smile. >> missing for nine days. >> it's so wrong and nicole it's summer where she shouldn't be. >> it was hard enough when they didn't know. much worse when they did. >> it came over the tv a body had been found. i will never forget that as long as i live. >> this could go down any number of paths. >> and it did. >> how do a troubled finally caught up with her? >> i saw the pill bottle and i freaked out. >> or was it something much darker? >> he told me he would put it in her edible. >> how did she change? >> she became more sexual with people. >> who wanted her dad? >> he thought he was somewhat of a player. >> welcome to dateline. nikki pietz was a well liked fitness executive married to the man of her dream, and one night, she was supposed to meet her husband at their friends place for dinner, when she never showed up and never came back home. who was responsible for her disappearance? here is dennis murphy with secrets in seattle. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> seattle was raw after a week of early winter rain. a woman lost had been found in the tangle of the blackberries. a naked body a small tattoo on the back a necklace and signs of strangulation. the detective sent a patch of trees and undergrowth under the seattle airports runways. they would soon be proved correct. nine days to find her the answer is where. another seven years i had to answer all questions of homicides. who, and why? but we have to go back. before the crime scene photos of the medical examiners findings, before she became those chilly words, the victim. to find the dearly loved person named nikki. nikki pietz, wife and daughter, sister and friend. >> she seemed to be able to uplift people in ways that none of us knew how to do. >> she had a way to make you smile. she had a way to let you know that everything was going to be okay. >> gayle was her mother. >> nicki was sunshine. she was the kind of person that when she walked in a room, the room lit up. >> gayle raised nicki and her sister tanya in the suburbs of seattle. there were carefree days at the nearby lake. >> is nicki your annoying kid sister, or she pretty cool? >> she was a very annoying kid sister! mom insisted on dressing us alike. >> and high school, mia allwood says nicki was a friend to everyone. >> every day we ate lunch together. she never sat. she would walk around and visit with people. she always saw the good in people. she didn't see the bad in people. >> after graduation, nicki brought that winning spirit into the workplace. eventually landing a position in the head offices of bally total fitness. >> nikki was a great boss. she cared about how your day was. she cared about how you are feeling. she cared about your birthday. bally's it is where nicki met another employee. he exuded a smooth confidence. his coworkers recall he was going places. >> he was definitely a very nice man, easy to talk to, would laugh a lot. he was actually a very compassionate person. >> he's very confident, he spoke well, he had a presence that demanded attention. >> he was set on selling more gym memberships than anyone else, and he would have >> dave cartel reading glasses to a blind person. doesn't matter what his pitch, as was he how do you convince whatever it was you had to have it. >> so there was, dave hustling on the sales floor and there was nikki, a buttoned up blond from corporate and the bosses favorite higher. before long nikki and they became an item. >> she had definitely got a bounce in her step when she got an incoming message from dave. >> out of everybody, he chose her. that has to make you feel kind of special. >> pretty soon, nikki and dave moved in together. gayle had remarried and moved to arizona with her new husband. she could tell by the sound of her daughter's voice on the phone that nikki had found the one. >> he was her dream man. >> really? >> he was the man she wanted. she was so in love with him. >> and he apparently with her. evidence to her friends and family by the piece of jewelry she was rarely seen without. >> david got her a little tennis bracelet. >> diamonds on it? >> little tiny diamonds in white gold, i think. >> did she like? it was a day sentimental piece for her? >> she loved. and she wore it everywhere. >> another piece of jewelry from him would follow. a wedding ring. after dating for two years, nikki and dave married. >> tell me about the wedding. >> it was in hawaii. she looks so beautiful and happy. we both had lays and beautiful flowers and her hair and it was on the beach with the waves crashing, and the sunset. it was beautiful. it was absolutely beautiful. >> was your sister happy that day? >> yes. i think she found her prince charming. >> pietz seemed to be on top of the world and stepping confidently into her grown-up life. >> she was pretty excited about getting married. she loved her ring, she loved her bracelet that he got her. she was excited about getting a new condo, and having her own little family. >> january 28th, 2006 was a saturday. after a hectic work week at their different jobs, nikki and dave would chill with a dinner party that night over their friends place. that afternoon, they've called nikki to hash out the details. they derived their separately. >> hey babe, give me a call. and you know what we're doing. if i need to stop and get food or anything for ellen and jason, and stuff like that. so, give me a call. i love you, bye. >> when dave pietz showed up at the friends apartment that evening, nikki wasn't there. one hour, two hours, and still no nikki. dave's wife of almost four years was gone into the night, into the rain. what on earth had happened to nikki pietz? >> turns out, nikki had a troubled past. had those troubles finally caught up with her? or was it something else? coming up -- >> did you think something was wrong, something more was wrong from the beginning. >> yes. >> when dateline continues. >> nicole pietz, a woman just shy of her 33rd birthday, reported missing by her husband. >> we just want to know she's safe. >> david pietz told reporters how he waited with her with friends at a saturday night dinner party. she was a no-show. >> she was not there. they haven't heard from her. they haven't been able to contact her. >> david appeal to the public to keep an eye out for her. >> we want them to know we love her very much. >> nicki's mom was by his side. >> she's not somebody who wouldn't come home. she somebody that, if she's ten minutes late, she would call. >> did you think something was wrong? did you think something was more was wrong right from the beginning? >> yes, because nicki wouldn't have gone away without telling me. >> if nicki could've called somebody, she would've called him. >> nicole's mother and stepfather had reason to be worried. they are wrong along with nicki's other family and friends remember another time years before when they had almost lost her. nicki had been in her teens when she began suffering from abdominal problems related to the onset of puberty. medical issues left her in agonizing pain and also heavily medicated. >> she had very painful cramps and was prescribed lots of medicine for them. >> by the time she was 21, she'd had three through surgeries. pain pills being thrown at her, right and left. >> at some point, it seemed all of those pills took away not only the pain, but the person. zombiefide. how was she different on? >> just spacey. couldn't keep up with a conversation. it felt like i had lost. or she wasn't really there. >> before nicki could crawl out of her whole, she would need to check into a local rehab center to treat her addiction. >> when she finally got clean, i felt like i had my sister back. >> that's when she started working at the bally gym office. her coworkers thought she was a terrific emotional state. >> the nicki that i know was in her dark days. the nicki that i knew was on top of her game. and yet friends like michelle baltz, new nicki took host a righty a day at a time. and that she was terrified of making even one little slip and losing it all. >> she would tell you she had a headache and, try to make it through and take an advil. you would think that you were trying to inject her with heroin. >> nicki's weekly alcoholics anonymous we meetings where the rock and foundation of that daily conscious effort. and on saturday morning, january 28th, she was supposed to attend a very special meeting. the celebration to honor her for eight years of sobriety. >> every year it's your birthday, and it was her eighth birthday. >> as being a clean and sober woman? >> yes. she was so proud of it. we were so proud of her. everyone was proud of her. >> hi, nick, it's mom. i don't know where you are, darling. >> but nicki never showed up to that important meeting. never received her award. and now, friends and family desperately tried reaching her by phone. >> hi, nikki, this is rod. calling we don't know what is going on. >> their pleas, relegated to the silence of voicemail. the anxiety went on level went off the chop chart. >> no matter what happened, nicki, even if it was a relapse. we want you to know that we love you. >> had nicki in fact, falling back into addiction? >> i started hoping that. because then he would have been a life. friends knew she'd likely be wearing a cross necklace and a diamond tennis bracelet. nine days later, king county detective kathleen was decker, dispatched an area near seattle 's seatac airport close to the city. >> the call came in from my sergeant requesting that respond to this location regarding a woman's body. she had been found by a pastor by in the blackberry bushes. >> this is kind of off the grid right here. >> yes, it is. >> a woman's body, discovered in a patch of scrub at the end of the runway, near and all but abandoned trail. what did you notice about the body? >> first thing i notice, of course, was that she was in fact nude. the second thing i notice was that her arms were gently crossed on her chest. >> not just a body abandoned. >> correct, she had not been discarded, like garbage. but she had been gently placed under the vines. >> the detective had a special set of skills that she called on now. she had been trained in tracking, reading trails disturbed vegetation, just like the scouts in the old west. the pattern of broken branches, tempt down leaves and soil, told her that the body had laid down here about a week. is there anything that suggested to you why this woman would have been abandoned here? >> no. and that was part of the complexity of this investigation. we had all sorts of avenues that we needed to investigate. we have the transient in population that may have been frequenting the trail. we had a mental health facility that was very close by, within walking distance. >> but detective decker, did have a strong hunch about who this victim. was the cross necklace, the tattoo. it all checked out as that local woman nicole pietz, who had been missing for a week. the diamond tennis bracelet she always wore was not on her wrist. but police were confident enough in their tentative i. d. to pay a visit to nicole's husband, dave. and the information david pietz would soon share with detectives about when his wife was last seen and what she left behind would be critical to the case. >> coming up. but it was something that was missing that turned out to be even more important and puzzling. >> there's no indication that anyone else had been behind the wheel. >> when dateline continues. i've got moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. now, there's skyrizi. 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months, after just 2 doses. skyrizi may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms such as fever, sweats, chills, muscle aches, or coughs or if you plan to or recently received a vaccine. ♪nothing is everything♪ talk to your dermatologist about skyrizi. learn how abbvie could help you save. oh hey there! talk to your dermatologist about skyrizi. i'm just reading wayfair reviews like it's my job. i love seeing people loving their home. my daughter and i never agree on anything. that's not true! but we did agree this rug was perfect. okay. stop being weird. mom and daughter agreeing on something. wayfair works miracles! ooh! check this one out. this chair is so comfortable. it puts both of my babies to sleep. look at you making a space that works perfectly for all of you! i could use a good nap. (vo) for me, one of the best things about life is that we keep moving forward. we discover exciting new technologies. redefine who we are and how we want to lead our lives. basically, choose what we want our future to look like. so what's yours going to be? before you go there, or there... start here. walgreens makes it easy to stay protected wherever you go. schedule your free covid-19 booster today. new year, new start. wherever you go. 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. >> with a great many bad days, comcast business. powering possibilities. one of the worst once had to be the day that she was found. >> i'll never forget that as long as i live. >> found strangled in some -- >> it came over the tv that a body had been found. and we just knew that i had to be her. >> had to be your nicki? nicole pietz, strangled to death. her nude body left for a week beneath some blackberry bushes right near the airport. the killer unknown. her necklace still missing. her families deep sorrow, now hardened into resolve to get justice for her. >> find out who did it and punish him. punish him. >> captain jesse anderson, of the king county sheriff's office was the lead detective assigned to the murder case at the time. he set out to learn more about the victim. paying a visit to her husband, david pietz, at the condo he and nicki shared. >> how long have been married? >> almost four years. >> david agreed to be audiotaped and told detectives that nicki had struggled with chemical dependency in the past. he then revealed something disturbing. recently, nicki had again started taking prescription pills. >> is nicki still struggling? >> i thought she wasn't. but she hurt her back right before thanksgiving and she slipped a disc. >> because of a severe, painful back injury, david explained, nicki had reluctantly agreed to let her doctor put her on a carefully monitored prescription for percocet, a potentially addictive narcotic drug. >> at first she had me keeping the pills and then giving them to her. >> investigators wondered, had nicki's old demons pulled her down again? they delved into nicki's last known movements >> when was the last time you saw but nicki? friday night. when i got home from work. she was sleeping. >> david told detectives that nicki was sleeping when he arrived home late friday night. and by the morning, she was already gone. after her special aa celebration, he assumed. >> i just remember thinking that's where she must be when i woke up. >> but when she didn't show up to the dinner party that night, he returned to their condos or look for her. he described how her purse, car keys and grey jetta were gone. but he said something else caught his eye. and it would turn out to be a big clue for detectives. nicki's vial of percocet was sitting out on the counter. the bottle is empty. the 56 pill prescription, filled just two days before, gone. >> because i saw the pill bottle and i freaked out. i was so scared she'd relapsed. that's a lot of pills. and i thought maybe she'd oh deed or something. >> as detectives wrapped up the interview with the husband, a narrative was starting to come together about the victim. of a former addict, possibly re-addicted. how does that change the complexion of the investigation? early on, the woman's body that has been found was a recovering addict. maybe fell off the wagon. >> well it makes it far more complex for us because now we have to consider the possibility that she met up with the wrong person, at the wrong time. and that somehow led to her demise. that this was somehow related to the people that she knew through her aa affiliation. which he was very much into and attended those meetings. >> so doors are opening the possibilities, rather than closing? >> yes. yes. >> some old fashion gumshoe investigative work would have to come next. tracking down phone records, credit card statements. anything to pinpoint where nicki may have headed after leaving the condo saturday morning. only one more blip on nicki's timeline surfaced. a single phone call made around noon on saturday from herself on to the gym's front desk while david pietz was working. >> it's possible that she was driving and hit one of the towers there. so we were considering. that we are also considering whoever killed her may have had her phone and was still using it. >> as for that diamond tennis bracelet, missing from nicole's wrist when they found her body, the cops began checking pawnshop records in case someone had tried to hawk it. nothing. >> a police officer spotted nicole pietz's car overnight -- >> the last major piece of the puzzle turned up two weeks after nicki had disappeared. her car, a grey jetta, had been found abandoned in a parking lot in seattle's university district. forensic technicians, hungry for clues, crawled through the car. they notice the driver seat had been pushed back. but it is what they didn't find inside that intrigued investigators most. >> what was found in the car was david's dna, along with nicole's dna. there's no indication that anyone else else had been behind the wheel of nicole's car. >> detectives were now wondering. wondering about the husband. >> coming up -- he was definitely a player. >> dave chased women, inside the club, outside the club, on the side of the club, on top of the club. >> more than once he would approach me about what i thought of three ways in a relationship. >> but did that make him a killer? 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here again is dennis murphy. >> at the latest jim where david pietz worked, coworkers like troy understood full well why david looked so rough. still, it was a hard thing to witness. >> he looked very bad. it looked like he hadn't slept he had lost weight yet dark circles under his eyes and he seemed a little bit more sad. >> while david pietz slowly got back to work after taking time off to mourn his lost wife, detectives intent on solving her murder began interviewing people from the gym world who knew the couple. starting at the facility where nikki and they've had first met. >> bally's was the type of plays most of the rumors were not really rumors. they were true. >> staff members agreed that dave, the alpha dog of the sales department, and nikki that buttoned down corporate nice girl or a hopeless mismatch. >> the more nick you liked him, the more i know she shouldn't. >> dave saw and nikki according to some coworkers was a cynical way to climb the corporate ladder. nikki was everyone's favorite, and their boss and particular loved her like family as c. j. brady saw it. >> nikki and our supervisor were very close, almost like a father daughter relationship. and that is why i think he dated nikki from the start. i don't like there ever was an attraction there. >> but if he was chilly about his wife, he was super heated about some of the female gym members and his coworkers. >> dave chased women inside the clubhouse, at the club, on side of the club, on top of the club. >> detectives found details about david pietz's roaming eye intriguing, but hardly damning. >> to describe it in kind of current terminology, thought he was somewhat of a player. >> did it make him a killer? >> didn't make him a killer, no. >> but david pietz we's here towards women at the gym did get him fired detectives learned. several female coworkers had filed sexual harassment complaints against him with bally's management, including jackie morales. >> david was very verbal when it came to his comments. what looks better on jackie today, her legs, her but, her breast? i got courage to go to the boss. after getting booted from bally's, david moved on to a job at 24 hour fitness, where troye wagon remembers david talking about how he and his wife nikki wanted to invite others into their sex life. >> more than once you approach me and asked me what i thought about three ways, and a relationship. him and nikki were exploring the idea of swingers clubs. >> nikki's good friends knew it differently. >> she was very appalled at that idea. >> she was like, absolutely not! >> a wobbly marriage, a hound dog husband straining at the leash. circumstantial was getting thicker for investigators. >> it was very apparent to me he was leaving an alternate lifestyle. >> -- captured his motivation? >> that was a concern for all of us to. >> maybe the husband did it, but then again, maybe he didn't. as weeks became months, the hard evidence that the investigation needed just didn't fall into place. and investigation having a brick wall, devastating news for nikki's family by now convinced of david's guilt. >> when you are out in the emotional wilderness, 07-08-09, what was your lowest moment? >> there are so many little ones. i didn't want to live. just cried my head off every day, and... i just didn't want to live. >> years went by, david pietz quietly left the fitness industry for a position at chase bank. he started attending church. fellow church member, kim adams, said she got to know a dave who was very different from the heartless philanderer described by nikki's friends and family. the dave kim knew was a forlorned widow who spoke fondly about his lost wife. >> when he would speak of her, i could see a sadness and him. who would have conversations about, you know, struggling because he missed her. >> meanwhile, at the county sheriff's office, the three ringed binders that made up the pietz moved from dusk to dusk until in 2010, they were picked up by two cold case cops. jake papovich and mike mellis. each with determination to apply some heat. >> i called gale up and said, i've got this case now, and it's my intent to be the last detective to have this case. >> papovich and mellis laid out the entire investigation and honed in on day one that saturday morning nikki pietz presumably left the contact she shared with dave and headed out to her special aa meeting. to the cold case detectives fresh eyes, a few key pieces of evidence from that morning jumped out. common sense stuff, really, like nikki's wedding ring. a photo taken in 2006, showed it in nikki's bathroom the jewelery she kept in an overnight. >> wedding rings left on the counter, she was proud of rings according to her family, and here she is going to this big meeting the next morning but she's going to go into and not occurring? >> another red flag from the autopsy report, nikki's body had been recovered with her retainer still in her mouth. >> why did the team seem odd that you found it with the retainer? >> again, that's something people wearing that go to bed. she was in the habit of only wearing it at night. >> the wedding ring left on the bathroom counter, a clunky retainer still in her mouth, added up, concluded a tech device, and you had a wife who never left a condo for her meeting that saturday morning. one who had never made it through the night alive, and the only person who could be with nicole pietz and the cause of the night, her husband, david pietz. >> when you look at each piece of evidence and figure how does it relate to everything else, put the puzzle together, and you've got your picture at the end. >> six years after nicole pietz was reported missing, her husband david was arrested and charged with second degree murder in connection with our death. >> coming up, a lifestyle on trial. >> he was trying to loosen her up to get her to do a threesome. >> when dateline continues. you may pay as little as $25 for a 3-month prescription. age before beauty? 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>> you know, it wasn't a planned murder. if it was what he planned to do, he could divorce or. this was not a plan. this was something that erupted one night, a fit of rage. >> because they thought there was no premeditation, david pietz was charged with a second, not first degree, murder. but proving he snapped and strangled nick in their condo wouldn't be easy. this was a highly circumstantial case, with little direct evidence pointing david's way. >> in terms of the bedroom or the house, there is no physical evidence left behind. >> which is a handicap for you guys when you've got to tell the story to a jury that really wants to hear csi, right? >> they want dna on everything. >> prosecutors started by calling the string of the other women in david's life. women who shared with the jury stories of lustful cheating spouse with little regard for his wife. stories of a three-way kiss at the bar. >> and who did it involve? >> me, katie, and dave. >> you are kissing katie, katie was kissing you -- >> all three at the same time. >> stories of a one night stand. >> and what happened at your place? >> we had sex. >> and is that the only time it happened? >> yes. >> and of a romance that started well david and nikki were engaged. >> i asked him why he was getting married, and he said at that point it was too late to back out of it. >> the romance lasted on and off for two years. >> what did he tell you about how he felt about you? >> he told me he cared about me. >> dave pietz's lifestyle became the trial here. >> it did, it showed he was dissatisfied with her. >> dissatisfied with nikki, and prosecutors say determined to change her. david went so far as to spike nikki's drink with a club drug ecstasy, hoping she'd finally agreed to that three some. this, according to david's bar buddy, rene stewart. >> he told me he'd put it in her red bull, like when he went to get a drink, and it was just trying to loosen her up together to do a threesome. >> did you notice a change and her after she drink that redbull? >> yes. >> how did she change? >> she became more sexual with people. >> here's a guy who knows full well his wife has addiction problems, and he puts ecstasy in her redbull, is that the way this goes? >> she fought so hard for sobriety, and without knowing it, her own husband was undermining that. >> then it was nikki's sister's tanya's turn to stare david and the eyes and tell the jury how indifferent he appeared immediately following nikki's disappearance. >> did the defendant ever help you look for her? >> no. >> did you ever see him make any phone calls related to her disappearance? >> no. >> did you ever see him join and surges with people from aa or the workplace? >> not at all. >> but prosecutors feared evidence of suspicious behavior from a reprehensible husband wouldn't be enough to convince a jury david committed murder. so, they rolled out their theory that nikki never left her condo alive. >> honestly, the best evidence we had was the evidence that showed she never left that condo. >> evidence offered of david's little mistakes. remember like nikki's church wedding ring left on the bathroom counter, and then there is nikki's retainer. >> he forgot she wears a retainer slash night guard, and he forgot to check her mouth before he dumped her. >> something else nikki's teller would likely overlook, the food found in her stomach by the medical exam. best on the analysis, prosecutors speculated nikki was killed sometime between midnight and 2 am that friday night. soon after david said he came home and found nikki in bed. but it was what the forensic scientists didn't find a nikki system that prosecutors believed was even more damning, evidence they said prove once and for all that nikki had not relapsed. >> did the me find evidence of prescription painkillers? >> no she had less than one therapeutic dose of percocet in her system. it was clear that she had not been using percocet for a few days prior to her death. >> and then there is nikki's bracelet, that gift from david, a source of her joy. david had told police it had vanished along with his wife. >> assume that, who knows, >> david said that he had a bracelet that he had taken to a pawn shop, and he thought the guy was trying to rip him off. >> it is trying to hawk, it make a few bucks? >> make money. >> i spoke to his cover-up, his involvement. >> sure, absolutely. and he lied to police in the beginning and saying he didn't know where the bracelet was. >> still, one piece of the puzzle didn't fit the prosecution's theory, that saturday phone call made from nikki cellphones to the 24 hour fitness gym, where david >> what you're saying is there's a 90 to 95% probability that the phone was in this red orange sector when it was being placed? >> that is correct. >> it became clear that call >> it became clear that call was placed from the 24 hour was placed from the 24 hour fitness gym where david pietz fitness gym where david pietz was working there. >> hardly conclusive evidence on its own, but tech of found something else on the job security video. it made that call a jaw drop. or just about the same time the call was made from nikki's cell phone, david could be seen stepping away from his work area out of the camera's site. that was david, prosecutors say, heading off to use nikki's phone to call the gym receptionist. >> he went back and placed that call and came back out front as if nothing was happening. he had to convince the police she had left the house that morning, because if she hadn't left the house he was the killer. >> that video, that cell phone color presented as the final pieces of the prosecutions now completed puzzle. >> we needed one more thing to put us over the top, just one more thing. and that call, that put it over. >> but the jury had yet to hear from the defense, which wasn't about to let such a circumstantial argument go unanswered. >> coming up, who really had something to hide? was it to the accused killer, or nikki? certainly had a lot of pills around. >> january 12th, she got 56. on january 19th she got 56. on january 26th she got 56. >> when dateline continues. we're on your corner and in your corner every step of the way. because your anything is our everything. aspen dental. anything to make you smile. book today at aspendental.com, walk in, or call 1-800-aspendental. it's like a flavor festival on an almond. ♪ zest fest! blue diamond almonds. super flavor all on a superfood. we're eating and drinking foods and beverages that are very acidic. blue diamond almonds. it can soften the enamel. pronamel repair, what it's doing is driving more minerals deep into the enamel surface, that's going to help actively repair. pronamel is taking it to another level. we have to be able to repair the enamel on a daily basis. with pronamel repair toothpaste, we can help actively repair enamel in its weakened state. it's innovative. my go to toothpaste is going to be pronamel repair. ♪♪ things you start when you're 45. my go to toothpaste coaching. new workouts. and screening for colon cancer. yep. the american cancer society recommends screening starting at age 45, instead of 50, since colon cancer is increasing in younger adults. i'm cologuard®. i'm convenient and find 92% of colon cancers... ...even in early stages. i'm for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your provider if cologuard is right for you. before you go there, or there... start here. walgreens makes it easy to stay protected wherever you go. schedule your free covid-19 booster today. new year, new start. wherever you go. 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. ♪ ♪ ♪ comcast business. powering possibilities. >> welcome back to dateline. in the murder case of nikki pietz, prosecutors laid out facts they believed pointed to her husband, david, as the killer. he had initially told investigators he didn't know where the diamond bracelet she always wore was, but they lady learned he had at the whole time. david was seen on video surveillance footage allegedly using nikki's cell phone. according to the prosecution, he was trying to make it look as if she was still alive after he had reported her missing. but now, it was the defenses turn to convince the jury. here with the conclusion of secrets in seattle is dennis murphy. >> rows of nicole pietz's family and friends listen to the prosecution described the accused as oversexed, run around lives of a husband. a guy who struggled his inconvenient wife and left 30 wrought in a scrummy bog. >> we knew how she died, we know how he lied. >> each day, david pietz remained emotionless in court and trial watchers noted. few if any family or friends showed up in the rose behind him to have his back. but he did have supporters, like kim adams, a friend from church. >> he does have a very strong network of friends, and people who care about him and love him. >> she says team dave chose to back him quietly from outside the courthouse. hoping to avoid the many cameras both in and outside the courtroom. >> i have a lot of respect for those people that didn't go, he knows who loves them. >> she watched the news in disbelief, not recognizing the man prosecutors described as a coldhearted killer. surely, this wasn't the day if she'd known for almost seven years. her trusted confidant. >> i kept thinking to myself, they're talking about my friend! that's not my friend. that's not the friend that i know. >> what's in court his defense team would not call on kim and the silent friends as character witnesses. the defense was mounting a strip down argument. jurors, there is nothing here. nikki left the condo that morning and dave had no idea where she ended up. >> nicole pietz was missing. and her husband, david pietz, never saw her again. what happened to nicole is a mystery. >> after ten days of trial, with more than 40 witnesses, the state the defense lawyers argued had failed to produce a smoking gun or even a possible motivation for murder. >> in this case, there are many reasonable doubts. >> could anyone say with absolute certainty that she always wore her wedding ring? that she never went out in public with her retainer? the picture the defense portrayed was david pietz open and honest with detectives from the start. a husband hoping the police would locate his wife. detective kathleen decker took a stand. >> when you first saw david at his residence, i believe you described as anxious and upset? >> yes. >> the defense willingly conceded that david pietz was a crummy husband, but skirt chasing didn't give him a motive for murder. >> dave pietz isn't the first guy to step out on his spouse. all of you certainly know people that have done that. have they killed their wives or husbands or anything like that? >> and the defense countered that if anyone had secrets to hide, it wasn't dave. it was nikki. >> there's another side to all this. >> the defense now turned the focus to nicole pietz, and in the last few weeks of her life. >> raise your right hand. >> lawyers called to the stand their main witness, nikki's doctor, carole. she had been her primary physician for five years. >> you knew nikki's history, did she have trouble as a young woman? >> i did. >> and been in rehab at one point? >> and we had talked about it throughout her care with me. >> so when nikki came into the office complaining of severe back pain at the end of 2005, the doctor said she had nikki's past addiction in mind. the doctor testified that she did put nikki on pain medication, but said she tightly monitored nikki's weekly prescription, right down to count in the number of pills. >> on january 12th, she got 56. on january 10th she got 56, and on january 26th she got 56. >> nikki was getting hundreds of pills, but the defense reminded the jurors that nicki's toxicology report had shown something unusual. despite being prescribed all those pills, the forensic scientist said she apparently hadn't been taking any of them. >> is it your opinion this just reflects a onetime use? >> i believe so. it's such a small amount. >> almost no drugs in her system, something was very fishy, said the defense. >> nicole was lying to her doctor. she was doing something with those drugs. other than taking them. >> so, what was she doing with them? >> circumstantially, you could find that she was out, given these drugs away, giving them a way to old friends of hers, coming into contact with drug users and dealers pretty tough people, pretty dangerous. >> the story may never be known argued the defense, but they said it was clear that nikki not dave had something to hide. >> something went terribly, terribly wrong and she died as a result. it wasn't david, but it was somebody else. >> now it would be up to a jury to decide. a husband who would never loved his wife, lost it on one very bad night, or a woman with an addiction she never beat. some final hour, dolling narcotic painkillers to the wrong person. at the courthouse, the jury retired to deliberate. kim adams waited at home for news. >> we made a promise to myself to support him, no matter what the verdict was. because i feel he would do the same for me. >> as the hours went by, nikki 's family prayed, and the prosecutors replayed the case in their heads. >> i felt there was absolutely nothing we must and in closing or presentation. >> that's not to say when they are deliberating, you are not wondering every second what's going, on and whether you are going to succeed. >> please be seated with the exception of the presiding jury. >> more than seven and a half years since nikki's body had been found, the jury was coming back with a verdict. >> we the jury find the defendant martin david pietz guilty of the crime of murdering the second degree as charged signed by the residing jury. >> is this the verdict? >> yes. >> david pietz guilty of second degree murder, strangling nikki, his wife of almost four years. >> absolute elation. i want to justice for my daughter. and we got it. >> what do you want to say to david pietz now? >> david, i hope you find it in your heart to be sorry because if you don't you will burn in hell forever. >> three weeks later, david pietz returned to court for his sentencing. presiding judge michael hated expressed disgust that david had strangled his wife who trusted him. >> i don't know what was going through her head as she looked into the face of the man she thought she loved as he took her life away. according, lead the sentence will be -- >> the judge sentenced david to 18 years in prison. the maximum time allowed in the second degree murder case. before her daughter is convicted killer was led away, nicole's mother had this to say. >> i've let david take my life for the last seven and a half years. but i'm not going to anymore. david, i forgive you. i'm not going to allow myself to let you ruin my life anymore. >> but there is a question for which gayle will most likely never get a comprehensive answer. >> why? and how could he ever harm such a nice person? i mean, nikki was such a good person. >> the hardest question always the why. the coldest fact, the young woman gone too soon. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. >> i see her laying there on the floor. and i see a person i've never seen before in my house. and i'm looking at him and he tells me i'm next while he's reaching for a butcher knife. terrified. >> i just walked in and i saw blood everywhere. it was her mom who found her. >> her daughter's laying there. a young girl coming home from lunch getting brutally attacked. >> blood on the floor. a shovel. duct tape. a knife. >> i rushed home. i truly thought brittani would die.