hi, mom. this woman had gone out to get the mail and disappeared in her pyjamas the case was never closed. it was consuming all of us. the individual was wearing a baseball cap, hoodie with the hood pulled up and large mirrored sunglasses. oh, my gosh, did this really happen? i m like, no, dude, i can t do this. there was a scream. a drop of blood came from her nose. it was like a game. he was a part of this game. we re done with the games. it needs to stop. it needed to stop. michigan snow blankets field and woodland with silent beauty, sometimes encasing ugly secrets hidden beneath, never meant to be disturbed until finally they re revealed and all is made clear. i know a lot of people say, you wanted to find her. yeah, i wanted to find her, but then it was going to become so real to me that maybe you don t want to find yeah, yeah. start with the mother of two who vanished as she stepped outside her door to pick up mail. she wasn t there, and
in centerville, michigan, in st. joseph county. it had been nearly a year since venus stewart disappeared in her pajamas. her husband, doug, was now on trial for her murder, even though the body was never found. a fundamental fact of the defense s case. doug pleaded not guilty, and said he was surprised he was even arrested. this is my opening statement. reporter: the responsibility for prosecuting doug stewart fell to baby-faced john mcdonough. douglas stewart caused the death of venus stewart. reporter: seated at the defense table, doug stewart wearing casual guy sweaters and sweater vests. courtroom demeanor, what d you see, john? he was very good at kinda presenting himself as kinda the all-american guy. it was very bizarre. cause we would go into chambers, he would talk out loud like he was one of the
about anything in this case, i want you to think about the word guesswork. reporter: in its opening argument, the defense asked jurors to pay close attention to a prosecution case that had no victim s body and no eyewitness who saw the defendant in michigan, much less killing his wife. i believe at the end of this case, the prosecutor is going to ask you to guess. reporter: after ricky spencer s riveting testimony, anticipation was building. would the defense be able to rock the wild story from the so-called double? the defense lawyers, jeff and kymberly schroeder, the married and highly regarded team, were poised to attack more than ricky s testimony. they were going after his character, too, and the deal, they claimed he d made for leniency with the prosecution. my defense, my story, had to do with ricky evading life in prison, ricky being an
accomplished liar. reporter: cross examination strategy number one was to muss up the clean-cut young man image he projected from the stand. they started with the x-rated screen name, the tag, he d picked for himself when he played xbox live. ricky, your gamer tag is dark [bleep], isn t it? yes, that s correct. what s a [bleep]? it means a bunch of guys. reporter: ricky explained to the jury the overt and very explicit sexual connotations of his online name. the defense wanted the jury to look at ricky as an unsavory young man without a moral compass. and if you believe his testimony, he decided to to help commit murder, rather than deciding to call the authorities. of course you don t want the jury to believe that story, but there s a moral issue that hangs over the testimony here. right. reporter: this guy could have thrown a wrench in the works and stopped it. he could have. reporter: he could have done the right thing, but elected not to.
if you believe his testimony. and i think that s one of the reasons why his testimony s not believable. reporter: evidence that ricky could be shifty with the truth? he d already admitted in direct testimony that he d lied to his parents about what he was doing over spring break. did you want them to know that you were going to visit mr. stewart? no. why? because it seemed kind of strange to go meet up with somebody that you played xbox live with who s a lot older than you. reporter: but the defense took a mostly hands-off approach with challenging ricky on all those very detailed recollections of his story. what he did which day in virginia, what he bought with the credit card, which security cams he played to. the defense stance was, jurors, a lot of detail here, but it s all a fantasy from a young man trying to save his own skin. thank you, that s all i have, your honor. reporter: after only 20 minutes of less-than-explosive cross examination, they got him off the