she doesn't lift weights. a home gym mysteriously turned death trap. her husband, suddenly a suspect. >> hello and welcome to dateline, it's the case of a fifth young woman who -- her family was told it was a freak accident in a gym. the kind of thing that could happen to anyone. equipment does malfunction, but so does relationships. here's dennis murphy with the beauty and the beast relationship. >> the images are fuzzy on the old home video of the wedding reception. but anyone who is there remembers the event vividly. >> the wife is the chance in the -- beauty in the beast. but then, it was a unique one that would end the strings. last stand still more than ten years away. lisa, the bright of course, had no idea what was in store for the two of them. she -- with her signature smile. you can't >> you can't fake a smile like that. that was just her. >> she was a single mom raising her small son, when she joined her sister to go out on the town. a big guy, a bodybuilder, small talk to her and flipped her his business card. while her friends called it a night. when the car -- when they went home, she showed a business card to her sister. >> she said, it's a jean-claude van damme lookalike. and i said, you're not gonna call that guy are you? >> but she did. >> yes. >> they were soon dating, and being pursued by the guy the club. it was scott patterson who worked in construction. in a year, they would marry. >> -- very beautiful. she was so happy that day. she was very happy. >> [inaudible] this is my wife. >> when you left the wedding, how did you feel about her? >> i was happy for her. >> the newlyweds set up housekeeping in central indiana. he became a roofing contractor, and she was a go getting law contract -- the sun from a previous relationship, grew to call scott dad. >> growing up, i didn't really have a father figure. i mean, i slowly and surely i called him down. and 13 years on, all were living a comfortable life together in a nice big house with acreage out in the country. there were vacations in the caribbean soaking in hot tubs, snorkeling with the stingray's island, hopping scott like that. people thought of him as a good time guy. mr. big. if you knew scott, then you would know that he wanted everything to be the biggest and the best. and he kept up on his fitness regimen. he, a former bodybuilder, didn't want to slide into flat. he kept after lisa to stay in shape with him and her best friend from the mall. a woman named leah frazier became lisa's workout buddy. lisa was always conscious about what she was eating, how she was exercising. she would do aerobics. she would do the stair stepper. scott installed a few pieces of gym equipment in the basement of the house, a treadmill, a tanning bed and a weight machine. it was there that something catastrophic had happened on the morning of july 2nd, 2009. and now scott was in his truck racing for help, calling nine one one nine one one, which meant to say good bye to my wife at home. as scott sped through summer cornfields, his wife lisa was in the back of the cab in very bad shape as he told the dispatcher, i need an escort or something to get to the hospital quicker. ok, what kind of accident i had see, i found her in a workout room with bars on top of her. scott would say later he'd gone downstairs just before noon and found his wife straddled face up on the exercise bench with the barbell weight crushing her throat blue. but she's not breathing nothing. paramedics intercepted scott's truck minutes from the hospital. a police car followed behind dash cam rolling. doctors could not revive. and at the age of 36, lisa patterson was gone. how could any of the friends and family adjust to vibrant lisa with that beaming smile being just a memory? now, she is always in good spirits. she's always smiling. she's just an amazing woman through and through. dillon had been up early that morning off to the job site where he was helping his stepdad and his crew. it had been the quickest of goodbyes to his mom. my last words to her was, was that i love the way she said the same thing back. and now suddenly they were all gathering at the hospital. dylan got the news from his dad. i just lost it. i mean, i've, you know, the one person i'm depending on, my whole life was gone. lisa's mom, lucy rich, was taken in to see her daughter's body. i just walked around her body and just kept. i can't believe she was gone. lisa's best friend from the mall, leah fraizer. was likewise, enormously saddened. i've lost probably my best friend, someone who made me a better person, someone who was a good. because lisa had been in her prime in sound health, her death was categorized as unattended, which meant that the police would take a look before it could be ruled an accident. but what else could it be? a woman home alone, working out a husband who comes back to the house for lunch, only to find such a ghastly scene in the basement? it couldn't be anything but an accident, could it? that's what coming up. please do some investigating. and something doesn't make sense. >> he's turning down 9-1-1 help. , >> it had a nine when -- >> when dateline continues. a nine when -- a nine when -- >> by hitting eczema where it counts, dupixent helps heal your skin from within keeping you one step ahead of eczema. hide my skin? not me. and that means long-lasting clearer skin... and fast itch relief for adults. with dupixent, you can show more skin with less eczema. hide my skin? not me. 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. ♪ got my hair ♪ talk to ♪ got my head ♪cialist about dupixent, ♪ got my brains ♪ ♪ got my ears ♪ ♪ got my heart ♪ ♪ got my soul ♪ ♪ got my mouth ♪ ♪ i got life ♪ trelegy for copd. ♪ birds flyin' high ♪ ♪ you know how i feel ♪ (coughing) ♪ breeze driftin' on by ♪ ♪ you know how i feel ♪ copd may have gotten you here, but you decide what's next. start a new day with trelegy. ♪ ...feelin' good ♪ no once-daily copd medicine has the power to treat copd in as many ways as trelegy. with three medicines in one inhaler, trelegy helps people breathe easier and improves lung function. it also helps prevent future flare-ups. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. take a stand and start a new day with trelegy. ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy. and save at trelegy.com. how did olay top expensive creams? by staying on top of our game ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy. with derm-recommended ingredients in every jar olay regenerist with niacinamide has hydration that beats the 100, 200, even $400 cream for smooth skin, try retinol24 for visibly firm skin, get collagen peptide for 2x brighter skin, get new vitamin c can't top this skin shop now at olay.com when you are in on call detective like mike davis, you know that days off like the fourth of july, sometimes have a way of going up in smoke. the assignment he was catching did not sound like one of those. check out the death of a young woman called in by the marion general hospital e. r. the other detective that worked with me said, hey, come on in. i've got a case we need to work on. it's passed away on a way that the victim was a woman who worked at a local mall, lisa patterson. even as her friends and family were racing towards the hospital, a sheriff's detective had taken lisa's husband, scott, aside in the ambulance bay for a brief recorded statement with scott. scott explained what had happened, how he'd come home from work to shower and eat lunch before an afternoon doctor's appointment for his bad back. lisa had taken the day off upstairs. that's when i saw. this was going back. he said he lifted the weights off and started cpr as a first responder. he'd been trained in that but said he couldn't revive her. so i argued that, of course. so we picked her up carrying her upstairs. i called my lawyer, another officer, crime scene reporter jason page, was now resigned to his truck and lisa's body. he found a bruise on her neck and abrasion on her shoulder. >> seeing that, does it explain to you what happened? >> we take it at face value. there was a statement that he had found her at home. bar bells across her throat. it seemed consistent with the story. >> it pointed towards an awful accident. some cleanup work to do, and on to the next case. >> still the detective whose case it was, he elected to playing scott down to the station for a brief interview. >> first of all scott, i'm sorry for your loss okay? >> the interview began with a more detailed accounting than scott had. he had gotten up at courted of five in the morning, kissed her goodbye and went to -- he got back home around 6:30 pm, time to meet his step son dylan and an employee. they all went out to dinner. >> left there, did a couple errands. came home, ballpark 11:30, probably. he said he called out for lisa but she did not answer. music from downstairs said he was working out. -- it was a while before he headed downstairs and discovered her. >> she had a bar across her neck. what kind of bar was it? >> the french press bar. she was purple. totally purple. her arms were at or sides. >> he said he lifted the bar off her neck, felt her pulse, then tried to give her cpr on the bench. >> i probably should've called 9-1-1, but at that time i didn't. i cradled her, picked her up, carried her upstairs. put her up in my truck. >> as he -- >> i had my flashers on, i was driving like an idiot. my wife was in the backseat. she fell onto the floor. and -- it's hard to drive and reach back there and move her body. >> when he saw her the ambulance, he pulled down his window and went to the curb. >> but there was something about the way that scott acted, that wasn't passing the test. >> why don't you let me start and -- i tried and cpr i'm an ex responder. >> it had a red flag to me. yes it did. >> then scott was asked about the state of his marriage. >> how is your relationship with lisa? >> is there ever a perfect marriage? >> well, i don't know. >> they had been married for 13 years, scott said. just a few years ago, they'd filed for divorce. >> you said -- >> why are you going to divorce her? >> i had an affair. >> an affair. but he insisted the relationship with the other woman was over. in fact, their relationship was on hold. he had a change of heart and was trying to work things out. >> okay, so there is something else to look into. >> at the -- they made a physical check of the husband. noting no fresh injuries on his face, arms, or hands. routine stuff. then they headed out to the home. the crime scene agents camcorder documented a house in pristine condition. there was no signs of forced and tree, nothing to suggest a struggle. there were cameras mounted on the -- but they check the garage and the dvd train was empty. >> they didn't get lucky. >> downstairs in the work room, it was not free rates but it was a smith machine. a professional gym and -- the bar bell weighed about 105 pounds with weights attached. investigator page took a closer look to see if it supported scott story. he -- >> yes, this is the weight bench from the home. >> he noticed two things right away. when he lay down on the bench, the barr did not line up with his chest, but rather with his neck. >> so if you complete the lift it will align with the body in this fashion. >> it backed sought story. they also made notes on the circular's budge on the bar. hadn't been left by the neck? >> it had to be the body, or sweat. >> do you think made contact with the body? >> i think that. >> wentz investigator page tried the machine, it was in working order. he couldn't make it feel accidentally. and the bar felt pretty secure using the hook in holes on the frame. john >> when you complete your recreate -- these hooks engage. but maybe something important, to safety bars which would -- unused at the bottom of the trail. >> when these are engaged, there is another layer of safety. >> but if they're not in place, you do not have that. >> yes. >> no safety spots. if the bar slipped while in use, it would have crushed her with brown breaking force. >> theoretically could be a fatal accident? >> oh yes, certainly. >> there it was. perhaps lisa's death acted exactly as he had said. certainly not a homicide. still, an important voice had not been heard from yet. his off top sea could prove to be crucial. it was. >> the medical examiner uncovers a small clue, one almost invisible to the naked eye. but it could have a big impact on the case. coming up, >> getting that affirmation at that moment. did the case change for you? >> absolutely. >> when dateline continues. you? >> absolutely. >> when dateline continues new year, new start. and now comcast business is making it easy to get going with the ready. set. save. sale. get started with fast and reliable internet and voice for $64.99 a month with a 2-year price guarantee. it's easy... with flexible installation and backing from an expert team, 24/7. and for even more value, ask how to get up to a $500 prepaid card. get a great deal for your business with the ready. set. save. sale today. 36 year old lisa patterson was comcast business. powering possibilities. dead, but detective mike davis and crime scene investigator jason page, we're not sure yet what kind of case, if any, they had. in the suspicious side of the ledger, lisa's husband, scott, had raised red flags when he declined emergency services help as he raced with his wife to the hospital. likewise, what he said about that drive in a recorded interview raised eyebrows. it's hard to drive and respect or party. i wouldn't think someone would refer to their loved one as a body when you're not even sure you're claiming she's not even dead yet. still, maybe it was just a freak accident. a first pass. look at the weight bench lisa had been on when she died, suggested an accident was plausible and did the autopsy. the medical examiner didn't find anything to explain a sudden death, nothing like a stroke or heart attack. lisa had been in good health, very healthy. thirty six year old woman who worked out. but the autopsy did provide a quite unexpected finding, something that now made the investigators very troubled. lisa had died not from a sudden crushing blow to the neck. the guillotine effect, but rather from a slow neck compression is if the barbell had rested on her throat and gradually cut off her air supply. when you were testing the machine at the house, when you let go that far, it was a real convincing thunk on the bench. oh, yeah. and you would have seen that in the autopsy here. i would expect that would have been crushed fractures, crushed bones, perhaps even her neck did not find it. know that what had happened to lisa patterson that morning? we know that her neck wasn't crushed. her spine had been fractured. she didn't have an aneurysm, didn't have a stroke, didn't have a heart attack. and we didn't know what we had. meanwhile, the people who knew lisa best were wondering what in the world she was doing on the weight bench in the first place. christine smith knew her sister liked to work out, but lisa was a treadmill girl, not a weightlifter. she was doing treadmill, doing more aerobics stuff. and the dead woman's best friend from the mall, leah, knew very well that lisa couldn't lift heavy things, not with a neck injury she'd suffered a couple of years earlier in a minor car accident. even the holiday ornaments in the mall storage room were too much for her. i did the lift and i did the boxes. i did the karena. i'm like the weight machine. she doesn't lift weights. then there was the elephant in the room since lisa's death, a subject that her friends and family didn't feel comfortable even putting words to. and that was how they felt about scott all the years that he'd been married to lisa, impressions of him that ran from self-centered jerk to nasty drill instructor. now that circle of lisa's friends were asking if scott had something to do with that so-called accident in the basement. >> there he is. >> he was lisa's husband. but the rest of the family didn't get it. he was an awkward fit. >> [inaudible] . we >> at hall early gatherings. they couldn't help notice but -- he boss them around like a law recruit. and handed out hard punishments for the slightest misstep. gill recalled when -- >> it was 6 am in the morning, and he actually said, take your clothes off, leave your underwear on, and go walk out to the mailbox. i always wanted a better fatherly figure. >> now when it came to his mom, scott could put on the charm. >> [inaudible] >> but elise's mother and sister, scott never measured up. >> i wanted him to be with someone -- someone who loved her with all his heart. i did not see that with scott. >> it was not a big dark family secret that scott and lisa had been crashing into the rocks for a while. he had an affair, scott found out. they talked a divorce. >> without saying as much, she telegraphed that the marriage was over. her sister christine acted as her financial adviser. >> she said, well i want to make some changes on my life insurance policy. when she said that, i knew she was getting ready to leave. >> how much was the policy for? >> $450,000. >> lisa listed her scott and son as beneficiaries, but switch it to just her son. -- the day after lisa died, the family met near the mall where she used to work. scott had gotten win of the policy change. he went to the sister in law and asked insurance questions. >> he asked did she sign? it >> he wanted to know she was off the policy. >> right. >> back in the sheriff's office, jason page was still processing the autopsy results. death by slow pressure to the wind pipe, and not a plunge of the way barr. >> we have this next complexion. a slow neck compression. >> the medical team came up with an additional finding, and it would be significant for investor page as minute. on her back, from her neck down to her waistline was pettycash. >> pussycat, miniscule beers is to the eye. down her back, and a longer waste as well. what kind of cause that? >> that triggered, perhaps, that someone had straddled her, and sat on her chest, or torso at the time of death. >> but she had been home alone working out. the all but invisible bruising was not enough to call her a homicide, but it did set a fire under investigation. >> did to change case for you? >> absolutely. you now have a suspect. >> the case was mostly in you endo. they needed to come up with hard evidence for the prosecutor. they needed a lucky break. as it turned out, when was a phone call away. >> coming up. there is been putty of attention on that way branch. but it's another piece of equipment that just might crack this case. >> i got goose bumps. i'm like oh my goodness. >> when dateline continues. oh my goodness. >> when teamwork... long walks.... that's how you du more, with dupixent, which helps prevent asthma attacks. dupixent is not for sudden breathing problems. it's an add-on-treatment for specific types of moderate-to-severe asthma that can improve lung function for better breathing in as little as two weeks. and can reduce, or even eliminate, oral steroids. and here's something important. dupixent can cause serious allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis. get help right away if you have rash, shortness of breath, chest pain, tingling or numbness in your limbs. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection, and don't change or stop your asthma treatments, including steroids, without talking to your doctor. are you ready to du more with less asthma? just ask your asthma specialist about dupixent. do you struggle to fall asleep and stay asleep? qunol sleep formula combines 5 key nutrients that can help you fall asleep faster, stay asleep longer, and wake up refreshed. the brand i trust is qunol. i'm dara brown. we're following breaking news, tonight, a three judge panel has denied tennis star, novak djokovic's appeal to stay in australia. he is unvaccinated and that means he will not be able to play in this year's australian open which starts tomorrow. we expect to learn more about the judges reasoning in the next few days, he will now be deported and could be banned from the country for three years. djokovic was the reigning champion of the australian open, and says he is extremely disappointed with the decision. now, back to dateline. welcome back to dateline. i'm natalie morales. lisa patterson's husband told police, he came home to find his wife dead in their home gym. police are about to discover new evidence that suggests otherwise. once again, dennis murphy, with the beauty and the beast mystery. >> it's funny and criminal investigations, how sometimes fall into your lap from the most unexpected places. that's what happened in the middle of july, 2009. lisa had been dead for a couple of weeks. detective mike davison lay at his desk preparing subpoenas for the patterson case, when you took a call from the manager of a local burglar alarm company. he told detectives that one of the salesman have just gotten off the phone with the customer who had some questions about had home video surveillance system worked. the customer was scott patterson. the cops want to know more about something like this? detective davis said indeed, but he explained how he had been -- and check out that video set up, and noticed that want to pop the tray on the recorder, there was no dvt. no dvd, no pictures, right? well, detective david's almost fell off of a chair when he heard with the burglar man said next. >> he said, will you don't need one a road course to a hard drive. my mouth kind of just opened up. >> a hard drive. the doug talked and got a war intense went to the -- still untouched, in the garage. what a video festival the detective was about to have. >> this is july 2nd, 2009. this is looking from his garage. the unblinking camera documented scotts run to the landfill at 5 am. then, as motion detectors came alive again an hour and a half later, as he got back home to hook up with dylan's employee, as they headed out of the job site. the camera was showing the same thing scott had previously talked to the detective about. >> so he's a good storyteller? but accounting of his day. >> sure. >> and then, scotts timeline went haywire. remember, scott had told the cops he didn't get back to the house that morning, till 11:30. just a few minutes before he came upon lisa and trouble. but what, it's got surveillance system have to say. a completely different story. >> who's the head? >> that was minister patterson. scott paterson. >> no question? >> no question. >> and the time was? what >> a 30 2 am. >> at 11:30, 8:32 am. scott paterson is walking in the door. you and other officers are looking at this for the first time, would you say to one another? >> holy cow, he really did it. he really killed. or >> fast forward, around 10 am. they're scott again. this time in a change of clothes. a t-shirt and shorts. talking into a cell phone, outside of the garage. zach forward again, and 11, scott is changed again, back to work pants. then, at 12:10, he's on the move. his pick up truck backs it to frame, and off he goes to the hospital with lisa in the backseat. when wasatch county prosecutor, bill hardly, laid eyes on the video, he knew he finally had the case. >> i got goose bumps. i'm, like oh my goodness. >> in september 2009, a grand jury convened. a week later, scott paterson was indicted for murder. detective davis handcuff scott at his mom's house, escorted him to the wall bash county jail. >> i'm not guilty. >> the state of indiana versus scott patterson went to trial in late october, 2010. the key prosecutor hardly told the jury, was a timeline. scott's own security camera video was the star witness against him. no cameras roll out in court, but the proceedings were audiotaped. >> but these images from his own system show that he had been home the whole time. >> hardly had brought the weight bench into the courtroom, and planted right before the jury. crime scene investigator, jason, page demonstrated for the panel, how lisa should have been able to wriggle out from under the bar bell. given that she was in good health, and the way it hadn't -- on her throw with bone breaking force. a demonstration he later showed for dateline. >> how much effort do you have to expand to get these folks to catch. >> you just look tourists. >> and then out of? trouble >> then you are trouble. >> -- lisa could've user shoulder to shimmy off of the bench to the side. could you wriggle out from under? there >> yes i could. >> you do like this. >> but, if somebody had been straddling over, sitting on her chest and preventing her from reracking that barr. >> you're in a bad way. you >> are in a bad. situation >> dead within 30 seconds? or at least unconscious? >> i don't to speculate but, i don't think it would take very long. >> if the government's theory that scott has straddled his wife and colder is correct, the question arose for the jury, why do? it >> the prosecutor said money was in a small thing for scott, and divorced of costume. >> he owns some nice trucks, in a business. he was probably concerned he would have to split some of that up. >> then, there was a business about being -- insurance policy. his share, a quarter of 1 million dollars. but, investigators had excavated another rich mine of clues. that had to do with the other woman that scott had admitted to happen affair with. the jury heard scott claim, it was all over, by the time of lisa's death. >> what the prosecution unrequited -- and the real headline grabber was that the other woman was a prominent person in the community. former chief of staff to the mayor of marion indiana. a woman named, stacey henderson, the wife of a local police officer. in exchange for immunity, prosecutor hardly, put henderson on the stand. she testified that she was still involved with scott on the daily so died. to underscore the point, in bold strokes, the prosecutor introduced scott's phone records. the -- july 2nd, the day of nice's death, scott and stacey, who is away on -- 130 text messages. plotting those lovers calls and texts, on a timeline, and not only is stacey the person on the receiving end of scott's 10 am call, on the security camera, but she's also getting a text message from scott, that's three characters along, while he's at the wheel driving is dead, or dying wife to the hospital. >> to me, that was huge. here he is driving his wife to the hospital, but he's got the state of mind to think about his girlfriend, and send your text message. >> there was. a divorce in which scott would lose part of his business, life insurance policy from which again a bundle, and a continuing relationship with a girlfriend, with whom he seems still very much involved. add up the circumstantial pieces of this puzzle, and lisa's death was no accident. it was now the defenses opportunity to chip away at the case. >> do you have anything to? say >> no, not this. time >> did you kill? lisa >> no i did not. >> how could you hear innocent? >> time will tell. >> coming up, at trial, the defense comes out swinging. >> there was no physical evidence that proved,, to me that scott patterson murdered his. wife >> when dateline continues. inues. don't take rybelsus® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. stop rybelsus® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. tell your provider about vision problems or changes. taking rybelsus® with a sulfonylurea or insulin increases low blood sugar risk. side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. wake up to the possibility of lower a1c with rybelsus®. you may pay as little as $10 for up to a 3-month prescription. ask your healthcare provider about rybelsus® today. ♪ got my hair ♪ ♪ got my head ♪ ♪ got my brains ♪ ♪ got my ears ♪ ♪ got my heart ♪ ♪ got my soul ♪ ♪ got my mouth ♪ ♪ i got life ♪ where does your almondmilk come from? 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just routine chitchat, henderson told a prosecutor. and, the three character tests sin by sky as he drove to the hospital, that was benign to. >> do you remember that message? >> the numbers not on one. >> simply, she suggested, scotts ways to suggested that she was under duress. the phone call at 10 am, seen on the surveillance video, was henderson said, more of the same. just checking in on each other. >> did scott ever indicate to you that he was responsible for lisa's death? >> no. >> as for the divorce, maybe it was -- just as the scot until the cops. a retainer fee for leases attorney, had been returned to her bank account. and about scott being taking offer insurance policy, the defense claim, scott knew nothing of that, until his son, dylan, told him hours after lisa had died. he wasn't being husband of the year with any evidence, but not that he was? killer >> not to his killer. >> if you're the defense, would you do about the weight bench? the defense team maintain that the police had never understood the difficulty of getting out from beneath his grip. sure, a fifth state trooper could wriggle out, but what about lisa? someone i used to working out with weights? maybe she was overtired are disoriented. plus, accidental's fixation is not unheard of on these machines. the defense said, they referenced the case from iowa, very similar type of equipment, he suffocated. an accidental death. >> who does on the bench for? boy is an especially? that's a bizarre. that strange. people in iowa died on bench bars. >> in that iowa case, the safety stops had not been secured in place, just as they hadn't been on the path isn't one. the defense moved on. it will call its own expert witness, a medical examiner from kentucky, named, doctor greg davis, to give a counter explanation on the minute bruising. the puck tiki. you thought maybe it was an uptake yet? all >> that's correct. >> after reviewing the autopsy photos, dr. davis concluded that the bruises were in particular, caused by somebody straddling when she died, but rather bruises that occur naturally when blood cools after death. >> purple areas of discoloration, that can be easily mistaken for picky, but they're actually caused by differ mechanism. >> and the same witnessed offered in the different picture of the murder scenario. had scott patterson indeed been on top of lisa, pressing that bar down onto your throat, dr. davis said, he would've expected to see more significant damage to her neck. >> i would expect to see a fracture of that cartilage, right here, that i'm sample. more injury. >> the defense introduced a new team, they talk to the jury about a toxicology report that showed -- as a dangerous cocktail of drugs in your system. particularly -- side effects like fainting spells, and irregular heartbeats. lisa, the defense said, had three times the therapeutic amount of that drug in her system. >> she's already exerting herself, heart pounding, that could tip over the edge. at that point, the bar comes down on her neck, it could take anywhere from just a few seconds, at that point, for unconsciousness to occur. >> the conclusion, from the expert witness, lisa patterson's death is not a homicide, but one of an undetermined cause. >> there was no physical evidence that proved to me, that scott patterson murdered his wife. >> but, what about the defense's biggest obstacle, that damning surveillance cam video. they conceded that scott had lied to the police about not coming home until 11:30 in the morning. his rationale, said the defense, was that scott knew right away -- always looks suspicious in police eyes. so, he simply panicked, and made the bad choice of lying about his timeline. but, a liar argued, the defense, isn't a killer. >> the fact that he was there doesn't necessarily mean that he was responsible for her death. >> as a lot of people look at this, case they ask themselves the question they might've asked veteran, why didn't you destroy the tapes? >> well, maybe the answer is, if you haven't done anything wrong, you don't have any concern or fear about what's going to be on the tapes. >> by the way, wouldn't you think that lisa, fighting for her life, would've been able to put some scratches remarks on scott. there were not. >> add it all, up the defense concluded, and you've got reasonable doubt. prosecution's case, little more than theory and speculation. so, the case went to the jurors, they took a straw poll, and were surprised to find themselves split, 7 to 5. >> coming up, that's a big gap. >> it's huge. >> the jury conduct its own experiment with weight bench, could that help them reach a verdict. when dateline continues. whenour car. so go to carvana and enter your license plate answer a few questions. and our techno wizardry calculates your car's value when you're ready, we'll come to you, pay you on the spot and pick up your car, that's it. so ditch the old way of selling your car, and say hello to the new way at carvana. why hide your skin if dupixent has your moderate-to-severe eczema, or atopic dermatitis under control? 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♪ ♪ so you won't have a medicare in the world. ♪ ♪ plus, 90-day refills and same day delivery. larry? that's even less to medicare about. fill your medicare prescriptions with walgreens and save. ♪ ♪ my hygienist cleans with a round head. so does my oral-b my hygienist personalizes my cleaning. so does my oral-b oral-b delivers the wow of a professional clean feel every day. after three years, nearly 30 witnesses, this case against scott patterson, was finally in the hands of the jury. either they believe the defenses version, lisa patterson's death on a white bench, was a horrible accident. or, they were convinced beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant killed his wife, by suffocating her with a barbell. upstairs, in the jury room, tense deliberations began. >> it was like, game. on its time. it's your decision. >> we spoke with four from patterson's 12 member jury. their first order of business, a straw vote. foreman, larry vaughan, was stunned by the results. >> 7 to 5. that shocked. me >> that's a big gap. seven guilty, five not. for those in the guilty camp, a pivotal piece of evidence they say, was a surveillance tape. scott, at home, when lisa died, then lying about his day to the police. those voting not guilty, like juror, dan ford, we're not convinced. >> that makes him a liar, not necessarily a murderer. >> the jurors did agree on one thing, mistress, stacey henderson, to the jury's eyes, scott patterson was very much smitten. >> a lot of questions were, or are you still in love with scott. when she said no, when i saw scott's reaction, he was devastated. >> as for those bruises, the prosecution thought so critical of the case, for the jury, not so much. >> the puck tiki, just didn't do it for me. >> granted, it was there. but it's very hard for us to see. >> as the jurors did evaded, the absence of evidence placing scott in the workout room, with his wife, kept them locked in a near even balance. >> there was no smoking gun, no witnesses. it depended on us making, what we thought, was the right decision. >> eight hours of deliberations, however, swayed one side to agree with other. word came down that a verdict had been reached. lisa's sister, christine, held hands with family in the room. praying. >> i just kept envisioning the word, guilty, in my mind. it's gotta be guilty. >> the verdict reads as follows, we, the jury, find the defendant guilty of the crime of murder, a felony. >> guilty as charged. lisa's family couldn't hold back the tears. , we. >> we were just weeping of relief. >> scott hung his head when the verdict was read. remaining silent, stone faced as he was escorted back to jail. >> scott you have anything to say? >> jurors said, the foremost factor that bridge the divide was an experiment that they conducted in the courtroom. they asked the judge if they could re-examine the weight bench. one of the female jurors agreed to play, they wanted to know how easy it would be for her to wriggle out from beneath that barr. >> it was in two seconds, she was out. and then we said, okay one of the lady straggler, and let's do the same thing, and she couldn't move. >> lisa patterson had died on a hard july morning. now, on a cold december day, scott patterson was sentenced. the judge cited unusual harm to -- him giving scott an enhanced sentence of 60 years. >> on july 2nd, 2009, you were a human disaster. leaving death and destruction in your wake. >> scott love the courtroom defiant, and continued silence. >> do you have anything to say? >> that's what i'm gonna do. >> scott declined a is gone. friends and family, who tested them, our love to reflect on whether her life's companion, really was the beast, in more than just costume. was the last face she saw that of her husband, looming over her, easing that barr down on to earth wrote? >> i hope not. i hope not. i hope that's not the last thought she had. someone that she loved, someone that she thought loved her. someone that she was loyal to. >> in the months following leases murder, her son, dylan, had to come to terms as best as he could, with that terrible day. and the man he once called that. >> do you believe scott patterson murdered your mother? >> i do. >> press the bar into a throat? >> yes sir. >> why? >> agreed. money. >> stuff that really means nothing, in the end. >> stuff that means nothing. >> dylan, by all accounts is doing well. with the steady support of friends, and his mother's family, he's doing his best to navigate life without his guiding stone. >> the worst part is not hearing i love you from her. not hearing her words of encouragement. you know, hey, you're an awesome kid, keep up the good work. was >> he stolen from you? >> my precious lisa. just smile. it would call me. every morning she would say, hi mom,. took that away from me. our whole family is not complete without her. >> there will always be an empty chair at the family table. only images of the smile, and memories remain. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm natalie morales, thanks for watching. fo watching i'm craig melvin, and i'm natalie morales. and this is dateline. she was a wife, she was a mother. she was the most amazing woman i had ever met in my life >> and then suddenly one day she was gone. poisoned by carbon monoxide. >> he was like, i couldn't get a pulse. i couldn't get a pulse. >> her husband blamed of faulty water heater. police blamed him. >> you don't think this is an accident?