Snapped: Women Who Murder - Janice Dodson

Episode Date: October 10, 2021

Newlyweds Bruce and Janice Dodson go on a hunting trip that ends in murder.Season 26, Episode 5Originally aired: September 29, 2019Watch full episodes of Snapped for FREE on the Oxygen app: https://oxygentv.app.link/WsLCJWqmIebSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hi, I'm Lindsay Graham, the host of Wonder East Podcast American Scandal. Our newest series looks at the story of OxyContin, a popular painkiller that helps spur an epidemic of addiction and drug abuse, in which prompted a broad campaign to hold the pharmaceutical industry accountable. Listen to American Scandal on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. A second chance that love brings a kind-hearted bachelor out of his shell. He really dotted on her. He kinda lit up.

I saw them as a happy couple. But a trip off the grid lands them in the spotlight. I got you. Run down. Run down. Run down. Run down. Run down to the dead, and then run down to the hill, the one dead. Investigators struggle to navigate a trail of lies.

Every piece of evidence, it all works together to put the pieces back into this puzzle. But the truth lies far beneath the surface. Is this a dirty cop? Has he gone up there and killed for a woman? What he did just destroyed her. I'm no longer just for my heart, but you're not behind me.

It all fits into the pattern. That's not a human being. That's a monster. The National Forest The National Forest The National Forest The National

The October 15th 1995 Uncompagray National Forest Uncompagray National Forest Uncompagray National Forest Uncompagray National Forest Uncompagray National Forest Uncompagray National Forest Uncompagray National Forest

Uncompagray National Forest Uncompagray National Forest Uncompagray National Forest Uncompagray National Forest Uncompagray National Forest Uncompagray National Forest Uncompagray National Forest Uncompagray National Forest Uncompagray National Forest Uncompagray National Forest Uncompagray National Forest Uncompagray National Forest Uncompagray National Forest Uncompagray National Forest Uncompagray National Forest Uncompagray National Forest Uncompagray National Forest of wilderness over in Western Colorado. A lot of aspens, a lot of open fields out there, a lot of spruce, a lot of wildlife up there.

It's really beautiful. Off-duty Texas police officers, Doug Kyle and Michael Madewell are enjoying the third full day of a week-long hunting trip. We had a little breakfast, and then I went back to bed, because I'd already shot a deer, and it was early in the morning, and I didn't have to get up. Doug doesn't get to sleep in for long. I was awakened by a gunshot, and the gunshot was very close

to the camp. I heard some hollering, and I thought, well, this somebody is shot on animal, and they've celebrating a little bit. And then another shot went off. And another shot. There's, you know, 300, 400 hunters within miles. You can't speculate anything when you hear shots.

I chose to stay in my position until I was satisfied the shooting was over with. At that point, I said, well, I just get on the start taking care of my animal now. I headed about halfway done. and someone behind me said, that's an ice fork horn you've got there. The woman introduces herself as Janice Dodson. She said my husband, he's over there hunting.

She was waiting on him to come back. She said that she was going to go look for her husband. An hour later, at 9.30am, Doug hears something unsettling. It was a person screaming for help. I took a quick dash to the top of the rise and could see this lady that I had spoken to previously standing over someone laying on the ground. She had a hundred orange vest, and it was in her hands, and she was waving it.

And hollering, why didn't you have your best, though? Why didn't you have your best, though? He was lying face down, hands on either side of his torso. There was a rifle laying beside him. There was three empty shell casins laying to one side of him. I could see that there was a large bullet hole in between the shoulder blades of his back. I say, who is this?

Then she said, it's my husband, it's Bruce. Bruce. Baltimore, Maryland native Bruce Dodson was always quiet nature. It was very compassionate, he really cared about people. He felt a comfort, you know, just sitting there with him and just talking. After serving four years in the Navy at the height of the Vietnam War, Bruce decided to relocate to Western Colorado and began a career as a lab technician in local hospitals. I know Bruce quite well. He's a very bright guy, a real pleasant fellow. And we enjoyed his presence and not only his professional skills, but it's personality. Bruce's calming presence helped him easily make friends, but when it came to love, he rarely put forth the effort.

For the several years that I knew him, I never knew him to go out and date. Bruce Dodson may not have been looking for love, but love found him anyway. In 1993, he started dating a nurse named Janice. Janice K. Sanders was born in Houston, Texas in 1951 and grew up in a family that loved the great outdoors. She was an avid hunter, like since she's been eight years old. When every year with her parents.

Janice told friends that she had a troubled childhood and a rocky relationship with her parents. She had some issues in lack to escape her home life. She had to get out. Janice soon landed in the arms of a hometown cowboy life. So he had to get out. Janice soon landed in the arms of a hometown cowboy named JC Lee. She met JC when she was very young and you know, we're out west and cowboys are quite appealing to everybody. The couple married and had two kids, a daughter and a son. JC was a ranch hand, and ranch hands didn't make a lot of money.

He was in and out at Johns, but she didn't care. For Janice, JC was the man who'd rescued her from her turbulent home life. If you have an opportunity to escape and you have someone there to assist you. That individual, you're probably going to have an undying loyalty to and be eternally grateful for them from taking you out of a really heinous situation. She'd do anything for him.

With GC by her side, Janice felt she could do anything. And in 1982, she went back to school and became a registered nurse. She eventually landed a job at Delta County Memorial Hospital in Delta, Colorado. I met Janice in a hospital. We were work friends.

She was a great nurse. All her patients loved her. She worked on what we called the medical school. In a hospital, we were work friends. She was a great nurse. All her patients loved her. She worked on what we called the medical surgical unit. She was very lively, very friendly, very outgoing. Then, in 1990, Janice's marriage crumbled around her. J.C. had, in fact, cheated on her.

He laughed and was with a much, much younger girl. They had been together 20 plus years. So it was very traumatic for her. I think what he did just destroyed her. destroyed her. Janice relocated to a hospital 30 minutes south of Delta in Montrose, Colorado. But she maintained close ties to her former place of employment and to one coworker in particular,

Bruce Dodson. She needed someone in her life to help her get through the difficult time that she was going through. She said he was very nice to her. And they seemed happy. She said it was time to get on with her life. Slowly but surely, Janice recovered from her divorce and reinvented herself. When I first met her, she used to dress very conservatively. After this divorce with J.C. and she came to my house

and she had a beautiful sequenced dress. And I was like, I first I didn't know who she was. Her newfound confidence made a big impression on everyone around her, especially Bruce. She was very vivacious, you know, lady. Bruce seemed very happy, so we thought it was a good match. He really doted on her. He kind of lit up.

Whenever Janice was there, you know, he would just seem a little bit brighter and happier. After dating for several years, You know, he would just seem a little bit brighter and happier. After dating for several years, the couple tied the knot on July 15, 1995. Bruce adored Janice, just adored Janice. I saw them as a happy couple. Then, three months later, Janice finds Bruce lying face down near their campsite in the

Uncompagrae National Forest shot in the back. After hearing screams, off-duty police officer Doug Kyle runs up and tries to help. I got down beside the man, tried to take a pulse on his neck. I could not find a pulse. I did not see any movement from his chest. I said, man, I'm sorry, that this man is deceased. I said, there's nothing we can do for him at this point, but go get authorities.

And I drove up the mountain. And there was a man on the side of the road talking on a cell phone. And he dialed 911. I'm off on the divide road. And if the man been shot to the other pier, the wing of the path is fast. I don't know why.

I'm the subcarrier of the guy came and said that his camp was so long dead. It's my seven-sided M.H.C.L.P. was so walk-through. It's Mike, seven-sided, somebody came. We are all. Coming up, the investigation gets off to a rocky start. I immediately stopped and I said, well, this is different. This is not the way I left this. And theories begin swirling.

I thought, well, maybe this guy was signaling for help. But the more questions you ask, the more questions pop up. On October 15, 1995, a distressing 911 call has multiple law enforcement agencies en route to a remote section of Uncompagre National Forest in Mesa, Colorado. It was my understanding that the gentleman had been shot on a hunting trip and his wife had discovered her husband laying in the open area with his orange vest and hat off of his body. The victim is reported to be 48-year-old hospital lab technician Bruce Dodson. What happened to this person was it an accident or he commit suicide, or was it actually a murder?

Shortly before noon, Amesa County Sheriff's Deputy arrives. The deputy let me walk him down and when I got to the spot with him, I immediately stopped and I said, well, this is different. I said, this is not the way I left this. He was face down when I left him.

When I got back, he was laying on his back. And he's covered up with a blanket. She covered him up, trying to keep him warm till he helped out there. Different people act different ways when they're expressing grief. You know, here they are in the middle of nowhere in the mountains. And this is her husband, and he's laying here dead. The officer's sympathize, but also worry

that the evidence of what happened to Bruce Dodson is already slipping away. As an officer, come into a scene, you want to see it as raw as you can find it. Everything on that scene tells you a part of the story. And once you disturb that, that disturbs the story. Bruce's grieving widow is led back to her camp while investigators begin processing the scene.

The deputy that I had met with initially said, you know, just take her up there and get her away right now so we can start processing this. One of the first details investigators notice is a bolt-action rifle lying on the ground near the victim's body, along with three empty shell casings. The shell casing being close to him would indicate that the rifle was fired there. Did Bruce shoot himself? Law enforcement are able to rule out this theory almost immediately. He sure didn't commit suicide. How does a man shoot himself in the back? You know, with a long rifle,

much less ejecting three shells. Police also noticed an orange hunter's vest lying nearby. When we examined the clothing, we found that the vest had a set of two holes going through the front of it. The fatal wound that had gone through the rest of the clothing didn't correspond to those holes. There was no blood on the vest, which is one of the reasons that we concluded that he may have taken the vest off to use it as a warning flag. Maybe this guy was signaling for help, you know, and he fired these three shots, and that's how they got ejected right there. But, you know, the more questions you ask, the more questions pop up, actually.

questions pop up, actually. Where Bruce was shot was in a clear area surrounded by the woods. And I remember a fence being close by. Walking along the fence line, investigators notice one post with a bullet hole in it, a hole that seems to line up perfectly with the location of the victim's body. When they found the bullet hole through the fence post, they run some string through it towards where the body was laying, and they run it on up the hill, 30, 40, 50 yards,

and they drew a big circle. Investigators conclude that the shooter was standing in a patch of oak brush, which overlooked the valley below. It was late enough in the morning that the sunlight was up and it was clear, so there was no reason to believe it. It was shooting through fog or anything like that, and would have mistaken him for game. It was a clear view, and the only thing intervening

was that one fence post, which was really a strange coincidence. If the shooter knew Bruce wasn't game, could he have been targeted intentionally? To provide insight, authorities turn their attention to Bruce's wife. According to Janice, she and her husband arrived in the park two nights earlier

and spent the previous day hunting together. It was his first time to go hunting. His wife was a very experienced hunter since the time that she was a child. Janice says they got up around five this morning and repeated the hunting technique they had used the day before. Her instructions to him were, I'm going to chase the game down out of the brush above you, and so be prepared to shoot, because I'll be chasing the game down the hill to you. Janice says they agreed to meet back at camp around 9.30am, but she had to come back earlier to change clothes.

She changed clothes because she said she had gotten muddy in this bog in a short time later. She discovered her husband laying in the open area. Janice also tells investigators about a strange encounter she had before sunrise. According to Janice, she crossed paths with a hunter walking along the middle of the ridge, wearing camouflage. Somebody wearing camo during a rifle season, a regular rifle season would be nuts. Any time that you're away from a camp, most experienced hunters wear their orange for safety. Could Janice have seen her husband's shooter? Investigators press her for more information,

but it seems the traumatic series of events has taken a toll on her. She got very quiet, and she began shaking. One of the forest service police came out with an oxygen bottle in a mask, in a med kit, and they went to work in owner. And pretty soon, they were calling for a helicopter to come get her.

Janice is airlifted to a nearby hospital and her husband's body is transported to the coroner's office for an autopsy. Investigators went back to the crime scene and started collecting more evidence. Before the sun sets, investigators collect Janice's hunting gear, including a 270 caliber Winchester rifle, and the muddy clothes

she was wearing that morning. The firearms had been seized from the husband's camp. Her clothing had to be examined for blood, and also for mud, and other things were on there. and also poor mud, and other things are on there. As daylight fades, Doug Kyle's hunting partner and fellow off-duty police officer, Michael Maidwell, finally returns to the camp he left early that morning.

One of the officers grabs me and then interrogates me as to where I've been and what I've been doing all day. When he told me there was a hunter killed, all I could think of was Doug. Investigators inform Michael that Doug is not the victim, but for authorities, he is a person of interest. They had been interrogating him most of the day. They asked a lot of questions of me, you know? Like, do y'all know each other somehow? They were looking at me and going, is this a dirty cop?

Has he gone up there and killed a man for a woman? Coming up, investigators struggle to identify the truth from conflicting stories. Her next husband always had camped in this exact same spot. You don't know what's going through there, mind jealousy. And a new theory emerges. Isn't it interesting that they were camped right next to each other?

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and quite possibly contemplating growing a beard like Letterman's. I know I have. You can listen to these episodes four weeks early and add free on Wondry Plus, find Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple podcasts. MUSIC October 15, 1995, Mesa, Colorado. Just hours after local resident Bruce Dodson is found dead, investigators are questioning Doug Kyle,

the man who initially reported Bruce's death and their first person of interest in the case. The deputy that had originally responded asked me to come to his vehicle and sit in his vehicle with him and give him a statement. It became a little more intense there for a while after that on the questioning. Investigators are also questioning Doug's friend, Michael Maidwell,

who has just returned to their camp. I gave him pretty much the details when I left, when I got back, where I was hunting, you know, exact location. I let him know that I did have my rifle with me, and I also had Doug's rifle in the truck. So that pushed him away as he suspect. The next day, Bruce's friend and coworker, Dr. Thomas Canfield,

is tasked with determining the cause of death. Emotionally, just for an autopsy on a friend, is difficult, or it goes for the territory. You know, you need to do it. You need a good job. I know a lot of the people in the lab were... they were devastated. But honey accidents happened. And working in a hospital, you see it.

But authorities already have questions about whether or not Bruce's death was an accident. When I examined the clothing, I discovered fairly quickly that there were three gunshot wounds in the clothing, one of which was in the vest that did not hit Bruce. The other two hit him and one of them caused his death. They called the sheriff's office at Mason County, and said, we do not have an accident. We have a homicide.

Based on the damage to the body, Dr. Canfield confirms that the victim was murdered with a hunting rifle. Now, hunting rifle is a high-powered rifle that uses usually soft tip to hollow tip bullets so that it will expand and do damage to the heart of the animal you're shooting at. At the crime scene, investigators continue their search in an area where they believe the killer stood and fired. We could see the brush was all trampled down,

and we found two cartridge cases, and we knew that there was a relatively small diameter of hunting rifle. Investigators determine the shell casings are 308 caliber Winchester cartridges, which do not match those found near Bruce's body, or any of the guns recovered from his wife, Janice, or the two witnesses.

Clubs of 308 caliber belong to the mystery man, Janice, reported seeing. Where's the gun? The kill this man. At an impasse, detectives decide to speak to Janice Dotson again. She is still recovering from the shock of her husband's death. Janice starts by explaining she and Bruce had planned the weekend getaway, hoping to run into her former in-laws. They've come from Texas to Colorado and actually hunted in that same area.

She went up there with Bruce to camp in the same area. When asked if her ex-husband, JC Lee, was also going to be there, Janice says she isn't sure, but it's a place he knows well. Her next husband always had camped in this exact same spot. The whole divorce occurred because he cheated on her. And so she was pretty frustrated and angry. It's strange. Out of all the places to go hunting, especially on the western

slope that you had picked an area to where your ex-husband is and your friends are in laws or whatever they were. It's just strange. Investigators find the campsite of Janice's former in-laws and interview her ex-husband's brother. They were all hunting at the same time and this in this close proximity to each other. According to his brother, JC was in the area over the weekend, but left the campsite the previous evening.

The ex-husbands in the area with all of his relatives that you don't know what's going through their mind jealousy, it could be any number of motives that would occur. While authorities tried to track down J.C. Lee, they contacted Bruce and Janice's friends and family. We got word that it wasn't an accident, that it was a homicide. And I'm like, what do you mean? It was a homicide.

Who would put three bullets in somebody? Somebody like him. He had no enemies. When investigators speak to Janice's friends, they are surprised to learn that she went to East Texas just a few months ago to see her ex-husband. Well, she still loved Jay-C. And she told me she loved Jay-C.

And even when she married Bruce, she loved JC. Because he was her soulmate, she told me. Then, just four months after her trip, Bruce Dodson was dead. And isn't it interesting that they were camped right next to each other, JC and her. On October 18th, investigators tracked down JC Lee at his home in Layton, Utah. As I remember, JC was very friendly and outgoing, a talkative, and denied any knowledge of the killing of Bruce. JC tells investigators he planned to spend the weekend

with his family and girlfriend, and didn't know that Bruce and Janice were going to be hunting in Uncompagray that weekend. He did have an alibi because he did have other hundred companions with him. Despite his alibi, detectives have their doubts. Being an ex-husband, the jealousy factor, it's always suspicious to when a lady marries a man, the ex-husband's in the area. They all camped at the same place, and then Bruce ends up being killed. An investigator then asks about a handwritten list

on a nearby table. J.C. says it is a list of items that went missing from his tent on the afternoon of October 14th, the day before Bruce's murder. The list includes a 308 caliber Remington rifle. The caliber of the cartridge cases were the same as a gun that had come up missing. The theory was out there that maybe JC had been involved.

Is JC attempting to cover his tracks by claiming his gun was stolen? Or did he unknowingly supply the killer with the murder weapon? If JC was in the area either he was a part of the plan or someone was setting him up. Investigators ask if Janice knew where JC's campsite was. He says he has camped in the same area since he was married to Janice three years ago.

JC was pretty much forthcoming, very helpful to us during the investigation. JC then tells detectives about the strange encounter with Janice a few weeks before she married Blues. She went to D.C. and tried one more time to reconcile. And I think at that time he was already with this other girl and it was just never gonna happen. So I think at that time that's a reality check for her. To clear his name, D.C. agrees to provide fingerprints.

Before they leave, investigators ask if he believes Janice might be capable of murder. He says he's not sure. So I think JC cheating on her, leaving her for a younger person. She was devastated. Whatever Janice did for a younger person. She was devastated. Whatever Janice did after that, I think she was just going through the motions. Coming up, authorities follow the trail of evidence to an explosive conclusion. It all fits into the pattern of everything that was going on. And learn that in this case, nothing is what it seems.

How could you have this other side of you that could be so dark and so evil? Two days into the investigation of the murder of Bruce Dodson, authorities in Mesa County, Colorado are focusing on Bruce's widow, Janice Dodson. I was focused on her as being a suspect for sure. She knew people were going to be there, who would be suspicious just by them being there and Bruce being killed. I think she set the whole thing up. What is that old saying, never underestimate a woman's scorn?

He would be a good patsy, you know, put the blame on him. They'll never believe grieving little lo me, you know. My ex-husband. Though detectives have evidence suggesting Janice was still in love with her ex-husband, JC Lee, they've yet to uncover any motive for her to want Bruce dead. I don't recall her mentioning any problems at all.

There was no friction, nothing. A look at the couple's financial records presents a different narrative. She was strapped for money in the past, didn't have a great deal of income, and now she had married a man with substantial amount of money and insurance. But it's kind of a double-edged sword

because he was very frugal, so he really wouldn't give her a lot of money, so she would get disappointed with him. The couple's divergent financial paths raise plenty of questions for detectives. Over the following weeks, detectives compile a list of Bruce Dodson's personal assets, which include three separate life insurance policies. Shortly after they were married, that she had suggested to Bruce that he do a will

with her being the beneficiary of everything he had in the event of his death. Investigators conclude that at the time of Bruce's death, Janice stood to receive more than $450,000 in death benefits and inherited assets. I don't actually convince them to sign over a will within the first few weeks of marriage, but the thing is, as crazy as all that is,

doesn't mean she's guilty, not now, it's a law. Three months after the murder of Bruce Dodson, Mesa County detectives ask Janice Dodson to submit to a polygraph examination. It didn't work. It's going to be 1996 and the time is 11.15 am. And this will be an organic examination with a Janice Dodson. It's a good way to conduct an interview

without being too accusatory to start with. You can gather information that exonerates people as well. So a lot of people are willing to take them just for that reason. Investigator John Hakes confronts Genese with the theory that she murdered her husband for money. I grew up in the middle of the world. OK. When I found her, I knew you'd get me in the middle of it.

That was a big point in the polygraph examination. Was it? She had no reason to do it because she came from a wealthy family, and she didn't really need the money. Based on information from Janisse's friends, investigators suspect this is a lie. I heard she came from a poor family.

She always had to struggle. So naturally money could be an incentive to do something that you normally would never do. It was three irrelevant questions and two relevant questions. Do you find a good shot at Connard Bruce there? Yeah. It was three irrelevant questions and two relevant questions. Did you kill Bruce? Are you the one that actually killed Bruce? She did show a deceptive on that. There's no doubt. How would you quite honest with the usual and deceptive on the issue? I can show you right down the line.

Okay. She was confident the whole time, extremely confident. Her ego, I think her ego was very visible. She maintained her story. I was giving it to you. I'm giving you my shield. I'm going to go on the desk for my heart. I'm going to go on the desk for my heart. I'm going to go on the death from my heart, I'm in my heart.

With nothing concrete tying Janice to the murder, detectives have to let her go, and the investigation drags on for months. Janice Dodson moves on with her life, and one year after Bruce's death, she gets remarried to a long-time friend named Bart Hall. She had remarried, and she had gone back to Texas. It all fits into the pattern of everything that was going on because the relationship she had with the victim was pretty minor. And it was at just short time span

in between the death of her husband and then getting remarried. On April 4th, 1997, investigators interview Janice's new husband. He tells them he recently took out a $100,000 life insurance policy to make sure that Janice is taken care of if anything happens to him. She's going through men like water. You know, I hope this guy knows what he's getting into. make sure that Janice is taken care of if anything happens to him. She's going through men like water. You know, I hope this guy knows what he's getting into,

and that he doesn't mind to be another victim. Though it's been nearly two years since Bruce's death, the office feels a new sense of urgency to put Janice behind bars. That was a lot of good police work done at the start, but I think there was some brick walls that were hit. You know, it went cold for a little while. And then the DA's office in Mesa County picked it up and started the investigation again,

and they were trying to pull facts together. Reading through Janice's past statements, investigators noticed she'd claimed that on the morning of the murder, she stepped into a bog and returned to her camp to change clothes. I remember her talking about getting that mud on her boots and on her overalls. On June 23, 1998, nearly three years after Bruce's murder, In 1998, nearly three years after Bruce's murder, investigators returned to the Uncompagray National Forest to search for the missing murder weapon one more time. They concentrate their search on the bog near Janice's camp and on a pond near JC Lee's

camp. When she came back to her camp, she had mud up to her knees, and that's why we felt that she had weighed out into that mud. To determine exactly where Janice got stuck in the mud, investigators collect soil samples from both the bog and the pond. It's hard to tell dirt from one another, especially in a mountainous area. Initially, everything appears to be some color of brown.

There are two plastic bags, each containing soil. People think that dirt is dirt. And I took samples of this to show that within five feet, the soil can vary tremendously. By comparing the new samples to the clothes Janice was wearing on the day of the murder, investigators hoped to verify Janice's location that morning. I got four samples from the pond, two samples from the bog, and I got two samples from her clothing.

The results will either verify Janice's alibi or prove that she has been lying to investigators since day one. Coming up, nearly three years after the death of Bruce Dodson, the truth finally emerges. He must have known somebody was trying to kill him. She knew people would be suspicious just by them being there. Every piece of evidence works together to make a whole complete picture. In the spring of 1998, nearly three years after the murder of Bruce Dodson, investigators are reviewing the final pieces of forensic evidence to test his widow, Janice's alibi. The results indicated that the clothing matched those of the pond and not those of the

bog. It ends up being bentonite that they found, which is a material that's used to seal the pond so they won't leak water. They searched that mountain and the only body of water that had bentonite and it was the mud hole right in front of her ex-husband's camp. That was a big deal.

Her story then just fell apart. Contrary to her account to police, the evidence proves that Janice Dodson was near JC Lee's camp during the weekend her husband was murdered. The same weekend that a 308 caliber Remington rifle was reportedly stolen from Lee's tent. I don't think JC had anything to do with Bruce's death at all. I think she picked up the spot where it happened.

She knew people would be suspicious just by them being there. The evidence also clears JC Lee of any wrongdoing. The investigation proved to be on a reasonable doubt that Janice planned this to make it look like a hunting accident. You can make all these assumptions, but no hard evidence until you get to the mud. Thank you out for the mud.

On October 23, 1998, police arrest Janice Dodson at her home in Nacodocis, Texas. The district attorney with Mice County said we have made an arrest. I said, well, did she go peacefully? He said, well, she had a shotgun. When they went in the door, she was hiding behind the bed with it, but thank goodness she didn't use it. On February 22nd, 2000, Janice Dodson got a gun. She was hiding behind the bed with it, but thinkin' that she didn't use it.

On February 22nd, 2000, Janice Dodson goes on trial for first degree murder. Prosecutors lay out the chain of events that took place on the morning of October 15th, 1995. Well, what in the spontaneous act? She obviously had planned to go out. She knew where he was going to be hunting, and she went to that area and committed the crime. According to prosecutors, there was one element

Janice hadn't considered, a small fence post between her and her target. I think that the bullet had changed trajectory slightly going to the post. a small fence post between her and her target. I think that the bullet had changed trajectory slightly going to the post, and as a result of that, rather than being going into the body, it just hit the vest, which was sticking out to the front. Prosecutors contend that as a result of this warning shot,

Bruce Dodson took off his vest. It would have been a very scary situation if you were the victim to hear the gun shot and hear that and feel that bullet going right through your clothing like that. I think he was waving it over his head and yelling so that whoever had fired that shot would know that he was a person and not an animal. Prosecutors say Janice Dodson fired again.

He must have known somebody was trying to kill him. The second bullet hit Bruce Dodson, but did not kill him. Prosecutors say that's when Janice Dodson fired a final time. How does anybody sit there and look through a rifle site to somebody you know and shoot them three times? Anybody who can do premeditated, cold, hard, murder, you're not all there. You're just not all there. According to prosecutors, Janice later placed three empty shell casings on the ground beside her husband's body to make it look like he'd accidentally shot himself.

Then, she had approximately one hour to change clothes and dispose of the murder weapon before Doug Kyle heard her screaming. One of the D.A. investigators told me, he said, you know Doug, he said, this was a God thing. He said, you were put there to make sure she didn't get away with this. And I said, well, if that's my part, then I'm glad I played it. As to why Janice shot her husband in cold blood, prosecutors say it all boiled down to money.

$495,000. They probably last her a couple of years. From what I'd heard through the detective, she was out collecting life insurance and blowing and going and just having a grand old time. Through it all, Janice maintains her innocence. But on March 20, 2000, she is found guilty of murdering Bruce Dodson.

She was sentenced to life in prison. She said she always had faith in God and God let her down. I can't believe this because this is not the person I know. So how could you have this other side of you that could be so dark and so evil. Though the sentencing offers closure for Bruce's loved ones, it does little to bring them peace. It's very, very sad, because he truly, truly adored, Janice and really wanted the best things for her. That's not a human being he made me an awesome monster.

In 2002, Jenis Dodson's appeal for a retrial was denied. She is currently incarcerated at the Denver Women's Correctional Facility. For more information on snapped, go to oxygen.com.