AfTer LIsa Techel had been shoT To deaTh. IT was noT a day of resT. They had To dIscuss arrangemenTs. One of The saddesT word In The language Is arrangemenTs. IT musTve been unreal. GrIef sTrIcken, Todd decIded To sTay home by hImself wITh The resT of hIs famIly meT In a park. SeTh was There buT under InsTrucTIons noT To speak abouT The case. He shared an emoTIonal momenT wITh LIsas SIsTer and her moTher, Tracy. SeTh grab The gIrls and saId They ThInk I dId IT. We all hugged seTh and Told hIm we loved hIm. When InvesTIgaTors fInIshed dIfference I can seT The TraIler, Tracy, seTh, and hIs parenTs wenT ouT To reTrIeve some of lIsas ThIngs. IT was very Tough. The CrIme Scene Techs had been all over a. All over IT. I guess I wanTed To dad mode. WhaT was your ThInkIng . I dIdnT wanT hIm To see The blood. How was your boy dealIng wITh ThaT . I ThInk he was shocked. ThaT Sunday WasnT The day of resT for The men and women TryIng To solve The crIme eITher. InvesTIgaTors were focusIng on The Mur
and i was like, what s going on? and he s like, lisa s been shot. i held her hand and i just said, my lisa. my lisa. everyone s like, do you want justice? do you want revenge? i just want the truth. lisa techel, newly married, pregnant, starting the career of her dreams. she always put everybody before she put herself. then, one morning, a single shotgun blast rocked the newlyweds home. she s been shot. a young husband, out of his mind with grief. it was a tragedy. but for lisa s dad, a sheriff s deputy, it was no mystery. he was sure he knew who the killer was. go get him. go get him now. a neighbor with a gun and a grudge. i thought, they better get to him before i do. but some said this couple was having trouble. that seth had a secret. did he tell you, she sent me some topless pictures ? yes. others said the real murderer was someone else, right under cops noses. here s a legitimate suspect that should have been investigated
convicted in each of them. state-appointed defense lawyers roger owens and jake feuerhelm knew that, in two trials, 19 of 24 jurors had voted to convict seth techel. they didn t like those numbers, and decided to head in a different direction. we chose to focus on the sloppy work done by the law enforcement. there was absolutely no dna, fingerprint confession. feuerhelm would argue it was a botched investigation. why would crime scene techs do tests to match the slug to the murder weapon, but never check it for fingerprints or dna that might link it to the shooter? did you test the bullet that was in the chamber that killed this woman? no, we forgot, or we didn t do it. whoops. whoops. the new defense team had a new story to tell it was all a rush to judgment to blame seth, who d been in jail ever since his arrest two years
gonna leave. with a weapon which he hasn t brought with him. correct. with a weapon which he hasn t brought with him. i had a mossberg model 500 shotgun. a 12 gauge. yes. and seth, prosecutors said, had easy access to the murder weapon, the shotgun that his friend lucas kept in seth s house. is that the 12 gauge mossberg shotgun that you left behind in the techel residence when you moved out in may of 2012? yes. and, the prosecutors argued, only seth had a motive. they said seth and rachel s steamy texts and cell phone photos played like a countdown to murder by seth. at 9:20 p. m. on the 24th, you ask him, do you really want to be with me? and he responds, forever. right, yes. that s may 24th, two days before lisa s death, and in a follow-up text, rachel asked seth if he d told his wife he
this all out, you know. did you have anything to do with lisa s death? no, i didn t. tate stuck to his alibi: home and asleep, after taking his medication. lead agent birmingham thought he was telling the truth and crossed brian tate off his suspect list. so you only had one suspect at this point. yeah, one suspect and only one suspect. that evening, lisa s loved ones gathered at a funeral home for the visitation. the turnout was impressive and included many of todd s friends in the sheriff s department. your fellow officers are there as they would be, you know, they want to show respect. right. the mood inside was somber and uneasy. the caldwells gathered near lisa s coffin. the techels stayed in the back of the room. seth was there. his sister-in-law presley will never forget what happened next. he actually came up to me, kind of in the middle of it, he gave me a big ol hug, and he said, you will always be my little sister and i love you. and i was like, i love you