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Dateline NBC
The Intruder
00:40:44
When a violent home invasion rocks a small town in Maine, local police and the FBI launch a complex investigation that spans three states. Andrea Canning reports. Originally aired on NBC on June 2, 2017.
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Lester Holt
Dateline is sponsored by Capital One. Banking with Capital One helps you keep more money in your wallet with no fees or minimums on checking accounts and no overdraft fees. Just ask the Capital One bank guy. It's pretty much all he talks about. In a good way. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. See capitalone.com bank capital1NA member FDIC Grand Canyon University, a private Christian university in beautiful Phoenix, Arizona, believes that we're endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. GCU believes in equal opportunity in the American dream. Starts with purpose. Whether your pursuit involves a bachelor's, master's or doctoral degree, GCU provides a path to help you fulfill your dreams. Offering 340 academic programs as of September 2024. Find your purpose at Grand Canyon University. Private Christian affordable. Visit gcu. Edu I'm Lester Holt. Tonight on Dateline. I had gotten a call from one of my friends who said, rachel's been shot. This masked gunman fires four shots. Why would somebody do this? Do you know anybody that would want to hurt your wife or. According to what I heard, it was someone that wanted to frame him. Who would want to hurt him? Someone in his past. He said somebody's targeting the people and I might be the next one. She's told by him. Deny you know me to anybody. This is out of a John Grisham novel. Everybody we told all said the same thing. That can't be true. He was very smooth, debonair. The perfect man. Guess not. Every time we discuss this case, we'd always say to ourselves, this is like a date line. Here's Andrea Canning with the intruder. Dec. 18, 2014, 2:47am A desperate call to 91 1-the-ambulance real quick, please. Shot fired. People are dead. I'm shot. This quiet street in the sleepy coastal town of Sun Saco, Maine, was suddenly wide awake. Police raced toward a home as their dash cam video rolled. Shots fired. Stay in the line with me, okay? Is the shooter still there? I don't know. He walked upstairs. My wife ran into another room. I think he's dead. He killed her. And he killed her friend. A night of terror. A home invasion. I'm losing a lot of blood. Hurry up, please. A mysterious, violent assault that would soon spark a far flung investigation. With pieces of the puzzle to be found in three different states. Why would somebody do this? But none of that was obvious that first night to law enforcement. When officers arrived at the scene, they found the man talking to the 911 operator. It was the owner of the house. It's terrifying. Yeah. Special Agent Pam Flick investigated the case for the FBI. When the police arrived on scene, they were able to talk the victim homeowner out of the house. He had been wounded by gunshots and said there were two women still inside. His wife and their friend from out of town. Was there fear that maybe the intruder was still in the house? There was fear that the intruder was in the house. Sacopedi didn't even know if the man making the 911 call, the victim homeowner, was the shooter himself. So they had a serious crime scene with a possible active shooter situation inside. Police didn't find a shooter, just the two women. The homeowner's wife was luckily unharmed. But their friend, she had been shot three times. Where was she hit? Once in the shoulder, once in the abdomen, and once in the back of the head. She was in serious condition. Her name was Rachel Owens. She was rushed to the hospital while the homeowner told the police what he saw. He described the Intruder as approximately 5, 9 or so. Carried a gun in his right hand. He wore a balaclava, which is like a ski mask with just the eye opening. As police looked at the crime scene and spoke to the witness, they learned something else. The intruder had gone upstairs and shot the friend, Rachel. First. They started to wonder if she might have been a target. I was blown away. All these different thoughts running through my head. Wayne Owens is Rachel's son. He couldn't imagine why anyone would want to hurt his mom. Describe your mom for us. Very caring and loving. She's warm. She's. And extremely optimistic. She's always able to see the good and the bad. Wayne grew up an army brat living overseas with his mom and his dad, Greg, who was a decorated veteran from the first Iraq War. Did you like traveling the world as a family? I definitely loved that experience because I was raised an only child. So I definitely. It was fun. Like, we always planned trips, like we were always going somewhere. Dad later retired from the service and began working for private military contractors. That's when the family settled into a slower pace at this home in Londonderry, New Hampshire. But now their quiet life has suddenly been turned upside down. Your mom has been shot multiple times. I was shocked. I was like, for a break in, and I didn't know what to think. Wayne, who lived in Rhode island, rushed to the hospital three hours away. We hop in the car. I talked to my uncle and my aunt. I was like, what is going on? Like, mean like, fill me in. I was just. I just couldn't. My brain around it, I couldn't really process it. One piece of good news. He'd gotten a message from his dad, who was home in New Hampshire and hadn't been harmed. It's also really scary to think that that person is still out there. Definitely, yeah. Wayne arrived to find his mom was still alive, but in intensive care. And he learned that for her protection, police had kept her under an alias with armed guards. They were concerned because they didn't know the person was that large or what the situation was or was she targeted. So they were just, you know, wanted to be safe. As Rachel was fighting for her life, investigators had a violent crime to solve with a shooter still on the loose. Home invasions don't typically happen frequently in Maine. It was befuddling from the beginning. Police would have to learn a lot more about Rachel Owens. When we come back, the investigation begins. I told him your wife was shot. At that point, Mr. Owens said he thought he was having a heart attack. Greg Owens was fine, but here was another potential heart stopper. Would you possibly have been a target for any of this? I hadn't even considered that, thought. Police in Saco, Maine, had a strange violent crime on their hands. A home invasion with a shooter at large and a victim in intensive care. She was very pale. She looked. She looked horrible. Rachel Owens had been shot in the head. You were told that she might not make it. Yes. That is very terrifying news. It was definitely challenging to see. I. It was emotional to see her like that. Like, I thought. I thought that was gonna be it. That was gonna be the last time I was gonna see her. As Rachel lay in the icu, police in Maine needed to get in touch with her husband, Greg. They called their counterparts in Londonderry, New Hampshire, 90 miles away. Nick Pinardi was a sergeant in the police department there. We were working a midnight shift. It was me and a couple other officers. Saco police wanted him to go break the news to Greg in person. So I simply went over and told him your wife was shot in Maine. At that point, Mr. Owens said he thought he was having a heart attack. So the officers helped him to the ground, sat him down. It turned out it wasn't a heart attack. He'd apparently gone into shock. Greg was eager to go see his wife, but first he went down to the police station full of questions about her condition. Status of my wife? Yep. She's at the hospital right now. She's alive. She's alive. Prognosis? We're not sure right now. She's still in surgery, but she is, you know, still alive right now. Any idea what happened? Maine's trying to get some background information. They're investigating it on their side. Greg explained that his wife had gone up to Maine for a few days to stay with friends. He said she had been struggling with her health recently and needed a getaway. What is the issue? They're saying that it's early. It's an early onset dementia. He said that she had trouble taking care of herself from remembering. He described how he really was the caretaker. Had to make sure she ate. Greg said he thought the visit to Maine would do Rachel some good. He described a very loving relationship with him and his wife and their family. Now, as he talked about her, he could barely contain his emotions. I'm sorry. Sure, go ahead. That's okay. Do you know anybody that would want to hurt either your wife or the chef? Not to my wife, sir. Mike. Well, that's why when you told me, when the officer told me my wife had been shot at him and had a heart attack, there's nobody up there that would hurt or harm her, to the best of my knowledge. As police spoke to Greg, another theory of the crime occurred to them. How about yourself with your line of work, considering the type of stuff you work on? Greg described that work he did for military contractors, which often involved counter terrorism and sensitive security issues. Would anybody have thought you may have been up there? Would you have possibly been a target for any of this? I hadn't even considered that thought, but no, sir, I don't think there's anybody associated in my line of work with the one target, me or my wife. Of course, whether it was a robbery gone bat or a targeted attack, one more theory had to be looked at, too. After all, he was the husband. So before taking Greg to see his wounded wife, investigators took him through a timeline of his night. Did you go to Maine at all last night at all? No, sir, I did not. He told them he'd worked all night on his computer writing a proposal and said he left his house twice. Once at night to go to the local Circle K to get some cigarettes and once in the morning to grab coffee. Yeah, Mr. Owens was very open and willing to come talk to us and help out with our investigation. Greg assured police he completely understood why they had to ask him so many questions. I've done my fair share of on scene battlefield interrogations. We looked for the discrepancies. That's it. And that's again, the white People ask, ask, ask. Somebody hurt my baby. He was essentially there as a helper on our end to help us build information for this case. You know, obviously, if information comes in regarding the best news was my wife's alive. And Greg told police he was desperate to see her. So they wrapped up their interview. See, I understand I'm being clear. And promptly escorted him to Maine to be by his wife's side along with their son Wayne. Doctors had to make a tough call about that bullet still lodged in the back of Rachel's head. They were making the decision whether to operate or not operate. And then she had to go in for an angiogram to determine, like, the impact of what the bullet was doing, like on a vein in her head. Rachel was in and out of consciousness. Wayne spoke to her, hoping she could hear him. What did you say to her? I just told her I was here and that I was sorry and that I would be here until she got better. That must have been so important just seeing your face. I think it was. I hope so. And investigators had their own hopes. If Rachel could pull through, maybe she could help identify the shooter. Coming up, a step in the right direction. They had discovered a footprint that was left in a flower bed. Who left it? And what were they really after? There was no burglary. Nothing was stolen. No computers, no electronic devices. When DATELINE continues. What if you could turn your curiosity for true crime into a degree at Southern New Hampshire University? You can. Southern New Hampshire University offers over 200 degrees you can earn online, including subjects like forensic psychology and criminology. And with some of the lowest online tuition rates in the U.S. southern New Hampshire University makes earning your degree affordable. Find your degree at snhu. Edu Dateline. That's snhu. Edu Dateline. If you work as a manufacturing facilities engineer, installing a new piece of equipment can be as complex as the machinery itself. From prep work to alignment and testing, it's your team's job to put it all together. That's why it's good to have Grainger on your side. With industrial grade products and next day delivery, Grainger helps ensure you have everything you need close at hand through every step of the installation. Call 1-800-GRAINGER clickgrainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done. USAA knows dynamic duos can save the day like superheroes and sidekicks or auto and home insurance. With USAA, bundle your auto and home and save up to 10%. Tap the banner to learn more and get a'@usaa.com bundle restrictions apply. Rachel Owens was fighting for her life in the ICU after being shot three times by a masked intruder. It was touch and go. Doctors couldn't remove the bullet lodged in her head. They made the decision that it was probably the best case to leave it. They probably would cause more damage than good. Wayne and his dad knew it was very possible she wouldn't pull through. I just wanted to know that her family was there. Like, we were all there, like, just wanting her to get better and stay with us. But 36 hours after the shooting, her vitals stabilized. It was like a new day. It was like hope Rachel was going to make it. That pit that's in your stomach, like, just kind of dissolves. I mean, someone should be dead if they're shot in the head. He would think it's amazing how lucky she was and that it wasn't maybe like 1cm to the left or right. It's just the right angle where it didn't impact too far. Rachel gradually woke up, began to heal, started her long road to recovery. And here is Rachel today. She still feels the effects of her injuries, but sat down to tell us her story. This has been an incredible ordeal. Does it surprise even you sometimes that here you are today, looking as good as you do, feeling as good as you do? It is. It is. I'm surprised that I'm still here. What is it like having a bullet lodged in your head? I don't feel it. It's just staying still in the back. It just. It went all around my brain. It just plopped there. And when the doctors told me that we couldn't get the bullet out, you know, I said, okay, what am I supposed to do? She says she got through it with the support of her family. During her rehab, Wayne made multiple trips to see her, and she'd wake up to see her husband Greg by her side. He says, I'll be right here when I'm done. I had to do therapy. I'll be right here. And then he fixed me my food, and then we'd eat together. Rachel took us back to her time in Maine and the hours leading up to the shooting. What had you all been doing that day, just while you were at your friends? Yeah, we went out to eat, just, you know, having fun. And we went and did a little shopping. You know, we went back to her house later on at night. That's when everything started. And once everything started, she says her memory essentially goes blank. Is there anything you remember I don't about that night, because I was sleeping in my room. There was only one image she said she could remember about the shooting. The same thing she told police. The intruder seemed to have a hat with a Jamaican look. I was so. I remember a Jamaican hat. That's the only thing I remember. As she focused on recovering, police kept investigating. They didn't know what to make of that Jamaican hat detail from Rachel. It didn't match the ski mask wearing description the homeowner had given police. They zeroed in on evidence at the home. What was the crime scene telling you? The crime scene was telling us that they had first discovered a footprint that was left in a flower bed and that was preserved immediately by the Saco Police Department. How did they preserve that? The lead detective actually took off his coat that he was wearing that night because it was a rainy night. And he actually laid his coat on top of the footprint itself to prevent the rain from destroying it any further. Close to that footprint. They also saw that the window on the door to the garage was broken. They assumed that the intruder gained entry into the house initially by busting open that. That door. Busting that window. Was there anything left there on that window pane? No, nothing. Nothing obvious. Any blood on it? Anything? No blood. Nothing. Nothing. At first glance, it seemed the intruder had left no trace. But on closer inspection, they saw something. One of the crime scene investigators sees a hair, a tiny piece of hair in between two panes of glass. So they said, let's swab it and find out if we can collect any DNA off this. You swabbed the hair? Nope. They swabbed or swabbed the glass between the panes of glass. Maybe it'll help, maybe it won't. By that point, the investigators had formed a pretty clear sense of the intruder's path through the house, culminating with the shooting upstairs. They found these shell casings in the bedroom, all of them marked WCC 1987. So that's a very old shell casing. 28 years old. Yeah. And along with these pieces of physical evidence, one thing struck investigators. There was no burglary. Nothing was stolen. No computers, no electronic devices, nothing was taken. That helped bolster their working theory that this was a targeted shooting, not a random home invasion, and that Rachel Owens was the intended victim. Three days into the investigation, police weren't any closer to an arrest. But one tip was a bit about to change everything. Coming up, a phone call with information that would send the case in a whole new direction, more than 1,000 miles away. Is this just a wow moment in this investigation. Yes, it is. It's a. It's a very big moment. Police in Saco, Maine, believe the home invasion in their town was a targeted attack. Rachel Owens had been shot in the head, and detectives were chasing leads. At this time, they're thinking, what do we have here? Is there, you know, is there danger to the public? Then they got a phone call. Is this just a wow moment in this investigation? Yes, it is. It's a very big moment in this investigation. The call led them all the way to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, to this woman. Her name is Betsy Wandke. Put your hands around my neck. Betsy is the founder of the Warrior Princess Training Academy, where she teaches self defense to women. And I will pull. And wherever I pull you, that's where you're going to go. Over the years, she's held a number of other jobs. I have been an EMT for over 20 years. I was a firefighter. I ran the first responder team up in Ogdensburg, Wisconsin, and I was a first responder for quite a while in Oshkosh. You're like action woman. Well, I like to help people. She says physical strength and fitness have always been important to her. You were a bodybuilder? Yes, I was always into weightlifting. So I did a bodybuilding competition and a fitness competition. It taught me a lot. Safe to say you can protect yourself. I think that's safe to say. But back in 2006, Betsy says she was feeling vulnerable. Her marriage of 20 years was falling apart. It was hard because my husband and I were best friends. I mean, we just did everything together. Then, as she boarded a flight home from a business trip one morning, a twist of fate. The stewardess came back and said, there's a man that's upgraded you to first class. And that only happens in, like, romance novels, right? So I walked, and this man stood up and he said, I think this is your seat. The two settled in and talked for the entire flight. Realizing they had a lot in common, like shared passions for sports, hunting, and fishing. We became friends. Did you feel like you really got a sense of this man just on this one flight? I did. I felt like we had been connected for a long time. It happened so fast, but it was so easy. He and Betsy started, stayed in touch as friends for the next three years. Then Betsy got divorced. I thought it was a good time for us to start seeing each other and maybe see if there was more. There turned out there was a lot more. The two embarked on an intense love affair. The name of the new Flame. None other than Greg Owens. He was very romantic, and he will not be happy, I'm telling you this, but he used to love to give me pedicures at home. If we were gone somewhere, he would draw me a bath and he would pour me a glass of wine. I never dated anybody that was that romantic. Greg told her he was married to a woman named Rachel. He said they were separated and getting divorced, but he did check in on her now and again because of her health issues. He wanted to make sure that she was well taken care of, which I agreed with wholeheartedly, but that he had to kind of keep track of her because she was having some accidents and, you know, he wasn't sure how long he could leave her alone. At the time, he said he'd taken a contract job in Texas and would be back and forth to Betsy's about every two weeks. She was very excited every time he was going to come home. Joe Lemire and his wife Becky live next door. How in love was Betsy? Very in love. Could you just see it? Absolutely. Was it in her words or her actions? Both of them together. They were very affectionate. We'd be sitting on their deck and, you know, a song would come on and he'd yank her up and start twirling her around. They would just dance on the deck, you know. The two began building a life together, traveling on cruises to the Caribbean and safari trips to Africa. Is this your knight in shining armor? Oh, of course. After they'd been together five years, Greg helped Betsy start her business. He even came up with that name, the Warrior Princess Training Academy. Turn your body, you feel it. Yeah. Greg would provide advice and teaching skills based on the Special Forces training he told Betsy he received from the Army. But his military background that Betsy admired also came with a hitch. He told her his work as a defense contractor would mean a lot of overseas travel, sometimes on top secret missions he couldn't discuss. He would tell me that he was being shipped to Afghanistan or Pakistan to save other contractors, military contractors. These are dangerous areas. Absolutely. For one of his trips, Greg told Betsy he was going to Afghanistan and would be gone for weeks. He said they probably wouldn't talk. But just a few days into his trip, Betsy got a strange call. I heard his voice. I started calling his name. She thought he was calling from Afghanistan and worried something had gone wrong on his mission. And I wasn't getting any response. And then I hear him talking to someone. But as she listened, I heard a woman's voice. And then I heard him Say, wow, that was a good one, Rach. And my heart just sunk. Greg hadn't meant to call her. It was a butt dial. You know, Greg is in America. I do. And she knew he was home, sounding perfectly happy with his wife. All that talk about getting a divorce seemed to be a lie. Betsy called back to confront him. I said, I know you're in New Hampshire and I know that you're with Rachel. And he said, no, you must have heard a satellite call that I was making to her. And I said, don't lie to me. I was furious. I was wild. I was shaking. And then he said, I am here. But Rachel had an accident. She almost burned down the house because she left a burner on. And so I had to come back here and get things organized. Did you believe any of it? I really wanted to, but there was that part of me that said, don't be stupid. Something's going on. Betsy put her foot down. There was no way she could be with a married man. I said, I'm done. I can't do this anymore. You have to make a decision. You know, if this divorce is not going to go through, it's because you don't want it to go through. So if you want to go back to Rachel, you need to do that. All of your stuff is in the garage. That was strong. How did he take that? Because from everything you're telling me was in love with you. He didn't take it well. Coming up, he said, I think that somebody is targeting the people I love. Was someone trying to frame Greg Owens? And was Betsy the next target? I went home and loaded every gun I have. I was ready for war. Bring it on when DATELINE continues. Hi, we're Emoji Health, your long term weight loss solution. We'll connect you with a board certified provider to discuss your unique goals. Eligible patients can Access custom formulated GLP1 medications at an affordable fixed price delivered to their door monthly. Take our free eligibility quiz@joinmochi.com and use code AUDIO40 at checkout for $40 off your first month of membership. That's joinmochi.com results may vary. Eligible GLP1 patients typically lose 1 to 2 pounds per week in their first six months with Mochi when combined with a healthy lifestyle. DATELINE is hitting the road for a first of its kind event and you're invited Join the entire DATELINE team in Nashville. Tenness for DATELINE live. Hear from Lester, Blaine, Andrea, Josh, Keith and Dennis. Plus live demonstrations, a VIP reception and more. The true crime Original like you've never seen before. Buy tickets to Dateline live now@datelinenbc.com event. It would be a crime to miss it. I'm Josh Mankiewicz, and I hope you'll join us for season four of Dateline Missing in America. In each episode of Dateline's award winning series, we will focus on one missing persons case and hear from the families, the friends and the investigators, all desperate to find them. You will want to listen closely. Maybe you could help investigators solve a mystery. DATELINE Missing in America. All episodes available now. Wherever you get your podcasts. In December 2014, Betsy Wontke told her boyfriend Greg Owens that after five years together, she was done. After hearing that accidental call, she realized he'd been lying to her and wasn't separated from his wife. Rachel, where do you go from here? I had to cut it off. I had to stop it before it ruined me. He doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would go down without a fight to get you back. You have that right. Sure enough, Greg kept calling her, insisting he loved her and that he really was divorcing Rachel. Deeply upset, she opened up to her friends Becky and Joe about that butt dial that changed everything. She said that she had listened for like 20 minutes to the conversation and couldn't take it anymore. Then, two weeks after the butt dial, Betsy heard the disturbing news from Maine. Rachel had been shocked in a home invasion. I was frantic. I was calling everybody I could think of. Even though she'd broken up with him, Betsy called Greg out of concern for him and his wife. And he said, yep, I just found out. I think that somebody's targeting the people I love. She says Greg was in a panic with his own suspicions about the shooting. It was someone that wanted to frame him and discredit him and ruin his life. And that's why Rachel wasn't killed, just injured. And I might be the next one. You could be a target if what he's saying is true. Right. I went home and loaded every gun I have and had knives in other rooms. I was ready for war. Bring it on. This is action Betsy at her best. What do you do? I'm not gonna cower in a corner. I don't do that. While Betsy was on alert, her friend Joe heard about the shooting, too, and he had a very different race reaction. That's because he wasn't just Betsy's neighbor. He was a local police chief. I said, in the world I come from, I don't believe in coincidences. I said, I've Got to do something. Joe thought the investigators in Maine needed to know what he knew about Greg Owens and his relationship with Betsy. So the chief in Wisconsin called his counterparts to fill them in. Chief Lemire calls and puts a new spin on the whole thing. Greg Owens had been living a double life. With that news, Greg quickly became investigators main suspect in the shooting. But Betsy couldn't believe he would ever harm his wife because he loved Rachel. He had never spoken ill of Rachel, had he lied to me about being there? Yeah, he did. But that doesn't make somebody a killer. And the Greg she knew was an experienced marksman, a sniper, and a faculty. The sniper wanted someone to die. Don't you think they could get that done? As awful as that sounds? I'm trying to make a point. The point is that if he really wanted to kill her, I think he could have done it. And Greg kept insisting that the person who did shoot Rachel was really out to get him. He began sending Betsy alarming emails, writing, the ambush was meant for us. We were blown and set up. Go dark if anyone talks to you. What did he mean by go dark? Going dark means don't talk to anybody. Don't tell him anything. Law enforcement, friends, family. So when local police came to question her about her relationship with Greg, she lied and said the two were just friends, nothing more. What do you say to those people who are going to be like Betsy? Come on, what's wrong with you? You know, you. You seem like this smart lady. Well, the first question I would ask is, have you ever been in love? I mean, head over heels in love to the point where you would do anything to protect that relationship and the person you love. But then Betsy got a visit from the FBI. Because the case now involved three different states. It was a federal investigation. What were they telling you, the FBI? That she had gotten shot. Shot in the arm, shot in the leg. A bullet grazed her abdomen, and a bullet was lodged in the back of her head. That's when Betsy decided to come clean about her relationship with Greg and the lies. She was very critical. She came across very well. Federal prosecutors, Darcy McElwee and Jim Chapman took on the case. They believed the key to it all was the double life Greg was leading with Betsy. She was the motive. It became clear that he was truly in love with her and that she was the one he wanted to be with. Which would explain how someone who never had shown any violence towards his wife was capable of something like this. But if the prosecutor's theory was true, that Greg had tried to kill his wife to be with Betsy. His plan had failed. And after three weeks in the hospital, Rachel was set to go home with Greg. We believe she was going home with a man who tried to kill her. Rachel was about to be released from this hospital, so we were afraid that she was going to be finished off. We had the SWAT team ready. We had surveilled him, and we followed him essentially up to this intersection. The SWAT team overtook him and arrested him. This must have been a dramatic scene outside this hospital. It was pretty crazy. That's when Special Agent Flick went inside and broke the news to Rachel. The FBI believed she was shot by her own husband. And she looked up at me with these beautiful big eyes and said, greg shot me. And I said, yes, he did. I just couldn't believe it because he was coming to see me, so I had no knowledge that he would have done that to me. Did you think that Greg was capable of doing something like that? I never thought he'd do that for me. Wayne couldn't quite fathom it either. His own dad, the hero of his youth. I guess I was more in denial than anything. I didn't want to accept that he really did shoot my mom and try to kill her. Greg Owens was charged in federal court with crossing state lines to commit a crime of domestic violence and put in jail. Prosecutors knew their case was mostly circumstantial. There's not that smoking gun, if you will. Correct. We did not have one piece of evidence that stood out and made it significant. What's more, Greg had an alibi. He had told police he was working at home that night, 90 miles away from the shooting. He'd sent emails to his co workers that he said proved it. When the case went to trial, Betsy would have to testify against the man she once loved, and he was reaching out from behind bars to stop her. Coming up, Greg's emails indicated he was in New Hampshire. How could he have shot his wife 90 miles away in Maine if the jurors didn't believe that he could drive from New Hampshire to Saco and back in the timeline laid out, they would have some doubt, and Greg and Owens would go free. Greg Owens was now in jail. He'd pleaded not guilty in the shooting of his wife. And as he was awaiting trial. We have a correct call from Greg Owens. He continued to reach out to his former girlfriend, Betsy, still trying to convince her they could be together someday. When the divorce is final, which should be here in the next six to eight weeks, I will send you a copy of it. Just the final. I've heard from so many people that the divorce was never filed. The divorce has been filed. All right. I didn't lie to you about it. I was trying to keep it hidden for a reason. But Betsy wasn't standing for the lies anymore. You told me you were in Afghanistan and you weren't. You were at home in New Hampshire. I was not. That's the whole point. Over and over, Greg pledged his love for her. Betsy believes he was desperately trying to keep her on his side before the trial. Betsy, I love you more than life itself. You are my partner, my lover, my life. And I'm out of time. Is that pulling at you? Hearing? Oh, all those memories? Yeah. He knew how much I loved him and he was willing to play on that. And that really made me more angry. Greg Owens trial began in January 2016, just over a year after the shooting. The prosecutors presented a number of pieces of physical evidence investigators had uncovered against Greg. In his car, a pair of muddy boots. One appeared to match that print at the crime scene. And at his house, they found a ski master that resembled the one the homeowner described. And these shell casings found in a cup on his desk. Why were those so critical? They were critical because they were the same 1987ammunition with the same head stamps as those found at the scene. And there was one more big piece of the puzzle still remaining. Remember the glass from the garage door that was swabbed for DNA? After Greg's arrest, the results finally came back. The DNA found was in fact, Greg Owens DNA. This is really sealing your case. We felt so. We thought it did. And the prosecutors gave the jury their theory of why Greg Owens wanted to kill his wife, saying it was all triggered by that butt dial to Betsy two weeks earlier. Because it gave us a critical time point. Because that appeared to be when he began making preparations to harm Rachel. They brought Betsy to court to tell the jury about her five year romantic relationship with Greg. When I got in there, I sat down and he actually winked at me. And I would have crawled across that table and put my hands around his neck. What was that wink trying to say to you? It was more manipulation. It was, let's reconcile. Rachel took the stand too, showing the jury her injuries. And she took her own chance to wink at Greg. What was with that? Were you just being a little mischievous? Exactly. You know what? That was my time in court, you know, and I could do that to him. I went like that. Then it was the defense's turn. Starting with a simple Point, no one could ID the shooter. Scott Dolan covered the trial for the Portland Press Herald newspaper. He says Greg's attorney carefully tried to poke holes in the prosecution, beginning with Rachel's one memory of the intruder. She described him as wearing a Jamaican hat. So with no one id' ed Greg Owens. And while investigators collected a number of guns from Greg's home, none turned out to be the weapon from the shooting. They never recovered the gun. And when police went to Greg Owens house in New Hampshire, he was there. He wasn't in Maine. Greg's attorney noted that even with all the traffic cameras along the route from his house in New Hampshire to Maine, police never found an incriminating image. They had to go through all the highway footage looking at car after car after car, and there was no sign of Greg's car. And the one image that was captured of Greg seemed to corroborate his alibi. It was this Greg getting coffee at Dunkin Donuts in New Hampshire at 4:35am that was 90 miles away from the shooting in Maine. His attorney said he couldn't have made the trip that quickly. That was a big piece. If the jurors didn't believe that he could drive from New Hampshire to Saco and back in the timeline laid out, they would have some doubt. As for that DNA on the glass, the defense explained it like this. It made sense that Owens DNA would be there. He had been there for an anniversary party in that very garage. And Greg had his computer alibi. The defense said timestamps on his emails showed he'd been working at home that night, just as he told police all along. But prosecutors said not so fast. On closer inspection, his computer had another tale to tell. The day before the shooting, he conducted a Google search how to change clock on computer. And then he had a note on the desk in front of the computer. Change time, change chrome time. And lo and behold, forensic investigators determined Greg had tampered with the computer's time stamp. He knew that the shooting happened around 2:45, and he wanted to make it look like he was at his computer as late as 2:30. So that would be incapable for him to have been in Saco. After hearing two weeks of testimony, the jury retired to deliberate. Three hours later, they had their verdict. Guilty. Rachel was in the courtroom. What did you think when you heard that guilty verdict? I said yes. It's amazing that you were there to be able to say yes. Yeah, it was a long journey, let me tell you that. Did you have mixed emotions when you heard that I mean, that's your father. To be honest, it's sad. It's sad that it had to come to all of this. You know, I'm losing a father. I was grateful that he was found guilty. To say I was happy. No, definitely not. I was happy that my mom was well and that she could have, you know, some peace. Five months later, the judge sentenced Greg Owens to life in prison. I have no doubt that he loved Rachel. I do believe he loved me. I think that he was just narcissistic enough to believe that he could have both lives. Today, Betsy says she's a little embarrassed that the head of the Warrior Princess training academy was duped by a man who was no prince at all. Here you are fighting against violence against women, and the man you loved did it right under your nose. It is the ultimate irony because he knows I have fought for women's rights and. And then he does this. I don't know how you could disrespect somebody even more. But most of all, she says she hopes that Rachel can move on from this tragedy and heal physically and mentally. Is there anything you would say to her? Oh, my God. Yeah, I'm sorry. I wish I could change it. I wish it had never happened. She doesn't deserve it. She's a great lady and she's strong. She's so strong. So, yeah, I wish her the best. I want her to get on with her life. I hope that things work out. I want you to be very careful. Even though they both testified at trial, the two women in this nearly deadly love triangle have never met. So we shared with Rachel what Betsy said about her. Wow. What do you make of that? That's something that means she really thought of me. That's good. That's a nice lady there. Today Rachel lives with Wayne and her grandchildren. And despite that bullet in her head, she remains strong, eager to put her now ex husband far behind her. Have you talk to him at all? No. Heard from him? No. Anything you would say to him? It wouldn't be appropriate. We need bleeps. Exactly. Yeah. He's the loser. That's all for now. I'm Lester Holt. Thanks for joining us. USAA knows dynamic duos can save the day. Like superheroes and sidekicks or auto and home insurance. With usaa, you can bundle your auto and home and save up to 10%. Tap the banner to learn more and get a quote@usaa.com. bundle restrictions apply.