Death of an Olympian

They met in high school. She was a homecoming queen, and he was, you know, one of the big studs in high school. He also was an Olympian. Flout of the USA may be able to do it. He is sitting in third position. He wasn't just my big brother. He was like Superman. They had a good relationship. Hey, Mike. They just decided they wanted to adopt. Hi, Michael. That was an exciting time. They had their child. It was like, wow. I think they were the perfect couple up until towards the end. What's the one and two? One and two. One and two is scalp matter, we believe, from Dave Lyle. Give the shots. Here are shots made fired? Yes. And three, four. Three, four are blood. To even try to figure out what happened, it just kind of goes beyond your scope of understanding. How did a pool of blood get over here if his body is here? What theory would you like to hear first, the prosecutions or what actually happened? I notice you don't call this a crime scene. It's not. It's not a crime scene. It's where a woman saved her life. Who is Jay Lound? She was a woman who was battered and abused for years, and who accepted that as her plight. You have to understand this man was a monster. Why did you shoot him? He was gonna kill us. Michael! He was gonna shoot Michael. He was gonna kill me. I didn't think I was gonna live that night. When did you hear what her defense was going to be? When she hired Ron Bamier, he started saying things in the media. Outlandishly, just bashing Dave. He beat her, and she did what any mother would do to save her son. And he suggests they will find evidence of a troubled home life. You have to understand, a lot of people didn't want to confront Dave Lout. He was an Olympic hero. I was afraid because he's Dave Lout. Nobody would believe what was really happening. She kept a secret for years from the people closest to her. Do I believe that he hit her? Absolutely not. He loved her. Were you in love with Dave? Yes. Yeah, I really was. There are a lot of people who will look at Jane, and they see a meek, quiet woman. Don't let it fool you. There's a different person living inside of her than what you see. Is Jane Lout going to testify? Of course. She'll be our first witness. I'm confident the jury's going to know that Jane was in fear of her life that night and that shooting Dave was her only escape. I'm Erin Moriarty. Tonight on 48 Hours, Death of an Olympian. It was shortly after midnight, August 28, 2009. And in Oxnard, California, Jane Lout was frantically telling a 911 dispatcher that her husband, Dave, may just have been shot by an intruder. Dave's younger brother, Don, and his wife, Rebecca, were asleep in their home when they got the call. Hi, you've reached your Lout family. When the phone rings that early, you know it's... Yeah, something's not right. Hi, this is Detective Sonia Sanchez with Oxfair Police Department. But we kind of laid there frozen. Right. Let it go to voicemail. Jane Laut called her brother, Hank Laubacher. Can you hear the noise in the back alley? He ran out and I heard some shots. What police are here? It's at 1048. It's in the alley. This is an audio recording of first responders to the crime scene that night. Did you prove that you saw him last? I did. Okay. Officers found Dave Laut dead in the side yard. Dave has been injured. From a distance, I observed Dave's body, and he had two very close proximity gunshot wounds. Lead detective Mike Young. One was to the back of his head, and there was a second very close proximity gunshot wound to the back of his right shoulder. I hit the floor, and I was in tears. My Superman was gone. Not long after the shooting, Jane was questioned by Oxnard homicide detectives about what she said happened. I told you I'm trying to remember everything. Jane said that while their 10-year-old son Michael was asleep in his bed, her husband heard a noise out back. He said there's something going on in the backyard. Her husband, Dave Laut, had gone outside to investigate, that she'd gone out briefly with him. He told her to go back in the house and that she had heard gunshots and that Dave had not come back into the home. That, Jane said, is when she called 911. How did you first hear that something had happened to your son? It was about 5 o'clock in the morning, and the doorbell rang. Dave's mother, Dottie Laut. It was Jane's brother, Hank, and Hank said, Jane and Michael are okay, but Dave's dead. Dottie was devastated, but relieved that Michael and Jane were safe. Jane had been a beloved part of the Loutt family for over 30 years. This is a memorabilia room. Boy, yeah. Quite a few things, huh? Back in 1980, Dave was a hometown hero who had set shot put records and was destined for Olympic fame. His biggest supporter was the young woman who was about to become his wife. I mean, if you knew Dave and the kind of person he was and the way he beamed when he talked about Jane and how he had her up so high on this pedestal. I mean, he just, he loved her. She was a nice girl. I loved her all these years, I did. Jane Loud spoke to me for her first TV interview. You remember your wedding day? Mm-hmm. Were you happy that day? I was. I was really happy. You know, and it was very special. They had a good, strong friendship. And something that I always thought, you know, I want to have a marriage like that. But the marriage faced challenges. In 1984, Dave finally won an Olympic medal. But it was bronze. Everyone was proud. But Dave was determined to win the gold in the 88 games. And then while training, Dave tore tendons in both of his knees and forever lost his chance at the gold. He tried, but he couldn't come back. He then became a teacher? Mm-hmm. Did he like teaching? He loved it. And the one that was important was that one. Athletic director from high school. It was his dream job. Jane and Dave seemed to settle into their new life and tried to have a family. When Jane couldn't get pregnant, the couple adopted a baby boy from South Korea. Hi, Daddy. Hi. Daddy. And named him Michael. We had happy times. The time right before Michael arrived was good. Right up until Michael was probably five was the best time of our marriage. And it just started going downhill, and it got worse and worse every year. But no one seemed to know how bad. I'm trying my best. I don't know. Back at the Loud Home, Detective Young made a stunning discovery that would change everything. You found the weapon, didn't you? I did. Where? Inside the grandfather clock that was in the living room of the house. I walked over to the grandfather clock, opened the door and looked inside and there was a gun underneath the weights. Dave had been shot with his own .22 caliber single action revolver, the kind of gun you see in cowboy movies. It's a single action revolver. Heavy and an effort to use. Gun expert Nabil Katar showed me that the hammer must be cocked for every shot. Now bring that hammer back and fire. Six shots were fired at Dave Lout that night. And according to authorities, all six hit their target. And the gunshots that people heard, were they boom, boom, boom, boom? They were separated, as I recall, by about a second a shot. So boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Just hours after being interviewed by police before she even knew they found the gun, Jane changed her story. Now, she said, it was self-defense and hired attorney Ron Bamier. There's no dispute that she wanted him dead that night. Yeah, it was going to be him or her. Jane says it was when her husband and also threatened to kill their 10 year old son Michael that she felt she had no choice I think if it didn happen we would both be dead But even then, it would be nearly six months before Jane Lott was arrested, and then she would be released on bond for six years, until her trial finally began. Why? Why did it take so long? Because knowing the who is only half the story. We wanted to try and figure out if there was a legitimate why. So why do you think she killed your son? My personal feeling is that she was afraid Dave was going to take Michael. Next, Jane tells us her side of the story. Jane Lout says she never planned to kill her husband. I thought for sure it was the only way to stop him. You don't get how he would not stop coming after me. She was used to abuse, she says, but that night she says Dave went further than he ever had. Normally he'd get mad and it would taper off sometimes, but he never stopped all night. He just kept raging. Jane claims she first noticed Dave's temper when they were dating, and Dave was going for the gold. There were signals I didn't really pay attention to before. Just his anger. His, um... You know, if something didn't go right, if he couldn't find something, if he's throwing weight at the shot and it doesn't go as far as he wants. He's just losing his temper. The first time Dave hit her, Jane says, was also shortly after they were married. Dave was going out of town to an Olympic training session, and it was Jane's job to pack his bags. He was leaving for a trip and I forgot to buy something. It was like bathroom supplies. And he hit me and I had like a black eye and my lip was split. He told me. If anybody asks, tell him some s***er did it. And that, says Jane, is exactly what she told everyone. I told him somebody mugged me. And a black person mugged me. But Jane admits that physical violence was not the norm. Instead, she describes a pattern of mostly emotional and psychological abuse. How often would there be incidents and what would they involve? It was mostly verbal abuse. What would he call you? Well, stupid, idiot, fat, bitch, Jew. How often would that happen? The last two years, it was all the time. Jane also says that Dave would taunt her and their young son Michael with his vast gun collection, claiming that he even made her play Russian roulette. And he kept trying to make me hold the gun and I wouldn't do it. The older Michael got, says Jane, the more unreasonable Dave became. There's so many times I should have called the police, and I didn't, and I so regret that. Especially the times when Michael was involved. I can't believe I let him stay in danger like that. Why did you stay? I always thought it would get better. Yet, she says, she was still unprepared for what happened on the night of August 27, 2009. When Jane and Michael returned home late from a day at the beach, she says, Dave exploded. I didn't ask Dave anything about his day. I didn't, um, it just started it. that we didn't ask him. We didn't respect him. Jane put their 10-year-old to sleep early and did what she had been doing for two years, crawled into bed with her son. Why were you sleeping in Michael's room? Because he was scared. Michael was scared? Dave would stay up in the living room, and he'd been drinking all night, and he's just raging at whatever. It's the TV. It's something, an email. That would happen every night? Almost every night. Jane says she was in Michael's room when she heard Dave raging in the hallway and got up to try and calm him. He just started swearing at me. I kept telling him I was sorry. He started to come down towards Michael's room. and I saw the gun in his hand. She says she focused on diverting Dave away from Michael and drawing him out of the house. We went to the side of the house and we stumbled. I don't know if we were falling or just, like, moving, but I felt one gun shot go off. And then we did fall, and I was, like, straddling him. and I honestly don't remember after that. Five more shots were fired. When you got up, you had to realize he was dead. I didn't think he was, honestly. I mean, I saw him. I remember seeing his socks. I just thought for sure he's going to jump up and run after me. But if you were terrified, why didn't you right away then tell the 911 operator, oh my God, he tried to kill me and he's going to come back in? I can't explain why. The district attorney's office offered Jane a deal, plead to manslaughter, and agreed to a six-year prison term. But Jane did the unimaginable. She turned it down. I felt if I took the plea, nobody would know what really happened. It would be like accepting what the prosecution said happened that night. It would be like accepting that they said there was no abuse. It was Michael or me. She's full of baloney. She's lied so many times. all her, as I look back and think back, so many lies. The Loutt family now says the woman they embraced as part of the family is a pathological liar and cold-blooded killer. Rebecca, you once said to me that there are two faces of Jane. What do you mean by that? Jane likes to portray herself as very meek and quiet and shy. I'm trying to remember everything. I don't know what I thought you were. I'm trying to help. I don't know. And then there's another part of her that's F the world and F everything. I'm going to do what I want to do. I don't care who I hurt, in some cases, kill. I'm going to put this cookie right here and see which kind of big game animal comes and eats Was Dave Laut, a hometown hero, a beloved coach and high school athletic director, secretly abusing his wife at home? Oxnard homicide detective Mike Young was determined to find out. We spent five or six months doing dozens and dozens and dozens of interviews with friends and family, seeing if anyone was aware of any domestic violence issues. another direct neighbor right next door, who was an ex-LA County deputy. I specifically asked if there was any domestic issues, and he said, absolutely not. I would have seen that. Did Jay never tell you that Dave hit her? Never. Dave's brother Don and his wife Rebecca, in interviews, were adamant. They never witnessed or heard about any abuse. Pushed her? Never. Was verbally abusive? Never. Did you ever see her with any kind of bruises? Never. Never. Never, ever. Even Jane, on the night of the shooting, denied any abuse in her marriage. I asked you about your relationship. Is it abusive? Yeah. Physically? Yeah. Mentally? What's more, Jane didn't look like someone who had been in a battle for her life. There were no fresh scratches on Dave or Jane. She had two small, maybe nickel-sized or so, older bruises on the inside of her left bicep that were greenish and yellowish, as if they were in late stages of healing. Young says that evidence collected from the scene tells a different story. He says Jane followed Dave out into the side yard holding this flashlight in one hand and this gun in the other Then she took a shot from behind The first shot was fired from a distance striking him on the left part of his head above his left ear. Then the next two shots, we believe, are contact wounds to the side of his face. Then there's another gunshot wound while he's down on the ground. He's at least four to six feet away. And then you've got two more, one in the back of his right shoulder. and the sixth shot that we believe was the gunshot wound to the back of the head, which is the fatal gunshot. And because the gun was a single-action revolver, Young says every shot shows premeditation. She had to physically manually cock that firearm each time she shot him. Police say after she shot Dave, she hid the gun in the grandfather clock and then called 911 with that story about the prowler. Somebody was in our backyard. According to the Loutt family, unbelievable stories were nothing new for Jane. She told me one time that a man died in her arms at the bank. She told me another time that she was held up at knife point at the grocery store. Was that true? I don't think so, but it was Jane. So you kind of just say, oh, okay. Mm-hmm. But Jane now says all those stories were to cover for Dave's abuse. Is it possible she did make up these stories about a stalker and an attack to cover up injuries that her husband gave her? Well, I guess it's possible. You know, I don't know. I find it convenient. Another secret that police uncovered? It turns out Jane and Dave were deeply in debt. Rebecca Laut blames Jane. She was the one in charge of the finances, and I don't think Dave knew that she hadn't paid her taxes in three or four years. I don't believe he knew that they were behind on their mortgage. And Dave may not have known that Jane had borrowed nearly $60,000 from his own mother, Dottie. She would say, I need X amount of dollars for Dr. Bill. I need X amount of dollars. I have to pay some tuition. I just gave it to her. A large sum of money also went missing from the parent-teacher association at Michael's school, where Jane was a treasurer. She told Dottie that she needed $25,000, otherwise the bank was going to basically foreclose on the home. And it turns out that she took that $25,000 check, deposited it in the bank, cashed out $20,000 the next day, and deposited it into the parent club account. Jane again says she was covering for Dave, who had thrown the money into the fireplace in a fit of anger. But you had to borrow $20,000. He didn't burn all that, did he? No. There was some I used because the house payments were two months, three months behind. So I paid for that. But where was all the money going? I don't know. I paid for household bills. I paid for groceries and I paid for tuition. I know Dave ordered a lot of stuff. I know, but we're talking about thousands of dollars. I don't know. We hired a forensic accountant who went through everything and I think that their conclusion was that she was just a reckless spender. Rebecca and Don say they are just as puzzled. We have since found out that Dave's wages were being garnished. Right. Because apparently there was issues with the IRS. Maybe he found out that day that his wages were being garnished and he went home and asked. I honestly think that he was fixing to leave. I truly believe that he was done with the whole financial thing. Rebecca and Don both say the terrible shooting and Jane's story of abuse came completely out of the blue. She told me a lot about the relationship, very personal things about the relationship. So I know that if that was happening, she would have said something to me. But as we have learned since this interview, Rebecca might know more about Jane and Dave's marriage than she told us. In a phone call with Detective Young, just five days after Dave's death in 2009, Rebecca admitted Jane had confided in her. He was very verbally abusive, very, to her and to Michael. There were so many, so many, so many instances, I can't even think right now. And she may not have been the only one who knew about the verbal abuse. You're not the first person that said that, but, you know, whatever she's confided in you and told you is very, very important. Could there have been signs of physical abuse? Rebecca insists that Jane never mentioned any physical abuse and says that with all she's learned, she now believes that Jane lied about it all. Do you think that Dave's mother or your sister-in-law knew this was going on? They knew. A lot. They did. They knew what was going on. For years, Gone South has been a podcast about crime in the American South. But for our new season, we're widening the lens. Through deeply reported narrative-driven stories, we're digging into the myths, scandals, and power structures that still shape the South, and in a lot of ways, the country itself. Follow and listen to Gone South Season 5, An Odyssey podcast. Available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your shows. As the date for Jane Lout's murder trial approached, Dave's family feared what they'd have to hear. In her defense, Jane Lout would be testifying that her husband, the Olympian hero, was also a sadistic abuser. Rebecca, what if the jury believes her? I mean, it's going to be a horrible day, but... What are you going to do? On January 11, 2016, more than six years after Jane Lout shot her husband, the trial finally began. Cameras were only permitted for opening and closing statements. Good morning, everyone. Ventura County Senior Deputy District Attorney Ramin Minoui began to lay out the state's case against Jane Lout. Shot by shot. On August 27, 2009, this defendant took this Ruger New Model single-six revolver. She followed her husband of 29 years to the side yard, and she shot him with this gun. The shooting was premeditated, Minui said, because Jane had reasons to want her husband dead. approximately $300,000 worth of insurance benefits and the fear of a contentious divorce. Several weeks before the murder, Dave Lapp was researching divorce on his laptop. He was looking up divorce lawyers. Yeah, there was some web activity of divorce lawyer research. There's research done on the computer looking up divorce attorneys. Mm-hmm. I didn't know that. It was on his laptop, I guess. Did he threaten to leave you? No. never talked about it. But the computer evidence was only one part of the state's case. Investigators insist Jane was never in danger the night of the shooting and that she lied to police from the start. Minui even showed the jury that grandfather clock where Jane hid the gun after she killed her husband. You said there was no sign of a struggle out in the back. No. Was there any sign that there had been any kind of fight inside the house? Nothing. What about on Jane? She had nothing visible on her face. During the interview, Detective Moore actually noted that she had a small nick on one of her hands. He asked her how she got in that, and she attributed it to her cat. The defense has never denied that Jane shot Dave that night, but attorney Ron Bamier has always said she had no choice. There's no sophisticated plan here. And if you really wanted to kill the guy, you don't do it in your house with your kid 20 feet away. What evidence is there that he was the aggressor that night? The bruising on Jane. Bamier showed the jury these photos taken the morning after the shooting of a large bruise on Jane's left arm. An injury she says she sustained while struggling with Dave over the gun. According to the detective that saw her naked, the only bruises on her inner arm were these two old green bruises. But it's possible a bruise can develop with time. Sure it can, but I don't believe it. This knock-down, drag-out fight for your life. No injuries on your face, no injuries on your breasts. Having turned down five plea deals, Jane had only one option now. If she wanted the jury to understand why she did what she did that night, she had to tell them herself. How difficult was it to testify a trial? It was awful, but it felt kind of good. It felt almost a relief that it would be over. She sobbed through most of her testimony. Marjorie Hernandez a reporter for the Ventura County Star and a consultant for 48 hours says all eyes in the courtroom were on Jane This was her opportunity to tell jurors this is what I was going through behind closed doors for 29 years in this marriage. It took two days as Bamye walked Jane through a harrowing tale of abuse and even sexual assault at the hands of her husband. The guy sexually, physically, and verbally abused her for years. Did things to her that are just awful. Just awful. Which explains, says Jane, why she felt she had to kill her husband on that August night. He pushed me up against the door jam. And it was just like yelling in my face, telling me how much he's sick of us. And then he was going to blow Michael's f***ing head off. When the prosecutor finally stood up to question Jane, The first thing he wanted to know was why Jane didn't ever call out for help. Did anyone hear anyone screaming, yelling? Nothing. The only thing that was heard were gunshots by several of the neighbors. You can understand people wonder why you didn't scream for help if he's trying to kill you. I never scream. Ramin Minui pressed Jane on why she can't recall the actual shooting. You don't remember anything? Is it just a blank? Yeah, it is. I mean, I don't... I remember the first shot. Do you remember pulling the trigger on the first shot? Mm-mm. I just remember feeling it. But, I mean, it takes more than that. You have to pull the trigger and pull the hammer back. I mean, it takes a real effort to shoot that gun. I don't remember that. I mean, I block it out. To bolster Jane's defense, Bamier called witnesses who also testified that Dave had a dark side and said that looking back, they missed telltale signs. They saw signs of his temper. They saw signs of him being very aggressive. They saw signs of him yelling at Jane. They saw that. People would be disgusted by it, but nobody would say anything. But the prosecution have witnesses too, friends and family who never saw signs of violence, and describe Dave Laut as a loving family man and true hometown hero. He was not the monster that they tried to portray him to be. He was a good guy. He cared about other people. Jane and Dave's son, Michael, now 17, testified on his mother's behalf. His father had a bad temper, yelled a lot, and called him names sometimes, he said. But when asked by the prosecutor if his father was ever violent with him or Jane, Michael said he couldn't recall. Do I think that there was absolutely no domestic violence in that house? I don't know. I can't say for 100%. I didn't live in that house. I'm very certain that the level of abuse, if it did exist, was nowhere near to the degree that she testified to. One person who did not testify was Dave's sister-in-law, Rebecca Laut. So jurors never heard the call between her and Detective Young. He was just very, very verbally abusive. Because Rebecca now believes Jane was lying, the defense never called her to testify. She once told me towards the end, she was complaining about Dave, And she says, you know, sometimes I think that we'd be better off without him. The final witness called by Bamier is the executive director of Los Angeles County's domestic abuse center, Gail Pincus. She thinks like a battered woman. She acted like a battered woman. Pincus says that all of Jane's seemingly odd behavior, I'm scared and I'm worried. like lying to everyone, including the police, is actually a classic symptom of battered woman syndrome. There's all of these things going through her head at the same time, none of which are logical and none of which makes sense unless you understand the degree of fear and the degree of trauma. After two months, the case was about to go to the jury when Jane Laut took one final gamble. We're all in. We're all in. Murder One wasn't the jury's only option. They could also choose to convict Jane of a lesser charge of manslaughter. Or if they thought it was justifiable homicide, they could set her free. Jane insisted that Bamier tell the jury it's all or nothing. If it's self-defense, it's not voluntary manslaughter. And don't think for one second, I don't know what I'm saying. It's not a crazy risk at all. You either believe it 100% or you don't. Why? That was such a big gamble. It just made, it just, because it's the truth. It's been a long, long, horrible haul. Over six years have passed since Olympian Dave Laut was shot and killed by someone his family once loved, Jane Laut. It's heartbreaking. For me, it's heartbreaking. Because I love both of them. I mean, obviously I loved him because he was my brother, but I loved her too. She was like a sister to me. But as they wait for a verdict, their love has turned to anger. She's a murderer, and she's a desperate woman trying to get herself off. We would like to see her put away for life, because she took a life. And now what matters most is what 12 strangers think of Jane. The jury can convict her of murder, the lesser crime of voluntary manslaughter, or if they can decide Jane killed in self-defense and acquit her of any crime. Your verdict on each count and any special verdict... As the jury deliberates, Ron Bamier remains optimistic. I'm very confident the jury's not going to convict her of first or second degree murder. I could predict these things. I haven't been wrong yet on one of my cases in terms of what the jury's going to do. So it's going to come down to either voluntary manslaughter or acquittal. Right. We either walk out of the courtroom together or we don't. For Jane, the waiting is unbearable. It was awful. It was. I was trying to be positive, but scared to death. All right, let's bring in the jury, please. At stake is more time with her son. You know, I had to tell Michael that if I'm found guilty, that I'm remanded right away. I won't come home. After nearly four days of deliberating, a decision. We, the jury, in the above entitled action, find the defendant, Jane Laubacher-Laut, guilty of the crime of first-degree murder. Guilty of first-degree murder. I was pretty shocked, honestly. I tried to prepare myself for everything, but I was surprised. And in a poignant twist, it is Bamier, once so confident the jury would believe his client, who needs to be consoled. It just was like somebody punched you in the gut. Jane ended up consoling you. Yeah, she did. That's Jane Lowe. Dave's mother, Dottie, was in the courtroom. I was afraid that she was going to get acquitted. And then when she wasn't, it shocked me. I cried. I don't know if I cried because she was found guilty or because it was over. The verdict is no victory. I mean, Jane's been part of your life for over 30 years. That's right. That's why I've lost a son, lost a daughter, and I guess I've lost a grandson, too. I don't know if I'll ever get to see him again. Michael has been living with Jane's relatives since she was arrested and released on bond. Did you miss him? Terribly. Yep. I know he's okay. I mean, I know he's safe. But Jane, who turned down that last plea deal of serving a maximum of six years in prison, may never be free to be with her son again. because she is facing a mandatory sentence of 50 years to life. For Jane Lout, who's in her late 50s, this is truly a life sentence. She will die in prison. Yes. Maybe they can find something I did wrong or I should have done better that could be grounds for a new trial. But the odds are, you know, you get, what, 2% of cases like this are overturned on appeal. Do you have any regrets? Well, of course. I mean, I regret that it happened. I, you know, killed my husband, but Michael's alive. Hi, Michael. I think if it didn't happen, we would both be dead. You got a boy. Transcription by CastingWords