and that -- that is despicable. she was very gifted, and music, and as we started branching out the ministry, aina was the one that took care of music. 'cause we are. >> $74. >> that there were certain preconceived notions of who did it, for lack of a better term. I quit, I will not please you anymore. and just wants to do the lords work. i'll hold onto that. she had maybe startled a burglar when she came in through the front door. hide my skin? >> you describe it like a staring contest? Her coat was only half on and a bullet was found tangled in her hair, as were keys. >> my parents called me, do you want us to pick up her up? This incomprehensible act of cold blooded murder has changed our lives forever.. >> we didn't know. >> and prosecutors had another piece of evidence they said. she didn't go to the school. i have a lot of guilt. >> we're going to try and get video of her. >> but he wasn't there when that was -- the procedure was being done? >> long enough they said for nathan to wash his hands to get the gun shot residue off then leave to start his afternoon errands before picking up janelle from daycare. >> that's correct. i didn't think -- >> i know, but i mean, thing is, we're talking about things that once you start piecing things together, we're trying to figure things out. >> it's unconceivable to think somebody breaks into the house that exact same time, rummages through the house, finds a glock, pries it open, loads it up, hides behind the door to execute her. >> yes. academic withdrawal. >> prosecutors said it must have, been nathan the neighbor saw that day because police found a black hooded sweatshirt on his bedroom floor. Nathan and his wife Denise were very active in their Lithuanian-oriented church, and before they had children, would often travel the world doing missionary work. everyone has choices in life, and he made some really bad choices. >> when she was 16, she became a babysitter for nathan and denise's three children. i'm going through all these 101 options and my head. but with that he calls the police. she studied music her whole life, and had gone to college in florida to play the piano. >> when dateline continues. The International Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications (AINA-2021) will be held at Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada, May 12 to 14, 2021. and she just looked at me, stone cold. >> it was a shock. -[ chuckles ] -i doubt that exists. burglars aren't going to take a busted lock box after the kill somebody. Two days before Denises death, Nathan called the police late at night to report a suspicious vehicle parked in the driveway across the street from their residence. Nathan Leuthold was sentenced to 80 years in prison Wednesday for killing his wife Denise on Valentines Day last year. and that's always what we miss the most. and when i picture up from. during expedia travel week, save 20% or more on thousands of hotels. >> help me get back to my kids tonight. >> you can't lock? no big deal, she's driving. Her phone and keys were still there while there was no trace of her. >> that's been asked of you many times, correct? >> it was officially titled. why did this happen? the gradual is open. plans for the long term, and plans for a long weekend. to no one surprise, the couple got engaged a year later. >> what about you? laundry isn't done until it's done with downy. a couple of weeks before the murder. >> a key to that car was found tangled in denise is hair, under her head. and we just hugged. didn't know the language, we were studying it. Smith asked Nathan Leuthold to write a list of things that were stolen from the house. and son-in-law. i intentionally did it on valentine's day as a gift? there is no way there would have been gun shot residue on that sweatshirt still. >> a lot of things about mavens guns that didn't add up for police. wants you to believe he sees the door open and glass. -i'm down. He stated that he needed to be strong for his sons and that he just suppressed his feelings. >> shooting off his gun at the gun range. Nathan chose Valentines Day to murder her, as a present to Aina. her gloves, anything. i'm craig melvin. Episode 30: Welcome to Pushing Up Lilies, I'm your host Julie Mattson. we'll get through this. so they called this man to the stand, who said he could answer that precise question, because nathan told him everything. here's what's happening. >> that time, nathan called police, and spoke with an officer. >> parked his car in robinson park, somewhere close to 12:15, 12:20, walked up to the house, went into the house, the burglary was probably already staged. my son, is he okay? [ suspenseful music ] it's okay. Nathan and Denise Leuthold had known each other since grade school. nathan leuthold had spent a week listening to prosecutors paint him as a monster who had planned the execution of his wife. i was born for this. but you need a crowbar something? I wont grovel. >> she hadn't entered her phone calls. >> i could look at mike calendar but yeah, a couple weeks ago. >> i felt bad for my husband because he told someone that he always thought that we had the perfect family, the perfect. The couple was worried the man, whom they didnt know at the time, might burglarize their home as he had seen them leaving. i knew i didn't make a mistake. or i'm not going to answer that question. >> the timing just really gets to the point where it's almost not realistic. >> i approached the fella and said, what would you think about denise and i coming and helping you guys? 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. The missed 911 call led to him suing the Charlotte County Sheriffs Office for negligence, a lawsuit which he won. something like that. We will pray for the family. >> no. Season 11 Nathan had denied the accusations and said that they were victims of a home-invasion. >> you will have eyewitness identification, dna, gunshot residue, motive, and they all point to one person, and he's sitting right across from you. >> coming up, if it wasn't a burglary, what was it? >> he was there to drive me and to pay for it. >> because of the look on his face. >> they were making a difference in this girl's life? 843 1.1k 3.8k 1. He had taken her back to his residence after abducting her and raped her there. her desire from the beginning was to go back to help her own country and the church there. on >> nathan remember seeing a suspicious car near his house not long before the murder. >> nathan has a very big heart for people. >> coming up, hard to imagine anyone doing something this evil, if it's true. i didn't want them to find out the way that i had. Also surviving are her parents of Peoria; three children, Seth Leuthold, Julia Leuthold and Jenelle Leuthold, all at home; one sister, Deanna (Clint) Bachmann of Detroit Lake, Minn; her grandparents, Geraldine Sailors, Alice Newton, both of Sterling, Robert and Betty Rauch of Ocala, Fla., and Lillian Smith of Pekin; and numerous aunts, uncles and cousins. >> something seemed off to police as well. >> i have a 22. silver with pearl handle, little. >> we had sponsored other lithuania students before to come here. Cookie Policy. They are currently home on furlough and are staying with Denise's parents. had denise leuthold been killed by an intruder, part of a burglary gone wrong, or had, someone close to her had been involved? Among the 911 callers was Denise herself, who used Michaels phone to make that call without him knowing. ahh. >> i was surprised when he was the first one that she dated and they ended up getting married. and that's the kind of change you notice. Well, happy waiting.. Together they built their family on faith, but in a flash, one of them was dead and the other was under suspicion. One of the officers observed a female facedown with her head in a pool of blood and a spent shell casing and a live round next to her head. Nathan never asked questions or approached an officer before or after officers first entry in to the home. >> she essentially spoke from the grave saying that you wanted to kill her, that you were humiliating her with a, 20-year-old. it was enough to scare everybody. >> electrocution. But it all changed on January 17, 2008. At first Nathan thought of using poison with insulin or potassium. >> nathan's parents told me nathan and three children have been moved to a safe house just to protect them. >> the police we're not the first people to tell me. he said he remembered seeing a suspicious car in the neighborhood late at night. This week we conclude our Valentine's Day Murders with a story about Nathan Leuthold, a 39 year old former Baptist Missionary, who shot his wife Denise Leuthold in the head on Valentine's Day 2013, to make room for his lover, a 20-year-old Lithuanian woman the . there was a lot of evidence provided by the prosecution. >> describe the man you saw walking along this road? clean dishes. daycare. it doesn't matter what day it was. did you worry that you weren't able to find the gun? ADD TO CART. i wanted to get a good look at him, and i was worried that he saw us pulling out of our driveway, and if he knew we were gone, that he'd rob us. Nathan and Denise Leuthold had known each other since grade school. It took the jury about 90 minutes to convict Nathan Leuthold for the murder of his wife Denise. Marriages sometimes don't work out and most reasonable couples opt for a divorce. >> after the early morning celebration, the family was back to their usual routine. sometimes when she would answer a question or said something he didn't like, he kind of laughed and threw his hands up in the air in disappointment. Lyons spoke to . Aina spoke to Nathans parents daily after his arrest and her parents advised her not to speak to the police. Denise, a high schooler, met Nathan at a community college where she had been taking a few courses. >> he's taking this woman and her early twenties, an exchange student, to the spa. Another forensic scientist found gunshot residue to the right cuff of the black sweatshirt and was in close proximity to a firearm either when it was discharged or contact a primer gunshot residue-related item.. >> when they went into deliberations, i was, like, 99% sure that they had to come back with a guilty verdict, but there's that 1% you're thinking, oh, no, what if someone, you know, -- >> i really wasn't sure what the jury was going to come back with. not me. >> i think any time in a murder case when you don't have the handgun or the weapon, whatever it was, it's an uphill battle. >> but by the time nathan went on trial, she had changed her mine. >> what was it that you liked about her so much? >> not only did he deny killing his wife, nathan told us there was a perfectly reasonable explanation for all the searches the police uncovered. i'm so blessed to have you in my life and i know it. it's simple. they began to take a hard look at nathan's whereabouts that day. late >> turns out no one had been able to reach denise for a while. A crime scene technician later testified the home didnt show much sign that a struggle had taken place there other than a few items in disarray. State's attorney Jerry Brady and his staff put together an effective case against Leuthold who apparently plotted to kill his wife on, of all days, Valentine's Day. exactly 17 months after the murder. A Peoria police officer, Richard Linthicum, told jurors he was called to the house shortly after 3 p.m. that Valentines Day after Nathan Leuthold reported a burglary. there. Nathan Leuthold allegedly owned a similar weapon, which was missing. Nathan hid in the closet and waited for Denise to come home, wearing black clothes including a hoodie, then changed his clothes thinking someone caught him walking in to the house prior to the murder. [sfx: fire truck siren] onstar, we see them. yep. As Officer Scott Bowers was testifying, pictures of the woman lying in the hallway were shown on a large screen. >> it was a lot to taken. >> no, no, no, i don't. i'm for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. >> not guilty. >> do you have any personal problems with anybody? According to court documents, Nathan had a joint bank account with Aina where he made deposits, paid her living and school expenses for at least the two years she was in the U.S. Aina lived in their home while she attended the Illinois Central College in Peoria and had her own bedroom. Together they built their family on faith, but in a flash, one of them was dead and the other was under suspicion. Nathan Leuthold faces a single count of murder in connection with his wifes death. it took me one minute and 15 seconds. Peoria County States Attorney Jerry Brady says his Assistant Jodi Hoos did the research that won the case including the recovery of deleted emails and text messages. we're living with denise is. >> coming up, -- >> he was the only person with. I know that you want me dead. lighting the way. Together they built their family on faith, but in a flash, one of them was dead and the other was under suspicion. Prosecutors have inferred it was his weapon that killed Denise Leuthold and allege he searched the Internet for information on how to silence a .40-caliber Glock. the insurance bills are through the roof. there is glass from the back door where somebody row in. >> what did you find on her phone? if i had to defend my family, i would. on May 29, 2021, >> and put an entire town on edge. Together they built their family on faith, but in a flash, one of them was dead and the other was under suspicion.For a day that ended so tragically, it started with roses. there had to be a second key somewhere visible in the house in order for an intruder to easily find it and drive the car to the park. But we really didnt suspect him until we heard all of the other things., This is the first trial in the 10th Judicial Circuit that reporters have been allowed to record sound and images exclusive of the jury. take things out of context, you can make them say whatever you want to make them say. do the math. >> this is the problem. i just kept looking at my daughter. >> and this is "dateline." >> nathan was very quiet, almost in a state of shock, maybe? hey, you wanna get out of here? . pulled in the driveway. 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