he knew it. reporter: wow. he knew his life was over. he just knew it. and that there was nothing he could do about it. reporter: as detective luvera talked to friends and dog owning clients, he heard all about mark s fears those last few months. he kept on pointing the finger at linda. but again, there was no evidence to prove that or suggest that, i guess. but he was concerned, and he had this feeling that something terrible was going to happen. reporter: what did he tell you about linda? he told me that she will not rest until i m dead. reporter: and it wasn t just linda mark fretted about. he told friends he was afraid of her father, too. why was he afraid of them? what i can say is often he would comment that they always win and they always get the last word.
and she said she found in a cubbyhole in the master bedroom a wedding candle that she d thrown away during the divorce. i found the wedding candle in there with a .22 bullet casing and a picture of me along with that in the cubbyhole. keith morrison: was it a message, a threat? in her cross-examination, it was pretty clear that prosecutor rosemary kaholokula was deeply skeptical about linda s fears and allegations. no proof at all from michiel s claims. and linda hadn t seen or heard a word from stover in the year and a half before he was killed. so what was she and oakes so frightened about? the last time that you ever saw mr. stover or heard from mr. stover was at the protection order hearing in april of 08, correct? that is correct. keith morrison: but she certainly saw a lot of michiel oakes. you continued to have romantic feelings,
keith morrison: and this testimony now in court, suggested the prosecutor, sounded like a woman with an obvious and selfish motive to support michiel oakes claim of self-defense. isn t it true that if this is a case of self-defense, it gets you off the hook too? what do you mean by that? rosemary kaholokula: you indicated you are concerned about your own potential liability in this case. if a jury were to find that this was self-defense, you wouldn t have any more liability either, would you? i have no liability in this case. nothing further. keith morrison: and the witness left the stand. dateline wanted to talk to linda opdycke. but she did not respond to our interview request. and as for her father, wally opdycke, his lawyer e-mailed this statement. wallace opdycke had absolutely no involvement or prior knowledge of michiel oakes murder of mark stover. rumors and innuendo to the contrary
by the casino, out of range of the camera, on a road that leads to this channel, open water, and this dilapidated dock. later, detectives and divers searched but didn t find a darn thing. didn t find a darned thing. then, of course, there was one other key witness for the prosecution, jennifer thompson, michiel oakes ex-wife. remember, she d claimed that michiel oakes told her he had been offered a job to take out an ex-husband, that he had been asked by a father of someone named linda, and that jennifer was convinced that meant this was a killing for hire. but because that alleged conversation took place when jennifer and michiel oakes were married, that made it privileged. couldn t be used in court. the prosecution would have to make do with just part of jennifer s story. the judge would not allow her face to be filmed in court as she told the jury about her visit
were directly involved, other than what jennifer thompson had told us. keith morrison: why not just call them in and ask them? they wouldn t talk to us. we got a letter and a phone call from wally s attorney immediately after michael oakes arrest stating that wally opdycke would not talk to us. keith morrison: what? had you asked him by then? no, we hadn t even requested to interview wally. we hadn t even called him. keith morrison: what did you think? oh, i thought, wow, huge red flags. i thought, wow, this guy, we haven t even asked to talk to him and he s already got an attorney, and the attorney s already contacting us telling us not to contact wally opdycke. it was crazy. same with linda. she hired an attorney right away. keith morrison: linda invoked her fifth amendment right to remain silent. a judge ultimately ordered her to sit for a deposition. still didn t say anything. pretty much every question we asked her, she took the fifth on.