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
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. the night took a horrific turn when joel stepped outside and walked into a troubling mystery. in a case filled with unknowns, one thing was certain. a man was dead. police rounded up several potential suspects, but could the
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
hand. and they questioned why only travis stay s lion costume was tested for blood. why didn t they check anyone else, anything else besides this lion? it took the jury five hours to reach a verdict. we, the jury, do find the defendant not guilty. my attorney said a quick verdict is a good verdict in this case. it was vindication. travis, what are you going to do with your life now? any reaction to the verdict? then the verdict comes in. devasting. not guilty. i didn t understand that. i still don t understand that. i don t know everything. i do know that joel s blood was
time you got in jurors heard testimony that later that night, travis was in another fight. after mr. lovelien was killed, travis stay left the broken drum on foot, walked to a location in the alleyway where he confronted another individual. travis threw a punch at that man and missed. he then got into a cab and went home. if prosecutors were to be believed, the defendant was a halloween nightmare come to life. just add alcohol and nurse travis turns into a drunk and dangerous mr. hyde. that theory helped them explain to jurors how the slightly built travis was able to take down and kill the much larger joel with his bare hands. police also say the fact that joel had had a few drinks made it easier for travis. he was drunk. so the fact that a little guy comes at him unsuspecting, and he s unstable