the opposite of relief. shocked. stunned. it was such a one-sided trial. it was so unfair. kathy said there s so much more to her friend the jury never learned. he just came here to retire, and want a quiet life. this should have never happened. this was just pure, utter sadness. it was just-12 minutes that changed so many lives, in so many tragic ways. byron smith will live out his retirement, in prison, having received an automatic-life sentence. and nick brady and haile kifer, two young cousins, who made a terrible decision to enter that home, paid for it with their lives. and their loved ones are left to mourn a future that will never be. you had a little, baby girl, not too long ago. and nick and haile weren t here to see that. i think that s probably one of the hardest parts about all of it. i would have loved to see my brother hold her. he would have been uncle nick.
fun to talk with. but recently, byron wasn t himself. his house had been broken into a few times. the thieves taking everything, from money to precious, family heirlooms. the langes say their friend had become afraid. he was acting real quiet, real scared. and then, that crime-scene van showed up outside byron s home, and kathy was sure her friend was in trouble. just worry and panic. it s like, something s wrong. she was right. something was wrong. burglars had struck, again. this time, byron was home, and he had a gun. he had managed to defend himself, and survived the break-in. if you break into somebody s home, you better not have an expectation you re going to walk out alive, because the law permits them to shoot you. wetzel was the sheriff. when two intruders broke into his house and crept downstairs, byron shot both of them, dead. minnesota law s clear on, this thing. you have the right to use deadly force against another person, if you believe
thanksgiving, 2012, kimberly brady was worried sick that her son nick and her niece, haile, never showed up for thanksgiving dinner. they had been missing for more-than-24 hours. by friday afternoon, the family was frantic. so you decide to call the police? we went into the sheriff s department. right away. and filled out missing-person s reports for both of them. as authorities processed those reports, three other sheriff s deputies were over on elm street. investigating something, so troubling, they later called in a crime-scene van. that got the attention of john and kathy lange, who saw the van go straight towards the house of their good friend, byron smith. a 64-year-old, retired man, living on his own. i was decorating the
christmas tree. i saw a big, huge truck go down his road. called the crime-scene unit. and i shouted for john. i think you were in the kitchen. and i said, call byron s cell. something has happened. what did you worry, kathy? what did you think had happened? i thought he was dead. kathy and john feared the worst for their friend, who had seemed out of sorts, in recent months. everything was fine when byron, first, moved back to his hometown of little falls about-five years earlier, after a career that took him all over the world with the u. s. state department. he was talking about living in moscow and cairo and dakar. and it s amazing. a worldly guy. very much, so. a great conversationalist and and