would she regret that decision? here s keith morrison with the final chapter of the hometown hero and the homecoming queen. dave laut was a son. he was a father. he was a colleague. he was a friend. more than six years after the death of olympic bronze medalist dave laut, the murder trial of his wife jane finally began in this ventura, california, courtroom. prosecutor ramin newy told the jury jane was a calculating killer. if you look at each of the six shots they were administered by this defendant as she was executing her plan to murder her husband. there is just one reasonable conclusion, to find the defendant guilty of murder. the defense attorney countered the real victim was jane laut, who suffered the utmost cruelty at the hands of
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. the woman in full panic. the woman on the phone was jane laut, the wife of the hometown hero. 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.
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. remember those clothes they found in the laundry room? when they tested them they found gunshot residue. so did jane shoot dave, then change into her pajamas before she called 911? and you ll remember, jane specifically mentioned a red flashlight. so police bagged it, tested it, and found gunshot residue. as if she was holding the flashlight while shooting her husband. if jane was the killer, this is about as cold-blooded as it gets. investigators said dave had been shot six times. we came up with a fairly logical explanation of how it was done. shot one appeared to have been fired from a distance of several feet. grazed his head. deposited pieces of scalp on a
along the u.s. southern border where he s promised to build a a wall. for now, back to dateline extra. 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
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.