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[Music] To most Wisconsinites, Green Bay is a magical place. It's where the Packers play. It's a fun
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town and everybody knows everybody. Drinking is part of the Wisconsin tradition.
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Green Bay is a great downtown pulse and I feel it's relatively safe. Nobody would ever think that something like
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this would happen in our community. >> Continuing coverage tonight of a death investigation in the village of
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Belleview. >> When I had gotten the news, I just shook. I just shook. >> There is police activity in a field.
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>> I was a good friend of Nicole Vanderhidens. She was my neighbor. We watched each
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other's kids. She just was a ball of fire. >> Nicole Vanderhiden was 31 years old. She
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was living with her boyfriend, Doug Dietri, and they had just had a baby together.
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It was Friday, May 20th of 2016. Doug and Nicole decided to go out that night. This was an opportunity for them to go
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out and have a great time. The night didn't end in a great time. It ended in a nightmare.
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[Music] >> Nikki walked off into the darkness that night. >> She just walked off. She vanished.
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>> That was the last anyone saw of her. >> About where was she found? >> Right down this embankment. When we
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arrived on scene on this one, we kind of knew right away it was probably going to
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be different. So, at the scene, that was the most apparent thing is the trauma to
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the left side of the face. >> When you came here, there was no way to identify her. You had no idea who she
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was. >> Not right away. No. >> Doug Dietri, >> he woke up in the morning. Um, eventually later that afternoon, he had
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called uh the sheriff's officer 911 to report that um his girlfriend did not come home from the night before.
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>> We're here for a missing person's report. We sent some officers over to uh her residence to take the missing person
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report. >> So this is not normal behavior for her? >> Not at all. >> And this is where Nicole was living.
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>> Correct. >> And you believe that she was killed here? >> Correct. Across the street um in the
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roadway. A large quantity of blood that was determined to be Nicole's. >> Everything's pointing to Doug Dietri's.
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>> Yeah. So that so then Monday night >> right now I'm going to be taking you into custody.
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>> We felt we had probable cause to arrest Doug Dri. I'm a I'm a I'm I'm a decent
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guy. >> Okay. I'm I'm a decent guy, too. >> I get that. I'm sure you are. >> I think people were shocked.
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>> People are wondering, could he have done it? >> Did Doug do it? His alibi was his Fitbit
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that he had been wearing all night and that supposedly proved that he was asleep at the time of her murder. The
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technology is really what drew me to this case. We had this evidence we wanted to check
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out, have tested at the lab. >> The DNA evidence starts to come back and it belonged to an unidentified male.
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>> Subject outside on the porch. >> That was our goal is to figure out who who is this mystery person.
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>> It's definitely a who done it. There's lots and twists and turns to it and it's
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hard to know who's telling the truth. Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. [Music] [Music]
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Green Bay is supposed to be a really safe place. You know, mothers don't go missing and
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police don't find their bodies in farm fields. February 2018, friends and family of Nicole Vanderhiden
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gather in a packed Brown County courtroom, seeking justice for her brutal, senseless murder two years
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earlier. >> What happens in this case could definitely come down to the technology.
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>> Kate Brickle covers crime for the Daily Beast. >> Who would do this? Who would do this to
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Nikki? >> I was just It's not real. You know that can't be. >> Tiffany Hoffman was a close friend of
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Nicole's who everyone called Nikki. They had been friends for years and shared a
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love of the outdoors. >> What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think of her?
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>> Light spirit, um, a verve and a zest and zeal. She was close with her family and
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loved her children. Nikki was a mom to three, Michaela and Tyler from a previous marriage, and
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six-month-old Dylan, whose father was her boyfriend, Doug Dietri. The two had met in January 2015 and soon moved in
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together. >> She was really, really happy. When she talked to me, she said they both were
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excited. Yeah. That they both were excited to have a baby. On the night of Friday, May 20th, 2016,
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Nikki and Doug make lastminute plans to get a babysitter and join friends at a bar called The Watering Hole to see a
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Steel Panther concert. [Applause] I think Nikki was really looking to let loose and have a good time.
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As the concert is ending, Nikki decides to go with Doug's friends to another bar
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called the Sardine Can and leave him. >> Doug agreed that he would finish his conversation he was having and and find
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her at the next bar. As seen on this sardine can security camera, Nikki appears to be having a
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great time talking and dancing with friends. But as the night wears on and Doug still
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hadn't shown up here at the sardine can, she gets upset and begins sending him angry texts.
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>> They were scorching. And they were all but accusing him of infidelity. >> Sometime after 11:30 p.m., Nikki tries
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calling Doug, but he doesn't answer. So, another friend calls Doug and he answers and this enrages Nikki.
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>> And so, she gets up and leaves the bar. One of Doug's friends runs after Nicole,
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begging her to come back to the bar, but she refuses. Instead, Nicole walks down
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this street, turns left, and vanishes into the night. When Doug finds out that Nikki has left,
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he and his friend Greg drive around looking for her. When they can't find her, they go into the sardine can where
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Doug, seen here in long pants, has more to drink before the two of them head out.
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>> Honey number one, what is the address? >> Uh, we just found a human body laying in
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some Okay, sir. Early the next afternoon, farmer Richard Vanderhigh makes a gruesome discovery
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>> over this hill right over here. >> Yep. At first, I thought it was a deer because of the rust color in her hair.
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Then I realized it was a young lady. >> She was naked other than socks that were
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on her feet and a pink wristband. Other than we had no form of identification. Brown County Sheriff's Sergeant Rick
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Lopn now is among the first to respond to the scene. >> There was a lot of blood. There's
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obvious injury, um, trauma on the side of her face. >> Obviously, the first step of the
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investigation is to identify who the person is. >> Sergeant Brian Slinger is the lead
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detective on the case. >> That in itself was difficult due to the severity of the injuries.
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>> Brown County Public Safety, this is Terres. Deputies get their first lead at 4:30 that afternoon when Doug Dietri
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calls 911 to report Nikki is missing. >> And her date of birth, >> uh, March 29th, 1985.
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>> Her description matched what we had found in the field as far as age, approximate size, um, hair color.
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Slinger sends officers with a hidden camera to Dietri's home, which is just a little over three miles
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away from where the body has been found. >> Okay. So, you left Canada and drove around for another 30 to 40 minutes.
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>> Yeah. You didn't get back here. I don't even know what time it was. It was that
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It was late. >> 2:30. Doug tells deputies that after Greg dropped him off, he fell asleep around
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3:00 a.m. and except for getting up to check on the baby, he was asleep until after 6:00.
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>> Did you do anything to cause her to go missing? No, not at all. >> That night, Doug's parents watch baby
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Dylan while Doug is further questioned at the station. >> It's here they tell him that Nikki has
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been murdered. I can't see. Please no. Please. >> As Dietri is being questioned,
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detectives get a warrant to search his and Nikki's home. They find blood on the floor of the garage and in Nikki's car,
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>> on the headboard, on the side, and then in the back seat area. They also discover a pair of Air Jordans in the
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garage that appear to match the shoe print found on Nikki's back and seem to have blood smudges on the bottom.
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>> For us, it's adding up. Okay, this this is our guy. >> Just before dawn, an offduty patrolman
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reports items scattered along a highway ramp less than 2 miles from where Nikki's body has been found. There's a
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purse as well as her cell phone and items that she was wearing that night. >> And there are more damning clues found
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in a neighbor's yard who lives across the street from Doug and Nikki. >> And what was found here?
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>> A large quantity of blood that was determined to be Nicole's, as well as some clumps of blonde hair. And then
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there was also a cord, which I would describe as like a phone charging cord. >> This was a huge discovery. Now they had
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a murder scene and it was 118 ft from Dietri's front door. >> More than 70 pieces of evidence are sent
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to the state crime lab. >> Statements. >> Now detectives had a theory about how Nikki had died.
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>> There was some sort of argument between her and Doug. Maybe when she got home
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somehow it ended up out in the street. >> Right now I'm going to be taking you into custody. Sheriff deputies are
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recording when they arrest Doug Dietri, who quickly becomes emotional. >> I just want to answer everything in this
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into this cleared up. >> Dietri isn't charged with murder, but deputies hold him on a $1 million bond
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while they wait for DNA results. >> Is there DNA on the bottom of the shoe? Is that blood on the bottom of the shoe?
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>> 18 days later, investigators are stunned. Crime lab tests show the blood in the
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car isn't Nikki's. The blood in the garage isn't human. And tests on the shoe stains are inconclusive, but appear
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not to be blood at all. >> We had nothing on Doug, so he was released. >> What's more, on the night Nicole
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disappeared, Doug just happened to be wearing a Fitbit, a personal tracking device. It goes on your wrist just like
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this, like a watch, and it tracks your activities, the steps you take, your heart rate, even your sleeping patterns.
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>> When the Fitbit data stored in Doug's phone is examined, it corroborates his story.
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>> He had a few footsteps throughout the night, getting up to go to the bathroom,
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check on the baby, whatever. His story that he told us was absolutely 100% true.
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So, who killed Nicole Vanderhiden? Will more high-tech forensics blow this case wide open?
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[Music] Nicole's mother and her brother Brandon struggled to understand how anyone could
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murder their beloved Nikki. >> It was a horrendous thing and it's just so hard to
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let that out of your heart. >> What do you miss the most? I'm I'm waiting for her to come walking
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through my door again. You know, I miss her the most. I miss her. >> I have a picture of me and her when we
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were younger. Just look at every night and ask her all the time. >> Remember, the evidence appears to clear
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Doug Dietree. So, in June of 2016, his focus turns to raising his son, Dylan, while Nicole's two older children live
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with their father. >> The case torments Sergeants Brian Slinger and Richard Lop now. They are
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back at square one with no idea who did this. Two of you have this horrific murder on your hands. What are you
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feeling at that moment? >> We needed to figure out how Nicole got home. >> We pulled video cameras from every
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single bridge in the city of Green Bay because in order for her to walk home, she would have had to cross a bridge.
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>> They rein witnesses, re-examine phone logs. >> It was getting to the point where, you
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know, we had looked at each other and said, "I really hope this isn't a cold case."
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>> Their first big break comes over the course of the summer. DNA results trickle in and they are tantalizing. The
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investigators learned that many of the samples taken from Nicole's clothing and from the neighbor's yard have DNA from
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an unidentified man on dozens of samples, the same partial profile, but never enough for a positive ID.
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>> We had this one consistent mystery guy, I guess you'd call it, and our job was
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to try and find out who that was. >> It was just a very confusing time. Nobody knew who would have done this to
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Nikki. >> And then finally that August, almost three months after Nicole disappeared,
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the investigators get a call from the crime lab. One of the socks Nicole had been wearing has enough DNA to run
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through the national database and they get a name. >> The excitement was amazing. The DNA
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belongs to a man named George Steven Burch. >> I was a hit out of the state of Virginia.
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>> Virginia? >> Yeah, Virginia. So, it was like, okay, who is who is George Burch and and why
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is he in Green Bay, Wisconsin of all places? >> Yes, we have a name now, but now we need
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to start digging on who this person is. >> Burch moved from Virginia to Green Bay
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on March 1st, 2016, looking for a fresh start. A longtime friend gave him a place to stay and helped him find a job.
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He also loaned him a car, a red Chevy Blazer. That red Blazer would provide crucial evidence. It had been involved
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in a hit and run accident and destroyed in a fire a few weeks after Nicole's murder. So when detectives run Bir's
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name through the local police database, up pops the accident report, which leads
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them to an address for George Burch. Swear to God, drive by the first time. Who's standing out in front of the house
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smoking a cigarette? George Burch. My hair stood up on the back of my neck. I had goosebumps. It was like, "Oh my
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god, there's our guy." They videotape his movements and keep their suspicions to themselves. And they
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learned that when Bur was questioned about the hit and run, he handed over his cell phone and on it a high tech
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treasure trove. >> He gave them consent to search his phone. They extracted the entire thing.
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>> So I requested a copy of that. It's an Android phone that had a a Gmail account
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associated with it. We were recently made aware of this Google dashboard data that could potentially give us GPS data.
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>> You may not know this, but chances are if you have an Android device with a Google account, your exact location
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gathered via cell phone towers, local Wi-Fi hotspots, and GPS locators is constantly tracked and stored within
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Google servers. The information can be viewed with a tool called Google Dashboard.
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The investigators obtain a warrant to view Bir's Google dashboard. What they get back is astonishing.
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Birch started the night that Nicole disappeared at Richard Craniums, a bar a half mile from the sardine can.
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The data tracks Burge at 2:30 a.m. leaving Richard Craniums and driving to Nicole's house, the crime scene, where
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he stayed for nearly an hour. It was very obvious that here's our guy. >> He is next tracked at the field where
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Nicole's body was found. Then near the offramp where her bloody clothes were discarded and then at 4:22
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a.m. back at his home. >> I mean, when you saw that he was right there, what was your reaction?
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>> I mean, it's a huge piece of evidence, obviously. Finally, enough for an arrest
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captured on police dashboard cameras. >> We sent one guy out to the house a little bit earlier to get eyes on and he
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called me and he's like, "Oh my god, he's on the move. We got to go now." We all had a rally up get in our cars and
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drive. On a drizzly September day, 4 months after Nicole's murder, George Burch is
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arrested and charged with firstdegree intentional homicide. >> The reason you're here is in reference
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to a homicide investigation into Nicole Vanderhiden. So, if I read your Miranda rightites, you don't want to talk to me,
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so I prefer a lawyer. >> Okay. Nicole's former brother-in-law, Shawn Vanderhiden, says the news came as a big
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surprise. >> I had no clue who he was or where this guy came from, but I was just happy to
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hear that they had they had someone. >> Nicole's family and friends have a new anguish, waiting for a trial. In March
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2017, on what would have been Nicole's 32nd birthday, they came together on Lake Michigan to release lanterns in her
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honor. >> It was so cold. So cold, but her memory, you know, warmed us. We all went out on
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that dock on that pier and lit our lanterns and sent them off into, you know, her memory.
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>> Why lit lanterns? Why was that used to honor her? >> The light. Her light. She was a light
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for so many in this world. >> All right. >> Nearly one year later, on February 19th,
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2018, George Burch goes on trial for Nicole's murder. The prosecution has a strong case.
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>> Mr. Bur must be held accountable. But according to the defense, prosecutors have the wrong man.
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>> You will know that Douglas Dietri, Nicole's boyfriend, murdered Nicole. [Music]
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For Nicole Vanderhiden's family, every day of George Burch's murder trial is agony.
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>> Vicki, how did you get yourself to go every day to that courtroom? >> I don't know. God,
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you must have just taken our hands and led us there because I mean, we wanted we wanted answers. Friends say it's
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agonizing for Doug Dietri, too. Especially once he learns that George Burch's defense team is planning to
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blame Nicole's murder on him. >> He was nervous, and I would be too. You know, you were accused of a murder. And
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it's so many things going through your head. >> And now Doug Dietri's testimony is
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critical to the prosecution. kind of interesting that the man who you first thought
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might have killed his girlfriend is going to be one of the most important witnesses at this trial. Right.
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>> Right. He will be very important. >> Just as important would be the technology evidence. Data collected from
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both Doug Dietri's Fitbit and George Burch's phone. Prosecutors say that Dietri's Fitbit shows he couldn't be the
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killer. the autopsy results, the DNA identification, the Google dashboard data, the records from Fitbit. That is
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the evidence that will drive you. You will follow that evidence and you will find the truth.
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Doug's Fitbit is seen here in this video captured by officers on their very first
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interview, the day he reported Nicole missing. Prosecutors say downloaded data showed
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Doug barely moved in the hours they believe Nicole was killed and left in the field.
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>> And is that based on the data that you obtained directly from Fitbit? >> Yes, it is everything that I could view
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directly on the device and lined up with um what had previously been stated. Did
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you ever during this trial or have you thought much about it that how lucky it was that Doug happened to be wearing a
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Fitbit that night and the next morning? >> Yeah, that was huge in this case. I think right there that pretty much said
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he he wasn't there when this all happened. [Music] >> On day three of the trial, Dietri takes
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the stand. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but >> Prosecutors aimed to present him as a
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normal guy? Not the best boyfriend maybe, but an unlikely killer. Can you >> tell us about your family?
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>> Um, my my mother, uh, my father, my amazing little son, Dylan, >> Dedri tells the jurors he and Nikki
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dreamed of getting married one day. And early on in the night she disappeared, they were having fun.
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[Music] Nikki didn't usually drink, he says, but that night they were both partying hard.
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>> What was the pace she was drinking that night? >> Pretty quickly. I think she had like two
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down and I was still on my first one. >> Once they got separated and Nikki went ahead to the sardine can with friends.
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Doug continued drinking and smoked some marijuana. Before long, Nikki sent him her first
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angry text, wondering where he was. Nikki's texts got angrier and she accused him of being with other
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women >> at any point in response to those messages. Did you get upset with Nikki?
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>> Uh, no I didn't. >> The texts kept coming. Doug said he offered to pick her up, but
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her phone died. Were you concerned that Nikki was missing at that point in time?
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>> I was uh I'm not concerned that she was missing. I was kind of concerned like
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why is she upset? >> Did you have absolutely any involvement in Nikki's disappearance or death?
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>> Uh no, I did not. >> Under cross-examination, George Burch's attorney, Lee Sugar, pushed Doug on
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whether things at home were really as good as he said they were. Burg's lawyer shows jurors a text Doug sent to his mom
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10 days before Nikki died saying, "I'm very seriously thinking about telling Nikki and the kids they have to move."
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>> So, in May of 2016, though, there were times where you were seriously considering breaking up with Nikki and
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the kids. >> I never really like seriously thought about it like like made plans or
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anything like that. >> It's just a lie to your mom. What the jury would never hear is that several of
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Dedri's past girlfriends accused him of being jealous, abusive, and controlling.
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>> One girlfriend claimed that he put a tracking device on her phone so he'd always know where she was.
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>> In her barrage of angry texts to Doug that night, Nicole also accused him of being abusive.
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>> Did you hurt Nikki that night? Uh, do you mean physically or what? I >> No, I mean,
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>> did you physically beat her in the past? >> No, I didn't never physically beat
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Nikki. >> Had you cheated on her in the past? >> Uh, no, I have not. >> You know, Doug is not an angel.
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Isn't that going to be a problem in this jury? >> Doug Dietri is not on trial. George
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Burch is on trial. Defense attorneys asked the babysitter who took care of Dylan that night to recount an odd
00:27:29
conversation she had with Dietri the day after Nicole died. >> I just asked what happened, you know,
00:27:36
like what happened? And uh he just replied, um, I don't know, she hit her head and then she just wanted to walk
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home. >> So specifically when you had asked him what happened, he said, I don't know,
00:27:47
she hit her head. Correct. It came out of his mouth that comment. >> Would the questions raised about Doug
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make jurors wonder if the right man was on trial? And would they buy George Burch's stunning version of what
00:28:02
happened that night? >> It was fairly dark. I saw someone standing behind me. >> Who was it?
00:28:07
>> It was that Beatri. It's day eight of the George Burch murder trial. >> Judge, at this time, the defense calls
00:28:25
George Steven Burch to the stand. >> And with it comes the testimony everyone has been waiting to hear. George Burch's
00:28:33
version of what happened the night Nicole Vanderhiden was murdered. >> Let's start from the beginning.
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>> Okay. Prompted by his attorney, Burch tells jurors he's a hardworking family man with an easygoing nickname.
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>> Most people call me Big Country. >> Public defender Scott Steins takes Bur back to the night of the murder. Bur
00:28:57
claims he ran into Nicole at the local bar called Richard Craniums. >> How were you acting towards her?
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>> I was flirting. >> And how was she acting towards you? >> Somewhat the same, pretty much. um
00:29:09
flirting back and forth with each other. >> According to Burch, they continued flirting until closing time around 2:30.
00:29:19
And just as the Google dashboard evidence showed he drove Nicole the 8 miles to her house and pulled up to the
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curb across the street, >> we sat there and talked for a few minutes. Okay. >> What happened after that?
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>> Started just fooling around, messing around a little bit, started kissing. Burch then detailed what he says was
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consensual sex. Nicole was in the back seat and Bur, too big to fit in the back seat with her, stood just outside the
00:29:50
rear passenger door. >> I was standing outside the blazer. >> Nikki's family and friends had to sit
00:29:56
there silently and listen. >> Anyone who knew Nicole knew that that was nothing that she would ever ever do.
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That was not her. >> She was. But it's what Bur says happened to him while he says he was having sex
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that was perhaps the most difficult to accept. He says he was knocked out. >> The next thing that I remember apart
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from us having intercourse was literally waking up on the ground outside the truck.
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>> Did you hear anything? >> The first thing I heard was don't even think about it.
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Bur said he turned and saw someone standing behind him holding a gun. >> At that point, did you know who that
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individual was? >> Never seen him before in my life. >> Do you know who that individual is now?
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>> Now I do. >> Who was it? >> It was Doug Dri. >> Burch says he saw Nicole laying on the
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pavement. >> I didn't know she was alive. Um, there was a lot of blood. The 6'7", 250lb Birch said Dietri told
00:31:05
him to put Nicole's body in the blazer and then drive to the field. Dietri, he said, ordered him at gunpoint to carry
00:31:13
Nicole's body down an embankment. >> That's when I turned and with everything I had, I lunged at him and pushed him as
00:31:21
hard as I possibly could. B said he ran back to the Blazer and headed for home, throwing Nicole's
00:31:28
clothes out the window on the way. The next day, he met up with friends and went fishing.
00:31:35
>> You didn't call 911. >> No, sir. >> But he didn't tell anyone else either. >> You don't tell them people. People get
00:31:43
killed all the time where I'm from for that. As Bur told his story, two women were in
00:31:50
the courtroom listening to every word. They have traveled more than a thousand miles to be here every day.
00:31:59
>> We just wanted him to see our face every day and know that we haven't forgotten
00:32:03
what he did. And we've never forgotten Joey. >> Joey is Joey White. >> It's Joey and Audrey.
00:32:13
In 1997, he was murdered in Newport News, Virginia. The man accused of killing him, neighborhood rival George
00:32:21
Burch. But this jury will never hear about it. >> He was out on bond when he killed Joey.
00:32:28
>> Shaina Stowe was Joey White's fiance and the mother of his child. >> I'm 16. Joey's 22 there. He was my first
00:32:37
love. He was it. >> Carla Rhodess is Joey's sister. I miss him a lot. >> Burch testified at that trial, too.
00:32:47
>> He looked at us, laughed at us the whole time, smirked. >> And what happened? Not guilty.
00:32:56
>> It was shocking. >> Mhm. >> When they said not guilty. >> Neither was surprised that Bur had been
00:33:02
accused of another murder. >> I'm not shocked at all. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if he's killed
00:33:08
other people. Look what he did. I mean, it's brutal. >> When it was finally District Attorney
00:33:14
David Lassay's turn to cross-examine Burch, he had one thing in mind >> to show how ridiculous his story was.
00:33:23
>> And he says he had plenty to work with. Like Burch's claim that Nicole would have agreed to have sex in the car. So
00:33:31
Nicole would rather have sex with you in front of her neighbor's home with your butt hanging out the door of the car
00:33:39
than ask the babysitter to go home. >> Sir, I don't know. >> I wasn't the one making decisions.
00:33:46
>> And if Bur was hit hard enough to knock him out, why didn't anyone see bumps or
00:33:52
bruises on his head when he went fishing the next day? >> I'm I'm 6' 7, so it's hard for someone
00:33:57
to see the top of my head. And why would Dietri murder Nicole and let Burch get away?
00:34:05
>> So rather than just beating you or killing you in the middle of the street, he decided to enlist you, a total
00:34:12
stranger, to help him dispose of the body of his girlfriend. >> I don't know what his plans were.
00:34:20
>> At one point, lay pushes Bur on a possible motive. What really happened was you drove Nicole home fully
00:34:27
expecting that you were going to have sex, right? >> I was hoping that we would.
00:34:33
>> And when you get there and it becomes clear that Nikki isn't going to have sex
00:34:36
with you. When she attempts to go into her house and leave your vehicle, that's when your mood changes, right?
00:34:43
>> No, sir. >> That's when things get aggressive, don't they? >> Not at all. >> That's when you grab that cord and
00:34:48
strangle her, don't you? >> No, sir. Not at all. That's when Nikki gets slammed on the ground repeatedly
00:34:53
when she's trying to run toward her house. >> None of that is true. >> And Bur loses his cool when lay presses
00:35:01
him on an inconsistency in his story. >> So, clear this up for me. You're backing
00:35:07
down the embankment with Nicole's body in a fireman's carry position. Right. >> No.
00:35:13
>> What are you doing? >> I told you before and I will say it one more time for you, sir. I was carrying
00:35:18
her over to this area. I think there was a big turn when you saw him lose his temper.
00:35:24
>> I think we both said, "Well, there's the real Steve Burch coming out. Not George,
00:35:29
not big country. This is how we know him." >> You're assaulted. You're held at gunpoint. You carried the mangled body
00:35:36
of a woman to her final resting place. And the next day, you're going fishing with your buddy with a smile on your
00:35:42
face and not a care in the world. >> I wouldn't say not a care in the world. That would definitely would not be
00:35:48
something I would say. Who will the jury believe? >> No further questions. [Music]
00:36:08
>> Morning everyone. Be seated. [Music] >> Does the state have any rebuttal witnesses?
00:36:15
The prosecution got one last chance to present witnesses to rebut the story George Burch told the jury.
00:36:23
>> During George Burch's testimony, he specifically said, if I recall, that they were having sex. Her pants were off
00:36:30
already at that point. So during the rebuttal, we brought those pants to enter into evidence and make
00:36:36
sure they were viewed. >> If she had been disroed in her car, how do those clothes get not just bloody,
00:36:41
but dirty and hairy? Those clothes are filthy and they're demonstrative of being worn during a struggle.
00:36:48
>> Carefully and respectfully, Sergeants Brian Slinger and Rick Glopp now unwrapped and displayed the pants that
00:36:55
Nicole wore the night she died. Found blood soaked and muddy on the highway. >> It goes to George's credibility, which
00:37:02
is zero, that this was not a consensual act. She fought, escaped the vehicle. He
00:37:08
bludgeoned her, strangled her, and um with her clothes on, and then transported her body to the scene. His
00:37:15
story was a lie. He disroed her at the scene and forgot her socks. >> And then the final arguments.
00:37:24
>> Go right ahead. >> Thank you. >> The prosecution reminded jurors of the weight of evidence against George Burch.
00:37:31
>> Whose DNA is on her sock? Who's with Nikki at the four key areas of Brown County? Their explanation is ridiculous
00:37:39
and it's insulting to your intelligence. >> While the defense hoped to plant doubt,
00:37:45
>> justice for Nicole is not going to be delivered by a wrongful conviction of George Burch.
00:37:54
Doug Dietri had the motive, the opportunity, and the connection to this crime. The man that met this woman in a
00:38:02
bar and admitted admitted by his own account to dumping her body in that field looks like this the next day.
00:38:12
Who does that? >> Ladies and gentlemen, the baiffs will escort you to the jury room. Good luck.
00:38:18
>> What was the feeling in the courtroom as the case went to the jury? It was very
00:38:23
tense and I was surprised that I think 45 minutes later, I mean, not even an hour
00:38:31
later, the jury had a question. The jury asked to see the bloody wire used to strangle Nicole as well as cords
00:38:41
found in Doug Dri's garage to see if they were possibly a match. You know, the fact that they're thinking
00:38:48
about that is telling me, okay, are they actually believing George Burch's story
00:38:52
here? >> It really made me wonder where this was going to go. >> After a 9-day trial and more than 50
00:39:02
witnesses, the jury took just over 3 hours to reach a verdict. >> I just had this horrible feeling it was
00:39:10
coming back, not guilty. It just was really hard. I could not breathe >> and you could feel everybody was like
00:39:15
shaking. >> We the jury find the defendant George Steven Burch guilty of firstdegree
00:39:21
intentional homicide is charged in the information. It is signed by our four person indictated this first day of
00:39:28
March 2018. >> Everybody was just like oh my god thank god he was killed me. Thank God.
00:39:35
>> What sticks out in my mind was the gas hearing that from the family and knowing
00:39:39
the relief that they had at that moment. Um, that'll stick with me >> in a good way, right?
00:39:45
>> Absolutely. >> I know Joey was there for this. It's just 20 years later. It was his 20 year
00:39:51
anniversary of his death in October. It's just try not to get upset. >> Could you see Doug Dri?
00:40:02
>> Doug Dree, I think, was relieved. Doug Dree was holding his mother. Doug wasn't
00:40:08
even on trial in this case, but he was finally free of any suspicion. >> Doug, what's your reaction,
00:40:15
please? >> So, what you found from this case is that this technology can do more than
00:40:21
connect someone to a crime. It can actually exonerate a person. >> Absolutely. Yeah. I feel bad that he sat
00:40:26
in jail for 18, 19 days. I mean, technology is very important and our goal is to exonerate people just as it
00:40:33
is to find them guilty. If we didn't have these Google data locations on George's phone, if we
00:40:41
didn't have the Fitbit, would it be Doug Dietree sitting in prison as opposed to
00:40:46
George Burch? >> Back in court two months after the verdict, the judge speaks to George
00:40:58
Burch before sentencing him while Doug Dietri and his mother look on. This family is destroyed. It's ruined. It'll
00:41:08
never be like this again. >> In a state with no death penalty, the sentence is as harsh as possible. Life
00:41:18
without parole. >> This is a crime that I believe merit the death penalty. And for that, you have to
00:41:24
die in prison. >> It is what the families wanted. And yet this is no time for celebration.
00:41:32
To Vicki, to the Dietri family, the prayers and support of this community are with you. Good luck and God bless.
00:41:40
This court is in recess. [Music] >> The only comfort for Nicole's family is that George Burch can never destroy
00:41:54
lives again. When they convicted George of being guilty, I still like it was a feeling of
00:42:00
happiness, but yet still like somewhat of realization that he's she's actually gone now. And it was hard.
00:42:07
>> What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think of your daughter? >> Her big smile. Her big gorgeous smile.
00:42:14
>> She just radiates. She just does. She's always happy. >> What do you all tell her children?
00:42:22
Nicole is looking over them all the time and that she loves them and she'll see him again. And every night, I know Tyler
00:42:28
and Michaela always say a prayer and talk to their mom and say good night. >> We gained an angel. We lost a breath of
00:42:35
fresh air. The memory lives on through the stories we share, things we never forget. And
00:42:42
and she's okay. She's okay. >> I love you. and she had a passion for life, for living. She had good morals. What more
00:42:54
can a mom ask for? [Music] >> I can only describe it as evil, something horrible.
00:43:04
>> From 48 hours, this is Train to Kill, the dog trainer, the ays, and the bodyguard.
00:43:10
>> He couldn't control his obsession. >> Who was the hunter and who was the hunted? Follow and listen on the free
00:43:16
Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. [Music]