and we didn t have any evidence to support that linda or wally we didn t have any evidence to support that linda or wally were directly involved other than what jennifer thompson had told us. reporter: why not just call them in and ask them? they wouldn t talk to us. we got a letter and a phone call from wally s attorney immediately after michiel oakes arrest, stating that wally opdycke would not talk to us. reporter: well, had you asked him by then? no, we have not even requested to interview wally. we hadn t even called him. reporter: what did you think? well, i thought, wow, huge red flags. i thought, wow, this guy, we haven t even asked to talk to him and he already has an attorney. and the attorney is already contacting us telling us not to contact wally opdycke? it was crazy. same with linda. she hired an attorney right away. reporter: linda invoked her fifth amendment right to remain silent. a judge ultimately ordered her to sit for a deposition. still didn t s
you know, divorce is never, never pleasant, but theirs just became very visible. and the fighting involved the business. keith morrison: he was afraid of losing it. very much so. keith morrison: after the garbage incident, linda came up with a whole slew of accusations. that mark had been harassing her ever since she left him. a domestic violence protection order was issued against mark in april 2008. mark was later charged with criminal stalking. he swore up and down that many of the allegations were not true. but he was caught going through her garbage, he eventually took what s known as an alford plea, which means he agreed to plead guilty, conceding a judge or jury would probably convict him, even though he claimed he didn t do it, much of it anyway. but here was the deal, and this was important. as part of that arrangement, mark was ordered to give up his guns. for most people, that might be easy.
immediately started trying to find out who this michael oakes guy was that was seen behind the grange by the two witnesses. keith morrison: once police had michael oak s id, they discovered he was spending time with linda opdycke, mark s ex-wife. so now, two officers from the okanagan county sheriff s department paid a visit at linda s house here in winthrop, washington. and sure enough, there was michael oakes suv in her driveway. once in the house, the officers asked to speak to oakes. he agreed, but then he said he needed to find his pills. he became agitated or frustrated. kept on asking for his medication. and the chief, not knowing if michael was having some sort of a medical issue, allowed him to look around for his medication. keith morrison: and while supposedly hunting for pills michael then secretly snuck out the basement area of the house and went to his vehicle.
who until mid-trial had refused to say one word in public, the woman at the center of it all, linda opdycke miss opdycke, raise your right hand. keith morrison: whose long silence was about to end. coming up, and end it would, with a bang, with stories of who she said was the real mark stover. and he had a pistol in his hand and laid it on the pillow next to my head. i see mark on a hillside behind my house. he s looking through the scope, pointing the rifle at me. keith morrison: when dateline continues. the beautiful thing about care, is knowing that it s always there.
the person who s dead here is mark stover. yeah. he s the one against whom the violence was committed. here s something that we ve learned in this country, haven t we, you don t negotiate with terrorists. michiel didn t know that. or michiel felt he could negotiate with terrorists. linda felt she could negotiate with terrorists. the reality is you can t negotiate with a terrorist. and mark stover was a domestic violence terrorist. keith morrison: mark s friends and clients had by now gathered around the courthouse here in mount vernon determined to tell the world, anybody who would listen, that those claims were both unfair and untrue. most of all these reports that we hear are filed by her alone and by her eyewitness alone and absolutely no one else s. so you ve got to weigh that in at some point too, that it doesn t have that much meat to it. woman: i just knew that wasn t true about him. there was there was nothing in him that was malicious or vindictive.