Page 218 - Bryan News Today

>> reporter: but ann was done. she moved back to the family farm outside geraldine. and tom begged her to come back. promised to do better. >> he told me that bryan would, you know, when he got tired of me, hed dump me. an then id see. >> reporter: and then the phone calls started. over and over again. >> i asked him to leave me alone. i said i needed time, i needed space. >> reporter: and he wasnt giving you any? >> no. >> reporter: one day ann agreed to go for a ride in toms new pickup truck s...

>> correct. >> and sunday you hear -- you come out to bryans trailer. >> yeah. >> so thats the first time anybody sees you from saturday morning to sunday morning? >> correct. >> reporter: larry denied any role in the shooting, and remember, detectives didnt charge him with anything. but the defense had made its point. >> it comes back to they made a decision that mr. rein died on friday night. and so larry was around some people friday night, but all day saturday and sunday morning, he wasnt ar...

Away, maybe a little less as the crow flies, that had seen an atv go by that night. and then said he heard two loud retorts about that time. >> reporter: that is, friday night. but -- it couldve been that night or the next morning or something? >> at first he wasnt sure, and then he wasnt sure of the date. >> reporter: phone records showed the last time dr. rein received a phone call was at 10:15 on friday night. >> nobody heard from bryan after that last phone call on friday night. the thought ...

The week after they buried bryan rein near his childhood home in kansas, sister charlene came to montana curious about the progress of the investigation. and thats when local deputies told her about the mess-up at the crime scene, how they threw away some potential evidence. charlene was horrified. have you ever heard of such a thing before? >> no. he goes no, we cleaned it up. we didnt want the family to see it. >> reporter: wow. >> im like, why? where is everything? we got rid of it. >> report...

Was he? >> protective. ornery. >> reporter: ornery? >> we were always playing pranks on each other and especially teresa, because she didnt take them so well. >> reporter: bryan was very smart was a given. maybe a little too smart? >> i remember turning to him once and saying, i just want to know what time it is. i dont need to know how the clock was made. >> reporter: heres what they got to do growing up in a small town. they joined 4-h, future farmers of america. they raised their special anim...

Which made another of the detectives interviews particularly interesting. because, yes, in fact, there were other persons of interest. and another man they went to visit did have an alibi for friday but not saturday. that man happened to be a close friend of the victim. his name was larry hagenbuch. how seriously did you look at larry? >> we looked at him very seriously. >> reporter: hagenbuch was the one who encouraged bryan to move from kansas to montana. but larry wasnt a stable man just then...

Importantly, who? >> reporter: the implication, of course, that he was seeing and having sex with someone in addition to ann. another potential suspect added to the pot. >> were just saying tom may not be the only ex-boyfriend out there who would have been upset with mr. rein. >> reporter: that, in essence, was tom jaraczeskis defense. anyone but tom. did you kill him? >> no, i didnt. >> reporter: do you think larry hagenbuch did kill the doctor? >> you know, i have no idea who killed bryan. i k...

Gun case? the gun case was missing. it was a gun case that bryan had made. >> reporter: so the gun was always in the gun case? >> the gun was either in it or beside it. >> reporter: a perimeter search of the property was organized. and lo and behold, the gun holster, a leather case inscribed with bryans initials, was found lying in tall grass 84 feet from dr. reins door. how did it get way out there? well, as he thought about it the whole scene seemed to gel in ken thompsons mind. the way it hap...

Go to some day, look up bryan rein when you get there and ask him who killed him. because thats the only way we are ever going to know who killed bryan rein. im craig melvin. >> and im natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." >> there was no way you could look at this and say this is a person who ran away. the mystery had this sort of sinister side to it. oh, my god. oh, my god this is really happening. its happening right now. >> in the dark waters off miami, miles out to sea, a federal ag...

Calling and hanging up. i was like, bryan, im not hanging up. he just ha-haed it off. he was like, its not a big deal, teresa. its not a big deal. >> reporter: but was it? on july 10th, 1996, dr. bryan rein drove to bozeman, three hours away, to attend a conference. he returned home friday evening, the 12th. no one saw him on saturday. and then on sunday, the 14th, marlenes husband drove over to bryans bunkhouse. >> it was about, i dont know, five, ten minutes later, he came back and walked in t...