Okay, I think I see everybody.
It's time for the Dateline Story Meeting.
We'll go ahead and get started.
Our producers are catching up on breaking crime news.
It sounds like they solved it pretty quickly.
I find it totally fascinating.
I want to see all those tapes and read all those text messages.
It took them a long time to get justice.
Welcome to Dateline True Crime Weekly.
I'm Lester Holt.
It's February 19th, and here's what's on our docket.
In Miami.
20 years after a college football player was gunned down on the way home from practice, one of his teammates is on trial for his murder.
Well, in the arrest warrant, they suggested that Jones was envious of Brian.
In Deadline Roundup a verdict in the case of the New Jersey businessman accused of murdering his own brother and three other family members.
And emotions run high at the sentencing of the au pair at the heart of a bizarre double murder.
By the end of these statements, Juliana was wiping her eyes and crying.
Plus, the Winter Olympics are wrapping up soon, but more big sporting events are on the horizon.
NBC News' Vicki Wynn is here with some tips on stadium safety.
You are here to have a good time, to cheer on your team.
This should not become a matter of life and death.
Before all that, we're headed to Michigan, where the trial of a farmer accused of murdering his wife and then concealing her body in a fertilizer tank is underway.
Back in April 2021, 52-year-old grandmother Dee Warner vanished from the home she shared with her husband Dale.
The case quickly made local headlines and eventually made its way to us.
Please listen closely to this story because it could be the key to unlocking the mystery of what really happened to Dee Ann Warner.
Josh Mankiewicz covered Dee's disappearance as part of our Dateline Missing in America series.
Family members told us they were desperate for answers.
There was just something in my gut that told me something was really wrong, and they told us they suspected Dee's husband Dale, had murdered her.
Investigators were suspicious too.
Two years later, in November 2023, even though her body had not been found, Dale was arrested and charged with Dee's murder.
Then, in August 2024, investigators found human remains inside a sealed tank on a property tied to the family.
It was Dee.
Now nearly five years after Dee disappeared, Dale Warner is facing a jury.
He has pleaded not guilty.
Dateline producer Sergei Ivanin has been following the trial closely.
Sergei, thanks for joining us.
Glad to be here, Lester.
Sergey, remind us who Dee was and what happened when she disappeared.
So Dee Warner was a successful 52-year-old mother, grandmother and business owner well known in the community.
She and her husband.
They own a successful trucking company and a fertilizer company and they lived on this large farming property in Lenawee County.
So on April 25th 2021, one of her adult children goes to her house to have a Sunday breakfast and cannot find her anywhere.
They cannot reach her.
And that was highly unusual.
Dee was constantly on her phone calling and texting and in regular contact with her family.
So I'm curious what Dale was telling investigators.
He said that Dee had left home many times before.
There was a pattern of leaving and implying that her disappearance was actually voluntary.
He acknowledged there were some marital issues and said they fought the night before and suggested she probably went to her son's house as she usually would.
Sergey, at that point investigators didn't have a body, so how were they able to build a strong enough case to arrest him anyway?
According to court records and testimony, investigators uncovered a bunch of digital evidence they believed was significant and pointing to Dale.
They found him repeatedly accessing the GPS and OnStar tracking systems that connected to Dee's cars multiple times hundreds, even thousands of times.
And to them, that was a pattern of him trying to control and keep track of where she was.
Prosecutors claim that that level of monitoring doesn't really line up with the idea that Dale had no idea where Dee was, or that she had simply left on her own.
And in fact the cameras on the farm didn't show Dee leaving anywhere at any time, at any point on that weekend.
So Dan was behind bars when investigators made that huge breakthrough in the case and found Dee's body.
How did they find it?
In August of 2024, investigators removed their large anhydrous pneumonia tank from a property that was tied to the family.
It was marked, do not use, and had suspicious weld marks.
They brought out a portable x-ray machine, and when they looked inside, they found Dee's remains.
And we got to see that x-ray photo for the first time at the trial.
It was very chilling.
Her face and neck were wrapped in duct tape.
She was wrapped in a tarp, welded into a tank and an autopsy determined Adia died from strangulation and blunt force trauma to her head and face.
What a horrific image that must have been.
So let's fast forward to the trial, if we can.
You were in the courtroom for opening statements.
How did the prosecution begin its case?
The prosecution's strategy was a classic connect-the-dots opening.
They connected digital searches, video, the tank, conduct during the search warrant.
In addition to looking at all the evidence that I just showed you, you're going to be able to compare the statements that Dale made to the police.
And here's something we didn't know before.
They said that surveillance footage showed Dale gathering welding supplies around the time she had disappeared.
It was also caught on body cam.
According to prosecutors, he was moving his wife's body under the noses of law enforcement who had come to investigate her disappearance.
And you also see that he moves a tank while the police are searching.
What are they saying is the alleged motive?
Prosecutors say that this case centers around money and control.
Dee, according to her children, was done.
Dee had been talking about divorce on and off, but this time she really meant it.
She wanted to sell the trucking business.
She was done with it.
And if that were to happen, they all stood to lose financially.
And according to prosecutors, that fear of losing financially escalated into violence.
She went home to tell her husband, the defendant, that the marriage was over.
They were selling their businesses and they were through.
She was never seen or heard from again.
The prosecution's first witnesses were mostly Dee's kids from an earlier marriage.
Why do you think the prosecution wanted the jury to hear from them first?
The first few days were really about painting a picture of the marriage and of Dee's final weekend.
Dee's children described that relationship as fraught with fights.
Did you have a chance to observe your mom's reactions to Dale?
If they would be fighting and he would try to give her a massage or touch her.
Yes.
All right.
And can you describe those reactions?
Uncomfortable.
What do you mean by uncomfortable?
What would she do?
Almost freeze.
They said Dia talked about divorce several times before, but this time it was different.
Had she talked about divorce with you before?
Yes.
But this was the first you were hearing about selling the business?
Yes.
Dee's daughter, Raquel Bach.
When she took the stand she described her mom as a shell of herself that weekend.
Did you recognize the clothing that she was found in?
Yes.
And what was she wearing?
Pajamas.
And she told jurors that Dee would have never left the house in pajamas or without her makeup or hair done.
So this is something that prosecutors wanted to emphasize.
The prosecutors also showed body cam of Dale talking to sheriff's deputies when they came to investigate Dee's disappearance.
So the jury got to hear Dale in his own words through that.
This isn't the first time she's done this, guys.
The first thing is she's not communicating with anybody.
But the only thing that's really strange too, is this time Prosecutors are pointing to the gap between what Dale told deputies and the digital record, which shows no travel, no phone activity, no financial movement.
So tell me how the defense is fighting back.
So the defense is saying the state's case is built on circumstantial evidence, not proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
They argue there is no direct evidence Dale had committed the murder.
They challenged family members on how they characterized the marriage.
In fact, none of the kids said that they saw any physical violence between the two.
Consider very carefully if what the government is actually presenting to you is actual evidence of murder or something that they are theorizing and speculating is evidence of murder.
This feels like it could be a long trial.
How long do they expect it to last?
The trial is expected to last between seven and nine weeks, and I expect it to conclude in late March.
Sergey, thanks so much.
Pleasure to be here.
Coming up, a college football player is on trial for the murder of his teammate 20 years ago.
And once again, welcome to College Football Primetime, the first ACC meeting between former Big East rivals, Boston College, still on the hunt to win the conference title, and Miami.
You're listening to ESPN's coverage of the 2006 Thanksgiving Day matchup between the University of Miami Hurricanes and the Boston College Eagles.
But something more than a friendly rivalry was in the air that night as players took to the field.
There was also a profound sense of grief.
Look at this moment here.
Brian Potter's image.
Slain Hurricane teammate.
A banner that fans made.
And the team gathering around it at midfield.
What a moment.
Just two weeks before the game, the Hurricanes' 22-year-old defensive lineman, Brian Pata, had been shot in the back of the head on his way home from a football practice.
The murder made national headlines, but for 15 years, there were no arrests.
Until in August 2021, Rashawn Jones, one of those players who had gathered on the field to remember Brian, was charged with murder.
Jones insists he had nothing to do with Brian's death.
On Wednesday, his trial began.
Dateline producer Jay Young was in the courtroom and is there to get us up to speed.
Hi, Jay.
Thanks for coming on.
Thanks for having me, Lester.
So Jay, before we get into the drama that's going on inside the courtroom, let's rewind a little bit and talk about Brian Petta.
For people who don't follow college football, remind us what a big deal he was, both on and off the field.
He was raised here in Miami.
He was one of nine kids, the youngest.
And for the most part, he was raised by a single parent, his mother, Jeanette Pata.
He had a bigger-than-life personality.
And he was talented.
Being a defensive lineman for the University of Miami Hurricanes, that's huge.
Everyone knew he was destined to play in the NFL.
So, what do we know about the night Brian was murdered?
Brian was heading home from practice that night.
It was about 7 p.m., And he got out of his car and then was shot in the back of the head.
His girlfriend, Jada Brody, discovered Brian on the ground, unresponsive and bleeding, on a walkway near his car.
Jay, in those early days of the investigation, police had a lot of leads to look into, didn't they?
They did.
Police interviewed more than 100 people in this case.
But all that work ultimately led to no arrests as the time ticked by.
Years passed.
Brian Pata's family pleaded for tips at a press conference held by police in 2017.
That's 11 years after the shooting.
Let's take a listen to a clip of that presser from Local 10, an ABC affiliate.
You know, we waiting so long to find the answer who killed my son.
We believe that somebody has to know who was involved.
If you know anything, just do the right thing.
So, Jay, the case seemed really stuck, but then a team of reporters at ESPN started digging into it.
Is there a sense that they were somehow able to shake things loose?
Yeah, there was, Lester.
One of the big things they uncovered was that investigators had person of interest in the case from very early on, none other than Brian's teammate, Rashawn Jones.
Yeah, not long after this all came out, Rashawn Jones was arrested.
Did investigators explain what they thought Jones' alleged motive might have been?
Well, in the arrest warrant, they shared that there was tension between Brian and Rashawn.
And they suggested that Jones was envious of Brian, that Brian was doing better in his career.
And remember Brian's girlfriend?
He discovered his body, Jada Brody.
Well, it turns out that Jones had been interested in her at one point, and investigators say that was just one more reason for Jones to be jealous of Brian.
Did investigators find any forensic or physical evidence connecting Jones to the crime?
No, there really wasn't much at this crime scene.
They did have a little bit of cell phone evidence, but keep in mind this was back in 2006.
So cell phone technology was, relatively speaking, rudimentary.
But one of the biggest breaks they got was an eyewitness who placed Jones at the scene.
It was a professor who lived in the same apartment complex as Brian and he said he heard a shot that night.
Then, he said, he saw a man walking briskly past him.
He later identified that man as Rashawn Jones in a photo line-up.
An eyewitness, that sounds like a big break.
So presumably that person is a key witness for the prosecution at the trial.
Well interestingly, that eyewitness is now in his 80s and he doesn't remember the details of the case all that well.
The judge isn't going to allow him to testify, but she will allow the prosecution to introduce a video of his testimony that was taken a few years ago, back in 2022, at a pretrial hearing.
How's that going over with the defense?
Well, honestly, they're not happy about it.
They want an opportunity to cross-examine the eyewitness in front of a jury, but they won't have that opportunity.
It's interesting that before trial, Rashawn Jones rejected what many would say was a pretty sweet deal.
Yeah, he did.
Prosecutors offered him a 15-year sentence.
And considering he had been behind bars for five, that would mean he would serve 10 years.
But he turned down that plea offer, saying, "'Dismissal is the only thing I'm willing to accept.
Deep down in my heart, I know I'm innocent.'"
So take us deeper inside the courtroom.
At the start of the trial, what was the atmosphere like?
Well, it was really somber.
We had the Pata family sitting on one side of the courtroom, all eight siblings, friends and, of course, his mother, Jeanette Pata, sitting in a wheelchair.
They took up practically half the courtroom.
On the other side, you have Rashawn Jones.
He's sitting at the defense table flanked by his team of attorneys.
So did we learn anything from the opening remarks as to where this goes?
Well, prosecution basically said to the jury all the evidence is pointing to one man, and that man is Rashawn Jones.
You will hear that, regardless of where this investigation took effect, is it kept coming back to one person, Rashawn Jones?
As for the defense, they said investigators had a chance to arrest Rashawn Jones years ago, but that the state attorney's office refused to indict, basically because they felt they didn't have sufficient evidence.
And the defense is asking what new evidence do they possibly have to justify that their client is sitting in a courtroom?
Yeah, the thing that has always struck me about this case is the passage of time.
You talked about years ago.
That has to be so hard on the families.
Yeah, it is.
This is a really tough case.
It's been 20 long years since his murder and no closure.
And that waiting game has been excruciating.
Yeah.
All right, Jay, we're going to check back in as testimony gets underway.
Thank you for being on.
Thank you, Lester.
Up next, it's time for Dateline Roundup.
The Brazilian au pair, who pleaded guilty for her role in a double murder plot, learns her fate.
And we've got verdicts in two big murder trials to catch you up on.
Plus, stadium safety.
Things to think about before you attend your next big event.
Welcome back.
Joining us for this week's roundup is Dateline producer Brad Davis.
Welcome to the show, Brad.
Glad to be here, Lesser.
All right well, for our first story.
We're off to a Virginia courthouse for the latest in a bizarre double homicide involving a former IRS agent and his family au pair.
Just a few weeks ago, a jury convicted Brendan Banfield for the 2023 murder of both his wife Christine, and a man by the name of Joe Ryan.
So what's new on this one, Brad?
Well, as you know Lester, before Brendan's trial, the au pair, a young Brazilian woman by the name of Juliana Perez Magalhães.
She pleaded guilty to manslaughter for her role in the murders and her sentencing was on Friday.
Okay, and before we get to what happened in the sentencing, just remind everyone of what the au pair admitted to doing.
Right.
So prosecutors alleged Brendan Banfield and Juliana, the au pair, were having an affair.
Brendan came up with this elaborate murder plot to kill his wife Christine and then frame a stranger for it.
Juliana admitted that she helped Brendan lure Joe Ryan, a man they met on a fetish website, to the Banfield home with the promise of a sexual encounter with Christine.
Once Joe Ryan got there, Juliana says Brendan shot him.
And then she did, too.
So let's go back and take a look at that sentencing last week.
What happened?
Joe Ryan's mother gave an emotional statement by video describing the impact of his murder on her and his family.
So many sleepless nights, so many nightmares of his brutal murder, so many screams and guttural cries into my pillow, feeling the loss of my son.
My son's life was seen as worthless and utterly disposable.
Joe didn't deserve to be used and thrown away.
His aunt was next on the witness stand and she told the judge what Joe was like as a little boy and then as a young man.
By the end of these statements, Juliana was wiping her eyes and crying.
So, Brad, the prosecutors recommended Juliana receive time served.
What did she get?
Well, the judge ignored the recommendation of the prosecutors, and she threw the book at Juliana.
She sentenced her to 10 years in prison, with an additional two years on probation, and she explained why.
Until today, you have shown no empathy for the victim in this case.
The plan did not work without your full involvement.
Your actions were deliberate, self-serving, and demonstrated a profound disregard for human life.
So let's get straight.
You do not deserve anything other than incarceration and a life of reflection on what you have done to the victim in this family.
May it weigh heavily on your soul.
Brendan Banfield's sentencing is set for May 8th and since he was found guilty on aggravated murder charges, he is automatically sentenced to life in prison.
Next up, we've got two verdicts in cases we've been covering on the podcast recently.
Let's start with the trial of Paul Canero, the New Jersey businessman accused of murdering four of his own family members back in 2018.
His brother Keith, his brother's wife, and their two children.
Brad, before the case made its way into the hands of the jury, they heard closing arguments.
The defense was up first.
How did they close out their case?
Well, the defense said there just wasn't enough evidence to convict Paul.
They said it didn't make sense that Paul would suddenly flip out and kill his own family over something that wasn't really that much money.
They said that investigators should have been looking into Paul's other brother as a possible suspect.
Then it was the prosecution's turn.
Yeah, the prosecution reminded the jury about the evidence found in Paul's basement after the murders.
Some jeans that were burned and had the children's blood on them to explain it away or give alternative theories to why his niece's DNA is in the basement.
He's not the unluckiest man in the world, ladies and gentlemen.
He's just guilt.
What did the jury decide?
After five hours of deliberation, they had a verdict.
Guilty on all 16 charges.
When will he be sentenced?
That's scheduled for May 12th, and he faces a maximum of multiple life sentences without the possibility of parole.
Okay, and our second verdict came in on Tuesday in a Georgia courtroom.
This was the trial of the man accused of murdering law student Tara Baker 25 years ago.
What happened there, Brett?
The judge there warned observers in the courtroom not to make any disruption when the verdict was read.
So, according to our Dateline team in court, the room was quiet when the foreperson announced the verdict.
The jury finds the defendant on the following counts.
Count one, malice murder, guilty.
And Edric Fost was found guilty on all counts.
All right, well, thanks for the updates, Brad.
You bet.
Well, our final story this week takes us back to the Winter Olympics.
Over the past two weeks, hundreds of thousands of spectators have packed arenas to watch the games.
According to organizers, a record number attended the opening ceremony.
Thousands more will attend the closing ceremony on Sunday.
But it made us wonder about safety.
Research shows that alongside the joy and excitement of attending such a large public event comes an increased risk of being robbed or worse.
So, with baseball season around the corner and music festivals on the horizon, we asked NBC News Chief Consumer Investigative Correspondent, Vicki Wynn, to give us some safety tips.
Vicki, thanks so much for joining us.
Always great to be with you, Lester.
First thing, attending a stadium event, it's pretty exciting to be there with all the people.
You're walking in the stadium, all this activity.
What type of crime should people be on the lookout for?
Petty crimes for sure, Lester, like pickpocketing.
It's common not only in the stadium, but really you want to pay attention to the areas outside of those big events.
People who are out there looking for you not to be paying attention, looking for you to be distracted.
So it is really important that you've got a high level of situational awareness.
All right, well, let's talk advice.
What are some ways that you can keep yourself safe from, say, pickpockets?
The first thing I would advise is make sure that you leave all your valuables at home.
Do you really need to wear your fanciest jewelry or your best watch to this game or this concert that you're going to?
The other thing to think about is...
Making sure that you've got a secure bag.
They have these things, Lester, called anti-theft bags.
The material is slash resistant.
Like nobody can come up and just like cut open the bag and get your wallet out of it, right?
They also come with a locking zipper and something called an RFID blocking pocket.
There are these devices that the bad guys will use nowadays. that can scan your credit cards.
So you want to make sure that your cell phone and your tablets things like that are actually in an RFID blocking pocket.
And watch out for people who are creating distractions.
Sometimes these thieves will work in a group, right?
One group is creating some kind of distraction while another group is going through and cleaning house.
This doesn't really happen often, but you do hear about violence in the stands, from brawls to something more serious.
Any advice in dealing with those sorts of things?
First, go in with the right attitude.
You are here to have a good time to cheer on your team.
If you're in an area with a lot of rival fans, be aware of your surroundings.
If you're noticing people are getting agitated, don't add to it by antagonizing them even more.
Make sure you're aware of the in-stadium security hotlines.
Those can be the quickest way to get the security guards to help you if there is anything happening in your section.
And then there's just the risk of being with so many people in a confined space if you might need to get out quickly.
I recommend people study a seating map before they even go to that venue.
You want to know where the nearest exits are to your seat.
Are they behind you?
Are they in front of you?
And then making sure that you understand where stadium security is posted first.
If you're going to a stadium with a child, how do you make sure they stay safe as well?
I remember years ago taking my kids to a circus and suddenly it was like, who has the little one?
I thought you had the little one.
You know, it was that moment of panic.
I think it's happened probably to every well-intentioned parent, and it is a gut punch because those kids are fast and next thing you know they're not holding your hand anymore.
The first thing I would say before you leave the house if possible, dress your kid in something that's really bright colorful, something that will make them easy for you to spot in a crowd.
Obviously, keep your eyes on them or assign a parent or a guardian.
Don't just assume the other parent is watching the kid, right?
Talk to your child in an age-appropriate way.
If they're little ones and you tell them hey, if you get lost or separated from mommy or daddy, I want you to look for someone who's in a uniform, Or I want you to look for another mommy with kids and remind your children, no matter what, not to go anywhere with a stranger.
It's okay to be rude, to say, no, I can't go with you.
I think it's very important to rehearse these scenarios with your kids and make sure they're comfortable saying this out loud.
Well, this has been very, very helpful.
Vicki, thanks very much.
Thank you so much for having me, Lester.
That's it for this episode of Dateline True Crime Weekly.
One final note before we go.
We wanted to bring you the latest on the search for Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of our friend and colleague Savannah.
Investigators say Nancy was abducted from her Tucson Arizona home in the early morning hours of February 1st.
On Monday, the Pima County Sheriff announced that all of Guthrie's family members, including the siblings and their spouses, have been cleared as possible suspects.
This comes a week after the FBI released the extraordinary footage recovered from Nancy's Nest security camera.
It showed a potential suspect in the case, a man the FBI estimates is of average build between 5'9 and 5'10 inches tall and was wearing an Ozark Trail hiker backpack.
If you have any information or tips about Nancy's disappearance, you can call the FBI tip line at 1-800-CALL-FBI.
And of course, our thoughts continue to be with Savannah and her family at this difficult time.
Thanks for listening, everyone.
Dateline True Crime Weekly is produced by Carson Cummins, Caroline Casey and Kiani Reed.
Our associate producers are Ellery Gladstone-Groff and Aria Young.
Our senior producer is Liz Brown-Kurloff.
Production and fact checking help by Audrey Abrahams.
Veronica Mazekip is our digital producer.
Rick Kwan is our sound engineer.
Original music by Jesse McGinty.
Paul Ryan is executive producer.
And Liz Cole is senior executive producer of Dateline.
See you later, everybody.
