- I'm Kate Snow,
and this is
"Dateline: Secrets Uncovered".
- They were very, very
popular in Effingham.
- They were
an impeccable family,
victims of
an improbable crime,
mother, father, son shot
in the dead of night.
- It felt like an ambush.
- Investigators searched
for clues,
but what they found
were secrets,
a forbidden love affair
right in the family,
one son sleeping with
the other son's wife.
- He said if I was gonna
have an affair,
he wish it would
have been
with anybody else
except his brother.
- Bad blood
between brothers.
Had that been a motive
for murder?
Had one killed the other
to steal his wife?
- In court,
it all came out.
Scandalous passions,
jealousy, greed, lust.
- He said that he was
the black sheep of the family.
- A family saga turned to
riveting courtroom drama.
- I cried the whole time.
**
- Hello, and welcome to
"Dateline: Secrets Uncovered".
Publicly, the Heidts were
pillars of the community,
a prominent family highly
respected for their success
in the real estate world,
but privately,
an explosive secret
rocked them to their core.
Now, an act of violence
was about to change
their lives forever
and leave investigators
wondering
if a family feud
ended in murder.
Here's Dennis Murphy
with "The Mystery
in Effingham County".
- The time we received
the call was around 3:00 AM.
The sheriff's office
911 operator
could barely understand
the voice
on the other end
of the call.
A dispatcher called for
Sergeant James Dingeldein
to help listen in.
It was difficult to hear
what she was saying.
You could hear
her gargling
due to blood, uh,
in her throat.
- And it sounded as though
she wasn't the only victim.
Two, possibly
three adults
shot in a home
in the middle of the night.
And the female survivor
had no idea
if the assailant was
still in the house.
- We weren't sure if
it was a home invasion.
We weren't sure if it was
an accidental discharge
of a firearm.
- Sergeant Dingeedein
and other deputies
were already racing
to the location,
a one-story ranch house
in a heavily wooded area
outside town.
- There was little
to no light outside.
It was actually
pitch black.
Our weapons were
already drawn.
We weren't sure if
the suspect was in the area,
still in the woods.
When we approached
the door,
we could hear the sound
of a female moaning
in what appeared
to be pain.
- They could hear her,
but were delayed
in finding her
because something stopped
them in their tracks
as they entered
the kitchen.
- There was an overwhelming
smell of gasoline
emanating from the house.
It was extremely noxious.
It was hard to breathe.
The deputy in front of me,
Deputy Hill,
slipped on the gasoline,
and I had to catch him
to prevent him from falling.
- Why hadn't the gasoline
been torched?
Was someone trying to lure
the cops inside
before striking a match?
- It felt like an ambush.
- They finally
located the woman
slumped on the kitchen floor
behind a table.
The woman, Linda, was still
holding her cell phone.
The distress call
was genuine,
and her injuries
were grave.
- And she had a--
some sort of fabric,
a T-shirt or a towel
on her throat,
and it was soaked
in blood.
I asked her to remove
the cloth from her throat
so I can get a visual
of her injuries.
The entire area of
her neck here was missing.
As she swallowed, you could
see her throat moving.
- One victim accounted for.
Where were the others?
- She didn't know if anyone else
was still in the residence,
and she didn't know
if her son and her husband
were still alive.
- With guns drawn,
deputies continued
clearing the residence
and the information
they yelled back down the hall
was as bad
as it could get.
Linda's son, Carey,
shot dead in one bedroom.
- Carey Heidt was in the bed,
still under the covers.
He had an obvious gunshot
wound to the face.
- And Linda's husband,
Philip, shot dead
in the master bedroom.
- He had pulled a sheet
above his face
in a defensive stance.
Um, there was a gunshot wound
through the sheet.
- An explosion of horror.
Three people gunned down,
two fatally,
on a quiet road
in a quiet Georgia town.
And now, Linda,
the lone survivor,
was en route to the hospital
in grave condition.
What had happened
in the dark hours
of a Monday morning
in that modest house?
Peeling back the layers of
the mystery would take years
and would leave
a family torn apart
and a community devastated.
But to begin to comprehend
what happened,
you have to roll back the clock,
back to 2008,
to a town
called Springfield
and a family
named the Heidts.
- If I were to ask you what
the Heidt family was like
in, say, 2007,
what would you say?
- Great family.
Spiritual family.
Um...
pillars of the community,
if you will.
- The Heidt family
in 2011?
- Destroyed.
- What had happened on
Springfield Egypt Road?
Who would want God fearing
people like the Heidts dead?
- Coming up...
- He was a go-getter.
If there was a deal to be made,
he was gonna go after it.
- The hard-charging
businessman.
Had a deal gone bad?
Had the neighbors
been ruled out?
An urgent investigation
begins
**
- Philip Heidt was a large-scale
real estate investor
and prominent
name around town,
someone who'd counted
Sheriff Jimmy McDuffie
as one of his
good friends.
But now Heidt was dead,
mysteriously
and brutally gunned down
in his own home
in the middle of the night,
along with his son
and his wife,
who was
the lone survivor.
- I knew these folks.
I had been friends
with these folks.
And it was just bad.
- This part of the country,
Southeast Georgia,
isn't used to waking up
to grisly news like this.
That just isn't supposed to
happen in Effingham County,
only 45 minutes
from downtown Savannah,
but a world away,
with its mom-and-pop shops,
cattle farms,
and cotton fields.
It's a place where people go
to church, work hard,
and know their neighbor.
- In this community,
family sticks together.
Just our nature
around here, I reckon.
- James Neidlinger had
lived here all his life,
and like anyone born
and raised in Effingham,
he knew the Heidt family.
- The Heidt family
is a good family,
well known family.
They respect everybody.
- James grew up with
the three Heidt boys.
Billy Hickman knew
their father, Philip.
- They are a family
that loved their family,
and I think you can see that
throughout the whole, um,
Heidt clan, that, um,
there's a lot of love that,
um, that goes through them.
- Devout, rock solid people,
led by the family patriarch,
Philip Heidt.
And as a major real estate
developer in the area,
Philip was very much
a big deal around town.
- We have numerous
commercial sections
that Philip really pushed,
and he was a go-getter.
Um, he was gonna
get out,
and if there
was a deal to be made,
he was gonna
go after it.
- So he was a player?
- He was a player.
He was gonna get
the job done.
- And with that terrific
salesman's knack he had,
even if he got the better
part of a deal,
he left you feeling
good about it.
- Philip was a guy
that loved people.
He was a guy that,
um, people loved him.
He just always made
people feel good.
He always made you feel
like you were special.
- When he wasn't putting in
long hours at the office
or serving as
president of this board
or director of that bank,
he took pure delight in raising
his beloved Hereford cattle
on his land that went back
for generations,
the property on rural
Springfield Egypt Road.
But above all,
Philip Heidt liked to spend
time with his family--
Linda, his wife
of 40 years,
and his three sons,
Craig, Chris and Carey.
- The most important thing
to him was his family.
He wanted-- he always
wanted his family
to be close
to each other.
He always wanted his family
to love each other.
- Then came that horrific night
in August 2008,
when Philip, Carey,
and Linda Heidt
were shot in
the Heidt home.
Only Linda survived
to call 911,
but now she was
in serious condition
at the hospital.
- I could not believe it,
'cause Ms. Linda and, um,
Mr. Philip, they--
they're real nice people.
- None of the locals wanted
to think it had anything to do
with the nearby people
suspected of cooking meth
and with whom they shared
Springfield Egypt Road.
There had been
some arrests a while back.
Residents felt helpless
behind crime scene tape,
including a cousin,
Mark Arnsdorff.
- It was horrible.
It was just a horrible day.
- Down the road,
hundreds gathered
for Philip
and Carey Heidt's funeral.
Cousin Mark was a pallbearer
for Philip.
- It was a full house.
Standing room.
I think there was even
people outside,
couldn't get in.
That just shows how loved,
how much people thought
of the Heidt family.
- Double caskets.
The tear-streaked faces
of mourners,
drawn taut with grief.
No one wanted to send the
father and son off like this.
- It was terrible.
I lost a best friend
and a-a person to talk to.
James Neidlinger had known
Carey so well and for so long.
- He basically
was the person
that was always worried about
everybody else, I reckon.
Do anything for ya,
give you the shirt
off his own back.
- Carey was
the baby in the family.
There were two older brothers,
Chris and Craig,
though Carey would
be the one
to follow his father
into real estate.
And like his father,
Carey shared a zest for work
and a love of family.
- Busy all during the day,
meetings at night,
running late, rushing home,
give the kids baths.
But he did look
forward to that--
Going home and giving
the kids baths.
- Carey was proud
of always being there
for his three children
and his wife, Robin Heidt,
someone he'd known
since high school.
- The only real girlfriend
girlfriend he ever had
was Robin,
that I'm aware of.
- In high school, Robin had
been voted class clown.
And when the vivacious girl
started dating the quiet,
straight-laced Carey,
some didn't see the match,
but it worked for them.
They got married
a year after graduation.
- He loved her from day one.
He did everything
he could for her.
Sure did.
- And now Carey and his father
Philip's violent deaths
were a mystery.
If only Carey's mother,
Linda Heidt,
Ms. Linda to
one and all,
could help
with crucial details.
But she couldn't speak.
Her lower jaw and neck
had been torn up
by a shotgun blast.
It was questionable
whether she'd make it.
- Based on what
we saw on scene,
we did not believe
that she was going to
survive those injuries.
They were that egregious.
- Had she seen the person
or persons who shot her?
Would she be able
to give a description
that could help authorities
apprehend the killer
now on the loose?
- Coming up...
- Something seemed fishy
right from the start.
- It became obvious that
the scene was staged.
- Staged?
- Yes.
**
- The family home of Philip
and Linda Heidt,
the modest redbrick house
where they'd raised three boys,
was now a stomach-churning
crime scene.
Philip Heidt and his son,
Carey, dead--
shotgunned at
point-blank range,
Linda in grave condition
after taking buckshot
to the face.
Crime scene techs began combing
through the Heidt place
inch by inch,
the team led by
Case Agent Eugene Howard
of the Georgia Bureau
of Investigation.
- Was it obvious what had
gone on there to you?
- After looking
at the scene,
it became obvious that
the scene was staged.
- Staged?
- Yes.
It was meant to
look like a robbery.
However, nothing
was taken of note.
There was money left,
keys left.
- Stuff that would have
been easy to grab
and get a little money, huh?
- Yes, sir.
Nothing was disturbed
other than the bodies found.
- And the CSI team found
something else--
the way the intruder
may have entered the home.
- The point of entry
you found to be where?
They wanted you to
believe was where?
- The garage door had
a pane glass inside of it,
and that glass
was broken,
and it was
made to look like
someone had entered
the residence
through that door.
- It may have looked like
the intruder's way in,
but the curtain on the glass
panes was undisturbed.
It looked as though no one
had pushed it aside
to grab the door handle.
There was a much
simpler explanation
for how the killer or killers
had gotten in and out.
They thought
the family's outside key,
the one they
kept hidden,
was missing
from its usual place.
- And there was a key
inside of the doorway.
- The key that was
in the doorway
was probably the one
that was kept outside.
- One would assume, yes.
- So you're looking
at somebody that's got
at least pretty good working
knowledge of that house?
- Yes, sir.
- Strange clues
at a grim scene.
In those early
morning hours,
nothing seemed
to be adding up.
- You have no idea
who the shooter is?
- Right.
- If they're alone?
If there's more than one?
- Correct.
- And the one Heidt
who might know
was Philip Heidt's
wife, Linda,
who had somehow survived
the gunshot blast to her face.
She was recovering,
but it would be weeks
before investigators could
elicit her story.
- Her mouth was wired shut
due to her injuries.
I believe she had,
like, some bone grafts,
uh, reconstructive surgeries,
skin grafts.
Um, it took her
a long, long time
before she was able
to talk to anybody.
- It fell to Georgia Bureau
of Investigation
Special Agent John Barry
to ask the question--
are there any cracks,
any secrets
in the esteemed
Heidt family?
- And at that time, we start
what we call victimology.
And victimology
is something
that we look at
these people's lives
and try to determine what
put them at an added risk
to, uh, die
this particular evening.
- He had to learn more
about the patriarch,
Philip Heidt's, business
and household affairs.
Agent Barry started by
looking at the core of things,
the immediate family.
They'd be a prime source
of information.
But something else too.
- Part of the investigation
is that everyone's
a suspect at this point.
- Barry began
his interviews
that morning after
the Heidt murders,
sitting around
the kitchen table
at the home of the middle son,
Chris Heidt.
Chris told the detective
that he'd been home with
his wife the previous night.
She was questioned,
and the middle son's
story checked out.
By then, the crime scene
analyst believed
the murder weapon was
a 12 gauge shotgun.
Agent Barry searched
Chris Heidt's home
looking for a firearm.
- He had several
guns there,
but nothing in
my training experience
that would indicate any of them
had been recently fired.
- Next up for the detective,
the older brother, Craig Heidt.
- Craig stated that
that particular evening,
he was watching
television shows,
hunting and fishing shows.
- He told the GBI man that he'd
spent the night by himself
at a place about
a half hour's drive away,
a rustic hunting cabin
owned by a friend.
Agent Barry drove up to
the cabin to search it as well.
- A search of the cabin
resulted in
we did not find
any 12 gauge shotguns.
- But investigators did find
12 gauge ammo
in the back of
Craig's truck,
3-inch magnum
shotgun shells.
- At its face value didn't
tell me anything,
because Craig Heidt was
identified as a avid hunter,
and, uh, was known
to turkey hunt.
- Two days after
the murders,
the agents sat down again
with Craig Heidt
at the sheriff's office.
After the polite
formalities,
Barry posed
the difficult question,
who would want
Craig's family dead?
Craig offered this clue.
Craig may have been
referring to the fact
that his father, Philip,
and brother, Carey,
like so many others,
had recently been sweating
the plunge of value
in the 2008
real estate market.
- Investigators would learn
that the father-son team
of Philip and Carey
ran a business
worth millions,
but they were
heavily invested.
Land rich,
maybe cash poor.
Had something gone
dangerously downhill
in Philip Heidt's empire?
There were a dozen complicated
partnerships to examine.
- Once this happened,
there were numerous rumors
about who did it?
And did the Mafia
come do it?
Was it a professional hit?
Uh, did somebody
locally do it?
- And he was a player,
He had a lot of interests.
There was out-of-state money.
- They did.
- And it's not unreasonable
for investigators to say,
"Did a deal go south here?"
- Exactly.
Was this a bad deal
that somebody got mad about
and is gonna
retaliate for?
- And Craig Heidt had,
perhaps, another clue
to offer detectives.
He'd been out to the family
property after the shootings
and said he noticed
some of his things missing
in a shed out back,
including a 12 gauge firearm.
Could the assailant
have stolen those items
to commit the crime?
But there was
something else
GBI agents were starting
to get wind of,
ripe rumors around town
of a possible skeleton
in the Heidt family closet.
Investigators knew it could
be nothing or something,
but they'd have to run down
the scuttlebutt
before they could move on
to other leads.
If only one family member
would be more candid with them.
After all, the rumors
were about him.
- Coming up...
- Maybe if I had said,
"Look, this is what's going on.
"Y'all need to do
something now."
- Someone had been
keeping a secret,
and it was about
to come out.
- Welcome back to "Dateline:
Secrets Uncovered".
I'm Kate Snow.
After the triple shooting
at his parents' home,
Craig Heidt
told detectives
the tragedy may
have been connected
to his family's
real estate business.
Investigators wondered if
Philip and his son Carey
were involved in a big
money deal gone bad.
But another source
with a secret
was about to shine
the spotlight
on someone
much closer to home.
Back to Dennis Murphy
with "A Mystery in
Effingham County".
- Two of the Heidts
were gone,
killed in the middle of a late
August night in 2008.
Philip Heidt, a prominent
real estate developer,
shot dead in his bed.
His son and business
partner, Carey,
also shot to death
while sleeping.
Philip's wife, Linda, was
injured but recovering.
A deadly spree that had
investigators working
around the clock.
While some detectives
were interviewing
the surviving next of kin
in the Heidt family,
others contacted the family's
friends and associates,
including the oldest son Craig's
one time live-in companion,
a woman named
Tina Williams.
- I got a call from, you know,
the sheriff's department
saying that
they needed to talk to me.
- Detectives were
intrigued right away
by the girlfriend's
sense of remorse.
- Maybe if I'd a went
in April
to Ms. Linda and Mr. Philip
and Carrie and said,
"Look, this is
what's going on.
"Y'all need to do
something now."
Maybe it wouldn't have
went to the limit.
- What could she
be talking about,
this story
she hadn't told?
- I wish to this
day that I had.
Maybe they would
still be here.
- Tina didn't know anything
about Philip Heidt's
financial pressures
or about a missing gun
from the Heidt property,
but she did know something
about bottled up secrets.
Some people would later call
it scandalous,
what had happened behind
the Heidt's closed doors.
She began her story
with only good things
to say about the parents,
people she'd known
for several years.
- Ms. Linda and Mr. Philip
were very nice people,
were very caring people.
- She met their son, Craig,
at the veterinarian's office
where she worked
back in late 2003.
They chatted about
his hunting dogs,
and she was struck by how
well-mannered he was.
- Very nice guy.
Very polite. Very polite.
Um, just did the
"Yes, ma'am. No, ma'am.
"Thank you for helping me."
That kind of person.
- Craig and Tina
began going out,
and when Craig
went on disability
after hurting his
back at work,
he had plenty of free time to
drive the hour
from Effingham County
to the town where Tina lived.
He was there when she needed
him, she recalls,
and came to lean on him
for support,
because at 42 years
of age,
Tina was battling
breast cancer.
- If I had a treatment
and I was very sick,
he would be there
with me,
hold my hair
if I was sick.
He really was very
supportive at that time.
- After nine months
of dating,
Craig and Tina started
making wedding plans.
- We talked about who was
going to stand up with us
and who we wanted to
invited-- to invite,
and, um, just had
really set a date,
and we really were serious
about, you know,
having a life together.
- But a month before
the wedding date,
she found out
something disturbing.
Really disturbing.
Tina was on her way
to a chemotherapy treatment
when she got
a phone call.
On the other end of the line,
a woman's voice.
- She said, "You're
seeing my husband."
And I said,
"No, ma'am, I'm not.
"I'm not dating
anybody's husband."
And she said, uh,
"Yes, you are."
And I said, "Well, tell
me who your husband is."
And she said,
"Craig Heidt."
And I said,
"Well, wait a minute.
"Yeah, I guess
maybe I am".
- Whoops.
A contrite Craig Heidt soon
showed up on Tina's doorstep,
professing his love
for her
and saying that
he'd foolishly hoped
that he would
get a divorce
before she found out he had
a wife and two kids
back in Effingham County.
- And I told him, I said,
"Well, you need to go home.
"Take care of
your business.
"Get your divorce.
Stay with your wife.
"Do whatever
you're gonna do."
- Craig left Tina's house,
and within a few months,
he did get divorced.
Soon he and Tina
were back on course,
and he asked her to move
up to Effingham County.
- "You won't have to work
and I can take care of you."
And you know,
"I know your health's bad."
And, you know, "We can--
We can have this life,
"and things
will be better."
- But in fact, things were
about to get a whole lot worse,
and not just for
Tina and Craig.
Back in Effingham,
Craig's younger
brother, Carey,
was having his own
relationship problems.
Carey told his
friend, James,
that his wife, Robin,
wanted a separation.
- It hurt him.
He was, uh, tore up.
He, uh, he had made
the comment to me about--
that, uh, you don't
know how it feels
to lay beside somebody
in the bed
that don't love you.
- Robin felt that Carey was
spending too much time at work.
So, good husband
that he was,
he tried cutting
back his hours
and went
for counseling,
anything he could
do to make it work.
- I mean, he would do
what it took to-
to keep the marriage
together,
uh, especially
for the kids.
I mean, he wouldn't want to
see his kids grow up like that.
- But just as much
as the kids,
he didn't want
to lose the wife
who was his first
and only love,
the light
of his life.
- And he still told me
that day he loved Robin.
Mm-hmm.
He loved her dearly.
Last I heard,
he was still trying
to make his marriage work.
- And while Carey
and his wife, Robin,
were trying to keep their
banged-up marriage together,
Carey's older brother, Craig,
and his girlfriend, Tina,
were going through pretty
much the same thing.
Tina had moved in
with Craig,
but then he stopped
coming home.
And then one day,
his stuff was just gone.
- I called him and,
um, I said, um,
"Have you moved out?
What's the deal?
"Your clothes are gone."
And he said, "Well, what
do you think?"
I said, "Well, where
are you living?"
And he said, um,
"At a fox pen".
I said, "Okay".
- A fox pen?
He wasn't
exaggerating by much.
Craig had moved
into this rustic cabin
set deep back on some land
owned by a hunting buddy.
Tina says she was
left high and dry.
No job, no cash.
- There would be days I
didn't even eat, I mean,
because I didn't
have money to eat.
- Come summer, Tina was
barely scraping by,
and she says she had no idea
that around this time
Craig went shopping
for a new house.
He'd contacted realtor
Christy Campo.
- Personality.
How'd he come across to you?
- He was a little quiet.
He was just a nice guy.
He was kind of meek.
- Craig told Christy
he was interested
in buying some property.
Christy says she showed him
a nice house with acreage.
It was going for
a quarter of a mil.
- And, um, he wanted to move
up there and, you know,
and start buying horses
and training 'em.
- When she asked Craig how
he was going to pay,
she says he talked about
selling some timber land
that he owned.
- He said, um,
the land was being sold,
that he would know something
in a couple of weeks,
and, uh, he had also told me
that he had had a girlfriend,
and if they moved
to Screven County,
could her kids still
go to Effingham?
- That girlfriend
certainly wasn't Tina.
She hadn't seen Craig
since he moved out.
So who was it?
Months before, Tina had
noticed something in the mail
that caught her eye--
Craig's phone bill.
Who were all
those calls to?
- I started watching
the cell phone bill
for a couple
of months,
'cause I had
a suspicion
that he was seeing
somebody else.
- And what
an incendiary story
those phone logs
would hint at.
It was like something
out of the Bible.
Taboo behavior,
and a game changer in this
murder investigation.
And when police
figured out
what was going on behind
those closed doors,
they'd have some
pointed questions
for Tina's ex-boyfriend,
Craig Heidt.
- Is Craig Heidt
guarding a secret?
Investigators put
him in the hot seat.
**
- Detectives working the
case of the deadly shootings
in the home of Philip
and Linda Heidt,
had been canvassing
the neighborhood
and searching
Philip Heidt's office.
But they'd also been looking
into something closer to home--
rumors about a scandal
within the Heidt clan.
There had been a flurry of
cell phone calls
between the oldest
Heidt son, Craig,
and his now-dead
brother's wife, Robin,
in the months
before the murders.
And now detectives were
being let in on a secret.
Close family
and friends
suspected more
than mere idle chatter
between brother-
and sister-in-law.
They believed
Craig and Robin
may have been having
an affair.
- The information
was relayed to us
that there may be an
inappropriate relationship
between Robin Heidt
and Craig Heidt,
and in particular,
we wanted to explore this.
- GBI Special Agent
John Barry
went back to Craig Heidt
two days after the murders
and questioned him
in a taped interview.
Was he sleeping with his
brother's wife, Robin?
Craig insisted
there was nothing
going on between them.
But Agent Barry knew
something Craig didn't.
Robin Heidt had already spilled
to the illicit relationship
with her
brother-in-law.
The agent
confronted Craig.
The agent
wasn't satisfied
with the answers he was
getting from Craig Heidt,
and he still had an unsolved
murder on his hands.
Agent Barry tried
a new tack--
tell Craig that detectives
were homing in on Robin
as their prime suspect
and killer.
But Craig
had strong words
for whomever did
kill his family.
Telling Craig that Robin
was a lead suspect
was actually
a fake out.
In fact, authorities were
zeroing in on Craig,
not Robin, due to his
inconsistent statements.
And while
in the interview,
Craig hadn't fallen
for the ruse
and confessed
to the crimes
in order to protect
his lover,
the GBI investigators still
believed something wasn't right
about the oldest
son's story.
They kept Craig
on their radar.
- We are keeping tabs
on Craig at this time,
and he began to, uh, live
with Robin at her residence,
drive his brother's truck.
- Detectives quietly
continued their investigation,
running down
tip line leads,
following the money trail
of Philip and
Carey Heidt's business.
Jittery residents,
meanwhile,
worried the case would
never be solved.
But nine months after that
deadly break-in
at the Heidt home
on Springfield Egypt Road,
authorities finally
made their move.
- Approximately 8:45
this morning,
Philip Craig Heidt, 41,
of Springfield, was arrested.
- Craig Heidt was arrested
and charged with the murder
of his father and brother
and the aggravated battery
of his mother.
Relatives were naturally
shocked and distraught.
A son and a brother.
Craig Heidt's, cousin,
Mark Arnsdorff,
couldn't make heads nor tails
of the accusation,
and says Craig himself
seemed as flabbergasted
as everyone else.
- I went to see
Craig in jail.
I said, "Craig, I never
would have thought
"we'd be talking like this,
through a glass".
He said, "Mark, I would
not have either".
Craig was really scared.
He said, "Mark, when they
pulled me over,
"and they arrested me,"
he said,
"you could have knocked me
over with a feather".
He was so shocked.
- Mark says to know Craig
is to love him,
and to know that he couldn't
have done this.
- You'd love him.
He was like a daddy.
When he'd come in a room,
he'd speak to you,
make a point to speak
to you, smile,
and be shakin'
your hand.
- Mark and Craig grew
up like brothers.
- Growing up, if he wasn't
at my house,
spendin' the night,
the weekends,
I was at his house
on weekends.
Just always together.
- Mark says, just like
the rest of the Heidts,
Craig was raised to be an
active, involved citizen.
- We, uh, farmed, dreamed
about farming together.
- As teens, Mark and Craig
held positions
in their Future Farmers of
America chapter.
They were involved in
their local church.
And in school, he says,
Craig was never
some wacky loner.
- Craig has a tremendous
amount of friends.
He was very
popular in school.
Everybody loved him.
- And above all,
Mark says,
Craig was close
to the family
authorities now believed
he'd ruthlessly killed.
So maybe Craig wasn't cut
out for the family business
like his brothers,
but nonetheless,
he still made
his father proud.
- Craig was always working.
Uh, I never remember
him not-not working.
When we spoke, Mark said he
vividly remembered
seeing Craig for the first time
after the horrible murders
and insisted Craig's reaction
was that of an innocent man.
- Craig came straight to me
and hugged me,
and, of course, we held
each other and cried.
It was horrible
to see the hurt.
It was killing him.
You could see the
hurt in the eyes.
- As for Mark, there was
not a shred of doubt
that Craig's emotions that
day were the real deal.
- That's as
genuine as it gets.
I'm tearin' up.
- Mark believed authorities
felt pressure to make an arrest,
and so they targeted the
easiest person in their midst,
namely the one
Heidt relative
with a hefty blot
on his reputation,
the one who was rumored
to be having sex
with his sister-in-law.
- Oh, it definitely
hurt Craig.
He made some
bad decisions.
we've all done that.
But that does not
make him a murderer.
- But investigators were
talking evidence
and timeline.
Just look, they'd tell you,
at what Craig was doing
on the day he was arrested.
It was May 2009,
the last day of school
before summer vacation
in Effingham County.
When police pulled Craig Heidt
over to arrest him,
he was driving his dead
brother's white truck.
He had his brother's children's
ID cards in his wallet.
The truck was full of
Craig's belongings.
And when school got out,
Craig and his brother's wife
and kids
were all going to
move to South Carolina.
To the cops, this was
more than just a fling.
This was coveting,
biblical stuff--
Jealousy, anger,
lust, and greed.
- He had just stepped right
into his brother's so easily.
- Exactly.
- Took the wife,
the house, the truck,
the kids.
- The money. He had
become his brother.
- A son and brother
on trial,
and a mother
takes the stand.
The dramatic tale about
that deadly night.
- I said, "God, if we're
gonna do this,
"I need your strength,
because I have none of my own".
**
- We know he did it
because of his lies,
because of the type
of person he is,
because of the conflict
that was taking place.
- Craig Heidt, on trial
in a Georgia courtroom
for shooting to death
his father and brother
in their beds
and gunning down his
mother with intent to kill.
- The murder of your daddy,
your brother...
- The prosecution called the
motive as old as the Bible--
Craig's lust for
his brother's wife
and greed fueled
by that lust.
They'd begin by bringing
to the stand
the one witness
in the case
who asked not to have
her face shown on camera,
the defendant's own
mother, Linda Heidt.
- He came up
to the house.
He was gonna spend
the night with us.
- Speaking hesitantly after
several surgeries to her face,
Linda Heidt told the story
of that harrowing night
her quiet world was ripped
apart by three gunshots.
It was August 25th, 2008.
She and her husband, Philip,
had an extra guest that night,
their son, Carey.
- He and his wife were
having problems,
and he came to our house.
- They'd all gone to bed.
But Linda had recently
become absorbed with puzzles
called "Word-Finds" books.
She was doing one in the
bathroom off the master bedroom
so as not to disturb
her sleeping husband
when she was startled
by a sound.
- And I heard a very
loud noise or blast.
So I went out and went
in the bedroom,
and I said, "Philip".
And when I said that,
I saw a blast
when Philip was shot.
And then I saw the
blast as I was shot.
And I must have
blacked out.
I remember waking up
and I was laying
on the floor,
and I saw my teeth
laying on the floor
and I must have
blacked out again.
And I woke up praying.
I said, "God, if we're
gonna do this,
"I need your strength,
"because I have none
of my own".
- Linda tried to call for
help on the bedroom phone,
but the line was dead.
By now, she was
bleeding profusely.
She grabbed
a piece of clothing
and held it
to her face.
She doesn't know how she
made it to the kitchen,
but she was able to get her
cell phone out of her purse
to dial 911.
- Officers came in.
I think there was about
three sheriff deputies,
and they were shinin'
their flashlights, you know,
and said, "Ma'am,
put down the weapon".
But I was just sitting there
holding my cell phone.
And one of the officers
went back to the bedroom,
and he said, "There's two
back here dead".
And pretty well after that,
I don't remember anything
until about four
weeks later.
- What, if anything, could
she tell authorities
about her assailant?
- Do you remember giving a
description of the person
that you saw shoot
Philip and yourself?
- A slender man.
- You weren't able to give
any better descriptions
than that or see any
more detail than that?
- No.
- Linda's son, Craig,
hardly looked slender
in court.
But, the state said,
if you put all the pieces
of that odd
crime scene together,
the shadowy figure Linda Heidt
saw in the bedroom that night
had to have been Craig.
First, a crime scene
analyst concluded
only one assailant
had entered the home.
- I've seen no evidence
in this house
of multiple shooters.
One person taking three
shots is what I see.
- And the analyst
said the crime scene
didn't look like
a robbery gone wrong.
Jurors were shown
the jewelry and cash
left in plain sight,
the key, the undisturbed
curtain on the door--
Signs, said the lead case agent,
that the scene was staged
to deflect attention away from
the intruder's real motive.
- It was clear cut
designed to break in,
enter the residence,
and kill every
soul in the residence.
- What's more,
the only things
that were supposedly missing
from the residence
all belong to Craig.
His boots, his coveralls,
and his 12 gauge shotgun,
the ammunition likely
used in the attack.
It was of a kind that Craig's
missing shotgun could take,
and it was the
same kind of ammo
that was found
in Craig's truck.
Michael Muldrew
prosecuted the case.
- When they found
the shotgun shells--
- Live ammo?
- Three live ammo shells,
double-aught buckshot,
3-inch shells.
- Winchester.
- And yet the question
remained.
What would make
Craig Heidt even consider
putting a shotgun
to his family?
What could have
driven him?
- Ms. Heidt, if you would,
please...
- The state would
call to the stand
Craig's sister-in-law,
Robin Heidt.
For the first time,
she would reveal
the full story behind what,
until now,
had only been rich grist
for the Effingham County
rumor mill.
- State your name for
the record, please.
- Robin Rast Heidt.
- All eyes were glued
to the witness box
the day Robin Heidt
took the stand.
Jurors had already heard
from the prosecutor
about an inappropriate
relationship
between Craig and Robin.
And now they were going to
hear from Robin herself
about what exactly had been
going on in the Heidt family
behind closed doors,
and between brother
and sister by marriage.
- Are you married?
- No, sir, I'm widowed.
- And who were
you married to?
I was married
to Carey Heidt.
- How long were you married?
- Thirteen years.
- Robin told the jurors
about her life with Carey.
- We had a very good, um,
very prosperous living.
Yes, sir.
- Did you ever
lacked for anything?
- No.
- Was he always able to
provide you
with anything you needed?
- He was.
- What kind of
husband was he?
- He was a very
good husband.
- And how Carey was good
with their three children
as well.
- He was the best father.
He was a wonderful father.
- But then, she explained,
that in 2008,
things got rocky between
her and her husband.
- He spent a lot of
time at work,
a lot less time
at home.
Um, he became very
distant with me.
I wasn't really sure why.
I didn't realize that the,
um, real estate business
was not going as well as
it had been going.
I knew there
was some problems,
but there was
a lot of problems,
and he didn't discuss them
with me.
So we became pretty distant
as far as our marriage
relationship.
- The strain in their union
was enough to cause Robin
to stray from Carey,
and in a shocking way.
- Yes, in April of 2008,
I engaged in a relationship
with his older
brother, Craig.
He said if I was gonna
have an affair,
he wished it would have been
with anybody else
except his brother.
- Details of the
affair laid bare.
Was that a motive
for murder?
**
- Welcome back to
"Dateline: Secrets Uncovered".
I'm Kate Snow.
It was one of
the most anticipated moments
of Craig Heidt's murder trial.
Robin Heidt took the stand
to admit a shameful secret.
Not only had she cheated on
her husband, Carey,
but her lover
was his own brother, Craig.
Now, Robin is about to reveal
scandalous details,
including how the affair began.
Once again,
here's Dennis Murphy with
"The Mystery
in Effingham County".
- Robin said
the affair started one night
after a family gathering
when she confided in Craig
about the troubles
in her marriage
and about something else.
- I just told Craig that
there was something that
I needed to tell him,
and he listened
and I told him that
I had feelings for him
and that--
and he said that
he had feelings for me.
And that was about as far as
the conversation went that day.
- The next night, Robin
stayed over at her in-laws,
Philip and Linda's,
because she was
scheduled to take Philip
to a doctor's appointment
in the morning.
Craig was at the house too.
- Did you and Craig
have an intimate relationship
that night?
- We did.
- Where was that?
- That was, um, in Philip
and Linda's living room.
- Where were Philip and Linda?
- They were asleep.
- The relationship continued
from that night forth.
Robin said Craig would call her,
often using a cell phone
a friend had gotten for him,
to set up a rendezvous.
They'd often meet
at the hunting lodge
Craig was crashing at
after moving out
on his girlfriend,
Tina Williams.
- How many times
were we intimate?
Probably about twenty times.
- A few weeks into the affair,
Robin says
she told her husband, Carey,
what was going on.
- How did he find out
in May about the affair?
- I told him.
- How did he act
when you told him?
- He was upset.
He was very upset.
And he said, um,
that if I was-
if I was gonna
have an affair,
he wish it would have been
with anybody else
except his brother.
He was very upset about it
being his brother.
- And the prosecution
asked Robin,
what did she see
in her brother-in-law?
Robin already had Carey,
who by all accounts
was a devoted husband,
doting father,
and solid provider.
Why would she step out on him
with Craig,
who the state portrayed as
someone who didn't seem to
want much out of life
except time to hunt?
Craig, who was out of work
on disability
and was squatting at
a friend's hunting cabin.
- How did you think your life
was gonna improve
by engaging in this relationship
with Craig?
- Well, at the time
I felt like
Craig was givin' me
some attention
and given' me some things
that Carey wasn't giving me.
And at the time,
I felt like
that was where I needed to be,
was with Craig.
- But what were Craig and Robin
going to do
when word got out
to the family?
Because word did get out
to Craig and Carey's father,
Philip, and fast.
- Philip was very angry
and upset with me.
- And Philip Heidt
wasn't going to take
the destruction of his family
and his family name lightly.
Jurors would next
hear from friends
and colleagues of Philip's
that when it came to
the embarrassing relationship
between his son and
daughter-in-law,
Philip was going to do anything
he could to stop it.
- He said, "I gonna think--
I think I'm gonna take
"Craig out of the will".
- More secrets
spill out in the courtroom.
Just how heated
did the Heidt feud get?
- Coming up, word of
a fight in the family.
Bad blood beginning to boil.
- His rage was
still building up.
And he knew that
if he's ever gonna do something,
now was the time.
**
- I miss him.
You know?
He was a-he was a good friend.
- Memories of Philip Heidt
resonated with
his business partner,
Harvey Kiefer.
- Philip and I was probably
as close a friend
as each one could have.
- A man as proud
as he was private,
Philip Heidt would only open up
about his troubles
to his most trusted associates.
And the problem
he had on his hands
in late August 2008
was a doozy.
- The Friday
before his death that--
while we were doing our meeting,
he says,
"Sometimes I think I'll just
go jump off
"the Talmadge Bridge".
And I said, "Philip",
I says, uh, "it ain't that bad".
- Harvey Kiefer thought
Philip was referring to
the unnerving downturn
in the 2008 real estate market.
But no, Philip said
his problem stemmed from
turmoil within his family.
And now Philip was gone.
And his son Craig was on trial
for shooting to death
both him and his brother,
and wounding his mother.
- The prosecutor
would tell the jury
not just the story of
a taboo relationship
between a man
and his brother's wife,
but also about an emotionally
complicated situation
involving a black sheep son
and a headstrong father
who was just dead set
against that affair.
- In court, jurors heard
how Philip Heidt
learned of the affair between
his son and daughter-in-law
a few months before his death,
a revelation that friends said
bored into his very soul.
- He was very mad,
very upset.
He just could not
stand the idea
of his family
being torn apart.
Um, this, um, marital affair
was just driving him up a wall.
- Philip simply could not let
this affair run its course,
his friend said,
because more than real estate,
Philip Heidt lived for
his family and its good name.
It meant everything to him
to keep all the Heidts
living in harmony,
working hard to preserve
the Heidt ancestral land
for future generations.
But when Philip confronted
his son, Craig,
about the affair,
Craig had a surprising response,
according to his mother.
- What did Craig say
about the affair?
- That if he wanted Robin,
he would have Robin.
- And what was his attitude at
the time with regards to that?
- He was kind of arrogant.
- He told his mama
a few weeks before that,
"If I want her, I'll have her".
I can't even imagine
you having a conversation
like that
with your mother anyway.
I mean, how are you gonna have
Thanksgiving dinner-
- For instance.
- ...with this-- these dynamics?
You can't.
So he knew that mama and daddy
would never accept it.
- The bad blood between Craig
and his family members
quickly worsened,
according to the prosecution.
Jurors heard about
a heated argument
Craig and his brother Carey
had gotten into outside
a Sonic Burger restaurant.
And Craig didn't seem to care
who knew that things were toxic
inside the Heidt family.
Real estate agent,
Christy Campo.
- He said
they did not get along, um,
that he was the black sheep
in the family, and, um,
he wouldn't piss on 'em
if they were on fire.
- Robin said Craig echoed
the same sentiment to her.
- Craig said that
if his father was on fire
that he would not urinate
on his father to put him out.
- Father and son,
brother and brother,
husband and wife all squared off
in their corners.
The story being told
in the court
was of the Heidt family
destroying itself.
A match had been lit
as the prosecutor told it,
and come late August,
an explosion
was about to go off.
- Robin told the jurors about
a driveway altercation
a week or two
before the shootings
between her and
her father-in-law,
an argument
that became physical.
- Philip said, you know,
"Look around you.
"These are things that
Craig cannot give you.
"These are things that
only Carey can give you."
And he said, "You don't
understand how Craig is.
"He has issues that
you don't understand."
And that upset me.
I said, "I'm leaving.
"I'm getting in the car
and I'm leaving."
So I got in my Suburban,
and the window was rolled down,
and I went to crank my car,
and Mr. Philip reached in
and snatched my keys and
pushed my arm out of the way.
- Robin says
she told Craig about
the incident with his father.
The State theorized that
it was about then
that the tensions in the family
became unbearable.
A family friend
named Loretta Brower
recalled that Carey
told her about a fight
between the two brothers
that turned ugly.
- Craig come to the house,
me and my daddy
was sitting in the den,
and then Craig walks
in with a gun and, um,
he just threatened
to shoot Carey.
And his daddy grabbed the gun,
took the gun,
wrestled the gun,
and took the gun away.
- Jurors saw photos
of damage to the house,
said to be caused by that fight
between brothers.
A broken lamp, a scraped wall,
damaged furniture.
And in court,
Loretta Brower testified about
what else she said
Carey told her.
That during that fight,
Philip, the father,
had given Craig an ultimatum.
- "If you don't
leave Robin alone,
I'mma cut you
out of the will.
- And in fact, Philip Heidt's
accountant testified
that he and Philip did discuss
taking Craig out of his will.
And Philip's son, Carey,
had already taken
his wife's name
off a three million dollar
insurance trust
that he'd set up
for his children.
It's not exactly clear
what Craig or Robin
did or didn't know about
the estate papers,
but prosecutor Michael Muldrew
says financial concerns
were definitely on Craig's mind.
- Money is not
a small factor here.
- I think money
is a large factor.
And he knew he had to provide
for Carey's wife
like Carey had been providing.
The only way he was ever gonna
get any financial means
to live the life that
he wanted to live with Robin
was through an inheritance.
And he's got enough sense
to know the only way
he's going to inherit anything
if both parents are dead.
- Jurors also heard
realtor Christy Campo's story
of Greg asking her
to show him some property.
- I showed him the house.
Um, he said he was going to,
um, purchase some more horses
to, um, start training them.
So he's asking
how much more land
he could buy with the house.
- The state suggested
Craig's house hunting
showed premeditation.
He never did own any timber land
he could sell off,
as he told the realtor,
so other than killing his family
for the inheritance,
how else would he get the money
to close the deal
on the new house and
move in with Robin?
The prosecutor
asked her just that.
- Did he, to your knowledge,
have any means
to go buy a quarter million
dollar piece of property
for y'all to live on?
- No, I don't think so.
- So where was he gonna get
the money for y'all
to go move off together?
- I couldn't answer that.
He would have to.
- Did you have
the money yourself?
- Not myself, no.
- Then came that day
in late August,
the weekend before the murders
on early Monday morning.
The countdown to
a double homicide
was about to begin,
as the prosecutor saw it.
That Friday night,
Robin had been with Craig
at the hunting cabin.
- That night while I was there,
he made the comment that
if Carey and Philip
weren't careful
that he would play old school
on them.
- Do you understand
what he meant by that?
- I did not.
- The next morning, Saturday,
an odd thing
happened at the cabin.
Craig and Robin noticed
a low flying helicopter
that looked as though
it was spying on them.
Robin asked her husband
about it later that day.
- Carey told me that
I needed to remember that
he had friends in high places,
and he pointed up at the sky.
And that's when he told me--
he didn't actually come out
and tell me about
the helicopter,
I said,
"I knew that that was you".
- In fact, Philip and Carey
had asked a friend
with a helicopter to see if
Robin's SUV was at the cabin,
and if so,
to take some photographs.
He did locate
her white Suburban
parked next to
Craig's black truck.
Robin testified about
Craig's reaction
to the chopper surveillance.
- He had a very, very angry look
on his face.
- You ever seen him
that mad before?
- No.
- That surveillance
by the friend
who put the helicopter up,
taking pictures of the cars,
did that light the fuse here,
do you think?
- The fuse was burning and
that just helped it burn faster.
You have to remember that
the opportunity didn't arise
until that Sunday night
when Robin informed Craig
that Carey was gonna
be over there.
- That Sunday, Carey took
the children to church.
When they got home,
Robin made them lunch,
and then she and Carey got into
what would be
one final argument.
- He was very upset,
because he had proof
that I had spent the night
with Craig on Friday night.
So he said that he felt like
it was best if he had,
since he was so angry and upset,
that he would stay with
his mother and father
that night.
So he packed his things
and left around four.
- It would be the first time
Carey would stay over
at his parents' house
in thirteen years.
Robin says she called Craig
and told him
that Carey had left
and where he was heading.
She says she spoke to Craig
on the phone
one last time
before going to sleep.
But later that night, Craig
did make one more phone call
to his old girlfriend,
Tina Williams.
- "I'm sorry for
ruining your life."
"I'm sorry I can't
help you financially."
"I'm sorry for involving you
in my life and in my drama."
And I'm thinking, "Okay".
And I thought it was,
you know, kind of strange.
- Tina says she got
the eerie sense that
Craig was fixing
to do something,
but she couldn't tell why.
That's why she'd wonder
with regret later,
whether she could have prevented
what was about to happen
to the Heidts
in the next few hours.
Should she have told Philip
and Ms. Linda early on
about the disastrous affair?
If they'd nipped it in the bud,
would maybe the murders
never have taken place?
- For the next
seven hours or so,
what happens as you see it?
- I think his-his rage
was still building up, uh,
and he knew that if he was
ever gonna do something,
now was the time.
And he had all the people
that stood between him
and what he wanted.
It was after midnight,
husband, wife, and son
in a modest house
at the end of a quiet road,
settled in for the night,
their final night
as the esteemed Heidt family.
- Coming up,
what may be the breakthrough
clue in the case.
- As an investigator,
the hairs on
the back of my neck stood up.
**
- It was around five in
the morning
of August 25th, 2008.
And Robin Heidt,
wife of Carey Heidt,
heard a loud knock at the door.
It was two officers
and a chaplain
who told her that
her husband, Carey,
and his parents had been shot.
- I said, um,
"How was Carey killed?"
And they said that
he was shot in the head.
- The news left her numb.
She told the jury
she couldn't breathe.
A few hours later,
Craig called.
- And he was crying really hard,
and he said
he couldn't believe
what had happened.
And I said, "Are you okay?"
And he said, "no".
And I said, um,
"Craig, did you have anything
to do with this?"
And he said, "No".
- She confronted him again
when they were all gathered at
his brother Chris's house.
- I saw Craig there,
and I went over to him
and I said, you know,
"I want you to look at me
"and tell me
if you've done this or not".
And he said no.
- Robin says she saw Craig
at the funeral,
and within a week he asked her
if they'd be together again.
- He asked me if, um,
our relationship
was gonna remain,
how it had been.
And I told him that
I wasn't sure at that time.
- In those tumultuous
early days,
the two kept it cool,
and so did the detectives
who'd come across what
they considered a huge clue,
the significance of which
they would keep quiet about
for months.
It was a breakthrough
that followed
a simple if question.
If Craig had fired
a shotgun that night,
would he have
some telltale bruises
from the recoil of the weapon?
Agent Howard asked Craig
if he could take a look.
- I asked him,
"Do you mind taking
your shirt off
so I can see your shoulder?
He said yes, he complied.
And I was able to see
two distinct bruises
on his upper bicep
in this area.
- But it wasn't just the fact
that Craig had bruises
where you'd expect
that surprised investigators,
they said
he already had a story
to account for them.
- Craig started to
explain away,
before he even
took his shirt off,
that, "I fell yesterday".
As an investigator
the hairs
on the back of my neck stood up.
- The bruises, a sizable area
on the right bicep
and a smaller one on the left,
were photographed.
- I stepped out of this tub,
like this right here,
I dried off...
- And a few weeks later,
Craig was asked to explain
that bathroom fall
at his brother's house,
where he said it occurred.
Looking noticeably
more slender on tape
than he did sitting in court,
Craig described
how he slipped
getting out of the shower.
- I stepped out like this,
when my right foot came out,
I fell like that right there
and landed on the commode
like that right there.
When I landed,
I kind of landed, you know,
like hugging, like,
that's this right here...
- Okay.
- Type thing.
- He said he hit the toilet
so hard that it shifted.
- I tried to keep my head
from busting this up
and cuttin' my head, you know?
I mean, it just
all happened so fast.
That's just how I wound up.
- The state's medical examiner
took the stand
and said Craig's bruises
looked to him
a lot more like the kick
from a shotgun
than they did
the injuries from a fall.
And what's more,
while Craig said
he fell just the day before
these photos were taken,
the medical examiner said
the bruises didn't look fresh.
- It had to be at least
about three days old
because of the gold
coloration.
In order for the human body
to get that gold color
with a bruise,
it takes at least three days.
- In their larger theory
of the crime,
the one involving
the Old Testament lust,
the prosecutors argued that
Craig pulled that trigger
three times
so he could have it all.
Robin, the money to be with her,
and the freedom
from his parents'
disapproval.
And they said he thought
he was getting away with it,
at least for a while.
- He needed me for support
and I was there for him,
and I needed him for support.
So we had each other.
- A few weeks
after the funerals,
Robin and Craig visited
the cemetery together
to throw away the dead flowers
on Philip and Carey's graves.
By Christmas, they were
back together as a couple,
and in January,
Craig moved in,
taking Carey's old side
of the marital bed.
He started taking
his brother's children
on outings with Robin.
But looking back,
the sister-in-law said
it just didn't feel right.
- We did look like a family.
We were acting like
everything was fine,
and it was wrong.
- Robin says
she would try to end it,
and Craig would
talk her out of it.
The two even started
planning a wedding.
Robin tried on a dress
at this local boutique,
and they bought these rings.
- We went and looked at rings
one time,
and when we went to
look at them,
they were on sale,
so we went ahead
and purchased the rings.
- Did he pay for 'em?
- I did.
- And when Craig
needed an attorney,
it was Robin who ponied up
$60,000 for legal counsel.
Money she says she got
from the insurance payout
following her husband
Carey's death.
- I offered to pay for it.
At that time,
I believed in Craig
and I wanted him
to have good representation.
- Do you regret having
paid that money?
- Yes, I do.
- Even after Craig's arrest,
Robin said
they tried to keep
the relationship going.
Jailhouse visits,
correspondence.
- We wrote letters
back and forth.
- And where are those
letters today?
- I don't have those
letters anymore.
- What'd you do with them?
- I burned them.
- But the jury had only heard
half a case.
The defense was about to say,
"Hang on.
Look at the prosecutor's
case very carefully,
and you won't find
a shred of hard evidence
tying Craig
to that awful crime."
- No DNA linking him, no blood.
- Coming up, family members
come to Craig Heidt's defense.
Were police a bit too eager
to wrap up this case?
- They were basically
trying to convince me
that Craig did it.
**
- Welcome back.
On the stand,
Robin Heidt told jurors
she had many regrets.
One of her biggest?
Continuing the torrid
love affair
with her brother-in-law,
Craig Heidt,
after the shooting
that tore his family apart.
But another witness was about to
come to Craig's defense.
The only person to survive
the horrific shooting.
Would a mother's testimony
be enough to persuade the jury?
Here again is Dennis Murphy with
"The Mystery
in Effingham County".
- My client
stands before you today
innocent of these charges...
- Craig Heidt sat
in a Georgia courtroom
accused of gunning down
his father, brother, and mother,
two of them fatally, because,
the state had argued,
Craig wanted
both his brother's wife
and his brother's life.
Craig's defense attorney
was about to present his case.
Craig's relatives, uncles,
aunts, cousins
had been listening for five days
to the prosecution's arguments
against one of their own.
And word was at least some of
the extended Heidt clan
didn't know
exactly where they stood.
- Sheriff, here it wasn't
so clear
as to where to put the family.
They were divided on
what they believed had happened
in that house
and whether Craig was in fact,
the killer.
- I don't think they knew
where to sit.
You know, here's my nephew,
here's my brother,
here's my-my cousin,
here's my son.
- Maybe you can persuade me
of the evidence, Mr. Prosecutor,
but there's still this whole
he's my blood.
He's my kin.
- That's right.
- But the jurors would hear from
Craig's closest of kin,
his mother, Linda,
and brother, Chris.
Linda, again asked not to
be shown on camera,
but told the jurors
she had no reason to think
Craig had anything to do
with the shootings.
- Have you been in a position
to judge his general demeanor
towards you?
- Yes.
- And how would you
describe that?
- Worried about me.
As protective as he could be
and his love towards me.
- Has he said anything to you
during those meetings
or in your time with him
to give you any reason
after this happened
that he was involved?
- No.
- If a mother's love
wasn't enough
to convince the jury
of Craig Heidt's innocence,
jurors also heard from
Craig's surviving brother,
the middle Heidt son, Chris.
His testimony
would call into question
the prosecution's story of
a ne'er do well son
and a combustible family dynamic
that erupted.
Chris told the jury
that over the years
there was no history
of bad blood
between Craig
and their parents.
- I wouldn't say, uh, anyone
was a specifically
a black sheep of the family.
We all had
our own interests.
And Chris Heidt explained that
while the affair
between Craig and Robin had
caused friction in the family,
Craig and his father,
Philip's relationship
was far from over.
- There was a
little-little tension, um,
due to what was going on
in our family.
And, uh, my Dad was-was
upset with that situation.
But, um, no, there was no-
their relationship
was-was still close,
to my knowledge.
- And what of that
violent tussle over a gun
that supposedly broke out
between Craig
and his brother Carey close to
the time of the murders?
Chris, now cast doubt about
whether the fight
had even happened at all.
- Did he ever tell you
about any type of, uh,
confrontation in
the family home
where guns were pulled
and that where
your father allegedly
wrestled a gun away
from somebody?
Did he ever tell you about that?
- No, sir.
- Chris said his mother
never told him about
any fight either,
and that the damage
to his parents' home
supposedly caused by
the scuffle,
was really just normal
wear and tear.
- The house was almost
forty years old,
thirty-nine years old
at that time, but, uh,
and the three boys
grew up in it,
as well as, uh,
seven grandchildren.
- Next, Chris explained that
as early as
that first morning
of the crime,
he got the sense that
authorities were
targeting Craig.
For instance,
when detectives
searched the hunting cabin
where Craig was staying.
- When they came out,
they actually had, um,
just bags of clothes and shoes
and, um,
I think they had taken the shoes
that he was wearing.
Um, so at that point,
I probably started feeling that
they were focusing on him
very heavily.
- And when Chris later
spoke with detectives,
he says his hunch
was confirmed.
- They were basically
trying to convince me
that Craig did it.
- And the defense said,
if you want proof
that authorities had blinders on
about Craig Heidt from day one,
just look at all the stones
they didn't overturn
when it came to
other Heidt family members.
- At the time, I did, uh,
attempt to get Carey Heidt's,
uh, phone records,
but did not receive them
from the phone company.
- What about, uh,
Chris Heidt?
- I did not get Chris Heidt's
phone records.
- What about Alan Heidt?
- I did not get Alan Heidt's
phone records.
- He did not ask you to
lay all your guns out
or identify your weapons?
- No, sir, I did not go
lay all my guns out
and show 'em to anyone.
- Bad enough to gloss over
other Heidt family members,
suggested the defense.
But truly disturbing
were the very real,
legitimate and
possibly dangerous suspects
outside the Heidt clan
that the defense said
weren't properly investigated.
The jurors would next hear about
those potentially dropped leads.
And the biggest problem of
all in the state's case,
according to the defense,
the total lack
of physical evidence
tying Craig Heidt to the crime.
- No hard, concrete evidence
in this case,
which is, I think,
what we should demand.
- Coming up,
the defense steps forward
with some surprises.
Was there a mishandled
crime scene?
Was there more than
one gunman?
- It's possible.
- Was Craig Heidt
really behind this?
**
- When Philip Heidt,
his wife, and son,
were all shot in their home
in 2008,
neighbors were surprised,
but perhaps not shocked.
That tree-lined rural lane
called Springfield Egypt Road,
might look bucolic,
but in fact it had seen
its share of visits
from law enforcement.
- We have a certain element
in this neighborhood
and a lot of things happen
on this little road.
It surprises me.
- Now on the stand
for the defense
in his brother Craig's
murder trial,
Chris Heidt told the jury about
the potentially
dangerous elements
who lived on his parents' road.
- There had been
a methamphetamine lab.
They had actually went in
and prosecuted this guy twice
for having
a methamphetamine lab there.
- Chris said that
before his father died,
Philip expressed concern that
the man was
getting out of prison.
Could Philip and Carey's deaths
have had something to do with
these country
drug manufacturers?
It was just as likely as
the murders involving Craig,
the defense attorney argued.
And he said it was
just one of the many avenues
pointing away from Craig Heidt
that investigators
chose not to go down.
- The defense attorney
would argue in court
that once the investigators
learned about that affair
between Craig and Robin,
they decided that
they had their man.
When in fact,
the defense would say that
the true killer
may have been someone
involved with Philip Heidt's
real estate dealings,
a business sector that
had taken a swan dive.
- Joanne Reiser took the stand
for the defense.
She was Philip Heidt's,
long time
professional assistant,
and her testimony
suggested that
if Philip didn't
tell her something,
then it probably didn't happen.
- He told me so much.
Sometimes I-I--
you know how you wanna
stick your finger in your ear
and go
[moving tongue]?
Yeah.
- Too much information?
- Too much information, yeah.
- Okay.
- Joanne said Philip
never told her either
about a physical fight
in his home
between his sons,
Craig and Carey.
And what's more,
to hear Joanne tell it,
detectives may have overlooked
the real powder keg
about to explode
in Philip's life.
- He had a lot of pressure
on him business-wise.
- Joanne described to the jury
just how big and varied
Philip's impressive
business holdings were,
from his real estate
investments...
- There was approximately
eighteen entities
that Philip was involved in.
- ...to his connections
with cattle investors
across Georgia and beyond.
- There were some in Georgia,
but I mean,
he had-he had Kentucky.
He had cows all over.
- Now Joanne Reiser
told the jury,
that by the summer of 2008,
with a real estate
bubble bursting,
her boss stopped selling and
the banks began calling.
Second and third demands
for past due payments
of $50,000 and $60,000.
The defense suggested
had someone been
on the short end of
one of Philip Heidt's dealings,
and for reasons of money
or reasons of revenge,
have wanted him
and his family dead?
- There was evidence
to suggest that,
said the defense.
- I know this one banker
in particular
that got pretty irate.
- Joanne Reiser told the jury
about one strong-arm banker
who, according to testimony,
had rattled Philip to his core.
- He was real upset.
I mean, when he came in,
his face was real red.
I mean, he talked about it
for a couple of days.
I mean, that's how upset
he was.
- And yet jurors
now heard testimony
about business records
of Philip and Carey's
that may never have been
scrutinized by authorities.
- Did they ever ask you
to provide
any-any business documents
in particular
about all the entities
and corporations
that Mr. Heidt was involved in?
- No, they did not.
- Another witness,
Philip's accountant,
had also testified
about information
left untouched by detectives.
- He interviewed me,
but I don't think
I gave him
any financial records.
- But if anyone
in Philip Heidt's
professional past
was trying to make a statement
by killing him and his family,
the defense said,
we may never know
because of its next theme:
the crime scene
was mishandled by police
on several key fronts.
For one thing,
the defense pointed to a list
which authorities had kept,
showing who entered
the crime scene,
and asked the question,
how could anyone trust
a crime scene
that was visited by 179 people?
- Do you think it's a good thing
or a not so good thing
to have 179 people in and out
of a crime scene?
- I have to explain
that this took place
over weeks of time.
- But what about
a potentially big lead
that agent Eugene Howard
and his team
may not have
run down completely?
Some tire tracks
authorities believe
were made by
an emergency vehicle,
but which the defense argued
weren't fully investigated.
- If it were
hypothetically tire tracks,
could you or could you not
take photographs of them
to determine
the possibility of
whether two vehicles were there?
- It's possible.
- Even more intriguing
was what looked like
a bloody footprint
near the door,
seen in this crime scene photo.
Investigators said
it likely wasn't the shooter's,
but instead may have
been made by
a first responder to the scene.
But at times,
it sounded as though
the authorities
didn't even remember
the bloody print at all.
- Now, I don't
specifically remember
the shoe print.
- Are you aware of
any photograph taken by
a GBI crime scene investigator
of a bloody footprint?
- I'm not aware of one.
- Overlooked clues
in the investigation
may be one thing,
said the defense lawyer,
but the truest sign
of Craig Heidt's innocence,
he said, was this:
In all the volumes of files,
dozens of interviews,
and hundreds of man hours
generated in this case,
there was not a single piece
of physical evidence
tying Craig Heidt
to the crime.
- There's no footprints found,
no fingerprints linking Craig
to these crimes,
no surveillance video,
no DNA linking him,
no blood, no hard,
concrete evidence in this case.
Which is, I think,
what we should demand.
- The defense attorney
chipped away at
what he said the state
had tried to pass off
as physical evidence
in the case.
Those shotgun shells found
in Craig Heidt's truck?
They may look like
they linked Craig to the crime,
but the defense said
that type of ammo
was so common that
it's used by 40% of hunters.
And what about those bruises
on Craig's arms,
which he supposedly got
from the recoil of the weapon
he used to shoot
his family?
The defense brought its own
firearms expert to the stand
who put everything
into question.
- Are you familiar
with what shotguns do
as far as bruises go?
- Yes.
It's difficult for me to, uh,
to put a full size shotgun
in a position to
get the bruises
that he has on his right arm.
It's not a natural place
to put the gun.
It's unusual.
- Not only that,
the defense's expert
turned on its head
the state's theory
of the sequence
of the shootings.
- The son was shot first,
that the mother was shot second,
and Philip was shot third.
- The defense expert
also said that the shooter
or shooters
would likely have had
a back spatter
spray of blood on them,
while none was found on Craig
or his clothes.
Lastly, the expert said
there may have been
more than one shooter
who'd entered
the bedroom that night.
- Then someone else
could have been
in another location
and shot her
from that backed up location
you described?
Is that possible?
- That's possible.
- And in one final move
before Craig's defense attorney
rested his case,
Craig's mother
returned to the stand.
Linda Heidt once again
chose not to have her face
shown on videotape,
but you could hear her
read a letter of love
and reconciliation,
which Craig's father, Philip,
wrote to Craig
but hadn't yet given to him.
The letter was dated
just a few weeks
before Philip's death and
was some of the best evidence,
said the defense,
that the bond between
father and son
was as strong as ever and
was never a motive for murder.
- Son, I appreciate
everything you do
and have done.
Your mom and I love you.
We are all going through
difficult times.
Don't be distant and
let life pass you by.
- The letter brought
Craig Heidt to tears.
But if everyone wondered
if Craig himself would speak,
they soon have their answer.
- Your name is Craig Heidt,
correct?
- Yes, sir.
Philip Craig Heidt.
- With the jurors
removed from the courtroom,
Craig was asked
whether he was satisfied
with his defense counsel.
- Absolutely, 100%.
- But Craig chose
not to testify.
In doing so,
Craig passed up the chance
to tell the jurors
his side of the story,
but also the opportunity
for prosecutor Michael Muldrew
to ask some pointed questions.
- Would you like to have
cross-examined Craig
on the stand?
- That's one reason
I became a prosecutor,
is to cross-examine people
like Craig Heidt.
- But now it was up to the jury
to use what they did here
to decide
Craig Heidt's fate.
- You gotta sleep at night
once you make this decision.
- Coming up, deep divisions,
difficult deliberations.
- I couldn't imagine him
doing that out of just anger.
I don't think
he hated his family.
- But reach a verdict they did.
What would it be?
**
- Day seven of Craig Heidt's
murder trial,
close to thirty witnesses
had taken the stand.
It was almost time for
the jurors to deliberate.
But first, the attorneys
presented closing arguments.
The prosecution.
- They want you to think
somebody did this horrible crime
to make a statement.
Well there was
a statement made all right,
it was made by Craig Heidt,
the murderer in our midst.
That's who made the statement.
- And the defense.
- The bottom line is,
is they do not have
any physical evidence that
directly links
this crime to Craig Heidt.
- Craig Heidt's attorney,
Dow Bonds,
reminded the jury
just what was at stake.
- This is a court of law.
This is not a time
to take leaps of faith
on another man's life here.
- And in a final dramatic
courtroom moment,
prosecutor
Michael Muldrew reenacted
what the state believed
really happened
in the Heidt family home
when the crimes occurred,
starting from the moment
they said Craig Heidt
sneaked in in the dead of night
and aimed his shotgun
at his sleeping brother.
- Here he opens his eyes
and he knows he's got to fire.
Boom!
It's off to the races.
He then turned around,
steps over to his daddy's,
his daddy's
layin' right there,
second shot.
Boom!
Foot of the bed.
But mama's not there.
He drops the gun,
and then he hears
her voice, "Philip".
He flings it up,
third shot.
A vivid image with
one last question to button up,
according to the state.
The reasons why Craig
didn't light the gasoline
they said he'd poured
all over the house.
Prosecutor Muldrew said
after the shootings,
Craig thought his mother
was dead,
and was shocked to then hear her
on the phone to 911.
- He goes and gets his match and
he's getting ready to light it,
and he hears mama's voice
and he panics.
- Now, finally, the eight women
and four men
who would decide
Craig Heidt's fate
had the case.
First, they elected
a foreperson, Jimmy White.
- I just said, "All right,
let's just take a vote.
- Straw vote, huh?
- Let's just see
where we're at.
- Show of hands?
- Show of hands.
- What'd you come up with?
- Uh, four to eight.
- And what was the divide?
- Um...
- Mostly not-not guilty.
- Not guilty.
- Yeah, it was four guilty...
- Eight not guilty?
- Eight not guilty.
- It was a lot of ground
to make up
in one direction
or the other.
The biggest thing Craig
had going for him,
thought the jury,
the lack of physical evidence.
- What kept bringing me back
was that smoking gun.
It's the DNA.
It's the fingerprints.
It's the murder weapon.
- Where is it, huh?
- Exactly.
You know, I think that
brought a lot of people back.
Like, this guy didn't do it.
You know?
There's nothing that says,
yeah, he did it.
- But in the absence
of physical evidence,
the jurors were left to ponder
the less tangible aspects
of the case.
Like, just who was this person
sitting before them?
- What sense did you have
of Craig?
- He seemed like a nice guy.
- I couldn't imagine him
doing that out of just anger.
I don't think
he hated his family.
I don't think
he hated his brother.
- And the jurors weren't sure
that the affair alone
between Robin and Craig
was enough
to push him to murder.
- Sleeping with
your brother's wife
doesn't necessarily
make you a killer.
- No, not at all.
And we even-we even
talked about that
in deliberation.
You know, just 'cause
you're a cheat or, you know,
you sleep with
your brother's wife,
like you said.
- The twelve jurors
who had started as
a deeply divided group,
were nearing consensus.
But Jimmy, the foreperson,
urged each of them
to stand their ground
until they felt sure.
- If you've got a problem,
bring it up.
You know?
We got all night.
We come back tomorrow.
You know?
You gotta sleep at night
once you make this decision.
- But as night fell,
the judge was given word.
The jury had reached a verdict
in the double murder trial
of Craig Heidt.
- As to count one,
we the jury find the defendant,
Craig Heidt, guilty.
As to count two...
- Craig Heidt,
guilty on all counts,
convicted of
murdering his father
and brother and
shooting his mother
with intent to kill.
- I cried the whole time
it was being read,
'cause I knew I was gonna take
another son away from Linda.
And that was really hard.
- Looking back,
the jurors say it was
the sum of all the things
they heard
and all the evidence they saw
that got them to guilty.
- It wasn't any one
specific piece of evidence,
it was everything just kind of
altogether came to him.
- Some among Craig's
friends and family,
like Craig's cousin,
Mark Arnsdorff,
vehemently disagreed with
the jury's decision.
- If Craig Heidt came to me
and said,
"Mark, I did it",
I wouldn't believe him.
I mean, 'cause I know-
I know he didn't do it.
You know, that's how much
I believe him.
- Mark believed the real killer
was still on the loose.
- There's no closure.
There's still the murderer's
still out there.
Uh, so nobody feels any safer
or any better at this point.
- And even the jurors feel
there's a piece of the puzzle
still missing.
- Do you think
it's the whole story?
- No.
- You think there's a--
there are
more people involved here
or more motivations or what?
- I think there are more people
behind the curtain.
- I think there are more people
that knew about it.
- As you know very well,
there are a great number
of people
in Effingham County
who are waiting for
the other shoe to drop
in this case.
Are they kidding themselves?
- I can tell you this:
If there was anybody else
involved with the murder
of Philip and Carey Heidt
and the-and the assault
against Linda Heidt,
Craig Heidt holds the key
to their jail cell.
- It's been several years
since the terrible events
on Springfield Egypt Road.
Linda, the matriarch,
made a remarkable recovery,
inspiring so many
with her grace and grit.
- Linda is the strongest person,
incredible person--
I could not-- I didn't know
she had that much in her
to be that strong.
- I think Philip would have
really been proud of Linda.
I think he would have
been happy with her.
- Of course, Philip is gone now.
Carey, too.
And Craig is locked away.
Two life sentences
plus another 85 years.
Effingham County had never seen
the likes of
what happened to the Heidts,
and hopes never to again.
- That's all for
this edition of
"Dateline: Secrets Uncovered".
I'm Kate Snow.
Thank you for watching.