my world had just been shattered. >> reporter: 39-year-old denise leuthold lying in a pool of blood had barely made it inside the house. >> reporter: it happened on the least likely day imaginable a day devoted to love and affection valentine's day. i think it was disbelief. >> we're going to try to get video of her, maybe we'll see somebody following her. More from Medium Bryan Ye in Better Humans How To Wake Up at 5 A.M. Every Day Reginald Ben-Halliday in Lessons from History. flo: don't worry. i didn't give much of a thought to the word interesting. can it help keep me asleep? sure, why not? >> we were able to account for him up to about 11:30 in the morning. so now, i use heavy duty swiffer sweeper and dusters. but then as i got about halfway into the garage, i can see that the window pane was broken. i just heard on the radio." >> no. at that point i didn't know where we were going. >> i wasn't surprised when he was the first one that she dated and they ended up getting married. why did aina say after the robbery, "interesting" smiley face? >> i shot the 40. >> i -- i had -- two watches, a couple hundred dollar watches, nothing -- >> what about money? >> reporter: prosecutors accused nathan of coaching aina during jailhouse phone calls on how to cover up their relationship. >> reporter: as denise's family reeled from their unimaginable loss, this quiet, central illinois community was just starting to grapple with the fallout of a murder on valentine's day. so, i sent her a text message, she'll get it when she gets there. there was multiple texts and calls every day. that's how you put a customer at ease. where she's at? >> aina was the one that was always helping us with the children at church and it was just natural for denise to want to hire her. >> reporter: the judge sentenced him to 80 years in prison. >> you picked this happy place for such an ugly finality. let's send to everyone! the cold and gray isolated illinois penitentiary. have good lectures and meeting. >> i got a shotgun. Aina Dobilaite, of Peoria, IL, was named to the President's List at Illinois Central College for the Spring 2012 semester. but then came valentine's day, 2013 when nathan pulled into their driveway mid-afternoon and discovered something terribly wrong. >> yeah. nathan pleaded not guilty. the local news media just put on the. he last fired that gun in oklahoma. they believe nathan was lying to them and that he had used that key to move the car. >> reporter: on the stand another neighbor, who did not want to be videotaped, testified she heard a gunshot that day between 12:30 and 12:40. in the time frame detectives thought denise was killed. Hockey pla. and i have to tell her at some point. and we know that we loved her. it gets stuff deep in the grooves other tools can miss. yes, it senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both comfortable. use this valuable guide to record your important information and give helpful direction about your final wishes to your loved ones. i will not make excuses. Our work ranges from facilitation . >> i think a lot of people were anxious, especially the family. it's what you do. >> reporter: nathan's lawyer was hugh toner, a former prosecutor turned defense attorney, who argued that the investigation was faulty. she didn't go to the school, she didn't call. she's been shot in the house. >> but he wasn't there when the procedure was being done? i need to figure out how that car got to robinson park. >> the worst day of my life. >> my vehicle was at robinson park today, yes. hi, i'm jonathan, a manager here at colonial penn life insurance company, to tell you it is possible. While in. >> my parents called me, "do you want us to pick her up?" nathan leuthold missionary and father of three, a native son of peoria, was now on his way to jail to await trial for the murder of his wife. >> reporter: turns out no one had been able to reach denise for a while, including nathan. is that feasible, that if he was a -- >> no. and that's when one of the detectives got frustrated with nathan's whole story, and confronted him. >> i mean, he described denise as the backbone of the family. >> it was the curly hair and the bouncy curls and just the happy-go-lucky smile. denise leuthold, mother of three young children had been found shot to death in her home in peoria, illinois. so it was a friend. lysol laundry sanitizer kills 99.9% of bacteria. he said nathan told him he researched ways to kill denise on his laptop. you're breathing on me! The International Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications (AINA-2019) will be held at the Kunibiki Messe, Matsue, Japan, March 27 to March 29, 2019. >> as i'm speaking to him, he never showed any sort of emotion or asked any questions of me as to what was going on. pay your lips some attention. could a brazen burglar willing to kill be on the loose? >> reporter: she was speaking from the grave in a way. he originally said that he didn't wanna come back in the house, that the kids were afraid to come in. >> was your vehicle ever at robinson park today? Best flowers/plants photo Kimberly Zila Best off-campus photo Ali Davis Best on . that is our broadcast for a friday night and pfor this week. i mean, everybody was glued to her testimony. at first it looked like a possible burglary gone bad, but after questioning her husband, nathan, and combing the crime scene, detectives started to see things differently. this is where police say the cars were switched. so i suspect that based on that response, that in all likelihood she had some knowledge as to what was maybe gonna take place. everyone. a data plan for everyone. this may be important in the future because just as all your communication with the attorney is private, communication with your clergy is also private". >> reporter: none of that made sense to the detectives. >> reporter: something else that didn't make sense, they said, was that denise's car was not in her driveway. the police investigator read the note in court. >> reporter: not only did he deny killing his wife, nathan told us there was a perfectly reasonable explanation for all those internet searches police uncovered. how do i function now without her? while she didn't name aina, she mentioned a much younger woman. Aina Marie ay mayroong 2 mga trabaho na nakalista sa kanilang profile. i just thought, you know, nate, you got to be strong, man. make the most of this holiday season by supporting your gut health. >> reporter: it was a shock. that was easy! >> no. >> reporter: being back in the states also gave nathan an opportunity to travel to churches, where he reported on his and denise's missionary work and raised more funds so they could soon return to lithuania. a black hooded sweatshirt on the floor of nathan and denise's bedroom. i pray that there is enough time to do everything. this is lifetime coverage as long as you pay your premiums. >> yeah. >> reporter: with the house now a crime scene, nathan went with detectives to the police station, where they asked him if he could think of any reason his family would be targeted. >> this is the problem i've got. you'll also get this free beneficiary planner. denise's parents believed their daughter had been killed by a stranger until their minister came to visit one day. it's our way of saying thank you just for calling. >> reporter: that sponsorship started in the fall of 2010, when aina came to the u.s. to study at a christian college in florida, where nathan would occasionally visit her. remember diane parrish, who said she saw a man in a black hooded sweatshirt walking towards denise's house on the day of the murder? she hadn't answered her text messages. for the man they'd known since he was a young boy, who lived with them and now, they believe, lied to them. >> i think it was significant for the jury to see aina. he said he didn't know. when his friend, norm, visited, he said nathan seemed quiet, stoic. >> in the house? >> reporter: later nathan took the children and went to stay at a church mission house in a nearby town. >> reporter: aina dobilaite, his motive for murder. she never did any domestic battery, any restraining order, any anything, because there was nothing. just keep praying. gone to know well. and it's consistent with our evidence. and then there was a gap between him leaving the starbucks around 11:30, then he shows back up at the same starbucks around 12:45 p.m. and in between there we could. did it look like a normal burglary? in my experience as a police officer and investigator, when a burglary occurs, the kitchen is not a common place that a burglar would look for items. >> and that answer has never changed, has it? so call now. Follow. coming up -- hard to imagine anyone doing something this evil if it's true. With a total enrollment of nearly 4,000 students and an alumni base of over 50,000 around the world, Iona is a diverse community of learners and scholars. >> we the jury find the defendant nathan leuthold guilty of first degree murder. sounds good to me, but at my age, i need the security of knowing it won't get cancelled as i get older. >> in your room, in that room in particular? i said >> "mom went home to be with god." [baby crying] pampers is the first and only diaper with air dry channels they stay up to 3 times drier, so babies can sleep soundlyall night. Compass and find out. someone he had mentored. >> i was already shaving and showering and all that. because that's what the jury wants. a personalized ranking provided by U.S. News College >> that's correct. aina responded, "interesting" followed by a smiley face. Gaels are people with Irish-Gaelic ancestry, such as the Congregation of Christian Brothers, who founded Iona University in 1940. Notable Iona alumni include Alfred Kelly Jr., CEO of Visa Inc.; Margaret Timoney, CEO of Heineken USA; Robert Greifeld, former CEO of Nasdaq; and Gregory Cairo, CEO of Le Creuset USA. gotcha! detergent alone can't. he insisted he would have never done anything to harm his beloved wife. love them, hate their laundry, protection. and i'm not faulting you. >> reporter: what was suspicious about what was taken? his demeanor, his attitude. >> no. dupixent is the first treatment of its kind that continuously treats moderate-to-severe eczema, or atopic dermatitis, even between flare ups. clearly aimed at nathan. >> scissors. >> help me get back to my kids tonight. >> does your wife? take her for waxing treatments. just $9.95 a month for colonial penn's number one most popular whole life insurance plan. >> what was it that you liked about her so much? >> i observed some kitchen cabinets open and some kitchen drawers on the floor. >> the more we started looking at the house, it just didn't seem like a real burglary. The Innate Assessment sets you up for success by pairing you with majors, colleges and careers that fit your unique skills and abilities. she was the closest thing police had to an eyewitness. >> reporter: david smith was a. fellow inmate of nathan's at the county jail. good night from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. olay, face anything. >> no. In addition, Iona has created a second-to-none performing arts program for all students, regardless of major. >> headlights? nathan says it felt good to be home. , 2 . >> reporter: according to the inmate, nathan said he ran a lot of errands on the day of the murder to create an alibi. - Managing a team of 10 employees in a high paced environment, changing strategies as needed. >> reporter: and put an entire town on edge. to the jury, to everybody, her story. she essentially spoke from the grave saying that you wanted to kill her, that you were humiliating her with a 20-year-old. in junior high i began to see her character and see what kind of person she was that way. went into the house. her desire from the very beginning was to go back to help her own country and the churches there, how to use music for the lord. he's leaving. the leutholds' friend, norm ulrich, couldn't comprehend the news. even though denise had been killed in her home, her car was found in a nearby park. Iona University's ranking in the 2022-2023 edition of Best Colleges is Regional Universities North, #63. >> reporter: for instance, what about those cars nathan said he had seen in the neighborhood, which he thought were suspicious not too long before the murder? sounds good to me, but at my age, i need the security of knowing it won't get cancelled as i get older. Iona was ranked #1 in Westchester County, N.Y., and in the top 10 percent in the country by PayScale. and i only had probably three rings that were of any value, but those three rings were taken. she hadn't answered her text messages. >> would you state your name? >> do you really believe that david smith is the type of person that nathan is going to confide in and then seek counsel from? >> your judgment that this all happened because he was having an affair and i would submit as i started off with you, there's not a scintilla of evidence that that was the case. >> reporter: -- convicted? >> reporter: did you straight up ask him did you have anything to do with your wife's death? >> reporter: and what about the state's witness who claimed that nathan had confessed the whole crime to him? >> reporter: as for denise's parents, they're still hurting from such a sudden loss. and then we prayed. so come ask, shop, discover at your xfinity store today. what time do the kids wake up? >> he had a black hoodie sweatshirt on with the hood pulled up. we took them upstairs to the bedroom. Its tuition and fees are $44,328. i like guarantees. people still talk about this one. >> no. i meant that to mean that is, interesting or that it is odd. but when detectives stopped there, they discovered that nathan had been bringing another woman to the spa, and it was none other than aina. >> we want to talk to the people closest to her first to try to figure out what makes her tick, what's her routine like. >> and this is "dateline". if i haven't pleased you in 17 years nothing i do now will please you. >> reporter: how important was david smith, the jailhouse snitch? the power of 1-2-3. i was a translator. and active probiotics. taking metamucil every day can help. and you know, he was like a son to us. exfoliate nourish naturally enhance your lips. >> reporter: shooting off his gun, that there would be residue? >> and i looked at denise's mom at the time and i saw what she was as a woman, as a wife, as a mother, and i saw that denise really favored her mother and so i said, that's what i want. >> reporter: why were you so sure? >> nathan's parents told me that nathan and the three children had been moved to a safe house just to protect them because they didn't know if they were being targeted for anything. detergent alone can't. as soon as she was killed we knew who did it. >> reporter: there were a lot of things about nathan's guns that didn't add up for police. and we thanked god for the most wonderful mother and wife to ever have been on this earth. . >> there's one set of keys. i think it was very hard for denise to leave her family, to leave everything she'd known and. the biggest thing was just the sheer volume of contact that they had for you're saying you're just checking on her and making sure she's doing good in school, it was just -- >> it had the appearance of a. dating-type relationship. no. diane knew it was coming. and she just would glare, "i ain't answering that." Makita ang kompletong profile sa LinkedIn at matuklasan Aina Marie ang mga koneksyon at trabaho sa kaparehong mga kompanya. sure, why not? It was hard for Harper to believe his friend was. The votes are in, and we're happy to reveal the winners of this summer's photo contest. >> reporter: his friend, norm, often brought them home-cooked meals. try theraflu. what? we've got to solve this. >> nathan said that he had been at the gun range. >> i drove out there and the roads were all road-blocked. July, 05 2012 - Verified by Illinois Central College Badges Awarded Copyright 2022 Merit Pages, Inc. was nathan's life also in danger? >> i think he tried to portray this image of this wonderful. and she was very gifted in music. >> reporter: prosecutors played the interview for the jurors, hoping they would see what they saw. Read an the children would be robbed of just one parent, not of both. >> from our perspective, that's what makes this case so disturbing. >> yes. the glass is on the ground. people were in the park walking around. my tears soaked their faces and their tears soaked my face. and here we had a note that she had written that laid the whole thing out. at the last minute he chose not to. it just kept going on and on and on. then the police arrived. insurance claims verified they were stolen and paid the claim on those items. >> yeah. and it's yours free. if i had to defend my family. >> we were her sponsors here in the u.s. yes. with the sleep number 360 smart bed it can. Furthermore, Iona is ranked #19 nationwide in Money.coms list of Most Transformative Colleges. >> the timing just really gets to the point where it's almost not realistic. >> why would somebody wanna come into this particular house? but as soon as i said no, i'm like, well, wait a minute. i just remember hearing that the loss just got that much greater. >> reporter: norm ulrich jr. got to know nathan and denise well when his wife taught at their high school. and here in america, he was the only person with whom i could talk in lithuanian. >> reporter: to be with aina, to groom aina as your new wife. Iona University's ranking in . yeah. >> nothing here lately. now i want to do all that i can to be that person. glad i could help. olay regenerist faced 131 premium products, from 12 countries, over 10 years. Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services, Communication, Journalism, and Related Programs, Homeland Security, Law Enforcement, Firefighting and Related Protective Services. no way.? is skincare from around the wobetter than olay? >> she was a wife, a mother, and a missionary. there are no health questions to answer and there are no medical exams to take. >> i fell apart and cried. the defense argued david smith was a jailhouse snitch, a convicted felon who had gotten a deal for his testimony. >> and we hope you will be. worst day of my life. >> i think it was officially titled, like academic withdrawal or something. they were like you can't go in, i said i just want to know, what happened to my daughter, is she in there? yeah, he practically lived at our house. the family wanted to find out what really happened. >> there's nothing more important to me than you and this relationship. he'd just dropped his kids off at school. their days were filled with shuttling kids to school and day care, and raising funds for their next overseas mission. >> reporter: tips started coming in right away. she never called police. she's driving. >> reporter: nathan finally did leave the police station late that night, hours after his wife had been killed. >> i tried to run up there to go into the house. so i think it was very hard to tell what the jury was going to do. >> reporter: when she was 16, she became a babysitter for nathan and denise's three children. >> this was an incomplete investigation. >> no. These reviews the best thing was to not enter the house. Prosecutors alleged that Leuthhold had planned to kill his wife to be with his mistress21-year-old Aina Dobilaite. metamucil's gelling action also helps to lower cholesterol. Receive hi, i'm jonathan, a manager here at colonial penn life insurance company, to tell you it is possible. >> did you start to think that someone may have targeted denise? >> we got a break-in. Data provided by U.S. News College Compass Users. what did you find on her phone? >> were you and nathan ever lovers? if you're age 50 to 85, you can get life insurance with options starting at just $9.95 a month. >> we had helped women who'd been in abusive relationships. he knew full well when he called the police what they were going to find. >> the motive? >> reporter: some things seemed off to police, as well. so it was a friend. neuriva. they would just, you know, goof around with each other, you know just in a loving, you know, maybe puppy-lovish way. >> well, at first he told me that he was thinking about some poisoning with some type of insulin or potassium, something like that. >> hotels. >> and it just kind of kept snowballing from there till we figured we had to go up and track her down. #leuthold By: Andy Kravetz - Just your average guy in Peoria. on the floor. >> reporter: they returned home after a year and soon welcomed a son, seth, and a daughter, julia. his real valentine. >> reporter: when denise went off to college in minnesota, nathan, a year younger, soon followed. it captures dust in one swipe. 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