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 tom

prosecutor braden hoefert had a story for the jury in the trial of chris kruse.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.

braden hoefert: nothing had been missing from the house. this was clearly, a premeditated murder.n: why would anybody want to shoot jan?

braden hoefert: nothing had been missing from the house. this was clearly, a premeditated murder. keith morrison: why would anybody want to shoot jan? kay king: it makes no sense to me. derek woodford: he was there in the room with jan when this happened. the word divorce being thrown around. steven groschen: from the beginning, they had one suspect. it was chris. there's another person here that could have done this, and it's jeremy. that would be a motive for murder. he was a concern. you see it on tv happening to other people. didn't ever think that this would be something that we would go through. keith morrison: two shots in the dark, and then 1,001 questions in the light of day. kay king: i guess, you just don't think bad things will happen in a small town to good people. and it did. keith morrison: it was-- this was where happiness lived. happiness and memories and desire. the wishes of dreams just out reach. its name is spider lake, one of those thousands of lakes that filled up the rocky gouges the glaciers left behind. maybe that's why they sparkle the way they do. why t