who may be telling me a true story, who may also be living with the knowledge that he hit his wife on the head and strangled her and put her in the river and that s where she died and you have to live with that secret for the rest of your life. fortunately, i don t have to live with that. that, i don t have to live with. what dale bruner would have to live with would depend on the outcome of his trial, of course, and whether or not the prosecutor could sway the jury without the benefit of physical evidence that dale killed the love of his life in a fit of blind rage. i think dale bruner strangles her, believes she is dead, takes her to the river, dumps her in the river. so what did happen on the night of the murder? the prosecutor called a child to start the story, dale and stephanie s eldest daughter who walked into her parents bedroom at 9:00 pm. at 10 years old, she could say what happened with specifics. out of the view of the media, she told the court she heard her pa
why would she go away on a yoga retreat and decline this friend s offer to babysit? can i take care of the kids? she said no, they re fine with dale. that s because she knew that dale wasn t a threat to her. he wasn t a threat to those children. and remember how the detective found the house unusually spotless two weeks after the murder? it was, turned out, family and friends who cleaned up. apparently because dale was paralyzed by grief. dale walks into his walk-in closet and half of the stuff is stephanie s. he comes out and he s just crying. he s just like, i ve got to get this stuff out of here. so clearly a rush to judgment, sloppy investigation, said the defense. by detectives who bought the holthouses alibi too easily, who failed to consider that the murder might have been committed by whoever robbed the nearby bank just before stephanie disappeared. attorney burnhart confronted cbi agent greg sadar. you had no direct evidence of
you know, baker, i can help you with with that. oh, no, it s fine. thanks, though. a man should cut his own lawn. [ lawnmower engine rattling ] [ engine starts ] welcome back. dale bruner had just been charged with the murder of his wife stephanie. he refused a plea deal, insisting he was innocent. stephanie s body had been found in a river right near their home days after couple signed divorce
his wife on the head and strangled her and put her in the river and that s where she died. and you have to live with that secret. fortunately, i don t have to live with that. that, i don t have to live with. what dale bruner would have to live with would depend on the outcome of his trial, of course, and whether or not the prosecutor could sway the jury without the benefit of physical evidence that dale killed the love of his life in a fit of blind rage. i think dale bruner strangles her, believes she is dead, takes her to the river and dumps her in the river. so what did happen on the night of the murder? the prosecutor called a child to start the story, dale and stephanie s eldest daughter who walked into her parents bedroom at 9:00 pm. at 10 years old she could say what happened with specifics. out of the view of the media, she told the court she heard her parents arguing, not cuddling, as dale claimed. after which, remember, dale
there wasn t a single photograph of her. every trace of her had been scrubbed from the house. it also seemed suspicious, said the detective, that dale changed his story a bit. first time he called the police, he said they had an argument before she left to go out walking. later he said there was no argument. was there an argument of any kind? no, we never had an argument. there was no argument. it was just the facts were on the table. what were you talking about that she needed to clear her head? we were just talking about us. within a few weeks of stephanie s murder, the state ramped up the pressure on dale. social services sent the bruner children to live with stephanie s brother in california. i m in a fight with mike tyson with no gloves. and they re taking my kids away, too. dale wasn t completely alone, mind you. some family stayed around, reported back to her sister, ramona, that dale was truly grieving. we kept asking, what is he acting like? what is he sayi