48 Hours - Who Killed Jane Neumann?

Episode Date: July 6, 2023

This classic episode of 48 Hours, which last aired on 7/6/1998, tells the story of Jane Neumann, who had a beautiful daughter, a loving husband and a nice house in the town of Hudson, Wisconsin. But on Nov. 22, 1993, she was found dead of a gunshot wound in the basement of her own home. The investigation of her bizarre death includes an interview with Jane's husband, Jim, who changed his story about Jane's murder. 48 Hours correspondent Susan Spencer reports.Watch all-new episodes of 48 Hours on Saturdays, and stream on demand on Paramount+.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to this podcast ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app today. Even if you love the thrill of true crime stories as much as I do, there are times when you want to mix it up. And that's where Audible comes in, with all the genres you love and new ones to discover. Explore thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. Listening to Audible can lead to positive change in your mood, your habits,

and even your overall well-being. And you can enjoy Audible anytime, while doing household chores, exercising, commuting, you name it. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.ca. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California. Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert

to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military. And when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. The year was 1993. Jane Newman lived in this house with her husband, Jim, and their two-year-old son, Jonathan.

We thought he and Jane were just about the perfect couple. We were really inseparable, except for when we were at work. But on a cold November day, Jane and Jim Newman's perfect life came to an end. She would usually get ready, get dressed, kiss me goodbye, and take off about 6.30, which is what she did that morning also. And then I would get up, get Jonathan ready, bring him to daycare, and go to work. That afternoon, when Jane got home from work, she called Jim at the office and mentioned a problem with the garage door.

I asked her to go back out and test the garage door so that she could try to explain to me what it was doing, but she never called back. Jim tried calling her repeatedly. I had a heart palpitation or something, and I just felt uncomfortable that she hadn't called back and I didn't think things were perfectly right. Things were not right. When Jim got home that evening, he found his wife's body in the basement, dead of a shotgun blast to the head.

9-1-1. 9-1-1. The wife is dead and my two-year-old son is missing. to the head. 911. 911. The wife is dead and my two-year-old son is missing. I've spent, you know, three and a half years trying to forget what I saw that night. Do you want an ambulance sent out there? Okay. What do you think that she passed away from? Her whole head is gone. Saw a white female lying on her back.

Even Earl Clark, 33 years in the sheriff's department, tremendous trauma to the head, was shaken by what he'd found. Body fluids on the carpeting, also on the wall where her feet were pointed towards. Body matter, including her her teeth in various locations in the room. Clark interviewed Newman that night and Newman told him that he came home went and hollered her name she didn't answer went to the lower part of the house

found her and then went and called 911. A family friend notified the Johnstons. He said, Jane's been shot. And I said, how is she? And he said, she's dead. Later that evening, after learning his son was safe at the babysitter's, Newman joined the distraught family. He put his head in my lap, and then he was sobbing. You know, you keep thinking, is this this really happening or is this really a nightmare? My reaction was we gotta find out who did this.

30 year old Jane Newman was found shot in the head at close range. News of a killer on the loose. Authorities say the front door was forced open. Terrified the quiet town of Hudson, Wisconsin. Authorities are not releasing any information. In fact police were beginning to think there was no killer on the loose because no evidence at the scene pointed to an intruder. There was nothing drastically disturbed or looked like a sign of a struggle. It was obvious that Jane Newman was standing close to that wall. Why was that hole in the wall? That had something to do with it. The autopsy report stirred up even more suspicion. It showed that the gun had been inside Jane Newman's mouth

when it was fired. We called him in and said, your story doesn't match. Two days after Jane's death, Clark interviewed Jim Newman a second time. It doesn't match the scene. It doesn't match the autopsy. There's more here. This time, Jim Newman told police he knew who killed Jane. He broke down and actually cried, actually said, I'm going to tell you the truth. The truth, Jim said, was that Jane Newman killed herself. And that what he came home to was not, after all, the scene of a murder, but of a bizarre suicide. When I entered the house, I could smell gunpowder. Then what happened?

I could see the light was on underneath the laundry room door, and I went to the laundry room door and opened it, and there was a shotgun on the floor and fishing wire attached to it. A piece of fishing wire, he said, was tied to the trigger. I could see a hole in the wall and I immediately went around to the other side of the hole and I found Jane. And it was obvious that, you know, she was dead. Based on what Jim Newman says he saw, a theory has evolved as to what it all means. That is, how Jane Newman might have killed herself.

The gun, the theory goes, was propped up, poked through a hole in the laundry room wall. A piece of fishing line was wrapped around the trigger and then threaded through a second hole in the wall. On the other side of the wall, the gun stuck through a few inches. It was later discovered to have been wrapped in some sort of plastic wrapping material, fastened with black electrical tape. In any case, the theory is that Jane Newman put the end of the gun in her mouth, grabbed it with her right hand, reached across with her left, and pulled on the fishing line. That's the theory.

No one disputes how bizarre it all sounds. I agree. It's strange. It's still the weirdest thing I've ever seen in 33 years. But investigators say it was the only conclusion the evidence supported. We had a medical examiner that said it was a suicide. We had a sheriff's department investigation that said no evidence of a homicide. But why would Jane Newman kill herself, especially this way? I didn't know why the police were saying this, but I couldn't accept that that was the

truth. And why would her husband want the police to think it was murder? I know that what I did is wrong, but I had no choice. I had to protect her. but I had no choice. I had to protect her. Have you ever wondered who created that bottle of sriracha that's living in your fridge? Or why nearly every house in America has at least one game of Monopoly? Introducing The Best Idea Yet,

a brand new podcast from Wondery and T-Boy about the surprising origin stories of the products you're obsessed with and the bold risk-takers who brought them to life. Like, did you know that Super Mario, the best-selling video game character of all time, only exists because Nintendo couldn't get the rights to Popeye? Or Jack, that the idea for the McDonald's Happy Meal

first came from a mom in Guatemala? From Pez dispensers to Levi's 501s to Air Jordans. Discover the surprising stories of the most viral products. Plus, we guarantee that after listening, you're going to dominate your next dinner party. So follow The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Best Idea Yet early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. It's just the best idea yet. In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island.

It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn, and it harboured a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reach the age of 10 that would still have urged it. It just happens to all of us. I'm journalist Luke Jones, and for almost two years, I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn.

When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with. In the Pitcairn Trials, I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific island to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. I think it took a long time to realize that this had really happened. Two days after Jane Newman's death... We thought it was a random act of violence, is what we thought.

The Johnstons were told that, in fact, Jane had not been murdered. He said the police have the evidence. She'd killed herself. She did commit suicide. To the family, the idea of Jane committing suicide was beyond shocking. My sister would never blow her face off, never. It was unbelievable. We were so close to her,

there was no reason for her to kill herself, none at all. In fact, the Jane they knew had every reason to live she was very happy she was excited about having another child there was two-year-old Johnny light of her life she lived for that child and there was Jim her husband of six years who she adored Jane just thought he was mr. wonderful they seem to be very happy together. And those who spoke to Jane in her final hours... Jane called me the morning that she died.

...say that she was cheerfully making plans for the week ahead. And we talked about Thanksgiving. It was just three days away, and I said, Jane, I'll bring the turkey. And she wanted to know if she had enough cans of sweet potatoes. What was she like that day? There wasn't the same as every day. We went on our walk, we talked, we giggled, we went back to work. Ann King was Jane's closest friend at work and one of the last

people to see Jane alive. I can't imagine her leaving Jonathan here without her. That was her devotion, her husband and her child. You absolutely cannot accept the possibility that she killed herself. No. But Jim Newman claims he knew another Jane. I knew the positive side of Jane that everybody else knows, and I knew the negative side that very few people know. A Jane who lived in a secret world of depression, bulimia, and insecurity, a world she hid from everyone. Nobody understands the full reason why somebody commits suicide,

but if you're looking for reasons, she had a dozen of them. Jim's parents, George and Evie Newman. She was afraid of the world. She was afraid of everything. She was totally insecure. And she has since learned about Jane's problems from their son. He said every night he would come home from work and she would cry. There's a lot of things that concerned her enough that she would cry herself to sleep. And tell him how she felt unloved, how she felt, you know. But her family didn't know any of that. No. Because Jim wouldn't tell her family about that.

No. I had spent our whole marriage protecting her reputation from people. Protecting the fact that, you know, she spent evenings crying at night and the fact that she was bulimic. So that Jane could go out in the public and have the appearance that everybody knows her as. So when he found his wife's lifeless body, Jim Newman says he reacted instinctively to spare her image. What I did that night when I came in and found Jane dead was just my final act of protection and I didn't want everybody to know that she had killed herself. So began, he says, an elaborate deception. The first thing that occurred was that, you know, here's my wife dead.

That involved getting rid of the evidence of suicide. It was an automatic reaction. The shotgun and fishing line in the laundry room. I figured that if there was no gun, there would be no suicide, that it would then be a murder. And a suicide note Jim says he found next to his wife's body. Tell me exactly what the note said as best you can remember. She was concerned about ever being able to meet the expectations of her family. She felt they wouldn't respect her.

Something the effect of this way you can get the life insurance money, pay off our debts, find a better wife and a mother for Jonathan. Something about this way people will really remember me as young, thin, and beautiful. And she closed it with, I love you. Jim told police that less than a minute after finding his wife and reading her suicide note, he began to act. I said, you're not going to die this way, Jane, and I took care of it. I ran back to the laundry room. I picked up the gun and put it into garbage bags. He put his own shoulder to the door. I broke in the front door. To make it look like an intruder. Got in the car and began my drive. It was rush hour when Jim Newman says he got to this bridge.

He says he parked down there at the base of the bridge. He then ran across the entrance ramp, jumped over what was about a four-foot-high fence, and sprinted all the way up that long walkway. He then dropped the gun into the St. Croix River. He then dropped the gun into the St. Croix River. And then I went back to the house. I went back into the room that Jane was in. Wow. And I sat down next to her on the couch there and read the note again.

I don't know how you even went back in that room. It's my wife. And I think it was at about that time that the furnace kicked in. I realized I could just burn this note up and it would be gone too. Then he hung a picture on the wall to cover up the hole. And he says he did all of this. Dealt with the note, the gun, the wall, the door. He did it all in 25 minutes. He then called 911 and reported a homicide. The wife is dead. Does this look like it's self-inflicted? Well, there's no gun or anything. OK.

I think the first thing was, well, where would Jane get a gun? I mean, Jane had never in her life handled a gun. So how could she shoot herself with a gun? Despite the family's doubts... The more facts that we got, it just never made any kind of sense. Jim Newman's story of that night held up. The polygrapher says, I'm telling the truth. The medical examiner says that it was a self-infected gunshot wound. The theory that is supported by evidence actually is a suicide. So authorities eventually dropped

the case, but the Johnstons, when we were told the suicide story and didn't believe it, were only becoming more suspicious. I started keeping notes of everything that happened. Then Pat Johnston ran across an article about a husband who murdered his wife years earlier after he gave away the family dog. As it turned out it was obviously part of the plan to get the dog out of the house so somebody else could come in. Just weeks before Jane died Jim Newman brought their dog, Molly, to the animal shelter. Where it says reason for disposing of dog or bringing the dog in, he says owner passed away. This is weeks before Jane died. It was a small detail, but the more they investigated, more details came to light, as did more questions. And the answers kept leading them back to their beloved son-in-law, Jim Newman.

I mean, he was like our son, and we certainly didn't want to believe he was involved in her death. But we came to the realization that, yes, he definitely was involved. Even though the Johnstons finally convinced authorities to look into the case a second time. Five volumes of interviews, paperwork. Prosecutors said there still wasn't enough hard evidence to charge Jim Newman with murder. Nobody's wanted to listen. So today, four years after Jane's death. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury.

Her parents have found another way. They brought a civil suit. To take Jim Newman to court. The evidence is overwhelming that Jim Newman was involved in this death. I think they need somebody to pay for Jane's death. I'm the most obvious target. When we come back. Today in Hudson County Court, almost four years after Jane's death, local attorney Mark Garrity will attempt what prosecutors here have refused to do.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, we're now about to begin the trial of the case. Try Jim Newman for the death of his wife, Jane. This is a wrongful death action. We have filed it to determine whether or not Jane Newman was murdered. The next question for the jury will be whether I killed her or not or was involved in any way. And because this is only a civil suit, not a criminal trial, the jury has to decide his involvement only to a reasonable certainty. You are to decide the case solely on the evidence.

Then Jim Newman may have to pay damages. I'm convinced that Jim Newman was behind Jane's death. I think that it's going to be impossible for people to say, yeah, I guess he did this. I didn't. And that's going to be impossible for people to say, yeah, I guess he did this. I didn't, and that's going to be shown clearly. Supporting the plaintiff's claim against the defendant. When Jim Newman first heard of the lawsuit, he was well on his way to putting his past life behind him. I'm remarried. I have a new family. I'm very happy in that new family.

Jim met his new wife, Heather, three months after Jane died. Some people at work suggested that I hire a nanny and they recommended Heather. And we became like best friends. They married the following year. Ta-da. And Jim took a job at Microsoft. Jim and Heather live outside Seattle with Jonathan. And their new baby girl, Ellie. We're trying to live a normal life you know.

In our own day-to-day conversations we have put aside the past. But today ladies and gentlemen of the jury that new life is on hold. I'd like to introduce to you Jane Ellen Newman. She was the daughter of Charlie and Pat Johnston. She has an older sister, Patty, older brother, Charlie, and a younger sister, Mary Sue. Jane Newman was murdered, and the evidence will show that James D. Newman was involved in the death of Jane. Gertie begins... Let's understand the basic scene. ...with a series of sarcastic questions about the suicide story. She's in the room and for whatever reason she decides it's time to die.

Okay? So, how am I going to kill myself? I think she thought about this for a long time. Am I going to use pills? How do you get enough sleeping pills to kill yourself? Am I going to use carbon monoxide? She'd been poisoned by carbon monoxide before and found it very nauseating and she got a headache. Should I slit my wrist? I cannot imagine Jane slitting her wrists. No. I want to do

something that will be so successful, so perfect, I think I'll blow my head off. In my mind, if she was going to kill herself, this was the simplest and most efficient way to do it. I think I'll put the gun in the other room, on the other side of the wall. I will use a hammer and smash a hole in that wall. Oh, there we go, we're going through the hole. Now I've got to get my gun. And now I'm going to take some bubble wrap, and this is what was found inside of her head and inside of her mouth and laying about the scene, and I'm going to put it over the end of the gun. Now she's got her gun ready.

Can you in your mind's eye see her planning this and doing this, propping up a gun, pulling a string, all of this stuff to kill herself? Why would anybody choose that way to kill themselves? How would you do it? One has to assume that everything went as planned on the first time and one has to assume one other thing that this is what she had planned to do. Garrity argues that Jane's actions showed no such plan. Just hours before she died. The purse fell off her shoulder, the strap had broken and she wanted to stop and get a new purse on her way home. Jane exchanged plan. Just hours before she died. Her purse fell off her shoulder, the strap had broken,

and she wanted to stop and get a new purse on her way home. Jane exchanged a purse. And when she's discovered later, her purse she had just stopped at TJ Maxx and exchanged is in the room with her. Her purse is here, she is here, and she has her leather coat on. And now... Then I went to the other side and I saw Jane. Gertie turns to what Jim Newman says he did that day, right after he discovered his wife's body. Oh, I can't let Jane die this way. I didn't want the world to know that Jane had killed herself. Gertie goes on to argue that Newman's version of the next 25 minutes...

That gun I saw in the other room, I'm going to go pack that up. ...is not only bizarre, it is also physically impossible. And to prove it... This is what we call a jury view. He takes the jurors for a ride. There will be no testimony taken. Retracing the route Jim Newman says he took to get rid of the gun. This is the former Newman residence, 895.

He took his car all the way out to the interstate bridge. Okay, everybody ready? You observe the fence that Jim Newman allegedly jumped. Observe the height and the nature of this protective fence. Wearing a trench coat, carrying a gun, doing it with one hand, and proceeding out onto the bridge. And then he threw the gun, ran back to his car, hopped over the fence. Read the note, burn the note, put the picture, deal with the door.

I mean, it sounds almost implausible that you could do all that in that amount of time. I think that if you were to write down how long everything takes, you'd find out that I had more than enough time. Asked for the gun, investigators did search for it. They dove for approximately three to three and a half hours. They did not locate the weapon. Logic tells us then, if they've done a diligent search... It's your position that you can't find the gun. Is that right? And they don't find a gun.

That's correct. There isn't a gun there, and thus Jim Newman didn't put the gun. Is that right? And they don't find a gun. That's correct. All right. There's a gun there. And thus, Jim Newman didn't put the gun in the river. Although Mark Garrity implies repeatedly that Jim Newman was somehow involved, he offers no hard evidence, nor does he even present a specific theory as to how Newman might have killed his wife. But as the trial wears on, he makes very sure that the jury finds out a lot more about Jim Newman. My opinion is that he's without a doubt the best liar I've ever met. It's one lie after another. You don't know that he's lying to you until a long time afterward. For example, Jim Newman actually convinced his co-workers that he led a secret life as a spy. He told me that the government wanted him to perform some service that he didn't want to do and that they were trying to pressure him to do so. But that's not all. Newman told his boss Jim Zeller the strangest version yet of what

he found on the night Jane died. He said when he got there the laundry room door was closed and he believed that there was a bomb connected to the door and that he disarmed the bomb and found Jane, and there was no gun. I asked him, how would she walk over there and put her... How would she die that way? And what did he tell you? He said that she was... Again, it was speculation.

He said, well, somebody could have put a knife to her neck and walked her over there. This scenario is chillingly close... I have no further questions. Thank you. ...to what the Johnstons believe really happened to their daughter. Someone was waiting in Jane's house when she got home that day. I think it's possible there were two people there. And she's marched up to the wall where the gun is coming through, and she's shot.

But do you believe Jim Newman was one of those people? We don't know. We believe he was definitely behind her death. And the Johnstons think they know why he did it. I really think for the money. Jim Newman received $116,000 from Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. No questions asked. There was a lot of debt. For some reason, he thought he'd be better off without Jane. Can we prove that Jim Newman was there to pull the trigger? No. But the circumstantial evidence is overwhelming that Jim Newman was involved in this death. After five days of testimony, Garrity and the Johnstons rest their case.

At this point, halfway through this trial, you are confident that you're going to win this case. I would say so. People just use their common sense. What did she tell you about these voices? But when we come back... They're scary voices that were telling her to do things disgusting. Some startling evidence. It was a suicide. Poor suicide. Death was a suicide. Hot shot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty. Her specialty? Representing some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals.

However, while Nicola held the underworld's darkest secrets, the most dangerous secret was her own. She's going to all the major groups within Melbourne's underworld, and she's informing on them all. I'm Marsha Clark, host of the new podcast, Informants Lawyer X. In my long career in criminal justice as a prosecutor and defense attorney, I've seen some crazy cases, and this one belongs right at the top of the list. She was addicted to the game she had created. She just didn't know how to stop. Now, through dramatic interviews and access, I'll reveal the truth behind one of the world's

most shocking legal scandals. Listen to Informant's Lawyer X exclusively on Wondery+. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, and listen to more Exhibit C true crime shows early and ad-free right now. As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. It was called Candyman. The scary cult classic was set in a Chicago housing project.

It was about this supernatural killer who would attack his victims if they said his name five times into a bathroom mirror. Candyman. Candyman? Now, we all know chanting a name won't make a killer magically appear, but did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? I was struck by both how spooky it was, but also how outrageous it was. We're going to talk to the people who were there, and we're also going to uncover the larger story. My architect was shocked when he saw how this was created. Literally shocked. And we're also going to uncover the larger story. My architect was shocked when he saw how this was created.

Literally shocked. And we'll look at what the story tells us about injustice in America. If you really believed in tough on crime, then you wouldn't make it easy to crawl into medicine cabinets and kill our women. Listen to Candyman,

the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, early and ad-free, with a 48-hour plus subscription on Apple Podcasts. In the early evening hours of a cold November's night, a stranger came to their door. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, this is a case about a mother who won't accept the fact that her daughter committed suicide.

The defense strategy is simple. There's no evidence presented that he murdered his wife. Jim Newman's attorney, Joel Porter, has to convince the jury that while his client may be an admitted liar... You know, I can't deny that I did lie. that doesn't make him a murderer. The only evidence in this case is that Jane Newman voluntarily put this gun in her mouth and killed herself. And for the first time, I don't like having to say this. Porter offers shocking evidence that Jane may, in fact, have had reasons to kill herself.

Jane did have some problems. Serious psychological problems, he says, starting before the Newmans even married. Jane heard voices. What did she tell you about these voices? I'd just as soon not get into the details anyway, but she basically indicated that these were scary voices that were telling her to do things disgusting. Distraught, Jane went to her pastor, Steve Cornelius.

She said she was prompted to think and to say things that she knew were wrong. She was very scared of them. She thought they were going to make her go to hell. No matter what her family thought... This is Jane Newman speaking to her psychotherapist. Porter insists this was a seriously troubled young woman. At times when she does feel insecure, she feels inconsolable. You were aware that Jane had gone through depression while she was in high school? No, it was not what I would call clinical depression, no.

You were aware that your daughter had had bulimia in the past? There were occasions when I knew that she had vomited after eating. Wasn't Jane rather insecure? She didn't tell lies to puff up her image. But because he did know of Jane's problems, Jim says he understood her suicide note. This is my recreation of my memory of the suicide note. A note, of course, only he has ever read. I thought I could be a good mother, but I can't even do that. Do you think Jane was a good mother? Yes. Yes, she was. Why do you think Jane would write something like that? Nobody knows for sure why Jane would kill herself. I mean, you're asking why about something that I

can't attach a reasonable reason to. But the investigators all agree that she did. Was there any drug in her system which would have allowed someone to involuntarily have her put her mouth on a gun barrel? According to our analysis, no. Dr. Michael McGee performed the autopsy. Exhibit 121 shows the subject's right hand. Jane Newman had long, red fingernails, which would be easily broken. You'll notice the fingernails are intact with no evidence of chipping. There was no hair, no skin tissue, nothing else under those fingernails. Absolutely no sign of a physical struggle.

And as for the fishing line, Jim Newman described... She's supposedly pulling on this fishing line that leaves no marks or abrasions on her hand. Well, the cord didn't actually cut the tissue. I would expect the marks could go away, so it may be possible I would not be able to see them. Porter also offers an explanation. Molly, your dog. For the event the Johnstons found so suspicious. Why was Molly brought to the animal shelter?

We had quite a bit of large area of new carpeting, and Molly decided she would go to the bathroom on it basically whenever we left. And Jim Newman has an alibi of sorts. Not only did people report seeing him off and on at work that day, but phone records support his case. They show that after 345, when he says he talked to Jane for the very last time, she indicated she would call me back and I never heard from her again. He made a total of 10 more calls back here to his house. What took place during those calls? The answering machine I had, one of the features was you could also monitor the room and you could hear whatever was taking place in the room itself.

I would call and see if I could hear anything going on, and then I also left a couple messages. What was he listening to? Garrity presents his own theory. Our contention is he was listening to the man who grabbed Jane when she walked in that house and walked her up to that wall. And in his cross-examination... And that's the note you constructed, correct? Yes, sir.

He ridicules the alleged suicide note. This woman leaves a note according to James Newman that I want to be remembered as thin and pretty and happy. And that's the way she's remembered, sir. Is that right? Yes, sir. Does she look thin, pretty, and happy? Mr. Garrity, I resent this. I'm sorry, sir. In his closing arguments... You can't base your decisions on guesses. Porter reminds the jury of what every investigator on the case concluded.

I believe it is a suicide. It was a suicide. The death was a suicide. 9-1-1. Garrity ends by replay The death was a suicide. 9-1-1. Garrity ends by replaying Jim Newman's call to 9-1-1, which he claims is the first lie in an endless chain of lies. This is not right. This is not real. This is not right. This is not real. This is not right. But this is extremely real.

And I'm asking you to answer yes on all questions. Coming up next, the verdict. All right, members of the jury. Today, after seven days of intense testimony... This case will now be submitted to you... The haunting question, how did Jane Newman really die, is in the hands of 12 jurors. Give each question in the verdict your careful and conscientious consideration. They're being asked basically two questions. One, was this a homicide?

A yes or no question. If they answer yes to that, then they have to decide was Jim Newman involved in Jane's death. But even if that answer is yes, Jim Newman is likely to face only a fine. Want to come with me? It's okay. Because this is just a civil case case my primary concern is to protect my son he could however lose custody of five-year-old Jonathan you are to be

guided by your own sound judge and he might well face murder charges down the road they stick the jury out please rise I had to run it through my mind, what happened, look at the evidence again. She wanted it to be the right decision. I kept going back and forth. It took a while. At about 6.30, the jurors decide to continue deliberating into the night. Please rise.

Finally, after six hours of deliberation... Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, have you reached a verdict? We have, Your Honor. The jury returns with its decision. Okay, would you hand it to the bailiff? To the estate of Jane Newman and Jonathan Newman, a minor through GAL Keith Rodley, plaintiffs versus James Newman defendant. Question one, was the death of Jane Newman a homicide? Answer, yes.

Two. If you answered yes to question one, answer the following questions. A, did James Newman murder Jane Newman? Answer, yes. B, did James Newman solicit someone to murder Jane Newman? Answer, yes. B, did James Newman solicit someone to murder Jane Newman? Answer, no. All right, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, is this your verdict? Yes, it is.

Yes, Your Honor. Okay. Yes. Ladies and gentlemen, I wish to thank you very much. Please rise. Mrs. Johnson, would you like to say anything? You never gave up in three and a half years. You never...

I would never give up my whole life. What would you like to say to those 12 who served on you never... I would never give up my whole life. What would you like to say to those 12 who served on the jury? I'd like to say thank you very much. I feel we gave the Johnson's, their daughters, dignity back. The jurors took us behind the scenes. We charted it all out on the board. Inside their deliberations.

How did you proceed once you got in that jury room? We first all took a great big breath. Was the scene itself hard for you to imagine? Yes, it was unbelievably hard. How would a person ever think of doing it that way? Measure up how far she'd need to to have it at the right angle to get in her mouth. Jurors did believe testimony that Jane Newman was trouble. I kind of thought she might have been depressed when she was around Jim. But not enough to kill herself. We kind of decided that it was normal depression that everybody kind of goes through. The evidence I believed it was a suicide. And they completely dismissed the findings of both the investigators and the expert witnesses. They

said that a gunshot in the mouth is usually a suicide, so I think that they immediately jumped to that conclusion. Jurors never bought the story of Jim's elaborate cover-up. I couldn't accept that at all. Leave your wife lay there, make the trip through the traffic. Didn't leave enough time for him to do all that. There's no way. But in the end... Pulling fishing line, I'm a fisherman too. It was something a juror came up with based on his own experience that had the most impact. And without wrapping it around your fingers, you really can't get a good grip on it.

And if it knocked her out of her shoes like they said, it would have cut her finger off. The impact throwing her back, you know, it would have severely cut into her finger. For many on the jury, that quirky little detail was a turning point. I knew she didn't do it, and after we discussed that an outsider couldn't have done it, the only person left would have been Jim. Mrs. Newman, what comment do you have? Despite the jury's verdict... I really have no comment on this.

Jim Newman walks out of civil court a free man. Are you guilty, Jim? Absolutely not. Jim Newman's face was shot off by this man, and now he's going to be walking out of this door. Apparently, you can murder somebody, and you can go wherever you want. Where is justice?

Coming up. Are you advocating that this criminal case be reopened? You're darn right I am. Will Jim Newman be charged with murder? We've got a unanimous verdict saying that you've got 12, that this man has murdered his wife. I didn't kill Jane. That's all I can say about it at this time. All right, I think we're ready.

We're going to get a number one meal with Dr. Pepper. Dear Lord, we thank you for this food, and we just pray that she'll bless our day and that she'll take care of us and keep us from harm. Amen. I'm remarried. I have a new family. I'm very happy in that new family. Is that good stuff? Yeah! Okay. I love my new wife, and I love my life with her. It's been three months since his trial.

Find anything good? You like these. And Jim Newman has quietly slipped back into life in suburban Seattle. I guess you're buying that. But he worries that on any given day, he could be charged with murder. After Jane first died, I went through a period of wondering, you know, are they going to come and get me? And now, again, I'm going through that same thing. Meanwhile, halfway across the country...

I hope we will have a fairly thorough investigation of Jane's death that will result in criminal charges. That decision now rests with the Wisconsin Attorney General, who still is reviewing the case. Here a jury says that our daughter was murdered and that he had something to do with it. What do we need? Still for the Johnstons. And I wrote this song in her memory. In the early evening hours. Life goes on. Of a cold November's night. And I wrote this song in her memory. Life goes on.

Oh, if I didn't have fly fishing, I don't know. They try to stay busy. I mean, nothing we can do can bring Jane back. And all are still determined to see Jim Newman formally charged with murder. I certainly want to see Jim Newman locked up. But amazingly... It'll all be one big extended family again. Jim Newman speaks today of reconciliation. To me, it's not over until the relationship between the Johnstons and us is patched up.

They still adamantly believe you murdered their daughter. You think you're going to be one big extended family? I know that that's their public position, but somewhere inside, they've just got to know that I couldn't have done that. Could the 12 jurors have been flat-out wrong? John, keep your hands down. Could this engaging, happily married father of two

be telling the truth? Because there's so much doubt and because there's no proof. And because he didn't do it. Yeah. You say there was no evidence of this, there's no evidence of that, there's no evidence of that. She's the one who says, and he didn't do it. Yeah. Me saying I didn't do it is not worth a lot.

I'm a liar, remember, the world's best liar. Funny thing is, is a lot of times, like even when I was talking to our church group about it, they're like, and you didn't do it, right? You know, I mean, they were like, say that, you know, and so it's, I do often leave that out. He didn't do it. Jim Newman seems likely to stay a free man. That's the alleged murderer. The question of his guilt or innocence There's Mary and Jane. may never be answered. And called her mom and dad the same. Because the only other person who knows the real truth

is forever silent. We will eventually get to the bottom of Jane's death. It may take us our lifetimes, but we will get to the bottom of Jane's death. It may take us our lifetimes, but we will get to the bottom of her death. The song is dedicated in loving memory to my sister, Jane Ellen. No criminal charges have been filed against Jim Newman in connection with Jane's death. After the civil trial, Jane's death certificate was changed from suicide to homicide. Jim Newman was ordered to pay Jane's estate $5.8 million in damages. After appeals, the amount was reduced to about $800,000.