do this on purpose. a dark house, a husband witho a gun. a wife dead on the floor. make sure that she is still breathing. oh, i don t think she is, damn it. there was no question who killed her. the mystery was why. i hear the door squeaking, and i hear the rumbling and i hear the dog growling. how could you not tell that s your wife?ld it was dark. he just kept saying it was an accident. he said he didn t do anything wrong. others disagreed.di we never for a second believe that he didn t know who that was standing in front of him. was it a tragic mistake? he was broken. or cold-blooded murder. emotion is only done in front of the detective. a room too dark to see? shut the light off.e or a story too hard to believe.or there was nothing accidental about what he did. a shot in the dark and found in the light of day. the love of your life. yes, sir. the person you know better than anybody else. yes, sir. and you can t tell it s he
debbie was standing. i will say, he would be able to see, probably about the the height of the person, if he has similar eyes to me. and that depiction means absolutely nothing at 4:00 in the morning. what s your reaction to that? does that change anything? by her size alone, he should ve known it was her. a silhouette, i mean, three feet away. he should have known that was his wife. reporter: prosecutors believed it simply was not as dark that morning as lars claimed and said photos from inside the house proved it. this is the big picture windows that are there in the living room. the drapes were never pulled back. and just circle where the shooting happened. it would ve it would ve been over here. these are the windows the prosecution made such a big deal about. even the curtains are exactly the way they were the morning of the incident. they believed ambient light would have had to have seeped through these windows from neighborhood streets, from homes, even the
reporter: ken itzo walked us through the story lars told him countless times he wasn t sure what he was seeing. he just thought it was an intruder, maybe two. there s the thought of, well, debbie s only 5 3 , she s blonde. she was wearing a light t-shirt. how could he not see his own wife? at 4:00 in the morning, you don t see anything. it s dark. and i don t think size, weight, or complexion matters at 4:00 in the morning, when you re awakened by a noise, and your dog s growling. reporter: ken wanted us to experience it with the lights off. let s do it. so let s shut the light off. okay. reporter: at first it was pitch black, but as my eyes adjusted, i could make out something. i can see a little bit of a silhouette but i cannot see your face. you wanna turn the light back on? i believe i was standing about where lars was standing. you were standing about where
a shot in the dark and found in the light of day. the love of your life. yes, sir. the person you know better than anybody else. yes, sir. and you can t tell it s her when you pull that trigger? welcome to dateline. d there s was a marriage. she the hard charging businesswoman, he the easygoing contractor. and yet somehow they made it work or so it seemed until a gunshot ripped through the night leaving debbie dead and a family racked with doubt. was her death a case of mistaken identity or the bloody end to a marriage gone bad? here s andrea canning with the silhouette. reporter: what happened r: inside this house would destroy
welcome back to dateline. i stay undetectable with fewer medicines. on trial for the murder of his wife, lars itzo was about to take the witness stand. what could he say to make jurors believe welcome back to dateline. on trial for the murder of his wife lars itzo was about to take the jury stand. here s andrea canning with the conclusion of the silhouette. then i heard a moaning. and at that time i knew it was my wife. reporter: lars itzo, up on the stand in his own murder trial. to tell the story of what he described as the perfect relationship. it was bliss. uh, the best thing that ever happened to me.