Death of an Olympian

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0:58Erin Moriarty:They've been in high school.

1:03Erin Moriarty:She was a homecoming queen, and he was, you know, one of the big studs in high school. He also was an Olympian. Flout of the USA may be able to do it. He is sitting in third position. He wasn't just my big brother. He was like Superman. They had a good relationship. Hey, Mike. They just decided they wanted to adopt. Hi, Michael. That was an exciting time. They had their child. It was like, wow. I think they were the perfect couple up until towards the end.

1:47What's the one and two? One and two is scalp matter, we believe, from Dave Lapp.

1:56And three, four? Three, four are blood. To even try to figure out what happened, it just kind of goes beyond your scope of understanding. How did a pool of blood get over here if his body is here? What theory would you like to hear first? The prosecutions or what actually happened? I notice you don't call this a crime scene. It's not. It's not a crime scene. It's where a woman saved her life. Who is Jay Lent? She was a woman who was battered and abused for years, and who accepted that as her plight. You have to understand this man was a monster. Why did you shoot him? He was going to kill us. Michael!

2:40He was going to shoot Michael. He was going to kill me. I didn't think I was going to live that night. When did you hear what her defense was going to be? When she hired Ron Bamier, he started saying things in the media. Outlandishly, just bashing Dave. He beat her, and she did what any mother would do to save her son.

3:01Erin Moriarty:And he suggests they will find evidence of a troubled home life. You have to understand, a lot of people didn't want to confront Dave Lout. He was an Olympic hero. I was afraid because he's Dave Lout. Nobody would believe what was really happening. She kept a secret for years from the people closest to her. Do I believe that he hit her? Absolutely not. He loved her. Were you in love with Dave? Yes. Yeah, I really was. There are a lot of people who will look at Jane, and they see a meek, quiet woman. Don't let it fool you. There's a different person living inside of her than what you see. Is Jane Laupp going to testify?

3:44Yeah, of course. She'll be our first witness. I'm confident a jury's gonna know that Jane was in fear of her life that night and that shooting Dave was her only escape.

3:59I'm Erin Moriarty. Tonight on 48 Hours, death of an Olympian.

4:09It was shortly after midnight, August 28, 2009. And in Oxnard, California, Jane Lout was frantically telling a 911 dispatcher that her husband, Dave, may just have been shot by an intruder.

4:32Dave's younger brother, Don, and his wife, Rebecca, were asleep in their home when they got the call.

4:39Erin Moriarty:Hi, you've reached a lot, family. When the phone rings that early, you know it's... Yeah, something's not right. Hi, this is Detective Sonia Sanchez with Oxfair Police Department. But we kind of laid there frozen. Right. Let it go to voicemail. Jane Laut called her brother, Hank Laubacher. Can you hear the noise in the back yard? He ran out and I got some shots. The police are here. It's at 1048. It's in the alley. This is an audio recording of first responders to the crime scene that night. Who saw him last? I did. Okay. Officers found Dave Laut dead in the side yard.

5:21From a distance, I observed Dave's body, and he had two very close proximity gunshot wounds. Lead detective Mike Young. One was to the back of his head, and there was a second very close proximity gunshot wound to the back of his right shoulder.

5:38Erin Moriarty:I hit the floor, and I was in tears. My Superman was gone. Not long after the shooting, Jane was questioned by Oxnard homicide detectives about what she said happened. I told you I'm trying to remember everything. Jane said that while their 10-year-old son Michael was asleep in his bed, her husband heard a noise out back. He said there's something going on in the backyard. Her husband, Dave Laut, had gone outside to investigate, that she'd gone out briefly with him. He told her to go back in the house and that she had heard gunshots and that Dave had not come back into the home.

6:26That, Jane said, is when she called 911.

6:37How did you first hear that something had happened to your son? It was about 5 o 'clock in the morning, and the doorbell rang. Dave's mother, Dottie Laut. It was Jane's brother, Hank, and Hank said, Jane and Michael are okay, but Dave's dead. Dottie was devastated, but relieved that Michael and Jane were safe. Jane had been a beloved part of the Loutt family for over 30 years. This is a memorabilia room. Yeah, quite a few things, huh? Back in 1980, Dave was a hometown hero who had set shot put records and was destined for Olympic fame. His biggest supporter was the young woman who was about to become his wife.

7:29I mean, if you knew Dave and the kind of person he was, and the way he beamed when he talked about Jane and how he had her up so high on this pedestal. I mean, he just, he loved her. She was a nice girl. I loved her all these years, I did. Jane Loud spoke to me for her first TV interview. You remember your wedding day? Mm-hmm. Were you happy that day? I was. I was really happy. You know, and it was very special. They had a good, strong friendship. And something that I always thought, you know, I want to have a marriage like that. But the marriage faced challenges. In 1984, Dave finally won an Olympic medal.

8:16But it was bronze. Everyone was proud. But Dave was determined to win the gold in the 88 games. And then while training, Dave tore tendons in both of his knees and forever lost his chance at the gold. He tried, but he couldn't come back. He then became a teacher? Mm-hmm. Did he like teaching? He loved it. And the one that was important was that one. Athletic director from high school. It was his dream job. Jane and Dave seemed to settle into their new life and tried to have a family. When Jane couldn't get pregnant, the couple adopted a baby boy from South Korea. Hi, Daddy. Hi. Daddy. And named him Michael.

9:04We had happy times. The time right before Michael arrived was good. Right up until Michael was probably five was the best time of our marriage. And it just started going downhill, and it got worse and worse every year. But no one seemed to know how bad. I'm trying my best. I don't know. Back at the Loud Home, Detective Young made a stunning discovery that would change everything. You found the weapon, didn't you? I did. Where? Inside the grandfather clock that was in the living room of the house. I walked over to the grandfather clock, opened the door and looked inside and there was a gun underneath the weights.

10:01Dave had been shot with his own.22 caliber single action revolver, the kind of gun you see in cowboy movies. It's a single action revolver. Heavy and an effort to use. Gun expert Nabil Katar showed me that the hammer must be cocked for every shot. Now bring that hammer back and fire. Six shots were fired at Dave Lout that night, and according to authorities, all six hit their target. And the gunshots that people heard, were they boom, boom, boom, boom? They were separated, as I recall, by about a second a shot. So boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Just hours after being interviewed by police before she even knew they found the gun, Jane changed her story.

10:57Now she said it was self-defense and hired attorney Ron Bamier. There's no dispute that she wanted him dead that night. Yeah, it was going to be him or her. Jane says it was when her husband also threatened to kill their 10-year-old son, Michael, that she felt she had no choice. I think if it didn't happen, we would both be dead. But even then, it would be nearly six months before Jane Lott was arrested, and then she would be released on bond for six years until her trial finally began. Why? Why did it take so long? Because knowing that who is only half the story. We wanted to try and figure out if there was a legitimate why.

11:43So why do you think she killed your son? My personal feeling is that she was afraid Dave was going to take Michael. Next, Jane tells us her side of the story.

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13:42Jane Lout says she never planned to kill her husband. I thought for sure it was the only way to stop him. You don't get how he would not stop coming after me. She was used to abuse, she says, but that night she says Dave went further than he ever had. Normally he'd get mad and it would taper off sometimes, but he never stopped all night. He just kept raging. Jane claims she first noticed Dave's temper when they were dating, and Dave was going for the gold. There were signals I didn't really pay attention to before. Just his anger. His, um...

14:38You know, if something didn't go right, if he couldn't find something, if he's throwing weight at the shot and it doesn't go as far as he wants. He's just losing his temper. The first time Dave hit her, Jane says, was also shortly after they were married. Dave was going out of town to an Olympic training session, and it was Jane's job to pack his bags. He was leaving for a trip and I forgot to buy something. It was like bathroom supplies. And he hit me and I had like a black eye and my lip was split. He told me.

15:32If anybody asks, tell him some s***er did it. And that, says Jane, is exactly what she told everyone. I told him somebody mugged me. A black person mugged me. But Jane admits that physical violence was not the norm. Instead, she describes a pattern of mostly emotional and psychological abuse. How often would there be incidents and what would they involve? It was mostly verbal abuse. What would he call you? Well, stupid, idiot, fat, bitch, Jew. How often would that happen? The last two years, it was all the time. Jane also says that Dave would taunt her and their young son Michael with his vast gun collection, claiming that he even made her play Russian roulette.

16:27And he kept trying to make me hold the gun and I wouldn't do it. The older Michael got, says Jane, the more unreasonable Dave became. There's so many times I should have called the police, and I didn't, and I so regret that. Especially the times when Michael was involved. I can't believe I let him stay in danger like that. Why did you stay?

16:57I always thought it would get better. Yet, she says, she was still unprepared for what happened on the night of August 27, 2009. When Jane and Michael returned home late from a day at the beach, she says, Dave exploded. I didn't ask Dave anything about his day. I didn't...

17:25It just started it that we didn't ask him. We didn't respect him. Jane put their 10-year-old to sleep early and did what she had been doing for two years, crawled into bed with her son. Why were you sleeping in Michael's room? Because he was scared. Michael was scared? Dave would stay up in the living room, and he'd been drinking all night. And he's just raging at whatever. It's the TV. It's something, an email. That would happen every night? Almost every night. Jane says she was in Michael's room when she heard Dave raging in the hallway and got up to try and calm him. He just started just swearing at me, and I kept telling him I was sorry.

18:23And he started to come down towards Michael's room, and I saw the gun in his hand. She says she focused on diverting Dave away from Michael and drawing him out of the house. We went to the side of the house, and we stumbled. I don't know if we were falling or just like moving, but I felt one gun shot go off. And then we did fall, and I was like straddling him, and I honestly don't remember after that. Five more shots were fired. When you got up, you had to realize he was dead. I didn't think he was, honestly. I mean, I saw him. I remember seeing his socks.

19:17I just thought for sure he's going to jump up and run after me. But if you were terrified, why didn't you right away then tell the 911 operator, oh my God, he tried to kill me and he's going to come back in. I can't explain why. The district attorney's office offered Jane a deal, plead to manslaughter, and agreed to a six-year prison term. but Jane did the unimaginable. She turned it down. I felt if I took the plea nobody would know what really happened. It would be like accepting what the prosecution said happened that night. It would be like accepting that they said there was no abuse with Michael or me.

20:05She's full of baloney. She's lied so many times. All her, as I look back and think back, so many lies. The Lout family now says the woman they embraced as part of the family is a pathological liar and cold-blooded killer. Rebecca, you once said to me that there are two faces of Jane. What do you mean by that? Jane likes to portray herself as very meek and quiet and shy.

20:37Erin Moriarty:I'm trying to remember everything. I don't know what I thought you were doing. I'm trying to help the group. And then there's another part of her that's F the world and F everything. I'm going to do what I want to do. I don't care who I hurt, in some cases kill.

20:59Erin Moriarty:I'm going to put this cookie right here and see which kind of big game animal comes and eats the cookie. Was Dave Laut, a hometown hero, a beloved coach and high school athletic director, secretly abusing his wife at home? Oxnard homicide detective Mike Young was determined to find out. We spent five or six months doing dozens and dozens and dozens of interviews with friends and family, seeing if anyone was aware of any domestic violence issues. There was another direct neighbor right next door who was an ex-LA County deputy. I specifically asked if there was any domestic issues, and he said, absolutely not.

21:41I would have seen that. Did Jay never tell you that Dave hit her? Never. Dave's brother Don and his wife Rebecca in interviews were adamant. They never witnessed or heard about any abuse. Pushed her? Never. Was verbally abusive? Never. Did you ever see her with any kind of bruises? Never. Never, ever. Even Jane on the night of the shooting denied any abuse in her marriage. I asked you about your relationship. Is it abusive? No. Physically? No. Mentally? What's more, Jane didn't look like someone who had been in a battle for her life. There were no fresh scratches on Dave or Jane. She had two small, maybe nickel-sized or so, older bruises on the inside of her left bicep that were greenish and yellowish, as if they were in late stages of healing.

22:40Young says that evidence collected from the scene tells a different story. He says Jane followed Dave out into the side yard, holding this flashlight in one hand and this gun in the other. Then she took a shot from behind. The first shot was fired from a distance, striking him on the left part of his head above his left ear. Then the next two shots, we believe, are contact wounds to the side of his face. Then there's another gunshot wound while he's down on the ground. He's at least four to six feet away. And then you've got two more, one in the back of his right shoulder. And the sixth shot that we believe was the gunshot wound to the back of the head, which is the fatal gunshot.

23:23And because the gun was a single-action revolver, Young says every shot shows premeditation. She had to physically manually cock that firearm each time she shot him. Police say after she shot Dave, she hid the gun in the grandfather clock and then called 911 with that story about the prowler. Somebody was in our backyard. According to the Lout family, unbelievable stories were nothing new for Jane. She told me one time that a man died in her arms at the bank. She told me another time that she was held up at knife point at the grocery store. Was that true? I don't think so, but it was Jane, so you kind of just say, oh, okay.

24:13Mm-hmm. But Jane now says all those stories were to cover for Dave's abuse. Is it possible she did make up these stories about a stalker and an attack to cover up injuries that her husband gave her? Well, I guess it's possible. You know, I don't know. I find it convenient. Another secret that police uncovered? It turns out Jane and Dave were deeply in debt. Rebecca Laut blames Jane. She was the one in charge of the finances, and I don't think Dave knew that she hadn't paid her taxes in three or four years. I don't believe he knew that they were behind on their mortgage. And Dave may not have known that Jane had borrowed nearly$60 ,000 from his own mother, Dottie.