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Nancy Grace
Nancy Grace Mysteries: What Happened to Venus Stewart?
Aired February 07, 2014 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) hold her (INAUDIBLE) Can`t believe the time I kissed her good-bye was the last time I seen her!
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ANNOUNCER: Tonight on NANCY GRACE MYSTERIES, Venus Stewart, young mother of two, last seen at her parents` home, is abducted on the front lawn. Evidence left behind points to an obvious culprit, but what happened to Venus Stewart and why?
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NANCY GRACE, HOST: Rural Michigan, 7:30 AM, Mommy in pajamas goes to the mailbox in the front yard to mail a letter, Mommy never seen again. In the front yard, clear signs of struggle in the grass, the driveway, gravel where Mommy kicked and fought. Kidnapped at the mailbox 7:30 AM, in her pajamas?
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GRACE: She had been living with her parents for those about two months since the separation. All of Venus`s belongings were still at the husband`s home. That morning, Venus Stewart was last seen standing out in the front yard of her mom and dad`s home, near the mailbox, going to the mailbox. And sometime between 7:10 AM and 8:00 AM, this mother of two disappears, seemingly vanishing into thin air.
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THERESE MCCOMB, MOTHER: I know she would never leave on her own! There`s no way she would ever leave on her own!
LARRY MCCOMB, FATHER: I was surprised she didn`t wake me up to tell me to watch the kids before she went out and put the mail in the mailbox. I wish she would have.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cops say Venus walked outside the family home early Monday morning wearing slippers and pajamas, to put a letter in her mailbox, then vanishes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`ve never seen anyone disappear like this so thoroughly. There`s absolutely no trace, no hint, no nothing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Michigan State Police and St. Joseph County sheriff`s deputies have been trekking through the countryside, looking for any clues of where she might have gone. Police believe she was taking her mail to the mailbox around 7:30 in the morning and say there was evidence of a scuffle in the yard.
Stewart recently left her husband in Virginia with her two young daughters and moved in with her parents in February. Michigan State Police investigators say her husband, Doug Stewart, is considered a person of interest, but so far, maintains he was in Virginia at the time of her disappearance. Police say his alibi appears true.
Police also tell us that Venus had no personal belongings on her, and they`ve never seen anyone vanish like this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She had moved in with her parents because of her problems with her marriage.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police tell us that he is their only person of interest because of their turbulent relationship.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was scared to death of her husband. She told me that he was going to get her.
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GRACE: Now, this is what we know. The parents see her, the mother sees her, that morning. The daughters, her two little girls, were inside with her father. Remember, she`s living, staying at her parents` house after the breakup with her husband.
So her two little girls, age 3 and 5, were inside with their grandfather, their maternal grandfather. The grandmother, her mother, was leaving, going to work, and she sees Venus. Next thing you know, Venus is gone, not a peep.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He said, actually, on three occasions, she went to a judge to ask for a restraining order, or rather a protective order against him. On one occasion, he asked for one against her. And he claimed that, yes, she had thrown objects at him in anger, is what he said.
LARRY MCCOMB: She was so certain he was going to get her, she took out a will three weeks ago. She told me that Mommy went outside. So I went outside, she wasn`t there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police believe she was taking her mail to the mailbox around 7:30 in the morning, and say there was evidence of a scuffle in the yard.
LARRY MCCOMB: She had hard-soled slippers on, and there were prints from her slippers on the side of the propane tank, like somebody had picked her up and she was kicking against the tank to get away.
GRACE: The yard is churned up where she fought!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The mother was awarded temporary custody of her two children just a week before she disappeared.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you have a restraining order that`s about violence, you cannot be alone even for one minute. And we`ve seen this with Venus. Even to go out to the mailbox, don`t be alone.
GRACE: What does he do for a living?
THERESE MCCOMB: He`s a truck driver. He has to be pretty much on schedule, or they want to know where he`s at.
GRACE: Unless he had somebody else make those deliveries for him.
THERESE MCCOMB: Possibly.
GRACE: Do you know, was he working the day your daughter went missing?
THERESE MCCOMB: No, I don`t know that.
Scared (ph) as they can be. They want to know where their mother is. They love her. She`s their whole world. I don`t know what they`re going to do. I don`t know what`s going to happen.
GRACE: Where does the estranged husband say that he was when Venus was kidnapped from the mailbox?
THERESE MCCOMB: He claimed to be in Virginia, but that whole day -- see, he calls every day because he could call us every day once a day to talk to the children. But on that day, he never called. The only day he`s missed is the day that Venus came up missing.
GRACE: Ms. McComb, how long has he had that phone visitation? And is it always at the same time of the day?
THERESE MCCOMB: No. It was -- I think he was just told he could call once a day. You know, it was at the time where -- when she was giving -- when she was given custody of the children, and they told him all he had was the privilege of calling them on the phone.
GRACE: Did he call at the same time of the day or night every day?
THERESE MCCOMB: Pretty much.
GRACE: What time?
THERESE MCCOMB: About 8:00 o`clock.
GRACE: 8:00 PM?
SPENCER: Yes.
GRACE: 8:00 PM. And so how long has he been calling like this?
SPENCER: Since the day that we went to court and they gave him the right to call us.
GRACE: OK. The day that your daughter, Venus, is kidnapped in her pajamas, 7:00 o`clock in the morning at the mailbox, that`s the only day he has failed to call his daughters?
THERESE MCCOMB: Right. And he`s still calling our house. I don`t talk to him. I just pick the phone up and put it down.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was scared.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Search warrants reveal apparent bloodstains found in both cars.
THERESE MCCOMB: If you love your children, please, please don`t do anything to hurt her! Please!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They`re closing that net on him right this minute.
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GRACE: This is what police find in the front yard. They find drag marks apparently made by Venus`s heels as she was digging in trying not to be dragged away. They also find signs of a scuffle, a fight in the front yard. And interesting, they find the cover for an all-purpose tarp like the kind they sell at Walmart.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you tell what the individual is holding here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s got the shovel in his left hand, tarp is tucked under his left arm, and it looks like a ballcap in his left hand.
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GRACE: An all-purpose tarp cover that had not been there before that morning. Interesting. They immediately check out, where is the husband?
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Doug Stewart says he was in Virginia when his wife vanished, but phone records, surveillance video and other evidence suggested that he may have traveled to Michigan.
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GRACE: And they interview people, and they alibi the husband. So what happened in about 30 minutes at 7:10 AM in the morning in her parents` front yard?
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But if Doug was in Michigan, who was the Doug look-alike caught on camera in Virginia? Investigators soon made a big discovery.
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thirty-two-year-old 32-year-old Venus Stewart disappeared from her parents` home in Michigan. The suspect, her own husband.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I received a telephone call from Doug and was informed by him that his wife was missing and that he was all over the news.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Walmart seems to play a major role in this investigation, and this is why. About 12 days before the disappearance, the husband, Doug Stewart, is in a local Walmart in Virginia. He buys two Tracphones with cash. Tracphones are the disposable phones that you use and you get rid of when they run out of time, and they cannot be traced. So that`s 11, 12 days before Venus goes missing.
Fast forward about 12 hours the same day, April 25, the day before his wife goes missing. He`s now spotted in another Walmart, but this time, the Walmart is in Van Wert, Ohio, only 90 miles -- less than 90 miles from where Venus is kidnapped. He buys a tarp.
And we know this because with a search warrant, pursuant to search warrant, police find in his car a receipt for a shovel, tarp, gloves, baseball hat. That`s also caught on video. So what does he buy in the Van Wert Walmart, the one that`s just 90 miles away from where his wife goes missing from the front yard at 7:10 in the morning? He buys a tarp, a shovel, gloves, a baseball hat.
And he even thinks to ask, You guys sell lime, which we all know can help break down a human body, break down the DNA. This is 90 miles away from where his wife, his estranged wife, Venus, goes missing. In those 12 hours, he travels from his home in Virginia to an Ohio Walmart.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do we know about Venus and Doug Stewart`s relationship?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Doug married Venus in 2002 and settled in Schoolcraft (ph), Michigan. The couple had two daughters, Brooke (ph) in 2004 and Rachel (ph) in 2006. By 2007, the marriage teetered on divorce. Venus also petitioned for personal protection orders against Doug, alleging abuse. Rex Hall, Jr. (ph), a reporter for "The Kalamazoo Gazette," remembers one petition with haunting words.
REX HALL, JR., "KALAMAZOO GAZETTE": I think one of the things within that personal protection request that really stood out to me was that she expressed a lot of fear of Doug Stewart. And I think one of the things that she wrote was that she was afraid he was going to kill her.
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ANNOUNCER: How did the focus turn to the estranged husband, Doug Stewart?
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: April 25th, 2010, 7:20 AM, Doug Stewart is seen on a surveillance camera. He`s getting cash from an ATM in Hampton, Virginia. Ten minutes later, a surveillance camera at a Walmart shows him buying prepaid cell phones.
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GRACE: The morning Venus goes missing, last seen between 7:10 AM and 8:00 AM, at 7:17 that morning, a call went through to Venus`s parents` home. It was traced back to a Walmart Tracfone. That`s at 7:17 AM. At 8:23 AM, that same phone was used to call another Walmart Tracfone, and that phone was back in Virginia near Doug Stewart`s home. That is shown by cell phone ping records.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At 5:48 PM, a call from one of Doug`s phones pings off a tower near Van Wert, Ohio. At 6:45 PM, Doug is spotted on a Walmart surveillance camera in Van Wert. He is seen buying a shovel, gloves, a tarp, and a ballcap.
April 26th, 2010, 7:17 AM, a call from one of Doug`s cell phones pings off a tower near the home of Venus`s parents in Colon, Michigan. The prosecution believes Doug called Venus posing as a delivery man to trick her into coming outside. Around 8:00 AM, Venus`s father, Larry McComb, wakes up and discovers Venus is missing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what woke you up the second time?
LARRY MCCOMB: The girls were being so loud out in the front room. And I didn`t understand why their mother was letting them be so loud while I was sleeping because she was pretty good about trying not to have me be disturbed, you know?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At that point in time, did you go look for Venus?
LARRY MCCOMB: Yes, I did. I first went in the kitchen. She wasn`t in the kitchen. And our washer and dryer and her bedroom were downstairs, so I went down there. I thought maybe she was throwing a load of laundry in, and she wasn`t there. And then I became alarmed, and I went outside.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was it odd that your daughter would have left her children alone?
LARRY MCCOMB: It was more than odd. It was something that would not happen. I came back home. And then I called 911.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And reported your daughter missing?
LARRY MCCOMB: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Back to the tarp wrapper that was found in Venus`s parents` front yard. It was confirmed to be a 10-by-10 tarp that was bought at Walmart. But more importantly, that tarp wrapper had a partial print on it belonging to Venus`s husband, Doug Stewart.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the fall of 2009, the couple moved to Newport News, Virginia. Venus`s mother, Therese McComb, says Venus only did it for her children.
THERESE MCCOMB: Only reason she went with him to Virginia was because the courts gave him joint custody. And she said, You know, Mom, I`m not a part-time mom. There`s no way I`m going to trust him to have those girls each week.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In February 2010, Venus took the girls and moved 800 miles to her parents` home in Colon township, Michigan. That April, Venus was awarded custody of their two daughters.
A week later, she was gone, and prosecutors say her estranged husband killed her, even though her body has never been found. If the jurors agree, Doug Stewart could face life in prison.
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: What role did Ricky Spencer, Stewart`s alleged accomplice, play in the murder?
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RICKY SPENCER, FRIEND OF DOUG STEWART: He just told me that he was going to go kill his wife.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then when he was telling you this, what were you thinking?
SPENCER: I was just shocked. I couldn`t believe what I was hearing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Investigators soon made a big discovery.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were able to get Doug`s personal cell phone records, and that`s what really led us to Ricky.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ricky Spencer, a college student who met Doug playing video games on line. The two became friends, such good friends, in fact, investigators believe Ricky agreed to be Doug`s alibi, dressing as him and living in his apartment while Doug allegedly killed Venus.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were honestly shocked that he, you know, knew what was going to happen, what was going on before -- when he agreed to do it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that he idolized Doug, wanted him to be the sniper ninja from his video games, and thought that it would be great if it was just him and Doug getting to hang out, if Doug didn`t have his family commitments.
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GRACE: Well, as the whole thing unfolded, police began investigating who could be the accomplice, who was at the other end of that Tracfone. And this is what they came up with. They came up with a guy named Ricky Spencer. And wouldn`t you know, how did he meet Doug Stewart? XBox gaming system on-line play.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is XBox Live?
SPENCER: XBox Live is a video game system where you can communicate with people all around the world.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you play games?
SPENCER: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you play games with Mr. Stewart?
SPENCER: Yes, I did.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was Doug your friend?
SPENCER: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you say he was your best friend?
SPENCER: Yes. He called us brothers from another mother.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you...
SPENCER: Brothers from another mother.
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GRACE: Yes, these two adult men were playing XBox games on line against and with each other in their spare time. Let that sink in.
So Ricky Spencer tells cops that Doug Stewart, Venus`s husband, convinces him that Venus is abusing the two little girls, age 3 and 5, and that she has to be killed because of the child abuse.
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SPENCER: He`s telling me, like, I talked to my dad already about this, and you know, my wife is physically and mentally hurting my kids. And you know -- like, if I wasn`t 100 percent sure that my kids were going to be injured, or you know, killed by my wife, and if I don`t do anything and I find out one day that they`re injured, you know, or dead, that I would go on a rampage.
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GRACE: So this is what Ricky Spencer agrees to do. He states that Doug Stewart said he`s going to avoid police detection by staying away from toll roads and paying for everything in cash. He says that Doug Stewart essentially convinced him to be his impostor, that while Doug Stewart goes to abduct and murder his wife, Venus, the mother of his two children, that he, Ricky Spencer, would stay behind in Virginia, live in Doug Stewart`s apartment, wear his clothes, use his credit card, even call Doug Stewart`s parents pretending to be Doug Stewart.
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SPENCER: He said, There`s a good chance that, you know, I could get away with this, but always be under the radar for them for the rest of my life. And this is where I want you to come in, Ricky. I want you to be my alibi, just pretend to be me and live in my apartment, you know, for a certain period. And I was, like, No, dude (EXPLETIVE DELETED) I don`t want to hear anything about this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: He went so far as to wear Doug Stewart`s sweatshirt with a hood, his hoodie, his glasses. He even went to Doug Stewart`s lawyer`s office and made a payment in Doug Stewart`s clothing, hiding his face with the glasses and the hoodie. He took Doug Stewart`s credit card and used it at a movie theater and a fast food restaurant, leaving a trail as if he were Doug Stewart.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you kill Venus Stewart?
SPENCER: No, I did not.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you want to kill Venus Stewart?
SPENCER: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You meant for her to be dead?
SPENCER: What was that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you mean for Venus Stewart to be dead?
SPENCER: No, I did not want her to die.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: So then when Doug Stewart comes back from the kidnap and murder, he goes and visits his lawyer wearing the same exact outfit.
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SPENCER: He said, OK, dude, it`s done. He said that he called the -- Venus`s parents` house in Michigan and said that he was the mailman, he had a package for her. He said that -- he said that he needed someone to open the front gate.
And she came outside. And he was covered -- fully covered in, you know, dark clothes. And she was about 20 to -- 5 yards away from him, and he jumped out. He said that there was a scream. She only screamed once, and that she tried putting up a fight, but he was able to get her in a headlock. And a drop of blood came from her nose, and that was it.
I asked him if it was worth it, and he said it was, to protect his kids and give them some type of future. He told me that he was going to call me later because he was going to go -- to -- to bury her, and that he`d call me later.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Venus Stewart, a mother of two, vanished from her parents` home months after leaving a rocky marriage.
THERESE MCCOMB: I`m hoping she sees me up there and knows I`m taking care of her babies like she wanted me to.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Prosecutors say Doug Stewart, her estranged husband, murdered Venus and hid her body. Their key witness, Ricky Spencer, who met Doug Stewart playing video games on line. Spencer told police he impersonated Stewart during the alleged murder plot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re going to let the jury know the whole story, what happened, the planning, everything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But the defense says the prosecution`s case is based entirely on guesswork.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s been our belief from very early in the case that the evidence that was gathered and analyzed was done in a fashion to bolster Ricky Spencer`s story.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The jury has to decide whether Stewart crossed several states to kill his wife, even though her body has never been found.
THERESE MCCOMB: I left work -- I don`t remember because it was when Larry called me and told me Venus was gone. I just ran out the door.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When he said that, how were you feeling?
THERESE MCCOMB: Terrified.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hate to ask this, but did you have a favorite of your children?
THERESE MCCOMB: She was my best friend.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who was that?
THERESE MCCOMB: Venus.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is people`s exhibit number 7. In the rock area here is the disturbance area, and there`s also a pink hair tie. There`s a heel shape you can see kind of a pattern going down through here. You can also see -- it`s kind of hard in this bigger photograph, but there`s some distinct lines in there that are from what appear to be a tread pattern from, like, a boot heel.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The missing 32-year-old mother of two has been gone now for more than four weeks after she was abducted from her parents` Colon township home. 24 Hour News 8 uncovered a search warrant from Virginia revealing an Ohio Walmart receipt the day before Venus disappeared for a tarp, gloves, cap and shovel, and two apparent bloodstains investigators found in Doug Stewart`s car and truck.
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GRACE: As fate would have it, it turns out that Stewart had planned to kill Venus about 11 days earlier. He was en route to kill her, to abduct her and kill her, when he was pulled over on the interstate at about 4:20 AM in Ohio, pulled over for weaving lanes. And at that point, he believed he`d already been spotted by police near where she was living, so he had to abort that.
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SPENCER: I got a phone call from him between, like, 4:00 or 6:00 -- between 4:00 and 6:00 that said, you know, the plan`s off. I asked him why. He told me that he got pulled over in Ohio. And I was relieved to hear it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There were a lot of calls made during this period, the time of this crime, to and from Ricky and Doug.
SPENCER: He seemed pissed off, like, There`s got to be a way, there`s got to be a way, you know, so close, so close.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your son mean to kill Venus Stewart?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your son wanted Venus Stewart dead?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you expressing your belief?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do you know?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know my son.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, how do you know your son? I don`t mean -- of course you know your son. What I`m asking is, how do you form the belief that your son didn`t want to kill Venus Stewart?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He had no reason to.
SPENCER: He was talking about what his plans were, and he talked about that he had a pre-buried spot already. He talked about that he was going to avoid all toll roads and pay in cash at gas stations. He talked about that he was going to do this at an early time, where the parents went to work and the kids went to school.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ricky Spencer, I believe, is the largest piece of the puzzle. And the rest of the evidence that you hear both before and after Ricky Spencer testified will be the other pieces that will put this puzzle together, and I believe, give you ample evidence to find Mr. Stewart guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Well, not to be outdone, he even reduced his instructions to his accomplice, Ricky Spencer, to writing. Spencer states that on a piece of paper, Doug Stewart writes out directions to his parents` house, directions about how to use his credit card for fast food, where there were videocameras in his, Stewart`s, apartment complex, in the parking garage nearby. And he even listened in on a Tracfone as Ricky Spencer called Stewart`s parents, pretending to be Stewart, so he could, I guess, give advice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This call at 7:17 that made very close proximity to Venus`s residence, was at 7:17 AM. From there, there`s a gap until the next call that was made just north of the residence, was 8:23. So there is just over an hour period where there were a couple calls that Ricky tried to call Doug. However, he didn`t answer the phone. So you got a little bit over a gap -- or pardon me -- there`s a little bit over an hour gap between the time that he talked.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: He even tells Ricky Spencer when he is walking back and forth to Stewart`s apartment, he`s knows there`s surveillance in the parking garage, to keep his head down so the camera would see Doug Stewart`s clothing but not Ricky Spencer`s face, thereby setting up the alibi that he was at home in his apartment at the time Venus goes missing.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I first talked to him, first thing he said is, Don`t put me on the schedule for Tuesday. And I said, why not? He said, My dad has called me and said I`m all on the news in Michigan.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did he tell you why?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He said something to do with his wife.
THERESE MCCOMB: I miss her so much! Never thought I could miss anybody as much as I miss her!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Venus Stewart vanished from her parents` home months after leaving a rocky marriage. Prosecutors say Doug Stewart, her estranged husband, murdered her and hid her body while another man pretended to be him for an alibi.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`ve done quite a bit of work on this thing. I`ll be blunt. Doug Stewart abducted and killed his wife, OK? We also know that somebody went into a legal office down there in Newport News, Virginia, to pay a legal bill for him, which that person isn`t our main concern her, but we just -- we need to get to the bottom of that because of what happened up there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you tell what the individual is holding here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s got the shovel in his left hand. The tarp is tucked under his left arm, and it looks like a ballcap in his left hand.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you puzzle masters? Is that what you are supposed to be doing in this case? Are you supposed to be super-sleuths that are putting together the puzzle to see what it looks like?
If you don`t have evidence demonstrating to you that she is dead, you don`t go any farther. You don`t look at the rest of the evidence because he has to prove with evidence that all of them are here.
They`ve tried to make you think they have all this evidence, but they don`t. And they haven`t proved their case with regard to count one or count two. And you have a duty to do, and that`s to find Doug Stewart not guilty.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The only piece that is missing is Venus Stewart`s body. And with one piece missing, you can still reasonably determine what the puzzle is that has been put together. I believe that puzzle shows beyond a reasonable doubt that Douglas Stewart is guilty.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He told you that he doesn`t know where Venus is, probably the single most important fact. What other fact did he tell you? Did he tell you that he believed he was going to show you how she died? Did he tell you that he believed he was going to show you what weapon was used? Did he tell you that he believed he was going to show you where she died? I`ve already talked about he didn`t tell you that he believed he was going to show you where she is now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: The jury deliberates for three hours and 15 minutes before they hand down a verdict.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Members of the jury find Douglas Harry Stewart as to count one...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THERESE MCCOMB: She was an awesome person! I want everybody to know that Venus was an awesome person! She was the best mommy in the world! I just can`t thank everybody enough. I can`t! I don`t know how to thank people for what they did for us. Everybody`s been -- the support of my family, my friends. I mean, I`m just hoping (INAUDIBLE) what`s going on!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She does.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: March 11, 2011. The jury deliberates for three hours and 15 minutes before they hand down a verdict of guilty on murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Members of the jury find Douglas Harry Stewart as to count one guilty of first degree premeditated murder. As to count two, conspiracy to commit first degree murder premeditated murder, guilty.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Members of the jury, will you please rise? Members of the jury, do you swear upon your oath that you find your verdict as I previously indicated on the record, so say you, Jay Broker (ph) as foreperson, so say you all members of the jury?
JURY: I do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wish the jurors polled?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please poll the jury.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Roberta Gochav (ph), is this and was this your verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Diana Downs (ph), is this and was this your verdict? Nicholas Slaveov (ph), is this and was this your verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Elizabeth French (ph), is this and was this your verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I started off -- I wanted him to be innocent. I really did. And as things went on and on, I still wanted it. I still wanted it. I just wanted to see that come out, and I just didn`t.
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GRACE: Michigan does not have a death penalty. At sentencing, Doug Stewart insists he`s innocent and implores the police to keep looking for the real killer.
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DOUG STEWART, CONVICTED OF MURDER: All`s I have to say is I`m innocent. I did not do these crimes. I ask that the court or the police - - I`m not really sure of the chain of command or how it works -- continue to look for my wife. If not for me, then my children need to know what happened to their mother.
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GRACE: Ricky Spencer gets one year behind bars at the county jail.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We talked about the fact that his game life had that fantasy element to it, and feeling like even this planning could have been a -- connected to that. But I think, too, that -- you know, we talked a lot about the fact that he didn`t agree to do this right away. You know, it was pretty clear that he was -- he was drawn into it.
SPENCER: If there`s any way that I could go back in time and change all this, I would. I would give my life to bring her back so that she could be here for her kids and her family.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And in a lot of aspects, I think he`s as much a victim as Venus, the kids, the parents...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do, too.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... Doug`s parents. I mean, the whole family has been victimized by this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m sentencing the defendant on the charge of first degree premeditated murder and conspiracy to commit first degree premeditated murder to life in the Michigan Department of Corrections without the possibility of parole, credit for 300 days served.
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GRACE: And today, Doug Stewart is serving life without parole at Carson City Correctional Institute.
END
