Dateline NBC - Mystery in Mustang

Episode Date: May 4, 2021

In this Dateline classic, beloved fire chief, Keith Bryan, is a pillar of his community. Then, when he is shot in his home, police are left to wonder who would want to hurt the local hero? Turns out, someone was living a secret life, and it was about to be exposed. Andrea Canning reports. Originally aired on NBC on August 2, 2013.

My husband is laying here gasping for air. Oh, my God. She started telling me about a young man coming into their home and shooting Keith. My first concern was, how are we going to find him? A big mystery in a small town. A fire chief murdered his wife, the only witness. She was panicking. She was crying and frantic. This detective knew them both. Her job now, solve this crime. And clue number one was a doozy. She said that after he had shot Keith, he turned to her

and said, you know, I'm sorry, ma'am. I'm sorry? A killer who apologized? And that was just the start. A gun stashed in the dryer. A man's glove, but whose DNA? And a woman with a whole lot to reveal. No, no, no, no, don't take it off. She tossed her top to me. She just whipped it off.

I was shocked. What would come next? Do you feel that she realized some of her secrets were going to be exposed? Mystery in Mustang. Here's Andrea Canning. Just about 20 miles southwest of downtown Oklahoma City sits a town called Mustang. Once farmers and ranchers dotted the land, it's bigger now, but folks still hold tight to their roots. Pretty quiet community for the most

part. Faith connects community here, and people stay lifelong friends. It is a small town feel. Very much neighbors helping neighbors. In a place like Mustang, neighbors know almost all there is to know about each other, for better or worse. So when the unthinkable happened, it would be all the more startling when the secrets came tumbling out.

I heard a lot of things that shocked me that I never would have imagined. Had evil invaded Mustang? I'm in Mustang America. Who would f***ing do that? Or come from within? It created a lot of fear for a lot of people. That was my first real whodunit. Keith Bryan was Oklahoman to the core, proudly raised in the Sooner State. He married his wife Becky at 19, and they settled in Mustang.

Pam Woodard, an old friend of Keith's, rolled out the welcome mat for the Bryans when they moved to town. They became an integral part of our church. Very active, very grounded, very town. They became an integral part of our church, very active, very grounded, very helpful. They had two boys, Trent and Kent. Becky was a good mom. From what I could tell, she was a good mom. Keith worked as a fireman, his dream job, in the well-to-do Oklahoma City enclave of Nichols Hills. Terry Hamilton served alongside Keith,

and if the firemen were like brothers, the wives were like sisters, says Terry's wife Kim. With the fire department, we became all families together. And Keith had a good sense of humor. He was outgoing, and he was really driven to succeed. And he did, promoted all the way to fire chief in 1991. But Keith never lost his personal connection with the people he served. He was one of the first responders to the Oklahoma City bombing. He was.

His bravery made headlines. That's when he worked on that lady that was trapped forever underneath the rubble. And Keith wouldn't leave her. Was he a hero in your eyes? Oh, I think so. I was pretty proud of him as a friend for that. As for Becky, she was a force in the community too. Working in real estate,

her business often seemed more about the people than the money. Becky had a very selfless side to her too. There were people that I know of, if they were upside down, she even at times was known to take her own money to closing and help like that. Keith was elected city councilman in Mustang. Becky's business was thriving, and their marriage an example to others. She and Keith did some premarital counseling for several years in our church. So they were counseling other couples on how to have a good marriage. They were counseling

other couples on how to have a good marriage. So it came as a surprise when in 2010, Keith and Becky hit a rough patch. The boys were grown and the empty nesters separated. Becky moved out. David Reddick, Becky's brother, remained close to Keith during the separation. He said he wanted to know how could he change to show that love to her in an integrated way. What advice did you give Keith? I told him to talk to her about it, that she was sensible. Keith worked hard to win Becky back with gifts and dates and loving notes. Becky came home. He was telling some people that what all he'd been through was worth it because it had made him even that much better of a husband. In the year that followed, Keith kept up his

campaign of romance. September 20, 2011, was no different. Becky was at a real estate conference in Tulsa. Keith texted her sweet messages throughout the day. Becky arrived home around 8.30 p.m. A friend came over to chat. Keith, now ever attentive, made them iced tea. After the friend left, Becky says she and Keith settled down in front of the TV. On the bill that night, Keith's choice.

A classic scary movie, Carrie. Then came the real horror. 911, stage emergency. It was Becky. A young man, about 25. Then the phone cut out. What was she saying? Dispatcher sent police to the house.

Becky called back. She said an intruder shot Keith in the head. And the intruder was getting away. Now the brave fire chief who dedicated his life to saving others was in urgent need of help himself. Okay, I've got to go. No, no, ma'am, still feel me right? EMS and police sped to the Bryan house, but the questions came just as fast. Who was this shooter, this intruder on the loose, and could he be found? An unfamiliar feeling spread through Mustang streets and homes.

Fear. Coming up, a detective is on the case, and she's about to hear something odd from Becky Bryan. After he shot Keith, he turned to her and said, you know, I'm sorry, ma'am. A gunman who apologizes? What kind of intruder was that? My first concern was, how are we going to find him. Oh my God! Oh my God! That's Mustang America! Who would f----- do that? Word went out that a brazen intruder had shot Fire Chief Keith Bryan in his own home,

and within minutes, first responders swarmed the house, securing it as a crime scene. As Keith was rushed to the hospital, his wife Becky stayed behind. Detectives were on their way as she spoke to her brother David on the phone. She was crying and frantic, and I said, settle down, it'll be okay, who's with you? So her son was there. Jana Hickman, a good friend of the family and wife of a fire chief herself,

rushed over to the Bryans. I went over and hugged her neck and told her how sorry I was that God would get us through this. And she said, I'm sorry, I know he was your friend too. Keith's deputy chief, Terry Hamilton, reached Becky on her cell. So I told her not to worry. They'll do a full investigation, and they'll figure out who did it.

At the house, Becky was on the rear patio, on the phone with friends and family, repeating the story of the armed intruder. We were sitting in open light around the patio, and I was fearful that they might come back. You thought right at that moment that this person she described could come back? Yes, I did. You know, we hadn't had anything like that happen before. Cammie McNeil, a detective with the Mustang Police Department,

was dispatched to the Bryan house that night. And Mustang being Mustang, the victim and his wife were no strangers to the detective. What's your reaction when you hear it's Keith? It was concerning to me because, I mean, I knew this family. Becky seemed relieved to see a familiar face. She called up my name and asked me to come sit by her on the back porch. And then she started telling me about a young man, approximately 25 years old, coming into their home and

shooting Keith in the head. And what did that young man say, according to Becky? She said that after he had shot Keith, he turned to her and said, you know, I'm sorry, ma'am, but he should have hired me. It seemed like a key detail, this apparent apology and explanation. Becky had also recounted it to 911 dispatchers. He said, ma'am, I'm so sorry. He said that your husband should have hired me. Do you have a gut reaction about that story? It was concerning to me because we are a small community. My first concern was, you know, is there somebody out there? Where is he and how are we going to find him? Becky described the shooter as a man in his 20s with a big nose and wearing a hoodie.

I was trying to get as much information out to other law enforcement agencies as well as our officers so they could start looking for him. Was it possible Keith knew the man? Keith was in no condition to help investigators, but at the hospital, hopeful news, he was clinging to life. I told her, I said, he's going to surgery. And she said, really? Keith made it through surgery, still in terrible shape, but alive in the ICU. When Becky arrived, the halls of the hospital were filled with friends, loved ones, and Keith's firefighter brothers. It seemed half the town of Mustang was there praying for Keith. How hard was it for you to see Keith in that condition?

It was very, very hard. You know, I would tell myself, you know, you never know. I've heard so many stories of people, you know, having head injuries. And I know prayer is so powerful. And I know he had so many people praying. First thing that happens when you see Becky in the hospital. We come up and hug each other. And she's crying. I mean, she started crying immediately when I grabbed her. She's, what am I going to do? What are we going to do? By morning, it was clear Keith would not pull through.

Those closest to him sensed it was time to say their goodbyes. What did you say to him? I said, you didn't deserve this, and I love you. Goodbye. That was it. At Keith's bedside, Becky, Keith's wife of 33 years, wept. And as Keith slipped away, along with the sorrow,

was the lost hope that he could shed any light on who had done this to him. No one believed Keith Bryan had an enemy in the world. So as the search for the apologetic intruder got underway, one clue was as simple as the victim's name. Coming up. There was a theory out there that perhaps this intruder was looking for a different fireman. Could the killer have shot the wrong man? When Dateline continues. Fire Chief Keith Bryan, so tough, so brave, spent his career running toward danger.

Now his life had been cut short inside the safety of his own home. He left behind two dear sons and the wife to whom he'd been so devoted. I think that it was just such a shock and such a huge event and such a tragedy on so many levels. At the firehouse Keith led in Nichols Hills near Mustang, Captain Roger Straka could barely believe it. You just have that gut-wrenching feeling that it's all exploded now and you don't know what happened. Must be such a weird thing to hear. It was. Over the fire service years, being in this type of work,

you tend to get calloused over and hide your feelings, but when it hits real close to home, you ask yourself why. Detective Cammie McNeil was no rookie, but this was the first case of its kind she'd ever seen in Mustang. That was my first real whodunit homicide case. What significance does that have for you? It was very significant. I was nervous.

I wanted to, of course, do a good job and make sure that the right person went to jail for that crime. To find that person, detectives needed to comb through every detail of Becky's eyewitness account. McNeil and an agent from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation interviewed her again at the hospital the night of the shooting. The time's 1 23 a.m. in the morning. What's your first name? Becky Bryant. Becky talked about how close she and Keith were, especially after they made it through that rough patch. We were quite in love.

I didn't even know he loved me until I filed for divorce. But he really came to play. And investigators went over, step by step, how the shooting went down. What are you looking for when you go into that conference room to interview Becky? How does this person know Keith? Can she describe him better? You know, things like that. And the door opened and we were watching a loud movie, Carrie.

And this young kid, about 25 years old, walks into the house and comes over to the carpet and my husband didn't even have time to turn around. I looked just in time to see and then he came up from here and he shot him in the head right here. Point blank? Point blank, right here. It was then, Becky said, that the shooter turned and spoke. It was unbelievably hideous. But the guy, this is what he said, he was actually pretty nice. I knew he wasn't going to hurt me because he said, I'm sorry, ma'am, but he should have hired me.

So a polite shooter. Yes, she did describe him that way. Yes. There it was again, that odd but clearly important detail. Along with his polite apology, the shooter seemed to give away a motive. Was he someone vying for a job in Keith's fire department? Keith's deputy, Terry Hamilton, didn't think so. I never was concerned about that. Why not? Well, for one thing, it had been four years since we had hired anybody.

So nobody's going to sit and stew for four years and then all of a sudden get mad and go shoot the guy that didn't hire him. But if the shooter wasn't angry over a job in Keith's fire department, there was another possibility, one that neighbors of the Bryans wondered about. Keith often did projects on the house. Was the killer someone who'd wanted a construction job and didn't get it? One neighbor told police that a few weeks earlier, a stranger had been driving around asking for work as a handyman.

He said the man had a funny face and drove an old pickup truck. He also remembered seeing a similar truck the night of the shooting. Are you interviewing neighbors? Are you asking people if they saw anyone suspicious in the neighborhood, if they saw a truck in the neighborhood? Yes, all of that was going on. Were they yielding, anything? Very little, very little. Then, among the firefighters and their wives, a third, entirely different idea was bandied about. No one's sure who said it first, but soon some were wondering out loud if Keith hadn't been the intended target at all. There was a theory out there that perhaps this intruder was looking for a different fireman.

And why would anyone think that? Not far from the Bryans' home in Mustang lived the Oklahoma City fire chief. His name? Keith Bryant. Brian with a T at the end. The whole Keith Bryant theory that maybe they got the wrong fire chief? You know, that did not occur to me until I got to the hospital, and that's the first time somebody had brought up maybe mistaken identity. The buzz reached Roger Straka back at the firehouse. That story did come out that possibly the person that had done this got the wrong chief. It could have been anyone's theory as to what had happened.

Surely the Oklahoma City chief hired and fired many more people than Keith did. Had the shooter been angry with him? A friend reached him by phone. He was safe and sound at a conference on the East Coast the night of the shooting. But there were problems with the mistaken identity theory. The two chiefs didn't look much alike and the more Keyes firemen brothers thought it over, the less likely it seemed. I still didn't think that story made sense. Too far-fetched? Yes. It's real competitive to get hired on as a firefighter,

so I just can't see somebody not getting hired and then killing the fire chief. And the Oklahoma City Fire Department, I don't think the fire chief really even has anything to do with the hiring process. So around Mustang, the questions were many, the answers few. People were watchful, certainly less at ease. I found myself wanting to close blinds early. Did you have a moment of panic? A little bit, yeah.

It was a little eerie for a day or two, not knowing what was going on. And while those around Mustang wondered who and where this invader was, investigators had found something at the crime scene. It would turn the fear and suspicion right around. Coming up, another key turn in the case. Police question a witness who has a whole lot to reveal. No, no, no, no, don't kick it off. She tossed her top to me.

She just whipped it off. I was shocked. In the tight-knit community of Mustang, folks who knew each other so well for so long began to swap stories. Memories of their friend Keith, the hero, the dad, the loyal husband and friend.

But also stories about his wife and the night Keith was killed. Jana Hickman, who had rushed to the Bryans' home that night, was outside with Becky and remembered hearing this not long after the crime. I heard her just say that something about it would be hard to sell the house because he had died in the house. Did that sound really callous to you? Being a realtor, I could see her thinking about that.

It was a little odd, I thought. At the hospital, some friends noticed that Becky was agitated one minute, eerily calm the next. She wasn't emotional. She was pretty calm, talking to different people. Whenever we met her, she was very calm. Too calm. I anticipated her needing comfort, and I went to hug her, and she just kind of held her arms down straight and didn't seem to need that type of consoling. And instead of sticking close to Keith's bedside in his last hours, they thought it was strange that Becky was often outside. She was just sitting with her legs crossed up on the bench, out with her friends and smoking and just very casual. It was just completely bizarre.

Becky's brother David says he knows his sister best, and what the friends saw was just Becky's way of coping. In your eyes, was Becky acting exactly the way a wife would act after a random senseless shooting? Becky acted just like Becky would act if someone come in and shot her husband and she was there. She was panicking. She didn't know what to do. She was doing anything she could to get control of her emotions. Our upbringing was control your emotions. Was Becky known for just sometimes saying inappropriate things, maybe stupid things, wrong time? Yeah, yeah. That was who she was? I mean, Becky wanted to control. She did not want her to cry. She didn't want to be out of control for herself. But Becky's friends weren't the only people who found her demeanor odd that night. Detective McNeil says that their taped interview with Becky was full of jarring moments.

For example, after telling police how much she loved Keith, she had this to say about her fatally injured husband. I bought a condo, moved out, and he was a c**k for 31 years. She described Keith to us in what I thought was an inappropriate manner. As a matter of routine, they'd already tested Becky's hands at the crime scene for gunshot residue. In the interview, they asked her what she was wearing at the time of the shooting. So you were wearing the shirt and the panties? Yes, yes.

A tube top and panties that she still had on under new clothes. And that, says the detective, is when the interview took a revealing turn. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. No, no, no, no, no. Don't take it off. Don't take your clothes off now. I'm going to put my shirt on. Okay.

Just to clarify, just wait until we finish. She grabbed the bottom of the top she was wearing, pulled it over her head, exposing her breasts, and then she tossed her top to me. Was she wearing a bra? No. You didn't even ask her for the top? She just whipped it off? That's right. So what are you thinking when she's in front of you?

I was shocked. To investigators, Becky's behavior was more than odd. It was suspicious. So you walked into this interview still giving Becky the benefit of the doubt? Absolutely. And you walked out of the interview thinking that there's a possibility she's going to become an official suspect? At that time, there was definitely a possibility, yes.

When the interview ended, Detective McNeil and the other investigator went back to the house, and that's where he made a key discovery in the utility room, in the clothes dryer, a gun. That must have been kind of a bingo moment.

That was a big moment for all of us because not only was the gun in the dryer, but the gun was wrapped in a blanket, a shell casing was in there as well, and also a glove. Did you immediately think about the logistics of Becky's story as far as where this man came in, where he exited? Yes, she had told us that he came into the home, shot Keith, and walked directly back out the same way that he had come in. She made no mention of this man going into her laundry room, placing anything in the dryer. Could there have been any explanation for why the gun was found in the dryer, a different route than the route she had described? If there was, I didn't know

what that was. Investigators now suspected Becky of lying about details, big and small. But they wanted more. As they analyzed evidence from the scene, a call came in from someone in Becky's phone contacts, nicknamed Becky's Prodigy. In fact, they'd noticed the unusual name when they looked at her phone the night of the shooting. Becky Prodigy lives in Hugo, Oklahoma. So she's a customer? Yes.

She's a realtor broker. Actually, Becky's prodigy was a man named Mark Holbrook. And when he learned of Keith's murder, he called up investigators. He wanted them to know he and Becky had had an affair. When it ended, 19 months before the shooting, he apologized to Keith and promised never to see Becky again. But he wanted cops to know she had been in touch with him recently and a lot. She still loved him and that she would be

moving so she could be near him whether he wanted to be with her or not. The affair had been a reason behind Becky and Keith's brief split. Now investigators and the ex-lover hatched a plan. Record a conversation between Becky and her so-called prodigy. Maybe Becky would give something up to him. Three days after Keith was shot, Becky's ex dialed her up. Becky, how are you doing? Thank you for calling me. shot, Becky's ex dialed her up. Becky seemed concerned about covering up the affair. And while she stuck to her story about the intruder who shot Keith, she said she had news about him.

And the guy that shot Keith, he killed himself yesterday in the city. So I'm no longer in danger. Oh, that's good. That's good news. I know. Everything is good. We didn't have any information like that. And law enforcement had not given her any information like that. The call rang all kinds

of alarm bells for investigators, but didn't yield a lot in the way of hard evidence. But cops thought they had the goods on Becky in another way. By now, they had examined that weapon found in the dryer and concluded it belonged to Becky. On September 23rd, the day before Keith's funeral, Becky was arrested and charged with his murder. What was her reaction? She seemed shocked. She was yelling things at us. An open and shut case? Becky's brother said far from it. Law enforcement here let us all down because what I want is the truth. In court, evidence would be examined, and the truth? It would turn out to be more bizarre than anyone could have guessed.

Coming up, the secret life of the fire chief's wife. She just openly told me I had sex with a 29-year-old client this morning and I have a picture on my phone. When Dateline continues. Becky Bryan, the once well-liked wife of fire chief and city councilman Keith Bryan, stood accused of a vicious crime. Her tight circle of friends drifted away, but not everyone in town believed she was a killer. I don't believe that Becky Bryan shot Keith Bryan. Gary James is a friend of a friend of the Bryans and a prominent Oklahoma

defense attorney. He says the case against his client, Becky, doesn't add up. You believe an innocent woman is sitting behind bars? Sure. She had a lot of bad circumstances, but I do believe somebody shot Keith and ran from that house. Her attorney says there was a rush to judgment against Becky, and as a result, the state just didn't have the proof to back up the charge. I do believe that law enforcement agencies in this day and age have the ability to do a lot of things that were not done in this case. I don't believe they ever looked for anyone, which was a huge part of our defense.

He's in a little itty-bitty pickup, okay? He's going down my street. You know Becky probably better than anybody else. When you listen to that 911 call, you truly believe Becky is being truthful. Yeah, I really do. And it's because she was a very detailed person. She's not being panicky. She's trying to describe.

She's trying to think through the process. She's very analytical. 19 long months after that awful night, Becky's trial began. If half the town had rushed to pray for Keith when he was shot, just as many flocked to court. It's been a tough year and a half, very tough. No cameras were allowed inside the courtroom, as the prosecution came armed with a simple, powerful narrative. Becky Bryan wanted out of her marriage, so she shot her husband and invented the tale of an intruder. He shot my husband in the head.

The case against Becky began with a slew of secrets from her personal life. They called to court two men who received explicit texts and pictures from Becky days before the shooting. And this man, a former client of Becky's, came to the stand and testified they'd had sex the day of the crime. Pam Woodard said Becky told her about it at the hospital after the shooting. She just openly told me. She said, I had sex with a 29-year-old client this morning, and I have a picture of his private area on my phone. That's not the word she used. And she said, and I feel kind of bad because when I got home,

Keith had made me a tea. Did you just have alarm bells going off? It was the oddest conversation. But Pam and some of Becky's other girlfriends weren't brought to court just to talk about that dalliance. What was the purpose of you taking the stand and what was that experience like? I did not want to take the stand. I was made to take the stand. I was subpoenaed by the prosecution. The prosecution wanted Pam to testify about Becky's obsession with her ex-lover, Mark Holbrook, a.k.a. Becky's prodigy.

Becky had confided her feelings for him months earlier when Becky and Keith appeared to be happier than ever. I said, Becky, you and Keith seem to be really committed to making this work. And she said to me, oh, I'm a great faker. Once I've made my mind up about something, I'm a great faker. And my heart just kind of sank. The prosecution argued this was Becky's motive for murder.

She was fixated on her ex-lover and elaborately scheming to get him back. She proceeded to tell me that she was going to tell the ex-lover that she was pregnant. So she's saying she's pregnant with his baby. Yes. I said, Becky, you're 50-plus years old. And she said, 50-year-old people get pregnant all the time. And I said, who? Where? How does this happen?

I've never heard of that. Her reasoning had just kind of gone out the window at that point. How far had she gone with the baby story? She wanted somebody that could provide her with positive pregnancy tests. She wanted to have a birth announcement printed out. Birth announcement. A birth announcement. She had a name picked out.

She had a name picked out. Mark, that object of Becky's obsession, also testified, adding this potentially incriminating detail. He said that on the day Keith was shot, Becky left him a voicemail saying she planned to buy a house near him because she was about to inherit some money. To many in court, the implication was that Becky had been expecting a life insurance payout. Becky and Keith's grown sons kept their feelings about their mother's guilt or innocence to themselves, but both testified briefly for the prosecution, as did a parade of investigators and forensic experts who laid out the physical evidence.

There were two microscopic components of gunshot residue detected on Becky's hand. And in that dryer with the gun that belonged to Becky, a blanket with holes in it, a shell casing, and a glove. A forensic biologist testified that the glove had Becky's DNA on it. I tried to be as open-minded as I could and wait and hear all the evidence. But as it went on, I was convinced that she was guilty. The state argued it was premeditated murder by a woman who'd been living a double life.

But Becky's brother and chief supporter wasn't buying it. Did you feel like the evidence was overwhelming against Becky? If you wanted to convict her of being a slut, greedy slut, yeah. Not a murderer. Coming up, questions about the evidence. They didn't fingerprint the dryer.

They didn't fingerprint the gun. I mean, how do you not fingerprint a gun? And the verdict? I was so nervous, my hands were shaking. The Becky Bryan who sat accused of murder no longer resembled the woman she once was, the popular and perfectly groomed wife of a community leader. But if her looks had changed, her story had not. She was innocent. Keith and Becky had grown apart over time. Can you condone affairs? No. But it happens.

That does not make one a killer. Are you disappointed in your sister? Lord, no. I mean, I don't like some of the things that I heard, but she's my sister. I love her. Becky's attorney didn't try to rehabilitate her reputation in court. The evidence of her affairs was overwhelming. But when it came to the crime, the defense told the jury the proof was lacking. Can you break down for us the biggest errors you feel law enforcement made in this case? I think tunnel vision. I think that dictated this case from the night it happened. They did no other

fingerprinting on any other door. They didn't fingerprint the dryer. They didn't fingerprint the gun. I mean, how do you not fingerprint a gun? The defense had an explanation for how an intruder could have easily used Becky's gun to commit the crime. Becky usually left it in her purse, which investigators found in her car in the garage. Do you believe that the perpetrator she spoke of came through the garage, found her gun in the car, and then went in and shot Keith? Well, that's really what I thought happened. The perpetrator came in, got the gun out of the vehicle. What's more, that glove with Becky's DNA on it also had someone else's DNA, but the CSIs couldn't narrow it down, not to Keith or anyone else.

It was actually a very large man's work glove. Was there gunshot residue on the glove? Yes, there was gunshot residue on the glove. It was the theme of the defense's case. CSI investigators from the state had been so quick to zero in on Becky as the suspect. They'd committed crime scene malpractice. They didn't do any contact DNA on the gun, and that's a very simple process.

They didn't do any gunshot residue testing on her clothes. They didn't do a gunshot residue test on her face, which would have been very, very telling. I mean, they're just things that would have given us reasonable doubt. The defense told the jury investigators all but ignored any evidence that pointed to an intruder. Becky's neighbor came to court with that story about the suspicious handyman he'd seen in the neighborhood and the truck spotted speeding around the night Keith was shot. It was something that we felt maybe the perpetrator had been canvassing the area

or spying on what was going on in the neighborhood. And another witness testified he told police at the time he saw a truck matching the one Becky described driving aggressively near the Bryans the night of the shooting. That was the key to the case. He had a person in a matching truck, speeding, driving erratically, that had come up on him and almost hit a vehicle, all within blocks. But the statement that witness gave investigators only surfaced a few weeks before trial. They didn't follow up on it. There were

cameras at two different businesses right there at that intersection. And one additional detail to contradict the prosecution's case, Becky's brother David testified that there was an innocent explanation for that inheritance she mentioned to her ex-lover. She wasn't talking about life insurance. Becky was about to inherit a diamond ring. It was my aunt's ring. Was it an expensive ring? Very expensive. Two full carats of diamonds, appraisal on it at one time was $19,000,

and that was some years earlier. So obviously it had a little more value. More than enough reasonable doubt, said the defense. But would a jury agree? The wait for a verdict began. I was so nervous waiting for it, my hands were shaking. I was holding out hope that the jury would recognize the mistakes that were made and understand that because of those mistakes, we may never know who really did it.

Afternoon turned to evening, and then the news. The jury was back. Very nervous, very anxious. My thoughts were with Keith's family. The verdict? Guilty of first-degree murder. And then when he read guilty, I really didn't feel a whole lot. But I didn't feel happy.

How was your first meeting with Becky after her conviction? She cried. Said she couldn't believe it. What has Becky told you? That she didn't do it. But I still don't know the truth. There are either one or two people on the face of this earth that knows the truth. If Becky did it, she's the only one that knows.

If somebody else did it, she knows it, and that person knows it. If one of those two people come forward and say, I did it, they will know the truth. Other than that... Becky was sentenced as the jury had recommended to life in prison without parole. For Keith's friends, the trial and its conclusion were only one sort of an ending. Tangible reminders of their friend and hero live on, especially in the fire department Keith led for so many years.

What is life like now without your friend, without your chief, without Keith? We still talk about him, some of the funny things he did, and he's a part of our history here now, and he always will be, and we miss him. And if Keith was listening, what would you say to Keith? That I know he's in a great place and Keith would tell us to forgive Becky, not to say that she doesn't have to be held accountable and that she doesn't have to suffer consequences

because that's a given and that's the right thing. But Keith would actually want us to forgive Becky. And I know that. And I would just tell Keith, well done. Your time on earth here was well done. That's all for now. I'm Lester Holt. Thanks for joining us.