Malice

Summary

Dateline NBC Podcast Summary

Episode Title: Malice
Release Date: March 3, 2026
Host: Lester Holt
Reporter: Blaine Alexander

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Overview

This gripping episode of Dateline investigates the mysterious 2014 death of Jake Embert in Albany, Georgia, initially deemed a suicide. When Jake’s devoted family refuses to accept the official verdict, they embark on a determined search for the truth—uncovering shocking evidence of possible murder, grave police errors, and years of legal battles involving Jake’s wife, Susan Embert. The episode unfolds as a true-crime procedural, detailing the family's relentless quest for justice and the profound failures of the justice system along the way.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Tragedy

• The Death Scene
  • Susan Embert, Jake's wife, calls 911 claiming her husband shot himself ([02:27]).
  • Jake's son, Will, returns home to chaos, is told not to enter the bedroom ([03:27]).
  • The coroner and police quickly rule Jake’s death a suicide based on superficial observation ([01:00]; [14:29]).
  • Jake’s children and sister, Yvonne, are immediately skeptical, believing the death doesn’t add up ([01:04]; [14:41]).
  • The investigation is rushed; no autopsy is performed, and Jake’s body is cremated within 24 hours ([28:04]).

“Zero investigation, zero autopsy. Open and shut.”
– Rachel Embert ([01:04])

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2. Jake Embert: A Family Man

• Jake remembered as loving, full of humor, disciplined from a military background, and deeply bonded with his children, especially Will ([08:21]; [09:46]).
• Family and friends insist Jake was not suicidal and had a strong stance against suicide ([21:07]).

“When I say Best Dad Award, I mean that in all capital letters.”
– Rachel Embert ([18:23])

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3. Rising Suspicions

• Jake’s health rapidly declines after marrying Susan; mysterious symptoms, financial problems, and the suspicious death of Jake’s dog, Zoe ([12:13]; [13:07]).
• Susan controls all medication and meals; family suspects she could be hurting Jake ([44:37]).
• Conflicting stories and strange behaviors from Susan after Jake’s death: changes locks, rushes cremation, no funeral ([19:46]; [20:08]).
• Family uncovers Susan’s troubled past, including previous marriages, financial issues, and criminal record ([40:14]).

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4. The Private Investigation

• Family hires Lee Wilson, a private investigator ([24:29]).
• Lee discovers the investigation lasted less than an hour and was handled by inexperienced officers ([26:11]).
• Critical evidence: Crime scene photos suggest staging (e.g., the gun in the wrong hand, lack of blood on hand, body possibly moved) ([31:27]; [32:00]).

“You didn’t have to be an expert to see that this crime scene was staged.”
– Lee Wilson ([13:13])

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5. The Poisoning Theory

• Family suspects Susan poisoned Jake, noting coincidence of Jake’s and Zoe's illnesses ([44:56]; [46:02]).
• Rachel collects Jake’s hairbrush; lab testing reveals high levels of pesticides and antifreeze in Jake’s hair ([56:33]).
• Susan’s nursing credentials turn out to be exaggerated ([45:39]).

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6. The Legal Odyssey

First Trial (2019)

• Prosecutors argue Jake was poisoned and then shot; Susan staged the scene ([57:43]).
• New evidence includes Susan’s alleged motive—life insurance and a planned divorce after affairs ([77:08]; [76:04]).
• Susan testifies, maintaining innocence and offering changing accounts. Jury finds her guilty of murder ([65:34]).
• Sentenced to life plus 10 years.

Appeal and Overturn

• Defense appeals over a felon on the jury ([67:34]); conviction is overturned, Susan is released ([67:57]).
• On retrial, years of delay lead to drug evidence being thrown out due to lab misconduct and lack of chain of custody ([72:03]).

Second & Third Trials

• Poisoning excluded from evidence; prosecution focuses on crime scene inconsistencies (e.g., gun in non-dominant hand, signs of staging) ([73:07]; [77:08]).
• Defense highlights lack of forensics from original investigation, claims suicide is still plausible, introduces evidence of Jake’s antidepressant use and psychiatric treatment ([81:23]).
• Third trial: Jury convicts Susan again for murder. She is sentenced to life—again ([83:15]; [84:06]).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Police Failures

“The entire investigation took less than an hour… A scene like that should typically take hours.”
– Lee Wilson ([26:11])

• On the Crucial Photos

“This body appears that it has been moved… It appears that way, yes.”
– Crime scene forensic expert ([78:13], [78:26])

• On Family’s Persistence

“We weren’t going to stop.”
– Yvonne Magnus ([23:37])

• On Systemic Failure

“It’s the coroner’s fault. It’s the investigating officer’s fault... That’s the justice system’s fault.”
– Narrator ([85:07])

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Major Segments and Timestamps

• The Death & Immediate Response | 00:31 – 14:29
• Family Doubts & Backstory | 08:08 – 22:38
• Private Investigator Joins | 24:29
• Discovery of Crime Scene Staging | 31:27 – 33:10
• The Poisoning Theory Emerges | 44:37 – 46:46
• Susan’s Version and Interrogation | 51:56 – 54:29
• Trials and Conviction | 57:43 – 65:51
• Overturned Verdict and Retrials | 67:13 – 84:35
• Final Verdict & Reflections | 84:35 – 85:49

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Episode Tone and Style

The episode is tense, deeply emotional, and doggedly investigative. The tone balances the heartbreak of loss, the frustration with the justice system, and the dogged determination of a wounded family. Authentic dialogue, frank admissions, and candid interviews add layers of complexity to the story of a family that simply refuses to accept easy answers.

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Takeaways

• Vigilance in Investigations: The absence of a thorough investigation led to years of heartbreak, repeated trials, and judicial mishaps, demonstrating the profound real-world impact of failure at the first step.
• Family Advocacy: Jake’s family's persistence and resourcefulness were crucial in converting a closed case into three separate murder trials.
• Systemic Challenges: The case exposes the consequences of institutional failures, lack of communication, and procedural missteps at every level.
• Unanswered Questions: Even after the final conviction, the episode leaves the audience weighing motive, evidence, and the tragic shadow of uncertainty that often follows true crime.

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Final Thought

“This is not delay. This is not normal. This is not justice.”
– Rachel Embert ([74:43])

This episode of Dateline offers a sobering look behind the scenes of a tortured investigation—highlighting both the unwavering love of a family and the flaws in a system meant to protect them.

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Transcript

[Narrator / Reporter]

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[Lester Holt]

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[Narrator / Reporter]

Tonight on Dateline.

[Rachel Embert]

He says, I'm so sorry, but your dad has passed. The coroner is telling me this is a suicide. This is a suicide. There's no freaking way.

[Susan Embert]

My husband just shot himself. I ran down the hallway. I thought I was going to lose my mind.

[Narrator / Reporter]

She was like, don't go back in the bedroom.

[Lester Holt]

This was your dad's wife?

[Narrator / Reporter]

Yeah.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

You see the handgun right there in his hand?

[Narrator / Reporter]

I mean, it's obvious.

[Lester Holt]

You didn't think his body needed another look any more testing anymore. Anything?

[Narrator / Reporter]

No. Based on the information that I at that time.

[Lester Holt]

Was that a mistake?

[Rachel Embert]

Zero investigation, zero autopsy. Open and shut.

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

We have pictures of what exactly happened in that bedroom. It was painfully obvious the body had been moved.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

You didn't have to be an expert to see that this crime scene was staged.

[Lester Holt]

You have to admit that it does look suspicious.

[Susan Embert]

I don't know what it looks like to other people. I know he loved me. And I loved him.

[Rachel Embert]

Fire shot through my entire body. My dad did not take his own life.

[Lester Holt]

How does your family handle this?

[Rachel Embert]

We get to work.

[Narrator / Reporter]

It was ruled a suicide. But who really pulled the trigger? A family fights to uncover the truth. I'm Lester Holt and this is Dateline. Here's Blaine Alexander with malice.

[Lester Holt]

Time. Once it's gone, it's the one thing you can never get back. Time with loved ones. Time spent waiting for answers. The clock on this story for this family began on a Saturday morning. I want to talk about June 28, 2014.

[Rachel Embert]

Okay.

[Susan Embert]

Yes, sir. Now is this emergency? Yes.

[Lester Holt]

Albany, Georgia. A woman on the line with 91 1. She was frantic. Ma'.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

Am.

[Susan Embert]

I can't believe he does it.

[Lester Holt]

Okay.

[Susan Embert]

I don't know what you're saying.

[Lester Holt]

Her name was Susan Embert. She was calling about her husband Jake.

[Susan Embert]

My husband just shot his shell out.

[Lester Holt]

I ran right there to the room

[Susan Embert]

and he shot his head. I thought maybe he was cleaning his guns or something. Cause he's always messing with them, you know? So I didn't know what happened.

[Lester Holt]

When you heard the noise, did you immediately know it was a gunshot?

[Susan Embert]

I knew it was a gunshot, but I didn't know if it came from back there or where. I just heard.

[Lester Holt]

It was loud, it was bleeding brother's head. I said, look, is he conscious, ma'?

[Susan Embert]

Am? No, I don't think so.

[Lester Holt]

All right, ma', am, don't touch him or anything, okay? She was still on the phone when a truck pulled up to the house.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

His son just stopped.

[Rachel Embert]

Oh, my God.

[Susan Embert]

I got crap.

[Lester Holt]

It was will embert, jake's 17 year old son from a previous marriage. He had been there earlier that morning and was coming back to spend the day with his dad.

[Narrator / Reporter]

Turn my truck off. And I can hear yelling. Susan comes out, like, just comes barreling out the house real fast. She's on the phone, she's yelling.

[Lester Holt]

Could you hear what she's saying?

[Narrator / Reporter]

It was discombobulated. And I'm like, what's going on? And she was like, don't go back in the bedroom.

[Lester Holt]

You were trying to keep him away

[Susan Embert]

from the house to protect him, you know, from not seeing that sight.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

Don't go back there.

[Susan Embert]

They said, don't go back there. Don't touch nothing. My ambulance is on the way.

[Narrator / Reporter]

I was like, why? She wouldn't tell me why. And eventually she just told me that my dad shot himself.

[Susan Embert]

Oh, God.

[Rachel Embert]

Mm.

[Lester Holt]

What did you do?

[Narrator / Reporter]

I fell on the ground. The thing, I blacked out. I was very upset. I was crying.

[Lester Holt]

Just shot, nose down. He's all there. So corky. I saw a job for him.

[Narrator / Reporter]

I remember I looked up. Well, I remember Susan saying that the police are here. I remember I opened my eyes and the doughty county police car pulling up the driveway.

[Lester Holt]

Will got on the phone with his older sister Rachel. She was 30 at the time.

[Rachel Embert]

He said, calm as can be. I'll never, ever, ever forget it. I don't know how to tell you this. Instantly I'm thinking, oh my gosh, my little brother's about to tell me that he got his girlfriend pregnant.

[Lester Holt]

Because you could hear in his voice, something was off.

[Rachel Embert]

Yes, something was just off. And he just paused. He didn't say anything. And I'm like, just spit it out, Will. And he said, dad's dead and I have to get there. I have to get to him. I have to get to my dad's house. Jump in the vehicle. Don't stop at any red lights. Don't stop at any stop signs at the house.

[Lester Holt]

Doherty county police officers were already inside.

[Narrator / Reporter]

There's blood on the floor right there.

[Lester Holt]

As they surveyed the scene in the bedroom, their conversation was broadcast over the countywide police channel.

[Narrator / Reporter]

There goes the bullet right there, too. Yeah, right there in the wall. There's a gun. I haven't touched anything yet. There's all his matter and stuff on that. Do we need to retain this, the weapon?

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

I don't see why.

[Lester Holt]

The coroner arrived next and had a look at Jake's body. He was still there when Rachel pulled up to the house.

[Rachel Embert]

I get to my dad's house. They have a very long dirt driveway. So I park at the end of the driveway and I immediately jump out of the vehicle. I'm stomping up the driveway, My fists are balled by my side, and I'm literally just stomping up the driveway. I see officers up at the house. I see Susan standing out there up at the house, and instantly I'm like, what the happened? What the happened?

[Lester Holt]

It would not be the last time Jake's family asked that question. Nobody ever asked you, hey, what did you see what happened? You didn't think his body needed another look? Didn't need any more testing anymore. Anything?

[Rachel Embert]

Nothing went upstairs on in your head. Nothing did.

[Lester Holt]

Nothing.

[Rachel Embert]

There's blood splatter on the floor.

[Lester Holt]

Never cleaned up. You basically have a detective's mind at this point.

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

No, I just watch Dateline.

[Lester Holt]

Jake Embert's Sister Yvonne lived 600 miles away in North Carolina. Jake's daughter Rachel called her.

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

She said, ain't Yvonne. Oh, my dad shot himself. And immediately I thought he was cleaning his gun and it must have went off. So I started screaming at her and asking, where is he? I just kept screaming, where is he? And she said, he's not here anymore. I felt like I left my body. I said, I this can't be. It can't be.

[Lester Holt]

It was a cruel mixture of pain and sheer disbelief that Jake was suddenly gone. He had always been dedicated to his family. Did he have a philosophy or a special way that he lived his life?

[Rachel Embert]

Yeah, you know, he just always put himself full force in anything. If he committed to something, he was going to just see it through. And that was just with everything.

[Lester Holt]

He was also a jokester who loved to make others laugh. So he would throw a joke in any situation. Any situation, no matter what?

[Rachel Embert]

Yes.

[Lester Holt]

Even if it wasn't really appropriate?

[Rachel Embert]

Yes, yes, that part.

[Lester Holt]

But what really made Jake light up, his family says, being a dad. Jake wasn't Rachel's biological father. He married her mother when Rachel was just a baby. He was never A stepfather or an adoptive father. He was your daddy?

[Rachel Embert]

He was my dad, like, through and through and through my dad. Yeah.

[Lester Holt]

I love how you describe him because you talk about he was funny, but at the same time, he had this military, like, discipline about him.

[Rachel Embert]

Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Definitely authoritative. You wanted to always remain on my dad's good side.

[Lester Holt]

Jake was an army veteran and mechanic at a nearby Marine base. He was a guy's guy who Rachel says did his best to relate to his makeup loving daughter. And then his son Will was born.

[Rachel Embert]

I don't even know if my mom got ahold him that day. I'm pretty sure my dad was like my son, you know, I mean, he was just so over the moon.

[Lester Holt]

Immediate bond.

[Rachel Embert]

Yeah.

[Lester Holt]

You guys were instantly best friends. Right?

[Narrator / Reporter]

You know, like, most kids would try and get away from their parents as often as they could, but I always wanted to hang out with my dad.

[Lester Holt]

Jake loved taking his son to the racetrack. Cars had always been his thing since he was a little boy. His sister remembers a time Jake took the family Ford out for a spin when he was six years old.

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

He had gotten in the car in the driveway, and I guess he knocked it out of gear. So this man knocked on the door and told my mom, I believe that's your car across the street.

[Lester Holt]

And it rolled out of the driveway.

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

Yes.

[Lester Holt]

Oh, gosh.

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

But Jake acted like it was great. He was, you know, at the steering wheel doing his little thing and had no idea that he had done something wrong.

[Lester Holt]

Jake was the youngest of six and the only boy. You all must have doted on him like crazy.

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

We used to tease and say that he had six mothers, five sisters, and his real mother.

[Lester Holt]

Jake went from a childhood surrounded by women to a marriage of 26 years. When that marriage ended in divorce, Jake found himself without a woman in his life for the first time. He joined an online dating service and soon met Susan. She was 48, Jake 51. What was it about Jake that caught your eye?

[Susan Embert]

He was well around my age, and he was clean cut. I mean, we just clicked. We clicked. We. We just had a good time. We didn't have to do anything. We could just ride somewhere and we had fun.

[Rachel Embert]

She was a nurse. You know, she was a good person. He was interested in her.

[Lester Holt]

So he was really going on about her.

[Rachel Embert]

Yes.

[Lester Holt]

Just a few months into the relationship, Jake's health took a sudden turn. He had a heart attack. Susan moved in with Jake as he was recovering, and she says very soon after, he suggested they get married.

[Susan Embert]

I said, are you serious? And he's like, yes. And I said, no, I'm not ready to get married.

[Lester Holt]

Were you surprised when he asked you to marry him?

[Susan Embert]

Yes, but I know he loved me and I loved him. Three months later, he asked me to marry him again.

[Lester Holt]

This time, the answer was yes. They married in a short courthouse ceremony in front of just a few family members. To Rachel. It all seemed too fast, but in a way, she could understand it.

[Rachel Embert]

Sometimes when things happen, you know, like him having a heart attack, her being a nurse. Yeah, you probably would want that woman's touch, you know, around. That's what I would want, you know, I would want to be cared for. Yeah, absolutely.

[Lester Holt]

After recovering from the heart attack, Jake had a new health problem. He started having seizures.

[Susan Embert]

They checked him out, and they couldn't find nothing wrong, but he was having seizures. I didn't understand.

[Lester Holt]

Sixteen months after his first heart attack, Jake had another one, and it was massive. Jake survived, but he started to have even more symptoms. Stomach pain and nausea. At this point, Will, were you getting worried?

[Narrator / Reporter]

Yeah. He started just getting sick and sicker and sicker and just wasn't getting better.

[Rachel Embert]

He ended up, because he was so sick, having to remain out of work, which that was the first in his entire working life that he's ever missed so much work.

[Lester Holt]

His health problems led to financial problems and then another blow. His dog Zoe, got sick and had to be put down.

[Narrator / Reporter]

My dad was crying. He was upset. He said that Susan took Zoey to the vet. The vet said that she had distemper and that she needed to be euthanized.

[Lester Holt]

It was all too much. Losing his health. His dog and Jake's family could tell it was taking a toll. Soon the normally upbeat Persona was largely gone. Did you get the sense that he was trying to put on a brave face for you?

[Narrator / Reporter]

I feel like he was trying to put it on for everybody.

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

He's a tough guy. He was fighting, and I think he knew that I would try to help him. Just didn't get the chance.

[Narrator / Reporter]

Let me get some gloves and I'll get that gun now.

[Lester Holt]

June 28, 2014. After struggling with his health for a year and a half, Jake was gone. The victim, it seemed, of his own depression.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

You see the handgun right there in

[Narrator / Reporter]

his hand right there? I mean, there. I'm not no CSI kind of person

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

or nothing like that, but, I mean,

[Lester Holt]

it's obvious, you know, an obvious suicide. To first responders at the scene, Susan was telling police about Jake's health struggles and how sad he had been

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

sick

[Susan Embert]

and tired of being sick and tired. I said, I know you are, baby.

[Lester Holt]

I said, get some help.

[Susan Embert]

I'll be needing it.

[Lester Holt]

After assessing the scene, the coroner made it official. He documented Jake's gunshot as self inflicted. Open and shut it seemed, but not to everyone. What are you thinking at this point?

[Rachel Embert]

Things are not adding up. Nothing is adding up.

[Lester Holt]

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[Susan Embert]

I thought he was going to be the one that, you know, you grow old together, rocking rocket chairs on the

[Lester Holt]

front porch kind of thing.

[Susan Embert]

After that time, I was in my right mind for two months. I didn't think I was coming back and my mom had to take care of me.

[Lester Holt]

This is Susan's daughter, Krista. Were you talking to your mom throughout this time? What was her state of mind then?

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

She was. She was just crying. She was hysterical. She was devastated that her husband was gone.

[Susan Embert]

I knew that Jake was sad and stuff like that, but like, you never

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

think somebody's actually going to do something like that.

[Lester Holt]

Will certainly didn't think his dad was depressed enough to take his own life. And not on that day of all days. He'd seen his dad just that morning. They'd had coffee together and made plans to go to the racetrack. In fact, Jake's old car was set to be raced that very afternoon. A 1975 Firebird.

[Narrator / Reporter]

It wasn't even a question. It was like, we're gonna go see it.

[Lester Holt]

We're going. Cause he loved that car.

[Narrator / Reporter]

He did. I said, okay, I'm gonna go pick up my girlfriend and come back, and then we can go.

[Lester Holt]

When you left, what was his demeanor like? Was he excited? What was.

[Narrator / Reporter]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, he was. I just expected him, you know, to go shower and get dressed, and we. By then, I'd be back.

[Lester Holt]

That timing seemed especially puzzling to Rachel. She just couldn't wrap her mind around her dad ending his life. Then when Will was on his way back to the house and would likely see the aftermath.

[Rachel Embert]

The relationship that my dad and my brother had together was so.

[Lester Holt]

Oh, my gosh,

[Rachel Embert]

when I say Best Dad Award, I mean that in all capital letters. He was. He never, ever, ever knowing that Will was coming right back. Never would have done that to my brother.

[Lester Holt]

Confused and looking for answers, Rachel and Will went back to the house that night. After the shooting. They went into the bedroom where their dad died.

[Narrator / Reporter]

I went back there, saw it. The sheets were stripped off. The mattress was still there. There were two towels laid on top of the blood, but the blood was still soaking through the towels.

[Rachel Embert]

And then, so my brother and I were just standing in the room, and we just started crying.

[Lester Holt]

Rachel tried to imagine what her dad had been thinking. It wasn't easy.

[Rachel Embert]

My dad was sick. He was experiencing health issues. You know, I try to put myself in everybody's shoes. Okay, you're sick. All of this stuff is transpiring and everything. I just kept being right to the back. There's no freaking way.

[Lester Holt]

She wanted more information from Susan. But Susan and her dad hadn't been married that long, just over a year. Rachel didn't know her very well, and it was an emotional time for everyone. When Rachel and Will returned to the house the next day, the locks were being changed.

[Rachel Embert]

Changing the locks on our home. Why that part? Why? Why that is? You know, I mean, the trauma makes you do weird things, but that was very bizarre.

[Lester Holt]

Also strange, what Rachel says happened when family members tried to talk to Susan about planning a memorial service.

[Rachel Embert]

Well, we're not having a memorial service.

[Lester Holt]

That's what Susan says.

[Rachel Embert]

Yeah, well, why are we not having a funeral service? Well, because he doesn't have any family or friends. It was just us. It was just us.

[Lester Holt]

He's got a sister.

[Rachel Embert]

Yes. Got tons of family, tons of friends, tons of co workers, people who would

[Lester Holt]

want to remember him.

[Rachel Embert]

Absolutely. Absolutely.

[Lester Holt]

Susan says Jake's family has it all wrong. She was planning a service, but they went ahead and organized one without her.

[Susan Embert]

They took it upon herself, I guess, to have it before me. I was trying to get it together, but it was like they wanted it done right then.

[Lester Holt]

And did you go to that one?

[Susan Embert]

I did not. I wasn't. No, I did not. I wasn't invited over there. They didn't want me there.

[Lester Holt]

Did you feel that there was some contention between you and Rachel?

[Susan Embert]

I felt like something was going on, yes. I didn't know. I was not even in my right mind at that time, actually. I mean, I was really devastated.

[Lester Holt]

As the Emberts said goodbye to Jake, they were still in disbelief, maybe even denial about how he died.

[Narrator / Reporter]

I remember my dad having a conversation with me about that and how strongly my dad was against suicide. Thinks that it's a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

[Lester Holt]

So you were very clear on where your dad stood when it came to suicide?

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

Yeah.

[Lester Holt]

I asked this devil's advocate. There are unfortunately plenty of people who have mental health issues who mask it very well, who can appear happy but still go off and take their own life. Did you think that was a possibility?

[Narrator / Reporter]

No, I didn't think so at all.

[Rachel Embert]

Things are not adding up. Nothing is adding up. We were trying to figure out what really took place.

[Lester Holt]

On June 28, Jake's family made a decision. They needed someone to look at this.

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

This is Yvonne Magnus in reference to my. The death of my brother.

[Susan Embert]

Yes, ma'. Am.

[Lester Holt]

Like Jake's kids, his sister. Yvonne just couldn't accept the official narrative of her brother's death. Did you believe that your brother had hurt himself? Oh, no.

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

Instantly. I was like, no.

[Lester Holt]

Not even for a second?

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

Not even for a second.

[Lester Holt]

She drove down from North Carolina and went to see the police. You're thinking someone has to look into this. You're trying to rally someone to look into this case.

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

Right.

[Lester Holt]

In fact, Jake's family pleaded their case to officers several times. And so two detectives went to the house. They spoke briefly with Susan until she declined to talk further. But nothing changed.

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

This is Yvonne Magnus in reference to my. The death of my brother?

[Susan Embert]

Yes, ma'. Am.

[Lester Holt]

Yvonne recorded one of her follow up phone calls with a detective.

[Narrator / Reporter]

The evidence at the scene and the evidence that we have come across since then, there's nothing that would lead our agency to believe that it was a homicide. So if it went wrong, then I

[Lester Holt]

guess it'll come back on me.

[Narrator / Reporter]

You know, it is what it is.

[Lester Holt]

And I can't change what happened, you know, from the investigation. That's what we've determined.

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

It's closed. Nothing. They can't do anything.

[Lester Holt]

You know, just in my short time of knowing you, Yvonne, I'm very sure that you, you are not one to be messed with. It's very clear that, you know, you don't take no for an answer.

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

I don't take no for an answer when I believe that somebody either isn't telling the truth or something is very wrong.

[Lester Holt]

And you believe both of those things?

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

Yes.

[Lester Holt]

A friend suggested Yvonne try a different approach. A private eye. Had you ever thought of that before? Did you know much about private investigators?

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

No.

[Lester Holt]

I know for a lot of people that sounds like something you hear in a.

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

Feels like foreign.

[Lester Holt]

A movie or a TV show.

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

Yeah. I had no idea what to do, where to find one, where to go.

[Lester Holt]

So she did what most of us would do.

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

I was sitting in front of my computer and I actually typed private Investigators, Albany, Georgia. Just googled. Just googled. And I was crying so hard I couldn't see my screen. So I pointed to it and touched the screen. And when I did, I said, lee Wilson.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

I got the call.

[Lester Holt]

And Lee Wilson, a former police detective with more than 20 years of experience, he's handled all kinds of cases, including suicides. It had been a month since Jake died. Lee met with his family, he listened, and he agreed. The case did deserve a second look.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

You know, your son's going to be coming back in an hour with his girlfriend, and y' all were going to go to a planned event that day, and you just walk in the bedroom and take your own life.

[Lester Holt]

It just didn't sound right, just those details.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

But, you know, it piqued my interest.

[Lester Holt]

But he says in his experience, law enforcement usually makes the correct call. So he took the case with no promises. You were pretty frank with him. You said, you know, what if my findings determined that he did die by suicide, you'll have to accept this.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

Yes, I tell him that, you know, I will call it like I see it.

[Rachel Embert]

That's all we wanted. Investigate it. Investigate it.

[Lester Holt]

So Lee got started first up, collect as many records as he could.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

I wanted to see the photographs. I wanted to see any crime, any lab reports, toxicology reports, police reports. I wanted to see what led law enforcement and ultimately the coroner to put on the death certificate that Jake died from result of a self inflicted gunshot wound.

[Lester Holt]

But all those things that you mentioned, toxicology, measurements, all sorts of forensics, any of that stuff, was any of that done no. The case file he got from police was thin. As far as he could tell, no detective had even shown up at the scene. The entire investigation took less than an

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

hour from the time the call came in until the last call to the radio operator saying they were clearing the scene and processing.

[Lester Holt]

A scene like that should typically take hours.

[Rachel Embert]

Just zero open and shut. Called in as a suicide, ruled out as a suicide with zero investigation.

[Lester Holt]

Boom. Lee spoke to one of the first officers on the scene to find out what happened. Turns out he was brand new to the force. That scene had been his first time responding to a death call.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

He explained to me that, you know, when he got the call, he thought in his mind that he was prepared for that scene. He admitted that he had watched videos in the police academy.

[Lester Holt]

He'd never seen a dead body.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

He had not seen a dead body, from my understanding, before that day.

[Lester Holt]

So he walks into that having never seen a dead body fresh out of police academy.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

And his comment to me was, Mr. Lee, I just wanted to get out of there.

[Lester Holt]

As for the more experienced officers, I'm

[Narrator / Reporter]

not no CSI kind of person or nothing like that.

[Lester Holt]

But Lee learned they didn't do much more.

[Narrator / Reporter]

I mean, it's obvious, you know, here's

[Lester Holt]

Lee talking to one of them.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

When you went into the bedroom, did you do any kind of investigative work or make any observations to determine whether it was suicide or not?

[Lester Holt]

I looked at the body, of course,

[Narrator / Reporter]

I saw deceased with the gun in

[Lester Holt]

his hand laying back on his bed,

[Narrator / Reporter]

and I just pretty much soon was

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

quickly ruled as suicide. Based on their observations at the scene and the statement of Susan Ember, no one ever mentioned or discussed or considered to your knowledge that this could be something other than suicide, did they?

[Narrator / Reporter]

No, sir.

[Lester Holt]

The coroner never ordered an autopsy, and Susan had the body cremated within 24 hours.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

There was so much that could have been and should have been done before determining cause and manner of death. He could have taken it back to the morgue. He could have cleaned the wounds there, taken measurements, checked for gunpowder residue on the hands of Mr. Embert.

[Lester Holt]

The coroner's role is especially frustrating to Jake's family because Rachel had pleaded with him at the scene.

[Rachel Embert]

I said over and over, are you sure my dad did this? Are you sure my dad did this? Are you sure my dad did this? He could have taken and said something to somebody.

[Lester Holt]

So are you sure?

[Rachel Embert]

Yes. And said, hey, the daughter's out there questioning. You know, if we're sure. Nothing went upstairs on in your head. Nothing, did nothing.

[Lester Holt]

Reinvestigating the case with so little evidence would be an uphill battle. But Lee says the responding officers did manage to do one thing right, and it would make all the difference. You knew that there was something wrong with those photos.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

Yeah, I knew that this had been manipulated by somebody.

[Lester Holt]

In homicides and suicides, there's a typical method of processing a scene. Collect evidence, test forensics, interview witnesses. In the case of Jake Embert, almost none of that happened. We asked the Daugherty County Police Department about that, but they declined to answer our questions.

[Narrator / Reporter]

My job is determined to cause a man to dump up the individual.

[Lester Holt]

But Michael Fowler, the Dougherty county coroner, did agree to an interview. June 28, 2014. How long had you been the coroner?

[Narrator / Reporter]

About a year and a half.

[Lester Holt]

What's your first step once you get there?

[Narrator / Reporter]

First I have to speak with the ems. Then I need to go see the individual. I saw the gun laying beside him. Once I see him, then I pronounce the time of death. Then I go back out and see what's going on. So get with the law enforcement. Then I listened for Ms. Emory talk for a while. Then I went back into the house, trying to see was the story kind of lining up what she was saying.

[Lester Holt]

Jake Embert's daughter Rachel kept saying over and over again, are you sure? Are you sure? We're talking less than an hour at that point. How could you definitively say at that point that this is a suicide? There'd been no autopsy. The body hadn't been transported.

[Narrator / Reporter]

Based on the investigation. Speaking with the law enforcement, what they'll find is if in the process of interviewing whoever was there, I'll take their finding and come up with that determination

[Lester Holt]

on law enforcement and on what Susan Ember told police.

[Narrator / Reporter]

That's what I was basing it on.

[Lester Holt]

Jake Embert was cremated the next day?

[Narrator / Reporter]

Yes.

[Lester Holt]

You didn't think his body needed another look? Didn't need any more testing anymore? Anything?

[Narrator / Reporter]

No. I was pretty well comfortable at that time based on the information that I had at that time.

[Lester Holt]

Was that a mistake?

[Narrator / Reporter]

No, I don't think it's a mistake based on information I have at that time. I'm basing it on that now.

[Lester Holt]

A month and a half later, private investigator Lee Wilson was at the Dougherty County Police Department picking up those photos from the scene.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

I'm waiting on the receipt for my payment, and I start flipping through the photographs.

[Lester Holt]

It wasn't much, but Lee was noticing things he thought investigators had missed.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

And I got to, like, the fourth, fifth photograph in the packet. And the police chief was standing in the hallway. And I said, chief, you got a

[Lester Holt]

problem, you got a problem.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

I knew that scene had been manipulated.

[Lester Holt]

He took us through those photos on an iPad. What immediately stands out to you? If you can show me.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

You note here, his hand is laid over the gun. There's two fingers laid across the handle of the gun, but nothing on the trigger. The other thing is, if you look, the gun is tucked up under his right leg.

[Lester Holt]

So you're thinking, how would the gun have gotten under his leg?

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

Yeah.

[Lester Holt]

Lee knew that with a self inflicted gunshot to the head, there likely would have been blood on Jake's hand, but none was visible. Lee also noted the state of the bed around Jake. To him, it looked like Jake had been moved.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

There's a bath map behind his head. Look at the sheets, the rippling of the sheets. Look how tight the sheets are over here. Look at the rippling there.

[Lester Holt]

What does that say to you?

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

Somebody's trying to pull that body back up onto the bed.

[Lester Holt]

To test his theory, he asked a couple of colleagues to take a look.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

I had a couple of friends that were still in law enforcement that had done a number of death investigations. Gave them no background, just sent the photographs. And both of them came back, said, that's staged scene. And I said, immediately.

[Lester Holt]

They said that.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

Yeah, I just wanted to see if they were seeing what I saw.

[Lester Holt]

And they did?

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

Yes.

[Lester Holt]

If the scene was staged, that meant Jake hadn't killed himself. He was murdered. And the only other person in the house was Susan. What had started as an unspoken suspicion in Jake's family was now out in the open.

[Rachel Embert]

We all had our own kind of suspicions, but we were not talking about it to each other.

[Lester Holt]

So all of you had some sort of sneaky suspicion?

[Rachel Embert]

Yes.

[Lester Holt]

Somewhere.

[Rachel Embert]

Yes.

[Lester Holt]

In order to dig deeper and get access to Jake's records and property, Lee had Rachel petition the court to become executor of his estate. After Susan found out, she left Albany.

[Rachel Embert]

There was a U haul at our house and she was loading up everything. And then she booked it right to Florida.

[Lester Holt]

So when you go back in there, I mean, the house.

[Rachel Embert]

Filthy.

[Lester Holt]

Unrecognizable, filthy. Rachel's father had been dead two months when she recorded this video of the house.

[Rachel Embert]

Today is August 29th at 2014 at approximately 4pm Never cleaned. Trash everywhere.

[Lester Holt]

And there were some things missing too.

[Rachel Embert]

Everything. Everything from washer and dryer were no longer there. Kitchen table, dining room set, no longer there. She had completely vacated the house. We had a plethora of childhood heirlooms. No longer there. You can blatantly see how it was left, just left. Nothing but her trash. This house has never been disturbingly dirty.

[Lester Holt]

Susan had the bloody mattress moved to the yard, but the bedroom still had not been cleaned.

[Rachel Embert]

There's blood splatter on the floor. Never cleaned up.

[Lester Holt]

More blood.

[Rachel Embert]

This is where the bullet hit the wall. You can see that this dripping on the wall is possibly, I'm assuming, brain matter.

[Lester Holt]

The state of things confirmed to Jake's family something was not right. And to them, that something was.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

Susan, well, she wasn't who she portrayed herself to be. Look at him, eating whatever he wants,

[Lester Holt]

never gaining a pound. Well, I'm stuck with the boring special

[Narrator / Reporter]

and can't lose an ounce. How's your lunch, man? Amazing.

[Lester Holt]

Yours?

[Narrator / Reporter]

So good.

[Lester Holt]

Oh, I'm so happy for you.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

Cool, buddy.

[Lester Holt]

Weight loss. That isn't fair. But Mochi Health is the affordable GLP1 source that can fix your frustration with food.

[Narrator / Reporter]

So same time next week? No, Definitely.

[Lester Holt]

And your friends. Learn [e-mail] Mochi members have access to licensed physicians and nutritionists. Results may vary.

[Narrator / Reporter]

Hello Dateline listeners, it's Josh Mankiewicz. We know how much you love to watch Dateline. And when you're hanging on every twist and turn, the last thing you want is to be interrupted with an NBC News subscription. You can now watch full Dateline episodes on demand and stream the entire Dateline 247 channel, all ad free. And it doesn't stop there. When you subscribe, you'll also get the best of NBC News, including ad free articles, podcasts, and full NBC News programs. It's your Dateline fix, plus exclusive NBC News content. Just download the NBC News app and subscribe now.

[Lester Holt]

Hey, guys, Willie Geist here, reminding you to check out the Sunday Sit down podcast. On this week's episode, I get together with one of the biggest stars in all of music, Nick Jonas, to talk about his new album, Sunday Best, and his rise to fame with the Jonas Brothers. You can get our conversation for free wherever you download your podcasts. In the weeks and months after Jake Embert's death, his family grew more and more suspicious that his wife Susan was hiding something. They didn't like how she behaved after the shooting, but the truth was they'd had issues with her even before that. Will lived with Jake and Susan part time. He he remembers lots of yelling. He says by Susan, what would she say to your dad?

[Narrator / Reporter]

He accused him of cheating all the time. Susan would drink and pick fights.

[Lester Holt]

That had to have been a really difficult dynamic.

[Narrator / Reporter]

I didn't understand it I remember I was there for two occasions that the police showed up. Both of them were really unfounded. Nobody got arrested.

[Lester Holt]

Now, they thought back to that rushed wedding at the courthouse. Will had experience, expected to be the best man, but the wedding happened without him or his sister. Was it surprising to you that he got married without either of his kids there?

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

Very, yes.

[Lester Holt]

Rachel had long wondered what drew them together. Now she went looking for clues.

[Rachel Embert]

I hacked into my father's Facebook account. I figured out the password, all these Facebook messages between my dad and Susan, pages upon pages upon pages upon pages. And then I get to a part in the Facebook message right before they get married, where Susan says to my dad, she's not feeling well. Her stomach is hurting. She just took a pregnancy test and it came out positive. I was floored. That is what. What signified why my dad married her.

[Lester Holt]

Was she, in fact, pregnant?

[Rachel Embert]

Oh, absolutely not.

[Lester Holt]

And once they were married, there was something else that bothered the family. They had always known Jake to be responsible with his money. But Susan took over the bills, and soon they had serious financial problems. Jake called Yvonne for help, and I

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

could hear her telling him to do it.

[Lester Holt]

This is on the phone. What was she saying?

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

Ask her for money. Ask her for more money.

[Lester Holt]

And this is something your brother has never done, Never in all your years?

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

Never. Not ever?

[Lester Holt]

No. And then there was Jake's life insurance.

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

They weren't even married six weeks when he said, susan's pressuring me to change my life insurance beneficiary to her. To her. And I said, jake, you have an underage son. I think you should think about that. He said, I already did it. And he said, yvonne, Susan will take care of Will if anything happens to me.

[Lester Holt]

Yvonne wasn't so sure. And she was apparently right to not trust Susan.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

My investigation showed there was actually a completely different side of this woman that the family didn't know. And. And they had strong reason to believe Jake didn't know.

[Lester Holt]

A different side meaning what?

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

Well, she wasn't who she portrayed herself to be.

[Lester Holt]

Susan had been married three times before Lee spoke with two of her ex husbands.

[Narrator / Reporter]

She used to drink, but I don't know what she does now.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

Right, but when y' all were married, it was the drinking. Oh, God. God Almighty.

[Narrator / Reporter]

Was it ever. You know, she's always been messed up in the head.

[Susan Embert]

I mean, there ain't no two ways about it.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

She also had things in her background about 15 years where she had encounters with law enforcement.

[Lester Holt]

What were those interactions?

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

There was several arrests down in Florida.

[Lester Holt]

Her record includes Convictions for trespassing, resisting arrest, and several DUIs. Susan and the kids were no longer speaking, but Rachel and Will told Lee everything they could remember about how Susan described the shooting that morning.

[Rachel Embert]

So the first thing is she's just getting out of the shower, heard the bang, went back there, found my father

[Lester Holt]

just out of the shower. But Will remembered how Susan looked when he pulled up minutes later.

[Narrator / Reporter]

She looked like she was ready to go. I mean, she was fully dressed. Makeup, hair, everything.

[Lester Holt]

Later that night, Rachel recalled Susan telling another version of what happened.

[Rachel Embert]

She said, I was by the computer desk, heard the bang, I went back there and I found your dad.

[Lester Holt]

And that's different from what she told you that morning?

[Rachel Embert]

So different.

[Lester Holt]

Susan spoke with Yvonne that same night and added yet another detail.

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

And she said, well, I was blow drying my hair, and I went to the computer. You know where that is, right, Yvonne? And I yelled back to Jake, I'll be right back. I have to straighten my hair.

[Susan Embert]

And boom.

[Lester Holt]

Those small inconsistencies didn't seem like a big deal at the time, but now they seemed important to the family at this point. What are you thinking happened?

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

She killed my brother.

[Lester Holt]

Was the rest of your family thinking the same?

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

Yes.

[Lester Holt]

By then, Susan had left the state. She wanted nothing to do with Jake's family or their search for answers. And then the phone rang.

[Susan Embert]

This is Susan Ember.

[Lester Holt]

Susan would have her own story to tell. You were the only other person there. Susan, did you shoot your husband?

[Susan Embert]

No, I did not.

[Rachel Embert]

Am I really hearing this? I could not pick my mouth up off the floor.

[Lester Holt]

And just when they thought it was over. I mean, typically, that's where the story ends.

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

You might think.

[Lester Holt]

Private eye Lee Wilson had been investigating Susan Embert for a couple of months, when out of the blue, he got a phone call.

[Susan Embert]

This is Susan Ember.

[Lester Holt]

How did she know that you were even looking into her?

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

Her words were that she heard I'd been asking about her.

[Susan Embert]

I don't know why I'm being investigated. They're asking questions about me and stuff. I don't understand why. If it's any questions, I'd rather. I'm not answering him because I haven't done anything.

[Lester Holt]

I can say that as you talk to her. I mean, what vibe did you get from her? How did she sound over the phone?

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

She was fishing, trying to figure out what I knew.

[Lester Holt]

Lee talked to Susan several times. Each time she insisted she had nothing to do with Jake's death.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

You doing okay?

[Susan Embert]

Yeah. No, I'm trying to, but I. I

[Lester Holt]

don't have I don't know what. What you're wanting from me.

[Susan Embert]

All I know, my husband's death was June 28. It was closed out that day. I don't know why he did it.

[Lester Holt]

She said she was grieving.

[Susan Embert]

I cry every single night, okay, every. Every other day about this stuff.

[Lester Holt]

And that all she really wanted from Jake's family was to be left alone.

[Narrator / Reporter]

I'm trying to move on with my

[Susan Embert]

life and I'm trying to, you know, survive out here.

[Lester Holt]

That's all I'm trying to do. In each conversation, Lee prodded her for any bit of clarity.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

It would probably be a little bit easier if the family had some answers, too. You don't seem to feel that's what

[Lester Holt]

I'm saying, Mr. Wilson. I don't have an answer. And then she was done.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

4:40pm she hung up on me.

[Lester Holt]

The phone calls didn't yield any new information about that morning, but Lee wasn't done digging. Jake's family pushed his investigation in an entirely new direction. They suspected the shooting was not the first time Susan tried to kill her husband.

[Rachel Embert]

All of us kept coming back to the conclusion because of how sick he was, because of the only common denominator was when she entered his life and the rapid decline. Maybe it was a possibility. Possibility that she could be, in fact, poisoning my dad.

[Lester Holt]

Poison? Well, as Jake's family saw it, it seemed the more Susan nursed Jake, the worse he got. There were the two sudden heart attacks, his serious GI issues, and that onset of unexplained seizures. Yvonne struggled to understand this new symptom. She recalled asking Susan the nurse about Jake's meds.

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

I said to her, he shouldn't be having seizures. There's not heart medicine that causes you to have seizures.

[Lester Holt]

Yvonne says even before her brother died, she started to question Susan's medical knowledge.

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

I mean, you know, she said she was a nurse. I just didn't take that. I got online and researched it.

[Lester Holt]

Did you ever find any evidence that she was a nurse?

[Rachel Embert]

No.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

In fact, my investigation showed that she had gone registered to go to a nurse nurses aid school, similar to what they call a CNA in Georgia. But she didn't even complete that.

[Lester Holt]

It was Susan who administered all of Jake's medication and Susan who cooked all of his meals. Around the same time, Jake's dog Zoe started having stomach problems, too.

[Narrator / Reporter]

She started throwing up and going to the bathroom in the house. I mean, she. She was an older dog, but it just started happening.

[Lester Holt]

Like older dogs, they start to kind of get incontinent. Is that happening there?

[Narrator / Reporter]

Yeah, but it just out of nowhere, like, it took my dad by surprise. It took me by surprise when she started getting real sick.

[Lester Holt]

It was Susan who took Zoey to the vet to get checked out and returned empty handed, telling Jake the vet had ordered she be put down.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

My personal belief is she was poisoning the dog. Maybe perhaps testing some of her poison. I don't know whether it was or whether she just wanted to get rid of Zoe, but it shows her mindset. It doesn't surprise me that she killed Jake if she did that to that man's dog.

[Lester Holt]

This was just a theory. They would need forensic evidence to prove it. And at Susan's direction, Jake's body had been cremated the day after his death. But Yvonne had an idea.

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

I said to Rachel, you need to go to the house and get Jake's hairbrush. And she said, what? She said, why? Because that's what she always does. Why? Why? I said, rachel, just get it. Get a brown paper bag, put the hairbrush in the bag, don't tell anybody you have it.

[Lester Holt]

So you're directing her to take it and bag it for evidence?

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

Mm, pretty much.

[Lester Holt]

You basically have a detective's mind at this point?

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

No, I just watch Dateline.

[Lester Holt]

Rachel played detective. She went back to the now deserted house. She found one of her dad's brushes and handed it over to Lee. Jake's family saw themselves as investigators uncovering the truth. But if you ask Susan Embert, they were just reaching for the perfect scapegoat.

[Susan Embert]

They don't know me. I don't know why they're lying. I have no idea.

[Lester Holt]

You're maintaining that all of these people are lying.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

Look at him, eating whatever he wants,

[Lester Holt]

never gaining a pound. Well, I'm stuck with the boring special and can't lose an ounce.

[Narrator / Reporter]

How's your lunch, man? Amazing.

[Lester Holt]

Yours?

[Narrator / Reporter]

So good.

[Lester Holt]

Oh, I'm so happy for you.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

Cool, buddy.

[Lester Holt]

Weight loss isn't fair. But Mochi Health is the affordable glp. One source that can fix your frustration with food.

[Narrator / Reporter]

So same time next week? No, Definitely.

[Lester Holt]

And your friends. Learn [e-mail] Mochi members have access to licensed physicians and nutritionists. Results may vary.

[Susan Embert]

I don't have nothing to hide from nobody. And I still don't.

[Lester Holt]

Susan Embert's story was entirely different than the one being told by her husband's family. She says when she and Jake first got married, their life was nearly perfect.

[Susan Embert]

I had a good husband and he had a good wife, and I had a stepson that I loved.

[Lester Holt]

It was nice Susan says she felt accepted by her husband's family and insists they were all invited to the courthouse wedding. She remembers Jake even moved up the date to accommodate their schedules. Will is saying that he had no idea that he would have been there. He wanted to be there and be his father's best man, but that he was blindsided when he found out after

[Susan Embert]

the fact he knew the date that we were gonna get married, and he also knew the date was moved up.

[Lester Holt]

Are you saying that Will is mistaken?

[Susan Embert]

I think so, yes.

[Lester Holt]

There were some Facebook messages between you and Jake where you told him that you were pregnant. Did that play a role in the timing of your wedding?

[Susan Embert]

I never told him I was pregnant that I know of.

[Lester Holt]

You don't remember messages that you sent to him saying you took a test, your stomach was feeling uncomfortable?

[Susan Embert]

Oh, yeah. I took a pregnancy test, and it said positive, but I knew I wasn't. I didn't think I was pregnant. I didn't know.

[Lester Holt]

Susan believes Jake's family has been twisting her words. She denies ever telling them she was a nurse. You did not lead them to believe that?

[Susan Embert]

No, I told them I worked in the nursing field, and actually I said in the nursing field and. Because I have a lot of certificates and stuff like that in the medical field.

[Lester Holt]

And Susan says Jake had money troubles before they got married. It was only when his house went into foreclosure. She says, that he admitted it.

[Susan Embert]

He said that he used his money unwisely or, you know, didn't use it wisely, that he would buy, like, him and his son, like, real expensive things like bows and arrows and guns and all kind of stuff like that.

[Lester Holt]

But he raised his hand and took blame for it. You're saying.

[Susan Embert]

Yes.

[Lester Holt]

That it was his fault?

[Susan Embert]

Yes.

[Lester Holt]

As you learned about this financial situation, did it have an impact on your relationship, you and Jake?

[Susan Embert]

Well, I mean, to me, I don't. I mean, I wasn't really. I was not really worried about it. I mean, I was worried to a certain extent, but I wasn't because I knew that with me and him together, we could work it out. We could get it worked out.

[Lester Holt]

They were inseparable, says Susan. And she claims it was Jake's idea for her to be the beneficiary on his life insurance policy. After all, she was his wife.

[Susan Embert]

He said he had this and that and he needed to change it over to me. And I said, okay, well, whenever you want to do it, we'll do it.

[Lester Holt]

His sister Yvonne says that just within weeks of getting married that you were pressuring him to change the policy so that you were the beneficiary.

[Susan Embert]

That's not true.

[Lester Holt]

You never asked him?

[Susan Embert]

No.

[Lester Holt]

You never said pressured?

[Susan Embert]

No.

[Lester Holt]

Suggested?

[Susan Embert]

No.

[Lester Holt]

And then there was that day in 2014. She took us through her version of that morning. It was around 9 or 10am and she was getting ready for the day, she says, talking to Jake while he stayed in bed.

[Susan Embert]

We was just talking. Oh, he was talking about going to the races, matter of fact.

[Lester Holt]

He was going to the races?

[Susan Embert]

Yeah, we were going to the races that day, that night.

[Lester Holt]

What was he saying about it?

[Susan Embert]

I was asking him if he still wants to go. Yeah?

[Lester Holt]

What did he say?

[Susan Embert]

He said, I don't know, probably, or something like that. You know, he didn't seem real excited.

[Lester Holt]

But Susan told us she went into another room and what she says happened now next is yet another version of what she was doing. When the gun went off.

[Susan Embert]

I was in the living room. I went to get my vapor cigarette,

[Lester Holt]

believe it or not.

[Susan Embert]

Yeah, my vapor cigarette. And I heard the gun go off.

[Lester Holt]

What happened then?

[Susan Embert]

I ran down the hallway and I

[Lester Holt]

fell going down there.

[Susan Embert]

And the door was cracked open about that much.

[Lester Holt]

Take me back to that moment when you first saw Jake.

[Susan Embert]

I was ecstatic. I was. I thought I was gonna lose my mind. I didn't know what to do. So I called 911 like I was supposed to do. I didn't know what to do. That's what I did. I called 911. My husband just shot himself.

[Lester Holt]

You were the only other person there. Susan, did you shoot your husband?

[Susan Embert]

No. I did.

[Lester Holt]

And then staged the room to look like a suicide?

[Susan Embert]

No, I did not. No.

[Lester Holt]

Did you poison Jake Embert?

[Susan Embert]

No, I did not. Nope. I wouldn't have poisoned somebody I loved. No. I wouldn't poison anybody.

[Lester Holt]

Did you poison the dog?

[Susan Embert]

No.

[Lester Holt]

If people were to look at the situation knowing that it was just you, just him, you were in charge of his meals, you prepared the food. People would say that you had plenty of opportunities to put things in there to poison your husband over a period of time. How do you explain that?

[Susan Embert]

I can't explain that because I did not poison my husband. I would not have done it. We all ate the same food.

[Lester Holt]

I have to ask, Susan, in our interview, in our conversation, you have repeatedly said that a lot of people are lying about you. From Jake's family to his. His sister, other people. How is it that so many people are lying about you?

[Susan Embert]

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know why they're lying. About me. They don't even know me enough to lie about me. But they don't know. I mean, I don't even talk. They don't know me. I don't know why they're lying. I have no idea.

[Lester Holt]

You're maintaining that all of these people are lying. No matter how much Susan declared her innocence, Lee Wilson kept working and finding what he says is proof she murdered her husband. He was so confident in his evidence that he presented his findings to the coroner and the district attorney, Greg Edwards. Edwards had his investigators pore over Wilson's work and came to a conclusion.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

And in my immediate opinion, you know, this was a staged crime scene and a homicide that needed to be prosecuted.

[Lester Holt]

Another major move. The coroner changed his findings on Jake's death certificate from suicide to homicide. Investigators tracked Susan down in Florida, the moment Jake's family had long been waiting for.

[Rachel Embert]

She's going to get arrested.

[Lester Holt]

In February 2015, a group of investigators swarmed Susan's front door.

[Susan Embert]

They said, georgia wants you. I said, for what? And they said, homicide.

[Lester Holt]

Susan was arrested on charges of malice murder, felony murder, and aggravated assault. That had to have felt surreal for you.

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

It did. It was worth every minute to get to that point.

[Lester Holt]

But there was still a long way to go. Susan would go on trial and try to explain herself and her words to a jury. And what she would say would leave everyone in the courtroom stunned.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

Why did you take the 911 operator that Jake Ember had sexually transmitted diseases?

[Susan Embert]

I just hate that.

[Lester Holt]

Four months after Susan Ember was arrested, the district attorney called Lee Wilson. There was news. And it was about that hairbrush Rachel collected from her dad's house. The DA's office had sent it out for testing and the toxicology results were in. What do those results show?

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

It showed that Jake had high levels of different pesticides. Deed is the common name that we know it by. And there was antifreeze.

[Lester Holt]

When you got those results, those lab results, what did that tell you about Susan Imbert?

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

She was a cold blooded murderer.

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

It's pretty hard to believe, and for a while I blamed myself.

[Lester Holt]

But you know, that wasn't your fault.

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

I protected him his whole life. This time, Time I didn't. But I didn't know I needed to.

[Lester Holt]

Most of the state's case was circumstantial. Now the lab results gave prosecutors something they could sink their teeth into. The DA tacked on another aggravated assault charge related to the poisoning in addition to murder. But there was delay after delay. You all have quite a waiting game ahead of you.

[Rachel Embert]

Oh, gosh.

[Lester Holt]

So, yes, four and a half years.

[Rachel Embert]

Yes.

[Lester Holt]

In December 2019, the trial finally got underway.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

Jake ever killed himself? We're going to show you that that's not so.

[Lester Holt]

The prosecution laid out its case, arguing that Jake was poisoned before he was shot.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

Deet, insect repellent, antifreeze, and various other heavy metals.

[Narrator / Reporter]

These toxic killers, chemicals, could have only been in his body, only in his

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

body from direct ingestion.

[Lester Holt]

If the state was right and Susan Embert was in fact trying to kill her husband with poison, why shoot him? Lee Wilson pointed to the timing. Jake had an upcoming doctor's appointment where they planned to run some tests, and

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

sooner or later, some lab report would have shown some sort of level in his blood or some other test that was inordinate, and they would have in all likelihood gone to exploring the poisoning aspect of it.

[Lester Holt]

So you're saying that she felt that she would have soon been exposed.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

You know, and I think he just wasn't dying quick enough.

[Lester Holt]

As evidence of her premeditation, the state called this man to the stand, Douglas Buckner, a fellow race car lover. About two weeks before Jake was shot, Buckner came by the house to buy Jake's Firebird. And at one point he was alone with Susan.

[Narrator / Reporter]

I was like, well, what's going on with Mr. Jake getting rid of his car? And she was like, well, he's not in good shape. He's not going to be here much longer.

[Lester Holt]

And he wasn't around for much longer because prosecutors say Susan shot Jake. Then she worked hard, they argued, to redirect investigators. The Prosecutor played Susan's 911 call.

[Susan Embert]

He had two hearts taken on his tire hurting.

[Lester Holt]

The DA asked the jury to listen carefully to this part.

[Susan Embert]

We got married about two years ago, and I found out he was gay. I didn't know this and I didn't give him a hard time. I said, you know, so I don't understand. Just tell me what's wrong. Well, he was gay, and then he got these diseases and transmitted diseases.

[Lester Holt]

Jake Embert was gay and had transmitted diseases. What was Susan talking about?

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

Susan embert. Within seconds, 30 seconds of starting, the call begins to lay out why Jake Embert supposedly killed himself.

[Lester Holt]

Unprompted, unprompted.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

You know, he's gay, he has these diseases, and it shows premeditation. She had thought this out and was going to say that after having done the actual.

[Lester Holt]

On the stand, Yvonne testified her brother was not gay and Susan was lying.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

Was he holding some secret that you didn't detect all the years you've known him?

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

No.

[Lester Holt]

The prosecution brought up another apparent inconsistency in the 911 call. Susan told the dispatcher she didn't touch Jake. All right, ma', am, don't touch him or anything, okay?

[Susan Embert]

I'm sorry.

[Lester Holt]

But Will testified that when he saw her at the scene.

[Narrator / Reporter]

I remember seeing her on her hand. It looked like blood to me.

[Lester Holt]

Susan's defense team had one clear message. The coroner's first determination was the right one. This was a suicide. The kind of death that can be hard to accept.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

Nobody can understand why he did it.

[Lester Holt]

They planned their counterattack to the state's narrative around Susan. They called her to the stand and asked her directly about the. That 911 call.

[Narrator / Reporter]

Were you sincere at the time when you were having that conversation with on a 91 1?

[Lester Holt]

I was very sincere.

[Narrator / Reporter]

What state of mind would you describe you were being?

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

In?

[Susan Embert]

A bad state of mind. I was ecstatic.

[Lester Holt]

As for telling the dispatcher Jake was

[Susan Embert]

gay, I don't know why I said that. I hadn't no proof that he was gay.

[Lester Holt]

She did testify that she and Jake were having intimacy issues.

[Susan Embert]

I asked him, I said, do you have another girlfriend?

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

What prompted all of that?

[Susan Embert]

Because. Our sex life went down and he didn't seem like he was interested in me anymore.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

I'm sorry.

[Susan Embert]

Our sex life went down. I didn't think he was interested.

[Lester Holt]

During that call, you told the operator that Jake was gay and had transmitted diseases. Are either of those two things true?

[Susan Embert]

No. The transmitted disease, they had that wrong. I said he had PTSD. They said. I said std. No, it was PTSD.

[Lester Holt]

I have the 911 call and I want to bring it up so we can listen to it together.

[Susan Embert]

Okay. Well, he was gay and then he got these diseases. It's transmitted disease.

[Rachel Embert]

Huh?

[Lester Holt]

You said transmitted diseases.

[Susan Embert]

I said, no, I didn't. I don't. I didn't hear that. I. I know I said ptsd. I thought that's. That's what I meant.

[Lester Holt]

I said, why bring up those two details, that he was gay and had transmitted diseases? Especially if you're saying now that you didn't believe that to be true. Why. Why say that on the 911 call?

[Susan Embert]

Because that's the last thing I said to him before I walked out the room to get my vapor cigarette. And I thought maybe it might have had something to do with why he did what he did.

[Lester Holt]

So you were.

[Susan Embert]

And I've had to live with that last words all these years. That's my last words.

[Lester Holt]

So in the moments before he Died. You all were arguing.

[Susan Embert]

So as they're arguing, I asked him a question.

[Lester Holt]

You asked him, are you gay?

[Susan Embert]

Yes.

[Lester Holt]

What did he say?

[Susan Embert]

He didn't say anything.

[Lester Holt]

That conversation was a new detail. She never told the family or investigators. And I have to ask, in a situation like this, obviously, details, granular details, are important. The story that you told on the stand that you're telling me is different from what Jake's family says that you initially told them. Both Rachel and Yvonne say that they heard different versions of that story. Why are there differences in those details?

[Susan Embert]

Maybe they didn't hear the whole story. I don't know. Because that's the deep. That's how. That's what happened.

[Lester Holt]

But you're saying all along you've told one story.

[Susan Embert]

That is the story I told, the one I just told you.

[Lester Holt]

Susan never wavered on her innocence, telling the jury what she told us. She didn't poison Jake, and she definitely didn't shoot him.

[Susan Embert]

My husband committed suicide that day.

[Lester Holt]

But would this sway the jury? We, the jury, find the defendant, Susan H. I mean, typically, that's where the

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

story ends, you might think.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

Look at him, eating whatever he wants,

[Lester Holt]

never gaining a pound. Well, I'm stuck with the boring special and can't lose an ounce.

[Narrator / Reporter]

How's your lunch, man? Amazing.

[Lester Holt]

Yours?

[Narrator / Reporter]

So good.

[Lester Holt]

Oh, I'm so happy for you.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

Cool, buddy.

[Lester Holt]

Weight loss isn't fair, but Mochi Health is the affordable GLP1 source that can fix your frustration with food.

[Narrator / Reporter]

So same time next week? No, Definitely.

[Lester Holt]

And your friends, learn [e-mail] Mochi members have access to licensed physicians and nutritionists. Results may vary. It had been more than five years since Will Embert arrived at his father's house on that June morning. Five years since Susan Embert told him Jake was dead. Being in that courtroom, that brought you again into the same room with Susan for really the first time almost since it happened.

[Narrator / Reporter]

Right.

[Lester Holt]

That couldn't have been easy.

[Narrator / Reporter]

Yeah, it was. Very uneasy feeling.

[Lester Holt]

And now Susan's fate was in the hands of 12 jurors. They deliberated for less than an hour. We, the jury, find the defendant, Susan Ember.

[Narrator / Reporter]

Count one, malice murder.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

Guilty.

[Lester Holt]

Guilty of murder and aggravated assault. I mean, are there words to describe that moment for you?

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

No, no, it was just. I can't use the word happy, I guess, but sure. You're just glad to know that she's gonna pay for what you did.

[Lester Holt]

Susan Embert was sentenced to life in prison with 10 years tacked on for the poisoning charge. I mean, typically, that's where the story

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

ends, you might think.

[Lester Holt]

Not this time. While Jake's family finally tried to move on, Susan's daughter Krista could not.

[Susan Embert]

I felt like my entire being, my

[Lester Holt]

entire soul was shattered.

[Susan Embert]

Like I just lost my best friend, my mom. I can't call my mom just to say, hey, anytime I want to, I have to wait on her schedule.

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

I have to talk to her on a tablet.

[Susan Embert]

Like, I can't hug my mom.

[Lester Holt]

Susan assured her daughter it wasn't over.

[Susan Embert]

I knew one day, yeah, I'd be leaving because I knew one day the

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

truth would come out.

[Susan Embert]

I knew I'd be going home. I just didn't know.

[Lester Holt]

When she found a new lawyer to mount an appeal. There's been so many errors in this case. It was just like one after another. Defense attorney Jen Hyman was fresh out of law school when she took Susan. Susan's case. This was actually the first motion for new trial that I worked on. Hyman scrutinized every part of the case. The investigation, the evidence, testimony, even the jurors. So you just ran some of the names through Google just to see what popped up? Yeah, she found something and it was big. One of the jurors had some criminal history. Some. So you see this information and you knew that you had found something major? Oh, absolutely. Yes. The juror was a felon. And while there is a process to restore rights to serve on a jury, that had not happened and no one from the court or the district attorney's office caught it, that was grounds to overturn Susan's conviction. Should your office be taking a closer look, double checking things like this when you're seating a jury?

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

Yes. We now retain required documentation indicating they are not disqualified from serving as a juror. So we just double down on making sure that that's. That's reviewed.

[Lester Holt]

An important fix, but too late for Jake's family. And the mistake was costly.

[Susan Embert]

Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord.

[Lester Holt]

Thank you, family.

[Susan Embert]

Thank you, attorneys. I love y'.

[Lester Holt]

All. After more than four years in prison, Susan and Embert walked out a free woman.

[Rachel Embert]

They called me and they told me that Susan was being released. And that is like, I was astounded. What do you mean she's being released?

[Lester Holt]

How do you even process this?

[Rachel Embert]

You know, I'm angry. I'll be honest. Yeah, I'm very angry. How did this transpire?

[Lester Holt]

How Jake's family felt. The mistakes and wasted time had plagued the process from day one. And now with Susan's release, they would have to start again. What do you even do with that

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

news question, the whole judicial system, are

[Lester Holt]

you just thinking to yourself, there's this pattern of people just missing things, folks not doing their jobs.

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

Exactly.

[Lester Holt]

Susan would have to stand trial all over again, this time with a new jury. But her new attorney had a plan. We immediately started working on the mother to get the case dismissed. On what grounds? So it's a speedy trial violation. A lot of people are probably familiar with the fact that you have a right to a speedy trial, but most probably aren't familiar with how that actually works. The defense argued that now too much time had passed since she was first charged, a delay that violated her rights. And so you're saying that because that felon was on the jury, that was thrown out. And it's almost like saying a trial never happened in the first place. It's exactly like saying that. And so now you're starting the clock from back in 2014 when she was first charged.

[Rachel Embert]

Exactly.

[Lester Holt]

The judge agreed the delay was unfair to Susan. It was a critical decision that meant she would not face another trial. All charges against her were dropped.

[Rachel Embert]

It was amazing.

[Lester Holt]

Getting a murder case dismissed is, you know, an amazing feeling. It wasn't long after that ruling when we sat down with Susan. We've talked about you walking out of prison. You're out now on a technicality. What would you say to people who look at you and say, she got away with murder?

[Susan Embert]

What would I say?

[Lester Holt]

What would you say to those people?

[Susan Embert]

I'd say, no, I didn't, because I didn't do it. I got away with telling the truth, and that's what set me free. I didn't get away with anything. I know the truth. God knows the truth. And people that know me know the truth.

[Lester Holt]

Susan's family members were not her only supporters. Her ex husband, Glenn Melton, also stood by her. Would you ever think that Susan is capable of murder?

[Susan Embert]

No.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

No way.

[Lester Holt]

No question.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

Ain't no question about it. Ain't no way she could have done nothing like that.

[Lester Holt]

The DA's office wasn't done. It appealed the judge's ruling about the speedy trial violation to the Georgia Supreme Court. For Jake's family, another excruciating wait.

[Narrator / Reporter]

I knew it wasn't over then. I knew we're gonna probably have to start completely over.

[Lester Holt]

He was right. The Supreme Court sided with the prosecution. Susan Embert would stand trial again.

[Rachel Embert]

Like, oh, yay, we're gonna get her again.

[Lester Holt]

A retrial, but far from a repeat, because the prosecution's case was about to take a huge hit, and the defense Had a new plan of attack.

[Narrator / Reporter]

It wasn't evidence. It was just fantasy and it was just absurd.

[Rachel Embert]

Fire shot through my entire, entire body.

[Lester Holt]

Because you knew this wasn't good?

[Rachel Embert]

No, not at all.

[Lester Holt]

Susan Embert was headed to trial for a second time. Attorney Charles Cullen joined her defense team and examined all the evidence with fresh eyes.

[Narrator / Reporter]

The whole poisoning theory just needed somebody to step in and say, wait a minute, is this possible? Is this reasonable? Does this make any sense at all?

[Lester Holt]

He thought the poisoning evidence was weak. Remember, Jake's body had been cremated quickly and there was no autopsy. So it was all based on the hairs found in Jake's brush collected by Jake's daughter.

[Narrator / Reporter]

The first part is you have to ask, was there a chain of custody on the hair?

[Lester Holt]

Right.

[Narrator / Reporter]

And there wasn't. It wasn't gathered by the police or anything like that.

[Lester Holt]

And the lab that detected pesticides and antifreeze had its license suspended after accusations of misconduct. So you're saying that evidence should have

[Narrator / Reporter]

been nowhere near the first trial because it wasn't evidence. It was just fantasy and it was just absurd. The idea that she's poisoning him with deet, like she's spraying insect repellent on the food for years, and you're saying

[Lester Holt]

that's just not reasonable. That's just not realistic.

[Narrator / Reporter]

That's not reasonable. That's not realistic.

[Lester Holt]

Just weeks before the trial began, the defense asked the court to drop the poisoning charge and exclude all evidence of poisoning from the trial. The judge agreed. A major victory for the defense. So this time around, poisoning wasn't even supposed to be mentioned? Yes.

[Rachel Embert]

During the proceedings, completely excluded anything suspecting of poison poisoning. Mentioning of poisoning.

[Lester Holt]

When Susan Embert's second trial began in December 2025, the prosecution's case was whittled down significantly. This case is about the murder of Mr. Jake Imbert. On the first day of testimony, the state called coroner Michael Fowler to the stand. This time he sounded defiant. Does the Michael Fowler of today, did they regret not ordering a medical examination of this body in 2014?

[Narrator / Reporter]

Not certainly. I was still standing on. What I did on that part is gunshot wound, the head.

[Susan Embert]

Okay.

[Narrator / Reporter]

And now for the information that I received. Now about the hearsay, the antifreeze.

[Lester Holt]

What was that word?

[Narrator / Reporter]

Antifreeze? Hearsay.

[Rachel Embert]

The antifreeze fire shot through my entire body.

[Lester Holt]

Cause you knew this wasn't good.

[Rachel Embert]

No, not at all.

[Narrator / Reporter]

I have an objection to make.

[Lester Holt]

And it stopped the proceedings in their tracks. Yep. What happened in the courtroom in that moment?

[Narrator / Reporter]

Well, we made a motion for mistrial.

[Lester Holt]

The judge declared a Mistrial. So the case is over for now. Rachel, furious with all the mistakes and delays, sent a scathing letter to the DA's office. I want to read you just a portion of this. Yes. Our father was murdered once. The justice system has destroyed us repeatedly ever since. This is not delay. This is not normal. This is not justice.

[Rachel Embert]

It's not.

[Lester Holt]

Those are very strong words.

[Rachel Embert]

And I mean every word of them. Every single word. The ball was dropped on so many different levels. Whether it be from these government agencies, the coroner, the judicial system.

[Lester Holt]

You were not supposed to mention poison.

[Narrator / Reporter]

No one have told me, didn't tell

[Lester Holt]

me that you had no idea.

[Narrator / Reporter]

No one told me that. I wasn't supposed to mention that. I'm standing on this. They did not tell me that.

[Lester Holt]

Sabine Glee asked the district attorney. He says that you all left him hanging out to dry on that.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

Well, I can only anticipate that maybe that that might have happened. Maybe that did slip through the crack. So I can't say that that did not happen.

[Lester Holt]

One month later, both sides were back in court. This time for trial. Number three.

[Susan Embert]

Stay.

[Lester Holt]

The DA's office knew it was time for a new approach. Dowdy White was assigned as lead prosecutor.

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

This case touched Everybody in the DA's office. At some point, every single person worked on this case.

[Lester Holt]

This defendant intended to kill Jake and

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

stage it as a suicide.

[Lester Holt]

The prosecutors knew they had to do more with a lot less evidence. And that included getting the jury to focus on Susan's potential motive.

[Narrator / Reporter]

Mr. Buckner, good morning.

[Lester Holt]

Jake's friend, Douglas Buckner testified again. And prosecutor Guy Terry asked him to tell the jury about something new.

[Narrator / Reporter]

Did you receive any late night communication? Off and on. I received a text that had some content in it.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

She in fact sent Buckner semi nude and nude photographs of herself.

[Narrator / Reporter]

Oh, and I finally told her that day. I was like, listen, when I see Mr. Jake Saturday, I'm gonna be showing Mr. Jake all the texts.

[Lester Holt]

The prosecution said Susan was worried that if he showed Jake the texts, Jake would divorce her.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

Jake finds out about what she's doing with Mr. Buckner, he's gonna kick me out.

[Lester Holt]

And the prosecution said Susan didn't want a divorce. She wanted Jake's money. Specifically that life insurance policy Jake had signed over to her. After his death, Susan received a payout, but Jake's children never got a dime. However, prosecutors Dowdy White and Guy Terry say the most important, important part of the case was the crime scene analysis.

[Narrator / Reporter]

The whole theme of the case was showing that suicide is not a reasonable option.

[Lester Holt]

Here we had to focus on, on the crime scene. The only solid evidence remaining from the crime scene. Those photos, these pictures are absolutely crucial.

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

They were absolutely critical in the entire analysis.

[Lester Holt]

Prosecutors say the photo of the gun in Jake's hand was most telling.

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

Given the power of a.45 caliber, the gunpowder in there, you're gonna have a

[Lester Holt]

gun that kicks or you're saying it's likely that the gun would have had so much kick it would have just flown out. It probably would have flown out of

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

his hand and ended up on the ground over here.

[Lester Holt]

Another critical detail. The gun was found in Jake's right hand.

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

So this is Jake's, you know, Jake's right hand. Jake's left handed.

[Lester Holt]

That was new information in trial number three.

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

If a person is going to commit suicide with a firearm, that's arguably the most important shot that person's ever going to make. Do you make that shot with your non dominant hand?

[Lester Holt]

A forensics expert confirmed what private investigator Lee Wilson had noticed about the bed.

[Narrator / Reporter]

This body appears that it has been moved.

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

Are you able to conclude that this scene was manipulated, staged and altered to appear as if it was a suicide?

[Narrator / Reporter]

It appears that way, yes.

[Lester Holt]

It all added up. The prosecution said to one thing, Jake's

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

death was not a suicide.

[Lester Holt]

Every element of murder is met. But Susan's defense team had another explanation. Something about Jake that even those closest to him didn't know. Were you aware that he's seeing psychiatrist?

[Rachel Embert]

No.

[Lester Holt]

For more than 10 years, Jake's family and prosecutors had fixated on the botched police investigation. They believed that if the case had been handled differently, some Susan's guilt would have been clear from the start. But defense attorney Charles Cullen didn't see it that way. What would have changed for your client had there been a thorough police investigation,

[Narrator / Reporter]

she would have been exonerated. They would have been able to say, no, we did an autopsy, here's what we found. They could have said, you know, we tested her for gsr, there's no GSR on her, there's only GSR on him. And the problem is that, you know, once you don't do that, all that evidence is gone, right? All that evidence is lost. There will be no evidence that rules out suicide.

[Lester Holt]

As for the left handed Jake being found with the gun in his right, Cullen said plenty of people shoot with both hands.

[Narrator / Reporter]

Like many other people who are either ambidextrous or own guns that are not altered to accommodate left handed shooters. Like Jake Embert, he was capable and possibly even preferred shooting with his right hand.

[Lester Holt]

Talking to his Family, all of them, say that they have never seen Jake shoot a gun with his right hand. Why would he choose to put the gun in his right hand to take his life?

[Narrator / Reporter]

So I think that it's important to remember that this family believes 100% that Susan Embert murdered him. And I think that as the case has gone on, sometimes memories can change a little bit to sort of fit what you need them to fit.

[Lester Holt]

He also said that Susan may have mixed up words and details, but it wasn't because she was guilty.

[Narrator / Reporter]

This is a person who kept saying, you know, I was ecstatic that day.

[Susan Embert]

I was ecstatic. I was ecstatic.

[Narrator / Reporter]

And she means hysterical.

[Lester Holt]

Right.

[Narrator / Reporter]

So this is someone who confuses words, mixes things up.

[Lester Holt]

The defense maintained that the most logical explanation for what happened to Jake was also the simplest. He was depressed, maybe more than his family knew. If you would just stand up and raise your. Jake had been a patient of Dr. Bruce Houston for more than four years.

[Narrator / Reporter]

He's also prescribed Fluoxetine. Fluoxetine. Prozac. That's okay. That's also known as Prozac. Prozac is also an antidepressant. It's similar to Lexapro. It's an ssri.

[Lester Holt]

Were you aware that he's seeing a psychiatrist?

[Rachel Embert]

No.

[Lester Holt]

Were you aware that he was being prescribed Lexapro?

[Rachel Embert]

No.

[Lester Holt]

Prozac?

[Rachel Embert]

No. There is such a statement stigma on mental health, but we all need a little bit of help sometimes, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

Hey, y'.

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

All.

[Lester Holt]

I know. That's exactly the point prosecutor Dowdy White tried to make during closing arguments with a surprising admission of his own.

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

Ladies and gentlemen, I take an antidepressant every day.

[Lester Holt]

That mean I'm suicidal?

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

No, of course not. It was a pretty strong way to drive home this point that this medicine that the defense has brought into the equation is a non issue for Jake.

[Lester Holt]

Susan did not testify in this trial. Her defense focused on what they said the prosecution was missing.

[Narrator / Reporter]

Ask, did they prove murder? They want you to just pluck or ignore these holes in their case.

[Lester Holt]

Susan's fate was once again in the hands of the jury. Her daughter Christa was confident.

[Susan Embert]

You're supposed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that somebody committed a murder or somebody committed a crime, and they couldn't do that.

[Lester Holt]

After a couple of hours, the jurors went home for the night.

[Rachel Embert]

And I just asked that God gives the clearest hearts and the clearest minds and the cleanest eyes.

[Lester Holt]

And when they returned the next morning,

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

they have a verdict.

[Lester Holt]

A Decision. Count one, malice murder. Guilty. Esther. Count two, felony murder.

[Susan Embert]

Guilty.

[Lester Holt]

What did you feel when you heard the jury return that verdict?

[Narrator / Reporter]

Like a weight lifted off my shoulders.

[Lester Holt]

Twelve days later, Jake's family returned to Albany for one final day in court. Susan's sentencing.

[Narrator / Reporter]

There are no words that could describe the pain that I feel inside. The same pain that I've had since June 28, 2014. You remember that day, don't you, Susan?

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

While nothing can undo what's been done, accountability matters. For my brother, for my family, for justice. So no other family ever has to endure. Endure what we have at the hands of pure evil.

[Lester Holt]

Susan was sentenced to life in prison. She's already filed a motion for a new trial. It was clear that just getting up there and talking was hard.

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

It's hard when she's looking at you. And you know what she did. And up until this point, whenever I looked at her, she wouldn't look at me.

[Lester Holt]

Did she look at you today? She did. What did you see in her eyes?

[Yvonne Magnus (Jake's Sister)]

Nothing. Nothing.

[Lester Holt]

After 12 years, does this feel like justice?

[Rachel Embert]

From the judicial aspect, yes. We're forever broken.

[Lester Holt]

You know, the prosecutors have said that this case would never have gotten to this courtroom if it weren't for you.

[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

Well, I mean, I appreciate the recognition, but it was just a lot of trying to undo what was wrongly done in the beginning, and it culminated today with this sentence.

[Lester Holt]

But getting to this day had been a long process through a system that the family says caused years of frustration.

[Narrator / Reporter]

It's the coroner's fault. It's the investigating officer's fault. It's the on call detective that didn't show up's fault. It's the court's fault for not vetting their jurors better. That's the justice system's fault. That's them not doing their job.

[Lester Holt]

Will was just 17 when his father died. In the years since, he served in the army, got married, and now he's chosen to be part of that very same justice system. As a police officer, I'm not gonna

[Narrator / Reporter]

do my job the way that they did theirs. More times than not, it is probably somebody's worst day. So they need you to be 100%. So that's what I. That's what I give them.

[Lester Holt]

When you go to calls like that, that's always in the back of your mind, always. What do you think your dad would say to know that you're a police officer now?

[Narrator / Reporter]

I think he'd be proud.

[Lester Holt]

I'm sure he is.

[Narrator / Reporter]

A final note this evening. We cover these kinds of difficulties cases every week during our Olympic break. One especially hit home for all of us, the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, Savannah's mom. Investigators are still desperately seeking clues, a reminder that anyone with any information can call the FBI's tip line at 1-800- CALL FBI. Our hearts are with Savannah and the entire Guthrie family. Family. That's all for this edition of DATELINE. We'll see you again next Friday at 9, 8 Central. I'm Lester Holt. For all of us at NBC News, good night. With Venmo Stash.

[Lester Holt]

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[Lee Wilson (Private Investigator)]

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[Lester Holt]

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[Narrator / Reporter]

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[Lester Holt]

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