I had three viable suspects. Reporter three possible suspects . Turns out, this 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 reporter 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. Im lester holt and this is dateline. Tonight, secrets in the snow. Heres keith morrison. Reporter 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, nine thousand feet up, in the colorado mountains. Snow thick already that late november night, and with the wind chill, 24 below. I dont know enough to know exactly what happened. Im still trying to figure it out. Reporter what in gods name was his wife doing . Walking out into the brutal cold . And 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. Reporter but she was. Terrifying. And as events were about to prove, a shocking lesson on what can dwell hidden beneath a persons public skin. So this was really a secret thing as far as you know . A lot of it, sure. Reporter everybody has secrets, of course. Stephanie roller bruners secrets lived, as she did, in a skiers paradise. Tall pines, heartpounding slopes, soaring peaks. Silverthorne, colorado. And the happy way she got here was the sort of thing you might expect to read in perhaps a romance novel. Instant instant attraction. Reporter they met at the top of a mountain. Dale bruner, 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. People say, well, why dont you sell more of your work that way . I said, well, buffalo dont carry credit cards. Reporter anyway, it was up there on the mountain, he spotted this young woman who seemed to be conducting some sort of Forestry Service survey. I skied up to her and i said, what are you doing . Writing parking tickets . She looked up and smiled. Reporter and then she took off her big ski goggles. I was stunned and im like, wow, shes beautiful. Reporter they moved in together right away, and when they got married a few years later, they eloped, they jetted off to fiji. It was so stephanie, said her friends. Yeah, they kinda just went off and did it. Reporter they made their home in silverthorne where dales photo business grew and grew. When things were really rolling, i had several operations in different states around the country. Around 25 photographers working. Reporter stephanie got a job in county government. Environmental planning department. Look, look at the camera. Reporter they raised their 3 young children. Awesome children. The best. How bout a smile . Reporter and life for the bruner family was it was fantastic. We traveled. We vacationed. Reporter but it was in her spare moments and hours that stephanie was truly transformed. A ballroom dancer. Dancing was probably to her what photography is to me. Our guest star, bill reporter 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. Reporter hardly surprising then that stephanie and jennifer were very close, too. We started a Ballroom Dance Program together at my dance studio and pretty soon she had me doing back flips with men and partnering and just all kind of fun things. Reporter but it was dance that led off the whole cascade of trouble in the fall of 2010. Theres an annual fundraiser here in silverthorne called dancing with the mountain stars. Local worthies paired with ballroom pros. Did you go . I went to about three years of them. The last one, i did not go to the last one. Reporter had a wedding to shoot. So he missed the chance to watch stephanie teach those leadfooted businessmen the foxtrot 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. Reporter 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 thing about her . Yeah, they really clicked together. Reporter so they did. Oh, boy, did they ever. And stephanie was dancing on air, her whole world, upended. She didnt realize that there could be love like that. Reporter a secret from her family, of course. But she told her friends that shed found her soul mate. It was almost odd how she told a number of us, that i just want you to know that im very happy. Reporter but joy and misery come in pairs sometimes. As thanksgiving approached, chaos took over what had been a well ordered life. It was a wednesday, middle of october, when things started piling up. A horrendous day for her. Because . Day and the county laid off 20 people that very day. Reporter including stephanie. In fact, stephanies troubles, and her secrets, seemed to pile up like the snow. She was behaving a little bit strangely. A little unpredictable. A little bit, yeah. Reporter 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 Silverthorne Police. I got a phone call from dale bruner and just said i wanted to make a report that my wife is missing. Reporter it was a records clerk named Veronica Nicholas who took the call. He said, i got the kids up, i got them ready for school, and i got them on the bus, and then i thought i should probably call you guys. Reporter stephanies car was in the driveway, said dale. And when he called her cell phone, it went to voicemail. Veronica called stephanies best friend, jennifer. I panicked. This is something that happens to other people, not to you. Reporter oh, but it had happened. As the Silverthorne Police checked local hotels and hospitals, stephanies friends scoured her neighborhood. It just seemed unbelievable that stephanie would not check in. Reporter a day became two. And then three. And some private secrets were about to become very public indeed. So where was stephanie . Police had a lot of questions for her husband, dale. They also wanted to talk to that other man in her life, her boyfriend, ron. And when we come back, they do. I just want to ask straight up again, not accusing you do you know where stephanie is right now . Thats just so confusing. 27 for the phone. But, thats only one of our four unlimited plans. That is confusing. All i want is something unlimited and the phone that i want. Allin for one price. Anything for you david beckham. Okay then. I love you david beckham. Dont let tmobiles pricing confuse you. Get allin wireless from sprint with unlimited talk, text, and highspeed data and even your pick of smartphone is included for just 80 mo. Allin for one price. trouble hearing on the phone, visit sprintrelay. Com is that a new washing machine . Yeah, its a samsung with activewash. Its got a builtin sink to pretreat and help get stains out. How about this . The samsung washing machine with activewash. Get 10 off select major appliances at lowes ah aflac . Aflac i thought you said this guy was the best . Oh, hes a horrible stylist. Gah . But hes the best at paying claims fast really. Mmhmm. Paid mine in just one day. One day . Yea. Aaaflaaaac in just one day, we approve and pay. One day pay, only from aflac. Hey, well do an asian salad. A chicken mcnuggets a big mac. Minions speaking minionese ha ha ha ha ha this summer, come play like a minion with minion mania at mcdonalds. Peel your game piece to reveal instant win food prizes. Trips to universal theme parks. And 4 weekly drawings for a chance to win 250,000. Double your chances to win with two game pieces with a 20 piece chicken mcnuggets for just five dollars. minions ba da ba ba ba raspberries sfx reporter all night, the bitter cold pried at the windows and licked under the door frames of the bruner house here in silverthorne, colorado. Hardly a night to take a walk. Certainly not an all night walk. Had she hurt herself, or had someone else hurt her . It wasnt like stephanie roller bruner to just disappear. It seemed more likely that it might be a stranger that might be involved or that stephanie herself might have just run off in despair and maybe hurt herself. Reporter 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 ouble at bay. 6 weeks before she disappered, as dale recalled, she suggested a Little Family holiday. She says, lets go to Glenwood Springs for the weekend. Old, classic, wonderful place. Reporter and 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 and she even said, its than i dont love you, but i think i love i think ive met my soulmate again. Reporter and 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 . Reporter he talked to her sister ramona. I remember during the phone call feeling really annoyed, like, why are you calling me to try to sway me to your side . But then by the time the call was over i remember thinking, what is steph doing . Reporter he begged stephanies friend, jennifer, to do something. Youve got to talk some sense into her. You know, youve got to make her see that she needs to stay with me. You had no inkling that this was coming . No, not until she told me that she was in love with somebody. Reporter 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 gonna be dancing with her on a big important night for her. Reporter it was a curiously oldfashioned affair, apparently. Stephanie told her apparently. Stephanie told her friends that her feelings were no so much physical as pure and emotional. But 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. Reporter 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 . Well, she asked me to help. Isnt that what you do . I didnt fall out of love with her. I still loved her. Reporter and then in the 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 that she wanted to move back in. And i said, are you sure . And she said, dont worry everythings fine. Reporter 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 the wifi and be on the computer. And my other guess was maybe she went to rons house. I didnt know. Reporter the police interviewed the other man, of course, ron holthaus. I just wanna ask straight up again, not accusing you, do you know where stephanie is right now . I absolutely have no idea. Reporter ron admitted he and stephanie had a romantic relationship but he denied they ever slept together. But we never ended up having sex. Reporter and then ron told them something very interesting that he had ended the affair. It was that night she moved into the condo, he told them. He said to stephanie that it was over. I said, im gonna move to florida with my wife. Were going to try and go back to naples and make this work. Do you have any reason to believe that anything bad has happened to her . That would be my worst fear. Reporter but thanksgiving day came and went. No stephanie. An overstretched local police force called in the Colorado Bureau of investigations. Which is why agent greg sadar 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. You could see the body underneath the snow. Reporter it was stephanie, all right. But how did she get here . Coming up. The autopsy finding that surprised everyone. Had stephanie been murdered . Its a whodunit. I had at least three viable suspects. Any one of whom had a potential motive. Absolutely. When dateline continues. Nexxus introduces a new movement in hair. A beautiful fluidity. Restoring strength and flexibility so it moves and responds the way you do. New improved nexxus with concentrated elastin protein and precious ingredients. For hair that lives to move. In the outback we let the bold flavors. Speak for themselves. With new. Tender. Juicy. Sirloin. Portabella. And now, over 70 lunch combinations. Every day starting at just 6. 99. Its lunch at last at outback. Hows it progressing with the prisoner . Hell tell us everything he knows very shortly, sir. As you were. Where were we . 13 serving 14 service if your boss stops by, you act like youre working. Its what you do. If you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. Its what you do. Reporter 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, three and half days after she disappeared, they found stephanie roller bruner, nude but for a tie dyed shirt that still clung to her body, came to rest against a tumble of snow covered rocks. It was just a little bit farther beyond that where the water gets calmer, we located her her remains. Reporter just over by that second bend there . Yes, sir. Reporter she hadnt gone far. Agent greg sadar, of the Colorado Bureau of investigation. How far from her house . My head, 300, 350 yards. Reporter the news spread fast. Today, investigators say they have found a body. And that was a pretty bad day. Your heart drops. Lets find out what happened to her along with humongous sadness. Reporter the county coroner broke the news to dale. They said, dale, we need to tell you something. And im like, what . And i just went into convulsions. Reporter but how did she get here . Was it suicide . Accident . Or murder . There is a bridge just upstream from the place they found stephanies body. Dale told police she often liked to walk here. She could been attacked on this bridge and shoved over. That was one of our early fears. Or, that she had 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. Reporter until four days after thanksgiving, when the autopsy revealed a curious detail. One that seemed to rule out suicide. There were no wounds at all to the soles of her feet. What did that mean . Well, that certainly means that she didnt walk to where we had found her without shoes. Reporter and just in case there was any lingering doubt, the autopsy also revealed that shed taken a blow to the head. Shed 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. Reporter 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 when 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 you know, theres any number of opportunities at that point. Reporter 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 where youve got i had at least three viable suspects. Any one of whom had potential motive. Absolutely. Reporter there was ron holthaus the other man, who had just suddenly dumped stephanie. There was also rons wife cindy who, if she had discovered the affair, could have wanted revenge. And then of course there was dale bruner. The husband. And any one of them, thought the detectives, was physically capable of committing the crime. Her husband was 6 foot 200 pound, very athletic guy. Mr. Holthaus, again a big strong guy. And his wife was actually a very physically fit woman. So shed be outgunned by any one of them. I would believe so, yes sir. Reporter they took ron in for questioning several times. And again and again he insisted that it wasnt him. I screwed up my marriage, ive made a mess of my life. Reporter he admitted that in the last hours of stephanies life, he met her here in this Clothing Store parking lot, around dinnertime, and it wasnt a happy meeting. I was actually trying to tell her that it was over. Reporter hed earlier sent her a breakup email, he said. She insisted on seeing him in person. She wasnt taking it well at all. And then she asked me again one more time like, but we can make it work . I said, no, 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 that he was motivated to not let his wife find out about that. Reporter which begged the question where was ron holthaus 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. Reporter 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 significant lengths by eliminating the temptation. Reporter 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 . I cant say i was sitting up and looking at him all night. If he got up to leave, would you have awoken . I think i wouldve, yeah. Reporter so their alibis were each other. Detectives kept prodding. How much do you love your husband . Im committed. Would you do anything for him . Within reason. Would i lie for him . No. Because you