00:00:16
Stephanie and I did a dance together [music] and it was a dance about love and loss
00:00:27
and it [music] was an empty chair on the stage. age. The empty chair symbolizes the loss of a loved one.
00:00:39
I [music] thought, how ironic is this that we do this dance and now Stephanie's the one that's in [music] my
00:00:50
empty chair. My name is Jennifer Vauakis and Stephanie is my best friend. I think about Stephanie [music]
00:01:00
every day. Every time I dance, she's with me. It was the Monday before Thanksgiving in
00:01:13
Silverthornne, very small town, Colorado. [music] It was dark night. It was a blizzard
00:01:24
that night and very cold. Temperature was 1° with wind chill of minus20 or lower.
00:01:34
Stephanie Roller Bruner, mother of three, while her young children are asleep, she
00:01:41
supposedly goes out for a walk on this cold, snowy, blizzard night and she disappears into thin air.
00:01:52
My job was to find Stephanie. If I couldn't find Stephanie, I felt like I would fail.
00:01:58
>> My name is Teresa Berger. I'm a detective for the Silverthorn Police Department. I was hoping for the best,
00:02:03
but I was thinking of the worst. Summit County, Colorado. It can get very cold and it can be very dangerous.
00:02:15
First 24 hours is the most imperative when finding a missing person. I didn't find her.
00:02:23
The [music] scenario that you hope happens is that Stephanie would be found safe and unheard somewhere.
00:02:32
I'm Mark Roberts and I'm the district attorney up here in Summit County. And we were called in early on in the case
00:02:39
because up here every missing person we look at is possibly a homicide. >> Each day that we looked into Stephanie's
00:02:50
life, we learned many things. We learned that Stephanie had secrets. She was very scared. She was scared for
00:02:59
her life. I don't know what it is about beautiful, kind women who fall into these kind of
00:03:06
traps. That's the biggest question now is why. >> [music] >> This is a story of a mother of three,
00:03:42
a lovely person who loved to dance, who disappeared. appeared in a blizzard in the cold.
00:03:53
No leads, no shoe print in the snow, and it's a puzzle. Where is she? When Stephanie Roller went missing in
00:04:07
November of 2010, Teresa Barger was still a unformed police officer. But before it was over, her determination to
00:04:16
find out what happened to Stephanie would earn her the title detective. >> I take most of my cases personally. But
00:04:23
because she was alone and we couldn't find her, that became my project. That became a passion to find her.
00:04:32
Officer Barger helped launch a massive search and rescue effort to find the missing mother of three. Stephanie's
00:04:40
husband, Dale Bruner, said he last saw his wife around 10:30 [music] p.m. on Monday night. 24 hours later,
00:04:47
there was [music] still no sign of her. >> We've called everybody that we can call
00:04:51
that we know of. I've got the kids at the house at this point. Mommy didn't come home, and I don't know what to tell
00:04:57
the kids. You can't tell them anything. You don't know anything yet. I'm scared.
00:05:03
>> The thought of losing Stephanie was too much to take in, says Dale. He'd been in
00:05:08
love with her from the moment he set eyes on her at a ski resort in Oregon. >> She was wearing sunglasses and I didn't
00:05:14
know what she really looked like at all until she took her sunglasses off and I was just stunned. I was like, "Wow, this
00:05:20
she's beautiful." >> They moved together to Silverthornne, Colorado, a town near the popular ski
00:05:26
resort of Breenidge. Athletic and adventurous, Stephanie fit right in, says friend Jennifer Vakus.
00:05:33
When Stephanie moved to the county, the first thing she wanted to do was dance. [music] And so I was the lucky recipient
00:05:39
of that call because I owned a dance studio. [music] We were friends from the very start. From the first word, I knew
00:05:48
that she was something very special. >> Stephanie went to work for the county reviewing home building plans. And Dale
00:05:54
built a business as a photographer. They eventually married in Fiji and had three children, a girl,
00:06:04
a boy, and a second little girl. >> She really wanted children, and she was very happy.
00:06:12
>> We weren't rich, but we did. We were doing okay. We were able to take the vacations to Mexico and Disney World,
00:06:20
you know, every year and Hawaii, you know, three or four times in the last few years.
00:06:25
>> It sounds like an idyllic life. Yeah. >> But a few months before she disappeared,
00:06:32
Dale's best friend, Brad Olivanti, says he watched that idyllic life morph into something unrecognizable.
00:06:40
>> I called it the perfect storm. It just seemed like things started going on a different direction quickly.
00:06:49
>> Stephanie was laid off and Dale's photography business dried up in the tight economy. But that wasn't the worst
00:06:56
of it. >> What state was your marriage in? >> A juggling act. >> In what sense? >> Well, Stephanie wanted out. She said,
00:07:05
"I've fallen out of love with you. I've met someone else. I want to move on." >> That someone else was a physical
00:07:13
therapist named Ron Hold House. They met when Stephanie was teaching [music] him
00:07:17
to dance for a local benefit, Dancing with the Mountain Stars. >> Hey, Mark. How are you?
00:07:22
>> Good. How are you doing? District Attorney Mark Hurlbert. >> Even though there did not appear to be
00:07:26
anything physical, emotionally they appeared to be very connected with each other.
00:07:31
>> Their secret blog [music] called Souls Seeking tells the story of two lovers longing but unable because of [music]
00:07:38
circumstance to be together. >> It was definitely a love affair. It was a affair of the heart.
00:07:44
>> About 6 months after meeting Ron, Stephanie asked Dale for a divorce. Were you willing to get divorced? Yes,
00:07:52
absolutely. I wanted Stephanie to always be happy. >> Even if it was with someone else,
00:07:58
>> that's not my choice. I mean, that's her if if that's what makes her happy, then,
00:08:02
you know, if being with me wasn't going to be make her happy, then that's not why would I want that.
00:08:07
>> But to the police, the combination of jilted husband and missing wife raised a
00:08:12
red flag. >> I heard the door and there was two police officers. One of them flat out
00:08:18
was yelling at me. He said, "Did you kill your wife?" And I was just stunned. I'm like, "What are you talking about?"
00:08:25
>> But Dale wasn't the only one on their radar. Turns out Mr. Holt House had a Mrs. Hold House. And despite what he
00:08:33
said in those romantic love letters, Ron had no intention of leaving his wife. He
00:08:39
broke it to Stephanie the day before she disappeared. He was trying to break it off with Stephanie.
00:08:45
>> Yes. He said that he would he needed to step back and work on his relationship
00:08:50
with his wife. >> But Stephanie was so upset, Ron told officer Barger that he agreed to meet
00:08:56
her in the parking lot where they often came to talk. >> Stephanie and Ron met here about 5 hours
00:09:02
before Stephanie went missing. >> They parted, but later that night, Officer Barger says Stephanie was still
00:09:09
fixated on getting Ron back. She wrote him an emotional email detailing her love for him.
00:09:16
>> And at that point, the trail went cold. [music] >> Dale told officer Barger that around
00:09:24
10:30, Stephanie told him she needed to clear her head. He heard the door shut and then she walked off into that dark,
00:09:33
snowy night. It's hard to admit that the worst could happen to you. You don't think it's going to ever
00:09:57
happen to you. From the minute Stephanie Roller disappeared, Jennifer Vakus and her
00:10:06
husband Mike scoured the county looking for their missing friend. >> I searched in the river. I searched
00:10:12
under bridges, covert outlets, even dumpsters and that sort of thing. >> We had to look for her. Who knows where
00:10:19
she was? It was better than not doing anything at all. >> They went from hotel to hotel.
00:10:26
>> We took every lead that we could and we explored it. They called Stephanie's cell phone countless times hoping she
00:10:33
would answer. She never did. >> I was in shock. >> According to Dale, Stephanie had left
00:10:41
that night in a lightweight jacket. She had no purse, no money, no car keys, only a phone she wasn't answering, and a
00:10:51
computer she wasn't using. >> What? She took her computer, but she didn't take her purse for a walk in
00:10:59
freezing temperatures. That wasn't adding up. >> Though technically still a missing
00:11:05
person's case, the Silverthorn PD started treating it as a murder investigation.
00:11:10
>> Right there. >> And this was one of the people officers wanted to talk to. Ron Holt House, the
00:11:16
boyfriend. I just want to ask straight up again, not accusing you. Do you know where Stephanie is right now? I
00:11:24
absolutely have no >> He was nervous, but he was very forthcoming on the information that we
00:11:30
had asked. >> And I was actually trying to tell her that it was over. And then he said,
00:11:36
asked me again one more time like, "But we can make it work." I said, "No, I we cannot make this work."
00:11:42
>> He appeared to me genuine at that point, but we didn't give up because you never
00:11:46
know. He could be a really good liar. Oh, yeah. He could have been. >> The search for Stephanie slowed down on
00:11:57
Thanksgiving Day, but not for Officer Barger. She kept grinding away. >> There was nothing leading me to her, and
00:12:06
that's not normal. Usually, there is a trace somewhere. >> By that evening, she was at her wit's
00:12:12
end. >> It became a horrible evening. All I kept thinking is we need a locator. >> The next day, Friday,
00:12:24
>> I want you to stay in the same tracks you came in on. >> Barger sadly got her wish.
00:12:31
>> Around noon, the frozen body of a woman was found just a few minutes walk from
00:12:37
Stephanie Roller's home under melting snow in the Blue River. >> The majority of her body was was
00:12:43
submerged. Agent Greg Sedar with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation was called in to assist the local police.
00:12:50
>> She was lying face up in the water and she was naked with the exception of a long sleeve teal t-shirt was still
00:12:58
attached to her right arm. >> That was it. >> Yes, ma'am. >> There was no sign of sexual assault, but
00:13:06
the clothes she was reportedly wearing were never found. [music] It was very hard to look at her
00:13:16
cuz I could tell from the pictures it was her. It was the same person that I've been looking for.
00:13:24
And it was very hard. It's unescribable. I just was so shocked. I couldn't react.
00:13:38
I couldn't react. My first thought was what happened to her? And my second was my kids. Like, oh
00:13:45
my god, my kids have lost their mom. This was a very brutal, brutal murder. She was hit over the head, which caused
00:13:59
her skull to break. She was strangled so hard that a bone in her neck broke. while still alive, thrown into the Blue
00:14:08
River and left to drown and die of hypothermia. >> How horrible that it had to be for her
00:14:18
to be in that that river and to sit there and not be able to do anything. She suffered.
00:14:27
I had to focus now and bring that person to justice because she needed that. And
00:14:32
her children, her children needed that. Tonight is about celebration to take away memories of Stephanie Roller
00:14:41
Bruner. >> One week after Stephanie Roller's battered body was pulled from the icy
00:14:47
waters of the Blue River, >> when I met Stephanie, I just knew I had to be her friend.
00:14:51
>> Friends, my heart is with you. >> Family and people who had never even met her gathered in the theater where she
00:14:58
once danced to celebrate her life. Stephanie, thank you for teaching us strength and courage.
00:15:05
>> It was very important that we called it a celebration because that's who Stephanie was. She always wanted her
00:15:11
life to be happy. >> It was a beautiful service. >> People are just griefstricken.
00:15:18
>> But Agent Sedar wasn't just there to pay his respects. He was there to work. And
00:15:24
that meant keeping a close eye on another of his suspects, Dale Bruner. As I watched Dale, he would look around the
00:15:32
room comfortable and calm. Then when somebody would walk up to him, he would break down crying, no tears,
00:15:40
and then when that person filed away, he'd snap back into just a normal demeanor again. It was one of the oddest
00:15:46
behaviors I've ever seen. >> But Dale's best friend, Brad, a longtime funeral director, says there's no
00:15:54
accounting for behavior in times of grief. Nevertheless, he suggested it might be time for Dale to lawyer up.
00:16:02
>> I kind of had a little chat with him. I said, "Pal, um, I don't know if you watch TV," and he does, "But do you know
00:16:09
that, you know, the husband usually is the person that they're going to come after in a situation like this when a
00:16:17
wife goes missing and is now deceased." Investigators were definitely eyeing Dale, but he wasn't the only one. There
00:16:28
were still two others high on their list. >> One was Ron Hold House and the other was
00:16:33
Cynthia Holt House. >> Cynthia Holt House. >> Hi, Cynthia. >> The boyfriend's wife.
00:16:39
>> How are you? >> She at one point had said that she wished that Stephanie was dead. And she
00:16:45
said this while Stephanie was missing. >> Have you ever taken a polygraph exam before?
00:16:52
Ron Hold House and his wife Cynthia both took lie detector tests. How'd they do?
00:16:58
>> They both failed. >> They failed. What did that tell you? >> We needed to do digging.
00:17:19
So, this is a bridge where Stephanie used to like to walk. >> That's what Dale told us that this was
00:17:24
one of her favorite places. >> Sadly, [music] it now overlooks the stretch of river where Stephanie
00:17:31
Roller's body was found. A cruel irony that made Agent Sedar all the more determined to find her killer.
00:17:41
What's your strategy to solve this case? >> Narrow down who would have motive, opportunity, and ability to kill Miss
00:17:50
Bruner. >> In his mind, that came down to three people. The jilted husband, the married
00:17:57
boyfriend, and the boyfriend's jealous wife. >> The jealous wife? I'm the jealous
00:18:02
boyfriend. >> At this point, I think everybody's a suspect. Investigators believed each one
00:18:09
had the motive and the ability to kill Stephanie. They just had to figure out which one had the opportunity. Starting
00:18:17
with Ron Hold House. >> Did Ron have an alibi? >> Yes. His wife. >> So Ron's alibi was Cynthia and Cynthia's
00:18:25
alibi was >> Ron. Yes. Husband and wife said they were home together all night. And in
00:18:34
interview after interview, their stories matched. Something that made agent Sedar
00:18:39
believe them. >> It's almost impossible to lie consistently, not only about yourself,
00:18:44
but about someone else and have those lies continue to sink up. >> You don't think they could have been
00:18:49
covering for each other. >> I found that at that time to be highly unlikely. >> Cynthia didn't even learn about the
00:18:56
affair until after Stephanie went missing, says Sedar. He believes she was too angry to lie for her husband.
00:19:04
>> Even though you love him as much as you do, I can tell you love him a lot. >> Yeah, I love him a lot, but no, I
00:19:08
wouldn't love him. >> No, because >> even if you knew he was still going to go to prison, if you did,
00:19:15
>> you know what? If he made it, I'd go away. >> But what about those lie detector tests?
00:19:20
The ones they both failed. Agent Sedar thinks Cynthia's distressed emotional state caused her to fail. As for Ron,
00:19:29
this person. >> I think he was telling us the truth. I think that deep down inside I think he
00:19:34
really felt like he was on some level responsible for her disappearance. >> He had that guilt that
00:19:39
>> absolutely. >> So ultimately you focused on another suspect. Who was that? Dale Bruner.
00:19:47
>> From day one Dale's behavior didn't add up, says Barger. >> He was casual. He was calm about things.
00:19:53
He did not seem like a person who was looking for his wife. Jennifer was just as perplexed by Dale's demeanor. She got
00:20:00
to the house about 6 hours after Stephanie was reported missing. [music] >> First thing he did was set me down at
00:20:06
the kitchen table and start complaining about Stephanie, how she didn't keep the
00:20:11
house and how he did everything for her. And in my mind, I'm thinking Stephanie's
00:20:16
missing. What are we talking about here? And I asked him, "What have you done so far?"
00:20:25
He had done nothing to help find her. Well, okay. Who have you called? Nobody. Nobody. He called nobody.
00:20:36
What would you do if your spouse went missing? Would you sit there and call nobody?
00:20:43
>> What's more, he never even left the house to search for her. >> It's human instinct. If you love
00:20:48
someone, you go search for them. >> But where? Just go out and start walking. Yeah, canvasing.
00:20:57
>> But I was told I was told the police will do that. >> It must have taken a remarkable amount
00:21:02
of self-control as a husband who loves his wife, if she's missing, to stay home and not search for her.
00:21:08
>> Where am I going to look? >> The next day, officer Barger called Dale into the station for questioning. At
00:21:15
this point, his wife had been missing almost 2 days. Yet, he still seemed unconcerned.
00:21:21
>> I walked in, there he was, asleep. Dale was asleep in the chair. I was speechless. I really didn't know what
00:21:28
else to think. I mean, he was sleeping right there, sleeping in the chair, and we're still looking for her.
00:21:34
>> During most of the interview, Barger says he was eerily calm and relaxed. >> And I'm like, what if she just comes
00:21:42
home? I don't want to worry her parents. What if this is just silly, >> right? And I've only gent,
00:21:48
you know, some stupid information. Officer Barger says she will never forget the look in those eyes.
00:21:55
>> You know how you can tell somebody isn't genuine? Their eyes, they look different. You know, there looks like
00:22:02
there's nothing behind them. There's no care, there's no love, there's nothing behind them.
00:22:07
>> Dale says he keeps his emotions in check for a reason. >> I know. I could just fall on the floor
00:22:12
and just start crying. I mean, and then I don't know if I'll be able to get up. So instead,
00:22:22
>> instead I do this and I hold on. And so that's that's counted as insincere cuz I don't know if I'll stop
00:22:35
>> stop crying. >> Yeah. >> Investigators might have been able to overlook some of Dale Bruner's weird
00:22:41
behavior, but they couldn't overlook his timeline. Dale told the police that Stephanie left for her walk on that
00:22:48
bitterly cold night between 10 and 10:30. He didn't report her missing until 8:45 the next morning. He said to
00:22:57
give her space. >> I didn't know where she went. I half worried, half is she with the
00:23:04
boyfriend? Is she not? If she needs her space, whatever she's doing, I don't know. And the last thing I wanted to do
00:23:11
was badger her. When did you start to worry? >> The morning. I mean, I worried that
00:23:17
night late, but I'm like, you know, she she's a big girl. >> Why do you think he waited 11 hours to
00:23:23
call police? >> Waited 11 hours because he was he was getting rid of evidence. >> When you realized that Dale Bruner was
00:23:30
your prime suspect, were you concerned for the kids? >> Absolutely. Without her there to protect
00:23:36
him, we were very worried about the kids. The day after their mother's memorial, children's services swept in
00:23:42
and removed the children from their home. They were sent to live with Stephanie's family. At this point, Brad
00:23:49
confronted his friend. >> I asked my best friend and looked at him in the eye and said, "Did you have
00:23:56
anything to do with this?" And he looked me straight in the eye and said, "No." But authorities were learning that Dale
00:24:08
was a master at hiding the truth. They began to uncover deep [music] secrets in Dale Bruner's past, which gave them
00:24:16
enough ammunition to arrest [music] him. 8 months after Stephanie Roller's death,
00:24:21
Dale Bruner was indicted [music] for the murder of his wife. >> We got him. We are going to get justice
00:24:27
[music] for Stephanie. >> [music] [music] >> District Attorney Mark Hurlebert was
00:24:48
sure he had the right guy, but he knew he [music] had his work cut out for him. >> Biggest challenge is that we have no
00:24:57
direct evidence. I mean, this was a circumstantial evidence case. >> Dale, released on bond, remained adamant
00:25:04
that he was innocent. So adamant, he rejected a deal of 24 years in exchange for a guilty plea.
00:25:12
>> I'm going, "Dude, you might want to think about that." And he was adamant. He goes, "I am not going to admit to a
00:25:23
crime that I did not do." Instead, he chose to take his chances in court. In July of 2012, a year and eight
00:25:34
months after the slaying of Stephanie Roller, Dale Bruner went on trial for her murder.
00:25:43
>> Here is our victim right in the center of the river. We are hoping to prove that Dale Bruner,
00:25:47
>> the white material you're seeing right here is snow. >> Hit Stephanie over the head with some
00:25:52
blunt forced object, strangled her, carried her body in the snow to the Blue River, and threw her body in the river.
00:26:01
>> There is not a shred of evidence to directly link my client to these crimes. Dale's defense attorney, Rob
00:26:12
Burnernhard, zeros in on the lack of direct evidence, hoping to show reasonable doubt.
00:26:19
>> What we know is that they didn't find anything. Nothing, not one footprint, not one track,
00:26:30
not one fingerprint. I've never seen him do a violent thing in my life. This guy is just a mellow,
00:26:39
grounded, nice, good guy. He's [snorts] a good guy. Everyone that knows him loves him.
00:26:48
>> Dale had us all pretty well fooled. You know, he was [music] very kind and nice
00:26:53
and, you know, almost too nice. So, I would say beware of that too nice. Jennifer says it wasn't until the last
00:27:03
month of her life that Stephanie finally opened [music] up about the other side of Dale Bruner, the
00:27:11
dark side. >> She finally got the courage to tell me what was going on in her life.
00:27:20
>> Stephanie told her Dale had been violent with her in the past. Even during her
00:27:26
first pregnancy, >> he had gotten angry somehow and threw her on their bed and put his knee on her
00:27:33
stomach on her belly and um threatened her. >> Dale promised he would get help and she
00:27:42
decided to stay, but she never forgot. >> She warned me that if she were to get hurt, he did it.
00:27:52
Turns out Stephanie wasn't the only woman to have experienced Dale Bruner's fury. Terresa Barger got a call on the
00:27:59
tip line from an old girlfriend of Dales. >> What was the specific thing that she
00:28:04
said that you went, "Uh-oh." He killed Stephanie. He had to have killed Stephanie because
00:28:10
this is what he did to me. Jodie Eberhart was in her 20s and living with Dale Bruner in the early 90s when
00:28:18
she says the mask came off. He'd come home late and she accused him of being out with another girl.
00:28:26
>> He pushed me down onto the carpet and put his hands around my neck and said, "Um, if you ever say or do that again,
00:28:33
I'll kill you." And he was actually physically holding me down on on the floor >> with his hand around your neck.
00:28:40
>> With both hands around my neck. Yeah, it it all happened so fast. I never saw
00:28:47
it coming. >> In a huge win for the prosecution, the judge allowed Jodie Eberheart and
00:28:54
another woman with a similar story to testify at trial. >> Do you think it could have been you in
00:29:00
that river? >> Had I stayed with him, it could have been. Mhm. >> This one's to Ellie for me, but you have
00:29:06
to wait. >> Wait. For Stephanie, with three little kids, leaving was a daunting prospect.
00:29:14
>> But six weeks before she was killed, Stephanie came home to find Dale angrily
00:29:21
striking their son for refusing to listen. That was it. >> She said, quote unquote, "He can do
00:29:29
anything he wants to me, but when he starts hurting my kids, that's where I draw a line in the sand."
00:29:35
>> [music] >> Stephanie immediately filed a restraining order forbidding Dale to
00:29:41
come near her or the children. A recording of the hearing was played in court. >> So, I'm here asking for help.
00:29:50
>> The room fell silent as Stephanie spoke from the grave about Dale's history of
00:29:56
abuse. >> I can't go back to him. He has threatened my life years ago, but you know, with a hand on my throat, didn't
00:30:06
squeeze it, screaming in my face, I will kill you if you leave. >> It was incredibly powerful to hear that
00:30:11
cuz you don't hear that in murder cases. >> As soon as he finds out from social services that I've entered the system,
00:30:18
I'm going to run with my kids. I mean, I don't know what he's going to do. >> You were painted as a violent husband.
00:30:27
Are you violent? Absolutely not. >> Did you ever threaten Stephanie? >> Never. Ever.
00:30:33
>> She testified at the restraining order hearing. You threatened to kill her. >> I can only I can only think that was
00:30:39
about custody of the children. That's a guess. >> But they're all lies. >> Absolutely.
00:30:45
>> Here's the thing. I guess it might be more believable to think that Stephanie
00:30:50
was lying if she didn't end up dead. But you hear all of these stories about how
00:30:54
she says you threatened to kill her, that you were a violent man, and then she ends up dead.
00:31:00
>> It's horrible, isn't it? >> In the weeks leading up to her death, Stephanie's behavior became more
00:31:08
erratic. First, for reasons only Stephanie knows, she rescended the restraining order.
00:31:14
>> I think she rescended the restraining order because she was afraid of him, afraid what he could do to her.
00:31:20
>> So, she let him come home. Then two days before she was killed, >> she actually moved out to the right side
00:31:28
of this duplex right here, right there, >> she packed up the kids and tried [music]
00:31:33
to get away again. But within hours, Stephanie and the kids were back home with Dale. It seems to me that in her
00:31:42
most desperate hour when she realized she couldn't afford what she was trying to do, it must have been so hard for her
00:31:49
to actually go back. >> Why Stephanie didn't knock on her door instead [music] of going back to Dale is
00:31:59
a question that haunts Jennifer to this day. >> You would not believe the guilt, the
00:32:06
remorse, whatifs all the time. What if? And I understand it's not my fault. It's
00:32:14
a situation where she was a victim and victims don't always see clearly or think clearly.
00:32:22
The day after moving home, Stephanie made a decision that may have cost her her life. Remember that email she was
00:32:29
writing to her boyfriend Ron the night she disappeared? Well, that email became the smoking gun of the prosecution's
00:32:36
case. This last email that Stephanie wrote is very frank with Ron. I love you so much. You're the love of my life. But
00:32:46
then there's no closing. >> Yes. >> What happened? >> It was never sent. Even though we were
00:32:52
never able to find her a computer, we were able to go to the internet company and find out that this email was never
00:32:58
sent. Herbert thinks Dale saw that email, [music] flew into a rage, hit her over the head,
00:33:08
possibly with the computer they never found, and then strangled her. >> Did you see the email she was writing
00:33:16
that night and then strike her? >> Absolutely not. >> Did you strangle her? >> Absolutely not.
00:33:23
>> Did you kill Stephanie Dale? >> Absolutely not. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, I absolutely
00:33:29
had nothing to do with her death. >> You're 100% sure that it was Dale? >> Yeah.
00:33:36
>> No doubts. >> No. [music] >> No doubts. >> After a two week trial, both sides rest.
00:33:47
It is now up to a jury to decide who to believe. Stephanie Roller, >> I will kill you if you leave.
00:33:54
>> Or Dale Bruner. Did you love your wife? >> Yes, abs. I still love my wife. Jennifer Vakus had walked the entire
00:34:18
journey alongside her dearest friend, Stephanie Roller. She danced with her. She searched for her.
00:34:34
>> Hello, Miss Bosakis. Would you stop there and raise your right hand, please? Do you
00:34:37
>> She confronted Dale Bruner in court for her. There I was, as close as you and I
00:34:42
are to Dale, telling people that he murdered his wife. knowing full well that this could ruin
00:34:52
him. She said that if anything happens to me, he did it. And I had no problem saying that cuz it's the truth.
00:35:05
But waiting in that courthouse for the jury to come back was something she couldn't do.
00:35:13
>> That was the worst time. That was so awful. I was crawling out of my skin. >> So, she got in her car and drove,
00:35:24
stopping by the side of the road next to an osprey nest and waited. >> Ladies and gentlemen, the court has been
00:35:34
informed that the jury has in fact reached its verdicts. >> It didn't take long. In just under 4
00:35:42
hours of deliberation, the verdict was in. We the jury find the defendant Dale Bruner guilty of murder in the second
00:35:52
degree. >> Guilty on all six counts. >> You may take him into custody. >> From murder to assault to tampering with
00:36:02
evidence. >> I remand you to the custody of the Summit County Jail immediately. >> Jennifer got the news on her cell phone
00:36:11
>> and I'm watching these birds thinking, how appropriate is this? because Stephanie was such a nature lover
00:36:18
that I'm in this [music] beautiful place watching these osprey getting the call that yes, the jury found Dale guilty of
00:36:25
all counts. You'd think I would have been ecstatic and super happy, but it was probably one
00:36:33
of the worst moments just to know that Stephanie's gone and that yes, Dale's guilty and that's great, but that
00:36:41
doesn't bring Stephanie back. For Teresa Barger, it was a bittersweet victory for a woman she never knew, but
00:36:50
whose voice she vowed would not be silenced. >> All I could think of is I hope that we
00:36:56
have justice for you and that she can rest in peace. >> Two months later, Stephanie's family and
00:37:05
friends gathered in this courtroom for the last time for the sentencing. quarters back on the record in people of
00:37:11
the state of Colorado versus Dale Bruner. >> One by one, they stood before Judge
00:37:16
Thompson and before Dale Bruner in his prison stripes. >> I'm not going to cry. >> To describe the impact of Stephanie's
00:37:24
murder on their lives >> because I get to do that every night when I'm lying in bed feeling guilty
00:37:29
about what I did or didn't do to help Stephanie. Even the man who'd stood by Dale Bruner
00:37:38
through it all was beginning to question his friend's claim of innocence. >> The bottom line is
00:37:46
someone did this to her. I hope it's not him. If it is, I would like to know the truth.
00:37:56
Was this a horrible accident where you guys got into a fight and you didn't mean to kill her, Dale, but you hurt
00:38:05
her? >> No. You can ask it a thousand ways and it's the the same answer. >> Someday he may face that question again.
00:38:17
>> There we go. Hi. Yeah. >> From three other victims in this story. >> [crying]
00:38:26
>> his children. >> There we are. >> If at some point they come to you and say, "Dad,
00:38:37
what happened? Did you kill our mom?" >> Well, I'll tell them the truth. I've never lied to my kids.
00:38:45
>> And you can look in your children's eyes and say, >> "Absolutely. >> I've never hurt your mom,
00:38:50
>> Mr. Bruner." Clearly, Judge Thompson believed otherwise. >> You took Miss Roller's life. You took
00:38:57
your children's mother. And you did it without remorse and in a brutal fashion. >> The judge sentenced Dale [clears throat]
00:39:04
Bruner to 112 years in prison. >> And Mr. Bruner, I can only hope that you will come to
00:39:12
realize the magnitude of your actions. Courts of jury. >> Thank you, honor. Last fall, a room in a local safe house
00:39:29
was [music] dedicated to Stephanie Roller. A reminder of the beautiful woman they
00:39:36
lost, but also of all the women still to be saved. These bad things can't be kept [music]
00:39:50
in the dark closet anymore. This happens. And you know what? It happens in your neighborhood. It could be your
00:39:57
neighbor and you don't even know it. It was my best friend and I didn't even know it. Right under my nose, she was
00:40:05
murdered. So, if you're a woman and you have these worst fears, man, run fast and stay gone.
00:40:37
>> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. >> [music]