And then the third shot into his chest. Three gunshots that had a long running mystery. Who killed the veterinarian . I think the perpetrator stood there and watch him die. There were so many different leads and rumours. I felt like it wasnt for me. Jealousy . Rage . Revenge . It was a classic who done it. Could anyone solve it . Look at what its done to our family. It was hard. I wanted justice for my brother. There was a broad swath of prairie. Where the cattle outnumbered the people. And the sad Summer Breeze sang around the modest dwelling in the grass. This is marlene protsman. They called it the bunk house. Though it was really just a single wide trailer. He shot himself. My husband just went down. Richard. To see if he wanted to go to pasture. An honest little place out on the montana prairie. Along the edges. Do you know where he shot himself . Okay. Is he still alive . Theres blood everywhere. I place a young vet could achieve while he built his business. Well, if you can have Somebody Go Check and see if hes still alive. I have paged the ambulance. The local sheriffs deputies arrived and they found the body lying on its back. Blood had pulled under his head. Under one foot was the shoe that some people wear in the water. The other was bare. A. 357 magnum was on the floor not far from his left hand. Marlene protsman saw all of this too, the same time as the deputies. But she could tell right away, as apparently they could not, that she had been wrong on the 911 call, the man did not shoot himself. Brian had a cut on his nose and the way that his shirt was ripped and there was some blood on the floor. It looks like a struggle . Yeah. It was not a suicide but . The deputies went about their work as they saw fit and thus, On Sunday July 14th 1996. They caught a mystery. That has come down all the way to us. There were so many different theories, different suspects. And, so much conflicting evidence. It was your classic whodunnit. Or perhaps a classic nightmare. I lie awake at night and i asked god to give me some insight here, where do i go now . The victim. The man on the floor was bryan pine a veterinarian. Charlie and teresas big brother. He was my brother, my best friend, my business partner. They grew up together in scott city, kansas. We shared bedrooms, we shared clothing, everybody shared. Brian was the eldest. What kind of an older brother was he . Protective. Ornery. Ornery . We were always playing pranks on each other. Especially theresa because he didnt take them so well. Brian was very smart, it was a given. Maybe a little too smart. I remember turning it to him once and saying, i just want to know what time it is. I dont need to know how the clock was made. Heres what they got to do growing up in a small town. They joined an organization. A future farmers of america. They raise their special animals, show them up at fairs, and exhibitions. Bryan knew from the very beginning that there was one job that he was meant to do. I never knew brian not wanting to be a veterinarian. He always said that being a vet was way more difficult than being a doctor. Because an animal cant tell you where it hurts, or how they feel. You have to figure out how they feel. After finishing that school, brian moved to montana. A big wide open country. Cattle ranches galore. An outdoorsmans paradise really. Which absolutely suited brian. He took full advantage of what montana had to offer. And often. So in 1995, a year before the events in our story. Doctor ryan set up shop in a speck on the map called geraldine. Population, 300. Its always a struggle starting a new business. And starting a vet clinic is very expensive. But it was doing very well. Young doctor ryan hired marlene to help run the office. And moved into the unused bug house. Marlene and the husband built on the property miles out of town. So she was both landlady and employee. Brian had a heart of gold. He was part of the family. Brian a goodlooking young vet, in a tiny place. There was interest, lots of it. I remember asking, is there anyone theyre your dating . And he said well there are some girls, but theyre just not the ones. It was possibly an overly modest answer. The handsome young vets arrival was practically a news event. Heads turn, hearts may have followed certainly gossip did. And then summer of 1996. Again, the same question that i ask so what is going on . Do you have a girlfriend . Well. There is this one girl she comes over and does things for me. And i said things like . He said while shell clean up my house and stuff. So i said shame on you. You should be over there cleaning her house. It was strange, what began to happen after he took up with that young lady. Weird things. Not exactly frightening, more like unsettling. Like the rock that crashed through a window. He didnt tell you what he thought it was . No or who . Knows. He did find out footprints out in the back of the building. But nothing really ever came of it. Not long after, dr. Ryan called both sisters with a request. At one point he told me, quit calling and hanging up. And i was like, brian im not hanging up. He just paused it often said its not a big deal. Its not a big deal. But was it . On july 10th of 1996, doctor brian ryan drove three hours away to attend the conference he returned home on friday evening, at 12. No one saw him on saturday. And then on sunday, the 14th. Marlenes husband drove over to bryants house. It was about, i dont know, five or ten minutes later. He came back and walked in the door and was very distraught, crying. Such a shock which is maybe why her husband got the mistaken idea that doctor ryan committed suicide but later that same day, when marlene heard him repeat the mistake to bryants grandparents. Here is what happened. Grandma made jumped up and she said, no way and how would my grandson commit suicide then the next day. The state investigators, led by agent Kent Thompson of the Department Of Criminal Investigation arrived and looked at the ruined crime scene. My partner and i looked at each other and said, oh my lord you know, it certainly makes things very difficult. Difficult . Oh yes. Difficult was not the half of it. Coming up what did happen to doctor ryan . We had been told that he had committed suicide. Did you believe that could be true . Absolutely not blood on the doorstep. Bullets in the kitchen how could this happen . Why would somebody do it . The search begins for a killer i think the perpetrator stood there and watched him die. When dateline continues less asthma. And can help you breathe better in as little as 2 weeks. Dupixent is an addon treatment for specific types of moderatetosevere asthma thats not for sudden breathing problems. 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I was actually in las vegas. We have been told that he had committed suicide. Did you believe that could be true . Absolutely not. It was a long plane ride home do you remember what your mind was doing to you . How can this happen . Why would somebody do it . Those questions because none of them believed that ryan was capable of suicide. And sure enough, the autopsy revealed the bridge ands and contusions on the doctors head. The swollen right i. Clearly, there had been a struggle and he had been struck by three gunshots. Two in the lower right forearm. And then a fatal shot to the chest. The conclusion . Obvious. It was not suicide. It was homicide. How is it possible at first they thought it was a suicide . I cant answer that. I think you have to understand that, that county had not had a homicide and i think 19 years. It was monday when state Department Of Criminal Investigation, agent can thompson was called in. And by the time it got to the doctors bunk house, the locals had been gone. A scene left unguarded. For more than 48 hours. Montana is a remote state. Sometimes you have over eight hours to get to the crime scene. So its not like a big city where you can roll in and everything is pristine. No, not even close. In fact, the deputies had spent just a few hours trumping around the kitchen. And taking about a dozen photos. And in the process, had done things that could be undone. Like cleaning up blood on the floor under the victims upper body and tossing it into the garbage a Telephone Handset found under doctor ryans head without swapping for dna, or dusting for fingerprints. Those discarded materials were beyond recovery. By the time Investigator Thompson arrived the local deputies did tell him that they found a water shoe on the bunk house doorstep it appeared to have been knocofle. The other one was found on bryans left foot. And then Investigator Thompson saw the blood drops. Out on the doorstep. We knew that that is where the shooting had occurred. Blood had dropped straight down. So it was just outside do you find some bullets around there . They found two bullets lodged in the kitchen cupboard. So the two shots that went through the arm, went through the arm and through that wall and came out into Caption Cabinets on the other side. Thompson and his partner used the string to simulate the path of the bullets they even tried to act out what might have happened. And before long, they came to some conclusions. How far away was the shooter . Played a close range. So, a struggle when the gun went off. It would be . Some type of conversation went on and a struggle ensued. Two shots went off. And then the third shot into his chest. I think that brian struggled to get in to call for help. That he sat there. I think the perpetrator stood there and watched brian die. And as for the location of the gun so close to doctor ryan s own hand . The killer must have put it there . Correct. Were there any fingerprints on the gun . No. It looked like it had been wiped off with a solvent. So investigators now thought they knew how the murder occurred but when it happened . That wasnt clear at all. Friday night . Saturday . It was an important question of course. But just how important, they might not have fully imagined it just then. But there was no clear answer, in fact the pathologist who conducted the autopsy left a space for a time of death blank. Remember, dr. Brian returned home from a conference on friday evening. But his body wasnt found until sunday. Investigators canvas nearby farms and . There was a neighbor that lived probably about a mile away. Maybe a little less. Crowed lives that had seen an atv go by that night and then said he heard two loud shots around that time. That is, friday night. But . Couldve been that night. Or next morning . At first he wasnt sure. And then he wasnt sure of the dates. Phone records show that the last time doctor bryan receive the phone call was at 10 15 on friday night. Nobody heard from brian after that last phone call on friday night. The thought that he would go all day saturday without having any contact with anybody was really, highly unlikely. On the other hand, doctor bryan couldve hung around his bunk house that saturday morning. Or maybe had intended to go fishing . There were those water shoes and they found a fishing pole near the door. Of course all this when and how did nothing to Shine A Light On who killed dr. Ryan. The question that was consuming everyone who knew him. My mind was just, spinning. Trying to think, who . Any little lead at all . There was, she knew, this friend of dr. Ryans. Larry who had recently erratic behavior. And she also knew some people in town that said larry was brad Mouthing Brian at a local bar. But he denied it. But investigators, almost immediately had a different lead that they were pursuing. And it was related to that broken window at the vet clinic. And the hangup phone calls that doctor ryan had asked his sisters if they were making. So he had no idea who did it . After he eliminated me, he had an idea. Oh he knew, or thought he knew who the hangup caller was. But he didnt seem very worried about it. Everything was gonna be okay. Bryan was not afraid of anything. Maybe, he shouldve been . Coming up a new relationship. I thought he was handsome. I was excited. And the jealous ex . Should i file a Restraining Order . Should i do something . What would investigators make of him . I was beginning to form an opinion that it was a crime of passion. When dateline continues i gotta wrap this commercial, i think im late on my payment. Its okay, the general gives you a break. Yeah, we let you pick your own due date. Good to know, because this next scene might take a while. For a great low rate, go with the general. How can you sleep on such a firm setting . 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Veterinarian brians family switch today at xfinitymobile. Com. Went into a tailspin, the the news of his death. And when they heard that somebody murdered him . You kind fell apart after that . Yes. It was difficult to figure out what to go, and what to do. His mom was practically paralyzed in grief. And so much of the dreadful work that demands to be done after such a death, fell on teresa. I remember going to the future and sitting there and thinking, i am so tired i want to go to bed. And maybe that played a role in teresas mood. Because on that july day, 1996. When he was buried in his hometown in kansas, and a large contingent of montanans made the trip to say goodbye. Among them was that young woman from geraldine. The one who had gone over in cleaned this house. The one that brian had recently started seeing. I was almost annoyed that she even came. And she was standing in our home, and i really thought, why are you here . I was pretty irritated. And those feelings were not lost on that young lady in the middle of her own grief and confusion. I felt out of place. Because i felt, you know, they did not know who i was. Her name was anne. She was 21 then. She had known doctor ryan just two months. Madam at rustys bar in geraldine. He was so handsome, i was like what is this guy doing in geraldine . It was surprising to me. They talked all night, she said. And in the morning. How did you feel . I was excited. I felt giddy just excited that somebody would be interested in me. But complications, anne had a live in boyfriend. Tom. Her high school sweetheart. They had been together four and a half years and though the relationship had its issues, who knows . She may have married him and then she had that hard to heart with doctor ryan. He said, you are too young to be settling down and somebody telling you what to do. And how did that strike it when he said that . I agreed with him. Like why have i been with that guy all these years . Yeah. He made me see that i would be better without it. It hadnt been a Good Relationship for a while. I had a reason to move on and let go and that