but we re only as strong as our community. who inspires and pushes us to go further than we could ever go alone. sofi. get there sooner. miss opdycke, raise your right hand. keith morrison: for months and months, since the murder of mark stover, his ex-wife linda opdycke had maintained for months and months, since the murder of mark stover, his ex-wife linda opdycke had maintained absolute public silence. in the face of questions from
it s a wonderful place. reporter: kiket island is what it s called. an 84-acre teardrop of primeval forest and meadows and beaches plunked a few feet offshore, a 90-minute commute north of seattle. the dogs could go swimming in the water there. there s plenty of trail walks. and it was just really, really outdoorsy and beautiful. reporter: outdoorsy and beautiful are words which also happen to describe the human love of mark s life, linda opdycke. the willowy blonde daughter of wally opdycke, the wealthy investor who d once helped found chateau ste. michelle winery. linda seemed a perfect match for mark, according to the clients and friends who knew him best. she was mark two. you know, i mean, they were peas in a pod. they had similar hobbies. they d hunt and fish, you know, go camp somewhere. that kind of stuff. he just thought she was the most wonderful thing since sliced bread basically. reporter: very protective of
thing as evidence and we didn t have any evidence to support that linda or wally were directly involved other than what jennifer thompson had told us. reporter: why not just call them in and ask them? they wouldn t talk to us. we got a letter and a phone call from wally s attorney immediately after michiel oakes arrest, stating that wally opdycke would not talk to us. reporter: well, had you asked him by then? no, we have not even requested to interview wally. we hadn t even called him. reporter: what did you think? well, i thought, wow, huge red flags. i thought, wow, this guy, we haven t even asked to talk to him and he already has an attorney. and the attorney is already contacting us telling us not to contact wally opdycke? it was crazy. same with linda. she hired an attorney right away. reporter: linda invoked her fifth amendment right to remain silent. a judge ultimately ordered her to sit for a deposition. still didn t say anything. pretty much every questio
no. reporter: the prosecutor kaholokula also asked opdycke about her refusal to answer certain questions in the case. now, it s correct, isn t it, that throughout the investigation of this case you ve been concerned about your own potential legal liability in this case? yes. and you refused to speak with my office, correct? under a legal counsel, yes. reporter: this testimony now, in court, suggested the prosecutor, sounded like a woman with an obvious and selfish motive to support michiel oakes claim of self-defense. isn t it true that if this is a case of self-defense, it gets you off the hook, too? what do you mean by that? you indicated you were concerned about your own potential liability in this case. if a jury were to find that this was self-defense, you wouldn t have any more liability either, would you?
i have no liability in this case. nothing further. reporter: and the witness left the stand. dateline wanted to talk to linda opdycke, but she did not respond to our interview requests. and as for her father wally opdycke, his lawyer e-mailed this statement. wallace opdycke had absolutely no involvement or prior knowledge of michiel oakes murder of mark stover. rumors to the contrary are baseless and unfair. mark stover was a domestic violence terrorist. reporter: john henry browne closed with a powerful recitation of his theme, that mark stover was the bad guy. but even so, he said, oakes didn t want or plan to kill him. you don t premeditate up just to the point of shooting somebody. you premeditate the entire scenario. and what happened after this