did she have an aneurism? did she have a seizure? police were baffled. i expected something to be wet. i expected there to be water on the floor. things were not adding up. something was screaming to me, something s bad, wrong. could this death have been deliberate? she was murdered. i love sarah. i would never have hurt her. i started crying because i just felt so bad for him. there s just no chance he had anything to do with it. three trials, three juries. we re scared that the truth may not come out. the bathtub mystery. hello and welcome to dateline extra. i m craig melvin. sarah and ryan were newlyweds, a young people that appeared to be deeply in love. but less than four months after tying the knot, sarah mysteri s mysteriously drowned in their bathtub. ryan claimed it was an accident. but to investigators, his story just did not add up. was this a tragic mishap?
they had begun the two of them with a blind date at a pub that worked out. sarah, sarah stewart had been fixed up by her friend, dana. dana had an inkling that sarah would hit it off with ryan. i came home. i said sarah is amazing. i think their personalities would get along. he said, let s let them go to dipper and see what happens. what happened over drinks and nibbles was chemistry. laid back ryan, the college jock, and super organized, who needed everything just so talked about getting together. she said let me check my book. she gets out her little black book. she s looking through. he is peeking over looking. he said, later he calls us and tells us there was nothing written in her black book. reporter: a fast track courtship. and before very long. ryan was bringing his new girlfriend home to meet his mom, jill.
or was something more sinister at play? it would take years of police work and three sensational trials to uncover the stunning truth. here s dennis murphy. reporter: sometimes the shades are drawn early in a marriage even for a young couple so in love like newlyweds sarah and ryan. everything in life was still fresh. even at home on your average monday night. after his workday as a sports planner, ryan says he plopped down on the sofa, on an august night to chill with the bengals preseason opener against green bay. sarah, he says, went upstairs to draw a bath in the master. she liked her calming baths. the young dental hygienist had been tormented with more headaches that afternoon. the young couple in the suburban cincinnati home that evening had been married just under four months. 114 days to be exact. they vowed till death do us part. and that moment was only minutes away from arriving.
i mean every detail was planned obviously to a t because it was sarah. and she was gorgeous. awesome. probably the most fun wedding we had ever been to, ever. reporter: the newlyweds went to costa rica for their honeymoon and had a great time. then back to cincinnati to begin their journey together as mr. and mrs. ryan widmer. they worked really hard. built a beautiful deck. had a trip planned to cancun. they had everything to live for. reporter: august 11th should have been another day on the calendar in a young marriage? yes. august 11th, monday night. ryan remembers being downstairs watching monday night football. and sarah had gone upstairs to her bath. she was in trouble. 911, what is your emergency? my wife, she fell asleep in the bathtub. i think. i went downstairs. i came up. she was laying face down in the bathtub. i got a call it was ryan. something has happened to sarah. emts were rushing sarah to the hospital. by then they worked on her for 45 minu
she was very excited. he was excited. sarah made him happy. reporter: soon the wedding invitations were in the mail. the bridesmaids knew they better snap to. she is a planner. she had everything ready to go. wanted to make sure the girls wore the same eye shadow. she gave us makeup kits for the wedding so we all looked the same. how was ryan doing? just as happy, happier than i have ever seen him with her. reporter: it cost sarah a big screen tv to seal the deal. but she got ryan to take ballroom dance lessons for the wedding. i was amazed. never in a million years. reporter: your son at dance lessons? she could get him to do more things than any woman he had ever dated. reporter: the wedding in april 2008 was a formal affair. the bride was beautiful. ryan s dance came off without a hitch. and the happy bridesmaids all matched just as sarah wanted. very beautiful.