Private moment with his oldest daughter. i went out there, and i told her that we did it. she could be proud of everybody. reporter: todd s been back many times since. lisa s grave is a special deeply personal place for him. he designed her headstone. what do the figures in it? the first thing i would do when i started sketching it is i would draw a heart out. for some reason in my head it should be in the shape a heart. second thing i would put is a mother holding a baby, andleasea and i had and lisa and i had this thing we would say. we texted each other and everything, it s from the notebook, movie. we always said, if you re a bird, i m a bird. meaning whatever you are, i am. so in the era of this i made two birds in there. by the time i got it done with,
did he say he loved you? yes. reporter: but rachel was hedging her bets. she told seth she was also interested in a co-worker named brandon who just happened to call her during her tryst with seth in the park. he started getting really jealous. so on the 20th when you were communicating with brandon, he said what? just give me two more weeks. did you ask what he meant? yes, he just repeated the same statement. reporter: six days later, lisa was murdered in her own bed. and here we have a motive that we can understand love, the whole relationship with rachel was evidence that was like a countdown to lisa techel s death. reporter: but defense attorney steve gardner countered, arguing the motive of an affair falls flat without the essential element sex. seth techel was being accused of murdering his wife for an affair that he was hoping to someday have. you never had intercourse with him? no.
Tw of them were going to get married, jeff and lisa made the inevitable official. seth came to our house and met with us and asked our permission to marry lisa. old school? old school. after dating for years, they got married in october 2011. she was 22, he was 21. i told him no matter what he did to take care of her and protect her. and he said. he said he would. she got more than a brother in law in seth. he was my friend. he called me dad. we told each other we loved each other. i felt as close to him as i did my vun. for lisa, it was having all his buddies come along too. a package deal. how did lisa put up with you
Transcripts for MSNBC Dateline 20211218 09:02:30 archive.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from archive.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Thought happened. that s the only thing. that g seth then bolstered the cop s leading theory of the crime so far. that the neighbor, brian tate, had shot lisa. who was the first person that came to your mind? tate. crasisy crazy neighbor who thinks we re terrorists. talked about the deer hide and thought tate threw it over the fence so he responded in kind. escalated for several weeks in which tate said dog feces and rocks were thrown
They d be back to question tate again. what did you think you had? we still had a who done it in our minds? but lisa s step mom and sister had no doubts whatsoever. i thought it was brian tate. reporter: but investigators knew they still had to talk to the husband. when they scheduled an official interview with seth that same day, it didn t sit well with amy. is this how you always treat grieving husbands and i started crying? i m thinking they re being so mean to him. we got in an argument because i m like they have to do that. seth techel knew the spouse had to be ruled out. said he was eager to get crossed off the list and instructed his parents no lawyers. i remember saying do we need to get a lawyer? he was adamant, i didn t do anything. i have nothing to hide. i don t need a lawyer.
Shotgun. it belonged to seth s roommate who had just moved out. we showed lucas this photograph taken of seth at his home. if you look in the upper right-hand corner, lucas, the gun rack. yep. is your mosberg in that slack? yes, the middle one. lucas talked to deputies about the gun on the day of the murder. i told them it should be there. reporter: it wasn t there when crime scene techs scoured the trailer. and cops knew another place it wasn t. on the list of guns kept at the house that seth had written out for the dci agent. investigators felt certain the mosberg was used to kill lisa, but a big question remained where is it? that s what we want to know. where is the gun? that same sunday a team began searching the big, beautiful piece of property where seth and lisa were starting married life and preparing to raise a family.
Nobody winds. i will say this i think lisa knows somewhere that the system that she wanted to be a part of worked. reporter: the caldwells and techels weren t the only ones with a stake in the verdict. brian tate s sister sherri had been waiting for this moment, too. i started crying. it wasn t tears of sorrow. it was tears of joy. they had finally gotten this s.o.b. i hope he rots in prison. reporter: todd still carries the burden of helping to pin the blame on tate in those awful moments after lisa s murder. i can never tell the family how sorry i am that they had to go through what they had to. we re going to have the last word on brian tate. this is an innocent guy that was made a victim by seth. all rise. reporter: a sentencing hearing was held in september, 2014. the caldwells were given a chance to address the court but talked directly to seth.
With grief. it was a tragedy. but for lisa s dead, a sheriff s deputy it was no mystery. he was sure he skbu where the killer was. a neighbor with a gun and a grudge. i thought they better get there before i do. some said the couple was having trouble. that seth has secret. did she tell you she sent topless pictures? someone said it s right under cops noses. a case unfolding on camera, one nat would stes three jures, shatter two families. and chase one final twist. that was her biggest secret.
some sort of intruder? yeah, someone came in while he was in the shower and shot lisa and got away before he could catch them. we ll figure it out. lisa s father, todd, thought he had it figured out and already had a suspect. go get him, go get him, now. todd s rage was directed at the neighbor on the other side of the fence. a 56-year-old army veteran, named tate. i thought they better get to him before i do. reporter: ryan tate was embroiled in an escalating feud with his neighbors. todd knew about it and was certain his daughter was dead because of it. the culmination of bad blood? right. reporter: started about two months before the murder. seth pulled a dead deer off the property line.