Underneath her body . In the front drivers seat was what appeared to be a note. She had rekindled a relationship with one of the executives. Did someone have something to hide . Did you murder her . No. Did you pull the trigger . No. Did you kill her . No. It was like a script. He had answers for everything. Your heads spinning. Youre. You realize this is it. Youre going to hell for what youve done in this case. It was dark, past 3 00 a. M. , a weak hint of crescent moon, struggled to penetrate the night here in the middle of america. Kingman, kansas, population 3,000, was asleep. Except on a Quiet Residential Street a woman unable to sleep watched a crime show on tv. Was that Popping Noise she heard coming from somewhere in the neighborhood or was it her tv show . Or just a remnant of the windy day licking around her windowsill . The silent night closed in again, april 30, 2011, tornado season. Oh, and there was a storm that night. The whirlwind even then sweeping all of them into its vortex. But it began not with wind, with fire. 911. Do you have an emergency . Yes. Whats the problem . Calm down. Theres a fire. 3 51 a. M. , the man on the phone to 911 was frantic, out of breath. My wife is here is the actual video of kingmans one officer on duty that night running to his police car and speeding to the Burning House where he met the 911 caller outside. You can hear them both recorded by his patrol cars dashboard video camera. Where are you at . Right here in the driveway. The man said his wife was still in the Master Bedroom in the back of the house, second floor. And if that was true, didnt look good for her. A passerby caught this video on his cell phone. By then the Volunteer Fire Brigade was arriving. Not much any of them could do for the woman inside. As the man calmed down a little, he told the officer he was able only to rescue his 2 and 4yearold sons, carry them to safety. So somewhere in there his wife, their mother, was dead. There was more to his story as youll hear. Much more. But for now, the dismal business of sorting out what happened. So where to begin . The Man On The Street said his wifes name was vasthi, vasthi seacat. It was out of the bible, there was a queen vashti. My dad thought the name was neat so they named her vashti. Her sister, kathleen, lived three hours away. Neither she nor her brother rich could believe what they heard that dark morning. The first thing i did was call the Kingman County Sheriffs Department just to verify. Did they help you . Did they tell you anything . First they asked who i was and i explained my relationship to vashti. And he said yeah, theres been a fire and we believe shes deceased. And the man standing outside his Burning House, that was vashtis husband, brett seacat, her very first love. They met in high school. She did some stats for a team and he was a wrestler. First little love in high school. First boyfriend, girlfriend. They broke up and got back together a few times as people do until they finally married in 2004. That first love always holds a special place in your life. But by dawn on the 30th of april, 2011, though as youll hear brett certainly knew what to do in a crisis, there was nothing he or anyone could do to get it back. The life he had with vashti and their two boys, now motherless boys, Brandon Born In Fall of 2006, bronson less than two years later. When they had their babies, it was a very happy time. My sister was mother of the year award goes to her. At 4 00 in the morning, she would get up and hand make baby food. Wow. So her kids could have organic, healthy food. She lived for those babies. Not just her own kids. She was the first to help someone at the boys daycare. A little boy had it was cancer, leukemia, something, and she stayed up and baked mini loaves of Banana Breads and sold those to raise money for that boy to have treatment. What was brett like as a dad . He did lots of things with the kids. I will tell you, he did walks with them. He would play outside with them. He was very engaged as a dad. He was very proud of his sons. Brett was a law man from a family of lawmen. A former sheriffs deputy and for the last few years, he had been Teaching Officer recruits of all types at the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center where bobby seacat, one of his brothers, worked before him. He was actually hired to replace me when i left there. So what was the job, teaching what . Brett got into the Accident Investigation and collision investigation, but he was much more into physical training and Defense Tactics than i ever was. Had more interest in that kind of thing . He did. Personal combat type of thing . He did. Growing up. He got into martial arts. He was into wrestling in high school. And then got into bodybuilding, martial arts things. He was a lot bigger than i was. The Training Center job gave brett a set schedule with regular hours, which was a Welcome Change from being a deputy sheriff, especially with the two boys clamoring for his attention at home. He was close to the boys but he was very masculine with the boys. It was raise them as boys. They were tough, they wrestled a lot. He would wrestle with them. Hed toss them across the room on to the couch and theyd bounce off the couch and run right back to be tossed again. A terrible thing to happen to such a beautiful young family. Even if the fire was all you heard about it. But now brett seacat headed to the local Law Enforcement center a few blocks away. And there he repeated to fellow Law Enforcement officers something he had said on the 911 call. That the fire was not what killed Vashti Seacat. So what did happen to vashti . A surprising piece of evidence is right there in the bedroom. She was lying on her left side like she was under the covers asleep. The firearm was actually under her left hip. Firearm, a gun in the bed . The sun rose over grief and chaos that last morning of april. Shingles doesnt care. I get as much fresh air as possible. Good for you, but shingles doesnt care. Because 1 in 3 people will get shingles, you need protection. But no matter how healthy you feel, your Immune System Declines as you age, increasing your risk for getting shingles. So what can protect you . Shingrix protects. For the first time ever, you can protect yourself from shingles with a vaccine proven to be over 90 effective. Shingrix is a vaccine used to prevent shingles in adults 50 years and older. Shingrix does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients or to a previous dose. The most common side effects are pain, redness, and swelling at the injection site, muscle pain, tiredness, headache, shivering, fever, and upset stomach. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist about protecting yourself with shingrix. Shingles doesnt care. Shingrix protects. Shingles doesnt care. Robinwithout the commission fees. So, you can start investing today wherever you are even hanging with your dog. So, what are you waiting for . Download now and get your first stock on us. Robinhood. The teams been working around the clock. Wire, weve had to rethink our whole approach. Were going to give togetherness. Logistically, its been a nightmare. Im not sure its going to work. Itll work. I didnt know you were listening. The sun rose over grief and chaos that last morning of april 2011. In little kingman, kansas. Vashti seacat was dead, her house burned around her and a husband and two little boys were just beginning to understand what had happened to them. The cant believe it stage, just like her siblings, kathleen and rich. Like i believed somehow it wasnt true. You plea with god or you just want a miracle to happen. No miracles to be had. That might have been the end of it really, an awful tragedy, but these things do happen and for all but loved ones are soon forgotten by the rest of the world. Except those volunteer firemen werent quite sure what they were dealing with. So they took the prudent step and called in the fire marshall, the atf, the bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms. We get a lot more training and exposure to the scientific side of things. That morning, atf agent doug monty showed up to have a look around. If you look at it from the front of the house, all you really noticed was the fact that part of the roof had collapsed as you made your way around back, there was very, very heavy fire damage to include collapse of the second and third floor, which is significant. Really the front facade was up and the rest was badly damaged . It wasnt down, anybody going by could tell a significant fire had occurred inside on the second and third floors. You heard there was a body inside. Did you hear anything else about it . Normally when i arrive at a scene like that, ill arrive with the onscene investigators, the fire chief, local officers and they had informed me that, as the First Arriving officer got there, he made contact with brett seacat and he indicated that his wife was inside. They also told him that when the First Responders arrived, the windows in the Master Bedroom were still intact, which would have tamped down the fire inside the room where vashti was last seen. That meant there was some chance at least that some evidence would still exist in there. Wouldnt be completely incinerated by the flames. Sure enough, when monty got inside what was left of the house, he saw the body of Vashti Seacat lying on the mattress of the Master Bedroom on the second floor. She was lying on her left side, her knees were slightly drawn up. It appeared that her elbows were bent. There was still a significant amount of blanket or covering on her like she was under the covers asleep. Also there, a weapon. The firearm was actually under her left hip, which would have been against the mattress with the barrel facing downward. It became clear the gun had been the source of a single Gunshot Wound to the side of her lower skull. There were other wounds, too. Oddly enough, you can hear gunshots going off during the fire in that Cell Phone Video Shot by a passerby. Had to be, agent monty said, when the hot fire exploded the remaining bullets in the gun, sending bullets into vashtis body. And Something Else that courtesy of those unblown windows, didnt burn up completely. We noticed a red plastic container very close to her back on the mattress itself. Plastic container for what . It was a gas can. Clearly a gas can . Yes. So what did that tell you . Our job that day was to determine the origin and cause of the fire and to classify it, whether it was accidental, whether we couldnt determine a cause or whether it was incendiary or someone intentionally set the fire. That certainly would make a suggestion, wouldnt it . Gas can on the bed. That would be an indicator, yes, sir. Suspicious . Oh, yes. But maybe not what youre thinking. Maybe not murder. In fact, the answer to what happened to Vashti Seacat was right there in her husbands panicky call to 911. She shot herself but shes in the fire. But why would a mother of two little boys kill herself . That was a story only her widower, brett seacat, would tell. She wanted to make everybody happy. Brett seacat has some secrets to share. He informed us that shed put on one face for her family and the public and she would be a different person at home. So that brett knew and nobody else . Right. Inside a relationship on the ropes. I made it perfectly clear i was going to do everything i could to make sure that she doesnt see the kids again. When dateline continues. Neighbor 1 allez sound from wind chimes neighbor 2 laughing at least geico makes bundling our home and Car Insurance easy. Which helps us save even more. Neighbor 2 hey, sarah, hey, peter neighbor 1 touche. Neighbor 2 ahhh neighbor 1 pret neighbor 2 en garde for bundling made easy, go to geico. Com Heart Monitors that let your doctor watch over you, just like you watch over your best friend. Another lifechanging technology from abbott, so you dont wait for life. You live it. Fire is a terrible thing to happen to a family. But fire was only half of the deadly event that ruptured the seacat family of kingman, kansas. This was a fire and a shooting. Apparently, both the suicidal work of Vashti Seacat. And because it occurred in a small, rural county, it triggered a call to the kbi. The statewide Kansas Bureau of investigation, whose special agent dave poletti welcomed the chance to hear directly what happened from brett seacat himself. Brett, remember, was in Law Enforcement himself and understood that the agent needed to hear the whole story, warts and all. We interviewed him for approximately 7 1 2 hours. Just two cops talking to each other. Seemed to be forthcoming . Very forthcoming. I just want to talk about what happened. I know this has been a terrible time for you. The agent was about to discover that brett was dealing not just with grief but with a heavy burden of guilt, though it took a while to get to that part of the story. Usually when we interview people, i want them to start at the very beginning, and we did. Brett told them the story of how he met vashti in high school and how he was smitten from the very first moment. She was great. She wanted to make everybody happy. She really worked on that. She really cared what people thought about her. Almost to the point of neurosis, i always thought. Maybe thats why in recent years she was paying way too much attention to her job, even when she was home. She was dedicated to her job and i always thought that that took away from her time with the kids because the kids and i may be playing in The Living Room and shed be in the office working. What making matters worse, said brett, was vashti was depressed, had been for a long time. Something almost no one else knew. He had informed us that vashti was basically two vashtis. One face for her family and the public and a different person at home. So that brett knew and nobody else . Right. She would get depressed over something. But she would never talk to anybody about being depressed because she was she was always worried about how people would view her. And even as her boyfriend, as her husband, the only reason i ever even got exposed to it is because i was the guy that spent the nights with her. Things got so bad, brett said, her depression was affecting their marriage. They started seeing a therapist. He also told investigators that to help her lose weight, vashti took a Hormonal Supplement, hcg, which has been linked to depression. And he remembered something that now came back to haunt him, he told them. That one night he and vashti were watching a drama on tv, during which someone had committed suicide with a firearm and she had asked him if that gun would be a good gun to do that with. And he said yeah, ive got one of those, but the dirty harry gun, which he indicated was the. 44 ruger magnum that they had, would be a better tool to do that with. So he looked back on it then in the interview with you as oh, my gosh, i told her how to kill herself . Right. But it got even worse, said brett. When vashti told him, to his dismay, that she wanted to split up and served him with Divorce Papers and he, very upset he said, told her the night she died you and i will go to the mat and i made it perfectly clear whether it was truthful or not, that if this went to court, i was going to do everything i could to make sure she doesnt see the kids again. There was no sharing a bed anymore. And after he fell asleep on the couch downstairs, he said his cell phone rang. It was vashti calling from the bedroom upstairs. Anyway, i answer it. She said, are you awake . You need to come get the boys. Brett said he jumped up and heard a loud noise. Sounded like Somebody Just hauled off and slammed the door closed as hard as they could. Then he heard what sounded like somebody Walking Around on the second floor and he bounded up the stairs to the bedroom. I remember that clearly now. And there were small flames around the door. The flames were about that high off the ground. Then he said, he ran into the Master Bedroom. The bed was on fire. And where the whole room could have been on fire, im pretty sure it was, but i was just looking right there. And vashti was laying on her back right in the spot where she sleeps. He said he reached over vashtis right shoulder and around her neck. Pulled her up and she sank down like waffled in my arms down straight. Not like somebody getting picked up. Then all of a sudden it sort of came to me. Dead, fire, kids. I just dropped her. He ran to the boys room, scooped them up. Ran downstairs, put them in the car and then called 911. Then ran back into the house to try to get vashti. He covered his face with a wet discloth he said and ran back up the stairs. By the time i get to the top of the stairs, its pitch black. I cant see anything. Not even my hand in front of my face. I told myself to get out. And now vashti was dead and brett couldnt stop wondering, he told the agent, wondering if she was thinking about the kids as she prepared to end her life. I have a question for her. Did mommy say goodbye or did mommy tuck you in and say night night or did mommy say goodbye was the big one. Because she did love those kids. And i could see her going in there and kissing each one of them good night. Brett said he explained to the boys, especially the older one, that mommy is in heaven now, that shes with god. We talk about that every night right before bed. And here, cop to cop, it was as if brett seacat was in a confessional booth. Full of sorrow for threatening to take away the boys, the trigger, he was sure, for her suicide. Did he seem remorseful about having said that . Yes, he did. He showed remorse that he had driven her to commit suicide. He had given her no other out other than to take her own life. A journal. In the front drivers seat appeared to be a note to her two children and to brett. Could it be a final message to her family . To her family . She told her children to take care of each other and she had made the comment k bre, bre took care of the house for you. None of it make sense. To show off the ease of comparing rates with progressives home quote explorer. International hand model jonjon gets personal. Your wayward pinky is grotesque. Then a high stakes pattycake Battle Royale ends in triumph. You have the upper hands its a race to the lowest rate, and so much more. Only on the upper hands. Whove got their eczema under control. With less eczema, you can show more skin. So roll up those sleeves. And help heal your skin from within with dupixent. Dupixent is the first treatment of its kind that continuously treats moderatetosevere eczema, or atopic dermatitis, even between flare ups. Dupixent is a biologic, and not a cream or steroid. 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Now, the trick would be finding evidence for or against the story behind the apparent suicide, brett seacats story. Which wasnt long in coming said the lead kbi agent. In vashtis purse they found a postit note with a list of expenses. Indications of money that she needed in her life insurance. The list included Funeral Expenses. And then they had a good look through vashtis volkswagen and in her trunk they found printed material about coping with stress and anxiety, but more important, investigators discovered something the detective new was absolutely key. In the front drivers seat was a journal. As you open that book and go past some of the notes that she had written in reference to her children, kind of bookmarked with the stream that you usually find in those types of books was what appeared to be a note to her two children and to brett. And in that note, shes trying to explain, tell the children i love them and shed tell her children to keep take care of each other and made the comment and brett, i took care of the house for you. The note also said, shed be watching over her sons from heaven. All those words on that page seemed pretty clear, it was a goodbye note. Investigators also talked to vashtis friends and family, colleagues at cox communications, where she worked in Human Resources and others who knew her well. They said she had been going to a therapist for several months and losing a lot of weight recently and taking the Hormonal Supplement hcg. Could it have affected her mood. Bretts Half Brother Bobby was dumbstruck by what happened and couldnt comprehend it, so he peppered him with questions. None of it made sense to me. I said were there problems . He said yeah, she filed for divorce and he told me they had been going to a counselor, been going to a counselor for six months. I said what would cause her to do this . He said i used the boys as a weapon, something i never should have done. If she tried taking custody of the boys, i would take the boys and run away with them. And he was beating himself up about that. I, of course, said probably half of all of the people that have gotten a divorce that have kids involved have said something similar. Bobby was learning things about vashti he had never known, he said. Like when brett told him before vashti died, she had been spending evenings out. Going out partying and dancing and drinking. So where would the kids be when she did that . With brett. Im not saying that those kids didnt mean a lot to her. She was a wonderful person on the surface. And there was a different vashti that we were unaware of. Its upsetting to be made aware of it. To brett, vashtis going out was a sure sign she was sinking into depression. Fit a pattern hed seen before, just as he told the investigators. And, again, bobby was shocked, didnt know a thing about it. Before this happened, i had never heard anything about her being suicidal. And thats why i have some disappointment in my half brother. I mean, if he felt the duty to protect her, i understand. But there are other people there to help you through this. In hindsight, im sure he wishes he would have shared those things. One thing jumped back at bobby, something hed seen the weekend before vashti died. She seemed sad and withdrawn sitting by herself in the house. While her young sons were hunting for easter eggs outside. She was not typical vashti who was usually bubbly and talkative and it was unusual that an Easter Egg Hunt occurred and she didnt even get off the couch and come outside. Bobby and his wife noticed. Asked how she was doing. All she told us that day was she really didnt like work, and work was a struggle for her daily. She said i got into hr to give people a future and hope and i dont remember the last person i hired. According to bobby, vashti said when she had to lay off employees, it was difficult for her. Especially if she was close to them. She said, if theyre not your friends, they take the news and they leave. If theyre your friend, they stay in your office and cry on your shoulder for an hour. As brett filled his half brother in on everything, bobby came to understand that apparently the emotions of vashtis job, the strain of her divorce, her depression, and bretts threat to take the kids from her proved too much, and sadly she took her life, Leaving Brett and the boys to go on somehow themselves. Ive gotten past anger towards her, now its just it bothers me. Theres just things i think in her life that derailed. But to set the house on fire with her own little boys inside . Were trying to assign rational thinking to someone i believe was getting ready to take their own live. So for bretts family, it was starting to make sense. But for vashtis family, it just made no sense at all. Questions and suspicions. I dont care what youre being told. He wanted to isolate my sister and have her to himself. I dont care what You Bei Being you are being told, you are dealing with a murder. Pronamel is taking it to another level. Relief from your worst cold and flu symptoms. Le so when you need to show your cold whos boss, grab mucinex allinone. And get back to your rhythm. Feel the power. Beat the symptoms fast. Every minute. Understanding how to talk to your doctor about Treatment Options is key. Today, we are redefining how we do things. We find new ways of speaking, so youre never out of touch. Its seeing someones face that comforts us, no matter where. When those around us know us, they can show us just how much they care. The first steps of checking in, the smallest moments can end up being everything. Theres resources that can inform us, and that spark can make a difference. When we use it to improve things, then that change can last within us. When we understand whats possible, we wont settle for less. The best thing we can be is striving to be at our best. Managing Heart Failure starts now with understanding. Call today or go online to understandheartfailure. Com for a free Heart Failure handbook. The vigil for Vashti Seacat was held across the street from her burnedout house. Her life was grounded in her love. Kathleen and rich were there, so was brett with his two sons. Not easy for any of them. And truth, as vashtis siblings knew, has a way of looking so very different, depending on who is doing the looking. Which is why the minute rich found out something happened to his sister, he called the Kingman County Sheriffs Office. I said i dont care what youre being told, i dont care what you think youre seeing, i said youre dealing with a murder. A murder. Even as they grieved, kathleen and rich had become suspicious of brett. Ever since brett called kathleen to tell her the news and phrased it in such an odd way. He said vashti killed herself and then set the house on fire. So how it was said to us was backwards. And just from conversations her and i had had, i knew. I just i knew. What did he sound like . No emotion. Very calm. No tears. No hysterics. Just very matter of fact. Im hysterical. Im not married to her and shes not the mother of my children and im hysterical. But he wasnt. A week or so later, brett drove down to oklahoma to speak directly with kathleen and her husband. And he had answers for everything. Like why she did what she did. Why she thought what she thought. It was like a script. Answers for everything. Where normal people would be confused. There was a picture of her that was a poster size picture on my fireplace, and i looked over at it and said she was such a good mother, and i broke down and he said, oh, im over that. Im just kind of angry at her and ready to move on. But they had to admit that bretts social interactions had always been a little cold, sometimes inappropriate and his reaction to vashtis death was not out of character. He didnt like people. He more wanted to isolate my sister and have her all to himself. I almost felt like vashti and the children were more of a possession than they were his. Like your clan. Everybody stay away from my stuff. Yeah. So it was a different kind of love than maybe what i would define as love. Early on, at least according to her siblings, vashti questioned her decision to marry brett, wondering if she should stay in the marriage, that is until she found out she was pregnant with the first of her sons. I do think brett treated her well while she was pregnant. He was very proud he was going to be having sons. And the seacat name was going to be, you know, pushed on. But several times in their marriage, it didnt feel right. I know she missed family. She wanted to reconnect with friends. She felt forced to not have the same friends. And that bothered her. Did it change the way she was or personality . Those boys were her life. So i think she was so focused focused and wrapped up in the children that she probably didnt notice it like we did from the outside. By the fall of 2010, said kathleen, vashti was miserable again. She was feeling depressed then and so she and brett started seeing a therapist together and alone. But things didnt get any better. And so in the spring of 2011, vashti filed for a divorce. This wasnt a spontaneous, i think ill get divorced. And i know she had thought it through well enough. She had had enough of him and told kathleen so. She said hes a grandiose narcissist. Its not going to get better. Its not going to change. But was vashti depressed as brett was saying . Not anymore said kathleen and rich. They talked to her all the time they said. And though she was sad about the divorce, she was looking forward finally to a happier life. She felt liberated, they said. Was excited about her job, was losing weight, starting new friendships and planning a vacation with you. And a concert and a hawaii trip and a springfield trip, and we had just gone shopping the week before, and the clothes were still in the bag at her house. In fact, she had so many things lined up for us to do that i was thinking i cant keep up with her. So they didnt buy bretts story at all. She was not depressed. She was anything but. The wednesday before vashti died when brett was served with the Divorce Papers, she spent that night with their sons at a friends house and was going to stay there until friday when brett was supposed to be out of the house. That was the plan, said kathleen. He got ahold of her on thursday and told her to come home, that she owed it to him to let him say goodbye to his kids. He told her he couldnt be out by friday, he had nowhere to go. His parents didnt even know they were contemplating divorce. He didnt have any Friends To Go Stay with. He said he needed a few more days to get out. Could she please come home and let him tell his boys goodbye and just talk. I begged her to not go and she said, kathleen, my only way out is to try to reason with him. She said im not a monster. Im not a monster. He has nowhere else. Rich talked to vashti that friday about dinnertime. The whole conversation was hey, sis, how are things going in light of the situation. Everything she said was, well, bretts having a really hard time with this. And bretts really struggling with this. It hurt her. It hurt her that he was so torn up. Less than 12 hours later, vashti was dead. Kathleen and rich told investigators thats the truth as they saw it. They were certain brett killed vashti, made it look like suicide and because he was a man who actually trained Law Enforcement officers you were worried because of his training, he knew how to beat the system . Oh, yeah. He would brag about it. He had books. He knew how to do it. Brett seacat under scrutiny. I would have expected his chest to have some type of singeing. There was absolutely nothing. And a desperate family. I grabbed somebody at the scene and i said give me some hope and he said in this instance, justice will be served. When dateline continues. Upbeat Holiday Music narrator upgrade your protectin this holiday season. Pepto bismol coats and soothes your stomach for fast relief available at boomer naturals,n nanocvs stor s cvs. Com. Or you. And get the same fast relief in a Delightful Chew with pepto bismol chews. For the better. Whatever question i have i feel like theres an avenue to seek the answer. Hit that app and you start a story, youre on an adventure. Download a new book within seconds and its ready to go. Theres something for everybody on audible. I like short stories. Short stories are easy. Theyre quick. I like long and like intricate stories, thats really what i love. Audible originals. I like biographies. Selfhelp. Fantasy. True crime podcasts. I love it so much. I can literally listen to anything. I can do it any time. And any place. And you know, for as long as i like. Getting really into a story can totally transform where you are and your mindset. Its really cool. Every time i learn something new, it just fuels the curiosity to explore more, to learn more. Theres anything and everything. To start your free 30day trial, just text listen 17 to 500500. Its not always so straightforward determining from evidence whats suicide and whats murder. Brett said it was obviously suicide. Her family said, no way. So now investigators had to figure out who was right. They scoured the wreck of the seacat house for clues. I remember grabbing one of the kbi or fire somebody that was working the scene and i said give me some hope. Are you finding something thats going to let everybody know what happened . And i remember he looked at me and he said, i will tell you this. In this instance, justice will be served. What did that mean . As another investigator told them justice will be served and maybe justice is he didnt do it. We dont have emotions in this. We are here to collect facts. And collect they did. Including a bit of unburned material on the Dining Room Table in the seacat home. Quite odd. It was actually a powerpoint that included almost like an instructor would be teaching a class on different types of death. Suicides, homicide, i believe was listed on there, fire, blunt force trauma, things of that, that an officer or investigator would be looking at when theyre investigating a death of some sort. That might make sense if hes a teacher of policemen, that he might have that. Individually, that probably could be looked at as that. In fact, said brett, thats exactly what it was. It was paperwork that he brought home from school or from class that he had taken, i believe, in college and it was scrap paper. He had pulled it in there because on the night before the morning she passed away, they had been working on a budget and we did find it looked like somebody was preparing a budget for their bills together, because they had separate accounts. So he was trying to show that he could help her out in paying off some of these bills. And that was the activity in the evening before she died. Correct. So it was kind of a cooperative activity . According to mr. Seacat, yes. Also brett said when he ran into the best of your knowledge bedroom to try to save vashti, he was only wearing pants, no shirt or shoes. So i would expect to see some type of injury to fire. All we ended up finding when we photographed him later was very, very minor singing on his legs from hair. You get more than that if youre lighting a barbecue pit and you singe yourself. He had a couple of minor blisters on one of his feet. If he bent over a bed that was on fire, i would expect his chest to have some type of singing. They found gasoline on the pants he was wearing. Suspicious . Maybe. But proof of murder, staging the scene . Not even close. There was an autopsy, of course. The results of which could be seen as suspicious or not. There was no soot in her airway or in her lungs. That would indicate there were no breaths taken prior to the fire kind of getting into the atmosphere. The fire was lit after she was dead . You could make that assumption. Is it possible she could have poured the accelerant around the various places in the house, lit them all, hopped back into bed, covered herself up, shot herself, and then died and still had no soot in her lungs . The fires are just getting started. Its possible. If shes made that decision to go to that length, i would expect that she would be very excited, her respirations would be very rapid and so she would be breathing heavy. There would be something in her lungs, some kind of indication . That would be my experience. Ive worked multiple Fatality Fires over the years. But atf investigators opinion aside, facts are facts and the coroner said there werent enough of them to determine whether vashtis death was homicide or suicide. Just too much fire damage to know for sure. So agent falletti and his team poked around for whatever circumstantial evidence there might be. They went to where brett worked and were told by coworkers at the Law Enforcement Training Center that on the day before vashti died, brett took two computer hard drives to the maintenance shop there and asked how to destroy them. Ultimately, they showed him a torch and he used a torch to basically oxyacetylene torch that burns at a very high temperature. He used that to torch the hard drives. And then threw them away. Two different trash cans along with a couple of cell phones which he had first pulled apart. Troubling. On the other hand, wasnt like he was skulking around or hiding the unusual activity, he even asked his colleagues for help. So back to the house and the neighborhood around it. Door to door went falletti and his team of investigators. And Three Doors Down from the seacat house was a woman who said she was having trouble sleeping that night and so was awake in the wee hours watching tv in her living room. And at some point she believes she heard what was a gunshot and she believed that was sometime before the fire trucks and the Police Officers showed up in front of the seacat residence. Exactly when each of those things happened, she wouldnt say for sure. But reviewing the tv show she had been watching, she could tell them which scene was playing when she heard that gunshot. And thats how the kbi was able to determine the gun went off long before brett called 911. We believed it was about 30, 35 minutes prior to mr. Seacat calling 911 is when she heard that gunshot. To do something. Right. The atf monty said it was not simply a matter of lighting the bed on fire. Was that where the fire was started . In my opinion, there were multiple fires started on the second floor of the residence. Interesting. But it didnt rule out the possibility that vashti herself started the fires. Theres a lot of things in limbo at that point. Yes. But their suspicions pointed in one direction. Toward brett seacat, who was going from grieving, guiltridden widower to a serious person of interest. Which his halfbrother bobby found preposterous, especially when it came to what the kbi thought was bretts suspicious behavior at the Training Center. As a former cop and cop trainer himself, bobby just knew his brother didnt do it. When you are in Law Enforcement and you know about identity theft, those are things you do. You break cell phones and you burn hard drives. Not only was he wellversed in identity theft, he was a Substitute Instructor of it. I think in hindsight, if he had known what was about to happen that very night, he wouldnt have thrown cell phones away. He wouldnt have burned hard drives. He would not have done anything, and he especially wouldnt have spent the night in that house. Because it would draw attention to him, make him look guilty . Absolutely. Was it just appearances or was it more than that . Anger and accusations. Oh, no, theres no why . Okay. I didnt do this. No. Did you pull the trigger . No. Did you kill her . No when dateline continues. Voltaren. The joy of movement. My job is to help new homeowners who have turned into their parents. Im having a big lunch and then just a snack for dinner. So were using a speakerphone in the store. Is that a good idea . One of the ways i do that is to get them out of the home. Youre looking for a grout brush, this is garth, did he ask for your help . No, no. No. We all see it. We all see it. He has blue hair. Okay. Blue. Progressive cant protect you from becoming your parents, but we can protect your home and auto when you bundle with us. Keep it coming. You dont know him. Relief from your worst cold and flu symptoms. Le so when you need to show your cold whos boss, grab mucinex allinone. And get back to your rhythm. Feel the power. Beat the symptoms fast. Understanding how to talk to your doctor about Treatment Options is key. Today, we are redefining how we do things. We find new ways of speaking, so youre never out of touch. Its seeing someones face that comforts us, no matter where. When those around us know us, they can show us just how much they care. The first steps of checking in, the smallest moments can end up being everything. Theres resources that can inform us, and that spark can make a difference. When we use it to improve things, then that change can last within us. When we understand whats possible, we wont settle for less. The best thing we can be is striving to be at our best. Managing Heart Failure starts now with understanding. When brett seacat arrived for that chat with investigators looking into the death of his wife, vashti, it was as if he could finally relax after the worst two weeks of his life. Honestly, talking to you guys distracts me from all the thoughts that eat me up of late, so, actually, i do better in this room. I did little talking. I did very few questions. We basically just let mr. Seacat go, and he talked for multiple hours. Brett knew the rules, of course, had to know he was very much a person of interest, but he was content to chat back and forth for Something Like seven hours. Didnt bring a lawyer with him. Didnt ask for one. Even when the investigators zeroed in on what they saw as holes in his story. Things just arent adding up. I think you know that. We just want to make sure we get all the facts right and get to the truth. Tell me what you want to know. Brett willingly answered almost every question they had, like why there was no real evidence on his body to back up his story about what he did the night vashti died. You had no blood on you when you supposedly picked her up in the bed and held her to you close. You had no blood no, i didnt hold her to me close you had no fire on the bottom of your feet. You should have some kind of injuries besides a small injury on the top of your feet. I dont know why the bottom of my feet arent burned. I had some kind of weird black charring, but you guys have pictures of that. Did i know that i stepped in any fire . I dont. The investigators were also starting to think that the note in the journal was forged. But to be honest with you, when i looked at that notebook, im going, this aint right, because well, it slants one way part of the time. It slants one way part of the time. The ds were different looked like her handwriting to me, but its not my handwriting. Why on the friday before vashti died, besides destroying hard drives and cell phones, brett spent time in his office with his door locked, which was pretty unusual at the Training Center. Oh, my god, you know i was locked . Screw you. I was crying. You had the door locked and what was you looking at . My Divorce Papers. Problem is, brett, youre in love. Youre still in love with her. Yeah, i am. And she was going to leave you. There was no doubt about that. Thats not why you kill. Well, some people do. You have no idea how impossible it is for me to kill her. But could he answer the central question, explain the thing that didnt make sense to anybody, why vashti, even if she was intent on suicide, why she would destroy the house, too . Why set it on fire . She really did not like that house. We were going to have to fix it up, and we didnt particularly have the money or resources to fix it up. She started really hating that house. But at its heart, said brett, vashtis reason might well have had more to do with vanity. She was a very, very beautiful girl and only thought about what people would see. I think she might have shot herself and then assumed that her face would be really messed up, so she lit a fire and charred herself. Sitting just a couple of feet away, agent falletti shook his head and said he didnt believe it. We asked him if he thought, if he was in my shoes interviewing me, and saw the things he saw and heard what he had told us, would he think that things just didnt add up . Oh, god, man. But you see where im coming from, dont you . Yeah, i see where youre coming from. I mean, this is 100 times worse than what i had pictured in my mind. Before, i just thought i lacked any evidence. And now youre saying theres a lot of evidence that i never knew existed. Well, it looks real bad. Hard evidence. Theyre adding up to you had something to do with this, brett. We need to know why. Oh, no. Theres no why, okay . I didnt do this. I love vashti. Im sure you did. Do. Im sure you still do. But people do things to people they love. I wouldnt [ bleep ] my kids like this, ever. I wouldnt [ bleep ] her family. I wouldnt [ bleep ] my family. I dont i didnt want to give up vash. I fought hard to try and keep us together. In fact, said brett, if he had murdered vashti, hed have made a better job of it. Im smart enough that if i wanted to kill my wife, it would have been a lot i could have come up with Something Better than this. This is [ bleep ] insane. This is what a crazy person does. No, not necessarily. Crazy in love, crazy for his kids, yeah. Dont try and twist it around. No, im not. Then falletti got to the point. Well, did you murder her . No did you pull the trigger . No did you kill her . No brett left the station then, went to be with his boys, whatever his thoughts may have been, but not for long, because no matter how adamant bretts denials were, they just didnt add up to the kbi. However depressed brett said vashti was, it made no sense she would have lit the house on fire with her two Sleeping Sons in harms way. The next day, brett seacat was taken into custody. He was formally charged three days later. Brett t. Seacat did then and there unlawfully, feloniously, intentionally, and with premeditation kill vashti s. Seacat. Your bond is 1 million. He was also charged with arson and endangering his children. Brett could not make bond, and so, remained in jail. He would await a jurys decision about what really happened in the seacat home in kingman, kansas, in the early hours of april 30th, 2011. Coming up, the note. Some of his actions were reckless because the clock was winding down. The gun. How did it end up completely underneath her body when she was sleeping on her side . The threats. She said, do you think brett would Burn The House Down with me in it . And i was taken aback by that, and i said, not with the kids at home. The prosecutors come on strong. And so, when those threats didnt work, he had to kill her to maintain control. When dateline continues. Did you know that 70 of your Immune System is located in your gut . To boost your Immune System try align Gut Health Immunity support. Aligns quality probiotic strain, adds more good bacteria to your gut, to help strengthen your immunity. Try align today. Narrator upgrade your protectin this holiday season. As kingman coped with the tragedy in its midst, the smallest victims in the vashti and brett seacat story endured what horrors we cannot imagine. Kathleen left her home in oklahoma to help care for vashtis young sons shortly after her sister died. And perhaps more than anyone, she was learning what violent death could do to a family. We held those babies all night. They would wake up. They were traumatized by the fire. So, to rock the little 2 1 2yearold, begging you, please ask jesus, please, bring my mommy back. Ill be good. I need a mommy. That breaks your heart. And this went on for a long time at night, sobbing for hours. Those poor kids. I mean, youre trying to process that mommys gone forever. And these people over here think mommy killed herself and these people over here think my daddy shot my mommy . The trial to decide one way or the other finally began in may 2013, two years after the fire. Two years in which the local media covered the case in a big way. Its looking like brett seacat will finally face trial for the death of Vashti Seacat. Brett was entitled to ask to have his trial moved to another county, which might have been less saturated with news of the case against him, but he elected to keep it right here in kingmans historic courthouse, a mere two blocks from his ruined home. The defendant intentionally and with premeditation committed the murder of his wife, Vashti Seacat. But for all the talk that had been around town, that assistant attorney general amy hanley had precious little hard evidence to draw upon, not even an Autopsy Report to wave around, because the coroner hadnt labeled vashtis death a homicide. No, the evidence was not hard. It was circumstantial. In other words, hanley will be asking the jury to look at all the circumstances, then put two and two together. He got his magnum redhawk revolver. He approached her in bed while she was sleeping. He shot her in the head. He set fire to at least two places in the house to cover up his actions. And he did all of this while their two young sons, brendan and bronson seacat, were in the home. The motive . Quite simple, said the prosecution brett did not want a divorce, but he did want custody of his sons, and he would do what it took, even kill vashti, to keep them. Their Marriage Counselor took the stand. He said that he felt like vashti was going to run. He could just feel it, that she was going to leave him, and that if she divorced him, she was divorcing the entire seacat family, including the children, and that he would take the children and she would never see them, even if it meant leaving the country. So, i told him it was not legal, that it wasnt going to help the children, it would hurt them a great deal, that they needed access to both their parents. Did you talk to him about divorced couples having two households . Yes. And what was bretts comments about that . He said hed seen children of divorce, and he didnt think it was worse for them to have just one parent or one household. He thought it was better. And as for bretts claim that vashti died by suicide, the therapist said she didnt believe it for a second. I asked her whether she would commit suicide, and she said, no, for two reasons. One, her religious beliefs and her faith. And the second was she couldnt do that for her boys. She just loved being a mom. She couldnt leave them. They needed her. The prosecutors showed the jury a photo of the contents of vashtis purse, which contained that postit note listing various costs, including Funeral Expenses. Vashti seacat, as all of her friends and family testified, was a very organized person, as both a mother and in her career at work. And that list is simply Somebody Planning out what they might do in their future when theyre going to get divorced, which we know Vashti Seacat was doing. Prosecutors also showed jurors the powerpoint papers found on the Dining Room Table, the presentation about homicide, suicides, and fire. True, brett was a Law Enforcement trainer, said the prosecutor, but those were not his subjects. He was not teaching arson. He wasnt teaching homicide. He wasnt teaching wound evidence. No. What those materials proved, said the prosecutor, was premeditation. It was bretts deadly homework. But what about that last entry in her journal, the one that read like a final farewell . Forged, said the state, by brett. Thing is, said the Handwriting Expert, it wasnt well done. Look closely, he said. That slight shakiness . He called that the term we use in document is tremor of fraud. The tremor of fraud. And it appeared, said the prosecution, that brett forged that note the day before vashti died, the same day he was torching hard drives, the same day he asked a staff member at the Training Center where he could find an Overhead Projector, something so outdated, it was in storage. The prosecutor said it appeared brett used the Projection Light to recreate vashtis writing in the journal. Some of his actions were reckless because the clock was winding down. Vashti had told brett he could stay in the house until noon sunday. The prosecutor said she was planning to go out saturday evening in wichita and spend the night there. Well, its friday. Its friday evening. This was his last opportunity while they lived in the home together to kill vashti. Then there was the lack of evidence where there should have been some, if this were a suicide, that is. Did you find any soot in the airways . No. Any soot in the lungs . No. The Autopsy Finding that Vashti Seacat had no soot in her lungs, in her airways, and that there was no Carbon Monoxide in her blood, that was a key piece of evidence for the prosecution, because what it showed, what the jury could infer from that was that Vashti Seacat didnt breathe in any smoke. And if she didnt breathe in any smoke, the fire was set after after she was dead. She was dead. And Something Else weird little detail. And yet, according to the prosecution, it was telling. When she died, vashtis bladder was quite full. There probably would have been a urinary urgency or the needing to go to the restroom. And the importance of that for the evidence is that the claim from brett seacat is that vashti is Walking Around the house setting these fires, holding her breath, not breathing any smoke while she has a strong urge to urinate. That doesnt make sense. Thats something that the jury needed to decide whether or not in their common sense and experience, whether they thought that made any sense at all. Just another point to add to the unlikelihood of this whole story that he was telling. Thats right. The claimed suicide weapon didnt make sense either, said the prosecutor. 44 magnum Ruger Redhawk . Such a heavy gun. If she killed herself, how was she able to get that heavy handgun up to her head and pull the trigger and do so in just the right downward angle that it slices right through her spinal cord . And if there was some kick, some recoil to the gun, how did it end up completely underneath her body when she was sleeping on her side . The prosecutor said the angle of the bullet proved one thing. Thats consistent with someone standing over her while she was sleeping, shooting her. Because, said the prosecutor, because thats what he said he would do. Brett not only woke vashti up one night to tell her he had a dream that he killed her, but friends and colleagues testified about what they told the kbi, that in the weeks before she died, vashti told them that, incredibly, brett threatened to kill her and Burn The House Down and make it look like suicide. She said, do you think brett would Burn The House Down with me in it . And i i was taken aback by that. I said, not with the kids at home. Tragedy was, said the prosecutor, vashti didnt believe him, either. And so, when those threats didnt work, he had to kill her to maintain control of her. In other words, said the prosecutor, planned, premeditated murder. Looks bad for brett, doesnt it . But then, you havent heard the bombshell the defense had in store. Coming up vashti had confided in brett that she had rekindled a romantic relationship that she was having with one of the executives at cox communication. An affair. That wasnt the only surprise ahead. 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Find your fitscore and get your answers today to get the most out of medicare. Call now. The federal judge ordered the trump administration. The Pentagon Spokeswoman said the requested meetings could take place as early as next week. Ing now back to dateline. Brett seacat, unable to pay a lawyer to represent him, was lucky in one particular way his courtappointed Defense Attorneys just happened to be veterans of murder cases. Val wachtel and roger faulk, who opened. My grandmother used to love to put together jigsaw puzzles. A man who understood perfectly well that the puzzle didnt always go together the way the prosecution tried to make it look. Theres a second side to this story, and that is that Vashti Seacat, depressed and confronted with either losing her career or staying in the marriage, decided instead to take her own life. But why would she do that . Here came the bombshell. Vashti had confided in brett that she had rekindled a romantic relationship that she was having with one of the executives at cox communication. Vashti, claimed the defense, was having an affair with a cox vice president. And the evening before vashti died, brett gave her an ultimatum stay in the marriage or hed expose her affair. That threat, along with bretts vow to take the children, said the defense, were the triggers that sent an already depressed woman over the edge. She suffered from absolute depression. What can depression lead you to, among the various things that can go wrong . Suicide is one. Under Cross Examination by Attorney Wachtel, the seacats Therapist Revealed Vashti had a history of depressive symptoms, starting when her brother died in an accident when she was young. Major depressive disorder would be that occurring more than once, for a longer period of time, possibly in a pattern. And with regard to what you wrote down regarding mrs. Seacat, would you describing an episode or a disorder . I was describing that this was an episode, but there had been others prior. A lot of folks think that if you were depressed a week ago, but you aint been depressed since, you are cured. Now, i got the expert to say that isnt the way it works. Nor is it possible to anticipate if or when the depressed person might take their own life, admitted the therapist. Even when someone is making future plans, as vashti was, suicide is still possible, the defense argued. Mind you, theyre about to say it also wouldnt have been the first time for vashti, or at least, brett was ready to claim she had attempted suicide before. Brett wanted to testify about the suicide attempts that vashti had made on herself, some while they were married, some before. Judge said, well, show me the evidence of this. And we had looked and looked and looked and could not find Hospital Records you looked high and low, couldnt find anything. Couldnt find Hospital Records that far back. But that should be no surprise to anybody because hospitals dont keep records anymore. Even so, by judges order, brett would not be allowed to make that claim in court. And what about the postit note found in vashtis purse, the one that listed Funeral Expenses . It could very well be that that is her figuring out what things cost and whether or not insurance is going to cover it. Thats what i think it could be. But who who knows . Nobody knows. Prosecution doesnt know. I dont know. But it has some significance, you think . Well, you certainly could portray it as being significant, right . You could also portray it as being a load of hogwash. Right. But remember how the prosecution argued that vashtis suicide note found in her journal was a forgery, probably committed by brett . The defense had a Handwriting Expert of its own who concluded that vashti did, in fact, write the note. And brett asking for that Overhead Projector at work hours before vashti died, Attorney Wachtel crossexamined bretts coworker the one who helped him find it. And mr. Seacat was not the least bit secretive when he asked you this question. No, he was not. He goes and asks someone to help him find an Overhead Projector . Those people take him up to where he is. He carries it down from there in full view of anybody who is possibly in that place, and he carries it back. Now, that sounds like somebody who didnt have anything to hide. And what about the states point that no soot was found in vashtis lungs . Under Cross Examination, the coroner allowed that it could be possible under the Defense Scenario that Vashti Lit A Fire just before killing herself. If someone lit a fire and shot themselves within seconds, would you expect to see soot in their lungs . Not necessarily, no. As for the powerpoint found on the seacats table, the one that discussed homicide and suicide and fire investigations, meaningless, said the defense. What the prosecution would have you assume, right, is that this really, really smart cop was stupid enough to be looking at all of this stuff the night he tries to Burn The House Down . Please. I certainly wouldnt try to hide evidence by setting a house four blocks from the Fire Department on fire and praying, right, that they would not get there until the whole thing had burned to the ground. Thats silly. Its just silly. Whats more, brett said, most of the Powerpoint Printout had been in a tray in another room, as scrap paper, but the kbi must have moved those papers to the table, just to make it look suspicious, like they made bretts use of an Overhead Projector suspicious and his destroying cell phones and computer hard drives seem suspicious. Its all too ridiculous, said the defense. So, the state wanted you to believe that he was trying to destroy evidence of the crime. What evidence did he try to destroy . They never said what evidence he tried to destroy. Now, this guy is such a Super Criminal that, where does he go to destroy that . He goes to the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center, which is full of what . Former cops. And he gets somebody to help him destroy those things. Now, if you wanted to destroy those things, there are innumerable farm ponds. If you wanted to get rid of that, you throw it into a farm pond and nobody will ever find it. In fact, the states whole investigation, said the defense, was at beast incompetent, maybe worse. Brett and Attorney Wachtel claimed that vashtis car disappeared from the crime scene for three days, even though the whole seacat yard was supposed to have been sealed off, a crime scene. They showed the jury a series of photos taken from different vantage points, which the defense argued made it look like the car had been moved in the days after the fire. This neighbor lived right across the street from the seacat driveway. When you first observed the driveway, was the volkswagen there . No. It was not . No. Do you remember seeing it in that driveway ever again . Three days later. Three days later. But you didnt see if i understand your testimony, you didnt see anybody bring it back. No. I think he was telling the truth. If i thought he was lying, i wouldnt have put him on. To me, it implies that the investigation itself is faulty. How do you let somebody get into the crime scene and drive it away . So, it was either gross incompetence or intentional. In my opinion, it would be both. And if that happened, then what other mistakes did they make . Theres something about the investigation that stinks. Just smelled bad, said wachtel, that the state claimed it found gasoline on bretts pants, when the Defense Expert said i would not make a determination that its gasoline. And maybe worst of all, he said the Kansas Bureau of investigation did not even bother checking for Gunshot Residue on bretts hands, test, which the defense claimed, would have revealed if he actually fired that gun that night if you have ever seen what that gun looks like, everything comes out of the side of that cylinder. Right. So, that stuff goes somewhere. And onto your skin is where youre looking for it at, yet they didnt look. They didnt look. But hes a cop. Theyre a cop. Brett seacat doesnt have much faith in the kbi. The defense will call brett t. Seacat to the witness stand. But the star witness for the defense would be the last witness, brett seacat himself. Coming up coldblooded killer or grieving husband . I didnt think it was appropriate to be dragging my wifes name through the mud. Did you love vashti . I love vashti. Did you kill vashti . No, i did not. Bretts story from the stand, his life on the line. In my heart of hearts, i know that it wouldnt have made any difference what anybody said to brett because brett wanted to testify. When dateline continues. Cl, you brush to build. Pronamel intensive enamel repair. An herbal stress reliever ashwagandha, that helps you turn the stressed life. Into your best life. Stress less and live more. With stressballs. Every minute. Understanding how to talk to your doctor about Treatment Options is key. Today, we are redefining how we do things. We find new ways of speaking, so youre never out of touch. Its seeing someones face that comforts us, no matter where. When those around us know us, they can show us just how much they care. The first steps of checking in, the smallest moments can end up being everything. Theres resources that can inform us, and that spark can make a difference. 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Voila maybe a couple Throw Pillows would help. Get a Strategy Gut Check from our trade desk. You may come forward and be sworn, please, sir. It is, call it unusual, for a defendant to testify at his own murder trial. Dangerous, his lawyer might advise, to subject himself to the objective questions of a skilled prosecutor, but in my hearts of hearts, i know that it wouldnt have made any difference what anybody said to brett because brett wanted to testify. He wanted to. He had to. He believed that if people just listened, the truth would out. Mr. Seacat, will you tell us your full name, please . Brett theodore seacat. At his own request, no video was taken of him. Audio recording only. As brett set out with confidence to tell the jury what happened, beginning 21 hours or so before the fire. On that morning, when i said goodbye, she said, See You Tonight and actually gave me a big kiss, which i thought was odd. Whyd you think that was odd . Um, because in the last week, week and a half, we had been back and forth about 50 times on divorce. And so, it just let me know that we were back on the notdivorce track. But by the time he returned to the house that evening, said brett, things had changed. I couldnt figure out why she was she was in a big hurry to get a divorce, which was something that had never happened before. I told her, we havent really worked on our marriage very much. My angle in the discussion was, ill give you a collaborative divorce, if we work on the marriage for three to six months. Brett said vashti seemed to agree to that, especially when he made it clear what hed do if she went forward with the divorce right then. Basically, i told her, if this goes to court, that i was going to do everything, everything in my power to destroy her. Brett told the jury things he never told the kbi investigators, that he threatened to share private photos of her and that vashti had several recent affairs, including one with the executive at cox, and that brett threatened to expose her. As for why he didnt tell the kbi earlier about those alleged affairs i didnt think it was appropriate to be dragging my wifes name through the mud. As it was, brett and his defense team didnt put on any evidence about an affair with the Cox Executive or with anybody, for that matter. And then his lawyer finished with the key questions. Did you love vashti . I love vashti. Did you kill vashti . No, i did not. Did you pull the trigger on the Ruger Redhawk that resulted in the bullet going through her neck and severing her spine . No, i did not. So, his direct testimony, hours of it, seemed to go pretty well. But now, of course, here came the prosecutors to put him on the spot. Cross examination. Ms. Hanley. She wanted brett to explain how it was possible for him to do what she thought was impossible, make that 911 call and stay on the phone while trying to get vashtis body out of a Burning House. My wife is upstairs im about to go upstairs and try to get her out. Oh, theres smoke everywhere just a second. I have to get a rag. How he was able to make that call and talk to a dispatcher while he was supposedly running up and down the stairs twice in smoke, in fire, wetting a rag, holding onto his phone. How he didnt drop the phone, fall, cough, gasp. Turn the water faucet on, grabbed the dish cloth. Yes, maam. Youre holding your cell phone, too . I dont think im holding it to my ear, but its certainly still in my hand. Well, youre talking to 911 at this time, right . Youre correct. It must have been to my ear. I just dont remember that element of it. And then she asked him about the divorce. Vashti wanted the divorce, right . Depends on which ten minutes you talked to her. And when she told you that she was thinking about divorce, that when you would threaten her. Im sorry . When vashti told you she wanted a divorce, youd threaten her, wouldnt you . No, vashti never we talked about divorce a lot, but the first time that i found out vashti wanted a divorce was when she told me that she had filed. And then, then, point blank, she accused him of murder. You threatened to kill vashti, Burn The House Down, and make it look like she committed a suicide. I absolutely have never said anything even remotely like that. You never made that threat to vashti . Absolutely not. You killed your wife, didnt you . No, maam. You shot her in the head. Impossible. You burnt the house down around her. I would never burn our house. And you did it while your two kids, 2 years and 4 years old, were in the house. Absolutely not. I would never expose my children to any situation like that. The investigation was thorough in this case, and the kbi agents looked for any sign that would lead us to a different conclusion than that brett seacat killed his wife. And all of the evidence that was uncovered and all of the evidence presented at trial by both sides led to that conclusion. Vashtis family was upset about things brett said on the stand about vashtis character, but they said they found his testimony revealing. I was almost embarrassed that he was still claiming he was innocent when there were just so many things that would have had to have lined up perfectly, that would have had to have been a fluke. But bretts brother, bobby, felt the trial only confirmed what he had always believed. I left that courtroom 100 convinced that he didnt do it. Up to the jury now. Your heads spinning at that point, because you realize, this is it. And it was scary. Coming up double drama in the courtroom. The verdict. Ladies and gentlemen, have you reached a verdict . 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Everyone does right up here. It happens to all of us. We buy a new home, and we turn into our parents. What i do is help new homeowners overcome this. What is that, an Adjustable Spanner . Good choice, steve. Okay, dont forget youre not assisting him. You hired him. If you have nowhere to sit, you have too many. Who else reads books about submarines . My dad. Yeah. Oh, those are progressive cant protect you from becoming your parents, but we can protect your home and auto when you bundle with us. Look at that. When you bundle with us. With Mucinex Nightshift youve got powerful relief from your worst nighttime cold and flu symptoms. So grab nightshift to fight your symptoms, get your zzzs. And get back to your rhythm. Feel the power. Beat the symptoms fast. Theres no rule of thumb, nothing that works, anyway, to allow a person to successfully predict a jurys verdict based on the time it takes to make it. Brett seacats jury deliberated six hours. What did that mean . Brother bobby was nervous, of course, but had a good feeling. I think that the state in every respect failed to prove and make their case. Ladies and gentlemen, have you reached a verdict . Yes, we have, your honor. We, the jury, find the defendant, brett t. Seacat, guilty of murder in the first degree. Guilty on all counts. The reaction in the courtroom was muted. It was a strange mixture of emotions, because there was this part of you that thought, when they say guilty, im just going to get all this off my chest and im going to feel good. But then theres this big part of you that realizes, at the end of the day, it didnt bring her back. The truth is, everybody was just as hurt. No one won. So, you think, why am i not feeling better . Because what got better . He is behind bars, and he needs to be behind bars. But the lives that it affected will forever be affected. Lawyer val wachtel all but said, i knew it, because i dont think mr. Seacat got a fair trial in kingman, kansas, and i will never think that. But it was brett who insisted on being tried in his hometown and in his lawyers view, he paid the price. And im certainly not blaming the jury, right . It just to me, it became patently obvious that this jury did not exactly look kindly upon mr. Seacat. It was going to be an Uphill Battle. It was an Uphill Battle before we even got started. But agent falletti saw things very differently indeed. I believe mr. Seacat believed that whole house was going to go up in flames and Law Enforcement and fire were not going to find very much there, and that he knew this local police department, and they probably would just think it was what he said it was and gone about their business. But the Kingman Police department and the Sheriffs Office called in other agencies to assist. Right. And, fortunately for vashti and her family, we were able to find evidence to convict him of these charges. But brett seacat is an unusual man, adamant that he is innocent, certain that he was set up by the state, which was out to get him, by inlaws who didnt like him, and even by the judge. In fact, particularly the judge, which became abundantly clear at bretts sentencing, when seemingly out of the blue, brett lashed out with a truly remarkable, incendiary, venomous attack against judge solomon. This day belongs to you, judge solomon. This is your day. This is the day you get to take your place in front of the cameras and pass sentence on a man you worked so hard to convict, a man you know was innocent but a man you had to help convict so you could get this day, your day. So go ahead and collect the 30 pieces of silver, judge solomon. Go ahead and sell custody of my little boys to vashtis family. Go ahead and pass sentence you think will land you a spot on the kansas supreme court. Go ahead and pass the sentence that guarantees your spot in hell, just like amy hanley, jeff newsum and those 12 jurors, you are going to hell for what youve done in this case. Your corrupt decisions will bring an appeal. The evidence will be presented, and i will be freed. And with that, ill step aside and let you have your day. After all, you purchased it with your soul, so youve earned it. What did you make of that, of his statement . I like the fact that he said what he thought. When you believe you are innocent, why not say you are innocent . Why not say what you think was wrong . Say it, because it isnt going to make any difference. Did it . Heres how the judge responded. I heard a few things i didnt anticipate. I wont bother addressing them, because theyre so bizarre, they dont deserve a response. They merely affirm to me that a jury of 12 Kingman County citizens made the appropriate decision in this case. You claim to be vashtis protector, and in the next breath on the stand said the evening in question you would destroy her. At trial, youve made every effort possible to drag her name and her memory and her reputation through the mud. Vashti was not indecisive about divorcing you. She was not depressed, and she was not suicidal. The families hit it on the head. So did several witnesses at trial, about you being arrogant, about you being controlling, about you being selfcentered and narcissistic. You live in some sort of bizarre, alternate reality. You havent admitted guilt. You havent admitted responsibility. And you didnt this morning even express remorse that vashtis no longer on this earth. And with that, he sentenced brett seacat to the maximum allowed under kansas law. Hell serve 30 years before his first shot at parole. And now, now their once graceful home has been torn down. The reputation of bretts family, a family of lawmen, is tarnished. The seacats sons are growing up without either parent and will have the heavy burden of knowing their father was convicted of killing their mother, vashti, the woman named for a queen. I miss her every day, you know. Just dumb things like seeing a dragonfly or fireworks or something. It will not go away. I hope that i figure out what my new life is going to look like at some point and i can accept it, but with time, they say it gets better. I just think i just hope it does. Im craig melvin. And im natalie morales. And this is dateline. A mystery in los angeles. A missing woman. He said cindy, wheres my mom . And i just instantly knew. And i said michael, call the police, im on my way. A loving mother. Always there for me. A beloved friend. She was just so easy to like. Vanishes. Something was very, very wrong. Was she murdered . Was it for her money . How much money did she have in the bank . I think it was over seven figures. Or was it something or someone else