>> she says she reached and for the gun. she fired it. >> he's on the floor, i can see blood about him. >> so the story is this incredibly brave mama bear taking pair of her clubs? >> -- >> -- >> her story fits the evidence. and i'm going, no it doesn't. >> so it's an execution he walks into, is that the way you see it? >> totally. she killed him. >> i was defending my family. and that is all i can keep thinking about. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> twilight, in an eye or roy farming town. darkness is in the windows of a victorian house. downstairs in the kitchen, a crock pot is simmering. upstairs, a young mother runs a bat for her baby daughter. her two older sons huddle by a tv in the bedroom down the hall. suddenly, they hear a shout. their mother's cry for help. >> all of a sudden, you can hear her yelling. and then i can hear her yelling towards the door. and i'm standing there, like what is going on? >> 11 years old, he sees his mother running towards him. >> she's in the door jam, trying to get in. i can see her getting yanked back by her hair. >> the mother flings the baby into the suns arms, and slams the door shut behind her. >> i can hear, just rustling around. moving around. and her yelling for help again. and then it was, the sound of her being choked. >> nearly 20 years on, the truth or that happened that december night. of what an 11 year old boy says that he heard, then saw. still haunts the town of early, iowa. a crime, sudden, vicious, inexplicable. and it's link? the fear. >> i was afraid for myself, i was afraid for my family. >> the pain. >> incidentally, we felt alone, lost, confused. >> and the unanswered questions. just what had happened on that frigid night? >> liar is a tough word in american culture. do you think the kids a liar? >> absolutely! >> the spasm of violence in an unexpected place, happened here at the self proclaimed, crossroads of the nation. early, iowa. population vibe hundreds stance on the junction of two highways. and most people drive right on through. but in 1998, two strangers rolled into town from chicago. tracey ann and michael roberts. >> they came off as, they were from chicago, he's from australia. >> seems to be a nice family? >> yeah. >> local realtor, mona, said that she heard the bustle about the big city transplants. second marriage for both of them. michael was a computer expert with plans of investing in the home business. and more. >> michael said he wanted to help the community, we're gonna grow the community, we're gonna build it up. >> tracy kept a lower profile around town. but mary, a farmer's right, got to know him extremely well. >> she was great, she was fun, she was beautiful. she seemed very educated. she was kind of a fun person to be around. >> the tuesday at home mom's car pulled, and shared confidences. sometimes they played hooky when they were trying to be in an aerobics class together. >> we will go to the bar! we would have a beer, she would have a drink, we would sit, their talk, laugh. >> she also met tracy's husband, michael, at church. but as much as she liked her friend, she took an instant dislike to the husband. she thought the entrepreneur seemed full of himself. >> he was a huge bragger. he would brag about everything he had, and what he was gonna get. and tracey would look at him and tell him, don't do that. but, he would. >> someone not put off by the swagger was the realtor, mona. >> i help them buy and sell several homes. >> she was impressed by michael 's go getter attitude and his strong, religious convictions. >> did you regard them as friends? personal friends? >> i would've done anything to help them, or system. >> the feeling was mutual. michael seemed eager to help mona to. for instance, when she told him her 20-year-old son dustin was drifting. struggling to hold down a job, and with his parents. michael made an offer. >> he said, you know, i can take him under my wing. and mentor him a little bit. and see if i can get him off on a good path. and it just seemed so sincere about it. and i'm like, really? wow. that is special. okay. >> which is why what happened on december 13th, 2001, and the identity of who had been inside the roberts home, surprised everyone the way that it did. no light spilled from the windows of the house where the brutal attack was taking place. inside, 11 year old -- , was frozen. unsure. he had hoped his mother being choked. but now there was silence. he grabbed a baseball bat, and headed his younger brother upend. tell him to use it as a weapon. >> so you're the protector, and you are an 11 years old? >> the only thing i wanted to do was protect them. >> he stood behind a closed-door, clutching the bat, ready to fight back. >> and i was like, the first person to come through here. i'm hitting. going out fighting. i want to try. >> the boy could hear the voices of two men in the hallway. >> they eventually started banging on the door. it felt like they were trying to get in. >> he says he started cursing at the intruders, using every bad word he could think of. >> then i could hear all of a sudden, another set of footsteps. in the upstairs. start running. and then, eventually, i heard. you know. she has a gun. >> and then, the boy heard a series of gunshots. a breathless -- , dialed 9-1-1. >> someone came to my house and tied my mom up. >> but the boy was saying was something like out of a movie. as first for the small town police department. >> early rescue, you are needed that. that michael's residence. i'm not really sure what's going on. >> what had happened inside the roberts home? who is alive? and who was dead? coming up! the picture starts to come together as tracey's mother gets word of the attack. >> he said, they're working on her. that she could not breathe. >> would tracy make it? and just to where the mystery intruders? when dateline continues! why don't i feel like myself? could this be menopause? what's happening to me? the menopause journey has stages. learn about yours with clearblue menopause stage indicator... that tracks your fsh hormone levels... combining them with your cycle data. the more you learn about your stage... the better prepared you can be. clearblue menopause stage indicator. what's your menopause stage? billy: one second, grandma. this guy is going to buy my car. okay? grandma: you need carvana... entering plate number... grandma: no accidents, right? billy: no. grandma: generating offer... carvana can pick it up tomorrow! billy: that's an amazing offer. announcer: sell your car the easy way with carvana. (swords clashing) -had enough? -no... arthritis. here. aspercreme arthritis. full prescription-strength? reduces inflammation? thank the gods. don't thank them too soon. kick pain in the aspercreme. the power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. and that's a good thing? great in my book! who are you? no power? no problem. introducing storm-ready wifi. now you can stay reliably connected through power outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up to keep you online. only from xfinity. home of the xfinity 10g network. >> police cars were racing towards this victorian home. officers wondering about the fate of the people inside. tracey roberts, and her three children. there had been reports of a violent break-in and a shooting. >>is there anybody threatening you at this time? 20 miles away, tracey's mother was also wondering about her daughter. tracy was late picking her up for her grandson, bert, basketball plastics. then the phone rang. it was her, sobbing. >> she just broke out in tears. and was crying hysterically on the phone, was really hard to understand him. and said that someone was shot in the house. and someone -- >> tracy's mother, hoped in her car and raced down country roads to the house. she says the policeman stopped her from going inside. >> he said, i couldn't go in because it was a crime scene. and i said, i want to see how my daughter, how she is. i'm sorry. and he said, they are working on her. and she couldn't breathe. >> tracey was alive, but she was gasping for breath. paramedics loaded her into the ambulance and took her to the hospital. two hours later, another mother came rushing to what was once the home of a friend, but now a crime scene. >> and there's all these kids, and cars and stuff there. and we go flying through the barricade. >> local realtor, mona, was looking for her son dustin wehde. his car was parked in the driveway of the roberts home, secured now behind crime scene tape. mona said that police officers would not let her near it. >> i looked at them and i said, is my son here? and they go, yes. and i go, is he dead? and they go, yes. >> the body of dustin wehde, the young man being mentored by tracy's husband. it was sprawled on the couples bedroom floor. tracy had shot him, in what appeared to be a desperate act of self-defense. >> did they tell you anything about what happened in that house? >> no. they told us to go home. i said, i want to hold, him and they said you can't. >> 12 miles away at the hospital. tracy was finally safe, and breathing on her own. investigators captured the ugly red choke marks on her neck, and the look of terror in her eyes. what did she endured? tracy said that she couldn't believe it when the police told her, it had been her friend son dustin wehde, who had attacked her. she hadn't been able to make out his face in the dark. what did you think when you had a name attached to this? >> it was so hard. because at that point i heard the worst of it was behind me. and then. >> you killed mona's son? >> yeah. that's who i felt bad about. because i cared about mona. you know? and now? she's lost her son. >> from her hospital bed, tracey told investigators a little bit of what she remembered. how she had been running a bath for her daughter, mason, when she heard sounds at the bottom of the stairs. has they had chased her when she ran to bert room. the baby in her hands. >> bert said i threw mason, i don't remember throwing her. i don't remember. but at some point she was out of my arms, and she was in the room. >> you were trying to get in there with your children? >> yeah. and. i was pulled out. >> that's when one of the man, she said. had started to strangle her with some pantyhose that had been left drying on the banister. >> i was having trouble breathing, and i couldn't get away. and i, i was having trouble even twisting out of it. >> tracy says that she must've passed out, because the next thing that she remembered was waking up on the floor. she could hear bert cursing at the intruders. this was the moment that she knew she had to act to protect her children. she ran for a gun safe next to the bed in the master bedroom. >> i dove into the room. and i just, i went for the safe. >> she could feel dustin and the other man grabbing, her as she tried to open the safe. even so, she managed to punch in the code and open it. she grabbed a handgun, and pointed it over her shoulder. but when she pulled the trigger, nothing happened. the safety was on. >> it was such relief when i got it open. and then, nothing. >> she pulled the trigger again, and this time she says, the gun fired. >> the thing i remember the most is that, it was so loud. and it was so bright. like, the flash from the gun was blinding, really. >> tracy says that she managed to swivel around to face her attacker's. she kept firing. are you hearing the assailant scream? >> i didn't hear anybody scream. >> what she could hear when she stopped shooting, was the sound of someone breathing. and then, sudden footsteps running out of the door. had one of the home invaders fled? tracey inch down the bed, she couldn't see much. the bedroom was hazy with gun smoke. but she heard her kids calling for her, she said. and she ran to bert room. >> i opened the door, and bert almost took my head off with a bat. and i don't remember having a conversation with them. i just remember being so happy that they were fine. >> both of us were on pure adrenaline. just like, trying to just grasp what just happened. you know? are you okay? yeah we're fine. >> tracy said that she shepherded bert and her younger children into the hallway, thinking they were finally safe. but according to both tracy and bert, the nightmare was far from over. the intruder lying on tracey's floor, was still alive. she could see it was dustin wehde, the son of her wife's friend. mona. >> he was on the floor, i could see that there was blood around him. and i could see him start to get up. >> he was moving? >> he started moving. >> was he gonna attack tracy again? >> and i remember, it just put me back into, when is this gonna end? when is it gonna stop? just make it stop. >> tracy says that she ordered the kids back into the bedroom. and before she knew it, she had another gun in her hand. and she fired a warning shot. telling dustin to stay down. >> i could hear her yelling on him to stay on the ground. don't get up, don't get up. and then another shot, and then another. and finally, dustin was still. there was no sign of a second in trudeau. tracy's husband, michael, had been out of state when the breakout occurred. there must have been questions occurring in your brain. how is she? how are the kids? >> there were too many questions. >> reunited with the family, he was puzzled what would happened. >> the story is that this incredibly brave mama bear is protecting her cubs, against these two home invaders? >> it was incredible. i was proud of her. they are my heroes. >> but he said he could not understand why dustin wehde, a kid he taking under his wing, had apparently turned on him. breaking into his house, attacking his wife and children? that night, michael spoke to dustin wehde mother on the phone. >> mona called me. apologized, and asked me to tell tracey that she loves her. >> she believed her son was in the wrong? >> yeah. she said that she was sorry, but that she loved her. it was heartbreaking. >> heartbreaking to hear mona's grief. and chilling to think what might have happened if tracey had not fought back the way that she did. michael wondered what, or who, had driven dustin to such violence that night. >> coming up! >> living here, most of us don't lock us door. a lot of us can't lock our doors. we were nervous. >> a town on edge as police search for the second intruder. was it someone from tracey's mysterious past? >> she said i'm about to send you a fax, and i hope you still love me after i send it to you. >> when dateline continues! the first fda-approved rsv vaccine. arexvy is used to prevent lower respiratory disease from rsv in people sixty years and older. rsv can severely affect the lungs and lower airways. arexvy is proven to be over 82% effective in preventing lower respiratory disease from rsv and over 94% effective in those with these health conditions. 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(♪♪) (crying) i've had so many nightmares about the attack. dennis murphy (voiceover): tracey roberts, >> i've had so many nightmares in her sleep, relived the terrifying night about the attack. >> tracey roberts, in her sleep, relived the terrifying night of the home invasion. her mother said that she was falling apart. >> she did not want to go in the house. she was afraid to go in the house. it was very uncomfortable in there. >> uncomfortable, and uneasy, described a great many residents in early, iowa in the great days following. >> i was -- >> tracy's best friend, like many other people in town. worried about her family safety. >> living in early, most of us don't lock our doors. most of us can't lock our doors. we were nervous. >> where was the second intruder? tracy gave an interview to a local tv and reporter, in the months following the invasion. >> there is a person still out there. and as a mother, i have a natural instinct to want to protect my children. >> she gave a description of the second intruder, but other than that police did not have much to go on. crime scene technologist could find no fingerprints at the scene. no one saw anyone suspicious fleeing the area that night. >> we're still looking. and again, we have no clue who the second party was. in the house that night. >> and of course, police know the identity of the attacker that had not gotten away. dustin wehde, the son of tracy's friend. realtor, mona. >> i was in shock. i could not think. >> it was also hard from wanted to hear. her boy, dustin wehde, a child she raised. was not a violent young man. he was just misunderstood. >> i felt my son was labeled at a very young age. and really started getting bullied at a very young age. he was never invited to a birthday party, he was never invited for a sleep over. >> was there a name for what troubled him? mona had taken dustin wehde, from doctor to doctor to get a handle on his social awkwardness. his moodiness. >> every place we went, there was also always a different diagnosis. i felt that he was very misunderstood as a child. >> had the troubled young man simply snapped? tracy sought so. she said that she had never felt safe around dustin, even when michael was mentoring him. >> i told michael i didn't like the idea of him being around the kids. because when i saw him with michael, the affect was just off. >> tracy said that dustin's mother once confided in her that she was scared of her own son. >> she complained that he was physical with his sisters. >> scaring his own sister? >> she said that she could not he leave him alone with the girls. because he would hurt them. >> physically hurt them? >> physically hurt them. yeah. >> she says mona told him that day -- >> and you believe he did that? >> yeah. i saw her cry over it. >> in the hours after the attack, tracy speculated about what had brought the unstable teenager to her home in the first place. had some of michael's collectible guns caught his eye? was it a botched robbery? investigators didn't think so. the intruder showed no interest in grabbing the expensive jewelry, or the cash michael kept in the safe. the one item made off with from the house, was an old computer found in the backseat of dustin's car. >> when i heard the computer was taken, i did think it was strange that a ring, that is a lot smaller, and has a lot more value, which could easily fit into somebody's pocket. why didn't someone just slipped the ring off my finger? >> but if dustin and his mysterious coconspirator had not been looking for clues, what had they been doing? had their mission been even more sinister than anyone had first imagined? investigators wonder, did someone want to scare tracey? or maybe even kill her? but no one could picture dustin, troubled as he was, as leading that vicious assault. who then, was the o