married, dead on the ground. they determined that it was a murder. and here s what made this mystery so chilling. the possible suspects were all in costume. the cowboy and the penguin, everybody is dressed as somebody else. how are you going to be able to identify people? 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 know what it was. a halloween crime that will send shivers down your spine. i was terrified. something had happened. i didn t know what. hello. welcome to dateline. just days before halloween, joel lovelien and his fiancee, heather eastling, headed to a local bar with costume-clad party-goers. the night took a horrific turn when joel stepped outside and walked into a troubling mystery. in a case filled with unknowns, one thing was certain. a man was dead. police rounded up several potential suspects, but could the
timeline. he made comments to his girlfriend, some guy missed his bus. i was out there helping him and then he went back out. the guy who missed the bus, they told the jury, was the defendant. that is a the state used travis own words against him. they played every frame of those police interviews in which travis claimed not to remember the most critical part of that alcohol-sodden night. you don t remember between the time you got hit until the time you got into the cab jurors heard testimony that later that night, travis was in another fight. after mr. lovelien was killed, travis stay left the broken drum on foot, walked to a location in the alleyway where he confronted another individual. travis threw a punch at that man and missed. he then got into a cab and went home. if prosecutors were to be believed, the defendant was a halloween nightmare come to life. just
it would get even tougher. a little more than a year after his arrest, travis found himself on trial for murder facing the rest of his life behind bars. prosecutor nancy laid out the state s case. joel lovelien a 30-year-old trolled man. for a jury would decide travis fate. travis brutally beat joel lovelien while he was down on the ground and did not seek help for him afterwards. left the scene, allowing mr. lovelien to choke to death on his own blood. jurors heard joel s fiance heather as she relived that awful night. he was just lying there and i was screaming his name at him. he didn t say anything, he didn t do anything. he was the last person that we believe was seen with mr. lovelien. grand forks detectives felt they had given their
my attorney said a quick verdict is a good verdict in this case. it was vindication. travis, what are you going to do with your life now? any reaction to the verdict? then the verdict comes in. devasting. not guilty. i didn t understand that. i still don t understand that. i don t know everything. i do know that joel s blood was found on one person. you don t think justice was done here? the fact that he is acquitted by jury, doesn t mean he is acquitted by me. there is was not one stitch of physical evidence to suggest that anybody else was involved, other than speculation. grand forks police consider it was closed. and the evidence destroyed. dateline contacted
add alcohol and nurse travis turns into a drunk and dangerous mr. hyde. that theory helped them explain to jurors how the slightly built travis was able to take down and kill the much larger joel with his bare hands. police also say the fact that joel had had a few drinks made it easier for travis. he was drunk, and so the fact that the little guy comes at him unsuspecting, and he s and stable on his feet, because he s intoxicated, too, makes perfect sense that he could drop him. aspiration eight days into the trial, the prosecution called its final witness, a blood spatter analyst. this is a possible position who used photos to demonstrate that joel s blood on travis clothing was consistent with travis standing over joel while beating him. travis was either standing