Page 44 - Stream Bed News Today

>> what we learned about the defendant yesterday is that he can sell anything. but he cant sell you the impossible. >> from our perspective, thats what he tried to do. is that he tried to sell the emergency responders, c.b.i., the sheriffs office and, quite frankly, these juries, tried to sell something -- a story that was just simply impossible. >> reporter: could this jury rise to the challenge and once and for all make sense of what happened at cottonwood creek? coming up -- jurors get the ca...

Seasons change, waters rise and fall, and some believe the secrets of cottonwood creek will remain a mystery forever. this sunday, what kind of president will joe biden be? >> faith in our institutions held, the integrity of our elections remains intact. >> we take a look at what joe biden has said through the years and on the campaign trail, on foreign policy. >> someone said to me in another interview, do you want to own afghanistan? i said, no, but weve got to rent it for a little while her...

>> little tickling at the back of their neck had sent up some red flags to them. >> reporter: they told sheriff bruce that as they called 911 and set out to help in the search, fred was frantic one minute, then seemed calm the next. >> they said the vibes were all wrong from him. they became very uncomfortable. >> reporter: did they kind of, like, in hindsight think back? or was it right then? >> they were immediately concerned that something was amiss. >> reporter: it was the husband, justin, w...

>> yes, i am. >> reporter: is that keeping you going, focused? >> absolutely. >> reporter: then, in 2011, two and a half years after leslies death, a new d.a. took office, and the sheriff lobbied him to take action. >> we were able to get 30 minutes of his time and say heres what were looking at, heres what we think occurred. he said, lets go. >> reporter: the d.a. assembled a team to look into the case. matthew durkin, a deputy colorado state attorney general, came on board. he was later joined...

The bottoms of the creek changes, the walls of the creek can change, theres erosion upcreek, and you can see it the more times you go up there. you can see, every time it seemed a little bit different. >> reporter: and the defense attacked the states expert for what it said was another flaw with the mannequin test. >> you did not start that test with the mannequin falling from the ledge, right? >> absolutely not. >> and therefore your testing did not account for any kinetic energy that would hav...

Evidence. and circumstantial evidence is often enough to get you a conviction. but we knew we needed to have a lot of it. >> reporter: to investigators these tests confirmed their suspicions. to them, freds story of leslies accident was impossible. >> they said there was no way that her body could have ended up under that log, unless it had been placed there. that the forces of nature would not have put her under there. >> reporter: but were these tests enough to make a full-fledged criminal cas...

>> reporter: he told how he had left the camera with those last images of his wife behind. >> i would imagine i just dropped it while i was screaming. >> reporter: unable to locate leslie, he abandoned his search of the creek bed and made the decision to go for help. >> i hauled butt down to justins house and im honking and i scream at him to -- you know, i think my wifes dead. >> reporter: after listening to freds story, the sheriff wanted to go up to the site of the accident. you take fred bac...

Said he too got a strange vibe from fred the night leslie died, and again the next day, when they went back up to cottonwood creek. >> his emotions and his responses to everything seemed to be extremely flat. and i thought almost rehearsed. >> reporter: is that fair, though? with everyone being different in this world and everyone reacting differently to tragedy, is it fair for you to judge him based on how you think he should be acting? >> i dont know if its fair. but in my business its realist...

Seasons change, waters rise and fall, and some believe the secrets of cottonwood creek will remain a mystery forever. this sunday, what kind of president will joe biden be? >> faith in our institutions held, the integrity of our elections remains intact. >> we take a look at what joe biden has said through the years and on the campaign trail, on foreign policy. >> someone said to me in another interview, do you want to own afghanistan? i said, no, but weve got to rent it for a little while her...

For the hike. >> reporter: fred and leslie headed off with her dog gracie, a border collie pup. >> i think she was only 6 months old. >> reporter: was she rambunctious? >> she was rambunctious, for sure. shes the type of dog that when the ceiling fan would be going, she would try to jump up and like follow it around. >> reporter: fred and leslie parked at the base of the trail. snow still covered the ground in patches. they hiked up, past a small series of waterfalls. up until they found the per...