announcement with southwest airlines. that s what is happening. now back to dateline . welcome back to dateline , i m natalie morales. travis stay voluntarily went to speak with police, then found himself in the middle of a murder investigation. turns out travis was the man in the yellow costume detectives had been looking for, but he told them he blacked out from drinking. investigators doubted him and were about to get new evidence that they thought would bring the details of that hazy night into focus. here again is josh mankiewicz with under a halloween moon. in the month after her fiance s murder heather eastling s pain was beyond words. like someone just sucks the life out of you and tells you your life isn t what you wanted it to be, and your dream life isn t going to happen. grand forks detectives had been working around the clock to solve this rare murder case, and
had been fuelled by an estimated 325 jello shots that were on board that bus. heather and joel were suddenly in the midst of people in halloween costumes. as the security video shows there was a clown with a bright rainbow colored hair, there was a cowboy, a hunter, a lion, a gangsta and a woman who went as paris hilton. joel in his green hockey jersey was enjoying a rare cigar and playing blackjack next to a man dressed as a penguin. how was the night going? it was fine. at one point he had to take a call, but it was too loud inside so he went outside to take the call. while joel was outside on the phone that party bus was getting ready to go on to the next bar but suddenly someone from that bus needed help. joel had come back in the front door and said, somebody got left by the bus, i m going to go check on them. he kissed me and went outside.
the possible suspects were all in costume. the cattle boy and the penguin, everybody is dressed as somebody else. how are you going to be able to identify people in? cowboy? penguin? costumed killer? sounds like something ripped from the pages of stephen king. but in this case the horror was real. we had this piece of a costume. we didn t foe what it wknow wha a halloween crime that will send shivers down your spine. i was terrified. something had happened. i didn t know what. hello and welcome to dateline . just days before halloween joel lovelien and his fiance, heather eastling, headed to a local bar packed with costume-clad partygoers, but the night took a horrific turn when joel stepped
halloween moon, and at least one person may have used a costume to try to hide his true identity, a murderer. that weekend before halloween here in grand forks heather eastling and her boyfriend, joel lovelien, were putting on costumes, getting ready to go out. it was a nice night, a nice night with friends. he dressed up as a hockey fan, wearing his favorite green jersey. i dressed in a mechanic s outfit. a friend of mine texted me and said meet us at the broken drum. the broken drum, half casino, half bar. heather and joel had a lot to celebrate. she had just moved here from texas after dating long distance. it was nearly love at first sight. how long did you go out with joel before you realized this is the guy? a week. that s it? yeah. he was taken aback when i told him. i said, i m going to marry you,
within minutes someone else would come running into the broken drum yelling to call 911. 911 emergency. i got a emergency at the broken drum. the 911 call wasn t for the person joel went to help, it was for joel. went through the back door and around the cars and found him on the ground. joel was laying there with blood all over the cement near his head. could you tell what had happened to him? no. no. heather says that when she got outside she didn t see the party bus or any of the people in costumes, but joel, the good samaritan who had gone to help a stranger, had himself be the victim of a savage beating. i remember hearing the ambulances coming and the cops coming, their sirens. joel lovelien was rushed to an e.r. in the same hospital where he worked as a computer tech. then the doctors came in and