had been arrested in a doozy o a scheme they called 9-1-1 and said tha a friend of bennett's wanted t bomb the courthouse. but they went through building a real bomb and planting it in his house. the bomb squad was dispatche and that friend hauled down to the station for an interview >> grilling them pretty hard because it's a serious crime one of the detective ultimately lets and listen t the 9-1-1 call and h recognizes their voices. >> so it's not muffled >> no, it is normal luis >> within days, lewis an bennett confessed to the whole thing. building the bomb, breakin into the house, even uploading bomber baited materials to the bodies computer to ensure he would be arrested. also, that friend, bennett said,

beat him up, but notice that they've made off with his jeep >> so it's all a hoax, thi elaborate, caper, to plant a explosive device in order to get him out of the house and get him still to come. >> yes >> my word is harebrained, wha is yours >> double harebrained. >> alexander bennett was sen to prison and required to give dna. now, years later, that dna was tying him to heidi's murde easter maryland. for the prosecutors, the dna was an enticing lead, but fa from definitive proof. >> it was enough to say, i looks like it came from him, but we can't say it' definitively his so there wa more investigation to do >> the detectives want to do looking for another connection between colorado native, ale bennett, and the marylan murder all the usual computer searche failed, but when sergeant ha

the -- off line database -- >> i get this phone call from trooper, he tells me, i've got alexander bennett, somebod running a want to check on him on march 30th of 2000. >> a maryland officer? >> i was like, holy cow. >> three weeks before heidi' murder, an officer had spotted alexander bennett walking down a baltimore highway. >> when i want to check is run by patrolling or officer, that check remains in the compute forever. >> how important was that? >> incredibly important. >> detectives mayer and child' law wanted to get on a fligh to denver. it was time to meet this alexander bennett. >> coming up a suspect story, a surprise to even at these experience t tech gives >> that's why -- , it is strange. >> when dateline continues >> when dateline continues feel the cla and make y

the most wonderful time of the year. live claritin clear. with a majority of my patience with sensitivity, i see irritated gums and weak enamel. sensodyne sensitivity gum & enamel relieves sensitivity, helps restore gum health, and rehardens enamel. i'm a big advocate of recommending things that i know work. staaaaacccceeeyyy! i'm the sizzle in this promposal. and tonight, sparks are gonna fly. kyle? and while romeo over here is trying to look cool, things are about to heat up.

uh-oh. darn it, kyle! and if you don't have the right home insurance coverage, you could end up paying for this yourself. sorry mr. sanchez! get allstate, and be better protected from mayhem, like me. that's a hard no. millions have made the switch from the big three to the best kept secret in wireless: xfinity mobile. that means millions are saving hundreds a year with the fastest mobile service. and now, get the best price for two lines of unlimited.

just $30 per line. there are millions of happy campers out there. and this is the perfect time to join them... right now, get $500 off the new samsung galaxy s23 series. learn more by visiting your local xfinity store >> hello, i'm katie feng or xfinitymobile.com today.

we are following breaking news late saturday, president biden with assistant with an updat on u.s. citizens in sudan. he said,, quote, today, on m orders, the united state military operated a mission to a -- take u.s. personnel out of sudan. i'm getting ongoing reports to get americans out of sudan a quickly as possible -- amid fighting between th sudanese army and rival forces now, back to dateline. >> welcome back to dateline, i'm craig melvin police finally got their first break in the heidi burnett sitkowski kasich, a dna match, but investigators could no figure the connection betwee two people who live more tha 1500 miles apart, so, they hopped on a plane to ask their suspect. once again, here is dennis murphy, with indiscretion. >> in january, 2012, t

baltimore county detective flew to denver colorado. their mission, to track down alexander bennett, the man whose dna had been tied to heidi bernadzikowski's murder, 12 years after the fact. >> dna is a piece of evidence, but we want to find out if alexander bennett is really part of this >> the day after their plane was wheels down, detective childs was face to face with their target >> at first, the detective kep it vague, trying to confir that bennett had indeed been i baltimore at the time of the murder, the year 2000. bennett said he was, he ha spent about a month on the streets there after bein ditched by some friends on their way to a concert >> then the detective played his hand, laid out the reaso

for his visit. >> this girl's fingernails wer take at the time of her death. >> bennett did have an explanation, and i had nothing to do with committing murder i the house. >> he remembers a confrontatio that he had at a bus stop with a female in maryland, in baltimore, right around th time of the murder >> iraq harness cared because, you know, i was trying to figh back, and i think i heard her, i am not sure. >> the detective didn't, by an thought he used bennet storied's advantage. he presented bennett wit several photographs, a technique police typically use to help identify criminals except this time he was asking a potential killer to identify his victim >> could bennett pick out th girl from his supposed to fight? heidi's picture was included >> he knows that he can't give this explanation about havin this fight at the bus stop and pick some other girl

so our belief is that, if we show in these pictures, he wil pick her, and he does. >> there was one more crucia detail remember the neighborhood bloc watch guy who frightened heidi the one with a distinctive tattoo >> do you have any tattoos o your left arm? >> yeah. >> can i see them? >> when i saw the tattoo on hi arm, and he picked ties pictur out, i knew it was him >> he was the one. >> but they didn't have enough evidence to book, him so the decided to collin bennett' body from that crazy bom threat to see what he knew and luis was nervous >> he was evasive about hi friends at time in baltimore but the detective did not bu his story, then, because wha luis had an outstanding warrant, the kora got - colorado police arrested him the next day, he kept pushing.

>> at last, grant luis cracked he divulged drunke conversation that you had down by a river after bed i got back. >> he said i hurt someone bad, and he looked over him, and said, i don't want to know and he said, i think someone's dead, i think that's how h said it he said i think someone's dead, and then he said, i know someone. that was it, the corroboration 12 years after heidi's murder, alexander bennett was charged. he was extradited to marylan to stand trial heidi's brother, frank, got th news from their dad. >> it's another one of those things that just brings you to tears because that just come flooding back in it is such a great feeling t feel like, finally, somethin has happened >> steven cook's family wa relieved as well, there ha been such a cloud of suspicion around him for so long, that

news that someone else had bee arrested for his girlfriend' murder felt like vindication >> i was ecstatic. i was, wow this is great. >> this is relief, this is wha we wanted for years. it is not steven cook. >> i was so excited for, m brother i was just so happy, h can finally put this behind him. >> two years later, in 2014, both stephen hice families converged on the baltimore county courthouse for the star of alexander bennett trial grant lewis was headed there to, he had been flown in t testify. >> he's going to be your sta witness. >> absolutely. >> but for detectives, the ide that bennett killed high on hi own had never made sense they held out hope that bennet would come clean while he maintained hi innocence. then came the morning of jur selection. >> we are out getting breakfast, and gary's phone goes off, and he looks down on it, he look up, me and he is like, ale wants to talk. and i'm like, wow, here we go.

a heart to heart with hi mother had convinced bennett t spill everything prosecutor derrick glenn >> he basically told alexander if he did this, it was time to come clean, and jesus woul forgive him. >> a come to jesus moment. >> then it confessed that he killed heidi, but he hadn' acted alone, he said he had an accomplice and that persists was who else but the states star witness. >> he and grant luis, as in th bomb scheme, had developed a idea as being contractor murderers. >> so grant luis is the brains of this operation? >> he has a lack of brains >> grant lewis had been sittin in a hotel room preparing to testify. now, detectives brought him in and turn the tables on him at first, luis tonight involvement. but as the detective revea details from alexander's confession, he started to open up

luis ultimately admitted t being involved in a murder for hire scam. but said that bennett was neve supposed to kill anyone, onl to get to the upfront mone before turning the person wh hired them over to the fbi >> did you believe that story? >> not the least >> so do you read grant lewi has rights >> yes, and the cuffs went on. >> but there was still one major detail left, who hired them to kill heidi >> what really happened the da had he died, detectives ar about to get a first perso account from the killers >> coming up >> i was making sure that sh was alive, i don't know, that' when i had the knife >> when dateline continues >> when dateline continues two pills relieve allergy headache pain?

and the congestion that causes it! flonase headache and allergy relief. psst! psst! all good! ♪ crunchy ♪ ♪ tasty ♪ ♪ sweet or savory ♪ ♪ always satisfying ♪ ♪ gimme blue diamond! ♪ ♪ crunchy, tasty, sweet or savory ♪ ♪ always satisfying ♪ ♪ gimme blue diamond! ♪ ♪ crunchy, tasty. sweet or savory, ♪ ♪ always satisfying, gimme- ♪ blue diamond almonds. ♪♪ this is how it feels to du more with less asthma... ...thanks to dupixent. dupixent is not for sudden breathing problems. it's an add-on treatment for specific types of moderate-to-severe asthma. and can help improve lung function for better breathing in as little as two weeks. dupixent helps prevent asthma attacks... and can even reduce or eliminate oral steroids.

imagine that. ♪♪ dupixent can cause allergic reactions that can be severe. get help right away if you have rash, chest pain, worsening shortness of breath, tingling or numbness in your limbs. tell your doctor about new or worsening joint aches and pain, or a parasitic infection. don't change or stop asthma medicines, including steroids, without talking to your doctor. who knows what you can do when you du more with less asthma. ask your asthma specialist about dupixent. ahhh! icy hot pro starts working instantly. with two max-strength pain relievers, so you can rise from pain like a pro. icy hot pro. ♪ it's the most wonderful time of the year ♪ it's spring! non-drowsy claritin-d knocks out your worst allergy symptoms including nasal congestion, without knocking you out.

feel the clarity and make today the most wonderful time of the year. claritin-d. (vo) if you've had thyroid eye disease for years and you go through artificial tears in the blink of an eye, or...your eyes feel like they're getting kicked in the backside, it's not too late for another treatment option for thyroid eye disease, also known as t-e-d. to learn more visit treatted.com that's treatt-e-d.com. (vo) red lobster presents fun dining: taste buds need not be faithful to one shrimp dish. thrill them with shrimp three ways. try the new cajun shrimp trio, richly seasoned with cajun flavor. it's a bold new way for shrimp three ways. welcome to fun dining. [gum stretches] dang it. [tires pop] dang it. that's some bad luck brian. and i think i'm late on my car insurance.

good thing the general gives you a break when you need it. yeah, with flexible payment options to keep you covered. so today is your lucky... oh! [crash] ...day. meteor! [screams] dangit. for a great low rate, go with the general. >> advertising discreet hous

cleaning services. prosecutor garrett glenn >> by discreet house cleaning, gary louis met, and hopefull will understand that to mean that they were hitmen. >> bennett says a client did respond to the ad and offere $60,000 to kill heidi. >> i know from the client, fro the person, you know emphasized, to grant, and gran

emphasized to myself, that i needs to look like an accident >> ben its role was the muscle to do the actual hit luis, the middleman, communicated with the client and organized everything in late march, 2000, the arrived in baltimore fro denver he says he waited for th signal to act. in the meantime, he scoped out his victim, breaking into ho these home by tampering with the locks, then posing as that neighborhood watch a volunteer so scared into heidi >> i do remember her answering the door >> on april 20th, he says that he heard through lewis, th plane was ongoing. after getting into heidi's house, he hid behind the front door

>> how do you walk to the door and then it says he pounced. >> then biden said he wipes th place down, and throw forensic off, he ransacked the bedroo and used i.d.s lipstick to mak that number one on the livin room wall. after that, bennett says h fled >> that's it >> that's it >> heidi is dead >> heidi is dead >> detective childs press, who

was the client they show a photo array of six suspect, assistant state attorney matt broke. >> he immediately separates fo photographs and say, it is definitely not these for, an he is left with two. and he takes a couple of moments, and stares at them. and eventually he says, yes, this is him. i remember him >> bennett picked out steven cook he was arrested for firs degree murder. >> deep in our hearts, we al had a feeling that he ha something to do with it. >> steven's trial began in june, 2015 he pleaded not guilty. glenn and burrow had the tas of convincing a jury tha stephen was capable of orchestrating a cold, murder for hire their case would rely heavil on the word of one man, th killer himself, alexande

bennett. >> you really had to believe this guy, then it. your case was going to rise an fall on that >> he was going to be the star witness against steven cook. >> bennett told jurors thi dame story that he tol investigators, how he killed heidi. video cameras weren't permitted, but then it's testimony wa audiotaped he decided to confess, he says because of his faith, and fo how this family. >> the question still remained if he had done the murder, why did he do it according to steven, they were 11 wanted to marry but some of her friend testified that she was s miserable in the relationship, she had been preparing t leave. >> she lost a friend of hers for a small loan for an easy

storage facility on an effor to move out. >> the real reason for the murder, the prosecutor told th jury, was pure and simpl greed. $700,000 two months before heidi's death, steven and heidi had taken out hefty life insurance policie on each other. >> do i wonder why an hourly employee at a hardware chain i buying almost 1 million dollar worth of coverage? >> you should, as we explained the jury, they had one car between them, which was hers, civic. they were not married, they di not have any children, and the really did not have an belongings there really wasn't anything t ensure >> so once they buy the policy it is tiktok >> heidi had no idea the tim was running out for her. no idea what was going t happen when her boyfrien dropped her home that night. but, according to investigators, steven knew there was a hire killer in the house. >> he set the wheels in motion >> driving her home to her death? >> he knew what was in tha house, he knew what he was

doing. it doesn't get any worse tha that >> but the defense would hav an answer for those insuranc policies and everything else and the person to explain it all to the jury would be steven cook himself. >> coming up >> coming up saes ] introducing astepro allergy. steroid-free allergy reliefl> rgy sprays take hours. now with astepro fast allergy relief, [ spray, spray ] you can astepro and go. trelegy for copd. ♪ birds flyin' high, you know how i feel. ♪ ♪ breeze driftin' on... ♪ [coughing] ♪ ...by, you know how i feel. ♪ if you're tired of staring down your copd,... ♪ it's a new dawn, ♪ ♪ it's a new day... ♪ ...stop settling. ♪ ...and i'm feelin' good. ♪ start a new day with trelegy.

no once-daily copd medicine has the power to treat copd in as many ways as trelegy. with three medicines in one inhaler, trelegy makes breathing easier for a full 24 hours, improves lung function, and helps prevent future flare-ups. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. take a stand, and start a new day with trelegy. ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy, and save at trelegy.com nexgard is the flea and tick protection that's #1 with vets. your vet trusts it for her patients... ...and her own dog. plus, its delicious beef flavor is #1 with dogs. use with caution in dogs with a history of seizures or neurologic disorders. ask your vet about nexgard. my mental health was much better, but i struggled with uncontrollable movements called td, tardive dyskinesia.

td can be caused by some mental health meds. and it's unlikely to improve without treatment. i felt like my movements were in the spotlight. ingrezza is a prescription medicine to treat adults with td movements. ingrezza is different. it's the simple, once-daily treatment proven to reduce td that's #1 prescribed. people taking ingrezza can stay on their current dose of most mental health meds. ingrezza 80 mg is proven to reduce td movements in 7 out of 10 people. don't take ingrezza if you're allergic to any of its ingredients. ingrezza may cause serious side effects, including sleepiness. don't drive, operate heavy machinery, or do other dangerous activities until you know how ingrezza affects you. other serious side effects include potential heart rhythm problems and abnormal movements. it's nice people focus more on me. ask your doctor about #1 prescribed, once-daily ingrezza. learn how you could pay as little as zero dollars at ingrezza.com ♪ ingrezza ♪ >> alexander bennett, said tha

stephen cook hired him on th internet to kill his girlfriend the motive, 700,000 bucks. but stephen's defense attorney conceded nothing they thought the prosecution had a weak case overall, in on big problem in particular. its star witness, alexande bennett. >> bennett obviously had something to gain by changin his story. >> our old friend, quid pr quo. >> - we're stevens defens attorneys. they said before the quad -- colorado man's so-called confession, bennett faces life in prison without the chance for parole but once he cut a deal with th state to testify, he could loo forward, one, day to walking free >> so he sitting for suppe

here >> the last time he what's bee in jail for his own deeds. >> the defense argued anothe glaring hall with th prosecution's case was the lac of any physical evidence tying stephen to the crime the computer in the house that stephen and heidi shared was never taken as evidence. >> it's a digital crime at heart. >> not in this case. >> not in this case. >> what happened >> heidi in steve did have a fairly new desktop computer an that was never seized by the police >> so, to this day, we have no idea what that hard drive at home on the computer shows >> so you guys being charged with a contract killing, but nobody can produce the contract? >> no. >> not only did investigator not have any computer records, they did not have a record o bennett's plane ticket, phon records, credit card receipts, eyewitnesses who saw bennett and cook together. not even the murder weapon steven sister, kim, all yo have as a confessed murderer's words. that's all there is not one piece o

evidence, in this whole entire trial that points to stephen other than the confessed murde and these detectives with thei belief >> when it came to motive, the turned the case on its head. the defense version. this isn't about stephen searching for a contract kille online but rather, heidi looking for love on the dating website and finding alexande bennett. you surprised her by showing u to baltimore >> we thought that he met he online, came here to be with her, he rejected him, and he killed her it made sense to us, it made sense with the forensics, it made sense with the physical evidence >> to backup theory, the defense pointed to this police photo of heidi's keys and bag. if, as bennett testify, he jumped or what you walked in the door, how did her door key and makeup bag and up tightl on the kitchen table in anothe room >> so the bag on the kitchen table is not a trivial thing for you. >> no, i think she made it t the kitchen. i don't think he attacked he

at the front door. >> to make sure that she was dead - >> and if prosecutors though that bennett was the foundatio of their case, the defense fel they had its own star witness, stephen cooke, he would take the stand. >>,. at this time, we came to believe that it was bennet versus cooke it was what you believed >> steven told of finding heidi, the love of his life, slumpe on the living room floor tha night. steven testified the coupl were planning on a futur together, and he was surprised when others said that they wer finished they were also planning fo kids, and that was the reaso he wanted a big insuranc policy on himself.

he added, it was hard wh wanted insurance for herself he never pushed her to get it. the defense added that heidi was actively negligent along the life insurance polic application. she faxed over some fina papers days before her death it is a fact of the case eve heidi's own brothers, harold and frank, can't quite account for. >> there are persuasive storie that she's going to leave him, but there yet there's also pretty compelling evidence tha she was going to try to ge this insurance policy up and running. she is active in getting i going. >> yeah, that's the bigges mystery to me. >> that's one of the things we don't fully understand >> as for the murder, stephe flatly denied ever meeting alexander bennett, and said he had nothing to do with heidi's

death. sides rested. which argument would juror believe? which man what they choose the state and its key witness, alexander bennett, the alleged murder, or steven cooke, a man with a good job, middl lifestyle, and father to a seven year old son steven cooke's sister knew the verdict that they were going t say, - >> not guilty, they have to sa not guilty

>> but after a day and a hal of deliberations, that was not what they found out. he was sentenced as guilty for hiring a hitman to kill hi long term girlfriend >> i remember, screaming oh no >> thank you lord, our prayers are answered, relief, joy, and happiness. also sadness, because we still don't have heidi >> grant luis, the denve middle man, was sentenced to life and present >> alexander bennett was sentenced to 30 years, as part of a plea agreement in which h testified against lewis an stephen cooke, who was als sentenced to life in priso without parole, september of 2015 and remember the butcher, terr gilley police have totally cleared hi of any involvement, and in fact, offered him an apology

>> it's not everything, bu it's a start it does mean something >> as for how these family their days are all about the kids and grandchildren and parents, who believe devoutly in the hereafter, always remember, of course heidi. >> did you talk to heidi >> oh yes, i did >> what did you tell her >> i said, sweetie, we finally got the answers we've been praying for. and justice will be served >> that's all, for this editio of dateline. i'm craig melvin thank you for watching >> as we begin a new hour, the high court speaks for. now the judg