The garage door is open. Theres glass in the back door, somebody broke in. My world had just been shattered. Reporter their Perfect World broke bein an act so evil it tore a family apart. The worst day of my life. And put an entire town on edge. Be extra cautious, lock your doors, windows. Pay attention to strangers in the area. They devoted their lives to others others. Who would ever want to hurt they were them . Absolutely it began with a happy way. With flowers and expression of love. Nathan at Denise Leuthold met back when they were students apartment a small Baptist School in Central Illinois. Even a the that young age, nathan knew there was something to this sparkling little girl. Was in fourth grade at the time and i doud doubt she even knew i existed but she was the cutest girl. What did you like so much . The bouncing curls and happygolucky smile in junior high. I began to see her character and what person she was that way. In high school nathan and denise got to know each other better bu they didnt date, because that both came from very religious families. My parents didnt believe in dating. We want to church events, saw her at school. She was my first and only girlfriend. Reporter got to know nathan and denise well. Nathan a basketball player, denise a cheerleader. Inseparable. Goof around with each other. Loveish way and it group into Something Special and we knew theyd be together. Whats more, nathan was inspired by her parents and what he saw as a perfect marriage. I looked at denises mom saw what she was am a woman a wife are and mother and saw that denise really favored her mother so i said, thats what i want. For denises mom, diane newton, the feeling was mutual. Was he over all the time . Yeah. He practically lived at our house. When denise went off to college, nathan, a year longer, followed. No surprise. The couple got engaged a year later. Diane knew it was coming. I knew they would end up getting married. That was 1995. I was always very happy being a wife and mother and was happy she had found someone to love and share her life with. Right before we did our vows denise prepared a song talksing about everything she wanted was and that our marriage was going to be the kind she had always hoped for and dreamed for as a little child, and a wonderful day. After the young come settled in their hometown of peoria, illinois, denise went to work at an Insurance Company while nathan started a career in sales, but he couldnt shake a higher calling. For several years he dreamed of becoming a baptist missionarys in 1998 he finally seized the opportunity when another young couple at their church began their own missionary work in lithuania. So i approached the fella and said, you know, what would you think about denise and i coming and helping you guys . He said, that would be great. They moved in with us for six months. Sold all their possessions. Tried to save up money. We didnt know any lithuanians at the time. Didnt know the language, studying, trying our best but if was definitely a shock. Year and soon welcomed a son, seth, and a daughter julia. In 2002, the family went back to lithuania, which became their second home on and off for the next eight years. Thats a big undertaking, to right. I think it was very hard for denise to leave her family, leave everything shed known and to go over to a strange country, you know, with a toddler and a baby. It was traumatic experience for her, i think. This is because, really, nathan wanted to do it . Right. She was supporting him. It was wasnt really her calling. She was basically being a wife and a mother. But denise also became very devoted to the church there. Denise was very musical and she played the piano for the children and taught them songs and taught the little girls especially bible stories. They grew particularly close to some of the children and their families. We had helped women who had been in abusive relationships. Lithuanians to the United States over the years. For cultural reasons, for musical purposes, for sports. Their generosity extended to a young lithuanian they had gotten to know by who eventually came to the u. S. As a College Student and even lived with them for a while in peoria. Nathan has a very big heart for people. He just loves to help people out, and just wants to do the lords work. By the fall of 2010, nathan and denise were living back in the states. By then they had a third child, janel. Their days were filled with shuttling kids to school and day it care and raising funds for their next overseas mission. Life with three young kids was busy, hectic, normal. But then came valentines day 2013, when nathan pulled into their driveway midafternoon and discovered something terribly i could see that the windowpane was broken, glass on the ground. At that point i began to put things together and someone had broken into the home, and at that point i calmed the police. Called 911. 911. Wheres the emergency . We had a breakin. A daring burglary in the middle of the day that would rob this family of everything. This family of everything. Candy or flowers this valentines day. No one can find denise. She hadnt answered her phone calls. Hadnt answered her Text Messages, and what police do find is terrifying. Everything stopped. I just kept looking at my daughter. My world had just been shattered and i have to tell her at some point. Run away with me what will you be able to do in a Jeep Renegade . Lost souls in revelry pretty much anything you want. And i said hey, hey hey hey living like we re renegades the most capable small suv ever. Traction control that can be adjusted to take on mud, sand or snow. Get 0 apr financing for well plus 500 bonus cash on 2015 Jeep Renegade models. 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Being back in the state also gave nathan an opportunity to travel to churches where he reported on his and denises missionary work and raised more funds so they could soon return to lithuania. In the u. S. They could also celebrate holidays americanstyle as they did on valentines day 2013. As is our tradition on holidays, whether its easter or christmas or birthdays or valentines, for the children we started off, right off the bat, first thing in the morning, and so the children had their prepared sitting there on the table for them. And for his wife my gift to her was the roses and the card that i had bought the night before and placed on the take. After the Early Morning back to their usual routine. Taking the kids to school, shopping, running errands. Denises parents were at work, but that day something happened that was completely out of character for denise. She failed to pick up julia from school. My parents called me. You want us to pick her up . I said, denise should be there any minute. She must have been late. Turns out, no one had been able to reach da fleiss for enise for a while, including nathan. Hadnt hadnt answered a phone call or messages. Let me get to daycare ill leapt you know. Still hasnt come. Hasnt called. Well, im right by the house. Ill run by the house and see if shes there. As soon as i pulled into the driveway, garage door was open. Is that odd . Very odd. No car in the garage, but the garage doors open. Then as i got about half way into the garage, i could see that windowpane was broken. At that point i began to understand that someone had broken into the home. Did you fear that the person could still be in the house . I did. With his young daughter in the car, nathan backed into the neighbors driveway across the street so he could watch the house as he called 911. Whats the problem . We got a breakin. Is it going on right now . I dont know. I the garage door is open. Theres glass on the back door where somebodys broke in. Ive not gone into the house yet. Nathan waited at the neighbors repeatedly calling family to see if anyone had heard from denise. Then police arrived. Detectives jason lee and shawn curry were among the first on the scene. By the time we got here, officers starting to rope everything off. Securing the inside of the house. They didnt find an intruder. Instead, they found something while searching the house, i discovered a female obviously ly ly deceased in the houses. 39yearold Denise Leuthold lying in a pool of blood had barely made it inside the house. Her coat was still on. Right on the other side of this door is where we found her laying down. Just right in the front door here. They quickly determined she had been killed by single gunshot to the head. She didnt even have time to take her coat off, her gloves, anything. When she entered the door, the next shot was immediate. And the weapon appeared to be a. 40 caliber landgun, but no sign of the gun. Did it seem denise had possibly startled a burg bler . It looked like she interrupted a burglar, something had broken in through the back door and started going through the house and maybe startled the burglar when she came in through the front door. While investigators combed the crime scene, nathan anxiously watched the police how did they tell you what they had found . The police were not the first people to tell me. Unfortunately i found out about it from my father. I was calling my dad, and dad said, well, im on my way. I just heard on the radio, the local news media just put it on the radio that at your house somebody was shot. Nathan realized it had to have been denise. When you came to that realization what was going through your mind . Everything stopped. From looking at my 4yearold daughter who is the image of her mother. Curly hair and bouncy step and i just kept looking at my her and i wanted to i wanted to just let out all of the pain that was associated with knowing that there she was standing staring at me just smiling. My world had just been shattered, and i had to tell her at some point. Denises mom had no idea what happened, but she rushed home when nathan told her thered been a breakin. Roads were all road blocked. Is that a sick feeling when you see all of the police and you know that oh, yeah. Well, i didnt know what to think. I tried to run up there and to go into the house and they were like, no, you cant go in, and im like, i just want to know. I just want to know what happened to my daughter . Is she in there . Where is she . They eventually took me downtown and then one of the policemen came in and told me that she had been shot. The worst day of my life. Husband, denises father. Fell apart and cried. I guess its every parents Worst Nightmare to have a child taken from them. As denises fae mily reeled from their unimaginable loss, this quiet Central Illinois community was starting to grapple with the fallout of a murder on valentines day. Did you feel like, we have a mystery on our hands. We got to solve this. Yeah. We knew we had something bad and it was going it take a lot of work to get to the point where we knew who had done it. A possible clue . Nathan remembers seeing a suspicious car near his house not long before the murder. This is kind of weird. Pulled in the driveway, i usually go through into the into the front door, and flip the outside lights on. flourish spray noise flourish spray noise flourish spray noise flourish spray noise the joy of real cream in 15 calories per serving. Enough said. Reddiwip. flourish spray noise share the joy. What about this guy . This guys. Been through a lot. Dogs bring out the good in us. Pedigree brings out the good in them. Shot to death in her home peoria, illinois. A friend, norm aldrick couldnt who could do Something Like this to a great, a great young woman. A family of three children. A great husband. Nathan said when he lost denise, he lost his foundation. My wife, my best friend, from third grade. The mother of the three most to me. How do i function now . Without her . With the house now a crime scene, nathan went with detectives to the Police Station where they asked him if he could would be targeted. Do you have any personal problems with anybody . No. Your wife . No. Was there anything of extreme value. In the house . In your room, in that room in particular . I i had, um, two watches. A couple hundred dollar watches. What about no. Jewelry had been stolen. Two guns had also been taken including a. 40 caliber glock. The same caliber to kill denise. Had the killer used that weapon to shoot her . Do you know why anybody would have broke in there. Ive been trying to answer that question since i pulled in the driveway. Nathan gave them a clue when he remembered a suspicious car in the neighborhood late at night a couple of weeks before the murder. Headlights. Thats all i saw. But they were on, on the road, when they turned in, they turned it off. You know, this is kind of weird. Pulling in the driveway i usually go through into the, the front door, and flip the outside lights on. Murder, he said it happened again. Similar situation, but this time in the neighborhood. Police and spoke with an officer. He said they probably were people that were out, his phrase people in peoria, illinois were spooked. Could a brazen burglar willing to kill be on the loose . It caused a lot of stress in the neighborhood. I mean, the local school don the wn the street they locked to down. This stuff doesnt happen here. You come down during the day people riding bikes in the streets. Peek in the park walking around. Its not like a highcrime area, gunshots all the time. It was enough to scare everybody. It was a big story in town. Be extra cautious. Lock your doors, lock your Pay Attention to strangers in your area. What was the mood of the neighborhood . It was very eerie. Bow ebenezer is a reporter for nbcs weektv in peoria. A lot of people in the community really wanted to know what happened. I mean, theyre going to sleep every night not really sure who killed their neighbor. One neighbor says with two small kids at home she is feeling panicked and even a little paranoid. Tips started coming in right Diane Parrish who lives a few houses down from nathan and denise remembered seeing a strange man on her street right around the time of the murder. So describe the man you saw walking along this road. He had a black hoodie sweatshirt on with the hood pulled up, and his hands were in the pocket. And i will never forget the look on that mans face. What was so odd about the look on his face . He was very agitated. I knew immediately something was wrong with him. Neighbors were anxious, and detectives were puzzled. Denises neighborhood was normally very quiet. Not the type of place youd expect 0 burglary, even if she had accidentally stumbled upon an intruder, how had it turned so vicious so quickly . Why would somebody want to come into this particular house . Not typical as far as a burglary that results in a murder. All. If it wasnt a burglary, what was it . Was nathans life also in danger . Nathans parents told me that nathan and the three children had been moved to a safe house, just to protect them. Just to protect them. To take care of business and take care of the people who matter most. So when your tax refund arrives, make it go a little further at walmart. From electronics, to home decor, even tires, get low prices on everything you need to get more fun out of your tax refund. Walmart. Earning unlimited cash back on purchases. Thats a win. But imagine earning it twice. You can with the citi double cash card. 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