Transcript of An urgent manhunt in Ohio. A widow stands trial a third time. Plus, a deep dive on arson investigations.

Hey, good morning. You're listening in to the Dateland Story meeting, the first one of 2026.

It's been a crazy week for everybody.

Our producers have lots of crime news to catch up on.

What's the motive?

The sister was saying it was like a crime of passion.

Welcome to Dateland True Crime Weekly. I'm Lester Holt. It's January eighth, and here's what's on our docket. In Georgia, a woman is on trial for her husband's murder for the third time.

The prosecution plans to call a new witness who is an expert in shooting reconstruction.

In Dateland Roundup, news from California in the case of murdered Hollywood couple Rob and Michelle Reiner. And Michelle Tricones, the woman convicted of conspiring to murder Connecticut mom of five Jennifer Doulos, is back in court.

The judge is going to hear testimony about the habeas petition.

Plus, it's considered one of the most challenging crimes to investigate arson. An arson investigator gives us the low down.

What did the smoke look like? Where was it? What were the flames doing?

But before all that, we're off to Columbus, Ohio, where police are on the hunt for a killer in the mysterious shooting deaths of a dentist and his wife. It's a case that has captured national attention in these early days of the New Year.

Turning down to a shocking double homicide in Ohio. Police asking for the public's help to find a killer.

The double murder of Dr. Spencer Tepe and his wife Monique shot to death in their Vineland Park row house in the early hours of December 30th. Their children left alive in another room. Their cries heard hours later by someone who called 911. I can hear kids inside, and I swear I think I heard one yell, but we can't get in. It's been more than a week since the Tepe's bodies were discovered, and the Columbus Police Department has remained tight-lipped about the status of the investigation. Until now. On Monday, they released security video that could hold the key to the killer's identity and why this young couple was gunned down in their own home. Joining me now with the latest details is NBC news correspondent Ryan Chandler, who has been covering the case since the beginning. Thanks for joining me, Ryan.

Lester, pleasure to be here.

To start, tell us about Spencer and Monique Tepe.

It's been heartbreaking, Lester, but also heartwarming performing to hear how their family has remembered them this week. They remember them so lovingly and glowingly. They were a married couple in their late 30s, and they had two young children, a one-year-old and a four-year-old. Spencer was an accomplished dentist at Athens Dental Depot. Monique had a background in childhood education, and their family said that they had a deeply happy relationship, writing in a statement after their tragic deaths, that they were extraordinary people whose lives were filled with love, joy, and deep connection to others.

So Ryan, can you lay out what happened on December 30th? How did police find out that something was wrong?

Well, we first got signs of trouble around 9: 00 AM. It actually came from a call to 911 from Dr. Mark Valrose. He's the owner of the Athens Dental Depot in Southeast Ohio. He's Spencer's boss, and he told police that Spencer hadn't shown up for work. He is always on time, and he would contact us if there was any issues whatsoever. We're very, very concerned because this is very out of character. He also told officers that he couldn't even get in touch with Spencer's wife, which he said was even more concerning. Then less than an hour later, we hear another 911 call, this time from that unidentified male who said he heard the kids inside the home. Then a friend of Spencer's called 911 as well with a chilling update. There's a body. There's a body inside.

Yeah.

So at that point, police arrive around 10: 00 in the morning. They find Spencer and Monique dead from apparent gunshot wounds. Fortunately, their children, that one and four-year-old, were found in another room with the family's dog, all unharmed.

Did police see any signs of forced entry, or did they find the murder weapon?

No signs of forced entry. There was Not a firearms were covered at the scene, but according to the police report, officers did find three nine-millimetre shell casings inside the home.

Columbus police, where you should point out, were quick to ask for the public's help in this.

They were and they still are. On January second, they asked anyone who might have any video, photos, digital evidence of any kind, even sightings of suspicious vehicles or people to come forward and bring that information to them. They have created an anonymous tip line. They're specifically asking for information from between the hours of 2: 00 to 05: 00 AM, where they believe this shooting likely happened.

Now, this is interesting. On Monday evening, the Columbus police released security video of an individual, someone they say is a person of interest. Describe that video to us.

Sure. So this seems like it comes from a Nest security camera. It's a very brief video, about 20 seconds. Not great in quality, but it shows what appears to be a person wearing a black or a dark-colored hoodie and gray or blue jeans. That in itself is not suspicious. It's cold. It looks like there's snow on the ground, but their demeanor, their face is covered. The hoodie is up, hands are in their pockets, and their head is down as They're walking along this snowy alley near the Tepe residents, according to police. Now, they're asking the public, once again, for any tips on who this individual might be, anybody who might recognize them. They have not yet named a suspect or given any further details about who that might be, though.

There was also news of a 911 call placed from the couple's home back in April of 2025. What do we know about that?

That's right, Lester. I'll preface. This comes from Fox News. They say they've obtained a recording of a 911 from the same address as the Tepies. Around 3: 00 AM, the morning of April 15th, 2025, a caller from that home dialed 911, initially hung up, and then the 911 dispatcher called back. On that call, you hear a woman in tears who tells the 911 dispatcher that, Me and my man got into it. She tells the officers that she no longer needs them to come to the home. The dispatcher goes back and forth seemingly saying, Are you sure? Do you need help? Trying to make sure that this woman who we don't know the identity of yet is okay. The dispatcher at the time logged this as a domestic dispute, and Columbus officials didn't include a name for the collar in their dispatch logs. The Tepe family, though, has said that the voice on the call does not match Monique's.

Ryan, before we go, I want to ask about the couple's children. What do we know about how they're doing so far?

Well, they're safe with family members. They They've been in their custody. Family members say that they're in very good hands, as is the family dog.

Ryan, it's a tough story. One we'll be, of course, following as more details come in. Thanks very much for joining me.

Lester, thank you so much for having me.

Coming up, a Georgia woman accused of staging her husband's apparent suicide 10 years ago is standing trial for a third time. Our next story is the astonishing case of a Georgia woman by the name of Susan Embert. It's a case that includes allegations of murder and poison. And we should warn listeners, we'll also be talking about suicide. On the morning of June 28th, 2014, Susan says she found her husband, William Jake Embert, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

My husband just shot me down. Okay, so much.

I can't believe he does it.

At first, police seemed to buy her story. But about eight months later, after getting new information from members of Jake's family, prosecutors charged Susan with his murder. And not just that, they charged her with aggravated assault, accusing her of trying to poison Jake in the months leading up to his death. Susan was convicted at trial in 2019 and sentenced to life in prison. But then, in a massive twist in 2024, the Georgia Appellate Court threw out her conviction after her appellate attorneys discovered that one of the jurors at her trial had been ineligible to serve. Susan's retrial began this past December, only for that to hit a roadblock, too. Just days into the proceedings, the judge declared a mistrial. We'll get into why in a moment. This This week, more than 10 years since her husband's death, Susan is standing trial for a third time. She steadfastly maintains her innocence.

Did you do what you're accused of doing?

No, I did not. Dateline producer Marissa Meyer is joining us to tell us what might be different this time around. Hi, Marissa. Hi, Lester. Marissa, let's start with what you've learned about the relationship at the heart of it all. How did Susan and Jake Embert meet?

Susan Susan and Jake met online in 2012. After Jake's divorce from his first wife, his family told us that Jake fell for Susan fast. The two got married in March 2013, secretly. The family expected that there would be a wedding, but instead, the couple just went to City Hall.

Tell me more about the shooting of Jake Embert. What do we know about that?

According to responding officers, they arrived to find Jake's body half lying on the bed with a handgun in right-hand and a gunshot wound to the head.

The coroner came to the scene, too. He seemed to make his mind up pretty quickly. He didn't even conduct an autopsy.

That's right. He released the body to Susan as next of kin, within 24 hours. Then she, very shortly after, had Jake remated.

It was really a real 180 when prosecutors charged Susan with murder. How could they argue the shooting was a homicide and not a suicide?

At Susan's first trial, the The prosecution told the jury that Susan staged the scene to fool investigators. They argued that things like the bullet trajectories and the position of Jake's body proved that someone else had shot him.

When did this idea of an alleged poisoning enter the picture?

It really started with Jake's family. They found the suicide story fishy from the outset. Jake's son said he had been with his dad just before the shooting, and he told us that his dad seemed in a good mood. They were talking about the future, and it made the family dig deeper into their suspicions.

They were suspicious of Susan from the get-go.

They were really suspicious of Susan from the very beginning. Jake's family told us that Susan tried to isolate him from the family. She took over his finances and his email accounts. That's something that Susan denies doing. One of the big things that had really stood out to them is that their dad, since he had married Susan, seemed to be getting sicker and sicker.

Can you walk us through the timeline?

Yeah. So about a month or two into their relationship, Jake had a heart attack, and Susan became his caregiver. She was handling his meals. And then from that point on, Jake's children said he started complaining about nausea, diarrhea, constant vomiting, and even sudden seizures. But the real turning point in the case came when Rachel, Jake's daughter, gave her dad's hairbrush to a private investigator, and That investigator handed off to the DA's office who submitted it to a crime lab for testing.

What did the lab find or determine?

The results came back and showed several toxic chemicals in his hair sample, things like D, antifreeze, arsenic and other heavy metals. In the first trial, the prosecutor said that Susan was poisoning Jake by putting the chemicals into his food since she was the one giving him all of his meals.

What did the defense say about it?

The defense really attacked the credibility of the hairbrush evidence. They zeroed in on concerns over a chain of custody because it was found by Jake's daughter, Rachel. They also argued that Jake could have been exposed to those chemicals in a number of ways, such as being a heavy smoker or working on cars, things like that.

Lots of things to consider. But obviously, the jury at Susan's first trial bought the poison theory and convicted her. But since her conviction was overturned, things have become a little more complicated, right?

Yes. So that has been a huge twist in this case. The lab that came back with these results has been barred from doing forensic testing in criminal cases because of inaccurate results they provided in a different case in 2022. When it came time for Susan's retrial, the judge ruled that prosecutors couldn't present the lab's tox report or any of its findings to the jury.

We should point out the lab issue is part of the reason that Susan's second trial was stopped in its tracks in December. Can you explain what happened there?

Given the judge's ruling, anything that had to do with the tox report, any mention of the word antifreeze or other poisons allegedly found in Jake's hair sample was not supposed to be mentioned at all. But a bad An hour into his testimony, the coroner said the word antifreeze. Our team said you could hear people gasp in the courtroom, and Susan's defense team immediately jumped on the coroner slip up, and they asked for a mistrial, and the judge agreed. That brings us to where we are now.

A lot to catch up on here. Trial three is now underway. There is a new prosecutor in the case, and Poison wasn't even mentioned in opening statements. Is there anything else different this time around?

One of the biggest things so far is that the prosecution plans to call a new witness who is an expert in shooting reconstruction.

All these twists and turns, though, they must be really, really hard on the family. Any idea how they're getting through this?

I mean, this has been incredibly difficult on them, but they remain deeply committed to their father and what they say is their mission of finding justice for him.

Thanks, Marissa. A fascinating It's a fascinating case. We'll certainly be checking back with you.

Thanks, Lester.

Up next, it's time for Dateline Roundup. The woman convicted of conspiring to murder mom of five Jennifer Doulos is back in court. And a surprise announcement from nick Reiner's defense attorney. Plus, how do arson investigators build their cases? An expert gives us the 101. Welcome back, everyone. Joining us for this week's Roundup is Dateline producer, Mike Nardi. Mike, thanks for being here.

Thanks for having me, Lester.

For our first story, we're off to Rockville, Connecticut, where a familiar face is back in court for a hearing in the case of murdered mom of five Jennifer Doulos. That person is Michelle Triconis. She's the woman convicted in May 2024 of conspiring with Jennifer's estranged husband to murder her, tamper with evidence, and hinder prosecution. That's where this leads off from most people, why is she back in court?

The appeal that brought her to court this week was something called a habeas petition. Which argues that Traconis received ineffective counsel in 2019 when her then attorney, Andrew Bowman, let her speak to police both before and after her arrest. Triconis' team says Bowman didn't properly prepare her to speak to police, and therefore, Triconis deserves to be released from prison and granted a new trial. Monday was the first of three days when a judge is going to hear testimony about the habeas petition.

I've covered a number of these, and it can be a very big deal to get that day in court. How significant in this case, is it that the judge is allowing this evidentiary hearing to happen?

You're right, Lester. This is unusual. These types of hearings aren't guaranteed with every habeas petition. It's significant in that it means the judge believed there was enough evidence in the petition to warrant exploring it further in hearings, and that does not always happen.

Andrew Bowman himself testified on Monday. What did he have to say?

He defended himself and said he actually advised her not to talk to police.

She wanted to If she could talk to them. She could talk to them, but there are big risks in talking to them, and she could stop talking at any time. But my advice at that time was, don't talk to her. What's next in all this?

Tracones and her team will be back in Court on January ninth and the 16th to continue the hearing. After that, the judge will have 120 days to issue a ruling on the petition.

Okay, now for our next story, we head to Corpus Christi, Texas, where a former police officer is on trial, charged with 29 counts of abandoning and endangering a child. In 2022, Adrian Gonzales was one of the first officers to respond to the mass shooting at Rob Elementary School in Uvaldi that left 19 students and two teachers dead. Mike, tell us more about this.

Gonzales' charges are part of a larger investigation into the law enforcement response to the Uvaldi shooting. Prosecutors allege the former officer or failed to engage, distract, or delay the shooter. Gonzales has pleaded not guilty to the 29 charges against him. A jury was selected on Monday, and we heard some powerful opening statements on Tuesday.

Yeah, in fact, let's listen to what Gonzales is a defense attorney had to say in his defense.

This is one of the worst things, one of the worst things ever happened in our country. It's awful. But Adria Gonzales did the best he could with what he knew at the time.

Mike, how long is this trial expected to last.

We're hearing that the trial is expected to last two weeks.

What's the possible sentence in a case like this if Gonzales is in fact convicted?

He faces up to two years in prison.

Finally, we head to Los Angeles, where nick Reiner, the man charged with killing his parents, Michelle and Rob Reiner, was said to be arrained on Wednesday, but that didn't happen. Tell us why plans changed.

Well, as you know, nick Reiner was being represented by Alan Jackson, the defense attorney known for representing big-name defendants like Kevin Spacey, Harvey Weinstein, and Karen Reid. Jackson arrived at the courthouse for Nick's arraignment on Wednesday and made a stunning announcement. He was actually stepping down as nick Reiner's counsel.

Jackson gave his reasons at a press conference. Let's hear what he had to say.

Circumstances beyond our control, but more importantly, circumstances beyond Nick's control have dictated that, sadly, it's made it impossible for us continue our representation of nick. What we've learned, and you can take this to the bank, is that pursuant to the laws of this state, nick Reiner is not guilty of murder.

So what now? What happens next to nick Reiner?

He's now being represented by a public defender, and his arraignment was rescheduled for February 23rd.

Thanks for the updates, Mike.

Thanks, Lester.

For our final story this week, we wanted to take a closer look at a type of crime scene analysis that is considered one of the most difficult there is, arson investigation. Just a few months ago, we told you about the conviction of Paul Zumott, the California hookup bar owner who murdered his girlfriend and then set fire to her home in an attempt to cover up his crime. It didn't work, thanks in part to the analysis of fire investigators at the scene. It made us wonder what exactly goes into an arson investigation. We asked Scott Coleman, Chair for Regional Training for the California Conference of Arson Investigators, to give us the basics. Scott, thanks so much for joining us. Thank you.

Thanks for having me.

The Bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and explosives, which offers training to law enforcement around the country, they say that arsons can be notoriously difficult to prove. Why is that?

As we all think of fire, by its very nature, it's destructive. It actually destroys and consumes your scene and sometimes your evidence. Secondly, as firefighters, when we arrive, we'll apply water, sometimes foam. We do tend to open up certain areas looking for any concealed or hidden fires. But we just need to remember that the primary role of the fire department is to protect life and property.

I was going to ask if that seems like a conflict that you're there to put out the fire, save lives. At the same time, you may be inadvertently destroying critical evidence. You've trained hundreds of firefighters to investigate fires. What does a typical arson investigation look like? How does it unfold?

The firefighters who are the first responders are the fire investigator's first eyes and ears on the scene. What we're asking is like, Well, hey, what did the smoke look like? Where was it? What were the flames doing? Once it's secured for us to get in there, we as investigators, we follow what's called the scientific method. We'll start and do an exterior examination of all four sides. We're just documenting everything as it is. The smoke staining, the windows, your electrical meter, your gas meter. Then we then go into the interior. We We're working to where we see the most amount of damage, and we'll identify that as the rule of origin. We now reapply the scientific method all over again with what was the cause.

We mentioned the case of Paul Zumott up top in this conversation. He's the California a man convicted of murder and arson. A first responder testified at his trial that he could smell the presence of an accelerant the day after the fire, and that his accelerant sniffing dog, yes, there is such a thing, also marked it. How important is it an observation like that to your analysis in a typical fire?

Okay, well, there's two things occurring there. The first one is you have a human being or a person identifying an odor similar to that of maybe a known accelerant. Okay, that's great. Then if you're a can of alerts, it'll get you to even a tighter area of where maybe the strongest possibility of ignitable liquids are. The investigator will collect evidence from that area that the dog hit, put it into a specialized container, and they send it off to the lab. And only then, once the lab confirms it, can we testify that that was in fact an accelerant?

Is there any new tool or method that you guys are impressed by?

The one I'm using a lot and I really like is these 3D imaging model cameras. I can put this camera throughout a structure, and in less than 20 minutes, I have the ability to render a 3D image of that room or building as I see it. Anyone at any time in the future can walk through that room with me almost in real-time and see what I observed.

Well, Scott, thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with with us and our audience. We appreciate it.

Thank you.

That's it for this episode of Dateline True Crime Weekly. To get ad-free listening for all our podcasts, subscribe to Dateline Premium. Dateline is off the air on NBC this Friday. You can watch the US Figure Skating Championships instead. But next Friday, we'll be back with an all-new episode from Keith Morison. Also, there's a new podcast series from NBC News Studios and highly replaceable productions we think you should check out, Dead Certain: The Martha Moxley murder. In 1975, 15-year-old Martha Moxley was beaten to death with a golf club. Years later, Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel was convicted of the crime and then had his conviction overturned. In this series, you'll hear new evidence in the case and exclusive interviews with people who have never talked before, including Michael Skakel himself. Can you tell me your name and why am I interviewing you?

My name is Michael Skakel, and why am I being interviewed?

I mean, that's a big question, isn't it? Listen to Dead Certain, the Martha Moxley murder, wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes are coming out Tuesdays through January 20th. Dateland True Crime Weekly is produced by Carson Cummins, Caroline Casey, and Keanu Reid. Our associate producers are Ellery Gladstone-Graff and Aria Young. Our senior producer is Liz Brown-Kurloff. Production and fact-checking help by Audrey Abrahams. Veronica Mzezeca is our digital producer. Rick Kwan is our our sound designer. Original music by Jessie McGinty. Paul Ryan is executive producer, and Liz Cole is senior executive producer of Dateland.

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