A Crack in Everything

0:00Tonight on Dateline. I see her laying there. My dad is kneeling. That was the first time I'd ever seen him cry. They had a tumultuous marriage. They'd be yelling and slamming doors. It's initially ruled a suicide. Her sister went to the Missouri State Highway Patrol to express their belief that this, in fact, was a murder. She had been having an affair with her boss. It was obvious there was something that just wasn't right. The only thing I've ever wanted was for everyone to hear the truth. I thought they made one of the worst mistakes I'd ever heard of. I told him I would fight with everything I had in me.

0:44That's the promise I made to him. I'm Lester Holt and this is Dateline.

0:58Here's Keith Morrison with A Crack in Everything.

1:07It was his secret that started it. A secret gift. It was Christmas Eve in the year 2006. A little farm not far from a little town called Buffalo, Buffalo, Missouri. And on that farm, in the fine new house Brad and Lisa Jennings had built for their family, the stockings were hung. The children were snug at their beds. And Lisa was sitting up very late, drinking wine and crying. Meaning, well, who knew? But for one thing, with Lisa in the way, Brad couldn't sneak that secret of his into her stocking, which is what started it, the flaring argument, the slamming doors, the sudden silence. Before Amanda woke up to the sound of her dad on 911.

2:02And he's very hysterical, you know, he's crying, can't really say anything other than get here quick, get here quick. I heard that two or three times. Such a complicated tale, with its secrets and lies and shifting loyalties. And here, of all places, this throwback to an idealized past. We hunted mushrooms, we picked up walnuts. They were inseparable children, Brad and his older sister, Marsha. He was my playmate. We depended on each other. Marsha became a nurse. Brad ran the farm, the center of their family since 1853. That Christmas 2006, Brad and Lisa had been married 18 mostly happy years.

2:50We had a fairly good life. There were three kids, Amanda, 16 that Christmas Eve, Dallas, who was 11 then. Lacey, Lisa's daughter from a first marriage, was 19 and had just moved into her own place in town. And as Amanda said, life was fairly good. We would do lots of things, go on vacation a lot, go out and eat. I mean, my dad made pretty good money, so we were good on that end. It seemed like a very good and stable environment. Brad loved cars. Especially classic muscle cars. And extra especially, the 1970 Chevelle Supersport he'd so carefully restored. By the time he was 12, he was redoing motors and helping put motors in and out of different vehicles.

3:42So Brad opened a used car dealership. He was a great people person. And I guess that's what you have to be when you deal cars and stuff. And their mom, Lisa? Very pretty. She could be really happy and sort of like the life of the party kind of person. Yeah, really fun being in. Well, Brad ran the farm in his car business. Lisa worked at a local internet company. She was really good at it. And she became like their top employee. At home, Lisa was the mom who actually liked video games. With Dallas, mostly. Video games and movies. We had a big projector screen that we would put on the wall and like watch movies really big.

4:27Did it seem like a happy household overall? Yeah. But of course there is, as Leonard Cohen used to sing, a crack in everything. And in the Jennings house, those were the sudden blow-ups when the mood went dark and the kids scattered. They would fight maybe once every couple weeks or something. Mostly later in the evening, at night, after they'd been drinking. They'd be yelling and maybe slamming doors, things like that. But just arguing about anything, nothing. I never really thought too much about it. Anyway, now it was that calamitous Christmas Eve, 2006. As always, there'd been a happy dinner celebration with Brad's side of the family.

5:13Christmas Eve, we would go to my grandma's. They're in town. And then, back home, games and stocking stuffing. And, of course... I'd wake up real early and open all the presents. Lisa had no idea that Brad had bought her a$3 ,500 diamond ring, got the kids to help him pick it out. Back from grandma's, he waited for his chance to hide it in her stocking. But Lisa kept fiddling on the computer, and the kids were playing a board game. I think it was Monopoly. We just played downstairs for a while, and then eventually went up to our rooms. It was well after midnight when they heard the raised voices downstairs.

5:55I heard the yelling and everything, just a normal fight like they would always have. And then a door slammed, which meant that Brad had gone out to his workshop to cool down. But Lacey, home for the holiday, was furious. Another fight, and this one on Christmas Eve, no less, and as usual over some stupid little thing, she was done. And so my sister decided to go downstairs and get into it with her. I think one of the last things I remember my mom even saying was something like, I would never disrespect my parents that way. Lacey was just fed up, was she? Yeah, she just couldn't believe they'd fight on Christmas.

6:32Then, more door slamming and Lacey was out of there. She went back to her house in Buffalo. So by the time she left, your dad was outside in the workshop, although he didn't really know where he was, right? Well, he was outside. He does that a lot. He'll go outside and go out to shop. So Amanda sighed and closed her eyes and drifted off. And then sometime after 1.30 a.m., that loud, frantic sound, her father on 911. She ran downstairs to her parents' bedroom. I opened the door and, you know, I see her laying there and my dad is kneeling next to her. And as soon as I had opened the door, he gets up and kind of pulls me out of the room and he's hugging me and crying.

7:20Their mother was dead. Of that there was no doubt. But how and why and who? When we come back, what had happened in that bedroom? I thought there'd been an accident. The truth would be much worse. Did you have any inkling, any suspicion that Brad might have had something to do with this?

7:56Dallas Jennings was only 11 that awful Christmas morning in 2006, the morning he lost his mother. And it's probably a blessing that something in his brain has blocked the memory. A lot of it's a blur to me. Amanda, 16 at the time, remembers every dreadful detail. It was just shock. Obviously very upset, but didn't know what to do, you know. Yeah. It was very hard. And the ambulance arrived and the policeman. They all arrived and we had to leave the house so they could do all their work. And so we went outside and waited in my truck because it was cold out. What, just huddled together in there?

8:39Did you talk much? Just shock and mostly silence. I remember Dallas kept saying she was going to be okay. He didn't really know what had happened because he didn't see her or nothing and no one was really saying what happened. And my dad was just sitting over in the passenger seat, just a mess, and that was the first time I'd ever seen him cry. News of this sort spreads very fast, but often in confused or incomplete or fuzzy bits. And so when Brad's sister Marsha heard something happened at the farm... I didn't realize the gravity of it. I thought there'd been an accident, and she was on the way to the hospital.

9:22It was anything but an accident. Lisa was gone, dead at 39, killed by a bullet at close range to the head. Brad told local sheriff's deputies how he argued with Lisa, then went out to his workshop to cool off. And when he came back in, maybe 20 minutes later, he found her on the bedroom floor, his handgun nearby. So deputies tested Lisa's hands for gunshot residue. They did the same with Brad and Lacey. That to tell them who fired the gun. And Lisa's right hand tested positive for gunshot residue. Brad and Lacey came out negative. Meaning, it seemed to the coroner, that Lisa, for reasons unknown, must have killed herself.

10:06Did it make sense to you that she would commit suicide? Nothing made sense to me that night. I had heard statements, you know, that she was troubled about reaching 40. She had had cosmetic surgery. Could be a red flag. Brad and Lisa's brother-in-law, Paul Bryan, was stricken. What did they miss? All the kids loved Aunt Lisa. She was just fun. Lisa had seemed so together. She loved family events, loved having kids around. There was never a time that Lisa did not want the kids to spend the night or to stay. And she might end up with five or six different children that spent the night. It was fine with her.

10:54Yeah, she loved it. But now, this accommodating, fun-loving woman was dead. It was all very shocking. And it's not like you've had a long illness or something to get prepared. This was just sudden. Yeah. The idea that she would commit suicide so abruptly and violently like that. That wasn't something that would be expected, no. But of course, the alternative was really quite unthinkable. Did you have any inkling, any suspicion that Brad might have had something to do with this? I had none. Brad called me on Christmas morning. and you could tell he was still terribly distraught. So that morning I came over and he told me the whole story and no, no, it never crossed my mind.

11:48In fact, after all the lab test results were in, the Dallas County Sheriff and Coroner and Prosecutor all officially ruled Lisa's death suicide. The local newspaper, the Buffalo Reflex, quoted the prosecutor who said, there is zero evidence to show otherwise. So you had no sense anyway, no reason to think it was anything other than what the coroner and the sheriff said it was? Absolutely not. But there were others in the family, and they were not so sure. Coming up. She went to the Missouri State Highway Patrol to express their belief that this, in fact, was a murder. And an investigator's prime suspect, Brad Jennings.

12:35He started asking me questions about Brad. And he goes, what did Jennings say to you about his wife having an affair? When Dateline continues.

12:57It's a sweet little piece of America. Buffalo, Missouri, population 3 ,000 or so, where people tend to know each other's business and where Brad could have a best friend he met when they were both in diapers. So, of course, Dale Potter rushed over to see Brad that very Christmas morning. He just kept saying, why, Dale? Why did she do this? He was a mess. All those guns you see in the background there? Dale owns Buffalo's only gun and pawn shop. So when Lisa's death was declared to be suicide and the sheriff returned Brad's gun, the one that killed her, Brad called Dale. And he said, I don't really want the gun back.

13:39I can't imagine why you would. He said, do you want it? I said, yeah, I do. I cleaned it up and just put it in the safe and forgot about it. And the family tried to move on and didn't pay much attention when Lacey began saying odd things. You know, when mom was murdered, blah, blah, blah. Murdered? Not that it was anything like an accusation or aggressive or unfriendly. She didn't act any different with dad. She still came around. He still helped her. But sometimes the smaller your town, the less you know about what your neighbors are saying behind your back. Nothing in your face. Nothing like that.

14:20It was way more subtle than that. What do you mean? Probably everyone else was talking about it, but they didn't talk to us about it. No, they didn't. But Lisa's younger sister, Sean, was talking. She saw a rocky marriage and her sister would not be a person that would have committed suicide. This is Steve Polkin, writes a column in the Springfield News Leader called Polkin Around, which he did. And discovered that Lisa's sister, Sean, got busy soon after that deadly Christmas morning. In early January, she went to the office of the Missouri State Highway Patrol to express their belief that this, in fact, was a murder.

15:02She lucked into a highly experienced detective named Dan Nash. Long-time investigator who's been involved in several high-profile murder cases in the Ozarks. And when Sergeant Nash took one look at that file, something forensic seemed off. He was inclined to agree with Sean. Didn't look like suicide at all. He was just struck by the fact that if Lisa Jennings had shot herself using her right hand, that there would be more blowback from that wound than one drop of blood. Three months after that Christmas Eve, Investigator Nash drove over to Brad's farm, told him he was looking at the case again.

15:40And wanted the bathrobe that Mr. Jennings was wearing that night. The robe he had on when he said he found Lisa dead and held her in his arms. Why three months later would a bathrobe be of any use at all? Surely it had been cleaned or something after this event. Apparently it had not. Oh. Mr. Jennings had spent little time going back into that bedroom where from his perspective, his wife had taken her life. So Brad gave Nash the black bathrobe. And sure enough, still had blood on it. So they ran some tests and kept in touch with Brad. He was questioned a couple of times. Then, a month later, this was April now, the sheriff came to call at Dale Potter's Gun and Pond.

16:29And he says, I'm here to seize the Jennings gun. Then, a few weeks after that, a guy in a t-shirt and khakis walked in. Told me he was a sergeant with the Missouri State Highway Patrol. And he said, I'm here to investigate the murder of Lisa Jennings. I said, what are you talking about? Murder? It was in the paper. You know, it was ruled a suicide. And he said, no, he killed her. But that was an all. Then he goes, what did Jennings say to you about his wife having an affair? I said, he never said a word to me about his wife having an affair. Why was she? And he said, yes, and we can prove it. I said, well, that explains a lot.

17:09He said, you mean why he killed her? And I said, no. I said, why she did this? I said, maybe everything caught up with her, you know. Meaning, thought Dale, something about the affair pushed her over the edge. Then Dale offered the sergeant a little family history. I said, you do know, don't you, that her dad killed his cell? And he goes, you're full of crap. He said, her dad's alive and he lives at Windyville. I said, no, you're full of crap. Her stepdad lives at Windyville. Her real dad killed himself out in Kansas years ago. Another family suicide? An affair? Just where was this investigation going?

17:55Coming up, a determined detective. He looked at me and told me straight up, I've never been wrong. And a confused friend. What did you think? I thought they made one of the worst mistakes I'd ever heard of.

18:22Probably everybody in Buffalo, Missouri, knew that Brad Jennings, the apparently grieving husband, was now a murder suspect. Everybody waiting for something to happen. And in July 2007, seven months after Lisa's death, it did. Got about a mile from his house and two or three highway patrol sergeants and the sheriff stopped him and arrested him. Took him to the county jail. What did you think? I thought they made one of the worst mistakes I'd ever heard of. Later we were told there were people around that knew it was going to happen. People like Lisa's sister, Sean, who went to the highway patrol in the first place, and Lisa's daughter from her first marriage, Lacey.

19:09We asked for interviews. They declined. When my dad got arrested, Lacey and Sean showed up at the house to pick me and Dallas up, and then my grandma showed up as well to pick us up, and my aunt and my grandma kind of got into it. It sounds to me like that is sort of the moment when the family broke apart. That's when it really blew open. That's when, you know, Lacey quit coming around and everything just fell apart. That evening, Brad's brother-in-law, Paul, who's married to Lisa's other sister, said he met with the highway patrol sergeant who led the investigation. And I asked the one patrol officer if he'd ever been wrong, that there was a small part of me that wished or hopes that he is correct, because if not, he's going to ruin a lot of people's lives.

19:56And he looked at me and told me straight up, I've never been wrong. Never been wrong? Never been wrong. Was this investigator Dan Nash? It was. Brad posted a million dollar bond and was allowed to remain free until his trial. Brad's attorney said the state had no case. And every time that I spoke with him, he said it couldn't go to trial. He didn't say it wouldn't. He said it couldn't. was still saying that the Friday before the trial was to begin, in August 2009. He said, we'll go in there Monday morning and we'll see what motions are flying around. But by midday Monday, the jury was picked and the trial began.

20:43How shocking was that? It was very shocking. And we hadn't been there an hour till I was getting sick to my stomach just listening. prosecution was just running rampant with it. That is, saying terrible things about Brad. And I was wanting to jump up and object. Because to Marsha, it seemed like Brad's attorney, Daryl Deputy, wasn't objecting at all. Mr. Deputy wouldn't say anything in Brad's defense. What was it like to be you sitting back there watching that? It was the most miserable time of my life. And I didn't know what I could do. I wanted to stop it, and I didn't know how. And Mr. Deputy would say, it's all going to come together here, and don't worry about it.

21:32Maybe the attorney was thinking of the gunshot residue, or GSR. Remember, they found GSR on Lisa's right hand, but not on Brad's hands, implying that Lisa shot herself. The prosecutor had an explanation. So the prosecutor says it's a logical inference from the facts of the case that Mr. Jennings, after he shot his wife, before he called 911, he washed his hands and washed his forearms. And blood evidence. Investigator Nash was the expert the state put up, and he said that in his expert opinion, the way the spatter hit the wall and Brad's black bathrobe and Lisa's hand, it left no doubt that Brad fired the fatal shot.

22:18But why would he do such a thing? An age-old reason, said the prosecutor. Lisa wanted out. The prosecution at trial wanted to show that she was intent on leaving him, and she had an application at an apartment complex where Lacey had lived. Lisa wouldn't end her life, said the state, because she was busy improving it. She'd bought nice clothes, had recently had cosmetic surgery. The state presented witnesses that said she was in good spirits, and it's unlikely that someone who has cosmetic surgery and is feeling good about themselves would take their lives. The defense didn't mention that Lisa's father took his own life, or that she herself attempted suicide back in high school.

23:08No secret in town back then. And nobody brought up the rumor that Lisa was having an affair. But one curious thing did come up. The defense attorney, in his closing argument, hit a rather fascinating point about the bathrobe Brad was wearing when Lisa was shot. The defense attorney, in his closing argument, said they had that thing for two years. I don't know why they didn't test it for gunshot residue, but they didn't. So we could wrap this up in a heartbeat, whether he did it or not, if they had tested that. Now that was interesting and a very good point. After all, if they found residue on the bathrobe, it would certainly point right at Brad.

23:49But the moment passed, case went to the jury. And two hours and 24 minutes later, they found Brad guilty of murder. And where else would this happen? They let him go home one last night before the sentencing began the following day. And the next morning, he asked me to drive him back. And I think that's one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do. Did you want to just say, let's go somewhere else, Brad? Let's just drive to Mexico or something. No, that's not who we are. And I told him that I would fight with everything I had in me to correct it. But what could one lone woman do? No legal training, no contacts, no pull.

24:46What indeed? Coming up, a search for the truth. It was obvious there was something that just wasn't right. And missing evidence. I took the photo, I texted it to Dwight, and just said, jackpot. When Dateline continues.

25:13The day after Brad Jennings was convicted of murdering his wife, Lisa, he dutifully returned to court for sentencing. He got 25 years, and they led him away on a day that would have been otherwise auspicious. That was my first day of high school. Did either of you ever think maybe he did kill her? Not even once. If you know him, even like at all, he's just not that kind of a person. True, said Brad's big sister, Marsha. So she decided she had to do everything she could to help him. Wasn't easy. Because he had two kids who needed to be cared for. He had payments that had to be made on the house, on the farm, on the cars.

26:01He had a business that had to be wrapped up. And he had this huge problem of having been convicted of a crime you didn't think he committed. So what does a person do in a situation like that? I had no idea. I didn't even know where to start. But she knew she needed a better income. So she found a job that paid more, but required constant travel. Come home on Thursday night and leave Sunday. And in the time you were home, you'd wash your clothes, say hi to the kids, go into the prison, see Brad, and get back on the plane again. Yeah. The first appeal claimed Brad had inadequate representation to trial.

26:45I thought that was a no-brainer.

26:51But it failed. Appeals court didn't agree. and Brad's trial lawyer, Daryl Deputy, said he served Brad well. Anyway, Marsha hired more attorneys, but... I couldn't get them to talk to me. I couldn't get them to answer a question. I couldn't get them to call me back. Did they send you a bill? Absolutely. I've got lots of bills. This went on for months, years. She heard about a private investigator named Dwight McNeil, But her then attorney told her, don't call him. So I sat on it for a little bit, and I was having a really bad day. And I called, and Dwight picked up the phone, and I just started crying.