Dateline- Unforgettable - Season 7 Episode 05- The Secrets of Birch View Drive
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00:00:00people started reaching out to me and they're like did you hear what happened at Connie's house
00:00:04and we heard it was a break-in it was an alarming scene he was in the kitchen bound to a folding
00:00:11chair moaning she was located in the basement dressed in workout gear there was obvious signs
00:00:17of gunshot wound to her it was like a sick feeling Connie didn't make it there's this big mystery in
00:00:23town who came in and did this one big clue the killer apparently had a voice similar to a
00:00:29huge Hollywood star based on the description it's one I definitely wouldn't forget
00:00:35we had unidentified DNA in six key places a lot of information started coming out including a big
00:00:47bombshell unbelievable she really became one of your key witnesses she was not a willing witness
00:00:54it was difficult you took a number of electronic devices from the house it took the fitbit
00:01:00transmitter off of her body that little device had quite a story to tell we all leave digital
00:01:06footprints today this one became an investigator's best friend it was a silent witness correct digital
00:01:13evidence is powerful this was a big twist that you were not expecting no it's devastation it's
00:01:19the trail how could this happen my jaw almost dropped to the floor I just kept on thinking oh my god
00:01:26this is Dateline Unforgettable I'm Andrea Canning with a fresh look at the secrets of Birchview Drive
00:01:39every so often you meet someone who has a certain energy the kind everyone gravitates toward Connie
00:01:47debates loved ones told me she was that person they said she instantly made you feel like her best
00:01:54friend and as I went from house to house in her tiny cul-de-sac I sensed that love in every Connie story
00:02:01I heard so imagine the devastation when they learned she was murdered now all those friends and her family
00:02:08wanted answers
00:02:09Birchview Drive was a quiet street in a quiet neighborhood in a quiet Connecticut town called Ellington
00:02:20it was also home to three boisterous friends Darlene Beaudry Peggy Giautzes and Connie DeBate
00:02:28you all lived so close to each other yeah we did we did we do that's my house over there
00:02:34that's my house there and Connie lived right back there
00:02:38close houses even closer friends Connie always knew how to make herself at home
00:02:44my favorite thing that she did is she would back then we would always leave the garage doors open
00:02:50so she'd come through the garage she'd say honey I'm home and then just like Peggy did today she would
00:02:57just she just walk right in there was no knocking there was she just throw the door open I think you
00:03:02three have a friendship that so many so many of us ladies would love to have we actually really did
00:03:08become like family we cooked together hung out together Peggy would offer endless advice about
00:03:14babies and you guys had a name for yourselves either either the three musketeers or the three amigos
00:03:19depending on whatever day we had a lot of fun together fun Connie was all about the fun especially
00:03:28with the holiday season upon them but on the morning of December 23rd 2015 there was only chaos
00:03:36at Connie's house I came to the sink and I look over and I'm like holy cow there's a state trooper
00:03:44with his rifle drawn on the house Peggy immediately called Connie but she didn't pick up so Peggy tried
00:03:51Darlene and asked her if she knew what was going on and had she heard from Connie and she said there was
00:03:58a first responder car and a sheriff at Connie's house and he was outside the car with his rifle
00:04:05that's really scary it was like what before we can say another sentence this entire street was full
00:04:14of uh state troopers uh the driveway had about a thousand of them coming up I mean it's are they just
00:04:20are they screaming they're screeching in they're screeching one by one but yes yes I mean it was like
00:04:26full speed something you would see out of movies yeah the massive police presence was in response to
00:04:33an alarm triggered at the house Connie shared with her husband 39 year old rick debate and their two
00:04:39children that and a cryptic 911 call 911 hello hello David Lamoureux and Ryan Luther raced to the scene
00:04:52back then they were Connecticut state police detectives what do you see as you pull up in
00:04:58this you know quiet suburban neighborhood there was numerous uniform troopers there it was our canine
00:05:04unit troopers there with their canines out and uh they had the scene secured at the time with crime
00:05:09scene tape I believe media was actually starting to show up what are you being told by the first
00:05:14responders about what they saw in the house initially that it was called in as a home invasion and that
00:05:19there was a deceased person in the basement troopers were already scouring the neighborhood
00:05:24pounding on doors up and down the street they were saying there was home invasion and the intruder is
00:05:30fled on foot and is somewhere in the neighborhood and your children are home my children are home the panic
00:05:36that you must have felt that just the fear fear one of the troopers said they needed to clear darlene's
00:05:42house to make sure the intruder wasn't inside and he said I want you to get in the bathroom with your
00:05:47children I took them off the couch they were what their ipads and I um I put them back behind the
00:05:53toilet and I just put shut the door I put my back against the door and the trooper said I'm going to
00:05:59clear the house and I don't want you to come out until you hear me knock twice and you hear me knock
00:06:05twice then you'll know the house is clear when they finally got the all clear darlene and her children
00:06:11came out of the bathroom but they were ordered to stay inside the house he came out and he stood here
00:06:17and he said I'm going to go out that door I want you to lock the door behind me do not open the door
00:06:22under any other circumstance so that's what we did meanwhile across the street Peggy was still trying to
00:06:29reach Connie I was feeling anxious I didn't know what was going on I called there I'm like what is going
00:06:36on please call me back let me know that you guys are okay no one answered it went straight to voicemail
00:06:43she was standing by her window when she heard the crackle of a police scanner
00:06:48I heard DOA going to Hartford hospital I called her and I was like screaming I was screaming I was
00:06:55like someone's dead like what's going on I don't understand and so everyone knows what DOA means exactly
00:07:02an apparent home invasion an intruder on the loose someone dead what had happened at
00:07:10Rick and Connie's house and why on earth wasn't Connie picking up her phone
00:07:18coming up for investigators the chaos outside the house was about to give way to a series of
00:07:25chilling discoveries inside he was in the kitchen bound to a folding chair she was located in the
00:07:32far corner of the basement when dateline unforgettable continues
00:07:46birchview drive normally peaceful was an upheaval an apparent home invasion at connie and rick
00:07:53debate's house police cars all over the place detectives lammeru and luther had to make sense of
00:07:59it all what do you see well a large house we're able to just do a walk general walk through the
00:08:07house before we begin processing to get a feel for what's going on it was two days before christmas
00:08:13you have this christmas tree and presents and decorations you know and we later learned about
00:08:17the two boys that they had thankfully the boys just six and nine years old were at school but rick and
00:08:24connie had been home first responders found rick in the kitchen he was uh partially bound to a folding
00:08:32chair there was what looked like blood on the floor smeared on the floor he was reportedly just moaning
00:08:40when they got there he was injured but alive the responders rushed him to the hospital but connie
00:08:50she was located in the far corner of the basement in the unfinished portion she was dressed in what
00:08:57looked like workout gear like sweatpants and a sweat top wearing sneakers she was obviously deceased
00:09:04there was obvious signs of gunshot wound to her
00:09:06connie debate had been shot to death she was the doa peggy had heard mentioned on that police scanner
00:09:14darlene got the news from rick's dad he said there was a home evasion and connie didn't make it
00:09:22it was like a sick feeling like connie didn't make it what are you saying
00:09:29connie's brother keith margotta and his wife donna found out from keith's father he called and said that
00:09:34there's been a tragedy or a home invasion at my sister's house in ellington and that connie was
00:09:43gone is what he said i felt like i was just going to collapse yeah we're just trying to process what
00:09:49we've been told we can't we can't fathom it because we've just seen her you know it's not real it can't
00:09:57be real soon word of connie's murder spread one of her oldest friends kim phillips got the new
00:10:04news by text she says she crumbled my kids were five and six so i just remember like i don't want
00:10:11them to see me getting so upset so i'm upstairs and just screamed into the pillow and i hate that
00:10:19that i'm saying this but i was like why is it her and why couldn't be somebody else
00:10:24that was your you know natural reaction in the moment it really was the worst
00:10:28worst news i could ever hear and the worst person that i could ever be connie who would have murdered
00:10:36her she was the sweetest person the baby in the family with two older sisters and a brother
00:10:41i teased her a lot as a big brother as as big brothers might you know as adults she she had
00:10:48reminded me of that how would you tease her what kind of how would you torment your little sister she
00:10:53says i put her out the window one time but it was just it was it was maybe her feet don't you love
00:10:59how little siblings can exaggerate like that they do exaggerate yeah they want to get you in trouble
00:11:04yeah yeah she she thought my father you know i'd get in trouble with my father when i was 40 or something
00:11:11and donna you came in to connie's life when she was quite young yes she was six years old i met connie
00:11:18um was dating her her brother connie took dance from the same dance teacher i did she was like a
00:11:24little sister family for connie also included her friends like kim i met connie my sophomore year
00:11:32high school um she had just moved to ellington and we just got along from the start this is everything
00:11:39i keep hearing about connie it's just her way of putting people at ease getting to know people very
00:11:45quickly having those instant connections yeah absolutely she was someone that the first time
00:11:51you would meet her you would automatically just be attracted to her personality you would want to
00:11:55spend more time with her it's that quality kim says that made everyone who knew connie think of her as
00:12:01a best friend you know usually it's like maybe a small group of best friends this was like everybody
00:12:06was yeah it was my best friend it makes me feel so good to know that so many people thought of connie
00:12:13as their best friend and i just think it's again she was able to reach into people um she put everyone
00:12:20else before herself and that made it easy to root for connie when she gushed over a new man in her life
00:12:27she met rick at a party while home from college one summer she's like i met this great guy and he's
00:12:33italian and you know she loved italian men um and so i was like okay you know if connie loves him i'll love him
00:12:41what did you think about initial impressions of of rick and connie and rick together i really liked
00:12:48rick i thought he um was a good fit for connie i mean he was fun she was fun richard and julie debate
00:12:54say their son had always been that way he was easy going he was always like a joker and when he brought
00:13:03connie home i said to my husband this is different i think she's the one what was different about it
00:13:10he was glowing and um connie fit right in connie was the one the two married had the boys and their
00:13:20house on birchview drive became the happy center of their social lives it was funny because we actually
00:13:26called um connie's house the debate estates because we used to always go there sounds like a winery
00:13:34but it was true because that's where people would just congregate at that house
00:13:38but now the debate house was a crime scene connie was dead and the people congregating there were
00:13:44state police investigators we are a team of five detectives that will investigate the most serious
00:13:51crimes that occur detective sergeant brett longevin lieutenant bill udermark and jeff payette were
00:13:58detectives at the time and also assigned to the case job one for piatt and longevin get over to the
00:14:05hospital where doctors were treating rick what do you want to find out from the husband since he was
00:14:10he was in the house when the police arrived everything he knows he's the best witness he's a victim
00:14:16he could potentially tell us who did it or at least provide a description of the intruder the sooner we
00:14:24get that information and get it out to everybody the better off everyone is the question was how soon
00:14:30could they get it rick was lying in a hospital bed what if anything would he be able to tell police
00:14:37coming up rick recounts walking into a closet and discovering a masked man
00:14:48and there was one other thing the man's mask couldn't cover just heard this deep in diesel light voice
00:14:58when dateline unforgettable continues
00:15:07um
00:15:11hours after the attack at connie and rick debate's house detectives were inside an er
00:15:16rick had suffered wounds to his legs shoulder and the back of his head
00:15:20but he was conscious he seemed well-spoken coherent we could see a little bit of blood
00:15:26from the side of his cheek some blood on his hands detectives jeff payette and brett longevin needed
00:15:32rick to tell them what happened i saw connie on the ground and i can't get that image out of my mind
00:15:38with a recorder rolling the detectives listened as rick went back over that morning
00:15:44getting the kids off to school watching connie get ready for the gym
00:15:48driving off to work he said he wasn't 10 minutes down the road when he stopped
00:15:53i hadn't realized i needed to go back for my laptop at the same time he said the alert notifications on
00:16:00his phone went off trouble with his home security system shout out email to my boss saying that i'll be
00:16:08late told her i needed to check out some things on my security system he drove back home headed inside
00:16:16and heard a noise upstairs the cats make a loud connoxious mess i figured it was just the cats
00:16:23he thought that it was the cats because it wasn't uncommon for them to knock things over and make noise
00:16:31so we went to check it out he says the cats weren't there but someone was
00:16:38when you first walk into our bedroom there's a walk-in closet right in front of me
00:16:43bus i saw that that light was on two and i opened up and there's this
00:16:50camouflage dude in your closet yes just looking around trying to find something i don't know
00:16:59something of value did you watch him for a little while no no i opened the door pretty quick
00:17:04this is where it all just gets so
00:17:10i never had a night this happening i think i just take your time
00:17:15rick said the man was a huge hulking guy he was big but that was all he could share as far
00:17:21as physical appearance because he said the intruder wore a mask he did not describe skin color or any
00:17:28other descriptors but if rick couldn't describe the man's face his voice that he could describe
00:17:36i just heard this deep vin diesel-like voice yes that vin diesel the huge hollywood action star from
00:17:46the fast and furious movies i haven't seen all of them but if you're like me you'd know that deep
00:17:52gravelly voice anywhere the word on the street is you got locked up i haven't come across many cases
00:17:58where a victim had such a detailed description of what their assailant sounded like it seemed
00:18:04like a great lead for detectives it's an interesting way to describe a voice very specific so you're
00:18:10looking for a large man deep voice in camouflage obese to stocky over six foot tall covered in green
00:18:19camouflage with a deep voice that's scary yes he told detectives the vin diesel intruder was holding
00:18:27a knife demanding rick's wallet and pins you said you're going to give me what i want
00:18:33right now sit here quietly and wait for your family to get home that's when he heard it the garage door
00:18:38opening below connie walking into the house so i yelled to her to get out of the house my wife didn't run
00:18:48she must have ran into the basement because we have we have two guns in the house one was in the
00:18:53basement in a lock box and one's in our closet she ran downstairs rather than saving herself connie was
00:19:01apparently trying to save her husband rick said the intruder knocked him to the ground and chased after
00:19:06connie he said he staggered behind catching up with them in the basement
00:19:10i think around the corner i just i just hear like the loudest bang and i saw my wife go i think i saw
00:19:23her laying in the ground like i don't know i didn't hear her at all after that suddenly he said the man
00:19:31was back on him my ears were ringing and then he puts me in this neck arm thing
00:19:44i couldn't get out of it and he just guided me over to the other side
00:19:49threw me in a chair started using my own tools what type of chair was it remember
00:19:55the folding chair then rick described how the intruder tied him to the chair with zip ties
00:20:02stabbed him with a box cutter and burned him with a handheld blow torch
00:20:07all from a bag of tools rick kept in the basement i'm sitting in the chair half
00:20:13i was kind of half tied up and in shock i guess what do you mean half
00:20:19tie him i had one leg free and an arm free he tied one leg tied one arm and he tied my my neck
00:20:28fairly tight with the tire out rick said he used his free arm to fight back
00:20:34i got torched to kind of just blow in his mask a little bit and i caught him fire he dropped the blow
00:20:40torch dropped the blow torch and ran i was starting to scream for help i screamed for help
00:20:46you know i couldn't hear a soul i got really really dizzy rick said he then crawled upstairs
00:20:53still partially zip tied to the chair triggered the home alarm and called 9-1-1
00:21:01you have a lot of things you have to check out we do and corroborate from his story we have to
00:21:05process the scene we have to talk to people interview people look up electronic data explore every option
00:21:11as rick was speaking to the detectives his parents were trying to find him all they knew was that he'd
00:21:18been taken to the hospital when i finally got to the hospital to the emergency room they asked to see
00:21:24him and they still wouldn't let us see him yet we waited in the room for a couple more hours before
00:21:31they were leading them out of the room he's asking me where the boys i says mom has the boys at the house
00:21:36to his parents relief rick's injuries were not severe and he was discharged from the hospital
00:21:43the same day his first stop was his aunt janice's house to clean up he didn't want his sons to see
00:21:49him bloody and bruised his cousin laurie was also there he was devastated he was in tears he was just a
00:21:57mess he was stunned by everything too if he said it once he must have said it 50 times how are my boys
00:22:05how are my boys later that night rick went to his parents place he sat his two boys down and told
00:22:13them what happened to their mom it wasn't easy and they were very young to understand something like
00:22:19that and rick told them that someone came into the house and hurt mommy and i couldn't help her and
00:22:29she's gone and one of them i think said mommy's dead and rick said yes it must have broken your
00:22:37heart to see those little boys faces tragic and heartbreaking meanwhile back at the debate house
00:22:46the crime scene tape was up and the flood lights were on it was going to be a long night scouring for
00:22:52evidence and clues and talking to neighbors neighbors who had stories to tell stories that could possibly
00:22:59lead detectives to that deep-voiced intruder coming up one story was about the debates and someone they
00:23:08hired this contractor was so out of control that maybe they should get a gun when dateline unforgettable
00:23:17continues in the search for connie debate's killer police had fanned out and canvassed the neighborhood
00:23:32looking for anyone who had seen something were you surprised that no one saw anything i don't know if
00:23:39surprised i mean that time of morning of the scene you know a lot of people work in that neighborhood
00:23:44so it could have been a very good chance that just nobody was around at that time while the canvassing
00:23:51troopers had struck out the major crime squad was gathering evidence at the house dusting for
00:23:57fingerprints swabbing for dna and photographing the entire scene including where the intruder may
00:24:03have sneaked inside you just noticed that it was the window was open yes into the basement
00:24:08the basement door was also open this is where rick says the assailant came out of the house right
00:24:16here yes and it was they were actually open one door was open at the time when we processed the scene
00:24:22and just outside that door police found this this is the wallet found in the backyard rick had talked
00:24:28about the assailant taking his wallet yes yes and in the basement this is the area that rick had told
00:24:36detectives where he was seated in the chair being abused this is like a bad game of clue all these
00:24:43potential weapons yes many of them had what appeared to be blood on them did you know where
00:24:49these droplets came from who they came from at the time not at that point we didn't know it could have
00:24:53been an assailant it could have been from rick we didn't know at that point no a revolver the presumed
00:25:00murder weapon was found near connie's body she had been shot twice once in the stomach and once in the
00:25:06back of the head any other clues around her around the body in the basement that you could see she
00:25:12did have her cell phone on her tucked into her right waistband and she also had a fitbit tracker
00:25:18clipped to her left waistband a cell phone and a fitbit tracker detectives bagged them along with
00:25:25other electronic devices in the house and though the troopers hadn't found any witnesses they did uncover
00:25:32a substantial clue while talking to the neighbors the debates it turned out may have had an enemy
00:25:40they were having an argument with a contractor over work that had not been done right according to rick
00:25:48and they were worried that the contractor would break into the house his name was ken sweeney kim had
00:25:56gotten a text message from connie venting about him just that he wasn't finishing the work and um i
00:26:06think they were looking to sue him and there was a lot of discussions with him and arguments with him
00:26:15and i just specifically remember it seeming like it wasn't a good situation
00:26:20a bad situation that seemed to get worse in the weeks before the murder they had found some towels
00:26:28that were in one of the vehicle's mufflers and they found that suspicious and thought that that could be
00:26:34associated with this contractor a week later in the driveway their car's windshield was smashed
00:26:42that was when connie confided in her friends that she and rick were so scared they were considering
00:26:46buying a gun connie was definitely afraid of guns but this contractor was so out of control
00:26:53that maybe they should get a gun did they think that the contractor was the one who vandalized the
00:26:57car yep that's what they told everyone did you think that the contractor had killed connie when they
00:27:02questioned us they asked is there anybody that you could think of that had a grudge or didn't like
00:27:08connie and rick is there anybody and then it hits you you're like yeah there is so many the
00:27:16contractor i mean most people on birchview said the contractor
00:27:24i actually had the text and i remember when the detectives came to interview them i'm like i'm
00:27:29going to show them this text because i think this is going to help i think they need to look into this
00:27:34person you're thinking the contractor could be a suspect yeah i just remember them having a lot of
00:27:39tensions with him and i thought like maybe this is maybe this is who did this the thought also occurred
00:27:45to rick he mentioned it when talking to the detectives do you know of anybody who would
00:27:50want to do this when our cars were vandalized my wife seemed to think it was a contractor that we
00:27:56took the small claims court because he took some of our money we have zero way to boot down
00:28:03the state police had a lead to pursue maybe this wasn't a home invasion gone wrong
00:28:09maybe the debates had been targeted detectives were sent out right away to find him and talk to him
00:28:19coming up at connie's wake a curious encounter triggers questions about someone in the family
00:28:26that was the most bizarre thing we've ever been involved in when dateline unforgettable continues
00:28:38investigators had a tip to run down in the brutal murder of 39 year old connie debate
00:28:49a theory about the killer that was almost universally held among family and friends it was the contractor
00:28:56that's exactly who i thought was at the house at the time in the morning of the murder had rick
00:29:03and connie talked to you about the contractor they sued him i mean they had assumed because
00:29:08they didn't finish the job so they knew he wasn't happy he was very ugly to them and there was always
00:29:15things happening there that i thought oh my god this must have been the contractor state police sought
00:29:22out this contractor ken sweeney speaking with him at his house he admitted to having issues with the debates
00:29:29the contractor said that they had agreed and he had agreed to do work in the bathroom of the residence
00:29:35and that as the job went on some of the specifics as to what they wanted done may not have been
00:29:40aligned with the price and uh he backed out and then there was a civil suit the case was settled for a
00:29:47few thousand dollars in small claims court before connie was killed did this contractor have a record any
00:29:52violence in his past nothing nothing would go to this level yeah nothing as violent as this
00:30:00ken sweeney denied breaking into the debate home and killing connie and said he had an alibi he
00:30:06was working at another job site that morning as detectives interviewed him they noticed something
00:30:11straight away he wasn't an overly large man as rick described and there was another thing that didn't match
00:30:18his voice did he sound like vin diesel no so he didn't fit rick's description at all police asked if
00:30:26they could photograph his face hands and body for signs he had been in an altercation they didn't see
00:30:31anything but it was possible the contractor had someone else break into the debate home detectives
00:30:37would have to check out that angle and confirm his alibi as investigators worked on that connie's
00:30:44family was mourning her death and thinking of all she had left behind your heart must have just ached for
00:30:50your nephews yeah to lose their mom that way at that age when they need her the most yeah
00:31:00it's devastating did you think about all those things that she won't be there you know for them
00:31:06yeah definitely definitely thought that you know no more holidays no more birthdays we think about
00:31:13it every day we live it every day they weren't alone in their grief on a blustery late december day of
00:31:20what is normally a festive week between christmas and new years hundreds braved the cold in ellington to
00:31:25say goodbye to connie so obviously whenever a young person dies there's a lot of people that come to
00:31:31the lake but multiply that by a hundred just because of who connie was and how many people you
00:31:37know viewed her as like a best friend the line was just out the door it was horrible weather lines and
00:31:45lines of people i mean just hundreds of people shows how much connie was loved right she was very much
00:31:52loved and now very much missed connie's fellow musketeers peggy and darlene were eager to offer
00:32:00their condolences to their good friend's husband rick but as the women approached he seemed confused
00:32:07that was the most bizarre thing we've ever been involved in peggy and i went together we waited in
00:32:13like a three-hour line um he greeted us by asking us who we were and how we knew connie what how did you
00:32:24know my wife did you think that maybe he was just so out of it from everything that had happened
00:32:30i don't we thought i think at that moment we were in shock shock and but at that time we also looked
00:32:36at each other and we're like he doesn't have a scratch on him yeah he didn't have one bruise on
00:32:43the face not one anything i've reported on dozens of stories for dateline and it's always those little
00:32:50signs those confusing gut feelings that family members and friends notice after a loved one dies under
00:32:56suspicious circumstances when the killer is still at large they'll tell you anyone can become a
00:33:03possible suspect in connie's case her friends couldn't shake questions about rick's behavior
00:33:09questions that only grew sharper in the days that followed the day after the wake connie's family and
00:33:15closest friends gathered again for her funeral a continuation of mourning for most but according to
00:33:21connie's friend kim it was also a continuation of strange behavior by rick when we went to the cemetery
00:33:29me and my friends were the last people at her grave and he left and i'm thinking that's odd like
00:33:35why isn't he still here why doesn't he feel the same way that i feel right now that i just can't leave
00:33:40this grave and i thought that was weird connie's sister-in-law donna noticed rick also cut short his
00:33:47stay at the reception after the burial in the middle of the luncheon he just disappeared with his
00:33:53male family members he didn't stay to the end he's maybe there for an hour or so and then just
00:34:00everybody got up and left so that was very odd to me like where did they go where are they heading off
00:34:05to that was very very that was a moment for me where i sat there and said this is this is strange
00:34:11there is no script for grief no one-way road map for mourning the dead especially when it's your wife
00:34:18the mother of your children then again does anyone ever really know what's going on inside someone
00:34:24else's marriage coming up the debates in the days before tragedy struck my friends say their
00:34:34relationship was one they envied he doted over her he would tell us hey you know she's having a bad day
00:34:39like go out for drinks he's putting all the husbands to shame in the neighborhood yeah he really did he did
00:34:46when dateline unforgettable continues
00:35:00it was the holiday season a time for joy celebration family gatherings connie's family wanted to hang on to
00:35:08some semblance of that for her boys so they did their best wrap their gifts wiped their tears put
00:35:15on their coats connie hadn't even been dead two days we still wanted to bring presents to the children
00:35:22and he was staying at his parents house so our family went to visit with his family at his parents house
00:35:28and what was that like that when you it was very hard we were all together everybody was very emotional
00:35:36everybody donna noticed but rick and it was a very strange evening his demeanor of of not being able to
00:35:45look me in the eye was was very telling to me that night um talking telling jokes telling stories
00:35:52we were all very devastated and you know right or wrong i i didn't sense a lot of sadness or emotion
00:36:01from him i would say that the pain and grief that was on our family's faces along with his family was
00:36:09different than his demeanor his demeanor was like you know it's like like it's a just a party peggy and
00:36:17darlene felt it too that something was just off with rick in the days after connie's death he would
00:36:23text us and say like hey good neighbors where do you guys get take out like where do we get take out
00:36:32you've lived here all these years and who's worried about take out we're in the middle of this like this
00:36:38horrible time and why was rick so willing to engage over text but not in person peggy remembers him
00:36:46playing the artful dodger at a hardware store i was at the register and i had to just sign the form
00:36:51um to get a refund and then i saw him i waved i you know looked down i signed i looked back up and he
00:36:59was gone i immediately called her and i was like i'm looking for him where is he he's trying to avoid
00:37:05me and i don't understand why then again connie's friends didn't want to judge others not so charitable
00:37:13quickly the the town gossip picked up and most folks were saying rick did this why what what was
00:37:20leading the behavior got so strange like he you know he's out at bars hanging out during the holiday
00:37:29having dinner drinking and looking having people over his house jolly having a party at his happy for
00:37:36someone happy for somebody who was i died in a brutal way everything yeah right before christmas
00:37:42it was just odd behavior that just started to put question marks this story had me thinking back to
00:37:49a case i covered as a local reporter many years ago a husband and wife said they were victims of a home
00:37:55invasion they recounted their harrowing experience to the detectives but after i got the chance to interview
00:38:01the husband for my news report i left with a strange feeling that he wasn't telling me the whole
00:38:07story police later accused him of orchestrating the whole thing for insurance money was rick telling
00:38:13the truth peggy and darlene resisted thinking the worst they didn't want to go there did you think
00:38:19that it was possible that rick killed connie no no why not because he was just loving
00:38:27he doted over her he was checked in on her he would tell us hey you know she's having a bad day
00:38:33like take her away go out for drinks oh he's rubbing her shoulders or can i make you a plate
00:38:42like if there's a party can i make you a plate go sit down like you know then we'd be like okay can
00:38:48somebody make us a plate yeah he's putting all the husbands to shame in the neighborhood yeah he really
00:38:53did he did the way kim phillips saw it rick and connie were always in lockstep partners on life's
00:39:00dance floor we spent a lot of time together as couples um with my husband and the more and more
00:39:05time we spent together the more and more you know he grew on us and and and we loved him and you know
00:39:12we just and we thought he was perfect for her which is why the nasty rumors flying through town landed
00:39:18like daggers for rick's family two days before christmas you take your wife down into the basement
00:39:24and shoot her no no rick would not do anything like that to connie he would never hurt connie no
00:39:35i don't think anyone who knows rick well would ever believe that he'd be capable of murder
00:39:41it's just not his nature but a town's rumors aren't much used to a major crime squad facts on the
00:39:49other hand are detectives jeff payette and brett longevin had interviewed rick in the hospital for
00:39:55nearly seven hours the day of the attack and to them rick's story wasn't adding up rick's accounts
00:40:02varied as the progression of the interview went on do you think that just with all all that had
00:40:07happened that morning that it was hard for him to get it out just you know because it was such a
00:40:11terrorizing event the details he was providing us weren't details that should have had different
00:40:19answers whether or not he saw his wife get shot that was changing at first he said he only heard
00:40:25connie get shot i heard a fire i think twice once for sure but a minute later his story was this
00:40:34did you actually see him shoot your wife yes and then he wasn't sure connie had been shot at all
00:40:43you're not you're not actually sure if she got shot i didn't know at that point we started having
00:40:48questions as far as um trying to get a consistent story from him there were other times during the
00:40:54interview that the detectives thought rick was overly descriptive something they also found suspicious
00:41:00generally people will recall events differently but when they're giving very specific answers it
00:41:08can lead us to believe that that person may be trying to convince us of something is there a moment
00:41:14in the interview where you two look at each other and it's like what are we dealing with here because
00:41:20he's supposed to be the victim are you starting to get a pit in your stomach a little bit like
00:41:24one of the biggest things was the timeline he was providing us he's saying he gets home at nine
00:41:29o'clock his wife gets home say five minutes after him and then everything happens the chase down the
00:41:37stairs is he witnesses his wife murdered but the 911 calls 1019 so we're missing over an hour that was
00:41:47one of the biggest red flags red flags but not evidence that rick killed connie did we have
00:41:53suspicions that he could be involved sure of course we did but we couldn't have said definitively that's
00:41:58our guy at that particular time coming up frustration grows as the community demands answers who could
00:42:07be this person responsible who came in and did this there's a lot of fear there's a lot of frustration
00:42:12as to why the answers are not coming fast enough when dateline unforgettable continues
00:42:23detectives had suspicions about rick debate's account of his wife connie's murder but rick's
00:42:34family believed the police were dead wrong his mom said anyone who had endured what her son had could be
00:42:39forgiven for a hazy memory or a changing story well he had six hours at that hospital to um
00:42:48be interrogated and to think about what happened to connie and he's like he can't even think you know my
00:42:56wife is dead and someone broke into our house and this is the life that totally turned upside down i think
00:43:04he was in shock in shock and well aware that the police were suspicious of him he told his father before
00:43:10they'd even left the hospital that day he says dad they think i did it oh wow this is the day it
00:43:17happened i said they're thinking you did something so he says you have to stop talking to him right now
00:43:23rick's family believes tunnel vision had already set in it's that they just only had one person in mind
00:43:30they never did anything to look for anybody else rick hired a prominent defense attorney and they waited
00:43:38anticipating the worst but there were no arrests spring came then summer the leaves began to fall
00:43:46the holidays approached once again so as the weeks and months go on after connie's murder there is a lot
00:43:53of speculation going around because police have not named a person of interest a potential suspect
00:43:59debate may tase that it was a masked intruder shannon miller reported on the story for nbc in connecticut
00:44:05so there's this big mystery in town who could be this person responsible who came in and did this
00:44:11there's a lot of fear there's a lot of frustration as to why the answers are not coming fast enough rick's
00:44:18family wanted an arrest too partly to put an end to all the rumors we were hopeful that there would be
00:44:25some other evidence to someone to point to someone else because we knew it couldn't possibly be rick so
00:44:35there has to be something else out there proving that it's not him by the first anniversary of connie's
00:44:42murder her killer was still out there all her family and friends could do was gather to honor that bright
00:44:48light that had been extinguished from their lives thank you so much for coming out tonight it's amazing
00:44:54to see all the support from connie's friends and family in the ellington community we wanted to do
00:45:00something special for her um primarily because we knew that she would do that for us friends spoke
00:45:06about connie and saying one of her favorite songs somewhere over the rainbow
00:45:18last time i saw her she was singing somewhere over the rainbow just days before connie's murder
00:45:24darling ran into her at their children's school connie wanted to go get a coffee and chat
00:45:29darlene was in a rush and she was like i wish you would just go and get a cup of job
00:45:35and then as she went by me she started to sing somewhere over the rainbow she turned around and
00:45:40she was just like she kind of gave me this smile she used to always go like and i was like when someone
00:45:47close to us dies our minds rewind back to the last time we saw them the final frame we can't help but
00:45:53replay for some it's what if haunted by the thought that one different choice might have changed
00:46:00everything for others it's a keepsake that's how it was for darlene and her tight circle of friends
00:46:08live every moment laugh every day love beyond words this is how connie margata
00:46:14debate lived in her life every day how hard was it having that vigil when you're trying to
00:46:20celebrate connie and you know that her killer is still out there yeah yeah well i knew it was him
00:46:28by that time he just needed to get arrested him was connie's husband rick kim and many others close to
00:46:36connie with all they'd seen and heard in the years since her murder now believed rick was her killer
00:46:41even peggy and darlene who had spent so much time with the debates and observed the marriage that
00:46:46was the envy of birchview drive could no longer ignore what had become so clear to others we were
00:46:52the last two i always say this to her we're the last two ding-dongs on that train because we everybody
00:46:57else like jumped off a long time ago and we hung on and um with the behavior and just the conversations
00:47:05the weird text messaging we're kind of like yeah this doesn't like add up and within that year
00:47:10like he never approached us to ask us did you see anything that day was there anything odd but if the
00:47:17authorities were focusing on rick debate they were tight-lipped about it and matthew gudansky then the
00:47:23state's attorney had no intention of rushing the case we're not just going to go a to z we're going to
00:47:28hit every letter in between and check every box cross every t dot every i and what may have looked like
00:47:34a lack of progress was anything but the neighbors on birchview drive were about to experience a case
00:47:40of deja vu coming up next thing i knew there are more huge suvs and cop cars and sirens what was going
00:47:52on this time when dateline unforgettable continues
00:48:06more than a year after connie debate was shot to death state police still hadn't made an arrest
00:48:11but that's not to say they weren't working the case hard they knew it wasn't the contractor his
00:48:17alibi checked out and there was no evidence that he'd been the one to damage the debate's cars
00:48:23he was cleared of any involvement their suspicion was firmly on connie's husband rick debate they
00:48:30were having trouble with his account of what happened this was being called a home invasion yeah
00:48:36suspicion arose in those crucial first hours of the investigation as neighbors hid in their houses or
00:48:43huddled on the street trooper first class ryan clukie and his canine rocky were called to the
00:48:48scene to try to pick up the scent of that elusive intruder one thing that did not make the final
00:48:54version of this episode was a little experiment we conducted to test out rocky's tracking skills
00:49:00i was impressed i'm going to leave my makeup bag here on this little road
00:49:04and disappear and we'll see if rocky can find me
00:49:17sure enough it only took a few minutes for rocky to find me in the woods
00:49:26the police were hoping that rocky could work his magic to track down the masked man who rick said had
00:49:31most likely fled from the open basement door they had left something behind there was a wallet lying
00:49:37on the grass pretty much right outside of that of that entry basement door
00:49:45trooper clukie put rocky to work i brought him up to that basement door where i started him
00:49:50and he initiates a track um with his head down tracking um into the rear yard area
00:49:56um where he comes up to that the wallet that was lying on the ground he continues that track um pretty
00:50:03intensely around the deck area of the residence on the grass until he makes his way to the front of
00:50:09the house according to rocky's nose whoever had left the basement did not run into the woods or flee
00:50:16the property but rather went around the house and right back in the front door was that odd to you
00:50:22because you almost think if it was an intruder who ran away and was trying to get away then they
00:50:27would have kept going away from the house instead of back into the house yeah it's noteworthy at the time
00:50:33what made it even more noteworthy was what rocky did once he got inside the house
00:50:39he comes in very close proximity to where um mr debate was in the house receiving medical attention
00:50:45it appeared that rocky had tracked rick's scent which indicated to his handler trooper clukie
00:50:52that rick was the one who left through the basement door could that be right
00:50:59so i want to proof that trail that we just ran did we miss something it was abnormal so let's let's
00:51:04try it again rocky followed the same trail from the basement door to the front of the house
00:51:09however this time instead of going onto the porch into the house um rocky takes a left turn instead
00:51:15of the right and goes into the ambulance essentially right to the stretcher um in the ambulance in
00:51:21those tight quarters where where mr debate was laying and it wasn't just the canine that had sniffed
00:51:27something out that day because when detectives processed the scene they felt the whole thing looked
00:51:32staged what did you think in particular what was really sticking out to you as looking staged this
00:51:38was a burglary um or something's in there to steal your stuff uh it didn't appear like anything was
00:51:45really disturbed the drawers weren't pulled out uh in the upstairs closet where the intruder reportedly
00:51:51was with rick debate where you could see all of connie's jewelry right there not disturbed none of the
00:51:56drawers were opened so their conclusion no masked intruder no vin diesel sounding madman could there have
00:52:05really been an intruder no definitely not he wanted to come out looking like he survived a home
00:52:12invasion but his wife unfortunately was murdered but what it comes down to is it's a domestic homicide
00:52:20good friday april 14th 2017 it had been almost a year and a half since connie's murder when darlene
00:52:27looked out her window and saw rick debate driving up toward his house next thing i knew same thing as
00:52:33the day of the murder as the day of the murder there were huge suvs and cop cars and sirens and they
00:52:40forced him you know out of the car rick debate was led away in handcuffs and charged with the murder of
00:52:46his wife connie i thought it's over but for rick's parents it was far from over because now a new nightmare had
00:52:55just begun what do you say to your son after he's been arrested for murder say we'll get through this
00:53:02we're gonna get through it we try to stay positive yeah i couldn't believe it the boys went to live
00:53:08with connie's older sister after rick's arrest how's he handling it lousy lost his job right away he lost his
00:53:20boys lost his wife he was alone he was terrified he was scared about how the boy's gonna handle
00:53:32this news and uh it was not good did you believe rick's story about the intruder the you know being
00:53:43zip tied to the chair then the intruder shoots connie yes we had no reason to doubt it no reason
00:53:51at all the arrest had come as a shock to rick's and janice as well i honestly thought they were looking
00:53:59elsewhere i really didn't think they were looking at rick but the authorities had been looking very
00:54:04closely at rick and pretty soon everyone would know about a secret they discovered my jaw almost dropped
00:54:11to the floor i couldn't believe it coming up what had connie's friends and family floored i just kept
00:54:20on thinking oh my god rick was living a secret life absolutely when dateline unforgettable continues
00:54:28when rick debate was arrested for killing his wife connie many wondered how this seemingly perfect
00:54:42marriage could have possibly ended in murder did rick debate have any history of domestic violence that
00:54:50you could find no criminal record no no it seems odd that someone would you know go from having a clean
00:54:59slate to kill her it does and that was certainly a hurdle i considered on this case i've got to convince
00:55:06the jury that this normal suburban professional guy with no record killed his wife
00:55:13state's attorney matthew gadansky felt confident he could overcome that hurdle because he believed he
00:55:22had found the motive he had a long-term affair with this other woman she became pregnant in may of 2015.
00:55:31an affair a pregnant girlfriend the prosecutor was convinced rick killed connie to be with the other
00:55:37woman investigators had kept this bombshell quiet during the course of their nearly 18-month investigation
00:55:44but rick had only kept it quiet from them for a couple of hours he must have guessed they'd find
00:55:49out soon enough so he brought it up right there on day one from his hospital bed he told you this in
00:55:56the interview he did this is huge it is her name was sarah ganser and she and rick had been friends
00:56:03since junior high she had even done a reading at rick and connie's wedding and the way rick told it
00:56:09to detectives it all sounded above board sarah his newly single long-time friend wanted to have a baby
00:56:15and he and connie offered to help we were going to donate sperm to her to have a kid but it became too
00:56:24expensive so that in order for her to conceive a child they had to do some untraditional things rick
00:56:32had to sleep with sarah yes instead of doing it a different way yes like the the science route
00:56:39correct old-fashioned yes untraditional but traditional in the way that the baby was
00:56:45conceived yeah okay do you think your wife had any issues with that it was her idea in a way
00:56:52her idea even if connie agreed to help rick's friend have a baby i don't know about you but it's
00:56:59hard to imagine most wives being okay with their husbands having sex with the person to make that
00:57:04happen it seemed like the more rick said the more bizarre his story was getting he may have sensed the
00:57:10detectives weren't buying it because then he shifted to something more believable the kind of
00:57:15two-timing behavior we're used to hearing about on dateline there was cheating going on in the beginning and
00:57:22then finally rick settled on the real story was her getting pregnant unexpected it was unexpected
00:57:30after rick's arrest word got out about the affair you thought they had a good marriage i honestly thought
00:57:35i was being punked i was like this is not friends and family believe there's zero chance connie knew
00:57:43about it as rick had claimed if she had known that was happening she would have said something to someone
00:57:49that is something that she would have not accepted it would have been very apparent i think if she
00:57:53knew i think she would have been angry very angry you know she was very close to my mother she would
00:57:57have called screaming and yelling and connie was no shrinking violet no no no so i don't believe she
00:58:04knew and i just kept on thinking oh my god i was shocked rick was living a secret life absolutely yeah
00:58:12the prosecutor believed rick's secret life was on a collision course with his real life so the
00:58:19pressure was building and he actually voiced that to the handful of people that he told about this
00:58:25that he was worried about a divorce that he was worried that he was going to lose his friends he was
00:58:29going to lose his family he needed to resolve this situation to the point that that you believed he took
00:58:34a life his wife well you don't grade them on the wisdom of their plan we just grade them whether they're
00:58:40guilty or not guilty and by any stretch of the imagination no one would think this was a good
00:58:45plan to resolve his problem no one would but this was the plan he came up with the prosecutor's plan
00:58:53was to lay it all out for a jury but as he would soon find out things don't always go according to plan
00:59:00i think she was a very reluctant witness i think she was very reluctant to provide answers
00:59:06coming up is the prosecution's star witness about to throw a curveball how would you describe sarah
00:59:16ganser in court was she on your side i would say she was not on the state side i wouldn't say she was
00:59:22hostile but i would say she approached that line when dateline unforgettable continues
00:59:30rick debate had been arrested and charged with the murder of his wife connie he had planned for
00:59:44this possibility when the day after connie's murder he hired hubert santos one of the most highly
00:59:50regarded defense attorneys in the state and his partner trent la lima and that was the morning of
00:59:57christmas eve yes that's an interesting time to get a call from a potential new client sometimes
01:00:04in criminal defense things are urgent things come up but a sense of urgency didn't seem to apply to
01:00:10the courts and any notion that justice would be swift quickly evaporated the trial was delayed again
01:00:17and again and again and again three years passed and the entire time rick was free on bail how did you cope
01:00:27not easy it's not easy did you feel like he's getting this kind of free pass in the meantime that
01:00:33he's out and about yeah definitely i remember one person saying the only person dancing in the streets
01:00:38this is him you know the family's um devastated the devastation was compounded when connie's father
01:00:47died of cancer in 2019 i'm convinced for him he was holding on with very bad health hoping to see this
01:00:55through just wanting to to be there for all of us i mean he wanted to be the rock for us
01:01:02and his body just gave out eventually the opposing sides assembled in a connecticut courtroom and
01:01:10selected a jury it was the eve of the trial march 2020 and then covet happened and then it turned into
01:01:17months and years rick's attorney hubert santos passed away during this time causing a further delay
01:01:23trent la lima would now try the case without his partner and mentor we already knew what our strategy
01:01:29was what our defense would be and so as much as he was not there for the trial his ideas his planning
01:01:35they were you believe the police really had tunnel vision in this case from the beginning that was a
01:01:41clear part of our theory at trial the state had already honed in on him from the beginning and that
01:01:46they made their mind up and worked backwards from there when the trial finally started in april 2022
01:01:52the state led by matthew gadansky told the jury it was not tunnel vision that pointed the finger at rick
01:01:57debate but concrete evidence lots of it he brought in the state police to explain how the crime scene
01:02:05looks staged how rocky the canine had traced rick's and only rick's scent at the scene and he spelled out
01:02:12what he said were holes in rick's story about that day and of course the prosecutor told the jury why
01:02:19rick killed connie so the motive was his pregnant girlfriend and who better to explain that to the jury
01:02:26than the woman herself the state is going to call sarah ganser next cameras weren't allowed
01:02:34in the courtroom but this is an audio recording of the woman at the center of the love triangle
01:02:39sarah ganser reporters covering the trial were keenly focused on her testimony when sarah ganser
01:02:46walks into the courtroom i mean you could hear a pin drop this is the testimony that so many people had been
01:02:53waiting to hear at some point um did you become pregnant i did and who was the father of the baby
01:03:02rick debate i think the jury empathized with sarah she told the court several times this was tough
01:03:10testimony to do she was sharing her most personal intimate details with strangers so miss ganser even
01:03:17before you got pregnant with the defendant's baby was the defendant indicating to you that there was
01:03:23going to be a divorce yes the prosecution argued that despite what rick had told sarah there was no
01:03:30evidence he and connie were divorcing but sarah's time on the stand was not without its problems for
01:03:36gudansky in his case how would you describe sarah ganser in court was she on your side no i would say
01:03:44she was not on the state side i wouldn't say she was hostile but i would say she approached that line
01:03:51the prosecution's theory was that rick debate was under immense pressure but that's not what sarah said
01:03:57miss ganser is it your testimony you never conveyed that you were upset that he did not file for divorce
01:04:06i don't i don't recall telling him that did you ever shut him out so to speak and say that's it
01:04:15well yeah that's different from saying i want you to get a divorce did he complain about the pressure
01:04:20of your situation and his situation
01:04:26not not not really to me he never said the pressure is getting to me i don't know what
01:04:33behaviors would characterize that so i think the prosecution obviously kind of had this pregnancy as
01:04:39the reason the motive behind this murder but in sarah's testimony she wasn't looking to break up
01:04:46a family at all and so i think in some cases you know it helps paint the picture that she was not
01:04:52putting pressure on richard debate to make a decision in the months leading up to the murder
01:04:59rick had texted tenderly with sarah referring to her as his little love nugget and when investigators
01:05:05dug into sarah's private facebook messages they said there was evidence rick had been trashing his
01:05:11wife to his girlfriend they ever call her names that were married people say and even dating people
01:05:17say flippant things about each other all the time to other people did he ever call her names
01:05:22i'm sure he did please don't ask me to remember any of them because it was seven years ago
01:05:31sarah appeared reluctant to help the prosecution and in fact defense attorney trent lalema believed
01:05:37she actually helped his client it was quite clear she wasn't putting any pressure on him she had told
01:05:43him that you just say the word and i won't put the father's name on the birth certificate i won't mention
01:05:49your name to anybody no one will ever know that this is your child so how is the pressure on if
01:05:56she's telling him you can just go back to her and this and we can pretend this never happened and that
01:06:02was exactly the point the defense wanted to hammer home when they questioned sarah because of your nature
01:06:08was it often the case that you didn't regularly bring up the prospect of your divorce with rick
01:06:16debate that and because i did not want to be the cause of a breakup of their family it was enough
01:06:25that i was pregnant i did not want to break up their family but sarah clearly wanted to be with him
01:06:34she told the jury her relationship with rick continued even after he had been arrested and charged
01:06:39with connie's murder well i think rick was arrested in 2017 in april so it was again probably months
01:06:47after that that yes yeah we started seeing each other again rick's family says the idea that connie
01:06:56was killed over an affair was nonsense how do you feel about that as a possible motive that you know he
01:07:02wanted connie out of the way to you know he was no no he would deal with it that he would have dealt
01:07:10with it and and connie would have too they would have somehow managed and it wasn't such a big secret
01:07:18after all he had in fact confided in his cousin lori all about it i think at the time his intention was
01:07:27to tell connie and to try to keep his family together and you know that that was going to be difficult and
01:07:35i was going to be there to do whatever i could to help sarah ganser's testimony had not gone as
01:07:44smoothly as the prosecution had hoped but there was more for the jury to consider including what could
01:07:50amount to the proverbial smoking gun coming up the story told by data it was a silent witness correct
01:08:01multiple silent witnesses digital evidence is powerful when dateline unforgettable continues
01:08:09the prosecution had put a reluctant witness on the stand who provided the jury with a
01:08:22why in the case against rick debate but now they had perhaps an even better witness a witness with no
01:08:29emotional ties to the defendant it was a silent witness correct multiple silent witnesses digital
01:08:37evidence is powerful the state had what it said was cold hard data detective sergeant bill udermark
01:08:44told the jury and us how the debate's electronic devices held a treasure trove of information
01:08:51and when you're talking about electronics you're talking about facebook accounts
01:08:54the alarm reporting you're talking about cell phone downloads camera cameras the fitbit surveillance
01:09:01cameras a lot of different work that came into play
01:09:03it all added up to a timeline for both connie and rick what they did where they went who they
01:09:11talked to what are you learning about connie's last day what what had she done that morning after she
01:09:16wakes up um i believe the first thing she does is go on her phone she messages some friends and then
01:09:21she starts her day we have her putting on her fitbit uh shortly after she got up connie's murder trial
01:09:27was one of the first in the country where fitbit data played a central role in a prosecution
01:09:33the device she wore on her waistband quietly logged when she was moving and when she wasn't
01:09:39connie had simply been using it to live her life and stay healthy like so many people but as detectives
01:09:45pieced together her final hours that data helped build a very different timeline than the one rick was
01:09:51telling them she's starting the day with the kids getting the kids ready for school she has a couple of
01:09:57other text messages during the morning and then we can see her leaving getting in the car driving to
01:10:04the y we can see when she hops in her car because there's no movement on the fitbit she's not walking
01:10:09anymore connie arrived at the ymca as seen in these surveillance images but didn't stay long because
01:10:16her exercise class had been cancelled she drove straight home and the fitbit picks her up correct
01:10:23getting home getting out of the car so she starts getting steps again on the fitbit so that's about
01:10:279 18 9 20. so then she's moving sporadically inside inside the house we correspond that with some of the
01:10:33facebook things that she's doing as well this is where the fitbit becomes really critical because
01:10:38rick's story was that connie came home and he was yelling at her to escape or to flee this intruder and
01:10:47rick's story is that this occurred at nine o'clock so now we have our steps on our fitbit at 10 up to
01:10:5310.05 so it's an hour and five minutes so you've got a time discrepancy correct connie's electronic
01:10:59footprint was telling a different story than what rick was telling you not just not just county's rick's
01:11:06as well it provided us all kinds of information showing us that he really never left the property
01:11:11he's very close to the house if not in the house so the story about him driving away realizing he
01:11:17forgot his laptop and going back that you were finding that that was not that was not the case
01:11:24according to the electronic data rick debate never left the property instead according to the
01:11:30prosecution rick stayed home and waited for connie to return then spent nearly an hour building up the
01:11:37nerve to lure her down into the basement where he shot her dead and staged his own attack
01:11:46but that theory was full of holes said defense attorney trent la lima and it's important remember
01:11:51it's the state's job to prove beyond a reasonable doubt their case and reasonable doubt was everywhere
01:11:58he said starting with the fact that rick was not a violent man rick debate has never had an allegation
01:12:04of violence in his history you don't go from that to what the state alleges that morning and he said
01:12:10the prosecution's evidence to the contrary could not be trusted these electronic devices are not prepared
01:12:17with the idea that they're going to be used in a murder trial fitbit designed their device to make
01:12:22money it's not meant to be a absolutely accurate scientific or legal device and in fact the people
01:12:27that testify at trial couldn't even tell us how the fitbit reached the the conclusions it did they can
01:12:32only tell us the numbers that spit out now how i got the numbers but you're still having to say that every
01:12:36single device was faulty or inaccurate i think it's quite possible that all these electronic devices are not
01:12:44perfect but they all were wrong they could all have errors absolutely the defense argued there was one
01:12:52thing the jury could rely on the old-fashioned tried and true forensic evidence which was in our favor
01:13:00dna at the crime scene investigators had found plenty of it and the defense said it confirmed rick
01:13:06debate's story about an intruder in this case we had unidentified dna in six different key places
01:13:14starting with the master bedroom closet going down to the safe box in the basement where the gun was
01:13:20kept going to the gun itself including the inside of rick debate's shirt and including the door exiting
01:13:27the basement out the hatchway and it's important to remember rick debate when he told his story to the
01:13:31police that first day before he could have ever known what the dna results were he was citing those
01:13:38exact places saying that's where the intruder was that's what the intruder touched in the house
01:13:42the defense also wanted to make clear to the jury that despite what the prosecution wanted them to
01:13:48believe rick debate never wavered in his story about what happened that morning on birchview drive
01:13:54his wife is shot feet away from him after he's attacked by an intruder that would be the most traumatic
01:14:01day of anybody's life the most traumatic experience of anybody's life and are we going to expect that
01:14:08he's going to have the exact time of how long everything happened remember every small detail
01:14:13of what he did on his ipad or his tablet that morning the big details that he was home an intruder
01:14:21was in the home attacked him and they ran down to the basement that man shot his wife those details
01:14:26were always consistent but the jurors wouldn't have to take his word for it they would hear it straight
01:14:33from rick debate himself coming up rick recounts the horror of his wife's last moments i heard a loud
01:14:44bang i believe the flash and i remember seeing up connie ball motion was to the ground when dateline
01:14:56unforgettable continues rick debate had waited more than six years to tell his side of the story
01:15:10now was his chance as he took the stand in his own defense how has connie's loss affected you
01:15:16uh i don't know where to start with that uh it affected me in the most awfully negative way possible
01:15:28the boys don't have a mother life is irreversibly changed for the worse rick acknowledged to the jury
01:15:36he had cheated on connie with sarah did it happen on multiple occasions yes it did at some point
01:15:42around this time period did sarah tell you anything yes she did what did she tell you
01:15:48she told me she was pregnant but just as sarah ganser had testified rick denied feeling pressure
01:15:54to choose between her and connie did she tell you to do anything no did she present options to you
01:16:02yes she did what options did she present to you um she said if you stayed with connie uh
01:16:07uh that she wouldn't tell anyone who the dad was and then rick took the jury through that awful
01:16:13morning what happened when you got upstairs upstairs uh and when i opened up the closet door there was
01:16:21intruder he told them how the intruder demanded his wallet and then what happened when he heard connie
01:16:26come home what did you do i yelled connie there's someone in the house run the intruder grabbed my hand
01:16:35twisted it somehow forced me to the ground and ran out right downstairs what did you do
01:16:45after i eventually got up i ran after him and he described getting to the basement just seconds too late
01:16:51what did you see in here i heard a loud bang i believe the flash and
01:16:59i remember seeing connie ball motion was to the ground next he told the jury how he was tortured
01:17:06eventually fighting off the intruder with the blowtorch i thought maybe i burned his mask but he put
01:17:12his hands up in his face um dropped the uh blowtorch and ran rick debate professor
01:17:20his love for connie and his innocence in her murder who shot connie today intruder did you shoot connie no
01:17:31did you stage any of the evidence of that scene no i didn't that part of rick's story never wavered
01:17:39but there were subtle differences between what he initially told investigators and what he said in
01:17:44court for instance in 2015 he told detectives this i walked in put my phone down then i heard something
01:17:51upstairs i heard something fall somebody for cancer break something again and then went upstairs
01:17:58something happened but this is what he told the jury in 2022 what did you do when you went inside
01:18:04uh put my keys down on a hutch put my phone near the curry because it's going to make a coffee and
01:18:15at that point sincerity told my boss i was running late i just decided to kind of veg out a little bit
01:18:20and surf the internet and kind of take my time now at some point was this interrupted
01:18:26yes what happened
01:18:33heard something upstairs the allegation was that he was changing his story to fit what he'd heard
01:18:40during the trial i mean what changed were the gaps in between the big moments how long was he home was
01:18:46he making a coffee you know did he go on his ipad for a bit to kill some time those gaps changed but
01:18:52the details were the same and he stuck to the key parts of his story that he had told
01:18:56the police and the family over and over again and those have never changed over the years but now it
01:19:02was state's attorney matthew gadansky's turn to ask the questions and perhaps nobody had listened
01:19:07more closely to rick's story than he had i was looking forward to cross-examine him yeah did you beat him up
01:19:14i guess that's for someone else to determine the prosecutor pulled no punches accusing rick of
01:19:21getting rid of his wife while trying to make himself look good in the process and so this is
01:19:26the plan you came up with for this dilemma that you were in there's no plan sir you could be the hero
01:19:32a failed hero but a hero no he pressed rick to account for the inconsistencies in his story
01:19:39and you could see from the data that you and connie were home together for a good half hour or so
01:19:45that day before she was killed at some point okay but that that disputes your story your story is that
01:19:54she came home and she ran down the basement that's not the full story sir you never left that house did
01:20:02you i absolutely left the house that day and every chance he got the prosecutor made sure to emphasize
01:20:08one key element of rick's story a hollywood element there were two people in that closet
01:20:14you and vin diesel that must be your wrestling match with vin diesel correct and that vin diesel
01:20:19vin diesel this vin diesel guy you must have been fighting with vin diesel were you not i was fighting
01:20:25with an intruder yes why bring up a movie star so many times in your cross-examination he's the one
01:20:33who said the guy sounded like vin diesel so i was certainly going to use it with him was he trying
01:20:39to get a rise out of rick or was it a wink and a nod to the jury a way to emphasize how ridiculous he
01:20:46found the whole story you chased vin diesel who's chasing your wife the exchanges were tense often
01:20:53accusatory but rick debate stuck to his story he didn't kill connie an intruder did you shot her in the
01:21:01back of the head did you not not sir and then you went up to her and you pulled her back and you
01:21:06put another shot in her stomach to finish her off didn't you absolutely not sir was he lying it was
01:21:12now up to the jury to decide ladies and gentlemen of the jury in the case of state b richard debate
01:21:18have you agreed upon verdict we have less than a day's worth of deliberating was all it took
01:21:23will the defendant richard debate please rise and face the jury madam foreperson is the defendant guilty or
01:21:29not guilty we found the defendant guilty how did you feel when you heard guilty like a like a victory
01:21:40you know definitely felt like a weight lifted off my shoulders it had been years years finally this
01:21:47part was over yeah it was relief
01:21:52after six and a half years from that day that you went to that crime scene
01:21:57you finally had the guilty verdict you know we felt a great responsibility to connie and uh
01:22:04obviously very happy with the verdict the irony is that he came up with this crazy evil plan
01:22:13to protect his reputation and this is how he's going to be remembered rick debate convicted wife killer
01:22:21he was sentenced to 65 years in prison it was an amazing feeling like it was better than i thought it
01:22:30was going to be and i just think it was because i can move on now um because those seven years there was just so
01:22:38much anxiety i changed as a person i lost a part of me that i'll never get back
01:22:47on the other side of the courtroom different tears that's a tough moment when now your son is
01:22:56is being led away from murdering his wife
01:23:05yep
01:23:10yeah i can't believe he was there i can't believe he's there
01:23:18two families torn apart learning to live with different types of pain
01:23:23but they all share one thing a love for connie everything she did was out of her heart there
01:23:30are people we never met that would reach out and say she did a small act of kindness or she did something
01:23:36amazing connie meant the world to those lucky enough to know her but of all the people connie touched
01:23:43no one meant more to her than her two sons like so many of the victims we profile on dateline
01:23:49she endures through her children her greatest legacy
01:23:57do you feel that connie will live on in her boys i know she will like she just she had a
01:24:04great beautiful influence on them and i know they will carry that forward and maybe a good piece of
01:24:10advice is to go through life treating people like their mom did absolutely
01:24:16they
01:24:19peggy and darlene will forever miss their third musketeer but they know connie's legacy lives
01:24:25on along the once again quiet birchview drive connie was the connector connie wanted to connect
01:24:33all the neighbors to one another her death brought everyone together absolutely
01:24:37she was beautiful from the inside out her late was so bright that you just wanted to be in the light
01:24:46with her
01:24:54you
01:24:54you
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