Transcripts For MSNBCW Dateline Extra 20190916

She went missing. You could see her body underneath the snow. Where was her husband that night . My attorney said you dont know the tidal wave thats coming towards you, do you . Seems like its always the husband, right . Isnt that was police usually say . Except this time they werent so sure. Its a whodunit. I have three viable suspect. Three possible suspects . Turns out the victim also had a boyfriend and he had a wife. Everyone starts getting questioned. Husband, boyfriend, jealous spouse. I said Something Like i hope she rots in hell. So what did happen that snowy night . See what you think. Because the most important clue of all may be the victims own voice. I knew there was a line to draw. Secrets in the snow. Hello and welcome to dateline extra. Im craig melvin. Stephanie roller brunner and her husband dale met on a ski slope, married and had three beautiful children. Their lifeeemed picture perfect. Then in a flash it was shattered when stephanie vanished. At first police were not sure if they were looking at a suicide, an accident or murder. But after day dark discovery, this search quickly turned into a criminal investigation. Heres Keith Morrison. It was cold the night it happened. So very cold. A night to be inside by a fireplace, tucked under a quilt. Not outside in the frigid dark, not way up here, 9,000 feet up in the colorado mountains, snow thick already that late november night. And with the windchill, 24 below. I dont know enough to know exactly what happened. Still trying to figure it out. What in gods name was his wife doing, walking out into the brutal cold . More to the point, what happened to her . This middle class married mother of three, where did she go . Without a word to him or her friends. You cant imagine that this is happening to you and to your friend. She was just plain missing. Yes, she was. And it was terrifying, dreadful in the end, and as events were about to prove, a shocking lesson on what can dwell hidden beneath a persons public skin. This is really a secret thing, as far as you know . A lot of it, sure. Everybody has secrets, of course. Stephanie rollerbruners secrets lived as she did, in a skiers paradise. They met at the top of a mountain. Dale brunner, a professional photographer was taking and selling photographs of visiting skiers. A person has to make a living and for dale skiers were it. I love taking wildlife photos and scenics. Why dont you sell more of your work that way . I said buffalo dont carry credit cards, you know. Anyway, it was up there on the mountain he spot this had young woman seemed to be conducting some sort of Forestry Service survey. I skied up to her and said what are you doing, writing parking tickets . She looked up at me and smiled. Then she took off her big ski goggles. I was stunned. I was like, wow,hes beautiful. They moved in together right away. When they got married a few years later, they eloped, they jetted off to fiji. It was so stephanie, said her friend. Yeah, they kind of just went off and did it. They made their home in silverthorne, where dales photo business grew and grew. When things were really rolling i had several different operations in different states around the country, around 25 photographers working. Stephanie got a job in county government, Environmental Planning department. Look, look at the camera. They raised their three young children. Awesome children. The best. How about a smile . And life for the bruner family was it was fantastic. We traveled. We vacationed. But it was in her spare moments and hours that stephanie was truly transformed, a ball room dancer. Dancing was probably to her what photography is to me. It was her passion, said her old friend, bill. He knows flamenco. Stephanie loved to dance. I mean, dance was her life. She was alive when she danced. Hardly surprising then that stephanie and jennifer were close, too. We started a ball room dancing at my dance studio. Pretty soon she had me being backflips with men and partnering. But it was dance that led off the whole cascade of trouble. In the fall of 2010, an annual fundraiser here in silverthorne called dancing with the mountain stars, local worthies paired with ballroom pros. Did you go . Oh, yeah, absolutely. I went to three years of them. The last one, i did not go to the last one. Had a wedding to shoot. So, he missed the chance to watch stephanie teach those leadfooted businessmen the fox trot and the tango and so on. Which means he also missed what happened that night. She coached a number of couples and in the process she met a man named ron. Ron holthouse, a local married physical therapist. She started working with him and got to know him. And saw how funny and animated he was and how that made her feel. She really did call it a true love moment. And he seemed to feel the same way about her . Well, yeah. They really clicked together. And stephanie was dancing on air. She didnt realize there could be love like that. A secret from her family, of course, but she told her friends she had found her soulmate. It was almost odd how she told a number of us that i just want you to know that im very happy. But joy and misery come in pairs sometimes. As thanksgiving approached, chaos took over what had been a wellordered life. It was a wednesday middle of october when things started piling up. Horrendous day for her. Because . Well, she went to work that day and the county laid off 20 people that very day. Including stephanie. In fact, stephanies troubles and her secrets seemed to pile up like the snow. She was behaving a little bit strangely. Little unpredictable . A little bit, yeah. It was thanksgiving week that cold, dark night. Not far away from peaceful silverthorne, someone robbed a bank, a very rare thing around here. Dale was in bed, he said, when stephanie announced she was going out to clear her head and then didnt come back. Come morning, dale called the silvertho Silverthorne Police. I got a phone call from dale bruner and said i wanted to make a report that my wife was missing. Veronica nicholas took the call. He said i got the kids up, got them ready for school, got them on the bus and then i thought i should probably call you guys. Stephanies car was in the driveway, said dale. When he called her cell phone, it went to voice mail. Veronica called stephanies best friend, jennifer. I panicked. This is something that happens to other people, not to you. Oh, but it had happened. As the Silverthorne Police checked local hotels and hospitals, her friends scoured the neighborhood. It seemed unbelievable that stephanie would not check in. A day became two and then three, and some private secrets were about to become very public, indeed. Where was stephanie . Police had a lot of questions for her husband, dale. They would also want to talk to that other man in her life, her boyfriend, ron. Coming up i just want to ask straight up again not accusing you. Do you know where stephanie is right now . When secrets in the snow continues. Raise your steins to the king of speed. That one . no what about that . no what about now . no that do it . [ buffer stops ] still not working how bout now . no i just dont know. I mean, i dont know who labeled this thing. Yeah . no yeah . thats why with dell Small Business technology advisors. Youll get tailored product solutions, expert tech advice and oneonone partnership. Call an advisor today at 877buydell. Get up to 45 off on select computers. So chantix can help you quit slow turkey. Rkey. Along with support, chantix is proven to help you quit. With chantix you can keep smoking at first and ease into quitting so when the day arrives, youll be more ready to kiss cigarettes goodbye. When you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Stop chantix and get help right away if you have changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, depressed mood, suicidal thoughts or actions, seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking, or lifethreatening allergic and skin reactions. Decrease alcohol use. Use caution driving or operating machinery. Tell your doctor if youve had Mental Health problems. The most common side effect is nausea. Talk to your doctor about chantix. I am royalty of racing, i am the twisting thundercloud. Raise your steins to the king of speed. All night the bitter cold pride pried at the windows and licked under the door frames here at the house in silverthorne, colorado. Hardly a night to take a walk. Certainly not an allnight walk. Had she hurt herself or had someone else hurt her . It wasnt like stephanie rollerbruner to just disappear. It seemed more likely that it might be a stranger that might be involved or that stephanie herself might have run off in despair and maybe hurt herself. Stephanies friends and family poured over those last few weeks so full of change, secrecy, turmoil. Were there clues . Of course some knew about stephanies relationship with that new man and how upset she was about losing her job. Still, she seemed to be holding the trouble at bay. Six weeks before she disappeared, as dale recalled, she suggested a Little Family holiday. She said lets go to glennwood springs for the weekend. Old, classic, wonderful place. It was almost romantic, said dale, just like the old days. But when they got back, she gave him the news. She goes, i want a divorce. I said, you dont love me anymore . She goes, ive met this other person. She even said, its not that i dont love you, but i think i love i think ive met my soulmate again. Just like that, dales world came crashing down. I called her brother. I called her sisters. I called her mom. I said do you know whats going on . Do you know whats happening . He talked to her sister, ramona. I during the phone call feeling really annoyed. Why are you calling me to try to sway me to your side . By the time the phone call ended i remember thinking, yeah, what is steph doing . He begged stephanies friend, jennifer, do something. You have to talk to some sense in to her. Youve got to make her see that she needs to stay with me. You had no inkling this was coming . No, not until she told me she was in love with somebody. Helplessly in love, she told him. Fell for her other man that night dancing with the mountain stars i go back to the day that i asked steph if i should shoot that wedding or not and i didnt go to that event with her. I wasnt going to be dancing with her on a big, important night for her. It was a curiously oldfashioned affair, apparently. Stephanie told her friends her feelings were not so much physical as much as pure and emotional. She made it clear to dale that even though she still loved him, she had no choice but to follow these powerful feelings and make a life with that new man. I said if this is what you want, this is what you want. They would share the children, of course. Dale at the family house. Stephanie, in a rented condo. The weekend before she disappeared, he helped her move out. Why in heavens name did you do that . She asked me to help. Isnt that what you do . I didnt fall out of love with her. I still loved her. Then middle of the night, her very first night away, dale says he woke up to a commotion downstairs. It was stephanie. She crawled right back into bed with him. She had come home. Wow she said this was all a horrible mistake and she wanted to move back in. And i said, are you sure . She said dont worry. Everything is fine. But now, just two days later, things were not fine. Not at all. Stephanie was missing and dale was down at the Police Department telling officers where he thought his wife might have gone. I thought she would go somewhere with her wifi and be on the computer. My other guess was maybe she went to, you know, rons house. I didnt know. The police interviewed the other man, of course. Ron holthouse. I just want to ask you straight up again not accusing you do you know where stephanie is right now . I absolutely have no idea. Okay. Ron admitted he and stephanie had a romantic relationship, but he denied they ever slept together. But we never ended up having sex. Then ron told them something very interesting. That he had ended the affair. It was the night she moved into the condo, he told them. He said to stephanie it was over. I said, im gonna move to florida with my wife. Were going to try to go back to naples and make this work. Do you have any reason to believe that anything bad may have happened to her . That would be my worst fear. But thanksgiving day came and went. No stephanie. Overstretched local police force called in the Colorado Bureau of investigations. Greg sadar was the agent who took the call. Soon he was standing beside the shallow, blue river, staring at what looked like a lump of snow on some rocks. There was several inches of snow on top of her. And you could see the body underneath the snow. It was stephanie all right. But how did she get here . Coming up its a who done it . I had at least three viable suspects. Any one of whom had potential motive. Absolutely. When secrets in the snow continues. Continues. Be right back. With moderate to severe Crohns Disease, i was there, just not always where i needed to be. Is she alright . I hope so. So i talked to my doctor about humira. I learned humira is for people who still have symptoms of Crohns Disease after trying other medications. And the majority of people on humira saw significant symptom relief and many achieved remission in as little as 4 weeks. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Be there for you, and them. Ask your gastroenterologist about humira. With humira, remission is possible. You may be at increased risk for Pneumococcal Pneumonia a potentially serious bacterial lung disease that can disrupt your life for weeks. In severe cases, Pneumococcal Pneumonia can put you in the hospital. It can hit quickly, without warning, making you miss out on what matters most. Just one dose of the prevnar 13® vaccine can help protect you from Pneumococcal Pneumonia. Its not a yearly shot. Prevnar 13® is approved for adults to help prevent infections from 13 strains of the bacteria that cause Pneumococcal Pneumonia. Dont get prevnar 13® if you have had a severe adults with weakened the vaccinimmune systemsdients. May have a lower response to the vaccine. The most common side effects were pain, redness and swelling at the injection site, limited arm movement, fatigue, headache, muscle pain, joint pain, less appetite, vomiting, fever, chills, and rash. Ask about prevention. Ask your doctor or pharmacist about prevnar 13®. It was perplexing almost, that a thing so awful could happen in the midst of such beauty. Here in the frigid, Rushing Water of the blue river, 3 1 2 days after she disappeared, they found stephanie rollerbruner nude but for a tie dyed shirt that still clung to her body. She come to rest against a tumble of snowcovered rocks. It was just a little farther beyond that where the water gets calm where we located her remains. Just over by that second bend there . Yes, sir. She hadnt gone far. Agent greg sadar, Colorado Bureau of investigation. How far from her house . Rough guess off the top of my head 300, 350 yards. The news spread fast. Today investigators say they have found a body. That was a pretty bad day. Your heart drops. Lets find out what happened to her, along with humongous sadness. The county coroner broke the news to dale. They said, dale, we need to tell you something. Im like, what . And i just went into convulsions. But how did she get here . Was it suicide, accident, or murder . Theres a bridge just upstream from the place they found stephanies body. Dale told police she often liked to walk there. She could have been attacked on this bridge and shoved over. That was one of our early fears. Or that she just simply committed suicide, jumped in the water, hit her head and that was that . That was also another legitimate consideration. So, thus the puzzle . It is. Until four days after thanksgiving, when the autopsy revealed a curious detail. One that seemed to rule out suicide. There was no wounds at all to the soles of her feet. What did that mean . That certainly means that she did not walk to where we had found her without shoes. Just in case there was any lingering doubt, the autopsy also revealed she had taken a blow to the head and then she had been strangled but was still alive when she was thrown into the freezing water. The ultimate cause of death, hypothermia and drowning. Well, we knew at that point she had been murdered. First murder in silverthorne in decades. But who would do such a thing . And why . It was just hours before stephanie took her walk in this virtually crimefree community that somebody robbed that nearby bank. So, did the robber later encounter stephanie and then assault and kill her . This is where a predator could have been hiding out. Theres any number of opportunities at that point. Still, it was so cold. Perhaps too cold for a lurking predator. This is one of those very few cases where its a whodunit, if you will, and weve got i had at least three viable suspects. Any one of whom had potential motive . Absolutely. There was Ron Holthouse, the other man, who had just suddenly dumped stephanie. There was cindy, rons wife, who, if she knew about the affair could have wanted revenge. And then there was dale, dale bruner, the husband. And any one of them, thought the detective, was certainly physically capable of committing the crime. Mr. Holthouse a, big, strong guy. His wife was actually a very physically fit woman. So, she would be outgunned by one of them . I would believe so. Yes, sir. They took ron in for questioning several times. Again and again, he insisted it wasnt him. I screwed up my marriage. I made a mess of my life. He admitted that in the last hours of stephanies life, he met her here in this Clothing Store parking lot, around dinner time, and it wasnt a happy meeting. I was actually trying to tell her that it was over. He earlier had sent her a breakup email, he said. She insisted on seeing him in person. She wasnt taking it well at all. And then she said asked me again one more time, like, we can make it work. I said no, i we cannot make this work. She was still interested in having a relationship with him. And didnt want to let him go . Correct. And im sure he was motivated to not let his wife find out about that. Which begged the question, where was Ron Holthouse later that monday evening when stephanie went for her walk . Youre saying to me you were at home. You never went out on monday night . Correct. The detectives called in rons wife, cindy. It would not be unheard of for a woman to be very upset that her to find that her husband has been seeing another woman and want to go to significant lengths by eliminating that temptation. Her alibi . She was home sleeping right next to ron. Okay. Did you know do you know for sure if ron was in the house . Did he leave at any time that night on monday night . I didnt sit up looking at him all night. I think i would have, yeah. So their alibis were each other. Detectives kept prodding. How much do you love your husband . Im committed. Would you have done anything for him . Within reason. Would i lie for him . No. Because you know what . If he made his bed, hes got to lay in it. For almost a month detectives went back and forth between ron and cindy and stephanies husband, dale. Who by that time had been advised by a friend better get a lawyer. So, i called. And my attorney said, you dont know the onslaught, the tidal wave thats coming toward you, do you . You have no idea. I said apparently not. Oh, yes. And what a tidal wave it was. Three potential suspects. But soon a strange discovery would lead police to focus on just one. Coming up every trace of her had been scrubbed from the house. When secrets in the snow continues. Raise your steins to the king of speed. Ive always been faand still going for my best, even though i live with a higher risk of stroke due to afib not caused by a heart valve problem. So if theres a better treatment than warfarin. I want that too. Eliquis. Eliquis is proven to reduce stroke risk better than warfarin. Plus has significantly less major bleeding than warfarin. Eliquis is fdaapproved and has both. Whats next . Reeling in a nice one. Dont stop taking eliquis unless your doctor tells you to, as stopping increases your risk of having a stroke. Eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. Dont take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. While taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily and it may take longer than usual for any bleeding to stop. Seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. Eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. Tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. Eliquis, the number one cardiologistprescribed blood thinner. Ask your doctor if eliquis is whats next for you. A lot of folks ask me why their dishwasher doesnt get everything clean. I tell them, it may be your detergent. Thats why more dishwasher brands recommend cascade platinum. Its speciallydesigned with the soaking, scrubbing and rinsing built right in. Cascade platinums unique actionpacs dissolve quickly. To remove stuckon food. For sparklingclean dishes, the first time. Choose the detergent that lets your dishwasher do the dishes cascade platinum. The number one recommended brand in north america. I am royalty of racing, i am the twisting thundercloud. Raise your steins to the king of speed. Ithe maker of the pain killr oxy cotton filed for bankruptcy sunday, this companies after the Company Owned by the billionaire Sackler Family reached a tentative settlement with 23 states and thousands of local governments over its role in the opioid crisis. Three democratic president ial contenders are calling for the impeachment of Supreme Court Justice Brett kavanaugh. This comes following new allegations of Sexual Misconduct against kavanaugh from his time at yale in the 80s. Now back to dateline. Welcome back to dateline extra. Im craig melvin. The search for stephanie rollerbrunners killer was in high gear. The colorado mom had been bludgeoned, strangled and then drowned in a river not far from her house. Now detectives were focused on three people of interest. Stephanies husband, dale, her brunt, ron, and rons wife, cindy. Each had a possible motive. But as investigators dug deeper into the bruners marriage, a startling discovery would push dale to the top of the list. Here again is Keith Morrison. Its horrible. I mean, its i i dont even know how to explain having a microscope go into your world. Its surreal. There are few secrets in a persons life that can escape the attention of a determined homicide detective. Everything comes out. Absolutely everything. Dale and stephanie, it turned out, had their share of secrets. The weird thing one chilly morning six weeks before stephanie was murdered as stephanie told her friend, jennifer. She heard spanking and she told me she counted at least eight spanks before she got up the stairs and down the hall to the kitchen. Well, my boy was acting out far beyond, you know, the norm. And i said, come on. That was a wednesday morning. Stephanie was furious about the spanking and stormed off to work and that very day was laid off from her county job. And then still upset with dale, stephanie went to see a judge and filed a restraining order against him, sought advice from her friend, bill. Honestly, i was a little bit surprised. I had never detected any major problems in their relationship. But and this was distinctly odd. She asked the court to delay implementing the order until the following monday. Then she went home and, said dale, suggested that family holiday. We had a wonderful weekend at the hotel colorado, hot springs, swimming with the kids. But then back in town is when stephanie revealed, one, that she was in love with another man and, two, her restraining order was about to be served. She told me that the Sheriffs Department was going to come to the house and im going to have to leave. So he did. After which, said dale, they calmed down and ten days later went back to ask the judge to rescind his order. The court recorded the session. Im never going to spank again. This potentially could crush my entire world. And i am so sorry to you and i will make it up in any and every way i possibly can. She wanted to leave, but she felt like the restraining order was too much, that dale didnt deserve that and that maybe she had overreacted. And so they talked about it like adults. And eventually they signed divorce papers and dale even helped stephanie move into her condo where, as you know, the very night she moved in her new love, ron, told her the affair was over. They werent going to be together, not then, not ever. He was staying with his wife. Two days later, she was dead. And ron and his wife, and dale, and were all under suspicion. They said i was a person of interest. I didnt think i had any worries. But agent sadar wasnt so sure. As his investigation continued, he became convinced that Ron Holthouse and his wife, cindy, had been telling him the truth. I feel awful. I really feel awful. But he kept encountering suspicious things about dale. Why had dale waited until morning to report his wife missing . Why, as dales friends and family scour the town looking for her, why did he not take part at all . It was kind of this mounting series of things that we started to be concerned about. It was dale, said sadar, who had motive and opportunity. For one thing, the place they found her body, dale could have certainly carried her that far. We were struck by how close it is to the house and how accessible it was, even under those snowy conditions. Yeah. And when dale was still talking before he lawyered up, his demeanor seemed odd to the detective. One of their meetings at a local restaurant was recorded. Well, what happened to her then . Well, thats what im talking to you about. Very probative. He wanted to know what we learned from the autopsy, where we were going with the investigation. When you said there were no other clothes on her. I have some concerns. Im being very open and honest with you. What the hell happened to her . I mean thats what im trying to find out. He was nervous but not outwardly sad. And then two weeks after the murder when detective sadar got a search warrant, a house that had been cluttered at the time of the murder was now spotless. What did you find this time . Nothing. There was nothing to find. No signs of blood. No evidence of any struggle. Nor, in fact, was there any sign that stephanie had ever lived there. There wasnt a single photograph of her. Every trace of her had been scrubbed from the house. It also seemed suspicious, said the detective, that dale changed his story a bit. First time he called the police, he said they had an argument before she left to go out walking. Later he said there was no argument. Was there an argument of any kind . No, we never had an argument. There was no argument. It was just the facts were on the table. What were you talking about that she needed to clear her head . We were just talking about us. Within a few weeks of stephanies murder, the state ramped up the pressure on dale. Social services sent the bruner children to live with stephanies brother in california. Im in a fight with mike tyson with no gloves. And theyre taking my kids away, too. Dale wasnt completely alone, mind you. Some family stayed around, reported back to her sister, ramona, that dale was truly grieving. We kept asking, what is he acting like . What is he saying . Unless hes some kind of actor that deserves some kind of oscar performance, this guy seems distraught. And stephanies friend, bill, even moved in for two months to help out, console dale. We were just trying to hold dale together. He was having a very difficult time. Did you ever confront him or say, come on, tell us what happened . Looked every one of us in the eye and said i had nothing to do with this. Im innocent. Dale, can you talk at all about the investigators focusing only on you . I hope theyre investigating someone else. Didnt look like it. It was summer 2011. Nine months after stephanies murder when it happened. I was coming back from one of my photo shoots and a little unmarked car with a light on it flashed and siren went. And they have guns drawn on me. Dale bruner was charged with seconddegree murder in the death of his wife. He pled not guilty, posted bond and was offered a plea deal by the d. A. s office. Why did you turn it down . Because innocent people dont plea. Besides, now said dale, it was time to fight back. Coming up, probing questions and provocative answers. Its a very intimate crime. Its the sort of crime that husbands commit. Or should i say boyfriends . When secrets in the snow continues. Ok here you go. Over. Under. Hey whoa, pop, pop. Your shoes untied. Ensure hes well taken care of, even as you build your own plans for retirement. See how lincoln can help protect your savings from the impact of longterm care expenses at lincolnfinancial. Com. Why accept it frompt an incompyour allergy pills . E else. Flonase sensimist. Nothing stronger. Nothing gentler. Nothing lasts longer. Flonase sensimist. 24 hour nondrowsy allergy relief were pretty different. vo everyone in your family is different. Thats why verizon lets everyone mix and match different unlimited plans. So you only pay for what you need. Switch now to verizon. New plans start at just 35. Thats our lowest price for unlimited, ever. The network more people rely on gives you more. Thats why with dell Small Business technology advisors. Youll get tailored product solutions, expert tech advice and oneonone partnership. Call an advisor today at 877buydell. Get up to 45 off on select computers. New crest gum and sensitivity. And then i jump on the trampoline ahh brain freeze no, its my teeth. Your teeth hurt . Sensitivity. I should see my dentist. My teeth have been really sensitive lately. Well 80 of sensitivity starts at the gum line, so treat sensitivity at the source. New crest gum and sensitivity starts treating sensitivity immediately, at the gum line, for relief within days and wraps your teeth in sensitivity protection. Ohh your teeth . No, its brain freeze i am royalty of racing, i am the twisting thundercloud. Raise your steins to the king of speed. Back then, we checked. Zero times a day. Times change. Eyes havent. Thats why theres ocuvite. Screen light. Sunlight. Longer hours. Eyes today are stressed but ocuvite has vital nutrients. That help protect them. Ocuvite. Eye nutrition for today. You know, baker, i can help you with with that. Oh, no, its fine. Thanks, though. A man should cut his own lawn. [ lawnmower engine rattling ] [ engine starts ] welcome back. Dale bruner had just been charged with the murder of his wife stephanie. He refused a plea deal, insisting he was innocent. Stephanies body had been found in a river right near their home days after couple signed divorce papers, but there was no physical evidence linking dale to the crime. At trial his lawyer would portray dale as a victim of rush to judgement. Why, he asked, her stephanies boyfriend Ron Holthouse and his wife cindy cleared so quickly . It was time for the holthouses to face the defenses questions on the witness stand. Two winters passed here in the Colorado Rockies between the untimely demise of stephanie rollerbruner and the prosecutors determination to pin it on dale. The lies are really tough to take. You just cant believe it. Like, really . Waiting for trial, he continued to live here, all alone now in the family house by the blue river, working with his attorney in the effort to clear his name. Robert burnhart is the attorney, a man not at all impressed, he told us, with the police investigation. Their position was, i think dale is the easy guy, you know, the worst pieces of investigating ive ever seen in my career. Dale and his attorney told us that despite a show of interviewing other suspects, the police quite clearly had made up their minds the very day she disappeared. The police came to my house. I dont know the exact thing he said but he goes, did you kill your wife . And i was just stunned. The police didnt seem to want to believe what he told them about how happy he was that last evening, discussing new possibilities, a fresh start. When around 9 00 p. M. Their daughter came into the bedroom to ask for her with her homework. When she came into our bedroom we were laying on top of our bed, cuddling. Nor, he said, did the cops seem to want to believe his explanation for not reporting stephanie missing until morning. More than nine hours after she walked into that frigid night. Why would he . He was aware of the fact that she was having an affair. He probably assumed that she went to her boyfriend. Last thing i was going to do is make waves. Just do what you got to do. They made such a big deal about the fact that dale didnt join the search for stephanie, even though i called the police and they told me stay home in case she comes home. So by the time dales trial began, he and his attorney were ready for evidence that they knew was only circumstantial. Questions like this. Even the way she was beaten on her head and strangled the way she was strangled. Thats a very intimate crime, a sort of crime that husbands commit when their wives are about to leave them. Or should i say boyfriends . Or boyfriends. Well, there you go. That was the point his lawyers wanted to make in court, that police and prosecutors had unfairly brushed off the possibility that stephanies new soulmate or his wife had anything to do with it. That would be Ron Holthouse. When everybody found out stephanie was missing, did any Police Officers come and visit you at work or at your home that day . No, they did not. And didnt rons wife, cindy, have a motive . And i said Something Like, i dont know where she is, but i hope she rots in hell. And im very sorry i said that. Of course, dale and his attorney knew the prosecution would make a big deal about the restraining order stephanie took out after dale spanked their son. But her decision to ask for that order, said day, that sprang from the chaos in her life. I believe she built a fake little world where i was the bad guy. Was stephanie ever worried dale might get violent . Hardly said the defense. Why else would she ask the judge to delay the order until after their Little Family holiday . The judge said he had never seen someone have a restraining order but then have someone say dont enact it yet, not until next week. Why would she go away on a yoga retreat and decline this friends offer to babysit . Can i take care of the kids . She said no, theyre fine with dale. Thats because she knew that dale wasnt a threat to her. He wasnt a threat to those children. And remember how the detective found the house unusually spotless two weeks after the murder . It was, turned out, family and friends who cleaned up. Apparently because dale was paralyzed by grief. Dale walks into his walkin closet and half of the stuff is stephanies. He comes out and hes just crying. Hes just like, ive got to get this stuff out of here. So clearly a rush to judgment, sloppy investigation, said the defense. By detectives who bought the holthouses alibi too easily, who failed to consider that the murder might have been committed by whoever robbed the nearby bank just before stephanie disappeared. Attorney burnhart confronted cbi agent greg sadar. You had no direct evidence of mr. Bruner assaulting his wife . Correct, no direct evidence of mr. Bruner murdering her. Of course, had dale taken the stand, he would have had to have answered to some stubbornly uncomfortable facts and this question that hung over the defense table like a cloud. You loved your wife. You loved her a lot. But in that moment of extreme rage when she was leaving you, you killed her. Strangled her and then threw her body in the river. Thats so not true. The theme of the prosecution was that you were an abuser and that it was its beyond so not true. Its just not true. They painted quite a picture, though. Oh, yes. They certainly did. With the help of a woman whose message, in a way, came back from the grave. Coming up, stephanie speaks. Im here, asking for help. When secrets in the snow continues. Raise your steins to the king of speed. Now, theres skyrizi. I have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. 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 fevers,. Sweats, chills, muscle aches or coughs. Or if you plan to or recently received a vaccine. I feel free to bare my skin. Visit skyrizi. Com. Work so hard give it everything you got strength of a lioness tough as a knot rocking the stage and we never gonna stop all strength, no sweat. Just in case you forgot all strength. No sweat secret. All strength. No sweat. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. Even a ernie lost rubber duckie . burke you mean this one . ernie rubber duckie cookie what about a broken cookie jar . burke again, cookie . cookie yeah. Me bad. grover yoooooow oh what about monsters having accidents . I am okay by the way burke depends. Did you cause the accident, grover . grover cause an accident . Maybe. bert how do you know all this stuff . burke just comes with experience. all muppets yup. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum i am royalty of racing, i am the twisting thundercloud. Raise your steins to the king of speed. Welcome back. The prosecution portrayed the colorado dad as an abuser who was enraged when his wife stephanie left him for another man. They told jurors about the restraining order stephanie took out. Now one of dales exgirlfriends was going to rivet the courtroom with her testimony about dales temper. But the biggest bombshell would come from stephanie herself. Haunting audio recorded just weeks before her death. Here is Keith Morrison with the conclusion of our story. Im sitting across from a man who may be telling me a true story, who may also be living with the knowledge that he hit his wife on the head and strangled her and put her in the river and thats where she died. And you have to live with that secret. Fortunately, i dont have to live with that. That, i dont have to live with. What dale bruner would have to live with would depend on the outcome of his trial, of course, and whether or not the prosecutor could sway the jury without the benefit of physical evidence that dale killed the love of his life in a fit of blind rage. I think dale bruner strangles her, believes she is dead, takes her to the river and dumps her in the river. So what did happen on the night of the murder . The prosecutor called a child to start the story, dale and stephanies eldest daughter who walked into her parents bedroom at 9 00 pm. At 10 years old she could say what happened with specifics. Out of the view of the media, she told the court she heard her parents arguing, not cuddling, as dale claimed. After which, remember, dale claimed stephanie went for a walk to clear her head. At temperatures well below freezing . Youve got to be kidding, said the prosecutor. His wife goes for a walk and he wouldnt call anybody until eight or nine hours later, ten hours later . That just doesnt make any sense. Which, by itself, didnt mean dale was guilty. This is where some of those secrets began to spill out. The terrifying secrets of a fatally troubled marriage. Like the one stephanie told this friend after that spanking incident when she applied for a restraining order. Did she express fear to you at the time . Yes, she did. She looked at me and said he just sees red. He gets so mad that he goes into a red zone and he doesnt even know what he does. And so, said the friend she was afraid to get a restraining order against dale because he had already threatened to harm or kill her. That threat from dale was years earlier, but stephanie had never forgotten how terrified she was. She told the story to her friend, jennifer, just before the murder. He strong armed her into a corner, choking her, threatening to hit her. He stopped short of hitting her, but he did. There was another time he threw her on the bed and put his knee on her pregnant belly. How often would this happen . You know, there may be three of those two or three, i dont know, of those incidents that she talked about. Then there was leah aiken, lifelong friend of dale. Told the court about dales reaction of when she said she was in love with another man. He hoped that she would have a heart attack or get hit by a car. I kept telling him to stop talking like that. But did dale really mean that . Could he be truly violent. Consider this woman, said the prosecutor, an exgirlfriend from dales past. A woman named jodi who told the jury and us the strange tale of what happened one night when she lived with dale 20 years ago. He hadnt come home for dinner one night and said he would be home. And you called him on it . He came home. We argued about it. And he became very angry. Yelling at me. He pushed me down on to the floor and put his hands around my neck and said if you ever say or do that again, ill kill you. He had a look on his face that i had never seen or recognized before. It was the most scared i had ever been in my life. Even though that was a long time ago, said the prosecutor, it told a terrible tale which, sadly, is as old as time. Dale, he said, was a man sometimes overcome by rage and his m. O. Was to go for the throat. She was strangled so hard and with such force that it broke a bone in her neck. Then the prosecutor introduced his bombshell. Stephanie herself, on tape. Six week before her murder, stephanie begged a judge for that restraining order. And now in court, her recorded plea was a voice from the grave. He has threatened my life. Years ago but, you know, with a hand on my throat didnt squeeze it. Screaming in my face, i will kill you if you leave. Ive never forgotten. Her sister was sitting in the courtroom listening, and was overcome. And that was when we lost it. Because it was feelings of oh, my god. And shes crying. It was as if stephanie was testifying in her own murder trial. I would so love to talk to him about it. And i just think that would go really bad. So im here asking for help. And im going to end up getting a divorce because theres no way i can go back. Only she did. Finally, this Domestic Violence expert weighed in. When a victim is attempting to leave a relationship or has left a relationship, it is by far the most dangerous time for a victim. But what was the trigger that, according to the prosecution, set dale off . The answer, he said, may lie in an unfinished email stephanie was writing to the other man, ron, just before she was murdered. And though dale denied he knew what she was doing i honestly didnt know. I had no idea. The prosecutor said dale must have seen her writing it, begging ron for another meeting because she couldnt accept the idea that her new love was leaving her. I think dale bruner got angry at that and hit her with something. Then he strangles her, believes that she is dead. Shes probably unconscious at that point. But she is not dead. Takes her to the river and dumps her in the river. The jury stayed out four hours. The court has reviewed the verdict. It was kind of early, which is always worrying. Dale bruner stood, awaited his fate. Youre trying to maintain and not just melt under the so, you know, you prepare yourself to just breathe. Just breathe. And then there it was. We, the jury, find the defendant, dale bruner, guilty of murder in the second degree. Dale bruner was also convicted of two counts of Sexual Assault and sentenced to a total of 112 years in prison. An Appeals Court vacated the Sexual Assault convictions and in 2017, bruners sentence was reduced to 48 years. It is a perfect storm. Im going down with the ship. Stephanies friend, jennifer, was driving when the verdict came in. I was in my car, yeah, parked on the side of the road, crying like a baby. And, like others who knew stephanie, she wishes now she had taken her friends secrets more seriously. I beat myself up over it every day, about how i should have done this or should have done that. An almost good marriage with one deadly flaw. Lot of stephanies Close Friends and family didnt even know what was going on. I knew of a couple of events over the years. And lets say it was only two. It only took three and shes dead. And so, say her friends, take some advice. Heed the warning. Dont hide the secret. Thats why im talking about it now, and hopefully just one woman would have the courage to stand up and say, im being abused. Im living in fear. Im living with secrets and i need to stand up and be bold. Thats all for this edition of dateline extra. Im craig melvin. Thank you for watching. It never goes away. Theres not a day that goes by that i dont think of them. The pain becomes a part of you. Get everybody out here to my house now reporter he came home and found them. His entire family gone. I said, what are you talking about . What are you saying . Is this real . Am i really here . It was just, surreal. Reporter his fellow cops suspected him i did not do this. I did not do this