00:00:00
♪♪ -As a career detective,
this case is very unique. Little did I know
that this would lead
00:00:16
to one of the most fascinating
cold case homicides that I'd ever been a part of.
00:00:22
-How did this case
begin for you? -So on December 3rd of 2017, the sheriff's department
received a 911 call
00:00:32
from a homeowner reporting that their family dog
brought back a human skull. -It came back
with a human skull?
00:00:40
-Yes. And it had
an obvious gunshot wound to the back of the head. We kind of organized
a grid search,
00:00:52
and within minutes, located the clandestine grave right off in this area. So, Peter,
this is the area right up here.
00:01:03
-I'll follow you. Now, this is quite a thicket,
isn't it? -It's a little thicket.
00:01:09
If you see this little indention
in the soil right here, that's where
the skeletal remains were found.
00:01:16
-We had a
very circumstantial case. We literally have human bones, human remains with
a gunshot wound to the head.
00:01:24
And at that point, is this
a murder or is this a suicide? -We have a model
of a human skull.
00:01:30
Can you show us
where that wound was? -It's pretty much, uh, towards
the back rear of the skull.
00:01:38
-When you look at
these scattered bones, are they telling you a story?
-Yes. It tells me that it's
most likely the story of murder.
00:01:47
We were reviewing
missing persons cases throughout the Midwest, but nothing was definitive
to who this victim was.
00:01:58
-When the cases come
to the DNA Doe Project, everything's already
been exhausted.
00:02:03
Genetic genealogy
is the last resort. So we use the DNA
to look at the matches, and we can build
family trees that way
00:02:12
and figure out
the identities of people. In this case, that person
is Gary Albert Herbst.
00:02:23
-The victim, Gary, was from
Scott County, Minnesota. We located the home
where Gary had last lived.
00:02:32
Some of the neighbors who
still lived in the neighborhood had reported some -- remembering some activity
back in 2013
00:02:42
that they found suspicious. -It's pouring down rain. It's probably 11:30 at night.
00:02:49
Pitch black, dark. -Something catches your eye
across the Herbst house. Chad, what do you see?
00:02:56
-I see the neighbors
scrubbing the floors. I see them scrubbing the walls. -We saw them bringing out
black garbage bags.
00:03:04
They eventually brought out
a rolled up carpet. I didn't know
what I was looking at.
00:03:09
I had no idea. And I turned to Chad and I was like,
"What is going on?" And Chad looked at me
and he said,
00:03:19
"Kaia, I think
they finally killed him." ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -It was in June of 2020,
00:04:13
when Linda Dane learned
the disturbing circumstances of how her
long lost brother Gary's skull
00:04:20
had been found by a dog in rural Barron County,
Wisconsin. -Yeah, it's kind of a...
eerie-type thing to think of,
00:04:30
but it still led
to finding out what happened, the truth. -Linda says Gary, who was 57
when he went missing,
00:04:40
was a loner
with a difficult personality who rarely saw
his own extended family,
00:04:46
which is why pictures
that exist of him are from his younger years. Seen here with his wife Connie.
00:04:53
-He could be stubborn.
He could be crabby. -It had been years
since Linda and Gary had spoken,
00:04:59
and in 2013, she learned from Connie
that he had vanished walking out on her
and their son Austin,
00:05:06
seen here as a teenager. What did you think of that?
-I was shocked. I -- I didn't know
what to think.
00:05:12
-Linda says
she found it strange that Connie had not reported
his disappearance to police.
00:05:19
-And it's like, okay, did you
file a missing person's report? Did you report it?
Did you do anything?
00:05:24
And they did nothing. -What was her reason
for not reporting that her husband was missing?
-She didn't --
00:05:29
she didn't give us a reason. -At Linda
and her family's urging, Connie filed this
missing person's report
00:05:36
with the Elko New Market
Police Department in Minnesota, where the Herbsts lived.
00:05:41
In the report, Connie said
Gary "grabbed a suitcase" and left in an "older
gray Honda vehicle,"
00:05:48
but she claimed she "did not get a look
at who was driving." Six years would pass
00:05:56
before an investigative genetic
genealogist, Robin Espensen, would be able to construct
a family tree
00:06:03
that led to identifying
the skull. -We knew that we had found
the identity of our Doe
00:06:09
as Gary Albert Herbst. -Gary Herbst was originally born
in North-Central Wisconsin.
00:06:17
We located family members of his
in South-Central Minnesota. -That's when
Detective Jeff Nelson
00:06:24
from the Barron County
Sheriff's Office tracked down Austin and Connie at the retirement community
where they both worked.
00:06:32
-I think it was a little bit
of a surprise to them, because we actually found out
that both Connie Herbst
00:06:37
and her son, Austin,
worked at a nursing home. We basically walked in
unannounced
00:06:43
and met with
both Connie and Austin. -When you told Connie that you
had found her missing husband,
00:06:52
likely had found him, was she excited about the news
or was she stoic about it? -Both of them were very stoic.
00:06:58
Never -- never even commented, "Well, at least
we know it's him." It's like
they just glassed over it.
00:07:07
-Brent Peterson, a special agent with the Minnesota Bureau
of Criminal Apprehension,
00:07:13
joined Jeff Nelson
to interview Connie. -She was not uncooperative. She was just trying
to be helpful.
00:07:20
Um, at least
that was the appearance. -Did you get into the issue
about why she didn't report
00:07:24
her husband as being missing? -Yeah, that -- that was, um,
a red flag from the beginning.
00:07:31
-Here's Connie's answer
about why she didn't report it. -...because he left on his own,
I said I didn't think I had to.
00:07:38
-Connie told investigators
she wasn't surprised Gary walked out on them because he had
a troubled lifestyle.
00:07:46
-She described Gary
as a drug user. He would use drugs
and spend all their money.
00:07:52
He just was described to us as just being generally
kind of a...volatile, angry, unpleasant person.
00:07:59
How was he with Austin? -Um, up until
the age of 10, great. But at the age of 10,
when Gary would start
00:08:09
his yelling and screaming
at me... Austin would step in between. -Okay.
-"Don't you yell at my mom."
00:08:16
-Did he ever hit you in the 30 plus years
you guys were married? -Once or twice.
-Yeah.
00:08:23
-One time
he hit me pretty hard, black and blue on my shoulder. The other time,
he actually didn't hit me.
00:08:28
He pushed me
and I broke my toe. -In his interview,
Austin told investigators his father had become enraged
the day he left
00:08:38
and later learned
he had stolen $5,000 in cash and his mother's wedding ring. -I heard him banging around
in the master bedroom.
00:08:47
I'm like, okay,
what's going on? Looked in.
He was packing a suitcase. He's like, "I'm leaving."
00:08:53
And yeah, he got in -- some guy pulled up,
picked him up. -Connie told investigators
she was at the library that day
00:09:00
and remembered getting
a frantic call from her son. -...he goes,
"Dad left! Dad left!
00:09:06
He got in a vehicle
with somebody." -Investigators soon realized that Connie
may have lied to them.
00:09:13
Why? Because in her
missing person's report, Connie had said she was home
when Gary walked out.
00:09:20
-We're suspicious
of their stories right away. So there was a lot of things --
this didn't match up.
00:09:26
-Connie added
to investigators' suspicions when she gave
yet another new detail.
00:09:32
-...the 40 caliber gun
was gone... and that was mine. -Connie had never mentioned
Gary had stolen her gun
00:09:41
when she first
reported him missing. -So there's a lot of oddities
that she's telling.
00:09:46
-Had she said something,
in your mind, that was particularly
incriminating? -I wouldn't say incriminating,
but...
00:09:53
I strongly felt she had... certainly knowledge
of his murder. I figured she had
some form of involvement.
00:10:02
-So investigators
redoubled their efforts to try to learn more. -So there's a lot
of working pieces going on.
00:10:09
-Several months passed
before investigators were ready to interview Connie and Austin
a second time.
00:10:16
This time, they dug deeper
into Connie's claims of abuse. -So, you know, your mom talked of
some abuse issues
00:10:25
in the family, uh, how you were
very protective of her. -Yeah.
-And -- it, we understand that.
00:10:34
-But it was more the fact
that I hated when he would sit there
and yell at her,
00:10:37
and would upset her. -And the more
investigators questioned Austin, the more he began
to blame his father
00:10:44
for his own demise. -Yeah. He was an angry guy
and stuff, but I never expected that
to get to the point
00:10:49
where someone
would want to kill him. -Directing attention toward
a mysterious man with tattoos
00:10:56
he says
his father drove away with. -...you remember a guy
with a black shirt and tattoos.
00:11:02
-That's about it.
That's as far as I can get. And that I got a really uneasy
sense about him.
00:11:06
That was it. ♪♪ ♪♪ -Gary Herbst
went missing in 2013, a dog found his skull in 2017,
00:11:26
and by June of 2020, investigators suspected
his own family, his wife Connie
and son Austin Herbst,
00:11:34
were somehow involved in
Gary's disappearance and murder. -...there's some --
some follow up questions
00:11:42
and information
we -- we need to gather to try to piece
all this together. -And during
their second interview,
00:11:48
they consented to a polygraph. -The investigators
from Wisconsin had arranged with the FBI.
00:11:54
They both agreed
to take polygraphs. -Lie detector tests are generally
not admissible in court,
00:12:01
but investigators
will use them as a tool to judge an individual's
credibility. What were the results?
00:12:09
-Connie did not show
any signs of deception, but Austin did. -An investigator from the FBI
confronted Austin.
00:12:17
-So I'm --
I'm very convinced... that you clearly know
what happened. -I don't. I'm telling you...
-Austin.
00:12:24
You can't walk away here
saying you don't know anything because you clearly...
know something.
00:12:32
-No. -Whatever it is,
you gotta tell me. -I suspect that
the guy in the truck wasn't exactly...friendly.
00:12:40
I just -- The look
I got from him... He was a little sketchy. -Either you're involved
with your mom
00:12:45
in killing your father, or you're involved
with someone else in killing your father.
00:12:51
-I'm not involved with it. I'm just going to tell you
getting my mom involved, that is pretty
out of this world.
00:12:57
-Detectives say Austin continued to draw
the investigators' attention toward the man with tattoos
00:13:04
he says picked up
his father that day. -...tell me what -- describe
what you're talking about
00:13:09
when you talk about
the look of him. -Tats, came out with
a black h-shirt that was all ripped up.
00:13:15
-Doesn't make sense.
None of this makes sense. -The first interview,
he recalls his dad
00:13:21
getting into a vehicle
and leaving. Then that changed to he remembered
some heavily tattooed man
00:13:28
that looked, in his words,
to be some sort of criminal that was the driver of a vehicle
that his dad got into.
00:13:34
So the story changed and morphed
each time you talked with him. -Investigators suspected
Austin's story was pure fiction.
00:13:43
-I just find
way too many inconsistencies in your stories. I mean, with your story,
with your mom's story...
00:13:51
-And did you feel
that the story was rehearsed? -Certainly. -That he was trying
to recall a script.
00:13:58
-Script. -But a feeling isn't evidence. And investigators had no choice
but to let Connie and Austin go.
00:14:10
Next, they headed
to the family's old neighborhood and former home. -Ironically, to a T,
00:14:17
all the neighbors
remembered Gary very well. -Detective Nelson says
that, to a person,
00:14:22
they described Gary as a mean,
horrible human being. -We repeatedly heard the term
00:14:30
"the biggest [Bleep]
that you'll ever meet." If he was mad at a neighbor, apparently he had a pipe organ,
00:14:36
and he would set up
big speakers in the windows, and he would blast
pipe organ music
00:14:42
into the neighbor's house. In the wintertime, when he would get mad
at a neighbor,
00:14:46
he would take
his snowblower over and purposely blow
and fill people's yards up in the middle of the night.
-With snow?
00:14:52
-With snow. -He was...just an evil person. -Neighbors Kaia
and Chad Kraml's house
00:15:03
was right behind
the Herbst house. They say Gary often yelled
at their two daughters
00:15:10
and was caught secretly
recording them on video. -I looked,
and in their back window
00:15:19
you could see the red light
from the camera on, and I walked out there
and I could see the camera
00:15:24
and Gary behind the camera.
-This is a video camera? -A video camera.
Like, a camcorder.
00:15:28
And he was just staring at me
blatantly, like, on purpose, wanting to, you know,
almost show me up
00:15:36
and be like,
"Yeah, I'm recording." And I sat there
and I was raising my hand like,
00:15:39
are you kidding me? -Chad filed
an incident report with police. It sounds like this has
a psychological component to it.
00:15:47
Like he was messing
with your mind. -Absolutely.
I feel like he wanted power, and he wanted everyone to know
that he had that power.
00:15:55
He most definitely tried
to exercise that power by messing with people,
neighbors...
00:16:03
-Another neighbor,
Jason Grimm, says he experienced
that firsthand when Gary complained about
the time he was snow blowing.
00:16:12
-He came out and started
screaming and shouting at me, telling me I was
going to flood his basement.
00:16:18
-Did you feel like
he was a little dangerous? -I never feared him, just surely because
it was all bark and no bite.
00:16:27
-Did you feel he was
a dangerous man? -Absolutely.
-And did you, the same way? -Absolutely.
00:16:34
-And when investigators
interviewed Dee Hamlin, the new owner of the house
where Gary and his family lived,
00:16:41
they learned something
that would confirm their suspicions
about Connie and Austin.
00:16:47
-Over in this area right here, before the closets
were put in, somewhere over here,
00:16:53
there was a big red stain. ♪♪ ♪♪ -When investigators canvassed
Gary Herbst's old neighborhood,
00:17:11
they uncovered
a trove of new clues from the time
around his disappearance. -People didn't like him,
were afraid
00:17:19
because he was
very confrontational. -Neighbors Chad and Kaia Kraml
recalled a storm.
00:17:28
-Thunder, lightning, everything.
Like, it was crazy. -And unusual activity
in Gary's backyard.
00:17:37
-It was maybe midnight-ish
and we looked out the window. -I see a truck backed
in the backyard.
00:17:45
-The truck was pulled right up
to the sliding glass door, which we knew was super strange
00:17:51
because Gary was very particular
with his yard. He did not like
anything out of order.
00:17:59
-Chad and Kaia
told investigators they remembered
seeing Austin and Connie scrubbing the floors
in the middle of the night.
00:18:07
You could see directly from
those windows into their house? -Absolutely. -And loading large garbage bags
into Gary's truck.
00:18:16
-They were also carrying out
a carpet or some sort of rug and also throwing it
in the back of the truck.
00:18:22
So we were watching the scene and I turned to Chad and I was like,
"What is going on?"
00:18:29
And Chad looked at me
and he said, "Kaia, I think
they finally killed him." -And did the two of you
ever think, "We should share
00:18:39
what we've witnessed
with the police?" -Absolutely not.
-No. And as a matter of fact --
-Because?
00:18:44
-He was horrible. -And soon after that night, they say Connie and Austin
seemed completely different.
00:18:51
-It was good. It was fun to see them
actually happy. -A few weeks later,
their neighbors saw them
00:18:57
setting up a yard sale. -So everybody started
filtering over there, myself included,
00:19:04
and we were looking
at all of the things that they had for sale. -And what was for sale?
00:19:10
-Men's clothing, men's shoes, um, there were tools,
ammo boxes. -Now, did you ask her,
"Where's Gary?"
00:19:20
-Yes, and the answer was that he didn't want
to be married anymore, and he left.
00:19:26
-Jason says
he scored a bargain. -I did. I bought
a riding lawn tractor. -Neighbors say
Austin and Connie
00:19:34
began happily walking
the neighborhood, offering up baked cookies. And do you think
his disappearance
00:19:41
in some ways
liberated their lives? -Absolutely.
Their steps were lighter. It was nice
not to have him around.
00:19:49
-All of a sudden,
Connie and Austin would be out in the yard
stopping and greeting people
00:19:53
where none of that happened
prior to the date that Gary allegedly left. [ Train horn blares ]
00:20:01
-The next break in the case came when investigators
obtained a search warrant for the former Herbst house
00:20:07
and notified the new owner,
Dee Hamlin, that they would
be bringing in a cadaver dog
00:20:12
along with her handler,
police officer Dan Moldenhauer, to see if she could detect
the scent of human remains.
00:20:19
So this officer said there may have been someone
killed inside the house... -Yeah.
-...and they wanted
00:20:23
a dog to come in to see
if they picked up any... -Yeah. Exactly.
-...odor of death.
00:20:27
-I go, "Absolutely." -When you got that call
and you brought Radar out here, this is the very house
you came to, correct?
00:20:35
-Correct.
-Radar is the cadaver dog who searched Dee's house. She came back to the scene
along with her handler
00:20:43
to show us
what she did that day. -Boy, Radar wants to get inside,
I'll tell you.
00:20:49
And I follow her. [ Bells jingling ] -I was present
when the dog originally came in.
00:20:56
I was there
for the first sniff around. -Hamlin says something
in the garage caught Radar's attention.
00:21:04
-Radar concentrated heavily
against this wall and on the brick behind the
drywall pieces and the boxes.
00:21:13
-Radar, find it. -Radar's search continued
inside the house. -Radar would run from space to space
and room to room,
00:21:22
almost like he had a pattern. And then we went downstairs
and that's where he slowed down.
00:21:30
-According to Radar's handler, the dog detected
the odor of human remains around that red stain
Dee had seen.
00:21:38
-She went straight to this room, ignored every other thing else,
came back, went along the wall,
and then came to the corner
00:21:44
where that closet door is. -That wasn't the only area
that Radar was interested in.
00:21:50
-She had a lot of odor here. I mean,
she checked all the walls before she came back and sat.
00:21:57
-So there was definitely a presence
of some sort of material, the guess is blood,
00:22:03
around this sliding door?
-Yes. -Crime scene investigators
tested the spots with luminol,
00:22:09
which indicated
the presence of blood in the areas
where the cadaver dog alerted.
00:22:14
When you have luminol
literally lighting up, what is it suggesting to you? -Well, it's certainly consistent
00:22:20
and corroborates
what the neighbors saw. We believed Gary
was most likely murdered
00:22:25
inside that particular house. -That's when they called
Connie and Austin in for a third interview.
00:22:32
-So we went to your old house
on Wagner Way... and just had a look... trying to piece together
Gary's kind of last movements.
00:22:44
And, um, there was some blood.
-Okay. -Connie said Gary,
who was a machinist, often worked on projects
00:22:52
and sometimes
accidentally cut himself. -Usually it was his fingers. -This blood that we're finding,
um, is a bit more significant
00:23:02
than just a little cut
on the finger. -Oh, that I wouldn't know. -Investigators
also questioned Connie
00:23:09
about what the neighbors
reported seeing. -Some witnesses saw
what they thought
00:23:13
was a rolled up rug being loaded
in the back of the pickup. -Um, no. I don't know.
00:23:21
We didn't have any carpet,
just up in the living room. -Her body language was -- to me,
was like she was defeated.
00:23:28
-Phil Nawrocki, a captain with the
Scott County Sheriff's Office, was also present
at the interrogation.
00:23:35
-Like, as long as I
can continue to deny everything, I'm going to be okay. Um, but she didn't get rattled.
00:23:44
Very soft spoken. -Did she sense
she was in real trouble, do you think?
-Yes. I think she knew at that point
00:23:51
that all the evidence was starting to gather up
against her and Austin. -Investigators
continued to press Connie.
00:24:00
-So it sounds like Gary was a little psychologically
abusive with you guys. -Yeah.
-What about physical abuse?
00:24:12
-One time, he, um --
well, he hit me. -Yeah. -Not that I didn't
probably deserve it.
00:24:19
'Cause I got pushed too far. -For Austin's interview,
cameras were rolling as he was grilled
by Detective Jeff Nelson.
00:24:28
-Do you feel
that he was the husband that he should have been
to your mother? -No.
00:24:33
-And you stepped in
and intervened several times, did you not?
-Yeah. -Okay.
You became her protector?
00:24:38
-Yep.
-Okay. Which I would have to believe
culminated in July of 2013, Will you took action
to protect your mom.
00:24:46
Did you pull the trigger
and put the round in the back
of your father's head? -But no matter how many times
Austin was asked that question,
00:24:54
he never answered it. Once again, Connie and Austin were allowed to leave
the police station.
00:25:02
-And that was a strategic plan
that we had come up with, knowing full well that
if we needed to arrest them,
00:25:08
we'd be able to find them later. -Now, investigators believed
they had enough evidence
00:25:13
to bring the case
to prosecutors. -There was some reluctance.
There was no confession.
00:25:19
It's simply
a circumstantial case, albeit we felt it was
a very good one. -And on November 19th, 2020,
around 7 a.m.,
00:25:31
Connie, then 62 years old,
and Austin, 26, were taken into custody. -I tell Austin
that he is under arrest
00:25:42
for the murder of his father. -The two would
eventually be charged with second-degree murder.
00:25:48
-Connie had already declined
the final interview with us and had been taken away
to the jail.
00:25:55
-But this time, Austin was ready to explain everything
to investigators... -Do you remember
where you shot him?
00:26:03
-Yeah. -...and later, to "48 Hours." And what do you do
with his body? -I sling him over my shoulder
and I walk into the forest.
00:26:12
♪♪ ♪♪ -Was it you or your mom
who pulled the trigger? -For more than four hours,
Austin Herbst was grilled
00:26:36
about his role
in his father's murder. -What's it gonna be, Austin? Was it you or your mom?
00:26:44
-Did you get the gun, Austin?
Yes or no? Is that fair to say that you
think that you protected her
00:26:50
and you feel that
you protected her that day? Yes or no?
-Finally, Austin broke.
00:26:57
-He said something
to the effect of, "I might as well tell you
what I did." I said, "Austin, that's what
we've been asking for."
00:27:04
-On that day,
when my mom came home, he flew off the handle. So I grabbed the gun
and ended the problem.
00:27:12
-Austin would tell investigators all about
what happened that day. And now, for the first time,
00:27:19
he is sharing his story
with "48 Hours." -My father, Gary Herbst,
was vindictive
00:27:26
to an extreme
that I have never seen in anybody else. He was cruel. He was petty.
He was violent.
00:27:38
-Did you reach an age in which
you came to fear your father, or you felt like you
were walking on eggshells?
00:27:45
-Very early -- I'd say
by six or seven years old, that fear was present. -Austin says
the emotional road he traveled
00:27:53
that led to killing
his own father was filled with acts
of violence and abuse, beginning when he was a boy,
00:28:01
details he didn't share
in earlier interviews with investigators. -He proceeded
to put a cigarette out on my arm
00:28:08
and I screamed and cried
and ran. I did something wrong,
picked me up by my throat
00:28:13
and threw me, like,
down a flight of stairs. -Austin says his mother
was treated even more brutally.
00:28:21
-Terribly. Unbelievably so. Physical abuse on a weekly,
sometimes daily basis. Uh, always demeaning,
always negative.
00:28:32
-Did you ever see a time
in which he drew blood from your mother? From striking her?
00:28:37
-Yes. He punched her
right in the face. Pure black and blue. The next day, she had blood
leaking from her mouth.
00:28:43
-Psychological abuse,
physical abuse? -Yep. -You swear on everything
you believe in
00:28:48
you're telling me the truth? -Absolutely. -Austin, just 19 years old
when he murdered his father,
00:28:55
recalls that tragic day, July 8th, 2013. -The start of the day
seemed very normal to me.
00:29:03
-Austin remembers playing
video games that afternoon when his dad
returned home from work.
00:29:09
Had he been drinking that day?
-Yeah. He drank regularly. Around about, I'd say --
00:29:15
I think it was, like,
2:00 or 3:00, my mom came home and... she and him got into
an argument about money.
00:29:23
There was yelling.
I tried my best to protect her. I am a wall.
I will not let this continue.
00:29:31
-Austin says his mom
went to the public library. -My father at this point
was laying on the couch,
00:29:36
half asleep. and as I walked out, I noticed that that skirting
was, like, crumpled up.
00:29:42
I lifted up the skirting
and I saw the firearm. -It's a pistol.
-Yes. -Austin says his father
had never brought a gun
00:29:50
into the living room before. -In my heart of hearts, I knew that my mother's life
was in danger
00:29:56
and, by extension, my own. It all just culminated,
like, oh my God, he's going to kill her.
00:30:03
All these thoughts
ran through my head almost instantaneously and I reached
underneath the couch,
00:30:09
I grabbed the gun, I pointed it at him
and I pulled the trigger. You know, it was surreal
almost, right?
00:30:17
Like, the bang went off,
my hearing popped and... ...it was just immediately -- there was almost,
like, a numbness.
00:30:25
-I've never asked
this question in all my years on "48 Hours." What was it like
to pick up that pistol,
00:30:33
point it at your father's head
and pull the trigger? -It broke me. It -- it changed who I am
irrevocably.
00:30:43
I can never be the person I was or even the person
I would have become had that never happened.
00:30:49
-At that moment,
are you anguished over what you had done? Are you horrified? -I -- There was
a level of relief,
00:30:57
knowing that I would never again
have to have that fear, having to worry
about my mother's life,
00:31:03
having to worry about my life. -Austin says he called
his mother at the library and told her to come home.
00:31:09
And how does your mom react
to this scene? -Sort of the same way I did. Sort of just stunned.
00:31:17
-Austin says
he placed his father's body, wrapped in a rug,
in the trunk of their car.
00:31:23
They drove into
neighboring Wisconsin. What are you and your mom
talking about? -We aren't.
00:31:30
At that point, you know,
the adrenaline's still rushing. It's still fear. -About two hours later,
00:31:38
Austin and his mom
pulled onto a field next to a patch of trees. He says they dumped Gary's body
at this spot and then fled.
00:31:48
-I figured that wildlife
would take care of the rest. -What do you mean,
wildlife take care of --
00:31:54
-Bears, foxes,
they would devour the body. The bones would be scattered. Nobody would know.
00:31:59
-That seems a bit barbaric.
-Absolutely. I was not in the state of mind
that I ever want to revisit.
00:32:08
I was at the lowest
I'd ever been, both in my emotions
and in my humanity. -We do have information
00:32:18
that he was not
a pleasant person to be around, but being an unpleasant person does not rise to the level
of being a domestic abuser.
00:32:26
-With no evidence
Austin acted in self-defense, prosecutors
Mike Groh and Sarah Wendorf
00:32:33
said Austin and Connie
would be charged with second-degree murder. -What Austin described
as happening
00:32:42
was not an emergency situation. It did not rise
to a self-defense offense. -Your life, while he was
sleeping there on the couch,
00:32:52
was not under imminent threat. You didn't have to shoot him. This wasn't legally
self-defense.
00:33:01
-Correct.
-This was murder. -Correct. -And as prosecutors
prepared for trial, they questioned whether
there was more to Connie's role
00:33:09
in Gary's killing than Austin had admitted. Do you at times
wonder to yourself, could Connie
have pulled that trigger?
00:33:17
-As a prosecutor,
of course I wonder about that. ♪♪ ♪♪ -I shot my father because
00:33:37
if I hadn't,
I would have been dead. My mother would have been dead. -What are the options
that his son could have done
00:33:48
other than kill Gary? -He could have grabbed the gun
and left the house and told the police
what had been going on.
00:33:55
-Prosecutor Mike Groh. -All of those things
are possible and very doable, except shooting him in the head,
00:34:03
which is the last thing
that a civilized person would supposedly do. -Once Austin Herbst confessed
to killing his father,
00:34:11
he agreed to plead guilty
to second-degree murder. -It was what we call
a straight plea,
00:34:17
which means there was
no promises made by the state as to what you would get. -Connie Herbst pleaded guilty
00:34:24
to aiding an offender,
accomplice after the fact. -Austin said, "Yes, I was
the one that killed my dad."
00:34:32
And then that's when we decided
Connie would be charged with the aiding an offender
after the fact.
00:34:39
-Without a trial,
Prosecutor Sarah Wendorf says there were
many unanswered questions
00:34:45
about Austin and Connie's
claims of physical abuse. -We have never seen
any information to suggest
00:34:52
that there was any abuse that Gary had committed
against Austin or his wife. -They never said anything
until they were in trouble,
00:35:01
and then they told these reasons
why they were abused. -The prosecutors
in this case say, "Well,
00:35:08
there's no real evidence
that any of this happened." -Of course. And I can't --
I can't refute that.
00:35:15
I can't refute that there is
no evidence that it occurred. It is all hearsay. -Austin told "48 Hours"
00:35:21
he and his mom had never
reported abuse to the police, friends
or extended family members
00:35:27
because they feared
for their lives at the hands of Gary. -I'd been told,
"If you try to have me arrested,
00:35:34
if you try to flee, if you try to, you know,
go your own way, I will find you and kill you."
00:35:43
-Another question
for prosecutors involves Connie's whereabouts
on the day of the murder.
00:35:49
You said that your mom
was at the library at the time that
your father was shot, correct?
00:35:54
-Yes.
-Well, prosecutors say investigators were never able
to find evidence that that's true,
that she was there.
00:36:01
And they wonder if your mother was the one
who killed your father and that you, as her protector,
00:36:10
have told a story where
you're taking the responsibility for something that she did.
00:36:16
-My mom would never allow me
to take a fall like that if she had done that. -I need to ask you
that question.
00:36:24
Did your mother, Connie,
shoot and kill your father? -I'm telling you right now,
on everything I hold dear,
00:36:32
my mother did not
shoot my father. -Prosecutors said a potential motive
for Gary's murder was hate,
00:36:41
illustrated by how Austin
left his father's corpse in these woods to be eaten. That is inhumane.
-Absolutely.
00:36:49
-That is barbaric. Inhumanity that, at the time, seemed to have left Austin
overjoyed.
00:36:56
-I experienced
more happiness afterwards than I had for my entire
18 years of living with him.
00:37:02
-You're having cookies
with the neighbors while your father's corpse
is being eaten by animals.
00:37:10
-Yeah. It was --
it was a strange dichotomy. It actually brought me
a sense of almost shame
00:37:18
that my happiness is on the -- on the feet of
the ultimate act of violence. It still makes me wonder
what kind of person I am
00:37:28
that that could have happened. -At Austin Herbst's
June 2021 sentencing hearing at the Scott County
District Court in Minnesota,
00:37:37
prosecutors asked
that he be sentenced to 30 years in prison. -I made it clear to the judge
00:37:46
that he deserved
the highest sentence because of the callous way
that he was killed
00:37:52
and the body was treated. -But Judge Caroline Lennon said she found Austin's claims
believable.
00:37:59
In her ruling, she said,
"I find it credible that you believed that
he was going to kill your mom,"
00:38:05
and later said Austin
"felt an underlying obligation to protect his mother." He was sentenced
to 12 years, six months
00:38:14
and will be eligible
for release in 2029. -It's horrendous because if we allow
that kind of justice to go,
00:38:23
nobody's safe, because they'll say
that I have been abused. That's why I did this.
00:38:30
-Gary Herbst's sister Linda
seemed a bit overwhelmed. -12. Yeah. That does not seem
very relevant to someone's life.
00:38:42
It seems very -- very light. -Eight months later,
Connie Herbst was back in court
00:38:48
for her sentencing. -We also recommended
for Connie, um, the highest end
of the guideline sentence,
00:38:55
which was 57 months. -That would have been
almost five years in prison? -Yes.
-But the judge decided
00:39:01
Connie would get two years
and three months. Under Minnesota's
sentencing guidelines,
00:39:07
she served just three months
behind bars and was released in May of 2022. -I think that he was psychotic.
00:39:19
-And back in the small town
of Elko New Market, Minnesota, where the murder took place,
00:39:24
a few of Gary Herbst's
former neighbors had hoped Austin
and his mother, Connie,
00:39:29
wouldn't do any hard time for eliminating a man
they considered a monster. -I felt sad because
00:39:39
I didn't really want them
to be caught. -I don't feel that
they were a danger to society.
00:39:44
-Jason Grimm even had
a message for Austin. -I hope he's doing well, and when he gets out,
please look us up.
00:39:51
I'd like to help him
in any way I can. -Really?
-Yeah. -Do you feel in a way, though,
00:39:57
he got a
12-and-a-half-year sentence, was that too much? -I think it's
a little bit excessive.
00:40:02
Hopefully,
he can pick up the pieces and move on with his life. -Do you believe
that what you did was justified?
00:40:08
-I believe that there are
a lot of reasons why...the act was justifiable. -So under
the same circumstances,
00:40:19
you would still shoot him again? -I believe so. ♪♪ -And when you get out, what do you want people to know
00:40:32
about whether you will be
a potential danger to society or a contributor to society?
00:40:38
-My only goal in life is to leave something behind
that's worth remembering. This isn't it. This isn't it.
00:40:47
I want to leave behind a legacy
other than I killed my father. ♪♪ ♪♪