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For being so small, you wouldnt think so. >> at just 20, heidy started working in the not entirely feminine gas and chemical industry just outside salt lake city. sandi sanchez was one of heidys co-workers. >> we worked with hazardous chemicals and gasses. crazy things that you wouldnt expect a couple of girls to want to do. >> heidy seemed to thrive in a workplace that favored hard hats over heels. >> it was dangerous if you didnt follow the rules. in fact, quote from heidy, everything is dange...

>> mm-hmm. >> -- and shes shot, and you dont know what happened. >> yeah. maybe in their heads. in mine, i was confused. >> could this be an accident? >> what i say to that is i didnt see. i dont know what happened. >> thats how he felt just hours after the shooting, but as the months passed, conrad came to the conclusion heidy may have taken her own life. his wife, he said, wasnt as tough as she appeared. was she a sad person? was she a depressed person? >> when she drank a little bit, you coul...

So you felt pretty good leading up to verdict? >> yes. there was enough "there" there beyond a reasonable doubt. >> reporter: conrad was having a much harder time. >> it was really difficult. you know? because why would things work out if they didnt work out the first time? you know what i mean? >> reporter: eight hours later, the verdict. hold up your hands. youre not wearing handcuffs. >> no cuffs. >> reporter: youre not in custody. >> im free. >> reporter: thats right. this time conrad truman...

>> conrad also shared with us how he picked the bathroom lock, not, he said, to confront heidy, but just to apologize. >> she just said get out. i was like, okay. so i just let her be. >> as for conrads behavior after police arrived at his door, he said he had good reason for acting that way. >> i was trying to save my wife. i dont know. does that make sense? i just wanted her to live. >> i get how frantic you must have been. im not sure i understand the threatening part of that. and i think tha...

Extra." heidy and truman had a bond envied which others. but in one tragic even, a gunshot rang out, and in the blink of an eye, heidy was on the floor clinging to life. conrads behavior in the minutes and hours that followed would be highly debated for years. detectives would focus on the grieving husband, but were they looking at the wrong man? heres josh mankiewicz. >> they seem so incongruous, the soaring majesty of utahs wasatch mountains, and the story of a beautiful woman, struck down in ...

Inconsequential actually ended up freeing him. >> reporter: whats life been like for your family since then? >> were trying to put the pieces together. >> reporter: for heidys family, that is easier said than done. >> i miss the things that we had together. i miss the simple conversations. i miss her sassiness. i miss her wonderful personality. she lives on forever in our hearts. >> reporter: conrad is left looking both backward and forward. >> i mean, id do anything to take another day, another...

Time? >> and we know thats what youre thinking, too. coming up -- a new trial, a new jury, a different verdict? >> did those incorrectly entered measurements change your opinion of conrad trumans guilt? should they change anyones opinion? >> they didnt change my opinion. >> there was enough there there beyond a reasonable doubt. >> it was really difficult because why didnt things work out if they didnt work mount the first time, you know? >> when "as night fell" continues. extraction power.

>> this guys drinking, theres firearms in the house. so he must have shot her. >> why couldnt it be exactly that simple? this wouldnt be the first time that mixing alcohol, an argument and a handgun led straight to a prison sentence. conrad told us what he told police. it isnt that simple. sure, he and heidy had been drinking and, yes, they had been arguing, but he said neither was an explanation for what happened. >> i could have upset her with some of the things ive said or the way i acted wit...

I did not do. i understood speaking out would make it way worse, that i was like -- i dont know. i was like to hell with this. i need to speak my mind. i didnt kill my wife. theres just no way. if there was proof and i didnt. thats why there is no proof. you know, this is just a big injustice. >> the judge had heard that before. the sentence he imposed? 16 years to life. crushing for conrad and his family sitting behind him including sister colette. >> you want to believe that things turn out th...

Making incorrect measurements or adding up some figures wrong? >> i dont believe so. i believe that they willfully lied to secure a conviction against conrad truman. >> and for these attorneys, there were more issues with the states case. one had to do with gunshot residue tests. the defense learned police swabbed both heidy and conrads hands, but those swabs were never sent to the lab. >> when you have gunshot residue that was never tested, those things matter. >> the defense team decided to te...