But on a dark highway, the case would take a dramatic turn. All the hair on my body was standing on edge. He made you nervous . Extremely nervous. A mysterious driver carrying ominous cargo. How did he explain that . At that time, you dont. Its evidence to suggest that theres some sort of conspiracy involved here. Unraveling a mindbending plot to reveal a shattering truth. Evil is the only word i can think of. Inhuman to do Something Like that. Reporter it was a moonless night in iowa, 4 00 in the morning. The quietest of quiet hours. A smalltown cop glided down the empty highway out of des moines, bound for the early shift at his rural police department. Thats when he saw it, corner of his eye. What was that in the ditch . Maybe 30 yards off the highway. A car . In trouble . He swung around. Somebody clearly missed a curve on the gravel access road. The drivers door hanging open on it, look like airbags deployed, dome light was on. Reporter and then suddenly, who was that, knocking on his car window . Gentleman didnt have a shirt on. Reporter seemed agitated, weird. Eventually, a second cop appeared. He was excited, seemed like a you know, if you were to talk to somebody right after they got done running a marathon just out of breath, sweating profusely. The entire time im out here, its just a very, very its an uneasy feeling. My stomach was turning. But no law broken. He called the guy a cab, sent him home. No idea what was coming. How could they know . It makes you question the goodness of humanity, it makes you question your faith, it makes you question your beliefs. It is a point where evil outdid good. Reporter even here in the heart of the heartland, its lovely capital, its famous state fair, all manner of deepfried delicacies and president ial casting calls here. Des moines. A place known for its sweet and gentle nature, for people who are simply nice. Like him. He was he was just very good. Reporter his name was Justin Michael. These are his parents, weldon and marie. He cared about people. He was kind and considerate. Reporter just a nice guy. Just a very nice guy, a very good person. The sort of person who volunteered for things, like helping to build houses for habitat for humanity. He really enjoyed it. Reporter justin was almost 31, the eldest of three. His brother nathan idolized him. All three of us stayed close, just always grew up, like, playing sports and hanging out with justin. He was just a great older brother. Very supportive and caring and would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it. Reporter in fact, said sister sydney, justin saved her life when, as a teenager, she was caught in a rip tide at the beach. It was absolutely terrifying. I felt like i was literally drowning. And then all of a sudden there was justin, and he was pulling me up on our boogie board and telling me that everything was going to be okay, everything is going to be fine. So you get the idea. Just a good person, a nice guy who was about to get as lucky as a person can in life. That is, lucky in love. With her. I found him very attractive and interesting and he he was fun to talk to. Reporter her name is angie ver huel, and what happened to angie and justin was that thing that some people dont even think exists. They fell in love at first sight. Bingo. Just like that. And after our third date, i texted my friend and i said, i am pretty sure i am going to marry this guy. Wow. He seemed to feel the same way about you . Yep. It was very easy from day one. We both knew. So they did what people do. They tried out each others interests. And angie discovered that the man she was in love with also loved things like skydiving. Which of course, he wanted her to do too. Lured you out for a time or two . Yeah. Reporter he had you jumping out of an airplane or yes. Reporter or whatnot . Yes. Reporter what the heck were you thinking . Yeah, i am terrified of heights, so reporter so he took you up there . Yeah. It was so exhilarating, though. I was terrified until the moment i got up in the plane, and then i was just calm. Yeah, and it was so much fun. Reporter which was a little like their courtship, really. A jump that some people would find terrifying, but not them. You got engaged very quickly . Uhhuh. When you know, you know. Reporter ever any doubt . I mean no day you woke up and thought, oh, god, what have i done . Nope. So in august 2013, two months after they met, angie and justin were an engaged couple. In december, she moved in with him at his house in a tiny place called grimes, about 20 minutes outside of des moines. And they planned their wedding. Which would be, they decided, a big family event on the beach in North Carolina where his parents lived. They set the date july 20, 2014. It was may. Excitement building when justins parents came to visit, in grimes. Mothers day weekend. Reporter and on the wednesday evening before that mothers day we were laughing and talking about Halloween Costumes for the next year and as it grew dusk, we ended up cooking smores over their fire pit, which was one of justins favorite things to do. Reporter justins dad weldon was on business in minneapolis that night, so marie stayed alone in justin and angies guest room. As far as she knew, all was well. Across the hall, a couple in love. All good things on their way. Dark now. Moonless dark. She closed her eyes and slept. And then so i heard the door opening and my first thought was angie was coming in to grab a scarf or a piece of jewelry from the dresser. I knew she kept some things spare things in the bedroom. The person just stood in the doorway. Reporter what did you see . Just a silhouette . I saw a dark silhouette. A person dressed in dark clothing, and i could see a red laser light shining in my eyes, and as i was laying there, i noticed the red light shine across the pillow. And i remember thinking you you know, thats a strange flashlight. And thats when i saw a much bigger person than either justin or angie, so i knew this was an intruder. And my heart sank. Im sure i froze. And a second or two later, the door was shutting and i remember praying, just please take what you want and and just leave us alone. Reporter but, of course, leaving them alone was not what the strange, intrusive presence had in mind. Not even close. This night of terror was only just beginning and no one was prepared for what would happen only seconds later. I heard angie scream, oh, my god, oh, my god. Where does your almondmilk come from . Almond breeze starts here with our almond trees in our blue diamond orchard in california. My parents job is to look after them. And its my job to test the product. 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And it sounded very muffled, so im thinking, that could not be a gunshot. And unaware that her world was quite different now, angie opened her eyes. And i rolled over and saw somebody running out of the bedroom and i knew that was bad. I nudged justin and i said, justin, justin. I heard angie scream, oh, my god. Oh, my god. I knew something terrible had happened. I turned on the light. And i just ran out of the bedroom, down the hall. Did you see him . I didnt. You just knew . Yeah. I looked in the bedroom doorway and i saw justin laying on his back on the right side of the bed with his head tilted. And i could see a bullet hole in his head and i could see blood running down his neck. My instinct was to figure out how they got in the house. We had a really big window. I checked to see if that was closed. And it was. Checked the front door, that was still locked. Saw that the back door was unlocked, and i went and i opened it a little bit. And then i was like, thats not a good idea, so i closed it. Did you understand right away that everything was different, that the man you loved was dead . It was one of those moments where you just wanna go back two minutes. Just two minutes ago, he was laying beside me and he was alive and now hes gone forever. But in that moment, her brain, her fingers, wouldnt cooperate. What they say about not being able to dial 911 in an emergency is very true. I had to try like three different times. Somebody just came in and shot my fiance in the head. Maam, whats your name . Angie. Can you go over and check the status of hes dead. Okay. I know he is. Marie called 911, too. Somebody came in and shot somebody. Do you know who was shot . My son, Justin Michael. A few minutes later, deputies from the Polk County Sheriffs Office arrived and looked around the house as the two women sat in the living room in complete silence. As we were sitting there across from the tv, we noticed that the dvd player had been pulled out and there was a fluorescent yellow sweatshirt laying there, which didnt belong . Didnt belong. We pointed it out to the officer and it was neither one of ours. Was that what happened . Some awful mistake . A robber hitting the wrong place, wrong person . Deputies then told them, get your things, were taking you out of the house. I couldnt go back into the bedroom. I didnt have my glasses on. They were in there. So i said, i need my glasses. She asked me if i would grab her glasses from the nightstand in their bedroom. So i did go back into their bedroom one more time. I looked at justin and i told him goodbye and how much i loved him, and how i couldnt imagine why that had happened to him. Is it even possible to understand what it does to you to look through the door and see your eldest son lying there with a bullet hole in his head . It was something in a 100 million years you could not imagine. Who could have done that to my son, who wouldnt hurt a fly . Had never spoken ill of anybody, or, to my knowledge, had any enemies. It just was unfathomable. The sheriffs deputies took angie and marie outside and put them in separate patrol cars where they sat and watched the activity around them, quite stunned. Before they took her cell phone, marie called her husband, weldon. She begged him to hurry. I wondered when i heard the news, whether they had gotten into the wrong house. I mean, it was so bizarre. Reality failed to gel in weldons head. On that drive from minneapolis down, i mean, i couldnt believe it. I expected to see him there when i got there. I thought it was a mistake. I asked if justin was all right and then she said, no, that he was gone. It was a feeling of isolation and i could see, you know, see people in and out of the house. I could see detectives with flashlights combing the neighborhood and all around his house. Crime scene. Crime scene. It was a very long three hours of my life, just sitting there not knowing what was going on. News reporters were setting up everywhere. And theres so many police cars and they werent saying, we got the guy. And, like, i just felt, they dont have him. They need to catch him. I know im safe, but is everybody else i love safe . Eventually, they drove both women, separately, to the sheriffs headquarters, where they installed them in separate rooms for separate interviews. Because something about this didnt smell right. There was just a lack of emotion, and to me that was very odd. Detectives become concerned about Something Else, too. Did it say anything to you, that these two women in the house, one of them lying right beside the victim were unharmed . Yeah, it was suspicious. Were pretty different. Somos muy diferentes. Muy diferentes. vo everyone in your family is different. Thats why verizon now offers more plans to mix and match so everyone gets what they need without paying for things they dont. New plans now starting at 35. The network more people rely on gives you more. When youre volunteering, its not my job. R thats because right where you live, theres a need for your time and skills and effort and talent. Please consider volunteering and feeling that feeling that you helped someone today. On the morning of may the 8th, 2014, local tv trucks roared off to a most unexpected place. Peaceful little grimes, iowa. Population, 9000, was crawling with cops. Very unusual, said reporter Stephanie Moore of des moines nbc affiliate, whotv. Its the kind of place where they have the Convenience Store and everyones there Drinking Coffee in the morning. What about crime . Much of it . No, no crime in grimes. Neighbors live there, probably dont lock their doors. Its just a quiet neighborhood. But sure enough, Something Big was going down. Though just what, the deputies wouldnt say. When we talked to neighbors, they were surprised just to see even more than one Police Vehicle in the neighborhood. And then the dci, the division of criminal investigation, van came and thats hard to miss. Its huge. People are coming out with little booties on and full suits, going in an out of the house. Theres crime tape up. And nobodys saying what happened . And neighbors are starting to ask, whats going on here . Anxiety is like a virus. It spread fast in grimes. Yeah, they were nervous. People dont just get shot in grimes. And they knew Justin Michael and angie and couldnt imagine anything happening there. And if reporters and neighbors were mystified about what happened, so was detective Robyn Bartholomew. I was the oncall detective, i got called out at 3 30 in the morning. Who confronted a messy, bloody, crime scene, a victim shot point blank in the head. And here was his fiancee without a mark on her. Blood tends to spatter. But there wasnt a drop on angie. I mean, how far apart were they . Right next to each other. Has that ever happened in your experience that youve encountered that before . Not that ive encountered. And did it say anything to you . That these two women in the house, one of them lying right beside the victim, were unharmed . Yeah, it was suspicious. Yes, and also if the killer was intent on robbery, he certainly didnt succeed. That dvd player pulled out of its place in the living room . That was it, said detective tim hopper. Nothing else was taken or disturbed. Well, it didnt make sense. Did it make sense as a burglary . I mean no. As an attempted burglary . No. And so if it wasnt an attempted burglary, why would somebody be messing around with to stage it. To try to throw people off track. Mind you there was that sweatshirt that didnt belong in the house. Had the killer, in his rush to escape, left it behind . While officers tried to track that down, angie and marie were at the Sheriffs Office in separate interview rooms answering a lot of pointed questions. Why not kill you, too . I dont know if he looked in on angie and justin and justin woke up and he sensed trouble. I dont know. I mean, why not kill angie . And this was weird. Somehow, said detective bartholomew, their tone just didnt seem right. Especially angies. I thought that i guess due to what had just happened, that she would be very emotionally upset. And to me, it was just like a regular interview. It didnt make sense. Shadowy or a black person . I dont know. I didnt see any color. I just saw so youre talking black as in a shadow . Black clothes, yeah. Did that arouse any suspicion, that maybe she was involved in this somehow . I thought so. So detective bartholomew pulled angie and maries 911 calls. Hes dead. Okay. I know he is. Somebody came in and shot somebody. And . Same thing. I just really curiously devoid of emotion . Very much so. I think there was panic. But listening to it, i just think that there was some distance there from the the you know, the caller to the victim. Everybodys still suspect in this because we have to find out why did someone isolate justin and want him dead. And we didnt see a lot of emotion from the mother or angie. And so that was concerning. But ultimately you have to go where the leads take you to. So you do. But just then, the leads were going in circles nowhere. Investigators start digging into justins past, and their line of questioning triggers concerns for angie. I was thinking, was i about to marry somebody that i had no idea who he was . With advil, youll ask. What sore muscles . What pounding head . Advil is. Relief thats fast. Strength that lasts. Youll ask. What pain . With advil. Sleep number 360 smart bed. You can adjust your comfort o