i think that was a stress on the marriage. that there was stress was pretty clear, said rebecca. for a while, every time she would call me, it seemed like it was to vent about something she didn t like about what dave was doing. so evidence was carefully sifted for months. and then in february 2010, jane laut was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, and the story, said investigators, was chillingly clear. this was an execution. she had lured him out, shot him from behind, and then egressed on him, shot him a second and third time, stepped back and shot him a fourth time, came up super close, and shot him two more times, one to the back of the head. there seemed to be plenty of evidence. jane s odd behavior, her lie about a prowler, and on top of it all, the gun in the grandfather clock. so jane hired a lawyer, and
a crime scene. dave laut had been shot in his own backyard. but what or who had lured him outside? here again is keith morrison with the hometown hero, and the homecoming queen. midnight, august 28th, 2009. oxnard, california. 911 emergency. the woman in full panic. what s the person look like that was in your back yard? the woman on the phone was jane laut, the wife of the hometown hero. oh my god. dave was still outside, she said, where she heard shots fired. where did you last see your husband? he told me to get back in. so i came back in. and i heard the shots.
hands or wipe her hands on a towel, one of the two, before coming back to the table and before the test was done. so odd things. anyway, police scoured the place, didn t see any murder weapon lying around. and they were about ready to take dave s body off to the morgue when some instinct told the lead detective to look here. he cracked open the doors of the grandfather clock in the dining room, looked down inside, and there it was. this is more than likely the murder weapon. a ruger six-shot revolver. surely no prowler would have dropped a weapon right here in the dining room clock. the prowler theory did not make any sense whatsoever. with a hidden gun inside the house. and so it wasn t long before investigators shifted their focus from unknown prowler to the woman who had reported one, jane laut.
jane laut told the police a harrowing story of a backyard prowler and gunshots right outside her door. and now her husband, olympic bronze medalist dave laut, was dead. but some things seemed a little off. for example, said investigator palmieri, when police were still questioning jane at the house, she stepped into the laundry room. she actually tried to keep one of the police officers out of the laundry room. she tried to close the door, with her in the laundry room and him out. why? well, said palmieri, jane was wearing pajamas when police arrived. but in the laundry room they found her jeans rolled up in a towel tucked between the washer and dryer. her top was lying there as well, inside out. it looked like they had been removed quickly, stashed away. when an officer tried to administer a gunshot residue kit to jane s hands, standard procedure in a shooting investigation when the officer doing the test began getting the test ready, she did go into the bathroom and either
welcome back to dateline extra. i m tamron hall. dave laut was murdered outside his home, and then police found the gun that killed him inside. calling the story his wife told detectives into question. but secrets emerged, and what she told them next would send the investigation hurtling in a whole new direction. a stunning allegation pointed to another explanation for dave s death. here again is keith morrison with the hometown hero and the homecoming queen. reputation is all we have in the end. how quickly it can turn. sweet jane laut, now accused murderer, and now that dave was dead, stories emerged. it seemed like she was controlled, in my opinion. an across-the-street neighbor. i mean, he s there, standing