prosecutor braden hoefert had a story for the jury in the trial of chris kruse. a true story, he told them. and pretty simple. the killing of jan kruse was an inside job. nothing had been missing from the house. and so this was clearly, a premeditated murder. keith morrison: committed by the one person in a position to do it said the prosecutor, the husband, chris kruse. the evidence? well, for one thing, he told the jury, there were all those hours of police interviews full of, he said, inconsistencies. he played them for the jury. the version of events changes over time. and it, also, does not appear to be possible based off of the physical evidence. so break that down a little bit. he gave a similar version in the first two interviews. jan was asleep or lying down when she is shot.

but the me's report clearly established that she had her hand outstretched in the direction of the assailant, which, of course, meant that she was awake and saw the person who did this to her. keith morrison: it was only after the autopsy report was explained to chris, the prosecutor said, that chris changed his story and said jan was sitting up when she was hit. as for that first bullet, the one that plowed through the pillows, the headboard, the wall. can you see any way where he could have been lying in that bed beside her and not be touched by the passing slug? the description that mr. kruse gave of their sleeping position, in effect, spooning with jan, that they were lying in the center of the bed, and he had his arm underneath her, and they were facing away from the door-- so with the door to their back--

it would not have been possible for him to be in that position without being killed by the first gunshot. keith morrison: anyway, he said the pillows, on which chris said he had been lying, were filled with tiny fragments of the slug that went through jan. and yet-- mr. kruse did not have any scratches or pieces of metal in his face during his first interview with police, which was later that morning. keith morrison: and it wasn't just lead on and in his pillows. braden hoefert: the crime scene team counted 15 to 25 droplets of blood that were in the position that mr. kruse claimed to have been in at the time that the gunshot went off. so magically, these blood drops would have gone through him and landed on the mattress of the bed or on the pillows without touching him. what i argued to the jury was that depending on his position in the bed, he either gets blood or bullet.

he either is killed-- killed by the first shotgun blast or he's covered in blood. and mr. kruse was neither. keith morrison: which meant, said the prosecutor, that chris could not have been in bed as he said he was when those shots were fired. hoefert also pointed out steps chris did not take. he did not arm himself despite there being a firearm in the bedroom. he did not barricade the back door. he did not help jan. he did not attempt first aid or to try to stop the wound from bleeding. he did not hold her hand or try to comfort her. he indicated that he went to the doorway and quickly looked at her and decided that she was dead and then he left her there, which was problematic from our perspective. because the medical examiner had opined

that she would have lived three to five minutes after being shot. keith morrison: this, said the state, was the murder weapon, a remington 870 12 gauge shotgun, as determined by a forensic scientist at the nationally-accredited state investigative agency, the bca. she said that because she had to analyze seven 12 gauge shotguns found in chris's home and shop, on this specific one, she first did a test with just two shells, not the usual three or four. based on those two first test fires, it was not immediately apparent that the 12 gauge shotgun was the gun. keith morrison: in fact, she indicated in her notes, it might not be the murder weapon. she then went back and performed additional test fires to see what she could find out. and it became obvious that, that was, in fact, the firearm that had fired the two shot shells

that were found at the scene. keith morrison: all part of the testing protocol, hoefert said, given all the weapons she had to process. forensic scientists don't complete tests with a goal of convicting or acquitting any specific person. and so the conclusion which was reached and the only conclusion has to be verified by other scientists there at the bca. keith morrison: and it was. so this was the murder weapon, he told jurors. and it had been found just a minute's drive away in chris's shop, where he must have put it before calling 911. braden hoefert: the shotgun was found in a way that it was propped up against the wall. and it was the only shotgun in the house or the shop which was not put away or in a case. keith morrison: but why would chris do it? why would he kill the only woman he had ever loved?

maybe, said the prosecutor, maybe it was this spider lake resort? the dream he could not let go, and she said they could not afford, even if they sold all they owned. braden hoefert: sell his house. sell his shop. sell his business. cash out retirement accounts. you name it. keith morrison: but about 36 hours before the shooting, chris alone presented another offer. it was much more than the $550,000 jan and chris thought they could offer if they sold everything. in fact, chris's last offer was $150,000 more than that, which just happened to be the amount of insurance on jan's life. the defense admitted in their opening statement that mr. kruse had, in fact, offered $700,000 for the purchase of this resort, which i found to be important because mr. kruse had

previously denied under oath ever making that offer. keith morrison: and then there was the secret, he said. that secret bailey entrusted to jeremy. the secret he'd spilled to investigators and testified about at trial. that her parents were fighting more than ever. that she had heard the word "divorce" being thrown around. and that she had asked him not to tell the police. keith morrison: but there was something very unusual about this trial. almost everyone in the spectators gallery supported chris. believed, fervently, that he was innocent, including witnesses like jan's sister, kay. at grand jury, she indicated that the marriage between mr. kruse and jan was not overly affectionate. at trial, she testified that it was affectionate. keith morrison: and when bailey up on the stand was asked about the secret jeremy revealed-- she indicated that her parents arguing would not be something that a 15-year-old would pay attention to.

and so she denied that, that had occurred. keith morrison: but bailey did confirm that even though she's a heavy sleeper and hard of hearing and slept without her hearing aids, she definitely heard two gunshots. she told the jury, "a gunshot is pretty loud. you'd have to be on the other side of town to not hear it." so prosecutor hoefert was confident, but. any time you have a case where the family of the victim does not want it to be prosecuted and they maintained from the morning of the murder that mr. kruse could not have been involved in this case, that was a concern of ours. keith morrison: was it something the jury could see, as well? coming up-- in the morning-- keith morrison: --the defense says investigators rushed to judgment. from the beginning, they had one suspect. it was chris. keith morrison: and they argued investigators, also, botched the forensics.

tom hagen: if you saw the photograph that actually has a dip in the string, they didn't pull the string taut when they were doing the measurements. keith morrison: so who do they say the killer could be? jeremy majerus. keith morrison: when "dateline" continues. billy: one second, grandma. this guy is going to buy my car. okay? grandma: you need carvana... entering plate number... grandma: no accidents, right? billy: no. grandma: generating offer... carvana can pick it up tomorrow! billy: that's an amazing offer. announcer: sell your car the easy way with carvana.

like it's in our favor now. the entire area-- keith morrison: they were a confident pair, the lawyers who came to defend chris kruse, despite never before defending anyone charged with first-degree murder.

tom hagen and steven groschen, their biggest objection to the state's case? two words, they said. tunnel vision. from the beginning, they had one suspect. it was chris. i don't think that they looked any further. and what they did is they used the fact that he was trying to be helpful, trying to push him to give more information, to give more facts. and chris was just trying to fill in the blanks as he went. trying to remember what happened. trying to piece everything together. keith morrison: besides, they said, chris was not so inconsistent during his many hours of police interviews. in my opinion, the foundation of what took place remained the same. it was approximately, the same story. he was in bed. he heard a shot. he popped up. and from there, then he went and grabbed his phone. that portion never changed. keith morrison: and of course, anyone's story would change a little, given. from a dead sleep, you get woken up by gunshots, and you look over, and you see your wife is bleeding.

i think it's reasonable to believe the fact that you're not going to remember everything clearly. i mean, the memory is an-- it's an amazing thing. but i think one thing that everybody has found out is that it doesn't remember everything the same every time you talk about it. how do you explain how he didn't hear or see or find any evidence of an intruder in the house? it's a small home. and it wouldn't take somebody more than just a second to get out of that house and to hop in the car and to take off. keith morrison: even the forensics were off, they said. like the string that was put up to calculate the path of the first bullet. tom hagen: if you saw the photograph that actually has a dip in the string, they didn't pull the string taut when they were doing the measurements. keith morrison: which, to the defense expert, meant this. there's room in the bed for two people and that first shot to miss. is there a ton of room? no, be up front about that, but there was room

for the shot to miss him. and that's the testimony we brought out at trial. why would he not have had more blood on him? my opinion is after he heard the shots, he got out of the bed fairly quickly. keith morrison: and as for chris hearing only one shot when there were two? steven groschen: he thinks that the first shot is the one that woke him up. he doesn't recall hearing it, but he certainly recalls hearing that second shot. when he called 911, why didn't he go back and attend to his wife and see how she was and try to do cpr? she was probably alive for a few minutes. and i think that's one of his regrets, is that he didn't go back and do more. but i think his attention turned quickly to his daughter who was downstairs. and trying to figure out if anybody is in the house to make sure that his daughter is fine. i think he realized fairly quickly, with all the blood that it was a fatal wound. keith morrison: chris's lawyers fought the evidence that chris's own shotgun was the murder weapon. they emphasized, the state expert first thought it wasn't before concluding after more tests that it definitely was.

but that seemed pretty subjective, they told the jury. tom hagen: our expert, who was very credentialed, had reviewed the evidence. he concluded the answer was inconclusive, meaning you can't say this isn't the gun. you can't say this is the gun. keith morrison: and the lawyers strongly challenged the prosecutor's claim that after shooting jan, chris quickly drove the gun to his shop before calling 911. they were critical of the investigators, saying they should have gone back to bailey to confirm the time she said she heard the shotgun blasts. what bailey stated was it happened around approximately 2:30. law enforcement never cleaned up what time it took place. they never came back and said was it closer to 2:30? was it closer to 2:40? keith morrison: during the trial, four and a half years after the shooting, under cross-examination by her father's lawyer, bailey agreed she probably heard those shots closer to 2:38 am. remember, chris's 911 call was at 2:39.

so there's really not this eight to nine minute block. the timeline, the timeline, the timeline. i mean, it was tight. keith morrison: and really, was a resort at spider lake such a huge issue, such a motive? why would you murder someone you were going to start a resort with? now, he's going to start the resort by himself. steven groschen: it never, to me, was a sound motive of what took place. because the reality of it was is he needed jan to run the resort with him. keith morrison: of course, they didn't have to present a possible alternate suspect, but they did. there's another person here that could have done this, and it's jeremy majerus. keith morrison: jeremy majerus, who, by the time of the trial, was still with bailey. was her boyfriend. and yet, the defense went there. said, maybe jeremy did it? why would jeremy want to kill jan? part of the motive would have been bailey leaving town and moving up north for the cabin,

and then she would have less interaction with jeremy. and i'll be the first to tell you, do i think it's a strong motive? no, i don't. does it make more sense than chris's? in some ways, it actually does. because i can see him becoming the jealous boyfriend. and he perceives this cabin as a dream that chris is pushing through. if i remove chris, then this will no longer happen. and jeremy would have never been trying to kill jan. that would have been an accident. keith morrison: what's more, jeremy was on the record lying to investigators. his story changed. it was never consistent. it never made sense, and that's the part that i think was the big red flag for us. keith morrison: jeremy eventually admitted he did drive to brewster after the shooting, he said. after bailey texted him. but what if he actually got there earlier, suggested the defense attorneys? got in through that broken basement window, ran upstairs aimed to kill chris, but missed and hit jan before running out the back door?

the theory, however, was problematic. police had looked hard at jeremy and ruled him out. and, bailey didn't think jeremy did it, either. that's correct. that must have been extremely awkward. she was in a bad predicament either way. on one hand, she has her father up for murder. and the other hand, you have us, lawyers, saying there's as much evidence or more evidence that jeremy committed this murder than your dad did. and she was in a no-win situation. keith morrison: what was an attentive jury to think about that? coming up-- so if that doesn't speak volumes, i don't know what does. keith morrison: --the verdict, it wasn't easy. one guy was not gonna give up, and the judge said there is no hung jury. you will keep at this until you're done. keith morrison: and chris kruse speaks-- i miss everything. i miss her smile and the sound of her voice.

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♪ miebo ohh yeah ♪ ask your eye doctor about prescription miebo. it's our son, he is always up in our business. it's the verizon 5g home internet i got us. oh... he used to be a competitive gamer but with the higher lag, he can't keep up with his squad. so now we're his “squad”.

what are kevin's plans for the fall? he's going to college. out of state, yeah. -yeah in the fall. change of plans, i've decided to stay local. oh excellent! oh that's great! why would i ever leave this? -aw! we will do anything to get him gaming again. you and kevin need to fix this internet situation. heard my name! i swear to god, kevin! -we told you to wait in the car. everyone in my old squad has xfinity. less lag, better gaming! i'm gonna need to charge you for three people. - [narrator] life with ear ringing sounded like a constant train whistle i couldn't escape. then i started taking lipo flavonoid. with 60 years of clinical experience, it's the number one doctor recommended brand for ear ringing. and now i'm finally free. take back control with lipo flavonoid. the courtroom was crowded. i sat through every day of that trial. keith morrison: every available seat filled. mainly by family and friends of the victim. and all were here to support the man accused of killing her. why was that so important to you, to support chris?

he is innocent. i never doubted that. he's-- he's my brother-in-law. i mean, we've known him longer than the 20 years. they dated for several years before that and-- sure. that's family. keith morrison: it's unusual for everybody in the family to support the person who is accused of killing your sister. i think that says a lot, right? and i think that says a lot right there. keith morrison: would it make a difference? at 3:10 pm on the ninth day of the trial, the jury left the courtroom. alex mcgraw was the foreperson. throughout the whole trial, to see the support from jan's side of the family for chris was very telling. and we found out that he lived with jan's parents for a full year after this happened. so if that doesn't speak volumes, i don't know what does.

keith morrison: right away, alex took a poll. alex mcgraw: i think there was like, five or six of us right away that were not guilty, and there was two or three undecideds, and the rest were firm that he did it. that he was guilty. keith morrison: so then, line by line, they debated the evidence. even performed a sort of reenactment, said juror amber englekiss. minus the actual bullets, of course. we actually reenacted the scene on the tables. we pushed them all together. and we took the pillows and we had two people on the bed. keith morrison: but after hours of talk and debate, it looked like it was going to be a hung jury. one guy was not going to give up. and the judge said there is no hung jury. you will keep at this until you're done. keith morrison: it went quickly after that. and finally, end of the second day, they re-entered the courtroom. kay king: and that was nerve wracking. we prayed for the best. and we knew the truth, that it wasn't chris.

keith morrison: and the jury found chris kruse not guilty. i was actually, kind of surprised at how much they were lacking in full proof evidence. keith morrison: when they said not guilty? i remember vonnie, like, squealing. it was absolutely, wonderful because we just-- i mean, we were all just cheering and hugging each other. the weight of the world was off my shoulders. i think i hugged everybody in that courtroom before i got out of there. keith morrison: including the man from whom the clouds were suddenly lifted, chris kruse. you know, you can't-- i don't know how to put that into words. it's hard finding words for things, sometimes. yeah. what have the last five years been like for you? it's been a real rough five years. unimaginable. keith morrison: and now, finally, he

could face his family and the world as an innocent man, vindicated. except, after the verdict, the county attorney issued a statement saying, while they respected the jury's verdict, they firmly believed after a long and thorough investigation that chris did, indeed, kill his wife. as of this point, there are no other suspects, and there are no other leads in the investigation of jan's murder. keith morrison: not even bailey's boyfriend, jeremy majerus? just no, said the prosecutor. he is someone who was concerned about confessing to texting while driving. trying to make jeremy majerus the perpetrator here is like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. keith morrison: even the defense attorney who pointed the finger at jeremy didn't here with us. i'm not going to insinuate or say that jeremy did this. i mean, i'm not going to do that.

keith morrison: so where does it all leave chris kruse? not in a very good place. i'm frustrated. there's days i'm mad, now. the way this was handled. it's upsetting to hear the prosecutors can say the jury was wrong. they made the wrong decision. chris is the guy. i don't know how they can say that. i don't feel they put any effort into this. keith morrison: so now on the family, a question hangs in the air like a bad smell. i would like to talk to jeremy, yeah. what would you ask him? what would you say to him? i'd like to know why he said this stuff about me that he did. i-- yeah, i got lots of questions. keith morrison: when we last spoke, chris told us that he and his family believed jan's murder deserved further investigation. and they would continue to seek justice for jan.

jan, whom they all remember lovingly, even as they cannot help but be angry at the people who accused chris of killing her. my sister loved her husband. and we should never have had to go through that trial, ever. there was no-- no grounds for that. and had they done their job and looked at the facts in front of them, we would have never been in that courtroom for that reason. to make matters worse, to put us all through this, how this could be? keith morrison: now, there are only memories. chris kruse: i miss everything. i miss watching her get ready for work in the morning. i miss my have a good day kiss and hey, honey, when i come home from work. i miss her smile and the sound of her voice. jan was the best.

keith morrison: and spider lake resort, that magical place they'd hoped to own some day. did you ever go back to spider lake? yeah. we go back every year, yet. and we take our vacation in june. i go back in september. jan's birthday's the 24 of september, and she loved her birthday. keith morrison: and so, in a way, he still takes her with him out here on spider lake. [music playing] helli got a call fromning, and alison, and shene." told me that he was missing. they asked would anyone want to hurt him.