respond. >> says why beat your head around it? >> it could be horrible stuff. >> i couldn't fathom this. >> how can one family bear this much? >> how do you contain her? if this happened to you, where would you put it? in a box? would you carry with you everywhere? an anchor? chain to your soul? the box is full of demons. would you live in dread of the day you knew you'd have the pride open and look inside. >> i'm box full of ghost of my past, to confront it goes like that you have to be ready. >> where would you put it off, would you wait till next year? >> i move from state to state, and that box followed me with me. it followed me. >> of course it did it was his past. inside a box. >> and now, here he was prying it open, will he ever be the same ones he looks in there? >> it's a story, it's a story of a family. and this case is the story of my family. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> here, more or less, is where the whole thing takes off, garvey montana, deep in the veteran valley, the town conceived and inequity born in crime, some government manual long ago. maybe so. >> i mean, diabolical highly begins to describe it. >> people do crazy things. >> it's just such a waste. such a beautiful family. >> it was june, a sunny sunday afternoon, when a woman called 9-1-1. >> my name is anne stout i just got home either something wrong with my husband. there is blood, and his eyes are all bruised, and he's colds. >> is he breathing, and is he breathing? >> the ambulance well down local highway 93, and then up to west fourth bitterest river. >> you want to try cpr, and? >> i can't, i can't. >> tortoise collection of homes perched like supply cans aboard at tracker peak, on board the ambulance was -- >> as an empty or paramedic, you get this adrenaline rush when you get a call. and you are thinking about all the things that you can can possibly be faced with. >> don't hang up on me. >> i don't want to wait here. i don't know if somebody is in the house, or wet. >> for that reason, the woman on the line, anne stout, said she'd driven across a broad green meadow to the neighbor's house to make the call. she told the crew that the call was a possible code black, meaning, possibly the person was dead. but you still don't know when you're walking into. >> as the ambulance approached the house, don's partner suddenly realize something. she said, you know this must be this stout house. >> and she said remember ben? because he had been big thing in the community. >> indeed, about which, more later. but just then, memory snap to attention, and so they couldn't help but wonder. what happened when you got to the house? >> well, we walked in the house, and my partner went to the left, and i went to the right. i get almost to the laundrie room and my partner says, donna, in here. >> here, was a bedroom on the east end of the house. there was something, some one, under the covers. >> she was on one side of the bed, and i went to the other side of the bed. she said, she had recognized, so i said okay. so, the comforter was kind of hide in his head. so you saw the body in the head. >> i lifted the company back and you could see obviously was a gunshot wound. >> did it look like a suicide? could it have been a suicide? >> well, that was my first thought, was, he shooting himself. because, the way he was lane in the bed. >> as the ambulance crews backed out of the house investigators arrived in force to look at the body in the bed. >> county attorney bill full right. >> there is definitely some appearances that maybe this was a suicide. things started to unravel pretty quickly once the deputies and the detectives got the scene under control. >> was there anything about the body that took them anything? >> you could tell that his body had been moved. bill's body clearly had been rearranged, after death. >> how could they tell? there was blood, a lot of blood. dried on his skin but not in a place is the blood would be, unless somebody rolled him over after he'd been dead for a bit. then, of course, there are the bed linens which did make sense at all. >> there is a pillow that was partially covering his head, which struck everybody is odd if this was a person who committed suicide. there were blood spatter on some bed linens become frittered been put over. >> gotcha. >> and, when they analyze it up close, it was a very straight down spatter, so you can tell where the blood is coming from an angle, straight on to a service, or when angela it leaves a different impression. just let it come very straight down, and yet there was a comforter covering that part of the bedsheet. >> and finally, after all of that complicated analysis by train professionals, there was this. >> there is a pretty obvious thing right away, that the handgun was not around bill's body. >> no gun. not in the bed. nor anywhere near bills potty. >> clearly, this was not a suicide. that became apparent very quickly, correct. >> somebody killed him? >> correct, killed by the hands of another. >> and another. such a loaded phrase. >> coming up, turns out, fills murder wasn't the only high-profile death in the stout family. >> i couldn't ever forget i cry to my bed thinking my hero is gone. >> and later, fight in the night. >> somebody is talking on my window. >> well. when dateline continues. well. when dateline continues. 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at new chapter its innovation organic ingredients and fermentation. fermentation? yes, formulated to help your body really truly absorb the natural goodness. ♪ ♪ ♪ new chapter. wellness well done >> noah stout, slim and strong, loved to run. was a cross country man. gonzaga university in washington state. that summer, home from college, he'd taken a weekend trip with old friends and returned on sunday. with a nightmare waiting. >> my mom was hysterical and my brother was crying as well. hearing your dad is gone. and you're like, what? what do you mean he's gone. >> did they tell you he was murdered? >> i don't think they use the term murdered right away. like he'd been shot. >> noah new more than most the ways grief can drag a family down. though it had begun, the stout family saga, so we'll. bill, is apparently murdered father, had grown up in california. farm country, central valley. it's where he met and married anne. adopted her little boy, ben. noah and matt soon followed and they idolized big brother ben. and we, there that bill was a tradesmen. a dry wall installer. that's how he met mark and denise echo. >> we had downturn here in construction during the mid 90s. and he would take the family, load up the three boys and anne, and he would start driving to montana after he got off work, on a friday. bill wanted something else. and he found what he was looking for on several trips up to montana. >> found it here. outside the town of darby. plucked down years and years ago. a few miles as the crow files flights from the montana, idaho border. jenny was a reporter around here. >> it's a really beautiful place, i think, that attracts a diverse group of people. you have retirees and young families. >> then there is kind of another side to the police, to, right? >> right. there's an interesting group of people in the west. i think that prefer to live on the boundary of wilderness. >> and in this side of the place, bill bought 20 meters on the road and built this house with its very own hands. you remember anything about them? >> i wasn't pleased about it. so, i was a strong dissenter in our move. some of my earliest maeve murray's my dad telling bedtime stories about montana mike. who is having all these adventures. when he moved there, he said we are going to be montana mike. he was telling the stories as much hit to himself as he was to me. it was always his dream to live somewhere -- i think he fell unencumbered. feel free, i think. >> and bill was happy. content. he did all of the things montana men did. >> you look in the dictionary, there is bill. there's montana. that rugged, handsome, quiet, hunter, the fisherman. >> bill put up dry wall around the valley. and anne worked at a gas ring and later did a long term care facility. >> anne put so much of herself into raising those boys and having, making a happy family life. >> those boys were gentlemen. bill would tell me how proud he and anne we're of the greats that the kids had. academically, the were killing it. >> until, ben was 18. he'd been away at college. was home on winter break. and one awful day, he left an obscure no on the fringe and walked into the woods and killed himself. his death, that first family horror. now, just a page in a file, in a box. but noah? noah was just 11 and felt responsible, somehow. >> i will never forget crying on my bed and thinking, my life is never going to be the same. my hero is gone. and for years, i still dealt with that. i think about ben every day. >> did you know there was pain there? did anybody in the family know? i >> think my parents recognized. i don't know what made them think about it, but they so counseling for him. there was an artist, he was in a rock band. that his outlet for his pain. i saw copies of his point that i would really. >> for years i would have these nightmares i'm trying to carry my brother. and i just can't carry him. i don't know what it is but -- in so many ways one of those things that chases's guilt. i think that i couldn't save my brother and i wanted to. >> nothing was really the same after that. >> there was stress that piled on to my parents as a result of my brother's death. >> marriage does come under enormous strain when agile a child passes. especially when a child dies in that way. it wasn't their fault? >> ben had a challenge that he felt he couldn't overcome and he chose to make a decision that was entirely his own. >> mark anchor select jested counseling. bills answer was unyielding. >> oh, no. now. no. we're good. so, it was kind of that pack it down inside and maybe we can deal with it some other day. >> but now? seven years after the day of ben's suicide, on the same property. bill was dead. >> i couldn't fathom this. gone. did you? monitored? none of that. seemed real. >> oh, but it was. >> did your mind going anywhere in particular? >> i mean, this is not something that happens in a small town. right? two high profile deaths within a few years. they were my family. that house. how is this happening? >> how, indeed. what's the old adage? start close. there were sheriffs deputies coming to the door. coming up -- a town with ice everywhere. >> i got the best cameras you could get. >> what did they see? >> and hard questions for the son. >> did you shoot your dad? >> why would you ask that? 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my daughter was a very kind person, fairly introverted, don't know the kind of person to make them angry. >> so no, so no i, said bill's friends, i don't want to kill him. >> we was hit and talk, why would this happen, i was a house broken into, and we just lost been, so how much can a family get. >> as i look closely at his body, his wound, and his bed, investigators were focused on more specific things, they get to who did it, but first a question that just might lead them there. what time did bill breathed his last? in his bed, before a bill and it is life? >> when detectives and the corner first arrived, i was the estimated amount of time that bill had been dead? >> when they first arrived, there was some indications that he'd been dead i believe it was 8 to 10 hours that point. >> so they arrived at 5 pm, most likely that morning. >> morning, correct. >> that morning, and all day, bill had been alone at home. and and their 16-year-old matt spent the whole day 70 miles up the highway, shopping. they both told the detectives bill must have been killed soon after they left. >> what was bill doing when you left? >> oh, he was still emit sleeping. >> matt confirmed, they left that morning. >> we left the house about eight, 8:15, a 30. >> and alibi if investigators can confirm it. but who would've seen them way out here in rural montana? you might be surprised. >> they put him at the right place at the right time. >> this is larry rose, who is proudly worn the badge for three decades as martial of derby, population 800. there is office right here on main street, is a cowboy movies fever dream animal skins, an old-fashioned jail cell, just like that time stopped in about 1880. >> we try to keep it as western as we could. >> but then, walk over here to the desk in the corner, that is a town wide, very sophisticated surveillance system. >> i got the best cameras you can get. >> there are video cameras everywhere cameras from flowerpots, storefronts, platter barrels. how many cameras? 60 i asked? >> no, more than that, so the marshall. these always watching. >> he monitors speed through the little main street of darby, it is often a useful tool during investigations. >> kind of unusual for a little town like darby. >> it's a little unusual. >> so, if the marshals cameras could verify madden and had indeed driven up to that morning. they'd be in the clear. >> matthew and i had just planned, the night before, to just go first thing in the morning into things in module a. >> and sure and if there were an unmet driving bills truck up to missoula, at 8:20 am. they had a breakfast at ihop, or an place to call the bill, and got his voice mail. >> we're having a breakfast and i hope -- so if you think you can think of more snow things pick up, collin let me know. >> and said she and matt went on to make several stops, walmart, the mall, and so on. later in the afternoon, as promised, costco. where again she tried to call bill. >> i haven't heard from you yet, so you must not need anything. coming right away. by. >> the marshals cameras show them heading back through derby, at 3:30 pm, just as i said. >> we just walked in, and we are just putting things away, i was yelling for bill. and it was really quiet, so i didn't think anything of it. i figured he had gone somewhere. >> at about 40 minutes of nobility showing up, and opened the door to their bedroom, and. >> he was in bed. and, i'm, he didn't look like him. >> and then, said matt, panic set in. >> my mom yelled -- >> some act backed up his mom story about what they did during that day, their movements, their timelines. >> yes, they had gone two missoula and done various errands, correct. >> she was telling the truth. >> yes. >> still, investigators had asked the obvious questions. >> do you have anything to do with the death of bill? >> no, i loved bill very much. he was very important to my life, the way it was. i had had enough bad things happening in my life, and he was always the stable person. >> matt, on the other hand, said things that were a little surprising. >> would you say you love your dad? >> i did. i just don't really feel like there's much time for me there. >> did you shoot your dad? >> why would you asked that? >> well, i need to know. >> now, i did not hear my dad, i mean why would i shoot my dad? >> okay, we'll see, i don't know, if there are answers, and need to hear it from you. because there is a wonderful woman in there that needs to know. >> oh i don't know. i honestly don't know anything. >> okay. would you suspect your mother would? >> i don't think so. i mean, occasionally they didn't really, like have -- they had their little little things. >> they? little things? well now that certainly true. the untold story. maybe not so little. coming up. >> someone's out there, and i'm terrified. >> a late night visitor, who, for some reason, is targeting noah's father. >> if you remember what you are thinking? 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>> think was, noah did know about someone who seemed to want to hurt his dad. so did his mother, anne. though it took a few painful questions to get their. >> did bill have any problems with anyone? >> no. he got along well with everybody, but he had an affair a couple of years ago. >> and there it was. a path to follow. anne told the investigators that two years before the murder, bill attended an old friends wedding halfway across the country in fort smith, arkansas. spent the weekend in a hotel, where he became reacquainted, shall we say? with an old flame. >> he told me that they only had sex a couple of times. but i think they -- it was more -- of that, they talked on the phone. >> it was midlife stupid, said bill. after anne found out somehow and confronted him and he confessed. he swore it was over. and it was. for him, that is. not for her. when and how did you become aware that something had happened? that your dad had maybe transgress? >> there was a time that my parents sat my brother and i doubt and said this happened. i don't remember a time like that, but remember the fights getting more heated. there was more yelling. i remember over here in what was being yelled and putting two and two together. >> why were they fighting? because, said anne, that woman, that arkansas woman, wouldn't let it go. and what began to happen here on the road was terrifying. >> i remember it was late at night, my parents were arguing or something like that. and at one point i hear one of my parents see, she's coming here. i was like, what's happening? and who's coming here? >> ben then said noah, the still silence of a montana night, he heard a car. grinding up their long driveway. heard it stopped outside of the house. >> i hear the door shut and my parents there still in the bedroom. lock to the door and all of that. panicking. and then close to the door and i hear someone crouching outside the window. someone starts tapping. >> whoa. >> i'm facing away from the window. and i'm terrified. someone's out there. it's like a horror movie. so, that's where legal side and our cars are at. some other things have been thrown in our cars. >> like what? >> like a kook and just things that have been thrown in our cars. >> that's pretty disgusting. >> yeah, it was. yeah. >> do you remember what you were thinking? >> like, what did you do that? what is happening? [noise] >> 9-1-1. >> 5:00, the next morning. >> yes, my car just got pegged. >> what's your name? >> bill stout. estadio unity. >> bill called the sheriff's office to report the vandalism. and to tell them about the enriched woman who, with a sister now, was making his life a kind of hell. >> it's two people from arkansas. they've been harassing -- >> it's a remote area, so if you hurry, you might catch them. >> bill told them, to, that he'd been getting weird hang-up phone calls. and he and his kids and even his friends started getting heedfully emails. from someone with a strange handle. >> i started getting an email from freak of arc. i started getting these emails and the emails would say things like -- bill and anne are not going to remain married. and i'm going to marry bill. and when i mary bill, anne's great to have to leave. and i'm paraphrasing on this. but these emails kept coming in. >> i'm reading this and i'm thinking, what does this mean? why are they seeing this to you? >> so many emails. this one said, freak of arc was changing her email address to montana barb 2001. letters arrived, to. postmarked for fort smith, arkansas. one containing an invitation to a welcome to montana together again barbecue for barbara and bill. an engagement party of sorts. mark finally decided to say something to bill. >> we're sitting at the restaurant. at one point during breakfast i said to bill, i said, hey, i'm not sure exactly how to see this, but i'm getting several emails. and he stopped me and said, no, mark. it's this crazy person. and i said, okay. so, i shouldn't be worried about anything? he said, no. no. don't worry about. so, we just let the whole thing go at that point. >> then less than two weeks before bill's death, two things happened. a car followed noah home late one night. what did your dad say? about that car following at the driveway? >> i believe he said something like, i should have gotten my gun or something like that. >> then, a few days later, somebody took the gun. >> i just thought well, you misplaced it or something like that. >> the gun a nine millimeter pistol was normally stored in a gun safe and bill and anne's bedroom closet. bill was in a panic. that woman gotten into the house? >> he called to report into the sheriff's office saying this handgun is missing and he's concerned because he knows, or he believes that there's this lady out there who won't leave him alone. stalking him. >> well, there's been evidence that she's been right there at the house. >> right. >> topping on the window. >> right. >> putting feces on the car. eggs. >> yes, is very clear that this deeply affected bill. he was worried. >> and now bill was dead. sheriff's detectives received calls from nearly a dozen friends and family after bills about the woman in arkansas. her name? barbara miller. >> my reaction was, we've got a murderer running around. but our dragnet. find this. woman >> there were people all the way from here in montana two down in california that were pointing their finger at barbara miller. yes. >> did that angry woman have something to do with what happened to bill stout? barbara miller of arkansas. it was about to receive a visit from investigators looking into a homicide. coming up -- >> she was definitely the person of interest to a suspect, somewhere in that category. >> questions would there be answers? >> i'm going to let you tap into my email. >> oh, that's fine. i'm just wondering. >> i'm not going to let you spy on me. >> when "dateline" continues. bill stout i've been in the ♪ ♪ for deb, living with constipation with belly pain was the same old story for years. trying this. doing that. spending countless days right here. still came the belly pain, discomfort, and bloating. awful feelings she kept sugar-coating. finally, with the help of her doctor, it came to be. that her symptoms were all signs of ibs-c. and that's why she said yess to adding linzess. linzess is not a laxative. it helps you have more frequent and complete bowel movements. and is proven to help relieve overall abdominal symptoms belly pain,discomfort, and bloating. do not give linzess to children less than six and it should not be given to children six to less than 18, it may harm them. do not take linzess if you have a bowel blockage. get immediate help if you develop unusual or severe stomach pain, especially with bloody or black stools. the most common side effect is diarrhea, sometimes severe. if it's severe, stop taking linzess and call your doctor right away. other side effects include gas, stomach area pain, and swelling. could your story also be about ibs-c? talk to your doctor and say yess to linzess. morgue for two days before detectives made their move on the woman from arkansas. not personally, though, the din rush to the airport, instead, they picked up the phone. called the sheriff in fort's merits arkansas, and asked if he'd mind sending some detectives around the farmers place. that is, the woman with whom bill stone had a brief affair, who was suspected of harassing him and his family. sending humiliating emails, perhaps telling his gun, and maybe killing him. >> she was definitely a person of interest to a suspect somewhere in that category. >> hello is a similar residents? >> at first, she said she had no idea why those detectives were so ramped up about her. >> i see the guy for a weekend -- >> yeah. >> and talk to him for a couple of months, and now he's murdered, and you're coming to me? >> we are going to everybody, and so what we're doing is trying to find out everybody that he knows. >> why am i being questioned? >> well, because he knew you. so we were just wondering. >> why would someone in arkansas want to hurt him? you should be looking for somebody who killed him. >> right. >> i don't see how i can help. >> then the detectives changed tack a little, and asked her about her email and that certainly produced a response. >> i'm not gonna let that happen. i'm not gonna let you spy on me. i haven't done anything. . >> barbara miller's mind race as detectives asked are invasive questions, and then the penny dropped. >> they think i did it. >> well, they certainly suspected it which made perfect sense considering with the police had heard about borrow from those family, and his friends, and his coworkers. >> she was a little reluctant at first, to tell us the story of how she got involved in all this. her liaison bill. and all the rest of it. understandable, really, given. barbara said she and bill sort of slip into a relationship in their late teens, but it was a friend of her brother's. and things happened. >> when you first got together with him, did you have expectations that this was forever. >> i did. >> but before long, it seemed bill had other ideas. >> he basically told me, he'd already gotten married once right out of high school, and it didn't last very long. he was very disillusioned with marriage. >> how is that for you? >> i thought i could change his mind. >> you tried. >> obviously, he didn't feel the same way about it that i did. >> and with that, it was over. >> it was my decision to move on. >> how did the take it? >> he was fine. as far as i know i didn't have any more contact with him. >> pretty soon barbara married someone else. and move with him to arkansas. had a couple of kids. and forgot all about bill. until, it was 2005 when newly divorced barbara attended her sister's wedding at this hotel in fort smith arkansas. and it just so happened that bill was invited to, he kept up his friendship with barr the press brothers. >> we are looking for another husband at that stage? >> no, i was fine. >> but, on the evening barbara got to the hotel where the wedding was being held. >> we had been to the bachelorette party, and when we got back he was there. >> so, what was like to see him at this family guy and the rain? >> it was surreal. i did know he was going to be there. >> 30 years? on to your hard to a little flip when you saw him? >> i hadn't kept up with him at all. so a like to talk about. >> and then. barr top turn into hotel room talk. turn into something else. along the way, inconvenient truths took a little holiday. >> why did he tell you about his circumstances. >> he told me that he was separated and living apart from his wife. >> was he looking to get a divorce? >> yes. >> might even have meant it. as biology work eternal magic. in that little weekend hotel room. and then barbara drove home, and bill flew back to montana, still both blissfully wrapped in a gauzy veil. four weeks there were calls every day, letters, cards, according to barbara, plans were made for her to visit. and then moved to montana. until, a couple months later, something changed. >> tell me what your first information was that there were something wrong? >> he didn't call that nights, and the last couple of times i talked to him he sounded distant. and like,, you know, he was having second thoughts. >> and after that, said barbara, they never spoke again. but was not like? >> it was sad, i was hurt. but i understood. >> now, two years after she said she last heard from him, detectives were on her doorstep. detectives who were so sure she was really all that surprised in offended. >> i mean, you could ask all the questions you want. that is the story. and of story. >> oh, but it wasn't. not even close. coming up. >> barbara miller seemed to be completely baffled. >> not only was she baffled, there was someone she was frightened of. >> i'm very scared of her. i don't want to upset her. >> when dateline continues. >> when dateline continues itchy? squirmy? scratchy? family not getting clean? get charmin ultra strong. go get 'em. it just cleans better. with a diamond weave texture, your family can use less while still getting clean. goodbye itchy squirm. hello clean bottom! we all go. why not enjoy the go with charmin. why hide your skin if dupixent has your moderate-to-severe eczema, or atopic dermatitis under control? hide our skin? not us. because dupixent targets a root cause of eczema, it helps heal your skin from within, keeping you one step ahead of it. and for kids ages 6 and up, that means clearer skin, and noticeably less itch. hide my skin? 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[gaming sounds] [gaming sounds] [gaming sounds] just think, he'll be driving for real soon. every new chevy equinox comes standard with chevy safety assist, including automatic emergency braking. find new peace of mind. find new roads. chevrolet. oof. you are busy find new roads. working parenting, problem solving. at new chapter vitamin's we have been busy too. innovating, sourcing organic ingredients testing them... and fermenting. fermenting? yeah, like kombucha or yogurt. and we formulate everything. so, your body can really truly absorb the natural goodness. that's what we do. so you can do you. new chapter. wellness well done >> they were all here, in the file. the pages that revealed his father's betrayal of his mother's trust. and the awkward questions though detectives in arkansas had good reason to put to barbara miller, the woman bill stout had banded, and feared. he was terrified of her. what she might do. he was sure it was barbara who sneaked onto his property, vandalized his home. >> 9-1-1. >> yeah, my car just egged. >> who'd tapped on his sons window at night. who'd repeatedly emailed bill's friends and family from an account called freak of arc. >> they said, no, it's this crazy person. >> when bill told the sheriff that his nine millimeter pistol suddenly vanished, he said he was pretty sure barbara was behind it. >> he said, i've got a problem. this woman pass. and then was killed less than a month later. >> but a strange thing happened. when arkansas detectives questioned barbara all about this. how did she respond to those questions? >> barbara miller seemed to be completely baffled by the sudden appearance of law enforcement interested in bill stout. she said? >> she said -- >> barbara's versions of event was very different. like after bill made it clear that their relationship was over, she said she sent only one angry email. and after all of that, nothing. no card, no letters. said she knew nothing at all about an email address called freak of arc. and didn't do any of the awful things bill thought she did in montana. in fact, barbara said she was the one living in fear, not of bill, but of bill's wife, anne. >> i'm very scared of her. i don't want to upset her. i don't want to be involved in this. >> scared? of sweet, kind hearted, anne stout? please. but that's what she claimed. barbara miller told those detectives that after the affair with bill broke off, it was xi who started getting and series of unnerving emails and phone calls, from anne. or so she said. what was the nature of the conversations? was she angry? were they friendly? >> as far as i can remember, it she was trying to be calm about. it i could hear the animosity animosity and the anger come through. she was trying not to get that come out. i didn't want to be rude. it was almost like she wanted to be my friend. i didn't want to be her friend. but i didn't want to hurt her feelings either. >> southern manners? perhaps. or maybe she was only too aware that bill's wife might want to teach her a lesson. >> my boss called me into his office and told me. >> why did he tell you? >> he asked me, what's going on? because he got a phone call from a woman who said i was using the company mail for personal business. because she had threatened to but a restraining order on me. have the police come and serve it to me there. >> but as detectives stood in front of barbara's house just outside fort smith, arkansas, none of that mattered now. the only thing that did was to find out whether barbara killed bill stout up in montana or not. barbara needed an alibi. and quick. >> well, i showed them my telephone bills. i issued them -- listen, i go to work every day. i said, what deede did did this happen? >> well, as we told you, it was a sunday. happened to be the 10th of june. so, where was barbara then? >> and i said, i was at walmart. i have a receipt. >> this warmer in van buren, arkansas, to be exact. or so she said. so the detectives checked it out. >> they went to walmart and got the footage of my husband and i buying groceries for a birthday party that we were going to. >> here it is. just before 1 pm, more than 1600 miles across the country. a good 25 hour drive away from the home where bill was killed. you were in walmart that time. >> i was in willmar. and i've never been to one montana, period. >> they were probably are not nicer to you once they saw that? >> yeah, they were just doing their job. >> sure. but though they served high and low detectives could not find even a hint of evidence that barbara played any part in bill's murder. didn't shoot him herself. and didn't hire anybody else to do it either. so it couldn't have been her? >> couldn't be her. >> i think this is perhaps first-time and i've sat across from a person accused by at least ten other people of committing a murder [laughs] and yet you really kind of a nice person. and 1500 miles away from where it occurred. >> i had no knowledge of it till, yeah, till after it happened. >> so, then, who did? and what about all those cards and letters and emails? all the harassment of bill stout and his wife anne and his two sons and many of his friends by someone called the freak of arc. there's a devious architecture to this sort of thing. unexpected. complicated. even sophisticated. but almost always with a little flaw. coming up -- when anne stout came home, bill had been dead for 8 to 10 hours. big window. it could be bill was alive when they left. it could be he was dead when they left. it was very much up in the. are >> correct. >> and later asked -- have you ever seen a murder case in which so many people close to the victim we're pointing at the wrong suspect? when "dateline" continues. a place where everyone lives life well-protected. ♪♪ and even when things go a bit wrong, we've got your back. here, things work the way you wish they would. and better protection costs a whole lot less. you're in good hands with allstate. click or call for a lower auto rate today. ♪ ♪ you're in good hands with allstate. just two pills for all day pain relief. aleve it, and see what's possible. and also try alevex topical pain relief. ♪ ♪ for deb, living with constipation with belly pain was the same old story for years. trying this. doing that. spending countless days right here. still came the belly pain, discomfort, and bloating. awful feelings she kept sugar-coating. finally, with the help of her doctor, it came to be. that her symptoms were all signs of ibs-c. and that's why she said yess to adding linzess. linzess is not a laxative. it helps you have more frequent and complete bowel movements. and is proven to help relieve overall abdominal symptoms belly pain,discomfort, and bloating. do not give linzess to children less than six and it should not be given to children six to less than 18, it may harm them. do not take linzess if you have a bowel blockage. get immediate help if you develop unusual or severe stomach pain, especially with bloody or black stools. the most common side effect is diarrhea, sometimes severe. if it's severe, stop taking linzess and call your doctor right away. other side effects include gas, stomach area pain, and swelling. could your story also be about ibs-c? talk to your doctor and say yess to linzess. returning to our story -- bill stout, a husband and father, has been found dead in bed. >> did they tell you he was murdered? >> i think they said like he'd been shot. >> detectives questioned a woman with whom bill had an affair. >> he believes that there's this lady out there stalking him! >> i'd never even been to montana period. >> eventually his ex-flame was cleared. so who was it? >> the handgun was found to be in the garage. it's a big clue of course. >> and there was another. >> the stomach stops digesting at the moment of death. >> but even as investigators detectives closed in not everyone was convinced. >> i was leading a charge up the mountain that you got the wrong person. >> reporter: a few days after bill stout's life was so cruelly ended, his family and friends gathered in darby, to say their goodbyes to a man who loved montana. >> it was packed, people shared a lot of nice memories that i didn't -- hadn't heard of. things like, y'know, i was in need and your dad fixed my house for free and said don't worry about it. things like that. there's so many people there that care about you, care about your family and it was a day i'll never forget. >> reporter: but investigators were right back at square one. their initial suspect, barbara miller, now ruled out as the person who killed bill in his bed. and yet? there seemed to be so many red flags about her. how could bill have been so wrong? >> up to the day he died, bill actually believed barbara miller was stalking him and had ill intent. >> reporter: so if barbara didn't kill bill, who did? detectives called in bill's family. more questions to ask. >> i'm at the ravalli county sheriff's office in the interview room with anne stout. >> reporter: again, they went over, hour by hour, the last weekend of bill's life. >> is there something that, that you feel i may have missed during our first conversation? >> reporter: remember, the first coroner on the scene said bill likely died about eight to ten hours before his body was found. and that was sunday afternoon about 5:00 pm. meaning he was likely murdered in the vicinity of 8:00 am, when anne and matt were just leaving -- or had just left -- for a day of shopping in missoula. >> reporter: both anne and son matt repeated what they'd said before. they simply didn't know what happened. >> so it could mean bill was alive when they left. it could mean he was dead when they left. but it was really very much up in the air? >> correct. >> reporter: and, matt said he was absolutely certain he did not hear a gunshot. so the detectives went back to pay another visit to the marshall of darby. and his cameras. anne had told detectives that on the day before he was murdered -- saturday, june 9th -- bill went for a ride on his harley. said he was going to missoula. and sure enough, 1:58 pm saturday afternoon, there is bill riding his motorcycle through town, heading north. then 3:31 pm, detectives found bill walking into the harley davidson store in missoula. and walking back out 10 minutes later, 3:41. but from there? well, for several hours, it was unknowable. riding his harley, maybe? did he see anyone? he told his wife he stopped and had a beer. which, according to anne, was out of character. >> anyone who knows him would tell you that he never drinks during the day. never! >> reporter: was anne wondering if bill, given his past affair, had been cheating on her again? well, no. the detectives found the bar where bill stopped. and confirmed he had one beer. apparently alone. and a few hours later, 7:55 pm, the marshall's cameras caught bill riding south through darby, back toward home. which meant he would have arrived a few minutes after 8:00 pm. which comported exactly with what anne had told them. she said she was grilling steak for dinner. >> bill drove up right when i was barbecuing. >> okay. >> right when i was taking it off the grill or turning it over. i gave it to matthew and i told bill his would be in a second. and then i put broccoli on for bill, just steamed broccoli and matthew won't eat broccoli. >> okay and did you have a potato? >> baked potatoes. >> reporter: while bill and anne were in for the evening, matt had plans. >> after dinner, matt had left for a bonfire with the high school friends. >> reporter: the marshall's cameras caught matt driving through darby in his suburban, at 9:08 pm. anne said she and bill watched tvm and then, made love. and around 10:00 pm, bill called a friend and made plans to go horseback riding the next day. that would be, sunday. cameras caught matt driving back home through darby at 11:28 pm saturday. anne said she waited up for matt, then joined bill in the bedroom, where he was already fast asleep. >> so you woke up the next morning in your bed? >> i went to sleep in my bed. i always sleep in my bed! >> reporter: and it all fit. most of it confirmed by those cameras. but there was one other little thing. one more official-looking piece of paper noah fished out of that box. what could anne stout tell investigators about that? >> coming up -- >> we now knew we were dealing with a very narrow window of time. >> could broccoli solve this murder? >> the stomach stops digesting at the moment of death. the florets on the broccoli were still recognizable. will is saving big holiday shopping at amazon. so now, he's free to become... wonderland will. deck the halls with printer paper! recycled of course. i've been telling everyone... the secret to great teeth is having healthy gums. crest advanced gum restore. detoxifies below the gumline... and restores by helping heal gums in as little as 7 days. crest. the #1 toothpaste brand in america. you have always loved vicks vapors. and now you'll really love new vicks' vapostick. it goes on clear and dries quickly. no mess. just the soothing vicks' vapor for the whole family. introducing new vicks vapostick. frequent heartburn? not anymore. the prilosec otc two-week challenge is helping people love what they love again. just one pill a day. 24 hours. zero heartburn. because life starts when heartburn stops. take the challenge at prilosecotc dot com. >> reporter: it was friday, five days after ann stout called 911 to report the death of her husband bill here on trapper meadow road. the scene -- the ravalli county courthouse. up the road in hamilton, montana. today's date is june 15, 2007. and investigators were about to deliver some unpleasant news. because after bill's death, an autopsy had been done. and according to the medical examiner, bill stout did not die on sunday morning at around 8:00, like the coroner on the scene had guessed. how did they know? broccoli. that "last meal" anne cooked for bill on saturday night when he got back from his motorcycle ride -- it was one of his favorites, steak, broccoli, and potatoes. and now, said the medical examiner, that last meal had told its story. >> the stomach stops digesting at the moment of death. >> yes. >> reporter: and what the medical examiner noticed was immediately upon seeing the stomach contents, things that digest very quickly, potatoes, which they had, hadn't digested. in fact, he used his fingers like this and he said that the florets on the broccoli were still recognizable and those delicate things in our food are what you would see disappear first. and they were still there. >> reporter: meaning? that bill stout must have been shot to death after eating his last meal. 9:00 p.m., or soon after. on saturday night. how did that change your theory of this crime? >> at that point, dramatically changed the landscape of the investigation because we now knew we were dealing with a very narrow window of time, which became pretty evident was a window of time in which anne was alone with bill. >> reporter: and if bill stout was killed when he was alone with anne on saturday night? well, that changed everything. anne stout quite obviously had no idea what she was walking into with her attorney, just off-screen here. that day at the sheriff's office. >> reporter: so anne, in this folder are the results of our investigation. >> okay. >> can we pull up to the table together, you and i? >> sure. >> i do not wanna see -- i already shared with you. >> i don't have a -- >> any pictures of, um, graphic -- >> yeah, i don't have that, okay? >> reporter: thing is -- it wasn't just that last meal they wanted to talk to anne about. crime scenes do tend to tell a story, even if sometimes it's hard to discern exactly what that story is. and from the moment investigators walked into anne and bill's house, something didn't smell right about this one. literally. >> one of the pervading things spoken of by the people who'd been in the house early on was that there was a very powerful smell of bleach throughout the house. >> reporter: almost like someone had been cleaning up. and sure enough, pretty soon they came across three loads of still-wet laundry smelling strongly of bleach, and stuffed into various places. like in this laundry hamper. and inside the hamper? more than just clothes. what was a holster doing in there? and a rubber glove? what did they find on that glove? >> on the outside of the glove and on the inside of the glove, dna matching anne stout. >> reporter: of course, there might have been an innocent answer, these could have been her regular cleaning gloves. who knew, really? but as for the holster, it was made for a 9 millimeter pistol. and now things were about to get worse for anne. because remember that gun bill had reported missing from the safe just before his death? it turned up, too. maybe 50 feet away from bill's prostrate body. the handgun was found to be in the garage inside of one of the saddle bags on bill's motorcycle. it's a big clue of course. the gun. the glove. the clean-up. was there another logical explanation? one that pointed not to anne, but to another person in the household, maybe, as the killer? so far, she'd had an explanation for everything. so maybe she had another one. maybe. >> coming up -- >> what actually happened the other night? >> anne in the hot seat. >> i've got a date, a time of death that shows that bill wasn't alive when you left that morning. you told me that he spoke with you. he skied before you left. >> when dateline continues. - oh...oh. - what's going on? - oh, darn! - let me help. lift and push and push! there... it's up there. hey joshie... wrinkles send the wrong message. help prevent them with downy wrinkleguard. feel the difference with downy. why hide your skin if dupixent has your moderate-to-severe eczema or atopic dermatitis under control? hide my skin? not me. by hitting eczema where it counts, dupixent helps heal your skin from within, keeping you one step ahead of eczema. and that means long-lasting clearer skin... and fast itch relief for adults. hide my skin? not me. by helping to control eczema with dupixent, you can show more with less eczema. don't use if you're allergic to dupixent. serious allergic reactions can occur including anaphylaxis, which is severe. tell your doctor about new or worsening eye problems, such as eye pain or vision changes, or a parasitic infection. if you take asthma medicines don't change or stop them without talking to your doctor. when you help heal your skin from within, you can change how your skin looks and feels. and that's the kind of change you notice. talk to your eczema specialist about dupixent, a breakthrough eczema treatment. a federal appeals court has blocked president biden's mandate for companies of more than 100 employees. and after nearly 14 years, pop star britney spears is now free to make personal decisions about her life. a judge ended the conservatorship that gave spears' father control of her professional and private life, including spears' estimated $60 million fortune. now back to "dateline." >> reporter: all the transcripts were here for noah stout to read, if he dared. read, for example, about the moment in the police interview with his mother. when things got real. when those detectives in the room with anne were about to attempt to link her with bill's murder. her husband. noah's father. the moment was this. they read her her rights. >> with those rights in mind, do you wanna -- do you wanna talk to me? >> yes. >> all right. >> clear everything up! >> reporter: then, they seemed to back off a little. they complimented anne for the fine young men she and bill had raised. their interviews, too, had gone into the box. noah's and matt's. uncomfortable interviews about their mother, their father -- about what happened. >> we thought they were wonderful young men. i wanted to just ask you though, is your impression of your boys that they're truthful? >> yes. >> okay. >> very much so. >> reporter: and then here it came. no more niceties. >> i guess, at this point, i would , would ask you, uh, what actually happened the other night? >> i don't know what -- i don't know what you're asking, or i'm not sure what you want me to respond. >> well, here's what -- >> -- i think that we have. >> here's what i would ask you to respond. i'll tell you that we can, uh, we will, if you want, work our way through all of this. but i'll tell you, also, that the results of our investigation show that, that you killed bill, okay? >> they do not show that! >> you -- >> they do not prove that and you do not know that because it did not happen! >> her reaction was one of how could you say that about me? >> reporter: oh, but they were just getting started. >> we know the gun wasn't stolen. it was taken! we know because noah told us and you just told me that he's truthful! >> noah is very truthful and so is, uh, matthew. >> bill did. bill told him.. >> and i've given them everything! >> and bill told him. "i didn't leave that gun safe unlocked. i didn't misplace that gun. someone took it outta there!" someone with a key opened that gun safe and took that firearm. both of your boys have told me they didn't do it. i don't think that they did. >> you asked me, and i didn't do it! >> you know anne, i've got a date, a time of death that shows that bill wasn't alive when you left that morning. you told me that he spoke to you. he died before you left! >> okay. >> okay, now that's science! that's not me! >> no, that's not science! >> what was his time of death? >> well, actually, i wish that you would tell me that. >> oh, god. >> see i'm trying. i would like to work through this with you. >> you keep -- you are asking me a question that i don't have the answer for! >> he's gonna take you into custody. >> oh, god! i'm not that tough! do you have to take me into custody? you know where i'm at. i'll give you my passport. i have it. you can take any physical object. you can release me to somebody's custody. you don't know me! you don't know me! >> anne, you're under the arrest for the murder of bill stout. >> nothing was wrong that night! good stuff happened! >> i need to have you turn around. >> oh, god. i've never been in trouble. please! >> put your hands behind your back. >> oh, god. i've never had this. everything i've lost everything in my life, everything, when bill died. you don't know what happened. i didn't think i even needed an attorney! >> anne, i wanna remind you, you probably shouldn't say anything, okay? >> here's what happens now, anne. another officer and i will escort you to the detention center and you'll be booked into the ravalli county jail. you will continue to be able to have access to your counsel. >> please don't leave me. >> that friday, i went running and when i came back, my cell phone had a voice mail from the sheriff. and he said, "noah, i just want you to know, we've arrested your mom." >> what was it like to hear that? >> i was shocked. like it was -- i'm still mourning my dad. i've lost one parent. five days later, essentially, i'm losing another parent. >> reporter: noah was not the only one in shock. out in california -- >> i get this phone call and, thinking to myself, "this is crazy!" she was, you know, wife of the year! mother of the year! hit me hard! i just wanted to do something. there was no way she would have done that. >> it was unbelievable that ann could have done anything like this. >> reporter: not anne, they thought. not anne. unthinkable. impossible. all that planning, that careful orchestration. not the sort of thing kind-hearted anne would do. was it? coming up -- had detectives made a massive mistake? >> i was leading a charge up the mountain that you got the wrong person! protection lysol to go kills 99.9% of viruses and bacteria ... ... including the covid-19 viru. take trusted lysol protection, now on the go. lysol. what it takes to protect. you don't get much time for yourself. so when you do, make it count with crest pro-health. it protects the 8 areas dentists check for a healthier mouth. the #1 toothpaste brand in america. crest. ♪ ♪ for deb, living with constipation with belly pain was the same old story for years. trying this. doing that. spending countless days right here. still came the belly pain, discomfort, and bloating. awful feelings she kept sugar-coating. finally, with the help of her doctor, it came to be. that her symptoms were all signs of ibs-c. and that's why she said yess to adding linzess. linzess is not a laxative. it helps you have more frequent and complete bowel movements. and is proven to help relieve overall abdominal symptoms belly pain,discomfort, and bloating. do not give linzess to children less than six and it should not be given to children six to less than 18, it may harm them. do not take linzess if you have a bowel blockage. get immediate help if you develop unusual or severe stomach pain, especially with bloody or black stools. the most common side effect is diarrhea, sometimes severe. if it's severe, stop taking linzess and call your doctor right away. other side effects include gas, stomach area pain, and swelling. could your story also be about ibs-c? talk to your doctor and say yess to linzess. >> reporter: when word spread through montana's bitterroot valley that the suspect in bill stout's murder was his wife, well, the reaction was anne? surely not anne! >> she was very kind and very well liked. and i think when it came out in the public that she's charged with homicide, that's a very big gasp in a very small town. >> reporter: back in california, the stouts' close friends marc eccher and his wife denise, weren't just gasping. they were yelling, "hell no!" >> i was leading a charge up the mountain that you got the wrong person. anne did not do it and would not do it and could not do this. >> reporter: but when anne's trial began a year later, it soon became apparent that prosecutors believed the murder was just the final act in a richly complex and inventive two year campaign. her intent? to humiliate bill. and, long before she pulled the trigger to kill him, to make sure that family, friends, colleagues, the police would point the finger of blame at the woman with whom he'd had his fling, barbara miller. >> have you ever seen a murder case in which so many people close to the victim were pointing at the wrong suspect? >> that was one of the unique things about this case was the success anne had at diverting attention to a very specific person. >> a level of deviousness that's just hard to get your head around. >> it was the product of some detailed planning before the crime. >> reporter: but, as so often happens with would-be diabolical killers, there were mistakes. when detectives visited anne's office at the long term care facility and took a little dive into her computer, they uncovered what looked like research into something uncaring. >> the internet search histories included things like how to poison people. how to murder somebody. >> reporter: those hang up phone calls? bill thought it was barbara breathing into the phone before hanging up. investigators traced the calls to this payphone steps from anne's desk. and when they ran down the "freak of ark" e-mail account? the ip address was the stouts' own home computer. >> so it all fit together in everybody's mind that this email was actually barbara miller. >> and then it turns out to come from anne's basement. >> correct. >> reporter: and the letters and cards starting soon after bill confessed to his intemperate weekend? the bill and barbara barbeque invitation? they were all postmarked "fort smith, arkansas." clever. how did she do it? detectives talked to the fort smith postmaster who'd received occasional envelopes full of letters addressed to montana which were dutifully stamped "fort smith" and put into the outgoing mail. detectives discovered the subterfuge in anne's car. unsent copies of those same cards and letters. >> anne's fingerprints were on the outside of the envelope which would not be unusual. but when they opened it, not only did her dna seal the envelope, but the only things found on the letter inside were latent prints from anne stout. >> so many mistakes. >> so many mistakes. >> reporter: mistakes, yes. but also more. a level of fiendishness. >> it sort of smelled like really incredible sublimated anger that was really calculated and directed at hurting bill and embarrassing him and humiliating him. >> first you destroy him while he's alive. and then you kill him. my goodness. >> i think to that there was a lot of sympathy for this victim. and it seemed that bill really tried to recover from that affair. and he wanted to. and maybe anne falsely welcomed him back in and said, "let's move forward." but then immediately thereafter there were this trail of letters and phone calls and this trail of harassment. >> reporter: the state's theory? the culmination of anne's multi-year plan came just 10 days before bill's murder when they claimed anne stout stole bill's gun from the safe, stashed it and its holster in the laundry hamper where bill would never look. but there was a problem. anne had no experience firing a gun. so look at this -- detectives found this list in her bedside table, with an entry anne claimed were instructions to use the washing machine. but -- >> our lead detective looked at that and said that if you kinda just read between the lines, that might be instructions on how to load and shoot a firearm. the red being when the safety's on. there's no red showing when the safety's off. there a little bit of red color showing. which different seem to have a lot of consistency with how to use her washing machine except that she used the word clothes instead of bullet. >> reporter: but to make sure she could actually fire the gun the state believed anne tried it. fired a practice round. how'd they know? a neat piece of detection. beginning in this box of ammunition from bill's gun safe. >> when they opened the box toward the middle of the box were three missing rounds. in addition, there was a little flower that was inside of this box and inside this box of ammunition. >> reporter: a flower? now that was a puzzle. until an investigator noticed an unusual plant just outside the stout's front door. same little flower. so he looked at the dirt beneath the plant. and there it was. a spent shell casing. one of the missing rounds. >> we believe that she took a practice round when nobody was home. the spent shell landed by that plant. one of those little flowers gets in the box. she puts the box back. and the botanist narrowed the time that that plant blooms to about a ten day window of time. that all happened within 10 days or so of bill's death. >> which is right around the time he's reporting the gun is missing! >> exactly. >> reporter: and after she killed bill? >> i have every reason to believe she simply carried the weapon out into the garage, wrapped it in a towel, and stuck in the handbag. >> reporter: oh, and there was insurance, too. half a million. the beneficiary? anne. >> so the affair with barbara miller? >> correct. >> the 500,000 in insurance money, angry woman, scorned. if you had to pick a motive here, what was it? >> it's difficult to ascribe a single motive. the question that stands out is what would motivate someone to put in multiple years of planning and carrying it out? there was a level of anger behind this that did not go away. >> reporter: my, my, what could anne stout's defense attorney say to all that? coming up -- >> someone came in the house and did it. not her. >> and those searches for how to kill someone on anne's computer? >> other people had access. >> why would other people be looking at a way to kill somebody when her husband ends up dead? >> there's lots of stuff you can't explain. ff you can't explain. we were alone when my husband had the heart attack. he's the most important thing in my life. i'm so lucky to get him back. your heart isn't just yours. protect it with bayer aspirin. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. don't settle for products that give you a sort-of white smile. try crest whitening emulsions... ...for 100% whiter teeth. its highly active peroxide droplets... ...swipe on in seconds. better. faster. 100% whiter teeth. shop crestwhitesmile.com. fries or salad? 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(all) to screening! ♪ ♪ 'tis the season to break tradition in a cadillac. don't just put on a light show—be the light show. make your nights anything but silent. and ride in a sleigh that really slays. because in a cadillac, tradition is yours to define. so visit a cadillac showroom, and start celebrating today. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: noah stout was not allowed to sit through his mother's trial since he was a witness, after all. that's why, when he opened up the box holding her case file, he finally learned what he wasn't privy to as he waited patiently here, outside the courtroom for his turn to testify. >> time seemed to just take forever. i got to know that little hallway pretty well. it -- it was definitely surreal. >> reporter: surreal, too for bill's friend marc, who by now had testified and had heard enough of the case against anne, to feel betrayed. >> she duped me. i did not feel comfortable making eye contact with her. just for knowing what she had done to a very dear friend of mine. >> reporter: yes and what she had allegedly done prompted prosecutors to make it known. however briefly, they were considering pursuing the death penalty. but, as we all know, a competent defense can make all the difference. this is anne's attorney, ed sheehy. i guess what you inherited was a pretty bad set of facts, would that be fair to say? >> yeah, some of it! yeah. >> reporter: so what did she think happened? >> someone came in the house and did it. not her. when they were gone. she and matt were gone to missoula. >> reporter: and all that evidence that seemingly pointed to anne was, said sheehy, just poorly interpreted. examples. anne, he said, didn't know anything about that half million dollar insurance policy on bill's life. despite what appears to be her signature on it. or that "welcome to montana" barbecue invitation sent in envelopes bearing anne's dna. how did that get there? who could know? well, who could know, he said. the "freak of ark" emails created on the family computer? wasn't her. and at anne's workplace, those searches on her office computer, how to poison someone, how to kill someone? >> other people had access! >> reporter: but why would other people be looking up a way to kill somebody when her husband's the one who winds up dead? >> there's lots of stuff you can't explain! >> reporter: and about bill's 9 millimeter? the pistol that went missing shortly before his murder, and then was used to kill him, and was later found in the saddle bag of bill's harley? sheehy argued this. if anne was the cunning mastermind of some diabolical plot, then why would she dump the gun in the garage? >> use common sense! if you're smart enough to do all of that, then you're not gonna be dumb enough to stick it in the saddlebag! >> reporter: besides, he said, the towel the pistol was wrapped in? was unlike any other towel in the house. must have maybe belonged to somebody else? you get the picture. so then, back to the main question. how did bill stout end up with a bullet in his head? >> when i hired the pathologist i had, that's when i thought, "maybe we have a shot." >> reporter: maybe you have a shot how? >> that he committed suicide. >> reporter: you think there's a chance he actually did commit suicide? >> yep. >> reporter: all kinds of reasons, said defense attorney sheehy. bill was underwater on his mortgage, couldn't pay his bills, was facing tax liens. >> my pathologist demonstrated to a jury how you could put the gun behind the back of your head and he testified that he had had prior autopsies where people had done that. >> reporter: had committed suicide that way? >> yep. >> reporter: how would he commit suicide when there was no gun on the bed with him? >> well i have a theory. >> reporter: which is what? >> that someone moved the gun. not her! >> reporter: who would have taken the gun, put it in his harley, but not killed him? i mean who would so such a thing? >> i have some ideas but i don't really wanna discuss that. >> reporter: the defense seemed to imply that if not anne, it must have been someone else in the house. and who might that be? well, there was an obvious if unstated possibility. the prosecutor didn't appreciate the inference. >> there was apparently a strategy to point to the various items using the handgun for an example, and the phrase used over and over, "well we can't prove specifically who moved that handgun. it might have been matt. it might have been noah." >> reporter: that's not a strategy you like. >> i did not like it. i thought it was offensive to these young men and the memory of their dad. >> reporter: but the defense attorney said that wasn't his intention. in fact, he said if anyone had moved the gun, it might have been out of concern for anne, who, remember had already lost her son ben to suicide years prior. >> reporter: the theory then would be that somebody would come in the house, find a person committed suicide, and in order to spare the feelings of the family or whatever, had taken the gun and then hid it somewhere. >> oh it happens! >> reporter: that's just -- >> it happens! >> reporter: and attorney sheehy said he had evidence to back up the idea that the medical examiner was wrong. that bill wasn't killed right after that saturday evening meal. that he was still alive sunday morning, before he killed himself. the evidence? coffee. there was caffeine in his blood stream. >> reporter: why would that make a difference? >> because that means someone got up and made coffee. >> reporter: suggesting it was morning? >> uh-huh! >> reporter: anne stout said when she and matt returned home, the tv was on, and tuned to cnn, bill's favored channel. but what about the steak and broccoli in bill's stomach? the dinner the medical examiner used to pin time of death to saturday night? well, said the defense, sometimes bill got up and ate leftovers for breakfast, and he likely did that on sunday, as he sat alone in the house. but ask anybody, somebody's got steak and broccoli in their stomach it's not breakfast you're talking about. >> he would eat it for breakfast according to his sons and her. >> reporter: that's just weird! >> i think it's weird my own son eats pizza for breakfast, y'know! you never know. >> reporter: was all this a little too clever? even cynical? well, there's one more thing you never know. what a jury might do. >> reporter: coming up -- the verdict. >> it's like riding a roller coaster. >> when they read it, she was standing up. and i had to push her back down into the chair. >> reporter: she was in shock. >> yup. >> reporter: the streets of the county seat, little hamilton, montana, were alive all that june. the whole town seemed to be watching as this soft spoken, respected woman, this mother of three, stood trial for a crime so calculating, few could even conceive of it. >> there were a lot of people in the courtroom every day. it was packed. >> reporter: anne stout's defense attorney, ed sheehy, had argued this was no murder at all. but a suicide by bill stout's own hand. and they all waited six hours while the jury decided what to believe. and then -- is it possible to describe what it was like when you're watching them come back in and you're waiting for them to say something? >> oh, it's like riding a roller coaster. like, these 12 people are making a decision that's gonna impact you the rest of your life. >> reporter: there were no cameras present for the verdict. but the picture is vivid still in attorney sheehy's mind. >> when they read it, she was standing up. she had her hands on the table. she became as stiff as a board. and i had to push her back down into the chair. >> reporter: she was in shock. >> yup. >> reporter: in shock. because the verdict was guilty. and seconds later, anne stout was led out of the courtroom. and into this hallway. >> the judge said, "you can say goodbye to your mom now." and so we go in there, my brother and i, and i've never seen someone in as much shock as she was. and she was just bringing us close to her and telling us that she loved us. and that was the last time that i -- i saw my mom outside of a prison cell. >> reporter: except for one time. for her sentencing. when the prosecutor had asked the judge to send anne to prison for life without parole. and noah, just 19 at the time, took the stand on his mother's behalf. >> i really take offense at the fact that someone recommends that my mother has no redeeming social value. and when i think about justice i don't think that the fact that, the only contact that my father's grandchildren will have with my mother or with their grandmother or grandfather would be through putting their hand against a bullet proof glass. and that's not justice to me! >> reporter: it was a slightly surreal scene in the courtroom. and even more so when anne, herself, rose to speak. >> i cannot explain to you how this death has devastated my life and that of our family's. today i speak not only for myself, but i speak as the widow of my husband bill. >> reporter: it was, in a word, bizarre. >> bill's death has left those who cared about him mourning for the man that he was. gone forever is the friend he was to many. the son he was to his mother and mine. and father to the young men that he was so proud of and the husband he was to me. >> reporter: it also left the judge unmoved. >> the reason that your children will be deprived of your company is not because you've been convicted of this crime. it's because you committed this crime. it's the court's judgment in this case that you be committed to the montana state prison for women for the rest of your natural life. >> reporter: anne stout, who declined our request for an interview, will be eligible for parole. but not until 2038, when she is 73-years-old. >> i think giving someone a life sentence removes someone from the equation and -- and says that we don't need to think about that person anymore. and that person, my mom, is still going to live. if we're going to house that person, we need to think about how can we rehabilitate this person, not just punish these people. >> reporter: son matt declined our request for an interview. but he keeps in touch with his mom and visits her in prison when he can. and noah does too. in fact, after his mother went to prison, noah attended law school, where the murder of bill stout was used as a case study for students in a class on evidence. and he is now his mother's attorney of record. >> reporter: the young man who finally had the courage to look in the box -- the case file that told his family's story. has it helped to look inside? >> it didn't help right away. definitely -- definitely pretty sad when i was reading it 'cause i -- i mean, it's something you live with every day, knowing that i've opened it. i've looked at it, and -- doesn't change me as a person. it doesn't make me view my family any differently. >> reporter: no. oh, he read those dreaded files. saw the terrible evidence in there, and relived the worst days of his family's life. what has happened to you has been a terrible thing, a series of terrible things. but you've chosen a deliberately positive, kind of uplifting path to follow. and that's not easy. so it seems to me it's like walking along the -- a ridge of a mountain. you can get knocked off pretty damn easy. >> yeah. it's kinda putting one forward in front of the other. and life happens. >> reporter: he is a bright man, is noah stout. sees the world clearly. but this? this is just different. did you have a profoundly sad feeling that your mother killed your father? >> that didn't matter to me. she's still my mom. i know that my dad raised me that regardless of the worst possible thing my mom could do, i would still defend her. and i would still be her supporter. >> reporter: did you take her at her word that she didn't do it? >> yeah. i mean, it was my mom. that's my mom! >> reporter: no matter what he saw in that box, he told us, no matter what it proved to a court of law, or what others may say about his choice, he is, and always will be, his mother's son. and he loved them both, up here in their place of paradise under trapper peak. still does. regardless of the horror he carries around in that box. i'm craig melvin. >> i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." i see her laying there, my dad is kneeling. that was the first time i had ever seen him cry. >> they had a tumultuous marriage. >> there would be yelling and maybe slamming doors. >> according to him, he sees lisa with a gunshot wound to the head. it is initially ruled a suicide. >> her sister went to the missouri state highway patrol to express their belief that this,