you don t get to have it. evil exists. evil dwells in people. it was a night like this, just before halloween. a killing that still haunts. i m found him just lying there. couldn t feel a pulse. the young dad engaged to be married, dead on the ground. they determined that it was a murder. and here s what made this mystery so chilling. the possible suspects were all in costume. the cowboy and the penguin, everybody is dressed as somebody else. how are you going to be able to identify people? cowboy? penguin? costumed killer? sounds like something ripped from the pages of stephen king. but in this case, the horror was real. we had this piece of a costume, we didn t know what it was. a halloween crime that will send shivers down your spine. i was terrified. something had happened. i didn t know what. hello. welcome to dateline. just days before halloween, joel lovelien and his fiancee, heather eastling, headed to a local bar with costume-clad party-goers
murder. a nervous travis was arraigned from jail via closed-circuit tv. his anguish and misery is evident in his call home. hi travis. it s going to be okay. it s going to be okay. i don t know. i know this is difficult for you, travis. it would get even tougher. a little more than a year after his arrest, travis found himself on trial for murder facing the rest of his life behind bars. prosecutor nancy laid out the state s case. joel lovelien for a jury would decide travis fate. travis brutally beat joel lovelien while he was down on the ground and did not seek help for him afterwards. left the scene, allowing mr. lovelien to choke to death on his own blood. jurors heard joel s fiance heather as she relived that awful night. he was just lying there and i remember screaming his name
and misery is evident in his call home. hi travis. it s going to be okay. it s going to be okay. i don t know. i know this is difficult for you, travis. it would get even tougher. a little more than a year after his arrest, travis found himself on trial for murder facing the rest of his life behind bars. prosecutor nancion laid out the state s case. joel lovelien a jury would decide travis fate. travis brutally beat joel lovelien while he was down on the ground and did not seek help for him afterwards. left the scene, allowing mr. lovelien to choke to death on his own blood. jurors heard joel s fiance heather as she relived it. screaming his name at him. he didn t say anything, he
i said years ago that i would rather get death than life, and that still is true today. i believe death is the ultimate freedom, so i would rather just have my freedom as soon as i can get it. so you are saying you actually prefer getting the death penalty to being in prison for life? yes. is anyone else surprised by the verdict? ryan byrnes is one of jeddy s ex-boyfriend s. he joins us. are you surprised by the verdict? not unexpected. when were you boyfriend and girlfriend? i met her at a convention in twit. i thought she was a good-looking girl, i got her number, and we talked over the phone for about a month so we were never boyfriend and girlfriend but i was definitely interested in her and for that month we were talking, that s when she planned to come out to see me, and that was may, 2008. and we all know that travis died the beginning of june so that s
i said years ago that i would rather get death than life, and that still is true today. i believe death is the ultimate freedom, so i would rather just have my freedom as soon as i can get it. so you are saying you actually prefer getting the death penalty to being in prison for life? yes. is anyone else surprised by the verdict? ryan byrnes is one of jeddy s ex-boyfriend s. he joins us. are you surprised by the verdict? not unexpected. when were you boyfriend and girlfriend? i met her at a convention in twit. i thought she was a good-looking girl, i got her number, and we talked over the phone for about a month so we were never boyfriend and girlfriend but i was definitely interested in her and for that month we were talking, that s when she planned to come out to see me, and that was may, 2008. and we all know that travis died the beginning of june so that s