more than nuts, but still the website is just nuts.com. >> that'll do it for me. thanks for watching. tune in tomorrow to the sunday show when congresswoman pramila jayapal of washington joins us to discuss the new crackdown on immigration. that's tomorrow at 6 p.m. eastern right here on msnbc. follow us on instagram, tiktok and threads using the handle at weekend capehart and blue sky using at capehart dot. msnbc.com and catch clips of the show on youtube. you can also listen to every episode as a listen to every episode as a podcast for free. just listen to every episode as a poda remarkable human being. this was not your average call. this beautiful woman who wanted to give and help, why is she dead? at that point, everybody was a suspect.

her husband was in connecticut. i was like, are you guys watching this? you're now opening a suspect pool even wider. bonnie sievers: he looked like mark. he has the goatee, just like mark. was he wanting teresa for himself? who are these guys? this was like a movie, but it's not a movie. she recited the entire story of everything that happened. it's a very tangled web. right there, it's like somebody rings a bell, yeah? you're like, whoa. that fuse had been lit somewhere. he was just waiting to explode. we talk about our physical health. we talk about our mental health. but then there's our spiritual and energetic health. dennis murphy: she was a doctor making

a name for herself in the field of holistic medicine, spreading her message on youtube. take the food prescription instead of the pill prescription. low sugar diets, lots of plant-based foods, getting good exercise. dennis murphy: a healer whose charisma made her a natural fit for tv. you might have seen her as a guest on cable shows like "know the cause." but really what we're trying to do is prevent age-related illnesses, all the things we're afraid of. dennis murphy: or hosting guests on her own youtube channel. lenka is an intuologist. dennis murphy: or featured in south florida magazines and newspapers. dr. teresa sievers was hoping, fingers crossed, that it might all one day lead to national fame and a tv career, the dr. oz of homeopathic medicine. getting you healthy is my passion. being healthy is your choice. [applause] dennis murphy: some patients, like julie rojas-butcher, regarded dr. sievers as nothing less than a miracle worker. i had tried so many different medicines. i had tried so many different doctors.

and no one could figure the root of the problem out. dennis murphy: but dr. sievers, sometimes spending four hours at a time with julie, ultimately diagnosed a spectrum of food allergies. her beloved shellfish was out. but this doctor was in, in her life, in her affections. we all know a lot of doctors in the course of our life. you've known a lot of doctors you've worked with. what was different about dr. teresa sievers? it's very hard to find someone that truly you feel cares about you as a human. you know, there's something about her caring about my family, about my career, about my life. so you don't find that very often. it means pain relief without surgery, pills, or injections. dennis murphy: so how is it that the dreams of this adored physician and aspiring tv doctor never came to be? well, settle back, because there's a story there in, an exceedingly grim one. go back to june 29, 2015--

another muggy monday dawning in the southwest coastal town of bonita springs, florida. teresa had been away for the weekend for a family celebration up in new york with her husband mark and two young daughters. teresa's mother had turned 75. but she flew home early to see her monday morning patients, leaving her husband and daughters up north. these security images, so poignant now, captured dr. sievers arriving at the airport in fort myers sunday night. when she failed to show up for her morning patients, the clinic contacted mark to tell him something was off. he tried and tried again, but could not reach teresa. so he called a family friend, a doctor who worked nearby, and got his voicemail. dennis murphy: mark then called his mom, bonnie, who lived just across town. he was concerned maybe she overslept or whatever.

can you go to the house and check and see if teresa is ok? dennis murphy: bonnie and her friend got in her car and started toward mark and teresa's house. but before they could get there, her son called back. dr. mark petritis had gotten the message and was already on the way. you don't have to go. so we're almost we're almost at the house. so we turned around and go back home. dennis murphy: at the sievers' house, dr. petritis let himself in. and what he found, ghastly. dennis murphy: it looked as though she'd been murdered. dennis murphy: it was by then, 9:45 in the morning. first responders were on their way. dr. petritis waited outside. dennis murphy: the doctor called mark and told him he'd need to get back home immediately.

mark broke the horrible news to his mom. mark calls crying. "teresa's dead. i should have been there. i should have protected her. it's my job to protect her." and that was his soul mate. dennis murphy: mark also called teresa's friend, dr. steven stohler. phone rings at on my cell phone. and i-- and i pick it up. and he said, i just wanted you to know, i wanted you to be one of the first people to know that they found teresa. and-- and there's been a-- a crime, you know, where she's been-- you know, she's dead. and i-- and i-- that's so nonsensical. how do you-- how do you wrap your brain around that? well, i mean, she wasn't sick. she was super vibrant. i mean, sometimes you're prepared for those kinds of things. but this was not something i was prepared for. dennis murphy: carmine marceno, then undersheriff of the lee county sheriff's department, was at a restaurant when he heard the news. we knew immediately this was not your average call. this was not something that we were going to respond to and say, ok, this was a drug deal gone bad.

zip code doesn't correspond with that kind of crime, huh? it doesn't usually very quiet over there. but at first we're like, ok, is it a burglary? is it a burglary with somebody's home? dennis murphy: the sheriff's department sent a dozen officers to start working the scene. as darkness fell, it was clear no one was going to be sleeping that night. a killer was on the loose. coming up, the mystery deepens. so the cops are playing this very close to the vest. very close. dennis murphy: and later, a long, strange road trip to a dead end. just smiling and shopping, 30 gallon trash bags, a budweiser t-shirt, some planned to be used for the homicide, some planned for leisure time in between. dennis murphy: when "dateline" continues. ok, noah's going to make a fire. our job is to let him do it...by himself. what kind of wood you got there? gregggg! it is important to challenge young homeowners turning into their parents. -mm... -oh!

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crime scene tape surrounded the house of mark and teresa sievers. jaclyn bevis covered the story for nbc2. we got the call that law enforcement had been at jarvis road for about 10 hours. so every news crew in the community headed out that way. dennis murphy: but reporters didn't have much to go on. so the cops are playing this very close to the vest? very close for quite a while. i mean, you know this area-- dennis murphy: viewers in southwest florida were alarmed. and none more so than mark's stepmom jennie weckelman, who'd just come home from work in time to catch the news. so kind of in my peripheral vision, i saw mark's house on the screen. how awful. you saw the house and? and i heard "dead body." and that was, you know, the part of the conversation from the television that i heard. dennis murphy: jennie was desperate for answers. who's dead? is it mark? is it the girls? is it teresa? and i didn't know. i just saw a body being wheeled out of the house. dennis murphy: after a series of phone calls,

jennie learned it was teresa. how could this be? she contacted mark's stepsister, connie, who, like so many, was dumbfounded. what in the world happened here, right? it's impossible to wrap your head around that. dennis murphy: who could have imagined life would end like this for dr. teresa sievers. she and her husband mark, seemed to have the perfect life. jennie weckelman: they looked like they had it all. [laughs] they looked happy in what they were doing. they looked focused, looking forward to what the next step would be. dennis murphy: teresa and mark met about 12 years earlier. teresa was a physician in florida, and mark was trained as a nurse and living in missouri. the two met when mark was visiting florida and they hit it off. mark's mom, bonnie, thought teresa was a good fit for her son. teresa's a genius and very organized. she knew mark was kind and gentle, compassionate. they also had a lot of the same interests of wanting to help people.

when did you know that she was the one, that they were very serious? i think when they kept calling all the time. she would talk to him on the phone a lot. then he says, he wanted to know what did i think if he moved to florida. because he wanted to be with teresa. and i said, well, honey, that's ok. it was important for you to be happy, mark. dennis murphy: and connie could tell teresa made her stepbrother happy. i totally understood why he loved her. i mean, she was charismatic. she had that same caring nature, although in a pretty feisty, you know, feisty way. she wasn't a wallflower. no, no, no. dennis murphy: mark's approach to the world was a little softer. it's part of his character. i mean, he-- he was caring, you know? he took care of his grandfather. and he cared a lot for animals. and it just-- it was a part of-- it is a part of who he is. he was very nurturing and not afraid to--

worried about being a macho guy on the outside. i feel like-- oh, that's a good picture. dennis murphy: dating soon became, we're engaged. mark popped the question by printing a jokey ad in the newspaper. [cheers, applause] it wasn't long before the two were exchanging sunset vows on the beach. handsome groom, pretty bride? yeah, you know, she had a beautiful dress. and mark was just smitten. he has been ever since. dennis murphy: around 2005, mark and teresa moved to bonita springs. and teresa opened her own practice. and they welcomed two little girls along the way. and they're very special kids, very special. i mean, how could they not be with a mom like teresa and a dad like mark? dennis murphy: mark ran the medical office and took care of their daughters so teresa could focus on patients and expanding her practice. he stepped right into the shoes. and whatever teresa's dream was, mark supported her in that. dennis murphy: she got involved with local charities and was even featured on the cover of "ebella magazine" as one of the top healers in the area.

she had the charisma. she had the science. i think she could inspire people. dennis murphy: chiropractor stephen stohler met teresa at a conference. and they shared a similar holistic approach to health care. her original training was internal medicine. but she was a seeker. and she was really on this path to help people and not just process patients. dennis murphy: you've met one of those patients she helped, julie rojas-butcher. she's had major influence on your life. on every aspect of it. dennis murphy: teresa not only got julie's health back, but she also guided her through a career change. and when julie was ready to expand her family, teresa encouraged her to consider adoption. got you back on your toes, feeling good. and now you have a son, maybe with her encouragement. yes. she was the first person to have that conversation with me. but the petite dr. sievers, just shy of 5 feet, could also be a dress-you-down sergeant major if she thought a patient was slacking off.

she would get frustrated when she would be like, i told you to exercise three times a week, and you clearly are not doing that. i think that was her delivery method. dennis murphy: and dr. sievers felt her message was too important to reserve just for her patients. i just think that what he has-- dennis murphy: that's why she and mark were developing her tv show and youtube channel. i'd like to introduce dr. stephen stohler. dennis murphy: and teresa's friend, dr. stohler, said for her it wasn't about fame. she saw it as a chance to bring her message to the masses. i think that she really wanted to change the paradigm. she wanted to influence change in the way-- the way health care is delivered. she wanted to empower people, give people the freedom, and instill purpose in them so that they were in charge of their own health care. dennis murphy: but now that would never happen. the kitchen, the hammer-- who could have murdered teresa and in such a brutal way?

the sheriff's department was desperately trying to find answers. this is a case of whodunit, which is, for us, a nightmare. dennis murphy: coming up. no footprints, no fingerprints, no dna left on scene. dennis murphy: and a burglar alarm that for some strange reason, didn't ring. you were sure you'd set it when you left. oh, i know i set it. dennis murphy: when "dateline" continues. when i was diagnosed with h-i-v, i didn't know who i would be. but here i am... ...being me. keep being you... ...and ask your healthcare provider about the number one prescribed h-i-v treatment, biktarvy. biktarvy is a complete, one-pill, once-a-day treatment used for h-i-v in many people—whether you're 18 or 80. with one small pill, biktarvy fights h-i-v to help you get to undetectable—and stay there whether you're just starting or replacing your current treatment. research shows that taking h-i-v treatment as prescribed and getting to and staying undetectable prevents transmitting h-i-v through sex. serious side effects can occur,

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website is just nuts.com. >> i just hope that republicans take care with what they're inheriting. >> the fallout from meta ceo mark zuckerberg's decision to end fact checking. >> what's your message to concerned voters about where the country may be headed after the biden administration leaves? >> actually behind closed doors? they're still asking what the they're still asking what the hell happened? dennis murphy: the case of teresa sievers, a well-known doctor bludgeoned to death in her kitchen, was a top priority for the lee county sheriff's office. homicide detectives david lebid and michael downs were assigned the case. detective downs arrived shortly after the 911 call. he knew there was at least one victim and thought just possibly the killer was still about. do we still have an active crime scene? is there a potential of somebody else being in the house or still in the neighborhood?

dennis murphy: but downs looked around, didn't find any other victims, and no one else was inside. whoever killed the doctor was gone. there's more vehicles outside. dennis murphy: that afternoon, detectives took a closer look at the scene to fill in the story. they started at the front of the house. the garage was open. i could see a minivan on the inside. but nothing stood out at me at that point from the street. dennis murphy: inside the garage, lay teresa's suitcase. it appeared to have been rifled through. downs entered the house through the laundry room and noticed a dog bowl slightly blocking his path. in the kitchen just beyond was teresa's body. when i looked at the body, she was face down. she was wearing a-- she was wearing a-- like, a black dress. she was in a large pool of blood. what were the obvious injuries that you could see? because of her hair, i couldn't necessarily see injuries. but i could see where the trauma was concentrated at. obviously, the hair was matted with blood. it was evident that it was blunt force trauma to the back of the skull. dennis murphy: it seemed to detectives that she'd just arrived home when she was attacked. her purse on the bar stool looked as though someone

had gone through it. i saw dr. teresa sievers' wallet open. i could see her id. it appeared that one of the cards had been thumbed up in there. do you think maybe i'm looking at a home invasion? this woman walked in at a bad moment? oh, absolutely. dennis murphy: and the purse wasn't the only evidence of a possible break in. the side garage access had been tampered with, as if somebody tried to break into it. dennis murphy: there was damage to the door. but on closer inspection, the lock still worked. what's more, the sievers had valuables in their home there for the taking-- cash, guns, electronics. teresa was wearing jewelry, but all of that was untouched. nothing immediately appeared to be missing. so it begged the question, was this a targeted event for this person or was something interrupted? dennis murphy: crime scene investigators carefully processed the house. there was little evidence pointing to the killer. no bloody footprints, leaving the garage, saying they went thataway? no footprints, no fingerprints, no dna left on scene that we were able to recover.

dennis murphy: late monday afternoon, teresa's husband mark landed back in florida. two other members of the investigative team sat down with him at his mom, bonnie's house. he seemed to be still trying to process the news. they get the basic information that we get from anybody, like, when's the last time that you talked to her. dennis murphy: mark said he last heard from teresa just before 11:00 sunday night. dennis murphy: but that was it. he never got a text or call from teresa saying i'm home. dennis murphy: they question mark about who had access to the house. as it turns out, mark's mom, bonnie, was watching the family pets and she'd been in and out of the house all weekend.

and she'd been having some trouble with their security system. dennis murphy: naturally, investigators wanted to speak with bonnie, too. dennis murphy: but bonnie was certain that she set the alarm when she left saturday night. when she came back sunday morning-- it wasn't on. i didn't have to cancel it. and you were sure you'd set it when you left? oh, i know i set it. and you were the last person in there? there was no one else but me. dennis murphy: bonnie, thinking the alarm system must be on the fritz, contacted mark, who told her not to worry about setting it. he says, just forget it because we've been having problems with that alarm. sometimes it would go on, sometimes it wouldn't. and because of the dogs, motion detection, forget it,

don't even bother with it then. dennis murphy: but the more bonnie thought about the alarm system, the more it weighed on her. teresa was murdered that sunday night. maybe someone was able to get into the house and do this horrible thing because she left the alarm off. dennis murphy: the next day, detectives asked bonnie back to the station. they needed to go over her timeline again. the investigator gave her a printout showing the alarm was turned off at 6:09 sunday morning. dennis murphy: did that mean someone else had been there? dennis murphy: it certainly seemed as though someone was in the house sunday morning before bonnie. but who? lester holt: coming up. dennis murphy: was teresa killed by someone she had helped? did one of those kids find their way back into her kitchen? or one of those kids' friends because they said that there was money in the house. dennis murphy: when "dateline" continues.

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try it at round table pizza! wildfires. >> at least 13 others are considered missing. so far, 37,000 acres burned across los angeles. >> while evacuations have expanded, officials are making progress containing the palisades fire, the largest of the five, and special counsel jack smith, has resigned from the justice department ahead of trump's inauguration. he completed two criminal investigations into the president elect, including including his alleged interference in the 2020 election. >> smith's findings are set to be released in the coming days. be released in the coming days. for now, back to dateline. stephen stohler: and she was incredible. she was a good friend. she was a good mom. she was a great doctor. she was a great person.

dennis murphy: reality started to set in as family, friends, and patients gathered at teresa sievers' funeral to reflect on the person who was lost. hundreds of people came to say their goodbyes. the outpouring of people that filled this-- this church was incredible. i kind of thought to myself, wow, every one of these people in this room was personally touched by her. people she might have picked up and put back together. yeah. whatever their dilemma was when they went to her. yeah, i mean, it was incredible. i mean, how many people felt so close to her? you know, everybody was special to her. dennis murphy: while teresa's loved ones mourned their loss, her killer was still on the loose. and the community around bonita springs was on edge. i mean, i'm shocked. i don't know what to tell you. reporter: are you scared? because whoever is responsible for this is still out there. kind of nervous about it. it grasped this entire community. and no one could take their eyes off of it. because everyone just wanted to know who and why. and are they coming in my door?

jaclyn bevis: absolutely. because nobody could be reassured by the sheriff's office of what was going on. no one-- no one had any clue. and-- and there was nothing at that point that was leaking to say this was probably someone who knows her. but no one was confident in that. dennis murphy: the medical examiner, by then, had taken his look at teresa's injuries and found she'd been bashed on the head 17 times. tips were flooding into the sheriff's department and some of the theories were really out there. newscaster: some people are connecting it online to the deaths of two other doctors with ties to florida. dennis murphy: her friend, dr. stohler, heard about it. there had been innuendos or rumors of kind of holistic doctors, people that were really speaking against the dogma. is someone killing-- yes. --homeopathic holistic doctors? yeah, that was a thought. dennis murphy: detectives did look into it. at first, we were like, oh, wow, this is actually pretty interesting. and then the more you look at it and the more you dissect it, it just didn't fit with what we were looking at at that time.

dennis murphy: instead, they were focusing their attention on those closest to the victim. the spouse, of course, usually tops that list. but remember, teresa's husband, mark, was 1,300 miles away when she was killed. it couldn't have been him. and besides, teresa's sister, annie lisa, told detectives mark was a good husband. dennis murphy: and teresa's mom, mary anne groves, felt the same way. mess. >> but she finally realized that that was always going to be that was always going to be mark dennis murphy: so what about the man who made the 911 call, dr. petritis? of course, anybody that comes upon a murder scene as he does has got to explain maybe in a little more detail about why he's there. oh, especially, and that's-- that's another investigative step that we take. and we have to take a sworn statement from him. we took dna from him. dennis murphy: dr. petritis didn't act like a man

with something to hide. he was cooperative. he was everywhere where he was supposed to be. and he gave us no real cause for concern. so ultimately, he didn't make it onto your list? he was on the list for a short time until we were able to exclude him from the investigation. dennis murphy: then detectives started to look at some of the people teresa had helped through her charity work. she'd been on the board at our mother's home, a shelter for struggling teen moms. she and mark even opened their doors to some of the girls and their children. did one of those kids find their way back into her kitchen? right, or did-- which could have been a possibility. or did one of those kids' parents want some payback because they were upset that you were able to give my kid something i never could? these were all possible things-- or one of those kids' friends because they said that there was money in the house. dennis murphy: deputies talked to a fellow board member of the shelter, karen watson, someone who had known teresa for years. she told them in an audio interview about one teen mom who'd grown particularly close to teresa. dennis murphy: the mom had been arrested for drugs.

and teresa was trying to help her. but karen didn't think that mom had anything to do with it. been to the house a dennis murphy: but karyn did have one possible lead, and it was something detectives talked to teresa's mom about, too. dennis murphy: she mentioned one woman, a nurse, whose name came up a few times in police interviews. another job because i really need to replace you. sandra was need to replace you. sandra was badmouthing dennis murphy: and a year earlier, dr. sievers had laid off sandra's husband, frank, who'd also worked at the practice. detectives wondered, could all this have angered her enough to hurt teresa?

but when sandra spoke to a local reporter, she seemed heartbroken about what happened. i learned a lot from her. when you're with somebody for seven years, it's-- it's your second home. it wasn't a job to me. dennis murphy: detectives talked to sandra, too. by the end of speaking with her, we were able to eliminate her. and like anything, hey, were you-- were you here? were you there? and everything wrapped up itself. she wasn't a likely suspect. dennis murphy: the leads were running dry. and after days of investigating, detectives seemed no closer to knowing who killed teresa. lester holt: coming up. dennis murphy: a husband struggles with his emotions and shares a secret.

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♪♪ so you can rise from pain. icy hot. dennis murphy: the beating sdeath of teresa sieversn. was all anyone could talk about in southwest florida. the bonita springs community wanted answers. yet several days on, the sheriff's office remained tight lipped about its investigation. reporter jaclyn bevis. what was known at that point, as you recall? quite frankly, absolutely nothing. nothing? she was a doctor, a loving mother, a wife. and she was murdered. and we're working to find out how. pretty thin gruel for a reporter. yeah. dennis murphy: behind the scenes, frustration was setting in for the detectives. the overkill aspect of the murder looked personal. but without a theory of the case, they couldn't rule anything out. a lot of homicides can either be pinned down to a domestic related incident or a drug related incident.

it's isolated. and you can put out a briefing and say, you're safe to go about your business. exactly, in this case, we're not-- dennis murphy: couldn't do that. can't do that in this case, exactly. dennis murphy: mark sievers' family says the not knowing was wearing on him, too. i was really most concerned for my brother. he was the one who was looking out for all of us, making sure we were ok and trying to keep it together for the girls even though he was afraid. at that time, he was afraid mostly for the girls. dennis murphy: with little to go on, detectives asked mark to come down to the station for an interview. dennis murphy: now that he'd had time to think about it, they wanted to know had he come up with any additional leads. >> i can't think of anybody, any dennis murphy: family and friends had described mark and teresa as a rock solid couple.

but detectives wanted to hear about the marriage from mark himself. dennis murphy: but that wasn't the next door neighbor's take. you're hearing from the neighbors little snippets of information about marital turmoil coming out the windows. they're fighting again. and that was the most consistent thing that came through. and they would hear them arguing and, you know, screaming at each other. dennis murphy: ok, mark admitted, they might fight, but no big deal. he was used to her eruptions. our whole life. our whole house our whole life. our whole house is dennis murphy: that was just teresa the spitfire being teresa. mark said it never affected their loyalty to one another.

of? no. have you dennis murphy: throughout the interview, mark struggled to contain his emotions. their kids are special. my kids are phenomenal. sure, they should. >> i should have it all. >> i should have it all. >> well, she really is on track dennis murphy: mark certainly appeared the grieving husband. but there was something about all that emotion that made the detectives wonder. his demeanor was very all over the place from the second he came in. he was crying and then he's doing breathing exercises. dennis murphy: and when he was left alone in the room,

mark spoke directly to his dead wife like a shakespearean actor. with you? this wouldn't have with you? this wouldn't have happened. so i was actually listening to the interview on my computer in my office. and i came out and i was like, are you guys-- are you guys watching this? [sobbing] [panting] [sobbing] [sighs] >> calm down. and well, it is a well-known thing, everybody reacts differently. is he going over the top? he's going over the top. he's putting on a performance.

dennis murphy: perhaps that's why toward the end of the interview, detective lebid steered the conversation back to the question of fidelity. the answer he got this time was a wow of a take two. been no no extramarital affairs on your part. >> when you say extramarital affairs, i will split lines. i'm not an attorney, but i always focus on details. what you're actually saying? >> do you guys swing with anyone? >> okay, that's not an act. is that considered an extramarital affair? no. okay. there's been no extramarital affair. no extramarital affair. >> okay. do you guys open? dennis murphy: that's right. according to mark, the couple had an open marriage. he said they invited other women into their bedroom. and then eventually, he'd be allowed to be with girls when she wasn't present as long as he told her about it. so an open, what, swinger kind of relationship, maybe? yes. dennis murphy: but he seemed reluctant to offer details, names, frequency.

3 times. >> so it's two different girls or a couple of different times. only two girls. only two girls. >> i'm trying to dennis murphy: the more the detective leaned in, the more sexual partners mark recalled. >> one more woman? number four. >> yeah, but she was actually number one when you betrayed number one when you betrayed her. dennis murphy: mark said he wasn't concerned that any of these women could be involved in teresa's murder. he said he hadn't been with any of them in a long time. but for the detectives, the investigative implications were clear. basically, by the end of that conversation, all we said was our suspect pool became even larger. you may have a lot of potential people who-- exactly. --would want to do somebody in, right? a spurned jealous lover. absolutely. dennis murphy: mark sievers had thrown

detectives a major twist, but another, even bigger one was on the way. lester holt: coming up. and he had pictures on his phone, women he'd taken home? pictures and video, yes. dennis murphy: the pool of possible suspects grows and a new lead from over 1,000 miles away. why would he not take his phone with him to this florida job? well, i thought that. and i found it kind of odd. dennis murphy: when "dateline" continues. (♪♪) a single touch can say a thousand words. it says... i see you. i feel you. i got you. and i'm never letting go. (♪♪) ever. (♪♪) say it all with irresistibly touchable skin. get in touch. gold bond. my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis held me back.

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based on the limited information that he provided us. dennis murphy: but detectives did get an assist from mark's cell phone. he'd willingly handed it to them before his interview. and the contents were an investigative trove. and he had pictures on his phone, women he'd taken home? pictures and video, yes. dennis murphy: in fact, there were many explicit images in his phone, not to mention flirty text messages and notes describing the hookups. reaching out to these women would be a delicate task. that's a great thing to try and introduce yourself to someone and say, hey, how do you know these people? do you remember the night at the boom boom room? right. so you're trying to find a unique approach, depending on who you were dealing with. dennis murphy: but then before that search could really take off, an unrelated tip came in that detectives could not ignore. it would, as they say, change everything. the out-of-the-blue lead came over 1,000 miles away from the florida crime scene. a police chief from the southern illinois airport authority was on the line. he basically said, i have an acquaintance who gave me some interesting information.

however, she's a little-- she's a little afraid to come forward. dennis murphy: the woman's story, as relayed to the detectives, was vague. but the information was both tantalizing and credible. hey, check this out. dennis murphy: maybe they could talk this anonymous source into sharing details with them. i got a gut feeling and i pulled my lieutenant aside and said, can we please go this seems legit. this feels like the strongest lead. dennis murphy: so 11 days after teresa's body was found, the detectives hit the road for illinois. up to this point, it's just been leads to follow, document, put it away. and now we're hearing someone who is saying, i'm not going to cooperate with you, but i'll listen to you talk to me in person. and you want to sit down and look them in the eye as you talk? yes, i want them to hear what we have to say. it was literally a hail mary pass. dennis murphy: they met in a hotel conference room. detectives lebid and downs, the police chief tipster, and his friend, the woman with the information. her name is rose. she says any reluctance about coming forward dissolved

when detective lebid appealed to her to think about the loss suffered by teresa's two young children. when he said that, i was just kind of like, you know, i had no problems with anything from that point on. dennis murphy: the detectives got their audio recorder out to tape what turned out to be a case-changing story. get ready for this one. you'll need a flow chart. dennis murphy: it goes like this. the weekend teresa sievers was murdered, rose said she was at a friend's house across the river in missouri. that friend's daughter angie was there too. and she was upset because her husband of only a few weeks had just left on a trip without her. so she's a newlywed on saturday night, sitting around a kitchen table she doesn't want to be at. she wants to be with her husband. correct. that is correct. dennis murphy: angie's husband was an it tech who said he had to troubleshoot a buddy's office computers. the job site? florida. did he say where? do you remember her saying where he was going to be working at?

- she just said florida. - in florida-- yes. --working on somebody's computer? his best friend's computers. dennis murphy: to make matters worse, angie, the ticked off newlywed, said she had no way to reach her husband. he'd left his cell phone behind. why would he not take his phone with him to this florida job? well, i thought that, especially being fairly newly married, that's something that you just take with you as your phone for communication. and i found it kind of odd myself. dennis murphy: odd maybe. but rose didn't give the situation much more thought until a couple of days later when she got a call from her friend. turns out the computers angie's husband had driven to florida to fix were the office gear of dr. teresa sievers. and even more intriguingly, this it guy's best friend was mark. the first thing she said to me is, i guess you heard about the doctor. and i'm like, what doctor? what are you talking about? well, angie's husband's best friend's wife, she was killed. it just kind of stunned me.

dennis murphy: rose started to connect the dots in the middle of the night-- nancy grace: so tonight-- dennis murphy: --when she awoke to a nancy grace segment on the murder. angie's husband, the trip to florida-- was it possible that he was somehow involved in teresa's murder? i was feeling very uneasy about it. i laid back down, could not go to sleep. i ended up staying up the rest of the evening. dennis murphy: she decided to phone a friend, jeff hamilton. he's the airport authority's police chief who called the florida detectives with the tip. by the time, we were-- we finished our conversation, i had a pretty good idea that the person she was telling me had an opportunity to have committed this crime. dennis murphy: now, as detectives lebid and downs listened to rose's story, they were thinking the same thing. right there, it's like somebody rings a bell, yeah? you're like, whoa. finally, we have a good lead, finally. dennis murphy: it was time to pay angie's husband, mark's best friend, a visit. so the two florida detectives headed north to hillsboro, missouri, a rural area about 40 miles south of st. louis. you're moving states and jurisdictions here?

yes, we are. you're leaving illinois and you're going across the river to missouri, huh? - that's correct. we're completely out of our element. dennis murphy: their target-- the fix-it computer guy was a man named curtis wayne wright. he hadn't really come up as anything up to that point. dennis murphy: a background check revealed wayne, as he liked to be called, had a record, three convictions for drug possession and a stint in jail. so they decided not to take any chances. they enlisted the help of the jefferson county sheriff's office, which sent a swat team early one sunday morning to pick wayne up at his trailer. so flash bangs and knock down the door stuff? i'm not sure if they deployed flash bangs or not, but they did make an entry on their trailer here. and inside was curtis wayne wright, angie wright, and one of their younger family members. dennis murphy: wayne was yanked out of bed and brought down to the station as he was, shirtless. he sat down with detective lebid. dennis murphy: how does he seem to be?

is he cooperative? he was very cooperative. he acted very confused that the police were in his house and he didn't understand why this was happening to him. dennis murphy: however, wayne was more than aware of teresa's murder. he said he and his wife, angie, had just returned from florida, where they'd attended her funeral. dennis murphy: as a longtime family friend, he said he had to be there for old buddy mark and the girls. needed you and you guys were there. you know, he would have there. you know, he would have done it for us. yes. well, dennis murphy: wayne said the two were so close, mark had even been the best man at his wedding a couple of months earlier. dennis murphy: as for mark and teresa's office computers,

wayne said that, yes, he did manage them. they'd had some trouble with their it person a while back, and he'd stepped in to help. yeah. i'm sorry. yeah, sorry. yeah. i'm sorry. yeah, sorry. i'm. he's not shy about bragging on himself, right? big contracts for it work and-- that's what he relayed to me at the time, yes. build-a-bear stores. >> wow. >> wow. >> i gotta ask, how does i like to hear about who i'm talking to. but he took it very far, talking about his martial arts training and fighting ability. it was interesting because with all of those accomplishments, where we were

was kind of confusing to me. the single wide trailer in the middle of nowhere, huh? right. dennis murphy: the detective was also blown away by how much wayne looked like mark physically. to his eye, the two could have been twins. i'm like, wow, they have the same facial hair style, like, almost identical. they both wear glasses. similar, you know, they both have the receding hairlines where they just gave up and shaved their head. they frequently dress similar, too. so it was very odd. dennis murphy: odd indeed. was this bizarre buddy team somehow involved in teresa's murder? investigators were determined to find out. lester holt: coming up. we got the video of his shop where wayne told us that he was at that weekend. he's not there the entire weekend. dennis murphy: when "dateline" continues. [coughing] copd is an ugly reality. do you have his medical history? i watch as his world just keeps getting smaller. but then, trelegy helped us see things a little differently.

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the murder of teresa sievers over 1,300 miles away in florida. if wayne had been unnerved by that early morning raid at his house, he didn't show it. he was even happy to help the out-of-town detective with restaurant recommendations. dennis murphy: with the "getting to know yous" out of the way, detective lebid cut to the chase. where was wayne the weekend teresa was killed? his wife angie told the detectives he was in florida, but wayne had a different account. dennis murphy: wayne said a flare-up of injuries from an old car crash had laid him up in bed that weekend. he'd never gone to florida. he was in missouri the whole time. who are you seeing? someone who is relaying to me

that they have different issues with their body. they can't drive that well and trying to pass himself off as very meek and mild mannered. dennis murphy: however, he did say he'd rallied briefly to help his landlord fix his car. that part of his alibi would be easy enough to check. a he's got a little shop, dennis murphy: while wayne was talking to detective lebid at the station, other investigators were digging through his home, collecting cell phones and computers, looking for evidence that could link him to the murder. in the driveway, they noticed a rental car. there was nothing obviously helpful there. so you don't find, like, a fast food bag discarded, from bonita springs on it or something? no. we wish, but no. dennis murphy: but inside the console, they found an old garmin gps device. the memory had been wiped, but they bagged it anyway

for a forensics review. now we got to go out and try and track everything down. dennis murphy: the detectives headed out, trying to meet anyone they could find who was connected to wayne. we're kind of shaking the bushes because we're pretty confident that this guy is involved, and he did this. so you're going from friend to friend to figure out what they know? yeah. dennis murphy: they visited the shop owned by chris taylor, the guy who's broken-down car was wayne's alibi. not only did he say wayne hadn't worked on his car the weekend in question, but he also had surveillance video to prove it. we got the video of his shop, where wayne told us that he was at that weekend. he's not there the entire weekend. dennis murphy: they also spoke to a friend of his named jerry lubinski. jerry contradicted wayne's alibi, too. it was not unusual for when wayne would go out of town, he would tell me where he was going. did he tell you he was going to go to florida that weekend? yes. he told me he was going to go to florida. to do what, jerry? he said it was a one day, short trip. and that's when i said, well, i said, if that's the case,

i says, why don't you fly? dennis murphy: jerry said he even offered to help wayne buy a plane ticket. i said, i have enough miles. you can go ahead and fly down. it's got to be a 12-hour drive, right? i think a little bit farther than that, too. about 16. so you said you'd stake him into an airplane ticket. right. and he says, no. he says he was just going to drive and come back. dennis murphy: so wayne seemed to be lying. that much was becoming clear. did that mean he killed teresa? and if so, why? the detectives still had miles to go to figure that out. coming up. they picked up a couple items, a couple things to go to the beach. so what did the cash register receipt for their purchases tell you? it looked like they bought towels, shoes, a budweiser t-shirt. dennis murphy: wayne's road trip, shopping for souvenirs and dumplings. he did a review on a chinese food restaurant. that was in georgia, yeah. you're kidding. wayne-- wayne wright actually made a yelp review. good dumplings? he was not happy.

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the more they felt a target on their backs. residents didn't seem keen on two florida cops trying to pin a murder on one of their own. nights in their hotel room were tense. it gets really quiet at night, especially when you're in a place you don't belong, and you're by yourself. and people don't like you. and people don't like you. and i would take a chair from the table we had in the room, and i would put it underneath the door lock at an angle, just to buy a little extra time if somebody decided to kick a door in on us. dennis murphy: the detectives were running out of people to talk to, but there was one more prominent name in wayne's phone records-- someone named jimmy rodgers. he was a 25-year-old guy living in a mobile home park some 30 minutes away. while we're pulling up, there's literally a disturbance going on outside between two or three people that look like they've been having a very hard time in their life and may be under the influence of drugs and alcohol. are you guys scared? it's ok to be scared. are you looking over your shoulders? absolutely. we're in an unmarked rental vehicle,

but there's plenty of cops. it screams cop. and they immediately key in on us. and i'm basically, like, looking at them. i'm like, hey, we're not here for you. dennis murphy: jimmy's girlfriend taylor greeted them at the trailer door. she was perfectly pleasant, but jimmy was another story. he shows up, and like a storm. and he's shaking. he's uncomfortable. you can tell something's definitely off. dennis murphy: jimmy was on probation for weapons charges. maybe he just didn't like cops, so they tried to diffuse the situation. we're immediately like, hey, no problem. we're here just following up. we know you're friends with so-and-so. and he starts downplaying his relationship with curtis wayne wright and saying that i don't really talk to him that often. we know that's a lie now. dennis murphy: it felt like jimmy wanted nothing to do with them, so detective lebid tried to leave on friendly terms. and i said, hey, listen, we're going to be back because, again, we're from florida. we don't belong here. but we're here right now, which means we have the ability to come back. dennis murphy: after nearly two weeks, the detectives headed home. they'd collected bags of evidence and stories

suggesting that wayne had something to do with teresa's murder, but nothing concrete. so back home, their tech experts started deep dives into those digital devices seized at wayne's trailer. a few weeks later came a major break. that erased gps they'd found in wayne's rental car, representatives from garmin told the sheriff's tech team the data could not be recovered. they basically said to our guys, to paraphrase, if it's deleted, it's gone. it's been wiped. detective lebid: it's gone. dennis murphy: but their techs kept after it. and sure enough, buried inside was the evidence they'd been waiting for. there, mapped out mile by mile, was the route wayne had taken from hillsboro, missouri, to bonita springs, florida, the weekend of the murder. wayne had even written a yelp review along the way. he did a review on a chinese food restaurant. that was in georgia. yeah. you're kidding. wayne-- wayne wright actually made a yelp review. good dumplings? yeah, i don't think. he was not happy. dennis murphy: but that wasn't all the gps revealed.

it also told them that curtis wayne wright hadn't traveled alone. i get a call from our tech guys, and they say, hey, we have this device paired with an email address. and i was like, what's the email address? so, like, listen to this. jimmyrayrodgers90 at [muted]. and i was like, jimmy, you son of a gun. dennis murphy: had jimmy and wayne road tripped together to murder teresa sievers? the sheriff's department sent detectives out to gather more evidence based on the gps. sheriff carmine marceno. we canvassed from the tollbooth on i-75 in naples to georgia. you're pulling video from-- that means every point of entry or exit on i-75, we went out two miles on either side to obtain video surveillance. and that's what we did. dennis murphy: sure enough, the canvas paid off. right there in fort myers, just 15 miles from bonita springs, they found video of wayne and jimmy at a walmart the morning of the murder. detective downs: just smiling and shopping.

they picked up a couple items, couple things to go to the beach. of course, they have arrived in a beach town. exactly. why not? so what did the cash register receipt for their purchases tell you? it looked like they bought a lockpick-- a lockpick kit, 30-gallon trash bags, towels, shoes, a budweiser t-shirt-- some planned to be used for the homicide, some planned for leisure time in between. dennis murphy: the gps also put them at the sievers' house. the detectives had it. time to make some arrests. back up in missouri, lebid and downs arrested jimmy on a traffic stop and got wayne two days later. again, he was brought in shirtless. dennis murphy: lebid gave wayne one more chance to admit it, showing him the video of him and jimmy at walmart, but he wouldn't take the bait. dennis murphy: they tried to speak to jimmy as well,

but he was likewise a dead end. dennis murphy: but detectives had much more luck with that friendly girlfriend of jimmy's, taylor. detective downs was serving a search warrant on jimmy's trailer when he took a run at questioning the girlfriend, pregnant with jimmy's child. i said, taylor, listen, we're here. i know you're involved. you know you're involved. if there's something here that i need to know about, or you know something more, now is the time to tell me. she took a minute, smoked a cigarette. i went about my business because i didn't really think it was going to anywhere. and out of nowhere, she starts crying and says, i know everything. dennis murphy: those two weeks in missouri had paid off in a major way. they brought taylor in to record a statement. dennis murphy: and what a statement it was. taylor said that after the detectives' visit, she'd become suspicious of jimmy. so one night when they were lying in bed, she confronted him.

dennis murphy: it was a straight-up confession. >> and i said, then how? how did >> and i said, then how? how did you kill her? and then he made a that's literally-- literally a confession to her. a happy confession, almost like he was proud of doing it. dennis murphy: even more chilling was the nickname taylor said jimmy went by. dennis murphy: taylor knew all about evidence, too. she pointed them to items he brought back home with him from florida, including that budweiser shirt he purchased at walmart and a plaque for her about motherhood. she also said jimmy later had her throw

a coverall jumpsuit he'd worn in florida out the window of a moving car. she took detective downs out to look for it. i remember riding there. i was like, there's no way we're going to find this. - what are the odds? - yeah. and she's like, oh, i think that's it over there. detective downs: just please don't touch them or pick them up. but if you can point to them, is that the item in question? taylor: yes. dennis murphy: detective downs memorialized the moment in a video. detective downs: and did he instruct you to throw these out of the window? taylor: yes. dennis murphy: jimmy and wayne still weren't talking, but the case against them was getting better and better. but they weren't the only two the detectives had in their sights for teresa's murder. coming up, pointing a finger at a soon-to-be former best friend. dennis murphy: when "dateline" continues. decline. see these? they say no

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daily@msnbc.com. understand more daily@msnbc.com. understand more with msnbc. dennis murphy: for two months, southwest florida waited and wondered, who killed doctor teresa sievers? then just like that-- journalist: a break in the case in the murder of a bonita springs doctor. dennis murphy: two men from missouri were under arrest. journalist: lee county sheriff announced the arrests of jimmy rodgers and curtis wayne wright. dennis murphy: residents were relieved, but also confounded. who are these guys? dennis murphy: reporter jaclyn bevis. we quickly learned that both jimmy rodgers and curtis wayne wright lived very basic lives in missouri. they went to work. they went home. they both had criminal histories. and had done time. both of them had done time. they had done time together, and that was the basis of their friendship. dennis murphy: the name jimmy rodgers

meant nothing to mark's stepmom and stepsister. i say, well, who is this guy, and what's he got to do with it? and then almost immediately, they said, curtis-- of course, i knew him. what i knew of him, he was just a meek, quiet man. i couldn't see it. dennis murphy: mark's mom, bonnie, was just as confused. she'd just hosted wayne and his wife for teresa's funeral two months before. he hugged the girls. he joked with the girls. how can you kill someone and joke with their children as if you're innocent? dennis murphy: but why would mark's best and oldest friend in the world murder teresa? bonnie wracked her brain. was he jealous of mark? he looked like mark. he shaved his head. he has the goatee, just like mark. dennis murphy: bonnie had even joked about their resemblance the night before mark and teresa's wedding. honey, you have a wonderful wedding.

[laughter] oh, my god. that's not mark? [laughs] oh, no. i can't tell them apart. he's mine now. [laughter] did he want to live his life? i don't know. there's something wrong with wayne, is all i can come up with. dennis murphy: but reporters thought the answer had everything to do with mark, not wayne. to them, the fact that his best friend was accused of killing his wife meant mark must be involved. we started following mark sievers even more closely at that point. everyone had questions for him then. do you think your best friend would do this? why would he do this? how could this happen? journalist: what was your relationship like with curtis wayne wright? any comment, mark? no comment. dennis murphy: mark wasn't talking to the media or to investigators. he'd lawyered up not long after the murder. and truth was, by the time of jimmy and wayne's arrest, detectives fully believed mark was in on it, but they had little proof. so they continued investigating until a few months later, a breakthrough.

we get contacted by curtis wright's lawyer who says that curtis wants to speak with you guys. dennis murphy: curtis wayne wright wanted a deal. his attorney, elizabeth parker, says it was his best and only move. there was gps evidence showing that he had traveled to the sievers' home the very day she was murdered. that's tough evidence to get over. and i have to have the come to jesus meeting with him and say, listen, we may have an opportunity to approach the prosecutors-- to save your life. it's as simple as that. to save his life and to do the right thing. dennis murphy: wayne agreed to confess in exchange for consideration of a lesser sentence. once again, he found himself face to face with detectives. prosecutors were in the room this time, too. elizabeth parker: you could cut the tension in that room with a knife. my client was extremely nervous. i was nervous for him. dennis murphy: wayne now walked them through a chilling story, how he and jimmy murdered teresa.

he said they'd driven to florida, just as the gps showed, snuck into mark's house, and then jimmy bashed teresa's head in with a hammer. wayne said he was outside when the murder occurred. dennis murphy: the detectives weren't buying it. dennis murphy: parker took wayne outside and told him it was time to come clean, now or never. i was very stern, probably the most stern that i have ever been with any client, and expressed the consequences of lying. i think obviously he really took what i said to heart because when we walked back in that room, he told me he was going to tell the truth. dennis murphy: they started again, and wayne's story changed.

dennis murphy: yes, he was in the house, he said, and that's not all. jimmy wasn't the only one with a hammer in his hand. it was. you know, it was. it was it was. you know, it was. it was when it was when dennis murphy: but the real headline was the reason they'd killed teresa in the first place. he said he'd been offered money to do it by none other than his best friend, mark. >> i asked him what dennis murphy: it was the confirmation detectives were waiting for-- a tale of a murder for hire between best friends. in late february 2016, eight months after teresa's murder, they showed up at mark's house once again.

we get there. we knock on the door. there's glass window. i see his head pop out. when he saw me, i'll never forget it because it looked like he saw a ghost. like, oh, this is real. it's happening. this is happening. and he has his phone in his hand, like, oh, i have to call. i'm like, nope. you're not calling anybody right now. you're going to jail. you're under arrest for the murder of your wife, teresa sievers. dennis murphy: the sheriff's department was certain they'd gotten their man. sheriff, how cold-- how bad is this crime? when you step back and look at everything you know about how it transpired? watching mark sievers being arrested and brought in the headquarters the first time, the smirk he had on his face, i'll never forget. and i looked at my undersheriff, and i said, there is no blood in his veins. this is a cold-blooded killer. cold-blooded, planned, executed. there was no heart. there was no remorse. dennis murphy: but mark's family was just as sure he was innocent. i know in my heart he wouldn't do that.

he would never do anything that his girls would be without their mother. dennis murphy: it had taken eight months for detectives to crack the case. it would now take years more for mark sievers, jimmy rodgers, and curtis wayne wright to appear in court. journalist: do you have a message for your daughters, mark? dennis murphy: coming up, the trials begin. this case was about the perfect marriage, the perfect friendship, the perfect alibi, the perfect murder. dennis murphy: when "dateline" continues. when you live with diabetes, progress is... having your coffee like you like it without an audience. ♪♪ [silence] the freestyle libre 3 plus sensor tracks your glucose in real time so everyone else doesn't have to, and over time it can help lower your a1c

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officials are making progress containing the palisades fire, the largest of the five so far. >> and president biden has awarded the presidential medal of freedom to pope francis. >> the white house says they spoke saturday about efforts to advance world peace. >> biden had planned to be at the vatican this weekend, but stayed in the united states to monitor the fires in los angeles. angeles. >> for now, back to dateline. dennis murphy: three men had been arrested for the murder of dr. teresa sievers, and now all three were about to appear in a florida courtroom. and one of them had flipped. this case was about the perfect marriage, the perfect friendship, the perfect alibi, the perfect murder. it was almost perfect. dennis murphy: in october 2019, jimmy ray rodgers, pleading not guilty, was the first to go on trial. he faced a possible death penalty for first degree murder and conspiracy. prosecutors cynthia ross and hamid hunter

said he made the number one mistake he could have made when he accompanied curtis wayne wright to florida. how could anybody be so stupid as to take their personal cell phone with them on a mission to murder somebody? i don't think people realize, one, how much our phones connect in so many fashions. i don't think mr. rodgers anticipated that he would be discovered. dennis murphy: rodgers took photos of the trip with his phone and used it to search for a place to stop along the way. as for those coveralls rodgers allegedly wore to commit the murder, prosecutors introduced evidence from an fbi analyst that showed fibers from them matched fibers found on teresa's body. and those coveralls also had a hair. your testing concluded that mr. rodgers or another person descended from his mother left that hair. yes, that mr. rodgers or anyone in his maternal line could have been the source of that hair. dennis murphy: rodgers' former girlfriend, taylor shomaker, took the stand to recount his bedroom confession.

i asked him if he killed her, and he said, yeah. and then i asked him how? well, how? and he said, with the hammer. dennis murphy: when rodgers and the attorneys approached the judge for a bench conference, taylor turned her back on her one time boyfriend and cried. do you solemnly swear or affirm that-- dennis murphy: finally, prosecutors call curtis wayne wright to the stand. mr. wright, who killed dr. teresa sievers? i did, and jimmy rodgers. dennis murphy: when it was the defense's turn, rodgers' attorneys kathleen fitzgeorge and donald mcfarlane didn't dispute that he had come to florida with wright, but not for the reason prosecutors suggested. he thinks that this is going to be a little holiday in florida. right. - all expenses paid. - sure. a little weekend. it's coming down here. it's close to 4th of july. go to the beach. he's never seen the ocean. and when they're here, they're purchasing souvenirs, going to walmart.

dennis murphy: but they were adamant rodgers had no idea his friend was planning a murder. he thinks he's coming down with his friend, who needs someone to drive him down here. he knows that curtis wright works doing computer work and is told, well, you can do some work on the side, maybe earn some money. dennis murphy: and the defense insisted the witnesses against rodgers were motivated to lie, especially wright, whose cooperation guaranteed a prison sentence of 25 years. you were all in this together. am i right? curtis wayne wright: yes. yes. the only difference is with this plea deal, you get a big benefit. the difference is that i'm telling the truth. dennis murphy: the jury got the case, and it took them more than a day to come up with a verdict. it was not what the state had hoped. jimmy rodgers was found guilty, but only of second degree murder. and in another blow to the state, he was acquitted of conspiracy. jurors found no evidence to tie him directly to mark sievers. so what would that mean for mark's case?

it wouldn't take long to find out. please be seated. dennis murphy: when mark sievers' trial began a few weeks later, prosecutors presented a motive, money, in the form of a financial windfall mark would receive with his wife dead. here's his wife, the breadwinner, mother of his children. in what ways is his life better with her dead in the kitchen, if he's commissioned it? well-- dennis murphy: what is he getting? $5.8 million. yeah, there was 5.8 million motives. there were insurance policies here. dennis murphy: and to carry out the plot, prosecutors said wright and sievers communicated using so-called burner phones, prepaid cells that weren't registered in their names. an analyst from the sheriff's office explained how they also developed a code, texting the word "other" when it was time to switch from their normal cell phones to the burners. he sent a text to mr. wright saying, whenever you want to use the other one, just text me other-- quote, other, unquote. and then when i can, i will call.

dennis murphy: she showed jurors another one of those texts. analyst: a message that says, hello, brother from an, quote, "other," unquote, mother. you've got the check other. hello, brother from an other mother. which you now think is code for pick up that other phone. get your-- go get your burner phone. within a few minutes, the burner phones, prepaid phones, would actually activate, and there would be a call. dennis murphy: the analyst also found those burner phones pinging off of cell towers near wright's trailer and sievers' house at the same time. the conclusion the prosecution suggested was that sievers and wright were discussing something they didn't want anyone to know about-- a murder. and finally, the weekend teresa was murdered, curtis wayne wright's burner phone pinged off a tower near the sievers' home. within a day of the murder, both burner phones had gone silent. curtis wayne wright's never pinged again, as of june 29. and mark sievers' never pinged again as of june 26, midday,

when he flew off to new york. dennis murphy: but none of this evidence could prove definitively that mark sievers was the head of a conspiracy. there was only one person who could do that. state, next witness. state calls curtis wayne wright. dennis murphy: mark was about to come face to face with his oldest and closest friend. coming up, tears in the courtroom as a killer shares the chilling details. attorney: when she started to turn towards you, what did you do? curtis wayne wright: i hit her. i hit her with the hammer. attorney: where did you hit her? in the head. she put her hands up, and-- and was trying to defend herself. dennis murphy: when "dateline" continues. dupixent can help people with asthma breathe better in as little as 2 weeks. so this is better. and this. dupixent is an add-on treatment for specific types of moderate-to-severe asthma.

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early access and ad free listening to rachel maddow. chart topping series, msnbc original podcasts, exclusive bonus content, and all of your favorite msnbc shows now ad free. subscribe on apple free. subscribe on apple podcasts. dennis murphy: best friends from high school, best man at his wedding, mark sievers' relationship with curtis wayne wright ran deep. now, in a lee county courtroom, sievers sat just 20 feet away from his childhood friend, the state's star witness against him. can you please state your full name for the record? curtis wayne wright, jr. dennis murphy: sievers had pleaded not guilty. whether he walked free or faced a possible death sentence rested largely on wright's credibility. mr. wright, who killed dr. teresa sievers? jimmy rodgers and i physically did it, but mark sievers was also involved in the planning. why did you do it? curtis wayne wright: i was asked to do it. attorney: by whom?

mr. sievers. dennis murphy: wearing a prison jumpsuit and shackles, wright spoke softly and appeared meek, but the prosecutor wanted jurors to know who this man was. at the end of the day, mr. wright is still a killer. you don't care if the jury wants to invite him for thanksgiving. you just want them to believe him. right. and there's really nothing good that you're going to hear me say about mr. wright. dennis murphy: but the story of the origins of the murder plot was, in itself, quite unbelievable and bizarre. it was may 2015, a very special day for curtis wayne wright. he was getting married, and sievers was in missouri to be his best man. but wright said sievers wasn't just there to celebrate a marriage. he was also trying to end one. attorney: so on your wedding day, mr. sievers was telling you that he wants to have his wife killed. curtis wayne wright: yes. he asked me to help him. dennis murphy: wright was surprised. to him, the sievers seemed to have it all. but mark said teresa was threatening to take everything

he loved away from him. he and theresa were having-- having problems, marital problems, and that they were having financial problems as well, that she was leaving him, that he couldn't let her take the kids away from him. dennis murphy: wright says sievers' solution was cold and simple. he told me that really the only option that he had was for her to die. dennis murphy: and sievers told his high school friend there was something in it for him, too-- a big payoff. he had told me that he had at least $100,000 to offer to have it done. dennis murphy: wright hired jimmy rodgers to help him and says mark eventually settled on a plan. while mark was with teresa's family celebrating her mother's birthday in new york, wright and rodgers would drive to his florida home and kill his wife. he told me that teresa was going to be returning home on sunday night, late sunday night, by herself, and that mark and the kids were staying for an extra three days.

dennis murphy: wright testified that he and rodgers arrived at sievers' home around 6:00 am sunday. teresa wouldn't be home for another 18 hours. he said mark gave him the alarm code. attorney: what did you do once you got inside? kind of looked around in the garage. jimmy was kind of poking around stuff, found a hammer, and made a crude joke about it being teresa's destiny. made a hammering. dennis murphy: while rodgers joked about the hammer, the two still weren't sure how they would kill her. after scoping the house out, they left for the day. later that night, when they returned, wright said he pried the door open to make it look like a break in to police. as they awaited her arrival, they still hadn't decided how they would commit the murder. we should have been better prepared. we weren't-- attorney: shouldn't have done it. we're not very good at it, obviously, so. dennis murphy: wright expected teresa to be home around midnight, but at 11:30, her car pulled into the driveway

and the garage door went up. he and rodgers hid. teresa didn't see them and walked into the kitchen. attorney: when you followed her into the house, did you pick up anything? it was unplanned, but there was a hammer. i just grabbed it. even when i had it, i still intended to use my hands, but it was a backup. dennis murphy: wright seemed to shrug off their incompetence with a laugh, as teresa's mother and sister listened to the brutal details. they'd heard it once before, during rodgers trial. this time, it would be no easier. wright described how he followed teresa into the kitchen, accidentally kicking a dog bowl on the way. she jumped and started to turn towards me. attorney: and when she started to turn towards you, what did you do? curtis wayne wright: i hit her. i hit her with the hammer. attorney: where did you hit her? in the head, specifically.

she put her hands up, and-- and was trying to defend herself. attorney: she fought for her life? yeah. she was surprised. i-- i actually think that she thought i was mark. she said, why? dennis murphy: teresa's mother reacted in horror to hearing of her daughter's last moments of life. on the other side of the courtroom, mark sievers appeared to cry and wiped tears away. curtis wayne wright: jimmy came from my right side and just started-- started blasting her over and over and over. i ask him a couple of times. i said, jimmy, stop. you know, i said, enough. and he wouldn't stop. dennis murphy: wright said as they prepared to leave, rodgers laughed and then hit teresa one last time. now teresa's sister, annie lisa, shook and sobbed uncontrollably. a week after the murder, wright made the trip from missouri back to florida again as though nothing had happened. my wife and i drove back down

for the funeral and to help out, to help the family with arrangements and things. attorney: so after you were involved in the death of dr. sievers, you drove down to help her family? yes. dennis murphy: at the funeral, wright said he tried to tell sievers what happened that night, but he said sievers didn't want to hear it. cold, calculating, and brutal. now sievers had heard it, and his defense would do everything it could to make sure the jury wouldn't believe it. coming up, the best defense is a good offense. you have never taken a polygraph about this case, have you? i wasn't asked to. attorney: that wasn't what i asked. no. dennis murphy: when "dateline" continues. (♪♪) a single touch can say a thousand words. it says... i see you.

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1-800-290-7477 now or visit us 1-800-290-7477 now or visit us at fund.com. --from the court to disregard-- dennis murphy: mark sievers defense was facing a monumental task. the state had laid out a comprehensive case, with phone records, insurance policies, and damning testimony from his life-long friend. the entire case came about from one witness, and that was curtis wainwright. dennis murphy: mark sievers' attorney, mike mummert. this case is what happens when the police look to prove guilt rather than exclude innocence. dennis murphy: mummert went after wright on the stand. you have never taken a polygraph about this case, have you? i wasn't asked to.

attorney: that wasn't what i asked. no. dennis murphy: and then in quick order, the defense highlighted the lies wright had told police. you told detective lebid, i did not help mark kill his wife. do you recall telling detective lebid that? yes. when you talked about the actual murder, you said that jimmy committed the murder while you stayed outside. do you recall saying that? yes, in the beginning. dennis murphy: defense attorney mummert also had a personal theory about the case, that wright, envious of his lookalike best friend's life, acted on his own to destroy it. so you think curtis is some kind of psychopath lone wolf-- i do. --who took it upon himself to come down here, kill teresa sievers, go home. curtis had multiple felonies, had been to prison, was living in a trailer. it's really not too hard to imagine curtis just said, who do you think you are? i'm going to take you down a peg or two. dennis murphy: then attorney mummert

took on the most damning evidence, those burner phones, and got the analyst to admit she only knew when the burner phones were connected, not what was said. attorney: is it possible for us to determine or discern any of the content of these voice calls between the prepaid phones? all i have is documentation that they talked to each other or where they pinged from. i don't have texts or voicemail. attorney: do you know what they were talking about? oh, absolutely not. dennis murphy: mummert says those burner phones weren't used to plot a murder. rather, he suggests, the calls may have concerned sensitive it information at teresa's medical practice. and then there was taylor shomaker, the girlfriend of jimmy rodgers. the defense argued that despite hearing rodgers confess to the murder, she didn't have direct knowledge of sievers' alleged role in the conspiracy. and she had a motivation to lie-- money. they said there's $55,000 in money from crime stoppers out there, and that you might be eligible to get some of that

$55,000 if you cooperate. is that correct? - yes, they did. attorney: ok. dennis murphy: shomaker never got the reward, but she did get $400 a month to help her relocate and pay her rent. the defense said that amounted to about $20,000. and as far as those hefty insurance policies that amounted to nearly $6 million being a motive for the murder, mummert called the sievers estate planner. she said the payout figure made absolute sense for a doctor with a growing practice. i just felt that she personally was going to be very successful, that she needed more life insurance. looks like a motivator. well, it does look that way, but in fact, it was not excessive. and in fact, for, i think, most doctors, they will say that that's actually insufficient. dennis murphy: mark sievers declined to testify, and the defense rested its case. it was now up to a 12 person jury to determine if he was a grieving husband or plotting killer.

you had to believe curtis, or there was no case. if you didn't believe curtis, it's a not guilty. dennis murphy: over the course of the trials, teresa's family sat on one side of the courtroom, mark's on the other-- two families once united by a marriage now divided by a murder. this becomes a painful story at some point of two mothers. one has lost a daughter. the other, potentially losing a son. do you see her mother? yes. i ran into her in the restroom once, and she started crying. and i hugged her, and we stood there crying and commiserating with just emotion. there really wasn't a lot said. dennis murphy: now both families waited for a verdict. the jury was set to go home at 6:30. at 6:20, just four hours into deliberations, a verdict. we'll let the clerk publish the verdict. clerk: verdict, the defendant is guilty of first degree murder dennis murphy: and guilty of conspiracy. from the defense table, little reaction from mark sievers.

after jurors left, teresa's family hugged and cried. then they embraced prosecutors and cried some more, the prosecutors themselves finding little to celebrate in the verdict. we had just convicted the father and children had lost both parents. so my reaction was one of melancholy. it's the first time i've ever had that reaction to a verdict. dennis murphy: for mark's family, the news was devastating, but not surprising. i kind of had a sinking feeling because i looked at the jurors' faces often. and i didn't see any compassion there. it was almost like they had their mind made up. dennis murphy: those jurors would now listen to arguments as to whether mark sievers should be sentenced to death or spend the rest of his life in prison. teresa's mother, mary ann groves, described her loss to jurors. my daughter teresa was an extraordinary woman, a powerful force determined to change the world.

i used to call her my modern-day mother teresa. dennis murphy: in an effort to save his life, mark's family, who stood staunchly behind him, spoke to the jury. he's my baby. he's my son, and i would always be there for him. dennis murphy: the jury recommended the death penalty. and you're thinking, all 12 of those people have to believe that a human being has to die for this. and again, i'm just dumbfounded that all 12 of them would come to that decision. dennis murphy: but it was up to the judge to make the final decision. four weeks later, as the judge prepared to rule, he received a letter written by mark and teresa's now-teenage daughters, asking that their dad not be sentenced to death. those girls explicitly asked to not have their father taken from them. dennis murphy: and now-bearded mark sievers appealed to the judge. i'm innocent of all charges.

our girls have tragically lost their mommy, and now they're about to lose their daddy as well. therefore, i respectfully ask the court for life, as not to compound their loss and suffering. i am grateful, however, that the court can only determine my fate on earth, while my soul is in god's hands. dennis murphy: then judge bruce kyle gave his decision. i judge people's actions, not their souls, and it's the order of the court that you be sentenced to death, sir. dennis murphy: teresa's family, convinced of mark's guilt, spoke to the media. her sister annie lisa acknowledging that with this verdict and sentence, another life will be taken. it feels like justice, but it's hollow because it's so terrible for mark's family, and we have tremendous compassion for them. dennis murphy: her focus now, she said, is teresa and mark's two daughters.

if there's any two girls in the world that can come out of this like stars, it's these two girls. dennis murphy: after nearly five years, the murder case of dr. teresa sievers was over. jimmy rodgers was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole. his appeal was denied in 2022. mark sievers' appeal was also denied. he remains on death row. for his cooperation, curtis wayne wright was sentenced to 25 years in prison for second degree murder. for the detectives who worked so hard to find teresa's killers, the case will always feel bittersweet. we should feel good about what we were able to do because we brought some form of justice to the family. but-- you can't bring her back. exactly. dennis murphy: and to think how different the investigation may have been but for a woman named rose. i don't feel like a hero.

i felt like i did the right thing. and guess what, folks. if you really want to tap into your body's innate ability to heal-- dennis murphy: you can still find dr. teresa sievers even today on those youtube videos promoting health, healing, and a good life. she had helped so many, spreading her gospel. tragically, her message, like her life, cut short before she was finished. hello, i'm craig melvin, and this is "dateline." hello, i'm craig melvin, and this is "dateline." i had to do it. you're dead. rachel brady: ever since i heard it, it's been replaying in my head over and over.