i m craig melvin. and i m natalie morales and this is dateline. he was definitely charismatic. he was the new kid in town, super popular, all about adventure. this kid was like, awesome. he jumped right in th culture. he liked to show off to the girls. they were the neighbors just down the block, of family in fear. they had their vehicles broken into, she was scared. someone had been sneaking into their home and now someon was in their garage. i m sitting there panicking he s coming after me in a flash, it was over that charismatic kid dead o the floor. fits it was terrible, i think i screamed for an hour what happened in that garag that night it was the last person that would come to my mind. a neighbor protecting his home or preparing a trap makes the statement it showtime it is showtime? exactly a teenager, a father, a murder, no one would be th same we were all taken aback welcome to dateline he came to americ
york, and we are following breaking news at this hour president biden has released a statement on the safety of u.s citizens in sudan. he says, quote, today on m orders, the united state military conducted an operatio to retract u.s. government personnel from khartoum. i am receiving regular reports from my team on their ongoin work to assist americans i sudan to the extent possible president biden has called for an immediate cease fire there. one american is among at least 400 people killed amid the fighting between the sudanes army and rival forces. now, back to dateline. welcome back. i m craig melvin home owner markus kaarma tol police his story that he was living in a state of fear. but his answers raised mor questions, what really happene in that garage, and what was diren dede doing there in th
anniversary of george floyd s death as democrats in congress push to pass some relief reform. now back to dateline. welcome. i m craig melvin. homeowner markus kaarma told police he was living in a state of fear, but his answers raised more questions. what really happened in that garage and what was diren dede doing there in the first place. to find out more, they needed to learn more about the german exchange student. here is josh mankiewicz with deadly exchange. reporter: when he was killed in a neighbor s garage, exchange student diren dede was just two months away from returning to his family in germany. the man who shot him said he feared for his life. and from diren s best friend,
and because he felt his life was threatened by the movement, specifically, of mr. dede, he had to take the steps, unfortunately, to take his life. the danger of a burglar is when there s a confrontation, and they all want to escape, and they ll do whatever they can to get away. reporter: the defense said there was no debate over one central fact. diren dede went into that garage to steal. and on the stand, kaarma s lawyer got diren s friend robby to admit that despite warnings, diren didn t see much wrong with garage hopping. i think diren never felt like it was a crime. but you were warning him. you were telling him it wasn t right. it was reckless. it was dangerous, right? yeah. yeah. like, i understand on this way. but he maybe didn t understand. reporter: in fact, the defense suggested that diren was part of a local burglary ring that was stealing more than just beer and may have been behind the previous break-ins at the
areas. now back to dateline. welcome back. i m craig melvin. homeowner marcus told police he was living in a state of fear, but his answers raised more questions. what really happened in that garage and what was diren dede doing there in the first place? to find out the truth, they needed to learn more about the german exchange student. here again is josh mankowitz with deadly exchange. reporter: when he was killed in a neighbor s garage, exchange student diren dede was just two months away from returning to his family in germany. the man who shot him said he feared for his life. and from diren s best friend, robby, police learned the teen did enter the garage to steal. as robby described it, diren was not the first kid in missoula to go sneaking into unlocked