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i'm craig melvin. it had been a month since stephanie roller-bruner was bludgeoned, strangled and then drowned in a river, just yards from her house. investigators zeroed in on three people of interest. stephanie's boyfriend, ron, who just broke up with. her ron's wife, cindy. and stephanie's husband, dale bruner. and as detectives dug deeper into the bruner marriage, a grill-y secrets emerged that would put dale at the very top of the suspect list. here again is keith morrison with "secrets in the snow". >> it's horrible. i don't even know how to explain having a microscope go into your world. it's surreal. >> there are few secrets in a person's life that can escape the attention of a determined homicide effective. >> everything comes out.
that her -- to find that her husband had been seeing another woman. and want to go to significantly it's by eliminating that temptation. >> her alibi? she was home, sleeping right next to iran. >> okay did you know -- do you know for sure if ron was in the house. did he leave at anytime that night on monday night? >> i can't tell sitting up looking at him all night. >> if he was gonna get up and leave would you have told? >> i would've. yes. >> they're alibis where each other. detectives kept -- >> how much do you love your husband? >> i'm committed. >> would you do anything for him? >> look within reason. would i lie for him? no. look because you know what? he made his bed, he's got a lane it. >> for almost a month, detectives went back and forth between ron and cindy and stephanie's husband dale. who, by that time, had been
>> so she would be outgunned by any one of them? >> i would believe so, yes sir. >> they took ron in for questioning several times. and, again and again, he insisted it wasn't him. >> i screwed up my marriage. i made a mess of my life. >> he admitted that in the last hours of stephanie's life he met her here in this clothing store parking lot, around dinnertime. and it wasn't a happy meeting. >> i was actually telling trying to tell or that it was over. >> he earlier sent her a brief break up email, he said. she insisted on seeing him in person. she was not taking it well at all. >> and then she said, ask me again one more time, but we can make it work. i said, no, we cannot make this work. >> she was still interested in having a relationship with him. >> and didn't want to let him go? >> correct. and i'm sure that he was motivated to not let his wife find out about that. >> which speck the question, where was drawn holthaus later that evening when stephanie went for her walk? >> you're saying to me you are at home. you never went out on monday night. >> correct. >> the detective scolded in ron 's wife, cindy. >> it would not be unheard of for a woman to be very upset
>> it made such a big deal of the fact that dale didn't join the search for stephanie. even though -- >> i called the police and they told me stay home and casey comes up. >> so, by the time dale's trial began, he isn't his attorney were ready for evidence that was, they knew only circumstantial. questions like this. the way she was beaten on her head. the strangle the way she was strangle. it's a very intimate crime. it's the sort of crime husbands commit when their wives are about to leave. >> or should i say, boyfriends? >> well, there you go. >> that was the point his lawyers want to make in court. that police and prosecutors had unfairly brushed off the possibility that stephanie's new soulmate, or his wife, had anything to do with it. that would be ron holthaus. >> when everybody found out that stephanie was missing, did any police officers come and visit you at work or at your home that day? >> no, they did not. >> and didn't ron's wife, cindy, have a motive? >> i said something like, i don't know where she is by hope she rots in hill. and i'm very sorry i said that.
wanted to move back in. >> and i say, are you sure? she said don't worry everything is fine. >> but now, just two days later, things were not fine. not at all. stephanie was missing. and dale was down at the police department telling officers where he thought his wife might have gone. >> i thought she would go somewhere with her wi-fi, to be on the computer, and my other guest was to maybe she went to ron's house. i didn't know. >> the police interviewed the other man, of course. ron holthaus. >> i just want to ask straight-up again, not accusing you, do you know where stephanie is right now? >> i have no idea. >> ron admitted, he and stephanie had a romantic relationship but he denied the other slept together. >> we never ended up having sex. >> and ron told them something very interesting. that he had ended the affair. it was the night she moved into the condo, she took he told them.
could've been hiding out. any number of opportunities at that point. >> still, it was so cold, perhaps too cold, for a lurking predator. >> it is one of those few cases where it's a who done it, if you will. and you have at least three viable suspects. >> anyone of whom had potential motives? >> absolutely. >> it was fronds holthaus the other man who had suddenly dumped stephanie. there was stephanie, ron's wife, who, if she knew about the affair, could've wanted revenge. and then there was dale, dale bruner, the husband. and any one of them, felt the detective, was physically capable of committing the crime. >> her husband, six foot, 200 pound, very athletic guy. and mr. holthaus, a big strong guy. and his wife was a very physically fit woman.
>> she coached a number of couples, and in the process she met with a man may name drawn. >> with ron holthaus, a local man, married physical therapist. >> she started working with him and getting to know him and she really did call it a true love moment. >> did he feel the same way about her? >> they really clicked together. >> stephanie was dancing on air. >> she didn't realize there could be love like that. >> a secret from her family, of course. but she told her friends she found her soulmate. >> it was almost odd how she told a number of us that, i just want you to know that i'm very happy. >> but joy and missouri come in pairs, sometimes. as thanksgiving approached, chaos took over what had been a well ordered life. it was a wednesday middle of october when things started piling up. >> horrendous day for her, the.
veronica we nicholas took the call. >> he said i got ready ready for school, we've got him ready on the bus, and then i thought i should call you guys. >> stephanie's car was in the driveway and when he called her phone it went straight to voice mail. britannica called stephanie's best friend, jennifer. >> i panicked, this is something that happens to other people, not to you. >> oh but it had happened. as the silver thorn police checked local hospitals, they scan the neighborhood. >> it seems unbelievable that stephanie had not checked. >> the day became two, and three. and some private secrets were about to become very public indeed. >> where was stephanie? police had a lot of questions for her husband dale, they also wanted to talk to that other man in her life. her boyfriend, ron. coming up. >> i just want to ask straight-up again, not accusing you, do you know where stephanie is right now? >> when dateline continues.
>> and that was when we lost it, because it was feelings of oh, my gosh. and she is crying. >> it was as if stephanie was testifying in her own murder trial. >> i would so love to talk to him about it and say, you need help. and i just think that would go really bad. so, i'm here asking for health. >> and i'm going to end up getting a divorce because there is no way i can go back. >> only, she did. finally, this domestic violence expert waited. >> when a victim is attempting to leave a relationship, or has left a relationship, it is by far the most dangerous time for a victim. >> but what was the trigger that according to the prosecution, set dale off? the answer, he said, may lie in an unfinished email stephanie was writing to the other man, ron, just before she was murdered. and though dale denied he knew
with the kids. >> but then, back in town, is when stephanie revealed one, that she was in love with a another man. and to, a restraining order was about to be served. >> she told me that the sheriff 's department was going to come to the house and i'm going to have to leave. >> so, he did. after which said dale, they calmed down and days later went back and asked the judge to rescind his order. the court recorded the session. >> i'm never going to speak again. this potentially could crush my entire world. and i'm so sorry to you. and i will make it up in any and every we possibly can. >> she wanted to leave, but she felt like the restraining order was too much. that dale didn't deserve that and maybe she had overreacted. >> and so, they talked about it like adults. and eventually they signed divorce papers and dale, even helped stephanie move into her condo. where, as you know, the very night she moved in, her new love ron told her the affair was over. they weren't going to be together not then. not ever.