We asked, whos that . He says, hes my neighbor, he lives two floors below. A suspect under arrest. Having someone just take him away. Sorry. Case closed. Or was it . Could there be Something Else or someone else theyd missed . There were so many parts of the puzzle that were not adding up. Someone had pulled the trigger, but had someone else pulled the strings . He was a type of guy that could take bad luck and turn it into a fortune. Suspicion. Hello, and welcome to dateline extra. Im craig melvin. They were neighbors living large in a Salt Lake City loft building. A Sophisticated Group who enjoyed mixing business with pleasure. Then there was a member and members of the tightknit community discovered theyd been pawns in a kplicomplicates web lies, but did those lies lead to gunfire or did investigators need to be looking in another direction . Heres keith morrison. 7 00 a. M. November 15th, 2007. Dawn in salt liake city, utah. He pulled into the restaurant parking lot, turned off his engine. Sky beginning to brighten, sun not quite up. And then there they were. The voices. The terror. The nightmare beginning. Immediately ducked down in my car after the first shot was fired. I laid there thinking, okay, this is how its going to end for me. Youre going to be dead. Yep. 911, what is your emergency . Somebody just shot a man, laying dead in front of the village inn. Sk it stands in stark contrast to the rest of Salt Lake City. This old chocolate factory. This grand stage for our story. It was converted to loft apartments in the boom years before the bust, and the style of living and location drew a distinct crowd, outliars of a sort, iconoclasts in this famously mormon city. I loved this building. Bianca brooks, for example, born into privilege in england, raised in ireland and africa, she came here in august 2006 to visit a friend. I came on holiday and i met christopher and we just hit it off. Christopher wright, a real estate developer, lived in the same lost building as biancas friends. Lfs a party in the building. Beyaunk ianca was invited. In one night you knew. Yeah. Yeah. To anyone watching, it was an on perfect match. Friends and loft neighbors, david and lisa. Shes so lovely. Quirky. She brought that out in chris. He was a personable guy before. He was ecstatic after. Though it was true, blind, passionate love, that drove bianca to give up everything she had known herengland and moved to be with chris. Six months after their laid eyes on each other, they were married. Made me feel very safe. Her protector. A man who cried through romantic movies, like the notebook, cries like a baby from the start to end of that movie. And other romantic comedies, hes like, really . Are you serious . It didnt take long for bianca to become firmly entrenched in loft living. So the lofts were full of incredibly crazy people. Academics, airline pilots, physicians, documentary filmmaker, olympic speed skater, mortgage broker, socialites. John feif, an advertising copywriter was one of the first to buy the building. This building was a fantastic collection of interesting people. None more so than perhaps the buildings most gregarious and outsized personality, david novak. He was so nice and entertaining and funny and charming. This building is full of people who just really liked him. I count myself completely as one of them. Its impossible not to be charmed by david. I adore the man. We were, i would say, basically best friends here in ut m utah. Davids huge personality fit his oversized professional victims, restauranteuer, owner of a Consulting Firm whose sole specialty was preparing wealthy clients for of all things, prison. He was hired to put their affairs in order before they went to business, help educate the people what was going to happen, try to get the best sentencing possible for him. That business, as david confessed to his law friends, grew out of personal experience. He, himself, was a felon. Served a year in federal prison for mail fraud. But he was a type of guy that could take bad luck and turn it into a fortune. So, most everyone in the building seemed to be living large in those good old premeltdown days and into the mix was introduced a new ingredient, a businessman with real money. It was novak, said bianca, who did the introductions. Crihristopher had an officer about two, three blocks from here and there was a starbucks he always went to and he went over there and novak was there with ken and he introduced them. Ken delezar lived in a wealthy enclave south of Salt Lake City, a very nice guy by all accounts with a big extended family and money to invest. Truckloads of money. Hed already loaned novak 1. 85 million to make a movie about his prison consulting business and soon ken and chris began working on a real estate deal. They spoke sometimes when they had contacts back and forth by really, im a girl. And you werent interesting. No, so dull. Fall came to Salt Lake City. Leaves yellowed and fell. The economic crisis cut toward them like a big black cloud. As the businessmen continues their interconnected hustle and flow. But the roiling storm bearing down on them was loaded not with economic ruin but Something Else entirely. I couldnt believe it. And no one everyone was out, all of our friends, and we sat there, we couldnt move. It was like it was just unbelievable. Coming up what was so unbelievable . A crime that would rock the loft to its foundation. Right hand came up, reached inside of his pocket. Out came a gun and pointed at the other man right in the face and pulled the trigger. When suspicion continues. Ive been making blades here at gillette for 20 years. Theres a lot of innovation that goes into making americas 1 shave. Precision machinery and highquality materials from around the world. 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Click, call or visit a store today. So now it was that morning, 7 00 a. M. , november 15th, 2007. 911, what is the address of your emergency . Dean kerriger, then a detective with the Sandy Police Department, was on the freeway when his radio came to life. It wasnt for a few minutes that i heard there was an actual shooting which time thats my department. Thats where i need to come, get busy. He got the address, parking lot of the village inn restaurant south of Salt Lake City in a town called sandy. His town. It was a very violent scene. The victim was shot five times. The fifth shot was done while the shooter was standing over top of him and shot him in the face. Yeah. Who . The shooter was making sure he was dead before he left. Cold, methodical, like a professional hit, yet, amazingly, somebody was sitting in a car maybe six feet away. Watched the whole thing. Ordinary guy minding his own business. Now eyewitness to a brutal slaying. Mans name was lee carlson. Right hand came up, reached inside of his pocket. Out came a gun and pointed at the other man right in the face and pulled the trigger. Here at the police station, lee told how he ducked out of sight after that first shot but not before he got a glimpse of the shooter. As far as i can remember he had a longer nose. I cant tell eye color but his eyes seemed to be more bulgey. You saw him at a glimpse. I know were asking a lot. What stood out most was his hair, long, tied in a phoonytai. Looked almost out of place like a wig. I looked a t eed at that mor the face. Before that, he heard the man mens voice, Eastern European, maybe slavic. As for the victim, well, you heard the name by now. Ken dolazar, the extremely wealthy local investor. My daughter called me just bawling and she told me, kens been shot and hes dead. Wow. Matt considered ken dolizar to be one of his closest friends. They founded and coached a College Hockey team together. He wasnt just a wealthy businessman, he was deeply concerned for the boys on the deep. I watched him pull out of wallet, slip money into kids pockets because he heard kids needed tuition money. Couldnt buy their books. Now his friend, their friend, was dead. And some of those kids just broke down and bawled. At the loft building in downtown salt lake, the news rocketed from floor to floor. After all, a couple residents including bianca ees husband w doing business with dolizar. Sounds like rubber necking, wow, someone you know has been murd murder. Who could possibly want a man as nice and generous as ken dolizar dead . Where money goes, trouble often follows. More money, the bigger the troub trouble. In this case, the extra dolldol. The dead mans fortune wasnt really his strictly speaking. He married into the bulk of it. The fortune came from a company his wife founded with her former husband. The divorce had been nasty. Family loyalties bitterly divided. And some family members werent the least bit happy that ken was making investment decisions. Detective kerriger contact ted kens brother and broke the news. Dropped down to his knees and said its that [ bleep ] derek. Moment of unguarded grief and rage, and thus a possible suspect. Derek mower, kens adult stepson. It was apparent that there was difficulties between those two. Trouble in the family didnt start with derek. There seemed to be a rift. Not between dee and ken. There seemed to be a genuine love story. But now a grieving dee told detectives she was as baffled about the murder as they were. She was not able to provide us any information as to who he was meeting that day or anything about his day. And despite all that friction, the infighting over money and control, dees family produced not a single viable suspect. Not even kens stepson. Derek had an alibi at the time of the murder. The initial interviews were not entirely in veain. A crew emerged from ken eegs assistant. A night before the murder, she says ken got a call on his cell. She knew he had set up a meeting to meet with whoever he was talking to at 7 00 a. M. On the 15th. The day and time in which ken dolizar was shot to death. Was the caller also the killer . If so, they now had his voice because earlier, that caller left this phone message. Ken, this is robert. We should get together pretty soon here. Detectives traced the prepaid cell from which the call came and went to the store where someone bought it. This phone was purchased with cash, with no identifying information provided to the carrier. But the family did have a suggestion for the detective. Something they actually agreed on. He should look carefully at a man named david novak. Yes. That david novak. Remember novaks consulting business for prisonbound executives . Guess what dee mower was incarcerated in federal prison. Tax fraud. Kens wealthy wife, dee, was david novaks client. Thats why ken dolizar knew david novak. Something about that consultant and wannabe movie producer made kens relatives suspicious so detectives drove over to the loft where he spoke with mr. Novak. He was softspoken. And a bright man. He came across as very intelligence, yes. Answered all of their questions, but didnt seem to be of much help. And then as detective kerriger was preparing to leave, he tried one more question. That prepaid cell phone, the one someone used to invite ken to the fatal meeting, was store had Surveillance Video of a man buying that very phone. Kens family said they didnt recognize him, but would novak . Kerriger showed him the photo. We asked, whos that . He said, hes my neighbor, he lives two floors below. And just like that, a big piece of the puzzle plopped into place, but fair warning, as youll see, puzzle pieces and some residents of this downtown lost, might not be quite what they seem. Coming up theres a massive sense of disbelief. The investigation takes as many turns as one of the buildings hallways. I never had a case this complicated before. When suspicion continues. N. N. No, no, no, no, no. Cancel. Cancel. Please. Aaagh being in the know is a good thing. Thats why discover will alert you if your Social Security number is found on any one of thousands of risky sites. At priceline, to save you money. Ways like mixing and matching airlines to get lower prices on flights. Oh, thats how i saved on my trip oh, for your wedding . no, my exboyfriends wedding, hes confused. Jason mix and match airlines to save more. Sharper vision, without limits. Days that go from sun up to sun down. A whole world in all its beauty. Three Innovative Technologies for our ultimate in vision, clarity, and protection. Together in a single lens. Essilor ultimate lens package. Purchase the essilor ultimate lens package and get a second pair of qualifying lenses free. Essilor. Better sight. Better life. Alright guys lets go lets do this directions to the Greek Theater beep can i get a connection . Can i get can i get a connection . Can i get a connection . My mom washes the dishes. Before she puts them in the dishwasher. So what does the dishwasher do . New cascade platinum does the work for you, prewashing and removing stuckon foods, the first time. Wow, thats clean new cascade platinum. burke abstract accident. Seen it. Covered it. Ce music we know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum welcome back. Just outside Salt Lake City, not far from the loft building that was home to an impressive lineup of artists and entrepreneurs, ken dolezar was gunned down in a parking lot, but who would want to kill the wealthy investor . As friends and family grappled with his loss, investigators started following the trail of clues, one that would lead right back to the converted old chocolate factory. Once again, keith morrison. It was almost a month after the murder of ken dolezar. His friends still coming to terms with it. I think what if . All the fun we could have had if he hadnt been taken. Until now, the investigation seemed to be going nowhere and then as detective carrigrer was about to leave, he showed him the fphoto from the store. He said thats chris wright, my neighbor, he lives two floors below. His good friend and husband of the irreplaceable bianca. This is definitely somebody we want to talk to. Carriger arrived unannounced and almost before he could ask a question, he said, chris launched into a story about ken dolezar, claimed the man was so paranoid he wanted the man to buy a prepaid cell phone so he could communicate in complete privacy. To carriger the story seemed too reversed. Covering, trying to account for things we knew. I see. Odd. Then as the interview went on, he said chris voice began to sound familiar. The voicemail that police believed helped lure ken to his death. Hey, ken, this is robert. To me, that was chris voice on that phone. The detectives pulled out a search warrant. Bianca was home when the politicianpolice arrived. Its surreal. You have, like roving gangs of toddlers who are ripping everything apart. They turned our sofas upsidedown and took apart the lining. They took apart my toaster. They take everything apart. A ballistics report told police the murder weapon was a. 9 millimeter handgun. Chris was an avid collector of guns and among them, police found an empty case for a springfield armory. 9 millimeter handgun and what do you know, the gun that went with it was missing. Chris wright was arrested and charged with the murder of ken dolezar. A massive sense of disbelief. He was being completely taken out of the view and for no reason. The loving husband who cried his way through romantic comedies, a coldblooded assassin . Impossible. It quite literally wasnt possible, said bianca, for chris to have killed ken dolezar that morning. He had an ally. He was in the loft. I was there. Hoee was home in bed with he he was a foot from me. There is theres no room for doubt. This surely had to be a colossal misunderstanding. Bianca sought support from her neighbors including david novak, he only friend with intimate knowledge of the legal system. He he comforted you. He was, yeah. He asked me how everything was going and what was happening with christopher and whether our attorneys were doing the job they were supposed to. She told him everything, she said, and he assured her the mistake would soon be rectified. She believed him. I dont want to be married to a murderer. I would not fool myself. There was a seconds doubt in my mind he did not do this. But some of their friends in the loft werent so sure. I started to feel sorry for her thinking, oh my gosh, you poor naive girl. You know, youre going to be crushed by this. At the sandy, utah, justice center, the case that police turned over to josh player then the District Attorney seemed very clear. The evidence was exceptionally strong in this case. It all kept pointing in the direction of mr. Wright. There was the surveillance photo, the voice message which was placed from a spot near the loft according to cell tower tracking and the eyewitness. Hed been shown a photo lineup with chris in it and now he remembered some details a little differently than he had that first traumatic day. Like chris blue eyes in the photo he said jarred something in his mind. I was 80 to 9 0 certain that this was the man i saw. Then he found a picture of chris on the web and tried photo shopping in a few details like a wig. I looked at that and said, yeah, that looks almost exactly like what i saw. Reinforcing a memory. But was the memory accurate . As for the rest of the case, the investigation wasnt over yet. The story just begun. The first puzzle pieces placed where they seemed to fit. But ive never had a case this complicated before. Oh, even more than complicated. As those friends in the loft began to believe, something darker than that. Suspicion returns after the break. Ive been making blades here at gillette for 20 years. Theres a lot of innovation that goes into making americas 1 shave. Precision machinery and highquality materials from around the world. Nobody else even comes close. Now starting at 7. 99. Gillette. The best a man can get. The first survivor of alzis out there. Ase and the Alzheimers Association is going to make it happen. But we wont get there without you. Join the fight with the Alzheimers Association. Heres a trip tip when you Search Hotels on tripadvisor. Enter your destination and the dates of your stay. Tripadvisor searches over 200 booking sites. To find the best deal on the right hotel for you. Tripadvisor. Then you might have a dcondition called dry mouth. . Biotene is clinically proven to soothe and moisturize a dry mouth. Plus, it freshens breath. Biotene. Immediate and long lasting dry mouth symptom relief. Morning. Morning. What do we got . Keep an eye on that branch. Might get windy. Have a good shift. Fire pit. Last use 0600. Id stay close. Morning. Get ready to switch. Protected by flo. Should say, protected by alan and jamie. Right . Should it . When you bundle home and auto. Run, alan . You get more than just savings. You get roundtheclock protection. Im dara brown with the hours top stories. The the New York Times is reporting former trump lawyer Michael Cohen is being investigated for bank fraud. Authorities are reportedly looking into 20 million if loans his businesses received. In india, more than 350 people are dead after a monsoon ravaged the state of kerala. More than 800,000 have been displaced and thousands are still waiting to be rescued. Weather conditions are expected to continue improving in the coming days. Now back to dateline extra. Welcome back to dateline extra. Im craig melmelvin. In the search for ken dolezdole killer, they believed it pointed to chris wright, arrested and charged for murder. Soon, damning new evidence would emerge linking him directly to the crime scene. For his wife, biancbianca, the s of this elaborate puzzle simply did not fit. Was it possible chris was being framed . If so, why . Here, again, is keith morrison. Strange times around the loft building in downtown salt lake. So shocking that one of their own, chris wright, had been arrested and charged with killing wealthy businessman ken dolezar. All of the evidence we obtained led up to chris wright being the trigger pman. In the suv ken drove to his fatal morning meeting, for example, the killer used that vehicle to flee the scene and when the cops found it and scoured the interior, they got a hint. Chris dna. We had a dna result from the inside door handle of the suv. It was a tiny sample, not a perfect one, but it seemed to put chris in ken dolezars car, drivers side, which certainly helped the case. But it wasnt quite airtight. Not yet. The murder weapon had not been found. Yet y yet, they found an empty gun case in chris and biancas apartment, but nothing to connect the case to the murder. And just about then the sergeant for the District Attorneys office just happened to call me and ask, hey, did you ever look in that gun case, was there shell casing or anything in that gun case . Turns out, the guns manufacturer includes a testfired shell casing with each gun it sells. So the detective went to the evidence locker, he said, retrieved the gun case. Looked inside and there was a casing. Big moment. Big moment. Big moment because when ballistics tested that shell casing it was a match. That shell casing was fired from the same gun as the shell casings recovered at the scene where ken dolezar was killed. Chris wrights missing gun must have been the murder weapon. Now the case looked very strong, indeed. Though chris wife, bianca, ster certainly didnt think so. I know for certain categorically that christopher didnt do it. In fact, the police and prosecutor had it all wrong, she insisted, and it wasnt just that chris had an alibi for the morning of the murder, no, she said it was the whole case. It was all wrong. Chris dna in the car, for example, of course it was there, she said, chris admitted hed been in the car but weeks before the murder. But get this, the steering wheel, especially, and all of the car, was covered with dna and fingerprints that did not match chris. Nor did bianca buy lee carlsons story. He said the guy had an Eastern European accent. Chr christopher is american born and bred. He also said hed only seen a glimpse of his face. Only saw a glimpse. In fact, said bianca, the eyewitness account more properly eliminated chris as a suspect. Ken and his killer arrived in the crime scene together in the same car. Think about it, said bianca. I looked at him, did he wear a wig . Would chris wear a wig to a meeting someone who already knew him, met him, particularly someone as cautious as man . You have a deeply paranoid man, ken dolezar, whos doing business with christopher and has met him. You dont think if christopher got into the car or wigged up that he would think that was slightly strange . And if the eyewitness was right, the killer shot with his right hand. Christopher is staggeringly left handed. Staggeringly left handed. Then there was the business of eye color. Now long after the event, the eyewitness was saying the killer had brilliant blue eyes. But right after the murder cant tell eye color, but his eyes seemed to be more bull gy. He got more and more refined in each interview with the police. Brilliant blue eyes. Yes. Of course, you can see brilliant nordic blue eyes from the side. What about chris suspiciously missing handgun . The one linked to the crime . Bianca says she is certain chris did not use it to kill ken dolezar that morning. Impossible, she said, because he no longer had it. That gun, i lost, back in the summer. I lost . Yeah. You just lost the gun . I have a horrible habit of losing stuff. Before chris ever met ken dolezar, she took some visiting british friends on a shooting excursion to the great salt lake. They finished at sunset. And i put down this little gun, the springfield, on the ground, right next to the bag. And i went to, like, help somebody with Something Else. Then she got distracted, she said, packed up the rest of the gear, went home, and neither she nor chris ever saw that gun again. Biancas proof the gun was missing . This video made just over a day later by her british visitors who wanted to document their uniquely american experience. In their video, there was no sign of a springfield armo armorarmory armorarmory armory. Millimeter. I lost stuff and it was a bone of contention between chris and i. While the prosecution scoffed at biancas lost gun story, her loft friends did not. It you know sweet bianca, she accidentally threw her wedding ring away. She can be an absent minded dingbat. Remember the day the police took apart her loft . They took apart my toaster. She watched intently as the officer looked in the empty. 9 millimeter gun case. I was sitting next to her. No test fired gun casing, she said. I dont mean to sound cynical, but i know it wasnt there. Only possible conclusion, said bianca, it was her accusation, the sandy police must have planted the shell casing in order to look chris missing gun to the crime scene. One thing that will be hard for people to accept is the idea that this detective would do something as unethical as plant evidence. It was not there. I know that. The Sandy Police Department categorically denied the accusation. But as those loft friends heard more of Chris Wrights side of the story from bianca, they became convinced, he was innocent. There were so many parts of the puzzle that were not adding up. Unless, they reasoned, unless someone they knew very well wanted chris to take the fall. A dark suspicion wafted through the corridors of that old chocolate factory. Perhaps the police, they said, arrested the wrong neighbor. He had the perfect patsy in christopher. The neighbor started comparing notes and realized someone in their circle was not who he seemed. Coming up we were astounded. I remember saying to him, what . When suspicion continues. Booking a flight at the last minute doesnt have to be expensive. Just go to priceline. Its the best place to book a flight a few days before my trip and still save up to 40 . Just tap and go. For the best savings on flights, go to priceline. I love you, basement bathroom of solitude, but sometimes you stink. 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Chris wright was in jail awaiting trial, but many residents were now convinced police had the wrong wan. They believed investigators should be looking at another neighbor. One who was about to make a startling move. Here, again, is keith morrison. Among residents of the downtown salt lake loft, an idea took root around the story of the murder of ken dolezar. It was planted just weeks after chris was arrested. Loft residents, dave and lisa, were having dinner with their best friends, the novaks. He announced, were moving. And we were astounded. And i remember saying to him, what . Youve put all this money into your loft, youve got all this investment here, why are you leaving . He said, its just time to go. Hed claimed to be their great friend, sociable, gregarious, larger than life. Then said his neighbors, once chris was arrested, he seemed nervous. And now he was gone. And so they wondered, was david novak running from something . The loft friends began reexamining all those stories told them over the years, particularly those about his criminal past. Started comparing notes and stories and it becomes clear, wow, david told me a different version of that. Hed been lying, to put it rather bluntly. Certainly not full truths. The brief prison term for mail fraud novak told them he served, turns out there was more to that story, a lot more. Novak confessed to a con that played out like a cinematic thriller. He used a private flying club he owned to run an insurance cam. Then as it caught up to him, he attempted to escape by faking his own death. Ditched his airplane in puget sound. He faked his death in order to avoid insurance audit. That was not a crime of passion. That was a crime of calculation. Or so the loft friends believed, and if that was true, what might he have done here in salt lake . Theyre suspicion only grew when the friends found out novak left town without mentioning it was he who fingered chris in that surveillance photo. Did he ever tell you, i identified christopher as the guy who bought the cell phone . No. Of course that prepaid cell phone was the very clue that led police to chris, a phone which chris bought, said bianca. After novak assured him. Novak had said that this guy routinely used these throwaway phones. Whats more, said beyaunk bi chris could not have left the voicemail because by the time of the murder, hed given the phone away. He gave it to novak. And novak gave it to dolezar. Yes. Yes. As far as we know. Novak. So we dont know anything. And now a theory about motive drifted from loft to loft. Hadnt novak borrowed almost 2 million from ken . The friends said they watched him spend lavishly on high living and never saw evidence of that movie the loan was supposed to pay for. Really, was their old friend capable of orchestrating murder and pinning it on chris . Theres one person that bragged about knowing russian mafia. How hard would it be to find somebody that looked like chris, and he introduced chris from the very beginning with that in mind of setting chris up. I know it sounds like a just really dumb movie, but if you had ever met novak, the man has a bizantone mind. She crarecalls all the supportive chats she had with novak after chris arrest. Turns out he was probably fishing for information. It reminded friend, john feif, of a conversation with novak one night after they dined together. John posed a question, he said, mostly in jest, of course, just hypothetical. I said, david, have you ever contemplated committing the perfect murder . And he said, yes, the key element to that is making sure that someone is caught and charged with the crime. Once they have somebody, theyll stop looking and thats how you can really get away. And now, novak had taken off. And even though their questions didnt amount to hard evidence, of course, chris Defense Attorneys wondered as they prepared for the trial why the politician had so readily dismissed novak as a suspect. Dismissed him and a few other quite puzzling discoveries like, for example, the one about kens widow, dee. Remember, she was in prison at the time of his murder. When she first talked to police, she told them she had no idea her husband had a meeting the morning of his murder. No clue who he was meeting with. Turns out, she was not telling the truth. Hello . You have a call from an inmate. Hello . Hi, honey. Its standard procedure for prisons to record inmates phone calls. This is ken talking to his wife, dee, night before his murder. Im actually meeting with my friend tomorrow at 7 00 a. M. , go figure that out. I love it. Yeah, exactly. So tomorrow morning, 7 00 a. M. , so tomorrow night i should know more. Police confronted dee in prison. Recorded the interview. In it, she claimed the stress of losing her husband caused her to forget about that phone call. And then she dropped a bombshell. She said she knew who the friend was ken was supposed to meet and it wasnt chris wright. She never heard of him before. David novak. Thats who i believe he was meeting. Chris defenders wanted to know why the police didnt seem to follow up on that or probe more deeply into all that tension of dee mowers family. Odd. All of it. The feeling, to them, that something was missing. That the case against chris simply didnt hold together. So as chris trial finally got under way, bianca felt her husband was as good as home. I was just, like, brilliant, you know, we now, you know, they go away, they do their thing, they come back and i get my husband back. Coming up chris wright makes his case to dateline. Taking on that Voicemail Message central to the case. Was it his voice . The people who are going to watch your show are going to listen to that recording, and i usual them to make their own decision. When suspicion continues. [upbeat music] now im gonna tell my momma that im a traveller transitions™ light under control™ transitions™ presents four new colors style colors by transitions™ lojust use priceline. Ls on travel . Olors you can save up to 60 on hotels. Thats like 120 a night back in your pocket. Go to priceline to get deals you wont find anywhere else. Ive been making blades here at gillette for 20 years. Theres a lot of innovation that goes into making americas 1 shave. Precision machinery and highquality materials from around the world. Nobody else even comes close. Now starting at 7. 99. Gillette. The best a man can get. Welcome back. Chris wright was on trial for his murder. And david knnovak was on the mo. His wife and some friends from the loft building know the real killer. Had chris been framed for the crime as he claimed . We reached out to the defendant and novak for answers and one of them wanted to share his story with us. Here is the conclusion of our story with keith morrison. Chris wrights murder trial began in april of 2010. It had been more than two years since ken was shot dead in utah. Chriss defense did more than challenge the evidence. It made a provocative claim, that chris wright was the victim of a conspiracy, a conspiracy hatched right here in the loft by former neighbor novak to protect the real killer by setting up chris to take the fall. A conspiracy chris brushed off as nonsense. You would have to believe that it was somebody that looked like chris wright, sounded like chris wright, used the gun like chris wright, had Chris Wrights dna, had a connect to ken. All that claimed chriss defense that novak was quite capable of setting up. Like a chess game somehow, 20 moves ahead. Yep. But that didnt explain lee carlson. I am very certain, very clear what i saw. And i may not have told it initially right off the bat under the full stress of what i saw, but i know what i saw. And i know who i saw. There is one person who said he is most certainly sure lee carlson is mistaken. Chris wright himself. I will answer any question you want to ask. Chris was jailed right after his arrest. He wanted to make his case to dateline in the flesh, but authorities wouldnt allow it, so we talked to him on the phone. So you say you didnt do it. I absolutely did not do it. We discussed all the allegations in length. He offered some allegations of his own. Were asked to believe that the police were incompetent and definitely crooked, that david novak is crooked and the only person innocent is you. It is not my fingerprint. It doesnt match my description. I had an alibi. I had no motive and there is clearly a person pointing the finger at me who got 2 million. This is just too cloak and dagger for a jury. I understand how difficult it is to believe, but the alternative is that i just simply got up one day and decided to go shoot some poor person in a disguise. Chris wanted to talk about that voice mail, the voice mail the detective was sure was left by chris. Though, no voice analyst ever studied it. I mean, people who are going to watch your show are going to listen to my voice and are going to listen to that recording, and i urge them to make their own decision. Yeah. Lets listen to it right now, all right. Absolutely. Go ahead. Ken thr ken, this is robert. So that isnt you, huh . That is absolutely not me. The jury got the case april 29th, 2010. A jury that certainly heard about but never saw the mysterious david novak. So did they buy the prosecutors evidence or biancas. The jury deliberated for 11 hours. And the verdict guilty. I cant even begin to explain. The bottom falls out. They wouldnt let me hug him. Sorry. Give me a sec. Its all right. Take your time. Crying is not acceptable. And why is that . Because im english. But for kens friends, at least matt, the verdict was vindication. He is like a smug killer. And then a jury of his peers listened to all that evidence and with that weighted choice decided that he was. Im satisfied with that. Chris wright was sentenced to 15 years to life. Hes filed an appeal requesting a new trial. And david novak has not been charged with or accused by the police of anything. Whether or not authorities want to talk to him is less clear. You know where he is . I dont know where he is, no. Are your people trying to track him down . Well, part of the rules im constrained by is i dont speak about ongoing investigations or the existence of ongoing investigations. But if Law Enforcement is mum about david novak, his widow is not. She filed a lawsuit for wrongful death, conspiracy and fraud. She alleged novak paid chris wright 20,000 to kill him. A judge granted a default judgment on the breach of judgment and fraud claims and awarded mower 7,000. The Court Granted her a motion to dismisthe wrongful death and conspiracy claims so that a final judgment could be entered in the face. Some imagine the worst about their former friend and neighbor. What would you advise him to do if you could talk to him . Talk to you guys, tell the story. If you have nothing to hide. Refute me. Tell me why what im saying is not true. Im more than willing to hear what you have to say, david. So where is he . Turned out david wasnt so hard to find after all. Here he is in an upscale neighborhood in a certain northwestern city. Didnt look like a man on the run, just a guy getting a coffee with his wife at starbucks. He just isnt answering calls or emails from his former loft friends and he didnt want to talk to dateline, telling us over the phone he was not involved in kens murder, has been cleared by the police and anyone who says otherwise is a liar and liable to be sued. Bring it on, he says. So is chris wright a liar . Some people are surprised that you stayed, that you could go. I wouldnt leave a dog in christophers situation. You dont leave someone, nevertheless when you love them. You dont leave them. I will make sure his name is cleared. Wait for him as long as you have to . Yep. No problem. And out in suburban utah, the case still resonates around the shiny new courthouse where ada josh struggled with his emotions for a bit where he told us he is sure he did not send an innocent man to prison, but rather achieved justice for everyone. I was glad for the family of the victim. You take this stuff to heart, dont you . I do. I do. And while they stand on opposite sides between innocent and guilt, there is no decision about the man whose life was lost. Ken is a man who loved a woman, just as chris loved bianca who loved hockey, loved helping kids and tried to do right by all that money, which is mostly still around. Though, he is not. Thats all for this edition of dateline extra. Thank you for watching. Due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. Americas prisons. Dangerous, often deadly. There are 2 Million People doing time. Every day is a battle to survive and to maintain order. Down, on your feet down among the nations toughest, California State Prison corcoran, severely overcrowded and plagued by racial tension. We spent months inside, where officers try to maintain order in an institution with a notoriously violent past. This is lockup corcoran extended stay