you needed to throw out. it was a wide investigation at the time. yes. reporter: you had a killer on the loose. yes. and the neighbors were very scared. who s out there? who did this? reporter: in those first few hours, the leads would pour in, and police had to move fast. lynn reister had inspired loyalty in her life. now in death, the detectives could not let her down. on base, a giant military family is hit hard by murder, but in lynn s own family, had there been signs of trouble? coming up an army commander being murdered was unheard of. rodney was going around calling her names, vulgar names. he had a little bit of animosity towards lynn. when dateline continues. ws , you know how i feel. breeze driftin on by. if you ve been playing down your copd,. it s a new dawn, it s a new day,. .it s time to make a stand.
she was buried in her army dress uniform. and in order to do the open casket, they had to cover the throat. so they used her air defense artillery ascot to you know, it connects on the back and so that they would be able to do the open casket. lynn s mother asked me to go and buy a baby blanket. it was a little boy. and so i went and bought a little baby blanket. and so for the memorial when they laid lynn out in her uniform. the point was there that not just one person had died in this attack, that two had died. reporter: 4-year-old triston was there with his family and his mother s friends barely comprehending the tragic rupture in his life. do you remember how you felt towards him? i do. i felt sorrow.
get home. but her old life was about to change. about four months after she got back, roger convinced lynn to let his 24-year-old brother rodney come live with them. rodney had gotten into some trouble while his brother was serving his country. maybe roger and lynn could set him straight. he was on probation in florida, and for him to be able to leave the state, she had to write this letter, you know, saying how she would take on that responsibility. roger asked her to do that, and so she did. reporter: right about the same time, lynn found out she was pregnant again. the tug of motherhood was getting stronger, so this globetrotting army captain made a decision. she put in for a transfer to teach rotc in minnesota. good for her career. good for her family. and no travel. was she doing it at all to be with triston more? was that part of it? yeah. that would be part of it. yes. she wanted to it s more relaxing. she was going to be a teacher. it was something that she was
as well as a young lady. and they were cuddled up. and roger had a look of sheer terror on his face when he saw me walk in and realized who i was, because, you know, we knew each other. he stopped, and he gave me a hug, and, i didn t know you were back. well, i am. reporter: the young woman s name was april. she was 19 years old. what exactly was going on between roger and this young lady? they look like a couple? they did. reporter: megan decided it wasn t her place to tell lynn. but over in saudi arabia, lynn knew something was up. roger never seemed to answer the phone. hey, roger. it s lynn again. i don t know where you re at. i ve been trying to get ahold of you for over 24 hours. reporter: and word had traveled halfway around the world that roger had been having parties at their home, drinking with people as young as 18, acting like a teenager himself.
well, i m an innocent man sitting in jail, so yeah. i do kind of feel like a victim, yes. reporter: he says that he s the victim in this. that all these people lied and now he s behind bars because of the lies. all these people lied? hmm. i don t even know what to say to that. reporter: debbie says lynn s profound loyalty may have been her undoing, and that lynn would want other people to learn from that. sometimes you don t keep fighting to keep that marriage together. that maybe there is a time that it s better just to say, you know, it s over and walk away. reporter: even now, this case can bring detective chavarilla to tears. can you explain it? why you have this emotion? can you put it into words? it s hard. it s hard. she was pregnant. and of course, you have triston.