Page 8 - Kill Mark Stover News Today

Here it was, nearly one year after mark stover disappeared, the moment had come, the verdict. the courtroom was packed. on one side marks supporters, on the other michiel oakes. his children, his grandchild and his love linda opdycke. all waiting to hear oakes fate. >> we, the jury, find michiel oakes guilty. >> reporter: guilty. not self-defense. murder. the oakes children, the ones michiel claimed that he had been trying to protect when he killed mark stover cried, screamed, fell apart. as the...

.22 caliber browning and that hed been interested in it for a very specific reason. >> he told me, well, i have a barrel that i can interchange on that that has a threaded end that i can put a suppressor on. >> reporter: silencer, that is. then an expert matched bullet casings found outside stovers house to michael oakes gun. >> i was able to identify all three fired cartridges as have been been fired from the browning pistol. >> reporter: proof that michiel oakes gun was fired at mark stovers h...

Stood ding by the back door. and she was obviously hurt. she was growling. and so i started talking to her nicely thinking, oh, my god, what is she doing here and whats going on? and i backed down the driveway. >> reporter: at about the same time the phone rang in the kennel. it was marks fiancee, teresa. >> when they told me ding was out, there was blood. ding is never out, ever. she is either in the house or shes with mark. shes not just out barking at people. >> reporter: no mark. injured dog...

But even then, in the fall of 2009, an ill wind was picking up. marks employees couldnt help but notice it. he was off somehow. >> he was very different, and he told me that he was very paranoid. hed actually been locking his doors. >> reporter: even though, as everyone knew, marks highly trained guard dog, ding, would have protected him from anything. >> i asked him why he was locking his doors because he had ding. and he said, i dont know. im just a little weirded out about something. >> repor...

Clothes, roaring down the driveway in marks white chevy station wagon. mark never drove that fast. it didnt look good. the policemen poked around, sniffed, measured. and still no mark stover. the evidence, even without a body, seemed clear. this was homicide. so by now, a couple of days after marks disappearance, his employees were shifting from puzzled to shocked to grief-stricken. >> mark took a role in my life like a surrogate father. and i truly loved mark as a parent and a friend and a fami...

>> i just found the romantic relationship that i had been seeking my whole life, just putting it together, and in the middle of this im supposed to say, hey, i would really love to look at your wedding pictures of your ex who is stalking you and driving you crazy. where would you have those? i would like to look at those. >> reporter: wait a minute. you didnt tell her that he confronted you and asked you for those wedding photos? >> oh, no. oh, no, no, no, no. >> reporter: instead, he says, he a...

Lot in a town called kenniwick washington when he was confronted by lindas ex, mark stover. >> i was approached by mark stover out of the clear blue. i had never met the gentleman prior to that, never spoken to him before. he did not introduce himself and he -- >> reporter: take your time. >> i got up every morning, you know, and took my kids to school. >> reporter: right. >> i had my son in grade school. and my daughter in middle school. >> reporter: yeah. >> and -- >> reporter: it was a long p...

Alive. >> reporter: and then you went and shot him? >> i went and i got shot. and i won. so because i won the gunfight, i know that i will not be standing on the side of my childrens graves and people arent going to be patting me on the back and saying, theres nothing you could have done. i did. >> reporter: oakes claimed mark stover shot first. thus the claim he now made. it was self-defense. even though no evidence ever surfaced to suggest stover was in possession of any firearm at all or that...

Asked her she took the fifth on. >> reporter: so there was one defendant in the murder of mark stover. michiel oakes. but he certainly didnt look the part of a hired killer. all 56" of him. soft spoken, understated, articulate. father of four, grandfather of one. >> yeah, he is not your hollywood casting for hitman. >> reporter: but cast as defense attorney? seattles colorful and irrepressible john henry browne. >> hes a really kind, compassionate, loving guy.

>> i have no liability in this case. >> nothing further. >> reporter: and the witness left the stand. "dateline" wanted to talk to linda opdycke, but she did not respond to our interview requests. and as for her father wally opdycke, his lawyer e-mailed this statement. wallace opdycke had absolutely no involvement or prior knowledge of michiel oakes murder of mark stover. rumors to the contrary are baseless and unfair. >> mark stover was a domestic violence terrorist. >> reporter: john henry bro...