The Intruder

Speaker 1 LBTT NBZ!

Speaker 3 Your night in just got legendary.

Speaker 3 Legends.com is the only free-to-play social casino and sports book where you can spin the reels, drop parlays, chase the spread, and hit up live blackjack without leaving your couch.

Speaker 3 Slots, sports, original games, Legends has it all. Win real prizes and redeem instantly straight to your bank.

Speaker 2 Legends is a free-to-play social casino. Void reprohit.
It must be 80 plus payers. Once we visit Legends.com for full details.

Speaker 3 Get in the game now and score a 50% bonus on your first purchase only at legendswithaz.com.

Speaker 4 Are you ready to get spicy?

Speaker 5 These Doritos Golden Sriracha aren't that spicy.

Speaker 2 Maybe it's time to turn up the heat.

Speaker 5 Or turn it down. It's time for something that's not too spicy.
Try Dorito's Golden Sriracha.

Speaker 4 Spicy.

Speaker 5 But not too spicy.

Speaker 6 I'm Lester Holt. Tonight on Date Live.

Speaker 7 I had gotten a call from one of my friends who said, Rachel's been shot.

Speaker 9 This masked gunman fires four shots.

Speaker 10 Why would somebody do this?

Speaker 11 Oh my god, oh my god.

Speaker 1 Do you know anybody that would want to hurt your wife or my mouse?

Speaker 7 According to what I heard, it was someone that wanted to frame him.

Speaker 4 Who would want to hurt him?

Speaker 8 Someone in his past.

Speaker 7 He said, somebody's targeting the people I love, and I might be the next one.

Speaker 8 She's told by him, deny you know me to anybody.

Speaker 8 This is out of a John Grisham novel.

Speaker 13 Everybody we told all said the same thing. It can't be true.

Speaker 7 He was very smooth, debonair, the perfect man. Guess not.

Speaker 8 Every time we discuss this case, we'd always say to ourselves, this is like a date line.

Speaker 6 Here's Andrea Canning with the intruder.

Speaker 4 December 18th, 2014, 2:47 a.m. A desperate call to 911.

Speaker 4 Police, shots fired.

Speaker 1 People are dead.

Speaker 15 I was shot.

Speaker 4 This quiet street in the sleepy coastal town of Saco, Maine, was suddenly wide awake.

Speaker 4 Police raced toward a home as their dash cam video rolled.

Speaker 8 Shots fired.

Speaker 9 Stay on the line with me, okay?

Speaker 16 Is the shooter still there? I don't know. He walked up there.

Speaker 16 My wife ran into another woman. I think he's dead.

Speaker 5 He killed her, and he killed her friend.

Speaker 4 A night of terror. A home invasion.

Speaker 11 I'm losing a lot of blood. Hurry up, please.

Speaker 4 A mysterious, violent assault that would soon spark a far-flung investigation, with pieces of the puzzle to be found in three different states.

Speaker 10 Why would somebody do this?

Speaker 4 But none of that was obvious that first night to law enforcement. When officers arrived at the scene, they found the man talking to the 911 operator.
It was the owner of the house.

Speaker 8 It's terrifying. Yeah.

Speaker 4 Special agent Pam Flick investigated the case for the FBI.

Speaker 8 When the police arrived on scene, they were able to talk the victim homeowner out of the house.

Speaker 4 He had been wounded by gunshots and said there were two women still inside. His wife and their friend from out of town.
Was there fear that maybe the intruder was still in the house?

Speaker 8 There was fear that the intruder was in the house. Sako Piti didn't even know if the man making the 911 call, the victim homeowner, was the shooter himself.

Speaker 8 So they had a serious crime scene with a possible active shooter situation.

Speaker 4 Inside, police didn't find a shooter, just the two women. The homeowner's wife was luckily unharmed.
But their friend, she had been shot three times.

Speaker 8 Where was she hit? Once in the shoulder, once in the abdomen, and once in the back of the the head. She was in serious condition.

Speaker 4 Her name was Rachel Owens. She was rushed to the hospital while the homeowner told the police what he saw.

Speaker 8 He described the intruder as approximately 5'9 or so, carried a gun in his right hand.

Speaker 16 He wore a balaclava.

Speaker 5 Which is like a ski mask.

Speaker 8 A ski mask with

Speaker 8 just the eye opening.

Speaker 4 As police looked at the crime scene and spoke to the witness, they learned something else. The intruder had gone upstairs and shot the friend, Rachel, first.

Speaker 4 They started to wonder if she might have been a target.

Speaker 15 I was blown away. All these different thoughts running through my head.

Speaker 4 Wayne Owens is Rachel's son. He couldn't imagine why anyone would want to hurt his mom.
Describe your mom for us.

Speaker 15 Very caring and loving. She's warm.
She's extremely optimistic. She's always able to see the good and the bad.

Speaker 4 Wayne grew up an army brat, living overseas with his mom and his dad Greg, who was a decorated veteran from the First Iraq War. Did you like traveling the world as a family?

Speaker 15 I definitely loved that experience because I was raised an only child. So I definitely, it was fun.
Like we always planned trips, like we were always going somewhere.

Speaker 4 Dad later retired from the service and began working for private military contractors. That's when the family settled into a slower pace at this home in Londonderry, New Hampshire.

Speaker 4 But now, their quiet life has suddenly been turned upside down. Your mom has been shot multiple times.

Speaker 15 I was shocked. I was like,

Speaker 15 for a break-in. I didn't know what to think.

Speaker 4 Wayne, who lived in Rhode Island, rushed to the hospital three hours away.

Speaker 15 We hopped in the car. I talked to my uncle and my aunt.
I was like, what is going on? Like, can you fill me in? I was just, I just couldn't put my brain around it. I couldn't really process it.

Speaker 4 One piece of good news, he'd gotten a message from his dad, who was home in New Hampshire and hadn't been harmed. It's also really scary to think that that person is still out there.

Speaker 15 Oh, definitely, yeah.

Speaker 4 Wayne arrived to find his mom was still alive, but in intensive care. And he learned that for her protection, police had kept her under an alias with armed guards.

Speaker 15 They were concerned because they didn't know that person was at large or what the situation was or what she targeted. So they were just, you know, wanted to be safe.

Speaker 4 As Rachel was fighting for her life, investigators had a violent crime to solve with a shooter still on the loose.

Speaker 8 Home invasions don't typically happen frequently in Maine. It was befuddling from the beginning.

Speaker 4 Police would have to learn a lot more about Rachel Owens.

Speaker 6 When we come back, the investigation begins.

Speaker 17 I told him your wife was shot. At that point, Mr.
Owens said he thought he was having a heart attack.

Speaker 6 Greg Owens was fine, but here was another potential heart stomper.

Speaker 18 Were you possibly been a target for any of this?

Speaker 19 I hadn't even considered that thought.

Speaker 4 Police in Saco, Maine, had a strange, violent crime on their hands. A home invasion with a shooter at large and a victim in intensive care.

Speaker 15 She was very pale. She looked...

Speaker 11 She looked horrible.

Speaker 4 Rachel Owens had been shot in the head. You were told that she might not make it.

Speaker 15 Yes.

Speaker 4 That is very terrifying news.

Speaker 15 It was definitely challenging to see.

Speaker 15 It was emotional.

Speaker 15 To see her like that. Like,

Speaker 15 I thought that was going to be it. That was going to be the last time I was going to see her.

Speaker 4 As Rachel lay in the ICU, police in Maine needed to get in touch with her husband, Greg. They called their counterparts in Londonderry, New Hampshire, 90 miles away.

Speaker 4 Nick Pinardi was a sergeant in the police department there.

Speaker 17 We were working a midnight shift. It was me and a couple other officers.

Speaker 4 Saco police wanted him to go break the news to Greg in person.

Speaker 17 So I simply went over and told him your wife was shot in Maine.

Speaker 17 At that point, Mr. Owens said he thought he was having a heart attack.
So the officers helped him to the ground, sat him down.

Speaker 4 It turned out it wasn't a heart attack. He'd apparently gone into shock.
Greg was eager to go see his wife. But first, he went down to the police station full of questions about her condition.

Speaker 6 Status of my wife.

Speaker 12 Yep, she's at the hospital right now. She's alive.

Speaker 6 She's alive.

Speaker 19 Prognosis?

Speaker 12 We're not sure right now. She's still in surgery, but she is, you know, still alive right now.

Speaker 6 Any idea what happened?

Speaker 12 Maine's trying to get some background information. They're investigating it on their side.

Speaker 4 Greg explained that his wife had gone up to Maine for a few days to stay with friends. He said she had been struggling with her health recently and needed a getaway.

Speaker 18 What is the issue?

Speaker 19 They're saying that it's early, it's an early onset dementia.

Speaker 17 He said that she had trouble taking care of herself and remembering.

Speaker 17 He described how he really was the caretaker, had to make sure she ate.

Speaker 4 Greg said he thought the visit to Maine would do Rachel some good.

Speaker 17 He described a very loving relationship with him and his wife and their family.

Speaker 4 Now, as he talked about her, he could barely contain his his emotions. I'm sorry, sir.

Speaker 19 Go ahead. That's okay.

Speaker 12 Do you know anybody that would want to hurt either your wife or the chef?

Speaker 19 Not to my knowledge, sir. Why?

Speaker 19 Well,

Speaker 19 that's why when you told me when the officer told me my wife had been shot at him or had a heart attack, there's nobody up there that would hurt or harm her,

Speaker 19 to the best of my knowledge.

Speaker 4 As police spoke to Greg, another theory of the crime occurred occurred to them.

Speaker 18 With your line of work, considering the type of stuff you work on.

Speaker 4 Greg described that work he did for military contractors, which often involved counter-terrorism and sensitive security issues.

Speaker 18 Would anybody have thought you may have been up there? Would you have possibly been a target for any of this?

Speaker 19 I hadn't even considered that thought. But no, sir.
I don't think there's anybody associated in my line of work that would want to target me or my wife.

Speaker 4 Of course, whether it was a robbery gone bat or a targeted attack, one more theory had to be looked at too. After all, he was the husband.

Speaker 4 So before taking Greg to see his wounded wife, investigators took him through a timeline of his night.

Speaker 1 Did you go to Main at all last night at all?

Speaker 19 No, sir, I did not.

Speaker 4 He told them he'd worked all night on his computer writing a proposal and said he left his house twice, once at night to go to the local Circle K to get some cigarettes, and once in the morning to grab coffee.

Speaker 17 Yeah, Mr. Owens was very open and

Speaker 18 willing to come talk to us and help out with our investigation.

Speaker 4 Greg assured police he completely understood why they had to ask him so many questions.

Speaker 6 I've done my fair share of

Speaker 19 on-scene battlefield interrogations. We looked for the discrepancies.

Speaker 1 That's it. And that's, again, that's why people ask, ask, ask.

Speaker 19 Somebody hurt my baby.

Speaker 17 He was essentially there. as a helper on our end to help us build information for this case.

Speaker 12 You know, obviously if information comes in regarding

Speaker 19 the best news was my wife's alive.

Speaker 4 And Greg told police he was desperate to see her, so they wrapped up their interview.

Speaker 19 See, I understand I'm being clear.

Speaker 4 And promptly escorted him to Maine to be by his wife's side, along with their son Wayne. Doctors had to make a tough call about that bullet still lodged in the back of Rachel's head.

Speaker 15 They were making the decision whether to operate or not operate.

Speaker 15 And then she had to go in for an angiogram to determine like the impact of what the bullet was doing, like on a vein in her head.

Speaker 4 Rachel was in and out of consciousness. Wayne spoke to her, hoping she could hear him.
What did you say to her?

Speaker 15 I just told her I was here

Speaker 15 and that I was sorry, and that I would be here until she got better.

Speaker 4 That must have been so important,

Speaker 4 just seeing your face.

Speaker 15 I think it was. I hope so.

Speaker 4 And investigators had their own hopes. If Rachel could pull through, maybe she could help identify the shooter.

Speaker 6 Coming up, a step in the right direction.

Speaker 8 They had discovered a footprint that was left in a flower bed.

Speaker 6 Who left it? And what were they really after?

Speaker 8 There was no burglary. Nothing was stolen.
No computers, no electronic devices.

Speaker 6 When Dateline continues.

Speaker 20 Hi there, it's Andy Richter, and I'm here to tell you about my podcast, The Three Questions with Andy Richter.

Speaker 20 Each week I invite friends, comedians, actors, and musicians to discuss these three questions.

Speaker 24 Where do you come from?

Speaker 20 Where are you going? And what have you learned? New episodes are out every Tuesday with guests like Julie Bow and Ted Danson, Tig Nataro, Will Arnett, Phoebe Bridgers, and more.

Speaker 20 You can also tune in for my weekly Andy Richter Call-In Show episodes, where me and a special guest invite callers to weigh in on topics like dating disasters, bad teachers, and lots more.

Speaker 24 Listen to the three questions with Andy Richter wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 14 Did you know that parents rank financial literacy as the number one most difficult life skill to teach? Meet Greenlight, the debit card and money app for families.

Speaker 14 With Greenlight, you can set up chores, automate allowance, and keep an eye on your kids' spending with real-time notifications.

Speaker 14 Kids learn to earn, save, and spend wisely, and parents can rest easy knowing their kids are learning about money with guardrails in place.

Speaker 14 Sign up for Green Light today at greenlight.com slash podcast.

Speaker 25 If you're an experienced pet owner, you already know that having a pet is 25% belly rubs, 25% yelling, drop it, and 50% groaning at the bill from every vet visit, which is why Lemonade Pet Insurance is tailor-made for your pet and can save you up to 90% on vet bills.

Speaker 25 It can help cover checkups, emergencies, diagnostics, basically all the stuff that makes your bank account nervous. Claims are filed super easy through the Lemonade app and half get settled instantly.

Speaker 25 Get a quote at lemonade.com slash pet and they'll help cover the vet bill for whatever your pet swallowed after you y'all drop it.

Speaker 4 Rachel Owens was fighting for her life in the ICU after being shot three times by a masked intruder. It was touch and go.
Doctors couldn't remove the bullet lodged in her head.

Speaker 15 They made the decision that it was probably the best case to leave it. They probably would cause more damage than good.

Speaker 4 Wayne and his dad knew it was very possible she wouldn't pull through.

Speaker 15 I just wanted to know that her family was there.

Speaker 11 Like we were all there, like, just

Speaker 15 wanting her to get better and stay with us.

Speaker 4 But 36 hours after the shooting, her vitals stabilized.

Speaker 15 It was like a new day. It was like hope.

Speaker 4 Rachel was going to make it.

Speaker 15 That pit that's in your stomach just kind of dissolves.

Speaker 4 I mean, someone should be dead if they're shot in the head.

Speaker 15 He would think it's amazing how lucky she was and that

Speaker 15 it wasn't maybe like one centimeter to the left or right.

Speaker 15 It hit just the right angle where it didn't impact too far.

Speaker 4 Rachel gradually woke up, began to heal, started her long road to recovery.

Speaker 4 And here is Rachel today.

Speaker 4 She still feels the effects of her injuries, but sat down to tell us her story. This has been an incredible ordeal.

Speaker 4 Does it surprise even you sometimes that here you are today looking as good as you do, feeling as good as you do?

Speaker 11 It is.

Speaker 26 It is. I'm surprised that I'm still here.

Speaker 4 What is it like having a bullet lodged in your head?

Speaker 5 I don't feel it.

Speaker 26 It's just staying still in the back. It just went all around my brain.
It just plopped there. And

Speaker 26 when the doctors told me that we couldn't get the bullet out, you know, I said, okay,

Speaker 26 what am I supposed to do?

Speaker 4 She says she got through it it with the support of her family. During her rehab, Wayne made multiple trips to see her, and she'd wake up to see her husband Greg by her side.

Speaker 26 He says, I'll be right here when I'm done. I had to do therapy.
I'll be right here. And then he'd fix me my food, and then we'd eat together.

Speaker 4 Rachel took us back to her time in Maine and the hours leading up to the shooting. What had you all been doing that day, just while you were at your friends?

Speaker 26 Yeah, we went out to eat, just, you know, having fun, and we went and did a little shopping. You know, we went back to her house.
Later on at night, that's when everything started.

Speaker 4 And once everything started, she says her memory essentially goes blank. Is there anything you remember?

Speaker 5 I don't about that night.

Speaker 26 Because I was sleeping in my room.

Speaker 4 There was only one image she said she could remember about the shooting. The same thing she told police.
The intruder seemed to have a hat with a Jamaican look.

Speaker 26 I was sleeping.

Speaker 5 So

Speaker 26 I remember a Jamaican hat. That's the only thing I remember.

Speaker 4 As she focused on recovering, police kept investigating. They didn't know what to make of that Jamaican hat detail from Rachel.

Speaker 4 It didn't match the ski mask wearing description the homeowner had given police. They zeroed in on evidence at the home.
What was the crime scene telling you?

Speaker 8 The crime scene was telling us that they had first discovered a footprint that was left in a flower bed and that was preserved immediately by the Saco Police Department.

Speaker 4 How did they preserve that?

Speaker 8 The lead detective actually took off his coat that he was wearing that night because it was a rainy night and he actually laid his coat on top of the footprint itself to prevent the rain from destroying it any further.

Speaker 4 Close to that footprint, they also saw that the window on the door to the garage was broken.

Speaker 8 They assumed that the intruder gained entry into the house initially by busting open that door, busting that window.

Speaker 4 Was there anything left there on that window pane?

Speaker 16 No,

Speaker 8 nothing obvious.

Speaker 4 Any blood on it?

Speaker 8 Anything? No blood. Nothing.
Nothing.

Speaker 4 At first glance, it seemed the intruder had left no trace, but on closer inspection, they saw something.

Speaker 8 One of the crime scene investigators sees a hair, a tiny piece of hair, in between two panes of glass. So they said, let's swab it and find out if we can collect any DNA off this.

Speaker 4 You swab the hair?

Speaker 16 Nope, they swabbed. So they swabbed the glass.

Speaker 8 They were in between the panes of glass. Maybe it'll help, maybe it won't.

Speaker 4 By that point, the investigators had formed a pretty clear sense of the intruder's path through the house, culminating with the shooting upstairs. They found these shell casings in the bedroom.

Speaker 4 All of them marked WCC 1987. So that's a very old shell casing.

Speaker 8 28 years old, yeah.

Speaker 4 And along with these pieces of physical evidence, one thing struck investigators.

Speaker 8 There was no burglary, nothing was stolen, no computers, no electronic devices, nothing was taken.

Speaker 4 That helped bolster their working theory that this was a targeted shooting, not a random home invasion. and that Rachel Owens was the intended victim.

Speaker 4 Three days into the investigation, police weren't any closer to an arrest, but one tip was about to change everything.

Speaker 6 Coming up, a phone call with information that would send the case in a whole new direction, more than a thousand miles away.

Speaker 4 Is this just a wow moment in this investigation?

Speaker 8 Yes, it is. It's a very big moment.

Speaker 4 Police in Saco, Maine, believe the home invasion in their town was a targeted attack. Rachel Owens had been shot in the head, and detectives were chasing leads.

Speaker 8 At this time, they're thinking, what do we have here? Is there, you know, is there a danger to the public?

Speaker 4 Then they got a phone call. Is this just a wow moment in this investigation?

Speaker 8 Yes, it is. It's a very big moment in this investigation.

Speaker 4 The call call led them all the way to Oshkosh, Wisconsin to this woman. Her name is Betsy Wandke.

Speaker 7 Put your hands around my neck.

Speaker 4 Betsy is the founder of the Warrior Princess Training Academy, where she teaches self-defense to women.

Speaker 7 And I will pull, and wherever I pull you, that's where you're going to go.

Speaker 4 Over the years, she's held a number of other jobs.

Speaker 7 I have been an EMT for over 20 years. I was a firefighter.
I ran the first responder team up in Ogdensburg, Wisconsin. And I was a first responder for quite a while in Oshkosh.

Speaker 4 You're like action woman.

Speaker 14 Well, I like to help people.

Speaker 4 She says physical strength and fitness have always been important to her. You were a bodybuilder?

Speaker 7 Yes.

Speaker 7 I was always into weightlifting, so I did a bodybuilding competition and a fitness competition, and it taught me a lot.

Speaker 4 Safe to say you can protect yourself?

Speaker 7 I think that's safe to say.

Speaker 4 But back in 2006, Betsy says she was feeling vulnerable. Her marriage of 20 years was falling apart.

Speaker 7 It was hard because my husband and I were best friends. I mean, we just did everything together.

Speaker 4 Then, as she boarded a flight home from a business trip one morning, a twist of fate.

Speaker 7 The stewardess came back and said, There's a man that's upgraded you to first class.

Speaker 4 And that only happens in like romance novels. Right.

Speaker 7 So I walked up there and this man stood up and he said, I think this is your seat.

Speaker 4 The two settled in and talked for the entire flight, realizing they had a lot in common, like shared passions for sports, hunting, and fishing.

Speaker 7 We became friends.

Speaker 4 Did you feel like you really got a sense of this man just on this one flight? I did.

Speaker 7 I felt like we had been connected for a long time. It happened so fast, but it was so easy.

Speaker 4 He and Betsy stayed in touch as friends for the next three years. Then Betsy got divorced.

Speaker 7 I thought it was a good time for us to start seeing each other and maybe see if there was

Speaker 7 more there.

Speaker 4 Turned out there was a lot more. The two embarked on an intense love affair.
The name of the new flame, none other than Greg Owens.

Speaker 7 He was very romantic and he will not be happy I'm telling you this, but he used to love to get me pedicures. He would,

Speaker 7 if we were gone somewhere, he would draw me a bath and he would pour me a glass of wine. I never dated anybody that was that romantic.

Speaker 4 Greg told her he was married. to a woman named Rachel.
He said they were separated and getting divorced, but he did check check in on her now and again because of her health issues.

Speaker 7 He wanted to make sure that she was well taken care of, which I agreed with wholeheartedly, but that he had to kind of keep track of her because she was having some accidents and, you know, he wasn't sure how long he could leave her alone.

Speaker 4 At the time, he said he'd taken a contract job in Texas and would be back and forth to Betsy's about every two weeks.

Speaker 13 And she was very excited every time he was going to come home.

Speaker 4 Joe Lemire and his wife Becky live next door. How in love was Betsy?

Speaker 7 Very in love.

Speaker 4 Could you just see it? Absolutely. Is it in her words or her actions?

Speaker 7 Both of them together, they were very affectionate. We'd be sitting on their deck and, you know, a song would come on and he'd yank her up and start twirling her around.

Speaker 7 They would just dance on the deck, you know.

Speaker 4 The two began building a life together, traveling on cruises to the Caribbean and safari trips to Africa. Is this your Knight in Shining Armor?

Speaker 5 Oh, of course.

Speaker 4 After they'd been together five years, Greg helped Betsy start her business. He even came up with that name, the Warrior Princess Training Academy.

Speaker 7 Turn your body.

Speaker 4 You feel it?

Speaker 4 Yeah. Greg would provide advice and teaching skills based on the special forces training he told Betsy he received from the Army.

Speaker 4 But his military background, that Betsy admired, also came with a hitch.

Speaker 4 He told her his work as a defense contractor would mean a lot of overseas travel, sometimes on top-secret missions he couldn't discuss.

Speaker 7 He would tell me that he was being shipped to Afghanistan or Pakistan to save other contractors, military contractors.

Speaker 4 These are dangerous areas.

Speaker 7 Absolutely.

Speaker 4 For one of his trips, Greg told Betsy he was going to Afghanistan and would be gone for weeks. He said they probably wouldn't talk, but just a few days into his trip, Betsy got a strange call.

Speaker 7 I heard his voice.

Speaker 7 I started calling his name.

Speaker 4 She thought he was calling from Afghanistan and worried something had gone wrong on his mission.

Speaker 7 And I wasn't getting any response. And then I hear him talking to someone.
But as she listened, I heard a woman's voice. And then I heard him say, wow, that was a good one, Rach.

Speaker 7 And my heart just sunk.

Speaker 4 Greg hadn't meant to call her. It was a butt dial.
You know, he's... Greg is in America.

Speaker 5 I do.

Speaker 4 And she knew he was home, sounding perfectly happy with his wife. All that talk about getting a divorce seemed to be a lie.
Betsy called back to confront him.

Speaker 7 I said, I know you're in New Hampshire,

Speaker 7 and I know that you're with Rachel. And he said, no, you must have heard a satellite call that I was making to her.
And I said, don't lie to me. I was furious.
I was wild. I was shaking.

Speaker 7 And then he said, I am here, but... Rachel had an accident.
She almost burned down the house because she left a burner on.

Speaker 7 And so I had to come back here and get get things organized did you believe any of it i really wanted to but there was that part of me that said don't be stupid something's going on betsy put her foot down there was no way she could be with a married man i said i'm done i can't do this anymore you have to make a decision you know if you're if this divorce is not going to go through it's because you don't want it to go through

Speaker 7 So if you want to go back to Rachel, you need to do that. All of your stuff is in the garage.

Speaker 4 That was strong.

Speaker 4 How did he take that? Because from everything you're telling me, he was in love with you.

Speaker 7 He didn't take it well.

Speaker 22 Coming up.

Speaker 7 He said, I think that somebody's targeting the people I love.

Speaker 6 Was someone trying to frame Greg Owens? And was Betsy the next target?

Speaker 7 I went home and loaded every gun I have. I was ready for a war.
Bring it on.

Speaker 6 When Dateline continues.

Speaker 5 Hey, weirdos, I'm Elena, and I'm Ash.

Speaker 28 And we are the hosts of Morbid Podcast.

Speaker 27 Each week, we dive into the dark and fascinating world of true crime, spooky history, and the unexplained.

Speaker 28 From infamous killers and unsolved mysteries to haunted places and strange legends, we cover it all with research, empathy, humor, and a few creative expletives.

Speaker 27 It's smart, it's spooky, and it's just the right amount of weird.

Speaker 28 Two new episodes drop every week, and there's even a bonus once a month.

Speaker 27 Find us wherever you listen to podcasts.

Speaker 4 Yay! Woo! Aye, aye, aye!

Speaker 29 Just got a new puppy or kitten?

Speaker 21 Congrats!

Speaker 29 But also, yikes! Between crates, beds, toys, treats, and those first few vet visits, you've probably already dropped a small fortune, which is where Lemonade Pet Insurance comes in.

Speaker 29 It helps cover vet costs so you can focus on what's best for your new pet. The coverage is customizable, signup is quick and easy, and your claims are handled in as little as three seconds.

Speaker 29 Pro tip: LemonAid offers offers a package specifically for puppies and kittens. Get a quote at lemonaid.com slash pet.
Your future self will thank you. Your pet won't.

Speaker 29 They don't know what insurance is.

Speaker 14 Did you know 39% of teen drivers admit to texting while driving? Even scarier, those who text are more likely to speed and run red lights. Shockingly, 94% know it's dangerous, but do it anyway.

Speaker 14 As a parent, you can't always be in the car, but you can stay connected to their safety with Greenlight Infinity's driving reports.

Speaker 14 Monitor their driving habits, see if they're using their phone, speeding, and more. These reports provide real data for meaningful conversations about safety.

Speaker 14 Plus, with weekly updates, you can track their progress over time. Help keep your teens safe.
Sign up for Greenlight Infinity at greenlight.com slash podcast.

Speaker 4 In December 2014, Betsy Wonke told her boyfriend Greg Owens that after five years together, she was done.

Speaker 4 After hearing that accidental call, she realized he'd been lying to her and wasn't separated from his wife, Rachel. Where do you go from here?

Speaker 7 I had to cut it off. I had to stop it before it ruined me.

Speaker 4 He doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would go down without a fight to get you back.

Speaker 4 You have that right. Sure enough, Greg kept calling her, insisting he loved her and that he really was divorcing Rachel.

Speaker 4 Deeply upset, she opened up to her friends, Becky and Joe, about that butt dial that changed everything.

Speaker 13 She said that she had listened for like 20 minutes to the conversation conversation and couldn't take it anymore.

Speaker 4 Then, two weeks after the butt dial, Betsy heard the disturbing news from Maine. Rachel had been shot in a home invasion.

Speaker 7 I was frantic. I was calling everybody I could think of.

Speaker 4 Even though she'd broken up with him, Betsy called Greg out of concern for him and his wife.

Speaker 7 And he said, yeah, I just found out. I think that somebody's targeting the people I love.

Speaker 4 She says Greg was in a panic with his own suspicions about the shooting.

Speaker 7 It was someone that wanted to frame him and discredit him and ruin his life. And that's why Rachel wasn't killed, just injured.
And I might be the next one.

Speaker 4 You could be a target if what he's saying is true.

Speaker 7 Right. I went home and loaded every gun I have and had knives in other rooms.
I was ready for war. Bring it on.

Speaker 4 This is action Betsy at her best.

Speaker 7 What do you do? I'm not going to cower in a corner. I don't do that.

Speaker 4 While Betsy was on alert, her friend Joe heard about the shooting too. And he had a very different reaction.
That's because he wasn't just Betsy's neighbor. He was a local police chief.

Speaker 13 I said, in the world I come from, I don't believe in coincidences. I said, I've got to do something.

Speaker 4 Joe thought the investigators in Maine needed to know what he knew about Greg Owens and his relationship with Betsy. So the chief in Wisconsin called his counterparts to fill them in.

Speaker 8 Chief Lemire calls and puts a new spin on the whole thing.

Speaker 4 Greg Owens had been living a double life.

Speaker 5 Yeah.

Speaker 4 With that news, Greg quickly became investigator's main suspect in the shooting. But Betsy couldn't believe he would ever harm his wife.
Because he loved Rachel.

Speaker 7 He had never spoken ill of Rachel. Had he lied to me about being there? Yeah, he did.
But that doesn't make somebody a killer.

Speaker 4 And the Greg she knew was an experienced marksman, a sniper.

Speaker 7 And if a sniper wanted someone to die, don't you think they could get that done? As awful as that sounds, I'm trying to make a point.

Speaker 7 The point is that if he really wanted to kill her, I think he could have done it.

Speaker 4 And Greg kept insisting that the person who did shoot Rachel was really out to get him. He began sending Betsy alarming emails, writing, the ambush was meant for us.
We were blown and set up.

Speaker 4 Go dark if anyone talks to you. What did he mean by go dark?

Speaker 7 Going dark means Don't talk to anybody. Don't tell them anything.
Law enforcement, friends, family.

Speaker 4 So when local police came to question her about her relationship with Greg, she lied and said the two were just friends. Nothing more.

Speaker 4 What do you say to those people who are going to be like, Betsy, come on, what's wrong with you? You know, you seem like this smart lady.

Speaker 7 Well, the first question I would ask is, have you ever been in love? I mean, head over heels in love. To the point where you would do anything to protect that relationship and the person you love.

Speaker 4 But then Betsy got a visit from the FBI because the case now involved three different states. it was a federal investigation.
What were they telling you, the FBI?

Speaker 7 That she had gotten shot, shot in the arm, shot in the leg. A bullet grazed her abdomen, and a bullet was lodged in the back of her head.

Speaker 4 That's when Betsy decided to come clean about her relationship with Greg and the lies.

Speaker 9 She was very critical.

Speaker 10 She came across very well.

Speaker 4 Federal prosecutors, Darcy McIlwee and Jim Chapman, took on the case. They believed the key to it all was the double life Greg was leading with Betsy.

Speaker 9 She was the motive.

Speaker 9 It became clear that he was truly in love with her and that she was the one he wanted to be with, which would explain how someone who never had shown any violence towards his wife was capable of something like this.

Speaker 4 But if the prosecutor's theory was true, that Greg had tried to kill his wife to be with Betsy, his plan had failed. And after three weeks in the hospital, Rachel was set to go home.
with Greg.

Speaker 9 We believe she was going home with the man who tried to kill her.

Speaker 4 Rachel was about about to be released from this hospital.

Speaker 8 So we were afraid that she was going to be finished off. We had the SWAT team ready.

Speaker 27 We had surveilled him and we followed him essentially up to this intersection.

Speaker 8 The SWAT team overtook him and arrested him.

Speaker 4 This must have been a dramatic scene outside this hospital.

Speaker 8 It was pretty crazy.

Speaker 4 That's when Special Agent Flick went inside and broke the news to Rachel. The FBI believed she was shot by her own husband.

Speaker 8 And she looked up at me with these beautiful big eyes and said, Greg

Speaker 8 shot me?

Speaker 8 And I said, yes, he did.

Speaker 26 I just couldn't believe it because he was coming to see me, so I had no knowledge that he would have done that to me.

Speaker 4 Did you think that Greg was capable of doing something like that?

Speaker 26 I never thought he'd do that to me.

Speaker 4 Wayne couldn't quite fathom it either. His own dad, the hero of his youth.

Speaker 15 So I guess I was more in denial than anything. I don't want to accept that he really did shoot my mom and try to kill her.

Speaker 4 Greg Owens was charged in federal court with crossing state lines to commit a crime of domestic violence and put in jail. Prosecutors knew their case was mostly circumstantial.

Speaker 4 There's not that smoking gun, if you will. Correct.

Speaker 9 We did not have one piece of evidence that stood out and made it significant.

Speaker 4 What's more, Greg had an alibi. He had told police he was working at home that night, 90 miles away from the shooting.
He'd sent emails to his coworkers that he said proved it.

Speaker 4 When the case went to trial, Betsy would have to testify against the man she once loved, and he was reaching out from behind bars to stop her.

Speaker 22 Coming up.

Speaker 6 Greg's emails indicated he was in New Hampshire. How could he have shot his wife 90 miles away in Maine?

Speaker 30 If the jurors didn't believe that he could drive from New Hampshire, Saco, and back in the timeline laid out, they would have some doubt.

Speaker 6 And Greg Owens would go free.

Speaker 4 Greg Owens was now in jail. He'd pleaded not guilty in the shooting of his wife.
And as he was awaiting trial, we have a correct call from Greg Owens.

Speaker 4 He continued to reach out to his former girlfriend, Betsy, still trying to convince her they could be together someday.

Speaker 17 When the divorce is final, which should be here in the next six to eight weeks, I will send you a copy of it.

Speaker 28 Just the final. I've heard from so many people that the divorce was never filed.
The divorce has been filed. All right.
I didn't lie to you about it. I was trying to keep it hidden for a reason.

Speaker 4 But Betsy wasn't standing for the lies anymore.

Speaker 11 You told me you were in Afghanistan and you weren't. You were at home.
I wasn't in New Hampshire. I was not.
That's the whole point.

Speaker 4 Over and over, Greg pledged his love for her. Betsy believes he was desperately trying to keep her on his side before the trial.
Betsy, I love you more than life itself.

Speaker 4 You are my partner, my lover, my life.

Speaker 4 And

Speaker 4 I'm out of time. Is that pulling at you hearing him?

Speaker 5 Oh, my God.

Speaker 4 All those memories. Yeah, he knew how much I loved him, and he was willing to play on that.

Speaker 7 And that really made me more angry.

Speaker 4 Greg Owens' trial began in January 2016, just over a year after the shooting. The prosecutors presented a number of pieces of physical evidence investigators had uncovered against Greg.

Speaker 4 In his car, a pair of muddy boots. One appeared to match that print at the crime scene.
And at his house, they found a ski mask that resembled the one the homeowner described.

Speaker 4 And these shell casings found in a cup on his desk. Why Why were those so critical?

Speaker 9 They were critical because they were the same 1987 ammunition with the same head stamps as those found at the scene.

Speaker 4 And there was one more big piece of the puzzle still remaining. Remember the glass from the garage door that was swabbed for DNA? After Greg's arrest, the results finally came back.

Speaker 9 The DNA found was in fact Greg Owens' DNA.

Speaker 4 This is really sealing your case.

Speaker 9 We felt so. We thought it did.

Speaker 4 And the prosecutors gave the jury their theory of why Greg Owens wanted to kill his wife, saying it was all triggered by that butt dial to Betsy two weeks earlier.

Speaker 9 Because it gave us a critical time point, because that appeared to be when he began making preparations to harm Rachel.

Speaker 4 They brought Betsy to court to tell the jury about her five-year romantic relationship with Greg.

Speaker 7 When I got in there, I sat down and he actually winked at me. And I would have crawled across that table and put my hands around his neck.

Speaker 4 What was that wink trying to say to you, Dean?

Speaker 7 It was more manipulation. It was let's reconcile.

Speaker 4 Rachel took the stand too, showing the jury her injuries. And she took her own chance to wink at Greg.
What was with that? Were you just being a little mischievous?

Speaker 26 Exactly. You know what?

Speaker 26 That was my time in court, you know? And I could do that to him.

Speaker 26 I went like that.

Speaker 4 Then it was the defense's turn, starting with a simple point.

Speaker 30 No one could ID the shooter.

Speaker 4 Scott Dolan covered the trial for the Portland Press-Herald newspaper.

Speaker 4 He says Greg's attorney carefully tried to poke holes in the prosecution's case, beginning with Rachel's one memory of the intruder.

Speaker 30 She described him as wearing a Jamaican hat.

Speaker 30 So no one ID Greg Owens.

Speaker 4 And while investigators collected a number of guns from Greg's home, none turned out to be the weapon from the shooting.

Speaker 30 They never recovered the gun. And when police went to Greg Owens' house in New Hampshire, he was there.
He wasn't in Maine.

Speaker 4 Greg's attorney noted that even with all the traffic cameras along the route from his house in New Hampshire to Maine, police never found an incriminating image.

Speaker 30 They had to go through all the highway footage, looking at car after car after car,

Speaker 30 and there was no sign of Greg's car.

Speaker 4 And the one image that was captured of Greg seemed to corroborate his alibi. It was this.
Greg getting coffee at Dunkin' Donuts in New Hampshire at 4.35 a.m.

Speaker 4 That was 90 miles away from the shooting in Maine. His attorney said he couldn't have made the trip that quickly.

Speaker 30 That was a big piece. If the jurors didn't believe that he could drive from New Hampshire to Saco and back in the timeline laid out, they would have some doubt.

Speaker 4 As for that DNA on the glass, the defense explained it like this.

Speaker 30 It made sense that Owens' DNA would be there. He had been there for an anniversary party in that very garage.

Speaker 4 And Greg had his computer alibi. The defense said timestamps on his emails showed he'd been working at home that night, just as he told police all along.
But prosecutors said, not so fast.

Speaker 4 On closer inspection, his computer had another tale to tell.

Speaker 10 The day before the shooting, he conducted a Google search how to change clock on computer. And then he had a note on the desk in front of the computer, change time, change chrome time.

Speaker 4 And lo and behold, forensic investigators determined Greg had tampered with the computer's timestamp.

Speaker 10 He knew that the shooting happened around 2:45 and he wanted to make it look like he was at his computer as late as 2:30.

Speaker 9 So that would be incapable for him to have been in Saka.

Speaker 4 After hearing two weeks of testimony, the jury retired to deliberate. Three hours later, they had their verdict: guilty.

Speaker 4 Rachel was in the courtroom. What did you think when you heard that guilty verdict? I said, Yes.

Speaker 4 It's amazing that you were there to be able to say

Speaker 4 yes.

Speaker 26 Yeah, it was a long journey, let me tell you that.

Speaker 4 Did you have mixed emotions when you heard that? I mean, that's your father.

Speaker 15 To be honest, it's sad. It's sad that it had to come to all of this.

Speaker 15 You know, I'm losing a father. I was grateful that he was found guilty.

Speaker 15 They say I was happy. No, definitely not.
I was happy that my mom was well

Speaker 15 and that she could have some peace.

Speaker 4 Five months later, the judge sentenced Greg Owens to life in prison.

Speaker 7 I have no doubt that he loved Rachel. I do believe he loved me.
I think that he was just narcissistic enough to believe that he could have both lives.

Speaker 4 Today, Betsy says she's a little embarrassed that the head of the Warrior Princess Training Academy was duped by a man who was no prince at all.

Speaker 4 Here you are fighting against violence against women, and the man you loved did it right under your nose.

Speaker 7 It is the ultimate irony because he knows I have fought for women's rights and then he does this. I don't know how you could disrespect somebody even more.

Speaker 4 But most of all, she says, she hopes that Rachel can move on from this tragedy and heal physically and mentally. Is there anything you would say to her?

Speaker 7 Oh my God. Yeah.

Speaker 7 I'm sorry. I wish I could change it.

Speaker 5 I wish it had never happened.

Speaker 2 She doesn't deserve it.

Speaker 7 She's a great lady and she's strong.

Speaker 5 She's so strong.

Speaker 7 So, yeah, I wish her the best.

Speaker 7 I want her to get on with her life.

Speaker 5 I hope that things work out.

Speaker 7 I want you to be very careful.

Speaker 4 Even though they both testified at trial, the two women in this nearly deadly love triangle have never met.

Speaker 4 So we shared with Rachel what Betsy said about her.

Speaker 11 Wow.

Speaker 4 What do you make of that?

Speaker 26 That's something.

Speaker 26 That means she really thought of me.

Speaker 26 That's good.

Speaker 26 That's a nice lady there.

Speaker 4 Today, Rachel lives with Wayne and her grandchildren. And despite that bullet in her head, she remains strong, eager to put her now ex-husband far behind her.
Have you talked to him at all?

Speaker 5 No. Heard from him?

Speaker 26 No.

Speaker 4 Anything you would say to him?

Speaker 26 It wouldn't be appropriate.

Speaker 4 We need bleeps.

Speaker 5 Exactly.

Speaker 7 Yeah.

Speaker 7 He's the loser.

Speaker 6 That's all for now. I'm Lester Holt.
Thanks for joining us.

Speaker 22 Hey, everybody, Ted Danson here to tell you about my podcast with my longtime friend and sometimes co-host Woody Harrison.

Speaker 22 It's called Where Everybody Knows Your Name and We're Back for Another Season.

Speaker 22 I'm so excited to be joined this season by friends like John Mulaney, David Spade, Sarah Silverman, Ed Helms, and many more. You don't want to miss it.

Speaker 22 Listen to Where Everybody Knows Your Name with me, Ted Danson, and Woody Harrison sometimes, wherever you get your podcasts.