Transcripts For MSNBCW Dateline 20200404

Of love triangle. But on a dark highway, the case would take a dramatic turn. All the hair on my body was standing on edge. Made you nervous. Extremely nervous. A mysterious driver carrying ominous cargo. How did he explain that . At that time you dont. A mindbending plot revealed the shattering truth. Evil is the only word i can think of. Inhuman to do Something Like that. It was a moonless night in iowa, 4 00 in the morning, the quietest of quiet hours. A small town cop glided down the empty highway out of des moines, bound for the early shift at his rural police department. Thats when he saw, corner of his eye, what was that in the ditch maybe 30 yards off the highway . A car in trouble. He swung around. Somebody clearly missed a curve on the gravel access road. The drivers door hanging open on it. Looked like air bags deployed, dome light was on. And then suddenly, who was that knocking on his car window . The gentleman didnt have a shirt on. Seemed agitated, weird. Eventually a second cop appeared. Hes excited. He seemed like, you know, if you were to talk to somebody right after they got done running a marathon. Just out of breath. Sweating profusely. The entire time im out here, its just a very, very its an uneasy feeling. My stomach was turning. But no law broken. He called the guy a cab. Sent him home. No idea what was coming. How could they know . It makes you question the goodness of humanity. It makes you question your faith. It makes you question your beliefs. It is a point where evil outdid good. Even here in the heart of the heartland, its lovely capital. Its famous state fair, all manner of deepfried delicacies and president ial casting calls here. Des moines, a place known for its sweet and gentle nature for people who are simply nice. Like him. He was he was just very good. His name was Justin Michael. These are his parents, weldon and marie. He cared about people. He was kind and considerate. Just a nice guy . Just a very nice guy. A very good person. Sort of person who volunteered for things like helping to build houses for habitat for humanity. He really enjoyed it. Reporter justin was almost 31. The eldest of three. His brother nathan idolized him. All three of us stayed close. We grew up playing sports and hanging out with justin. He was a great older brother. Very supportive and caring and would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it. In fact, said sister sidney, justin saved her life when as a teenager she was caught in a rip tide at the beach. It was absolutely terrifying. I felt like i was literally drowning and then all of a sudden there was justin. And he was pulling me up on our boogie board and telling me that everything was going to be okay. Everything was going to be fine. So, you get the idea. Just a good person, a nice guy who was about to get as lucky as a person can in life. That is, lucky in love with her. I found him very attractive and interesting and he he was fun to talk to. Her name is angie ver houle. What happened to angie and justin was that thing that some people dont think exists. They fell in love at first sight, bingo, just like that. After our third date, i texted my friend and i said, im pretty sure im going to marry this guy. He seemed to feel the same way about you . Yep. It was very easy. From day one. We both knew. So, they did what people do, they tried out each others interests and angie discovered the man she was in love with also loved things like sky diving, which, of course, he wanted her to do, too. Lured out oyou out a time or . Yes. He had you jumping out of an airplane . Yes. What were you thinking . I am terrified of heights. So he took you up there. It was so exhilarating, though. I was terrified up until the moment we got in the plane and then i just was calm. It was so much fun. Which was a little like their courtship, really, a jump that some people would find terrifying, but not them. You got engaged very quickly. Mmhmm. When you know, you know. Was there ever any doubt . I mean, no day you woke up and thought, oh, god, what have i done . Nope. So in august 2013, two months after they met, angie and justin were an engaged couple. In december she moved in with him at his house in a tiny place called grimes, about 20 minutes outside of des moines, and they planned their wedding. Which would be, they decided, a family event on the beach in North Carolina where his parents live. They set the date, july 20th, 2014. To was may. Excitement building. When justins parents came to visit in grimes. On mothers day weekend. And on the wednesday evening before that mothers day we were laughing and talking about Halloween Costumes for the next year and as it grew dusk, we ended up cooking smores over their fire pit, which was one of justins favorite things to do. Justins dad weldon was on business in minneapolis that night, so marie stayed alone in justin and angies guest room. As far as she knew, all was well. A couple in love. All good things on their way. Dark now. Moonless dark. She closed her eyes and slept. And then so i heard the door opening, and my first thought was angie was coming in to grab a scarf or a piece of jewelry from the dresser. You know, i know she kept some things, spare things in the bedroom. The person just stood in the doorway what did you see, just a silhouette . I saw a dark silhouette. A person dressed in dark clothing. And i could see a red laser light shining in my eyes, and then as i was laying there, i noticed the red light shine across the pillow, and i remember thinking, you know, thats a a strange flashlight. Thats when i saw a much bigger person than either justin or angie, so i knew this was an intruded. My heart sank. Im sure i froze. And a second or two later, the door was shutting and i remember praying just, please, take what you want and just leave us alone. But, of course, leaving them alone was not what the strange, intrusive presence had in mind. Not even close. Coming up it was something in 100 million years you could not imagine. It just was unfathomable. It was so bizarre. A night of terror only just beginning. No one was prepared for what would happen only seconds later. And i rolled over and saw somebody running out of the bedroom. And i knew that was bad. I heard angie scream, oh, my god, oh, my god. Marie tells detectives a horrifying story. But theyre not sure they believe it. To me that was very odd. When dateline continues. So the whole world looks different. The unbeatable strength of advil. What pain . Ladies, my friends and i are having a debate. I have a back rash. Alright. Whoa, mara. I laugh like this. [ laughs obnoxiously ] its just not my scene. I couldnt help but over do you like insurance . I love insurance. Did you know you can save money bundling home and auto with progressive, and renters can bundle, too . I know, right . [ laughs ] [ singing continues ] whyd you stop . I was listening. 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It changes your perspective; it makes you a different person. Its true, its so true. laugh to start your free 30day trial, just text listen17 to 500500. Hard to think about it now, that night in may, 2014. When Marie Michael drifted off to sleep, things were so good, so full of possibilities for her eldest child and his fiancee. The save the date cards had gone out for the wedding. They were just perfect together. And then that terrifying pinprick of red light hit her eye in the dark, woke her up. And she saw him, it, whatever, shrinking away. And the fear that took over her body. She froze. Maybe she prayed for those horrifying seconds. How many seconds . Three . Five seconds . Across the hall, angie. I heard the bedroom door open, and i had been in such a hard sleep, i just assumed it was justin leaving to go to the bathroom. Then i heard a pop, pop, pop. And it sounded very muffled, so im thinking, that could not be a gunshot. And unaware that her world was quite different now, angie opened her eyes. And i rolled over and saw somebody running out of the bedroom and i knew that was bad. And i nudged justin and i said, justin, justin. I heard angie scream, oh, my god. Oh, my god. I knew something terrible had happened. I turned on the light. And i just ran out of the bedroom, down the hall. Did you see him . I didnt. You just knew . Yeah. I looked in the bedroom doorway and i saw justin laying on his back on the right side of the bed with his head tilted. And i could see a bullet hole in his head and i could see blood running down his neck. My instinct was to figure out how they got in the house. We had a really big window. I checked to see if that was closed. And it was. Checked the front door, that was still locked. Saw that the back door was unlocked, and i went and i opened it a little bit. And then i was like, thats not a good idea, so i closed it. Did you understand right away that everything was different, that the man you loved was dead . It was one of those moments where you just want to go back two minutes. Just two minutes ago, he was laying beside me and he was alive and now hes gone forever. But in that moment her brain, her fingers, wouldnt cooperate. What they say about not being able to dial 911 in an emergency is very true. I had to try like three different times. Somebody just came in and shot my fiance in the head. Maam, whats your name . Angie. Can you go over and check the status of hes dead. Okay. I know he is. Marie called 911, too. Somebody came in and shot somebody. Do you know who was shot . My son, Justin Michael. A few minutes later, deputies from the Polk County Sheriffs Office arrived and looked around the house as the two women sat in the living room in complete silence. As we were sitting there across from the tv, we noticed that the dvd player had been pulled out and there was a fluorescent yellow sweatshirt laying there, which didnt belong . Didnt belong. We pointed it out to the officer and it was neither one of ours. Was that what happened . Some awful mistake . A robber hitting the wrong place, wrong person . Deputies told them, get your things, were taking you out of the house. I couldnt go back into the bedroom. I didnt have my glasses on. They were in there. So i said, i need my glasses. She asked me if i would grab her glasses from the nightstand in their bedroom. So i did go back into their bedroom one more time. I looked at justin and i told him goodbye and how much i loved him, and how i couldnt imagine why that had happened to him. Is it even possible to understand what it does to you to look through the door and see your eldest son lying there with a bullet hole in his head . It was something in a 100 million years you could not imagine. Who could have done that to my son, who wouldnt hurt a fly . Had never spoken ill of anybody, or to my knowledge had any enemies or it just was unfathomable. The sheriffs deputies took angie and marie outside and put them in separate patrol cars where they sat and watched the activity around them, quite stunned. Before they took her cell phone, marie called her husband, weldon. She begged him to hurry. I wondered when i heard the news, whether they had gotten into the wrong house. I mean, it was so bizarre. Reality failed to gel in weldons head. On that drive from minneapolis down, i mean, i couldnt believe it. I expected to see him there when i got there. I thought it was a mistake. I asked if justin was all right and then she said, no, that he was gone. It was a feeling of isolation and i could see, you know, people in and out of the house. I could see detectives with flashlights combing the neighborhood and all around his house. Crime scene. Crime scene. It was a very long three hours of my life, just sitting there not knowing what was going on. News reporters were setting up everywhere. And theres so many police cars and they werent saying, we got the guy. And, like, i just felt, they dont have him. They need to catch him. I know im safe, but is everybody else i love safe . Eventually, they drove both women, separately, to the sheriffs headquarters, where they installed them in separate rooms for separate interviews. Because something about this didnt smell right. There was just a lack of emotion, and to me that was very odd. Coming up detectives become concerned about Something Else too. We had to find out why did someone isolate justin and want him dead . And we didnt see a lot of emotion from the mother or angie. And so that was concerning. Did it say anything to you, that these two women in the house, one of them lying right beside the victim, were unharmed . Yeah. It was suspicious. When dateline continues. Tv five seconds left. Oh ho yeah, thats my man there. Tv sports announcer time out. Lets go to a commercial. Nooooooo not another commercial when you bundle your home, auto and Life Insurance with allstate you could save 25 . In fact, the more you bundle the more you can save. Put the other game on if its important to you allstate can protect it. Home auto and Life Insurance you could save 25 . If its important to you allstate can protect it. What . Bundle and save with allstate. Click or call for a quote today. What if we attack the enemy with a hail of fire and brimstone . Or we could do a hail of coupons . I can assure you gina, the enemy does not fear coupons. Well there are no bad ideas. Yah, except coupons. Possibly the best yogurt in the world. I am totally blind. And non24 can throw my days and nights out of sync, keeping me from the things i love to do. Talk to your doctor, and call 8442142424. On the morning of may the 8th, 2014, local tv trucks roared off to a most unexpected place. Peaceful little grimes, iowa, population 9,000, was crawling with cops. Very unusual, said reporter Stephanie Moore of des moines nbc affiliate whotv. Its the kind of place where they have the Convenience Store and everyones there Drinking Coffee in the morning. What about crime . Much of it . No, no crime in grimes. Neighbors live there, probably dont lock their doors. Its just a quiet neighborhood. But sure enough, Something Big was going down. Though just what, the deputies wouldnt say. When we talked to neighbors, they were surprised just to see even more than one Police Vehicle in the neighborhood. And then the dci, the division of criminal investigation, van came and thats hard to miss. Its huge. People are coming out with little booties on and full suits, going in an out of the house. Theres crime tape up. And nobodys saying what happened . And neighbors are starting to ask, whats going on here . Anxiety is like a virus. It spread fast in grimes. Yeah, they were nervous. People dont just get shot in grimes. And they knew Justin Michael and angie and couldnt imagine anything happening there. And if reporters and neighbors were mystified about what happened, so was detective Robyn Bartholomew. I was the oncall detective, i got called out at 3 30 in the morning. Who confronted a messy, bloody crime scene, a victim shot point blank in the head. And here was his fiancee without a mark on her. Blood tends to spatter. But there wasnt a drop on angie. I mean, how far apart were they . Right next to each other. Has that ever happened in your experience that youve encountered that before . Not that ive encountered. And did it say anything to you . That these two women in the house, one of them lying right beside the victim, were unharmed . Yeah, it was suspicious. Yes, and also if the killer was intent on robbery, he certainly didnt succeed. That dvd player pulled out of its place in the living room . That was it, said detective tim hopper. Nothing else was taken or disturbed. Well, it didnt make sense. Did it make sense as a burglary . I mean no. As an attempted burglary . No. And so if it wasnt an attempted burglary, why would somebody be messing around with to stage it. To try to throw people off track. Mind you, there was that sweatshirt that didnt belong in the house. Had the killer, in his rush to escape, left it behind . While officers tried to track that down, angie and marie were at the Sheriffs Office in separate interview rooms answering a lot of pointed questions. Why not kill you too . I dont know if he looked in on angie and justin and justin woke up and he sensed trouble. I dont know. I mean, why not kill angie . And this was weird. Somehow, said detective bartholomew, their tone just didnt seem right. Especially angies. I thought that i guess due to what had just happened, that she would be very emotionally upset. And, to me, it was just like a regular interview. It didnt make sense. Like when she told detective hopper about the intruder who had just fired several bullets right through her fiance lying right beside her. An intruder she saw just a few feet away. Describe this person the best you can. It was all black. Id say pretty tall. You say black. Youre talking black as in everything was black. Shadow or a black person . I dont know. I didnt see any color. Did that arouse any suspicion, that maybe she was involved in this somehow . I thought so. So detective bartholomew pulled angie and maries 911 calls. Hes hes dead. Okay. I know he is. Somebody came in and shot somebody. And . Same thing. I just really curiously devoid of emotion . Very much so. I think there was panic. But listening to it, i just think that there was some distance there from the the you know, the caller to the victim. Everybodys still suspect in this because we have to find out why did someone isolate justin and want him dead . And we didnt see a lot of emotion from the mother or angie. And so that was concerning. But ultimately you have to go where the leads take you to. So you do. But just then, the leads were going in circles, nowhere. Coming up somebody came in there for one sole purpose and that was to execute him. So someone was very personal. Investigators start digging into justins past, and their line of questioning triggers concerns for angie. I was thinking, was i about to marry somebody that i had no idea who he was . When dateline continues. These are real people, not actors, whove got their eczema under control. With less eczema, you can show more skin. So roll up those sleeves. And help heal your skin from within with dupixent. 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Luvs, parent like a pro [car[clicking of ignition]rt] uh wha woof eeh woof wuh [silence] [engine roars to life] [dog howls] dramatic opera music swells from radio [howling continues] hello, im dara brown. Heres whats happening. The cdc and urging americans to wear nonmedical or homemade face masking during necessary trips outdoors to help prevent the spread of covid19. The use of medicalgrade or surgicalgrade should be reserved for health professionals. The captain of the uss Theodore Roosevelt was greeted with cheers from his crew after violating the chain of command. He pleaded with his superior to do more to stop the spread of covid19 on the ship. Now back to dateline. When Justin Michael was shot to death while lying asleep in his very own bed, right beside his apparently loving fiancee, the cops adopted a handy rule. When in doubt, suspect all about. Including even her. It didnt dawn on me that i could have been a suspect or angie. It didnt dawn on me a bit. You know, their minds do have to go to strange places when theyre detectives, thats what they do. But i understand that. But it was the calm demeanor, the apparent lack of emotion in justins fiancee, angie ver huel, that attracted the particular interest of the detectives bartholomew and hopper. And so they pushed her a little. Wondered aloud, not so idly, if angie might have known the killer or, perish the thought, even colluded with that shadowy person, whoever it might be. Like maybe a love interest. Someone in his or her past. More likely hers. Talked with angie about justins relationships. He had no serious relationships prior to her. He did had dated, but no one that seemed to cause a concern. So i went into angies relationships. Angie had been married before. Divorced in 2010. And the exhusband wasnt a concern as far as no. And there was no particular bad blood . No. Nothing. There was no children involved. There was nothing other than the relationship that ended. But then, angie revealed, she got involved with a guy named andy. Andy wegener. Moved in with him, lived with him for three years. And then, this was unusual, continued living with him even after their romance ended. Andy, or so she said, was well in her past when she met justin. Hard to know what, if anything, to make of that. But then angie told the detective about some strange incidents. Especially peculiar for grimes, sort of thing that just doesnt happen here. It was one night back in november, she said. Shed parked her car on the street overnight in front of justins place. And when she emerged in the morning . I saw the back window had been hit in. And i was like, oh, my gosh. And then i went around and i saw that two of the other windows had been hit in. She was shocked, she said. Went back in the house to tell justin. They called the police. A Police Officer came and looked at it and noticed that it had been keyed, that it looked like somebody had thrown something at the windshield because there was a big dent on the hood. But that wasnt the only incident, said angie. Somebody got into the backyard, and vandalized justins prized fruit trees. There were branches that were snipped off and eventually killed the trees. Why would somebody come into his yard and ruin things that he had tried to grow . So was the vandalism a warning . Did justin actually understand that he was a target . Maybe angie didnt know her fiance quite as well as she thought she did. After all, executionstyle murders, as the detectives knew very well, often turn out to have something to do with illegal drugs. Did you guys get high . Did you party a little bit . No. No drugs involvement whatsoever . Did justin ever sell drugs . Not that i know of. But detective hopper felt it in his veins. Something about this didnt add up. This morning justin was singled out and murdered. You wasnt. I know. Marie wasnt. Justin was. I know. Okay . Look at me a second, angie, and listen. There wasnt a burglary in your home. That takes away the randomness. Nothing was taken . I mean as far as were aware of right now. Okay. Okay. And somebody came in there for one sole purpose and that was to execute him. So someone was very personal. If for any reason you would be protecting somebody that you care about, i need to know. Right. Because this is not acceptable. Mmhmm. When they were doing their police thing and coming up with different scenarios, drugs and money, gambling, the question just kept being asked, is it possible that these things couldve happened . And of course everythings a possibility. For a moment i was thinking, was i about to marry somebody that i had no idea who he was . Oh, but there were so many questions. One in particular that angie just couldnt seem to answer. Coming up where did you meet him at . Just at a bar. Okay. But it was intimate . It eventually did get intimate. But not right away. Angie tells detectives about someone else from her past who once did something disturbing. Just said some kind of nasty things about me as a person. That to me was kind of like, thats a little creepy. But does it have anything to do with the case . When dateline continues. Protect your pet with the 1 name in flea and tick protection. Frontline plus. Trusted by vets for nearly 20 years. To switch to Jackson Hewitt. 100 reasons for you frontline plus. Say goodbye to your old tax service and get 100 when you file with Jackson Hewitt. Plus, youll get our lifetime accuracy guarantee. So maybe its more like 101 reasons. Get your coupon code at jacksonhewitt. Com and get 100 today. Detective Robyn Bartholomew was convinced of one thing in particular. Justin michaels fiancee angie had to be the key to solving their murder case here in grimes, iowa. I maybe thought even though she was engaged, maybe there was a boyfriend on the side. Right. And if theres a boyfriend on the side, either the boyfriend wanted to get rid of the competition or she wanted to get rid of this one so she could be with the other one. Yeah, some kind of a love triangle. It sounds devious to say such a thing, but these things actually do happen, right . Oh, very much so. Detective bartholomew held her suspicions in check while her partner, detective hopper, continued to press angie about the other men in her life. Very few of those, according to angie. Her exhusband and her exboyfriend andy. And then, three hours into the interview all of a sudden a name came up of someone that actually she had dated. An acquaintance that she had met in between the breakup with andy and her meeting justin. It was not a fullon relationship. Did you just not remember him when we talked about it before . Well, i hadnt i mean i thought about him but it was kind of like it was like a couple of months of hanging out and it was like a here or there. And he, i feel like i felt like he wasnt being very serious, so i wasnt being very serious with it. And who was this other guy . His name is dave. Okay, what is dave what . What is his last name now . I just forgot. Itll come to me, im sure. Dave, dave, dave, dave, dave. I dont know why i cant think of it right now. Wait, she couldnt remember his last name . Which was very odd. When did you first start seeing dave . The weekend after andy and i broke up. It was kind of just like a silly thing and where did you meet him at . Just at a bar. Okay. So i was like all right. Whatever. This guys a funny guy. Angie told detective hopper she didnt spend much time with dave. They mainly texted each other and met up at bars a few times. We had kind of had i guess it was this dayandage relationship, where we only saw each other about once a week and then the rest of our conversations were strictly through text messaging. I dont think we ever spoke on the phone. And it was always just it was very, like, playful in nature almost. Not like a serious type of relationship. But it was intimate . It eventually did get intimate, but not right away. Okay. And then it was kind of like once a week thing. Wed hang out on like friday nights, generally. And then, of course, everything changed. And then i met justin. And she got the feeling justin just might be the real thing. So she started avoiding dave. Did he sense something . Maybe. Thats when dave sent angie a text that referred to a Reality Television show. He had made the comment, im going to get your final red rose. And that, to me, was kind of like thats a little creepy, knowing i didnt feel that same way. Right. You hadnt given him any sign that you felt that way . Right. We had never talked about being exclusive. I mean, when youre seeing somebody maybe once a week and talking through text messaging the other times caught me off guard a little bit. Then, just after her second date with justin thats when i told dave like, i met this other guy, so i had told dave that i was going to have to cancel our plans friday because of this. And, as angie said, when you know you know, remember . So she asked her girlfriends how should i break up with dave . Like, is it appropriate to do this through text messaging . Should i meet up with him . And they were like, no, go ahead and do it through text messaging. You dont owe this guy anything. So she did. Diplomatically. She tried to be kind, she said. I just texted him and i said, hey, i want to be completely upfront and honest with you and ive met somebody else that i want to spend my time with and were done. His response was, i knew you been running around behind my back. And we hadnt seen each other for at least two weeks at this point. Its hardly a relationship. Right. He didnt take it so well. Unpleasant . Yes. I was trying to be kind. He was not. What did he say . He said some kind of nasty things about me as a person. And then at one point he told me to eat [ bleep ] and die. And then that was then followed by niceties and wanting to work things out. Oh . So it was really back and forth all day. And at one point, it became obvious that he wasnt going to let it go. So i just finally quit responding. You never heard from him again . Yeah, he had texted me the next day saying, i dont feel like this is over. Can you give me another chance . I didnt respond to that, so then after that, yes, i had not heard from him at all. That was in june 2013, 11 months before justin was shot to death. Angie told the detective all that. So, odd, to say the least, that angie swore she could not remember the guys last name. Did you think about what his last name is yet . I keep trying to think of it. Dave, dave, dave, dave, dave. Dave, dave, dave. I do not know why im drawing such a blank. Really . Detective hopper turned up the heat. About one of the first things that i had asked you at the very beginning was who, before justin, who was your relationship, and you said andy. Mmhmm. And you left dave out. Right. For whatever reason. And it doesnt matter at this point either. Is there any possibility that with dave or anyone else that while youve been with justin that youve maintained any relationship with anyone . No. And then, finally, after more than 30 minutes of questions about this dave guy, it suddenly came to her, she said. I remember daves last name, by the way. And that is . Moffitt. Moffitt. Moffitt. David moffitt. A name that meant nothing at all. Another dead end, most likely. But remember that business about luck . Most useful investigative tool there is. Coming up new suspicions are raised as detectives realize two of the people in the case are connected by one remarkable coincidence. A company of 10,000 people here in des moines, what are the odds that they would be in the same in the same cubicle they were. Coincidences. Sometimes they come in clusters, dont they . Another Office Person heard the name and recognized dave moffitt and she immediately said, he had a car impounded this morning. Approximately within 30 minutes of the homicide. When dateline continues. Ive always loved seeing whats next. And im still going for my best, even though i live with a higher risk of stroke due to afib not caused by a heart valve problem. So if theres a better treatment than warfarin, ill go for that. Eliquis. Eliquis is proven to reduce stroke risk better than warfarin. Plus has significantly less major bleeding than warfarin. Eliquis is fdaapproved and has both. Whats next . Sharing my roots. 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David left under some kind of cloud, said angie, months before the murder. But, really, what were the chances . Their desks were just feet apart. And did he know that justin was dating you . He figured out that justin was dating me. Justin told his parents about it. He just said it was an awkward situation but there was no problem. The alignment of that is in a company of astronomical. 10,000 people here in des moines, what are the odds that they would be in the same in the same cubical, they were. But they got on fine. Never any bad blood. And David Moffitt had no criminal record. So should detectives add him to their list of suspects or what . At this point, i dont know if i have the complete story regarding dave or not. Coincidences. Sometimes they come in clusters, dont they . Not long after angies memory coughed up the name dave moffitt, there was another coincidence. We figured we needed to continue and focus on dave and see where that leads us. The first thing that was done was a background makeup of dave to include to see if he had a weapons permit. And so while that check for the weapons permit was being conducted, another Office Person heard the name and recognized dave moffitt. And she immediately said, he had a car impounded this morning. Not only was it impounded, it was impounded approximately within 30 minutes of the homicide. Approximately 4 00 in the morning. And it was six miles approximate north of where the homicide occurred. And dave moffitt resided approximately 28 miles southeast of where the homicide occurred. Wow. Well, that would be a red flag thats for sure. That was. Through a further investigation, we learned that he had actually had an accident. So they pulled the accident report and read about those two cops and their strange encounters just off highway 141 starting at 4 00 that morning. A place which, by all rights, cory rose, cop number one, should never have been that particular morning. But life happens to everybody, and early on the 8th of may 2014, officer rose was adjusting. I was traveling back from the hospital in des moines. My fiancees grandma was ill in the hospital. Still in his own clothes, not in uniform yet, he was on his way to a 5 00 a. M. Patrol shift in the town of boone, 25 miles or so up the road, where officer rose is an investigator with the local police department. And it was very dark on the highway, no moon at all at that hour. So he almost missed it. There in the ditch maybe 30 yards off the pavement. And what did you see . As i was traveling up the road i saw a car, it would be off here to our to my right, sitting on top of the ditch just on the other side of this pole. By just over here where the grass is . Yep. Sitting there with the drivers door hanging open on it, look like airbags deployed, dome light was on. It appeared the car was headed for the highway but missed a sharp curve on the gravel access road. So cory pulled up, near as he could, to the crashed car. Just as soon as id stopped and noticed that there was nobody in the car, nobody around the car, i was sitting in my vehicle, someone, a male approached my vehicle, knocked on the door and he had come from kind of off behind me to my left, knocked on my window and kind of startled me a little bit, you know. He was asking if he could get some assistance, get a ride. Offered to pay me to give him a ride. And i told him that quite frankly i didnt feel comfortable with doing so. Reporter between that and having to get to work and this not being his jurisdiction, cory called his dispatch. I said, hey, im out with a vehicle in a ditch, could you contact the authorities in polk county, see if we can get somebody to come out here . And they said theyd have somebody out there as soon as possible, they were tied up on a shooting in grimes. Reporter so cory left for his shift and when polk county sheriffs deputy jason tart responded to the call from dispatch a little while later, all he knew was there had been an accident. So it hit that ditch at some speed then, huh . Yeah, it was he was going pretty fast. Just missed the corner. Just unfamiliar with the area and driving too fast for gravel. Reporter but it was odd because, once again, the driver of that car, David Moffitt, was nowhere to be seen. Coming up a roadside encounter goes from odd to downright unnerving. All the hair on my body was standing on edge. When dateline continues. Advil liquigels minis. A mighty small pill with concentrated power that works at liquid speed. Youll ask. What pain . Advil liquigels minis. Hes a greek god. This is the essence. We make greek yogurt. Its silkier than zeus pajamas. I bet theyre soft laughing . The perfect fit. Possibly the best yogurt in the world. Tv sports announcer yeah, thats my man there. Tv sports announcer time out. 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Our costs for shipping were cut in half. Just like that. Shipstation. The 1 choice of online sellers. Go to shipstation. Com tv and get 2 months free. Shipstation. The 1people dont want to of onlineso i share it. Song by song. The dark and the light. The struggle and the joy with my mental health. Whats your mission . Use godaddy to help make it happen. Reporter Justin Michael had been shot to death in his own bed, but his fiancee angie had been spared. About a half hour later, angies ex, a man named david moffatt, crashed his car into eye ditch about five miles from just continues home. When the officer arrived at the scene, he appeared to be gone. So i get out of the car and immediately im thinking, okay, maybe they were ejected. So i go and start searching the area to see make sure they werent thrown out of the car. I was just getting ready to get back into my car, and i hear somebody yell, i need help. I was like, was this your car . Yeah, thats my car. Soon as he gets close to me, he has this real like a very sweet smell coming off of him. So i automatically okay, this is an owi. Reporter why would you say a sweet smell means a drunken driving thing . Just the time of day, and theres a car accident involved, single vehicle. I mean, it just kind of goes with it. Definitely smelled like hed been drinking. Reporter was he glad to see you . I dont know if he was glad to see me, but reporter i mean, you were potentially going to rescue him from a bad situation youd think. He saw somebody that might be able to help him, but i dont know if he was necessarily happy to see me. Reporter David Moffitt told him he was on his way home from visiting his brother that night. So then i basically asked him, like, theres no way in chance maybe youre visited a friend in grimes tonight . Reporter now, why would you bring that up . There had been just been within an hour, a homicide had taken place in grimes. The suspect was still unaccounted for. Reporter and you got a guy whos sweating and smelling sweet . Exactly. Reporter what did he say . I dont even know where the town is. Reporter everything about David Moffitt made the deputy feel anxious. All the hair not on my head, but all the hair on my body was standing on edge. Reporter thats weird. I mean, hes just a regular guy, right . Didnt seem to be armed or anything. Youre a cop and you got your weapon, and youre still feeling nervous . Well, i knew he wasnt armed because i did just a patdown for a weapons before he because if youre going to sit in my car, youre not going to have a weapon on you. Reporter but he still made you nervous . Extremely nervous. Reporter but turned out david hadnt been drinking. There was no reason to arrest him. Still, the deputys instincts kicked in. So i looked through his car, and i couldnt find insurance. So i impounded it for not having insurance with an accident. Reporter not that it was drivable anyway. He sent david home in a cab. After reading deputy tarts report, detectives bartholomew and hopper knew they had to act fast. There could be clues still on highway 141, and surprises too. The media peopling an and marie seen hovering around patrol cars they had been placed in that awful morning had no idea what had happened in Justin Michaels bedroom middle of the night. The reporters new only this, they had been sent here because of a suspicious death and it was related somehow to this house. Then as he waited for somebody to tell them something, they got a tip. Local reporter Stephanie Moore. We heard that sheriffs deputies were walking the fields along highway 141. So that would be the highway you would take from des moines to go to grimes. And they were just walking these fields. And we asked them, are you looking for a body . No. Are you looking for someone . No. Are you looking for a weapon . We cant say. But the publics not in any danger. We think what happened in grimes is related to this, and its an isolated incident. Reporter and theyre just walking up and down. Just walking the fields. Reporter looking for something . You know, in a line, so they dont miss anything. Kind of how they do it if theres a missing child but we thought maybe they were looking for a gun or a weapon. Reporter good guess. In fact, that small army of cops was looking for anything that looked like evidence. Because hours earlier, David Moffitts car went off the road around here. And facts were piling up. Moffitt had worked with justin, dated angie, and wrecked his car the morning of the murder just six miles away. Of course, that piqued our interest very quickly. That moved David Moffitt to the top of the list. Reporter polk county prosecutors Steve Foritano and bret lucas had been involved all along. We sent the detectives and the patrol officers to that location, highway 141, to see what else they could find in that area that might be of use or might be telling in terms of the investigation. Reporter thats why the locals saw all these Police Officers wandering up and down the field as if they were looking for something. They were. They were. Reporter and imagine what they found there in a ditch along the highway. Probably the most important thing was they found loaded magazines. They had the same type of ammo that was found at the crime scene. And the shell casings found at the crime scene matched that type of ammunition found in the ditch at highway 141. Reporter right there in the ditch near where the car crashed . It was actually across the highway and a little bit farther down, but within 500 yards of where the crash occurred. They also located in that ditch some paper targets that you would use for shooting target practice. Some shooters ear muffs, a camo neck cloth that youd wear you could wear as a mask. Reporter like somebody preparing for an act of terror or an execution. Clearly, David Moffitt was their killer. Had to be. And then . You know what they say about assumptions. Those cops found Something Else near the accident scene. Sort of thing that could make a person wonder what in heavens name is going on here. It was one little thing in a shoebox. The shoes were not in it but there was various paperwork. One of the things that were found was a receipt from a local car dealership, and the receipt was for a purchase of three oil changes. Had the name of andrew wegener. Reporter andrew wegener, the boyfriend angie lived with before justin. Weird. Another guy without a criminal record. Another apparently ordinary person, a des moines funeral director, in his case. And yet, there it was in black and white, among all of those other pieces of evidence, andrew wegener. How did he explain that . At that time, you dont. Reporter so, did andy wegener kill Justin Michael, the man who replaced him in angies heart . We immediately went to andys place of business and brought him back to headquarters for questioning. And we ask him about his relationship with angie. Reporter and more to the point perhaps his relationship, or the lack of it, with justin. Have you ever met justin . Once. And where was that . It was at joes pub in johnston. Just random runin or was it a gathering . No, it was a gathering with kind of a group of friends. It was an engagement party. Was justin the person who she was in a relationship after you broke up with her or was there someone else . There might have been somebody else in between. I dont have any idea. But you dont know . No. The last time you got in touch with angie would have been when . She sent a text message to me that said happy birthday and i said okay, thanks. And that was it. And that was it. Im asking andy about whether or not hes missing anything. And he never tells me about the receipt for the oil changes. Reporter the receipt in the shoebox, the reason for suspicion and all these questions. And i stay on the receipt because thats where my interest is at. And he believes that hes in possession of the receipt. Reporter andy said he thought the receipt was either in his car or in his house. If it turned up somewhere else, how would that happen . If its somewhere other than your car or at home . It blew away . Thats about it. Any ideas how it could turn up in this investigation . No. Reporter then detective hopper asked andy about guns. Do you go shooting at all . Shooting . Yeah. Do you have i have a 12gauge. I havent shot it in six years. Do you have any handguns . No. Okay. Reporter and what he did the night before. Yesterday, what time did you get off work . Yesterday, i got off at 4 00 . Okay. Can you walk me through what occurred from 4 00 yesterday until we showed up at your doorstep this morning and you were so thrilled to see us . Reporter andy said he spent the evening and night with his current girlfriend. So you spent the night at your girlfriends . Oh, yeah. How long has she been there . Three years. Do they have good security there . No, not really. A safe area . Yeah. Its huxly. Is it gated to come in . Cameras, anything like that . No. He has spent the night with his current girlfriend at that time. And we verified that before he left the office, before he had a chance to make a phone call or anything else. Reporter at least according to this girlfriend . According to his girlfriend. Yes. Reporter that would give him an alibi. It would give him an alibi. Whether it was preconceived or whether or not that was legitimate, we we did not know. Reporter andy swore detectives would find no evidence against him in grimes. When was the last time you were in grimes . For any reason. Theres a Basketball Court in the u is what they call it. That was awhile ago. Whats a while mean to you . Three weeks to a month three or four weeks at least. Its been a while. Theres a bunch of guys that get together, we pay five bucks and are able to shoot around in this place for a couple hours. Let me double check, make sure were good to go. Sure. Reporter the detectives exhausted their questions, took andy back to work, apparently in the clear. Unaware that andys name was about to turn up one more time in a very suspicious place. Coming up. Investigators have been looking for a single killer, but a fresh clue may send this investigation in a whole new direction. When dateline continues. It, . When dateline continues. Thats just the lowbattery warning. Oh, alright. Now its all, check out my rv, and, lets go fourwheeling. Maybe theres a little part of me that wanted to be seen. 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Youll also get this free beneficiary planner. Use this valuable guide to record your Important Information and give helpful direction about your final wishes to your loved ones. And its yours free. Its our way of saying thank you just for calling. So call now. Justin didnt deserve this. He always thought of everybody else, always wanted to do for other people. Reporter as much in love as angie said she was, the detectives had learned over the years, you never know. They needed to search her phone, see who she talked to in the hours and days just before justin was shot to death. They also got a search warrant for David Moffitts house. And inside . No, they didnt find the murder weapon. But they did find these strange notes. Seemed to have been written by someone who had been watching justin and angies neighborhood. Those surveillance notes listed addresses in the immediate area around the crime scene. And they were very specific about when neighbors were turning on and off their lights. The creek behind the house is is it wide enough where i can jump across that . Obviously, it looked like a way to make an escape once the murder was done. Reporter but then they found what looked like the motherlode, a bill of sale. It was in andy wegeners name reporter yeah but there it was in David Moffitts house. Reporter that is, the bill of sale for a 0. 9 millimeter carbine. And the name on the document, bold as brass, was indeed andy wegener. How was that remotely possible . Its more evidence to suggest that theres some sort of conspiracy involved here. Its too early to really rule anybody out. We wanted to find out if andy was the actual purchaser of that weapon. Fortunately, that bill of sale gave us the lead to where the weapon came from. Reporter his name was right here drew bahlmann. And here he is. Hes a small Town High School english teacher in a little place called sigourney 90 miles or so from des moines. There is something you can do with a degree in english . Yes, there is. And i love my job. Reporter an english teacher who likes to tell stories. And this one . Sort of thing that would make an interesting plot for a novel, wouldnt it . For a novel, perhaps, yes. Reporter drew is a selfdescribed nerd. He also is a target shooter and a metal detector enthusiast. Hes forever digging up old coins and such. Loves it. Mind you, theres only so much a person can ferret out using equipment thats well, to say down market may sound cruel but the metal detector that i wanted was about 600. Reporter are you out of your mind . No. Reporter you buy a 600 metal detector . Uhhuh. Thats even like the midrange. You can spend upwards of 9,000 on a metal detector if you wanted to. Reporter youre getting toward being upper case nerd . Very much so, yes. Reporter so he figured hed sell the gun and use the cash to buy that new metal detector. Its what the state of iowa calls a long gun. Its something that you put to your shoulder and you shoot like a rifle or shotgun. So i listed it online, on armslist, its like craiglist for guns. Reporter what did you ask for it . 360. Reporter about a month later, he got a nibble via email. I told him that i needed cash and i needed a photo i. D. So i knew he was who he said he was, and that he was at least 21. Reporter who did he say he was . He said his name was andy wegener, and that was the email address that he had contacted me from, was andy wegener somethingorother at gmail. Com. Reporter whered you meet . I work parttime at a gas station. Its public. There are cameras in the area. And if something bad were to happen, i know of at least two or three people that are in the area a lot that would probably come to my rescue. Reporter is that the kind of thing you have to do when you sell a weapon . Thats the thing i do when i sell a weapon because ive got entirely too much to lose. I have a family. I have a job. That i love them both. I did not want to jeopardize those. We met at the station. I showed him the rifle in the back end of my car, and then i filled out a bill of sale, because i wanted to make sure that this was trackable. I kept a copy. He kept a copy. We reviewed everything to make sure that it was what he wanted and make sure everything was, you know, up to snuff. Reporter you saw his photo i. D. . I saw his photo i. D. Reporter and how carefully did you, you know, store the information . Im kind of a pack rat by nature. Its my my teacher nature, you dont throw anything away. So all of the email conversations that he and i had, i kept. All the Text Messages between he and i, i kept. And i still had pictures that i had originally posted on armslist. Those were still on my home computer. And as he was leaving, again, to cover myself, i wrote down the license plate number. Reporter you are a careful guy. I am. Reporter was he a nice fellow . For the very limited interaction we had, yeah. He seemed very nice, very normal. He asked me how to load it. I showed him how. Reporter and that was it . Off he went . Off he went. Reporter and then, a few days later, the School Secretary gave drew a message. A polk county detective wanted to talk to him right away. And my very first thought was, i interpreted the law wrong when i had looked up the iowa codes and im going to jail. Reporter you immediately thought about selling that weapon . Thats the first thing that came to my mind. Why else would a polk county detective be calling me . I was going to jail. Reporter scary thought . It was very scary because i had taken so many precautions. I called the detective. And he said, drew, did you sell a firearm recently . And that was my second thought, yes, i am going to jail. I have completely screwed everything up. I told him, be forthright, be honest. I said, yes, i did. He asked me to describe what it was. I told him it was a 0. 9 millimeter carbine. He said, drew, we have reason to believe that that weapon was used in the commission of a crime. And my heart just sank. What happened . I have no idea. And he told me it was used in a murder, and i about dropped my phone. What that does to you, i unwittingly took part as an accessory in somebodys death. I felt terrible about that. Reporter you felt that way, that you were an accessory . How would you feel . I mean, i sold something to a man, to a person who later used that to take somebodys life. Reporter yeah. Terrible. Just oh god. And still today, ive rationalized it, ive gone to a counselor about it. I still feel bad about it. Reporter whats the expression . Guns dont kill people people kill people. And i still believe that. But i provided him that method. Reporter later that day, detective hopper drove out to meet with drew, who turned over all the emails and Text Messages. Hed saved them all. As well as photos of the rifle, three ammo magazines, a scope and red laser pointer attached to the weapon, part of the deal. And i asked him if he had any shell casings from the weapon that he sold. He went, left, and came back shortly after and had 63 casings. Reporter wow. Hes a person who like to keep things. Yes. Most of those casings were tulammo, 0. 9 millimeter. Reporter the same ones that were found at the murder scene. And at the crash site. Reporter but, who bought the carbine . We still dont know where were at with david versus andy. Reporter so, could drew i. D. The guy in a photo lineup . Coming up, detectives show drew pictures of david and andy. He said, thats very odd. He said, this is strange. When dateline continues. When dateline continues. You try to stay ahead of the mess. But scrubbing still takes time. 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Reporter so during the course of that day, you were completely buffaloed . Correct. Reporter while the investigation raced forward, the Polk County Sheriffs Office told Justin Michaels family virtually nothing. Didnt tell them theyd found the man who sold the murder weapon, nor that they had to figure out who he actually sold it to. Because surely whoever bought the gun must have been the killer. I asked him at that point to look at the photo lineups. The first set of six photographs i showed him contained the photograph of David Moffitt. Mr. Bahlmann looked at it and he said, i cant be 100 certain. He said, the guy had a hat on, had sunglasses on. He goes, i wish i would have had him take it off. Then he pointed at a picture of David Moffitt and said, im 90 sure that thats the person i sold the gun to. Reporter what happened when he looked at the picture involving andy wegener . When i showed him the photo lineup with andy wegener, he looked at it and immediately looked at it and pointed to andy wegener and said, thats very odd. This is strange. He was confused. He goes, that looks like the i. D. That looks like the person i sold the gun to. He picked out both of them, so we still have our questions. Reporter it was all very confusing. It didnt help that David Moffitt and andy wegener look similar. So one last thing to try. Earlier, when deputies searched David Moffitts house, they found the bill of sale for that carbine. But they also discovered a receipt for lemonade and a candy bar bought at a Dollar General store in the very town where the rifle was purchased. So i requested video from that store. A person walks into the store, still wearing the hat but the sunglasses are hanging off of his shirt. And the video depicts David Moffitt. Reporter well, well, well. And he purchases a lemonade and a candy bar. Reporter which may have settled the question of who picked up the murder weapon. But here was another question. How did David Moffitt get hold of andy wegeners i. D. . The detectives had all kinds of reasons for wanting to talk to David Moffitt. They picked him up about 15 hours after the shooting. Took him to headquarters. Installed him in an interview room. And . No dice. He requested a lawyer. Reporter and just like that, youre done. I sat there for approximately an hour with him, offering him a phone book, a means to reach his attorney. Because we still wanted to attempt to talk with him even if his attorney was present. He never reached an attorney. Reporter David Moffitt wouldnt talk, but it hardly mattered. The evidence they already had was enough to arrest him and charge him with first degree murder. By now detectives understood that angie had nothing to do with the murder. That what seemed like a lack of emotion in angies demeanor and maries, too, for that matter, was shock. Pure shock. In fact, the thought that david could be the man who killed the love of her life hit angie while she was still being questioned. And finally, after her apparent calm, she was overcome. When dave came up and we talked about that. And the detective came back with a picture of him do you know this person . Thats dave. And i said, thats him. And i immediately started shaking and was very visibly upset. Im just so that he had something to do with it and what if i have caused all of this . And the detective was, whats going on . And i said, if hes the one who did it, its all my fault. Reporter what do you mean by that . Because i was the one who had broken off the relationship. I was the one who ignored him the next day. Reporter you really think if you hadnt ignored him, hed suddenly become mr. Sweetness and light . Well, no, but i just felt like it was i brought this monster into justins life. Reporter but the prosecutors needed more evidence if they wanted to prove that David Moffitt was the man angie saw as a monster. How, for example, did david get an i. D. With andy wegeners name on it . Unless andy was somehow involved . One of the discoveries during that first search warrant was a computer box for a laptop. And that laptop was never found during that first search warrant. Reporter so the prosecutors wrote a second search warrant. And voila. They found it. But maybe too late. They discovered it in the bottom of a red tub that had a few inches of water in the bottom of it. Reporter and you know how computers hate water. But the waterlogged laptop wasnt all they found. The red tub ended up being a gold mine of evidence. Reporter like what . They found ammunition that ended up being consistent with the ammunition found at the crime scene. Reporter and remember that shoebox they found near the car crash . It was a nevados brand shoebox. And in David Moffitts red tub . What do you know . In that red tub were those nevados shoes, size 11. Reporter its almost like he was laying the trap for himself. Absolutely. Reporter they sent the wet laptop off to the computer lab, hoping maybe the techs could find something on it. And surprise, surprise, they did. And off of that computer, we were able to find the work that David Moffitt had done to create a fake i. D. In andy wegeners name. Reporter thats the one david presented to the school teacher, drew bahlmann. He also created a fake andy wegener email address and stole that oil Service Receipt from andys car. All of which made it obvious, said the prosecutors, David Moffitt planned to get away with murder by framing a perfectly innocent man, andy wegener. What kind of a mind is behind that sort of behavior . Very cold, very calculating. There was a tremendous amount of planning and premeditation that went into this murder. And he tried to execute it so that he would not be blamed, that he would get away with it. Reporter and remember that sweatshirt left behind after the shooting, as if the killer had been sloppy . In the sweatshirt was a boat registration that we could not figure out why it was there and what its meaning was at the time. Ultimately, several months later, we learned that that boat registration belonged to the father of the registered sex offender that lived within a few blocks of the crime scene. So it appeared to us, once we made that connection, that that was just another attempt to cast the blame for this on somebody else. Reporter so convicting David Moffitt of first degree murder would surely be about as easy a task as a prosecutor could ask for. Or maybe not. Coming up, revelations no one will believe. Thats pretty crazy, isnt it . When dateline continues. T it when dateline continues. Or make me feel like im not really there. Talk to your doctor, and call 8442342424. [ one morwoo me b[ laughing ]] woo play pop music no way dude, play rock music yeah woah no matter what music you like, stream it now on pandora with xfinity. And dont forget to catch trolls world tour. Lets party people one more time trials are really interesting because you get to really hear the whole picture. Several detectives as well as Law Enforcement officials reporter finally, said tv reporter Stephanie Moore, after months of secrecy, they gathered in june 2015 at the polk county courthouse in des moines for the trial. And the prosecutors revealed all those wild Details Behind the murder of Justin Michael. First time the public heard any of it. First time justins family and fiancee finally understood what happened. The detectives and the prosecutors had shared no information with us other than the fact of who they arrested. Reporter and the little they learned during the pretrial hearings could be confusing and painful. As things started to come out a little bit, i texted andy and i said, how did he get your i. D. . And he was like, i dont know. And i just had that feeling of, what if andy had something to do with this . Reporter but prosecutors have good reason for keeping the details of their cases from the public and even from the family. We dont want the publicity of the evidence to taint the jury panel. Reporter but now, as the trial began, they were quite confident they had all the evidence they needed even without the stillmissing murder weapon. What happened to it . I mean, he crashed the car apparently right away. He either got rid of it before then or our theory at least is that some time between him getting home after the murder before officers were back out there doing that extensive search and being arrested that evening, he was able to get back and retrieve the weapon and throw it into saylorville lake. Reporter and then once its in the lake, theres no way youre going to find it. Not without a lot of work. Reporter but with all the other evidence collected, prosecutors felt they had enough. With the physical evidence that we were able to get, specifically from drew bahlmann and at the homicide scene and at David Moffitts house from a ballistics perspective, we were able to connect all of those dots. Reporter the state showed the jury bullet casings and ammunition magazines, targets for practice shooting, davids reconnaissance notes, a kindle containing a map of justins neighborhood, a can of pepper spray, even a flashlight that, for all of David Moffitts careful planning, ultimately betrayed him. It was something that caught the attention of justins sister, sydney, and brother, nathan. There were two times that he reacted significantly in the whole trial, and one was they found a fingerprint on the battery in the flashlight. And so he wore gloves when he was carrying the flashlight, but not when he was putting the batteries in the flashlight. And when they said that, he goes, ah. Reporter as if david just then understood his error. It was at the trial, said justins mom, that she finally learned what that red light in her eyes was. It was not some kind of strange flashlight as she thought. It was a red laser pointer, most likely attached to the murder weapon. Pointed at my face. Thats a very sobering thought. Thats sitting at the trial brought back a lot of trauma issues, and that being one of them. And the other thing that really bothered me was finding out that this guy had the gun six inches from justins face when he shot him four times. Because we had thought, you know, he was in the hallway, at the doorway. And somehow it makes it even more invasive, you know, that hes that close and just executed somebody. Reporter it was an execution, yeah. And you actually look at somebodys face and make that choice to kill him. To me, thats just beyond troubling. Its just unfathomable still like the twilight zone. Reporter the prosecutors saved David Moffitts computer searches for last, and then the jury and everybody else heard what david looked up on his laptop in the days before the murder a window into the mind of a killer. The only murdering murder guide youll ever need. Seriously. Convicted crimes of passion in polk county. Traffic cameras in grimes. What does hell look like. And so on and so on. Interesting that he would ask what hell looks like. Theres some reference to the confessional times. Reporter that is, times when some local priest would be available. A priest whose oath would swear him to secrecy. He obviously was concerned about what was going to happen to him had he commit this murder. That day that all of the computer stuff came out was a particularly brutal day in court for me. It was hard for me to handle. I had to leave and decided i couldnt go back in the afternoon because it was just it was overwhelming. Reporter you say it was too hard to hear. You couldnt actually go back. But what made it so hard . Just seeing my name, seeing justins name. You know, he had googled my name, looked at my Facebook Page or whatever for months. Seeing the locations from where he was to our house and just knowing that he was that close. Reporter and here you were totally oblivious living through the happiest days of your life . Uhhuh. Reporter in his closing, prosecutor Steve Foritano told the jury what must have happened. David moffitt, i think, was obviously fixated on angie ver huel. That she broke off with him, which caused him some pain and hurt. And then that wound was probably reopened when he started working with justin. And justin wound up getting engaged. And david, obviously, would be concerned about the fact that it was justin that was with angie. And that he couldnt be with her because of him. Reporter so he gradually formed a plan that somehow he was going to get rid of justin, possibly even get angie back again. I realize that there is a very high bar to cross to be considered insane by the legal system. But thats pretty crazy, isnt it . Well, he had a goal. And he worked to achieve that goal. So his trying to commit this murder, trying to plan and make sure that he got away with it. Reporter maybe. And maybe Something Else was going on. Maybe David Moffitt could blame somebody or Something Else. And sure enough, he did. With a Legal Defense that could defeat the best evidence in the world. David moffitt had no intention of going to prison. Coming up, the verdict. Almost gave you chills up your spine. When dateline continues. When dateline continues. With less eczema, you can show more skin. So roll up those sleeves. And help heal your skin from within with dupixent. Dupixent is the first treatment of its kind that continuously treats moderatetosevere eczema, or atopic dermatitis, even between flare ups. Dupixent is a biologic, and not a cream or steroid. 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We are open 24 7 online, so you can keep managing all you need from home and through the verizon apps and verizon. Com. Rarely is a prosecution so replete with evidence of a killers motives and awful deeds. Rarely does that evidence so clearly portray such planning, such deviousness. A man who knew exactly what he was doing when he murdered Justin Michael, said the prosecution. And then . It was time for the defense. That was the worst day of the trial. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury reporter defense attorney keith rigg did not dispute the wealth of evidence the state presented. All true, said mr. Rigg. David moffitt did kill justin, said the defense, because he was legally insane and, therefore, not guilty. What the facts are in this case arent really in dispute. The fact that this happens because of a mental disease isnt really in dispute, because this makes no sense otherwise. What happens here, for lack of a better term, is crazy. Reporter and why should the jury believe that . This was the defenses star witness, dr. Peter breggin, a famous, if controversial psychiatrist, with a resume of television and other appearances in which he has condemned the use of psychotropic drugs. Dr. Breggin testified that david had been taking antidepressants on and off for years and that what david did was the drugs fault. So i think the whole thing evolves out of a progressive hammering of his brain by the drugs. Reporter it was druginduced violence, the doctor told the jury. Druginduced murder. Back in the courtroom, angie listened to this, and upset would not be quite the right word. It was laughable almost, and just that you can how much money they had to spend to find this guy who is going to say exactly what the defense wants him to say. Reporter were you afraid the jury would buy it . Of course youre always a little afraid because its scary to think that he could potentially get off with an insanity plea. And the more he talked, the more it was it was frustrating to sit there and listen to him. He walked into somebodys bedroom with an assault weapon. Yes. Its horrible. He told you he thought about whether it was right or wrong, right . No. He told me in the beginning he thought about whether it was right or wrong, and then it didnt enter his mind anymore. It was like he was in a video game or like in an activity that was outside of the normal reality. He even thought about killing somebody else. Toward the end hes just become a victim i believe a victim of this manic episode driven by the drugs. Its just not him. Reporter its the jury that gets to make the decision, right . Of course. They do. You never know quite what a jurys going to do. Its always an anxious moment when youre trying to wait for them to return a verdict. Reporter oh, but it wasnt a moment. Hour after hour, they waited. And then, almost seven hours later the judge asks, do we have a verdict . The jury says they do. We find the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree. Reporter if David Moffitt felt anything in that moment, he didnt show it. Nothing. Stone cold reaction. Almost gave you chills up your spine. Reporter the insanity defense clearly did not work. The threshold that you have to reach for an insanity defense is that you dont understand the nature and consequences of your actions or you dont understand the difference between right and wrong. Thats an incredibly high threshold. You look at the degree of premeditation, the degree of planning that went into that. Those are not the actions of an insane person. It does nothing to bring justin back. But it would have been horrific if he had not been found guilty, so it did help. And can you imagine if that person was still free in our society . Who knows who he would have attacked next, and he would have. I think he would have. I think he enjoyed the planning. The planning, and seeing if he could accomplish his task. Verdicts are always hard, i think, because nobody ever wins in this situation. His family is obviously still in pain. The Moffitt Family is obviously in pain as well. So there really is no winner here. We want to hold him responsible for what he did, and the jurys verdicts did that. Reporter would they have caught him without those lucky breaks . Had David Moffitt not lost control of his car on that gravel road. Had the cop not spotted the wreck off in the dark. If you hadnt stopped, if youd just went on your merry way my involvement was this was just a citizen driving up the road stopping to check on somebody that morning, you know . Reporter had the deputys instinct not pushed him to seize davids car . He probably would have been caught, eventually. But what do you think about this now when you look back on it . Thankful. Very thankful for that i, one, trusted my gut, because were trained do to that from day one. Because its the only thing you really got to back yourself up on on calls when youre by yourself. Reporter sure. If somebody seems a little hinky, maybe he is. Yeah. Maybe you just need to investigate it further. Its not prying. Its trying to figure out if theres something more to the story than what youre hearing. And a lot of the times when you trust your gut, its right. Neither David Moffitt or his attorney agreed to be interviewed. He appealed and lost. Life without parole. Cold comfort for justins family, only photos him noe nw good memories for the person he was. Habitat for humidity built a house in his honor. His colleagues at wells fargo worked on it. Its a perfect memorial, i think, for him. He would like to see something good come out of the terrible thing that happened. The terrible thing that happens to people when they truly grieve isnt voluntary and it takes a long time. Grief is a wave and sometimes it just fills you and it takes you away and it happens less frequently now than it did six months or nine months ago. Yeah. But, its still debilitating. And we knew then that physically he was gone and in our hearts we still havent let him go. Its just still hard to believe that a person could be that evil. Evil is the only word i can think of. Inhuman to do Something Like that. He just seems like he was a he didnt get his way, and he took justins life for no reason. And the woman at the center of it all, what kind of a life would she have had with him . A thought, perhaps, best packed away like a lot of things. Had the had the Wedding Dress. Had the houses booked. Had the venue booked. Had catering booked. I mean, we were just a little over two months out. Yeah. Boy, oh, boy, a Wedding Dress is such a symbol. What do you do with a thing like that in a situation that youre in . Havent even looked at it. Where do you put it . Its in my moms basement. Shes moved a couple of times and its in her basement. Im craig melvin. And im natalie morales. And this is dateline. They said we need you to get in the car with us. They zip tied my arms and zip tied my legs, duct tape my hair. Theres no words. Im sitting there, just hysterical its terrifying. She thought he was mr. Right, a confident, handsome surgeon. Til the good doctor, seemed to turn sinister. He put his hands over my face and said, go ahead and try to leave. I didnt know where else to go. I mean, she just broke down she looked afraid. Taunts. Threats. Then, something deadly