Dateline NBC - The House

Episode Date: August 18, 2026

When Kelly Horn finds out her father, former FBI agent Scott Horn, has been murdered at his house, she is stunned. As police dig into Scott’s past, they begin to think the key to the mystery might b...e quite close to home. Josh Mankiewicz reports.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 I'm Lester Holt, tonight on Dateline, a dead body in a yard, terror in the night, the end of a family, the start of a mystery. My dad was my best friend. He just liked to make people smile. He would always boast about how he was an FBI agent. He was so proud. My brother and his friend came running down to the neighbor's house. Just calling 911. Okay, I'm telling you. Can you come down here, ma'am? What is going on?
Starting point is 00:00:33 His body had appeared to be concealed. A robber is not going to take the time to cover your body. It's personal. Maybe some tenants had bad blood. I'm going to gamble all the time. Someone that he put behind bars might have had it out for him. Several doors were padlocked. It seemed like it was forever, but it was maybe a 10-second silence in the courtroom.
Starting point is 00:00:58 He was an FBI agent. dealt with many criminals. He could take care of himself. At least he thought so. Here's Josh Mankowitz with The House. A young man walks toward his house in the middle of the evening. He's wearing a GoPro camera to do that. Now, if it sounds strange for someone to start recording a video of their own actions,
Starting point is 00:01:37 well, stay tuned. This is actually one of the less weird things you'll hear about. What happened next was nothing short of terrifying. Call 911. What's going on. What he found that night would spark an investigation and a mystery that would only deepen over time. It's all linked to the drama that began just hours earlier when a daughter couldn't find her father. Scott Horne wasn't the kind of dad to disappear.
Starting point is 00:02:15 You see, Scott had spent 23 years. as an FBI special agent. Even in retirement, he still scheduled his life like clockwork. If he did something, he normally did that same thing every single day at the same time. He never slept in either.
Starting point is 00:02:34 He was up every morning at 7.30. Scott's daughter Kelly was living on her own by age 18. Even so, she remembers her dad starting each morning with the same phone call. Your dad called to wake you up every day. Yeah, he would call and say, are you up? And then five minutes later, he would call and say, are you up? Oh, so he's not just the alarm clock.
Starting point is 00:02:57 He's also the snooze alarm. Yeah. Except on that morning, March 16th, 2017. Kelly's phone was silent. So I texted him, and he didn't respond, and I called him, and the phone went straight to voicemail, and I texted him, and I said, I hope you're okay. This is unlike him?
Starting point is 00:03:19 Totally. He would respond to you. Yeah. Kelly reached out to her dad's next-door neighbors, Marty and Cindy. Kelly called and asked me if I'd seen Scott all day, and I said no, I hadn't. And she said, call a wellness check. So I called the Laurel Police. They came out.
Starting point is 00:03:37 He's named Scott, right? Yeah. Nice house. Officers from the Laurel, Maryland Police Department met Kelly. at the house to do what's called a welfare check. When police go to an address essentially to make sure something bad hasn't happened. We walked through the house. They moved from room to room.
Starting point is 00:04:03 So my dad normally would take the dogs out to make sure they went potty outside and there was pee all over the floor. Which meant the dogs had been left inside for a long time. Right. Because now it isn't just the morning he's been missing, obviously. Nobody has seen him. Since like the day before. Right.
Starting point is 00:04:20 They went into the basement. Another officer searched upstairs. Officer Matt Zimmerman was there. Nothing appeared to be in disarray. Nothing appeared to have a struggle. She grabbed some belongings and stated that she was going to continue to try and locate her father. Later eventually arrived, and Kelly still hadn't heard. from her dad. By this time, you have to be really scared. I was. I was. Kelly had been talking with her
Starting point is 00:04:58 older brother Riley. He hadn't seen their dad since the night before and was worried too. So that evening, Riley went over to the house with a friend. That's when Riley hit record on his GoPro and headed up the lawn of his family's large suburban home. As they walked, Riley and his friend heard banging and clattering on the left side of the house. And when they went to the area where the sounds had come from, they could make out a tarp in the darkness. They lifted it up. What they saw sent Riley running to a neighbor's house
Starting point is 00:05:39 where his sister Kelly was waiting. Just call 911. Okay, I'm Kelly. I need a police officer, EMF. What do you mean? Kelly ran to the house. I just, I didn't understand what was happening. They saw a body.
Starting point is 00:05:54 They didn't know who it was? I honestly don't remember. I was so, like, my adrenaline kicked in, and I ran up to the house, and I stopped right before the door. And I just fell to my knees, and I was crying and screaming. So I went out to the porch and saw her prostrate in the snow, you know, just screaming. It was 10 minutes or so before I could understand what she was saying. Which was what? That her dad was dead.
Starting point is 00:06:25 For the second time, Officer Zimmerman was first on the scene. My father is under a bunch of that? It's a GoPro on a... So we start moving down the driveway. I'd tell him to show me where he found the body. Right here. I can't look. He's got right... Scott Horn was dead.
Starting point is 00:06:50 Now the mechanics of a murder investigation began. You got crime scene tape? Where's the body? Get a couple more units here to have a potential crime scene. When we return, a body in the side yard, police in the front, and someone in the house apparently unaware of it all. Hello, we're up with the department. Can you come down here, ma'am? What is it going on?
Starting point is 00:07:16 Well, we're just conducting an investigation right now, ma'am. And whoever murdered Scott Horn didn't just kill him. This was overkill. So someone shoots him from behind, and then after he's on the ground, begins beating him. That's correct. Police were swarming the house on this quiet residential road. Scott Horn had been found by his son.
Starting point is 00:07:51 He'd been murdered in his own backyard. Can you all contact Kezi? Detective Kezi Henderson came to lead the investigation. He didn't need a medical examiner to tell him Scott Horn. had been the victim of a brutal murder. And it wasn't just a beating. Another investigator noticed a bullet lodged in a shed. Scott was shot in the neck.
Starting point is 00:08:16 Would the neck wound have killed him by itself? No. The neck wound would have disabled him. So someone shoots him from behind, and then after he's on the ground, begins beating him? That's correct. Could you tell what he was beaten with? He was beaten with firewood. You didn't find a specific piece of fire what he was beaten with? No.
Starting point is 00:08:33 When I was unable to find that. Unable to find it maybe because next to the body was a wood-burning stove. It connected to a boiler that heated the whole house. Scott had installed the system. He was quite proud of it. Suddenly, it seemed Scott's own accomplishment might have helped his killer destroy the murder weapon. Possible that someone just threw it in the boiler after they were done using it?
Starting point is 00:09:01 That's correct. Detective Henderson had a sense. of how Scott died. To get to the who, the detective needed more about his victim's life. And right there at the crime scene, family and friends were eager to talk.
Starting point is 00:09:17 I go right up to the officers and I identify who I am and I let them know that he's one of ours. They know he's a retired FBI agent. Monique Wincus had been one of Scott's supervisors at the bureau. It has to be weird being both an FBI agent and a friend of the victim in that situation.
Starting point is 00:09:33 It is. It's a tough place to be. You want to do so much more. You're more friend than special agent in that moment. Yes. I'm there for the family. I'm there for him. Not surprising.
Starting point is 00:09:45 That was the way Scott had been there for the Bureau. He'd carried FBI credentials for more than two decades after serving in the Air Force. He'd just like to laugh and make people smile. So in suspect interviews, he was the perfect good cop. He was. He would say, listen, just be honest with us, work with us. and I'll talk to the prosecutors, I'll talk to my boss, we'll see what we can do for you. And then you would come in and put them in a chokehold.
Starting point is 00:10:10 Right, exactly. Tell us the truth. On drug cases, bank robberies, and kidnappings, Scott Horne's good cop persona came in handy. After a while, family considerations made him ask for a lower octane assignment. Background checks for people seeking government jobs. That squad handled polygraph. presidential appointments, new recruits came through that squad. Now that's not exactly the sexiest of FBI details.
Starting point is 00:10:40 It's not something that everyone shoots for, but it really had consistent hours. It's a dad schedule. It's a dad schedule, exactly. Scott's wife Anne worked long shifts as a nurse. Their daughter Kelly says dad liked being Mr. Mom. He made sure that we ate a well-balanced meal every night, and he made sure we went to bed on time, and all of our homework got done. and that our clothes were clean.
Starting point is 00:11:07 My dad was my best friend. He took me everywhere with him and taught me so much. Scott loved his family, including the four-legged members. Mama bear, there was Papa Bear, and then there was Keenai Bear. And running a close second to family, Scott's passion for this four-bedroom house. It had more than just his fingerprint. on it. Our house is so wonderful. I
Starting point is 00:11:37 know that sounds really conceited, but it is something to be proud of. And a lot of the nice things about it he had personally worked on. Oh, yeah. Lots of projects. Solar panels, wood burning stove. You know, the pool had solar panels that heated it. All he was doing.
Starting point is 00:11:53 Yeah. There were just so many projects that he was excited and did in the house. Now, that house Scott had loved so much, had become a crime scene. Outside, officers stood watch, but inside. Hello, off the police department. Come down here, ma'am.
Starting point is 00:12:13 Yeah. Someone was walking down the stairs. Who house lives here? Anyone else? My husband. Your husband? It was Anne Allen, Scott's wife, and Kelly and Riley's mom. Anne appeared to have no idea what was transpiring just outside her front door.
Starting point is 00:12:31 What is going on? Well, we're just conducting an investigation right now, ma'am. It would be up to a detective to tell Anne what was going on. Coming up, did Scott have money problems or other problems? We did receive leads that there may be some tenants that had bad blood. When Dateline continues. As he began his investigation, Detective Kesey Anderson thought it best to keep some details of Scott Horn's murder
Starting point is 00:13:25 to himself. Madam, Detective Henderson. So as he talked with Scott's wife, Anne, in the couple's kitchen, Henderson was careful not to share everything he knew, Anne seemed to have no idea what was going on. And if you're wondering why Anne hadn't been out searching for her husband earlier, the answer is that after two decades of marriage, Anne and Scott were living separate lives under the same roof,
Starting point is 00:14:10 while negotiating a divorce. Right away, Anne helped police with this detail, where Scott had likely been the night before his body was found. He'd been at a casino. We established a timeline for him, and we wanted to look at maybe someone followed him. Security footage from the Maryland Live casino showed Scott spending some of his final hours playing cards.
Starting point is 00:14:51 After midnight, he cashed out. out and headed to his car. How do you know he wasn't followed coming back from the casino? The video footage of him walking around inside the casino, he's by himself. There was no one tagging along behind him. When he went to his car, there's no one following
Starting point is 00:15:07 him in the parking garage. The night of his murder, Scott Horn won less than $100. Kelly says that was typical. Her dad was hardly a high roller. I wouldn't call it gambling. If anything, when my dad went to play,
Starting point is 00:15:23 he would go and strategize what table was the best table to sit at because of winning. Detective Henderson still had to determine if this was a random crime of opportunity, a robbery gone wrong. Investigators at the scene had noted Scott's cell phone and wallet were missing. We checked into the activity on his bank cards. There were no activity. In my experience, when a robber takes property from a victim, you know, they end up at a gas station. And they're trying to use the cards as quickly as possible.
Starting point is 00:16:02 Yes. Didn't happen? No, not in this case. And anyway, the crime scene was telling the investigators this wasn't random. There was a lot of emotion involved in the way Scott was assaulted. Because whoever murdered him, shot him, he falls to the ground. they could have shot him again, but instead they choose to beat him to death. That's great.
Starting point is 00:16:27 Which sounds like anger. It does. As an FBI agent for 23 years, Scott Horn had come into contact with plenty of bad guys, many of whom might have carried a grudge about Scott putting his hands or his cuffs on them. So they looked at Scott's cases and found a whole lot of nothing. There had never been any threats in his past that I'm aware of. There had never been anything like that that I'm going to get you or curse you. And even though that does happen...
Starting point is 00:16:58 It does. But that didn't seem to apply with him. That is correct. It did not apply with him. So what about Scott's second career? After fixing up his own house, Scott had bought several properties in the neighborhood. He was now a landlord with more than a dozen tenants. We did receive leads that there may be some tenants that had bad blood. Detective Henderson found out Scott had recently evicted some people from one of his rental properties.
Starting point is 00:17:26 Any possibility those people could have been angry enough at Scott, the one in dead? We received that information. We followed up on that as a lead. A lead that, like others, didn't go anywhere. As they ticked through the possibilities, investigators were thinking the heart of this mystery was closer to home. That included considering Scott's son Riley. detectives knew the person who discovers the body is sometimes the murderer. We brought Riley back to the station. He voluntarily came, and he also voluntarily gave us a detailed description of what he found and how he found it. And where he'd been.
Starting point is 00:18:12 And where he'd been. But Detective Anderson quickly determined Riley had been at work all day. As far as you know, he had no history of being an odd. with his dad. He actually loved his dad and his dad was one of the stronger figures in his life as a mentor also. Like Kelly, Riley said his dad had been his best friend. So then who were Scott's enemies? That big house looked beautiful from the outside. Inside was another story. Coming up, life behind closed doors. You sort of keep the deep. You sort of keep the deep. Details of this from other people?
Starting point is 00:18:54 Yeah, it's embarrassing. It got to the point where there were locks on everyone's doors. The celebration of Scott Horn's life drew quite a crowd. Nobody could make Scott laugh more than Scott could make Scott laugh. There were jokes and tears. And there was an air of awkwardness, too. Scott's estranged wife was in the front row. Just about everyone who was close to Scott knew there'd been trouble
Starting point is 00:19:35 inside that marriage and that home. And I even said, I said, Scott, you should leave the house. Debbie Wrightson Tessier was an FBI colleague and one of Scott's best friends. She says the clashes with Anne started years earlier, mostly over the kids. What I saw, sometimes she would be really sweet and nice to the kids, and then she could just turn on a dime and be mean to them. You saw that? I saw, yeah, I saw that on occasion.
Starting point is 00:20:09 And he'd tell you about it other times. Yeah. It turned out Scott's friends were getting only glimpses of what happened at home. Daughter Kelly says growing up, her mother was volatile, sometimes violent. You sort of keep the details of this from other people? Yeah. You know, you don't want everybody to know that you're living in this atmosphere? Yeah, it's embarrassing.
Starting point is 00:20:33 Kelly says one time she got in trouble for breaking a roof. and having a Facebook account, and then for borrowing a pair of her mom's heels. For that, she says, Anne made her sleep in a hallway for months. Her dad, she said, pushed back. We were in the hallway where I had been sleeping, and an argument arose, and my dad said that, you know, that I deserve to have my bedroom back, and my mom got so angry. out of nowhere, Kelly says, Anne pulled a handgun from underneath her bathrobe and pointed it at Scott.
Starting point is 00:21:13 She said, you know, we made an agreement. You said, I'm taking care of the kids. And if you get in my way, there's going to be a problem. Like, his whole demeanor changed. It was more like, okay, you know, we're just going to take a step back. And you leave the house with him. What do you say? He just said, if you ever see her gun again, call 911.
Starting point is 00:21:35 You never saw that gun again. No. Kelly says that happened about five years before the murder, and she says the fighting escalated in the years that followed. It was bad. It got to the point where there were locks on everyone's doors, on the outside and on the inside. Both spouses padlocked their bedroom doors to keep the other out.
Starting point is 00:21:59 Scott and Ann became two sides of the same coin, bound together but unable to face one another. It was a toxic atmosphere that seemed beyond repair. Riley began recording his interactions with his own mother. That's why he was wearing a GoPro the night he went looking for his missing dad. By that point, the family home was already quite familiar to the Laurel PD. How many times police come to that house? They knew us regularly.
Starting point is 00:22:32 They were there a lot. You lost count. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We didn't lose count. Between 2012 and the start of 2017, Laurel Police responded to that home at least 15 times.
Starting point is 00:22:46 Sometimes it was Ann calling. Sometimes it was Scott calling. Sometimes it was the kids. Sometimes they went down and filed paperwork on their own. We found 30 cases ranging from domestic violence to second-degree assault to numerous protective orders. all of it representing more contact with law enforcement and the criminal justice system than most of us have in a lifetime. None of those cases resulted in criminal convictions for anyone.
Starting point is 00:23:19 Kelly says her mom told her to move out of the house at 18. Scott, however, stayed. This was, after all, his house. That said, Debbie believes Scott may have underestimated his wife's resolve. and that Anne's engine was running on spite. She said he loves this house. She said, I hate this house. And if he thinks that he's going to live here and keep this house,
Starting point is 00:23:49 he has another thing coming. She said, because I will take this house from him and I will take everything he has. And I can do it. Detective Kesey Henderson heard all of things. and thought back to the first night he spoke with Anne. Was she really as clueless as she seemed? She seemed calm.
Starting point is 00:24:20 Maybe too calm, thought Detective Henderson, and definitely too eager to offer up alternative theories. Scott has enemies. Scott has gambling problems. Did you find any evidence that Scott had any enemies other than his wife? No. They did find evidence that Anne was likely home all day. She said as much to police.
Starting point is 00:24:51 My police. That would mean she was there that afternoon, when Kelly and the officers went to check on Scott. How could Anne not hear them? Investigators now believed Scott was already dead at the time of the welfare check. As for those sounds, Riley said he heard by the side of the house when he went over there that night. He later told police there was more to that.
Starting point is 00:25:21 He'd seen someone out there. Did you actually see who it was or? I did not. It was just all shadow of his soft fingers. Yes. He said he believed that shadow was his mom. Police asked Ann about it that night. Investigators thought Anne was hiding something. Were they all just dead wrong?
Starting point is 00:25:51 Coming up, another side of Anne. Anne was very kind-hearted, very compassionate. And wood chips in a washing machine. It suggested a cleanup. It suggested a cleanup. When Dateline continues. As investigators dug into the circumstances surrounding Scott Horn's death, his estranged wife Anne was quickly emerging as a prime suspect.
Starting point is 00:26:31 Police spoke with neighbors like Cindy and Marty. You thought it was Anne from the get-go? I did. Yes. They say Anne seemed aggressive and never missed a chance to spread what they say were lies about Scott. This is Ann Allen. I just wanted to give you a quick call. Here's a voicemail, Anne left them, months before Scott was killed.
Starting point is 00:26:57 He's brutal. And he, because he ran the street until I married him at age 37, he was nothing but a man whore. Another neighbor shared with police this video of an interaction she had with Anne on the street. I left because I was not going to be beaten up by them. At the time, Anne was claiming her family was abusive to her. You know, I have a really hard time believing that that happened. I know because you're stupid and you don't know how deceptive an FBI agent can be. And as neighbors shared these stories, one name kept popping up, Jason Bird.
Starting point is 00:27:44 Jason Bird is a person who was previously employed by Scott Horn. He was one of Scott's contractors, and prosecutor Melissa Hopmire heard enough to make her think Jason should be investigated. What was the gossip in that neighborhood? I mean, your people went out and talked with a bunch of neighbors. that Anne was out to get Scott, that they had a very contentious divorce, that she was having an affair with Jason, and wanted to, I guess, I don't know, ride into the sunset with Jason. Anne denies they were anything more than friends. Still, police wondered if Anne's friend had helped her after the murder, maybe disposing of the gun and Scott's wallet and cell phone. It turns out Jason's truck was spotted at the house. And neighbor Cindy took this photo of what police thought was Jason, leaving the house that afternoon.
Starting point is 00:28:42 That led to a police theory, Anne had asked Jason to get rid of Scott's things. He doesn't seem to be carrying anything in his hands, but I guess he could have had Scott's property in his pockets. Yes, he could have had Scott's property in his pockets. He could have had the handgun in his pockets. Weeks went by and there were no arrests. Kelly thought it was just a matter of time. I never had any doubt that she did it. You were still sure it was her? Yes. Could Kelly be right that her mom killed her dad?
Starting point is 00:29:18 Impossible, says Anne's friend Rita Lipinski. She and Anne went to high school together. And Rita says Anne's life is marked by her goodness to others. Anne was very kind-hearted, very compassionate. She says Anne used that kind. heart and compassion over her 30-year career as a nurse. Part of it at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. She would tell me how sometimes she would actually hum or softly sing to her patients,
Starting point is 00:29:54 whether they were soldiers or infants. Anne's background is not what you typically associate with someone who's a murderer. Correct. Anne's divorce attorney Lauren Collecas says the picture police were getting was clouded by a tumultuous marriage and a bitter divorce. And she says, don't blame Anne for that. Why was that house such a toxic place and why didn't anyone want to leave? So I think a lot of the issues that developed between Anne and Scott actually arose from their daughter Kelly. And Anne had a difference of opinion from Scott as to how to deal with Kelly.
Starting point is 00:30:34 Despite Anne's long hours at work, Lauren paints her as an involved parent, Scott as overly permissive, and Kelly as an out-of-control team. There were many allegations that Anne made against Kelly that Kelly was physically violent with Anne. Kelly denies all of that and says her mom lied. So was Anne mean, erratic, or violent? Her attorney Lauren says not at all. She was just a mom? trying to compensate for her husband's lax parenting. Anne grew up in a very strict Catholic family, and she had her idea of how to deal with Kelly. She says Scott had turned the kids against their mom. Kelly's story about the gun?
Starting point is 00:31:19 Anne's lawyer says it never happened, and police found no proof Anne had ever bought a gun. And as for what neighbors and friends thought and heard, Lauren says Anne was just trying to defend her reputation and get a fair settlement. Anne knew that Scott was going around telling these individuals their personal business, painting a terrible picture of who Anne was as a wife and a mother. Lauren says she hoped the police suspicion of Anne would subside.
Starting point is 00:31:48 It did not. Once again, body cams were rolling on June 30th, 2017. At a hotel, two and a half miles from her former home, Anne Allen was arrested for Scott's murder. Jason Bird was later arrested. as well. It was like a weight off of our shoulders. You know, something's finally going to be done. After Anne's arrest, the crime lab gave police some welcome news. Some wood chips found in the family washing machine had Scott's DNA on them. It linked the house and the person in the house,
Starting point is 00:32:34 which was Aunt Allen, to the murder. And it suggested a cleanup. And it suggested a cleanup. Even with this new evidence, prosecutors were worried. The case against Ann Allen was threatening to fall apart before it even got started. Coming up... From the moment Detective Henderson arrived on that scene and was the one-and-only suspect. Did detectives rush to judgment? And did the jury hear enough to make a judgment? We were really limited to what the jury could hear about what really went on in that house.
Starting point is 00:33:09 Charged with her husband's murder, Anne Allen pleaded not guilty and waited in jail for her trial to begin. Her friend Rita was stunned. It was like, you've got to be kidding. There's no way that Anne would do something so heinous. There is no way. Anne's defense attorney, Andrew Jessick. So she's in jail and she just couldn't conceive that anybody, could think that this lifelong nurse would harm anyone.
Starting point is 00:33:56 Jekzik says he looked at the state's case and saw no real evidence. He says common sense told him there was no way Anne could have pulled off such a brutal beating since she walked with a cane or a crutch. The scene itself is so important in the manner of the killing. His forehead was demolished by whatever was hitting him was presumably a piece of wood. And Anne just didn't have that strength. I'm guessing the state responded to that by saying that people who are furious enough at other people can do superhuman things. They can say that, right? But then again, there needs to be evidence of it.
Starting point is 00:34:34 Not long after Anne was arrested, the state's case seemed to fray. After first arresting Jason Byrd, prosecutors decided not to move forward and dropped all charges. When we got to the point when we were going to present the evidence to the grand jury to make a decision, there wasn't enough. Search warrants were executed for Jason's home, for his truck. Correct. And nothing. None of Scott's stuff was there. Right. Prosecutors forged ahead, hoping a jury would see what they saw.
Starting point is 00:35:07 A woman who appeared sweet and harmless, but was actually filled with murderous rage. But prosecutors were also hampered by what. what they could say in court. Marilyn Law doesn't allow all prior bad acts to come in, and so because of that, that we were really limited to what the jury could hear about what really went on in that house. Do they get a real perspective?
Starting point is 00:35:29 They get a real picture of what life was like there? I don't think they did. The jury didn't get to hear just how toxic that marriage was. Didn't get to see the entirety of those police files on the family. Because you're stupid. and didn't get to hear any of those neighbors' recordings of Anne. Still, prosecutors said Anne was the only person who hated Scott enough to kill him.
Starting point is 00:35:57 It's personal. You think Anne killed Scott, not as the result of some argument that sort of flew off the handle. You think that when she woke up that day, that was the plan. I think she waited for him to get home that day. I think she knew he was going to go put a log or a few logs on. I think she waited and she went out there and attacked him.
Starting point is 00:36:16 I was outside to put wood on the fire, but that was it. And they said Anne's story about going outside to throw logs on the fire was beyond suspicious. Literally, in order to open that shed, would have had to step over Scott Horn's body. And she saw nothing. Saw nothing. On top of her hatred for Scott, the state said there was another motive. It was life insurance. How much?
Starting point is 00:36:44 It's a $500,000. The prosecutors knew that defense attorneys would say Anne was physically too frail to beat Scott to death. So they were ready. A security camera at neighbor Cindy's house showed that sometimes Anne used crutches and other times she did not. The crutch and the cane would come and go. It seemed at will. I mean, neighbors saw her both before and after walking around. She was fine. I mean, was she a person in her 60s?
Starting point is 00:37:16 Absolutely. But she's not incapable of committing this crime. The jury heard about the wood chips in the washer. Except, Anne's DNA wasn't on them. Just Scots. In fact, prosecutors couldn't prove that Anne's DNA was on Scott's body at all. Jury's like DNA. Jury's like DNA.
Starting point is 00:37:37 You didn't have it. I didn't have it. You go with ibuprofen or Advil every night? Wine. The defense thought prosecutors had every reason to worry because they said there was zero proof and killed Scott. They argued the whole investigation was a classic case of tunnel vision. I think 100% from the moment Detective Henderson arrived on that scene and was the one and only suspect. And you can see it when you watch his first interaction with her in the kitchen.
Starting point is 00:38:13 He was interacting with her like he knew that he found the person that did that. and that was it. The defense argued there was nothing suspicious about Anne not seeing Scott's body in the yard. The video proved how dark it was. And even police didn't find it when they went there for the welfare check that afternoon. The defense pushed back at the state's theory that Anne was motivated by money. Turns out she wasn't the beneficiary on that life insurance policy. Scott had taken her name off it. and a deep dive into the family finances showed this. Scott had 220,000 plus in credit card debt, spread amongst 21 different credit cards.
Starting point is 00:38:55 And she's on the hook for that. Absolutely. The defense rested, and jurors went to deliberate. After one day, they told the judge they were deadlocked. She sent them back, and on day two, there was a verdict. When the verdict was read, Anne just starts, like, wailing, just wailing. And she kept on just saying, thank you God, thank you God, thank you God.
Starting point is 00:39:22 I had a lot of people who were praying for Anne, and when I heard the verdict, it was like, yes, the prayers were answered. Anne Allen was found not guilty, and she was set free. I think she got away with murder. Everybody got up, and it was over. On to the next case. Scott's friends at the FBI were devastated. I wish there was more justice for him. He worked as an investigator solving crimes,
Starting point is 00:39:50 and his crime will never, I don't think, ever be solved. Laurel police say the case isn't closed, but they're not actively investigating unless new leads come in. Anne cannot be tried again, and after the verdict, she moved to another state. As for Riley and Kelly, they told us they're moving forward and trying to live each day the way their dad would have. You know, Riley and I determine how we do things by how would dad do it.
Starting point is 00:40:19 So, you know, just doing it to Scott Hornway. That's all for now. I'm Lester Holt. Thanks for joining us.

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