All language subtitles for American Monster - 5x08_track3_eng

♪

narrator: This is
the very strange story

of an all-american family...

Just a very
idyllic childhood growing up.

...Determined to support their
mother's second chance at love.

He made her feel good
about herself, and I think

that's something that
she really needed in her life.

Narrator: But there are secrets
behind the smiles...

Things that were going on

in the background were --
were very disturbing.

...Which will erupt
to the surface

in ways that no one
can imagine.

That's when life
in our house went

downhill about as fast
as it could go.

♪

♪

♪

narrator: It's June 1956
in chicago, illinois.

Excited guests are flocking to
congratulate a newlywed couple.

Bride, dianne,
has just turned 18,

and she's happy to be sealing
her union with her new husband,

john hart.

My parents told us
they met at

a -- like a basketball game
that they were at.

My dad used to play
basketball, and he --

the minute he saw my mom,
he said that she was the one.

♪

they wanted
to get married and have kids

and have
the all-american family.

Narrator:
John and dianne set up home

in the quiet suburb
of franklin park.

♪

it isn't long before
the happy arrival

of little lori in 1957,
followed by baby cindy

two years later.

I remember my mom and dad
bringing cindy home from

the hospital and her being
in her bassinet, um,

in our living room,
and I can -- I can

picture what it was like
to look in and see.

Cindy: We had
the perfect family.

You know, two kids,
two adults, two dogs.

We did everything together.

Narrator: Lori and cindy
are soon joined

by a lively little brother,
john jr.

There was, um,
a lot of competition

with my sisters
when I was younger.

Um, you know, I was
the troublesome one.

We fought like cats and dogs,
but we loved each other.

And finally,
baby glory arrives

to complete the family in 1963.

It was just like, oh, no,
here comes another one,

so I think I might have been
maybe a...

Uh...A surprise.

Narrator: Soon after, dianne
and john move to hoffman estates

and buy a home fit
for a clan of six.

They bought what was called
the riviera model of home,

which was considered
to be the, um,

nicest model to buy
in hoffman estates.

♪

narrator:
When john isn't working

as an electronic technician,

he likes to treat his family
to grand vacations.

John: Back in the days
in the beginning,

when we had family vacations,
and we went to california

and yosemite and...

All these fun places.

♪

just a very idyllic

kind of childhood growing up.

You know, at that point,

we really felt everything
kind of revolved around us.

Narrator:
The harts appear to have

their future all mapped out.

But these days,
dianne is feeling uncertain

about the path
in front of her.

She finds herself
increasingly restless

in her role as a housewife.

My mom was extremely smart,

and I think that being a mom

was not all
she really wanted to be.

There was something
she always felt was missing.

She -- she knew there was
more in store for her.

In 1970, when lori and cindy
have started middle school,

dianne volunteers to attend
school board meetings.

Mom was looking for a little
bit something else to do,

was pretty active with her
kids, and managed to get herself

elected to the school board.

Narrator: It's here
that she meets up-and-coming

28-year-old attorney
and fellow father of four,

donnie rudd.

♪

john: Donnie was a texan,

and he was texan
through and through.

My mom and donnie were both
the new kids on the block,

and they started talking.

There was a lot of conferences
that they went to,

and she became quite friendly
with him, and eventually

we became friends
with the rudd family.

But back at home,
dianne's husband, john,

is less than thrilled.

Cindy: I think my dad was very
content to have someone

that was at home,

that was cooking his meals
and cleaning the house

and raising the kids.

Sometimes she would
go to conferences for

the school, and she'd have
to leave for the weekend,

and I think he wasn't
that happy

with it when she started it.

Narrator:
As donnie and dianne spend more

time together
on the school board,

their friendship
gathers steam.

My dad wasn't
really a romantic,

and donnie was the kind who
gave my mom a lot of attention.

He made her feel good
about herself,

and I think that's something
that she really,

really needed in her life.

Glory: He was exciting.
He was smart.

And he can be
very charismatic.

He made her feel --
feel better about herself.

Narrator: In August 1971,

things come to a head
for john and dianne.

I was getting ready to take
a big vacation when, um,

everything kind of fell apart
with both families.

About a week or two
before we were scheduled

to, um, leave on the trip,
my mom came home

and told my dad
that she wanted a divorce.

And I saw the look on my dad's
face that just broke my heart.

He was so devastated.

I just don't think
he saw this coming at all.

Narrator:
It's a jolt for the family.

In that time period,

divorce was not common,
particularly,

in the social structure
that we were in,

it stunned us,
because we were not

used to divorces in the family.

Donnie's wife, louann,

and dianne's husband, john,
both find themselves single.

What happens next will leave
the hart children stunned.

I come home one night, and my
dad and louann were sitting on

the couch talking,

and I saw he had his arm
touching louann and realized

that maybe something was
happening to make a really bad

situation even
more complicated.

Narrator: A few months
after dianne and donnie

take their affair public,

john and louann announce
that they, too,

want to move in together.

So in the end, john and donnie
simply swap households.

Cindy: There were two houses,
and we had to decide

which kids were gonna live at
which house and which parents

and which belongings
were gonna get moved,

and it was kind of a, um,

a real eye-opener
as you watched

all these things going on,

and you really,
as a child, had no say so.

Glory: At the time, I was,
you know, eight years old,

so they had, um,

four children and it was like,
oh, more --

more kids to play with,
you know?

Narrator: As soon as
the divorces are finalized,

john and louann get married.

My dad is a person that was

always taken care of
in a relationship.

He worked, he came home,
his wife had dinner

on the table, um,

and louann was willing
to do that.

But surprisingly,
things don't move

so quickly between
dianne and donnie.

Suddenly, my dad
was remarried to louann,

and my mom was not married
to donnie.

But there started
to become some, um,

signs that there were trouble
between my mom and donnie.

Donnie was working,
and I think he was

disappearing quite a bit
on my mom.

I heard that my mom
had gone to donnie's apartment,

and there was a woman in there,

and it was a blonde woman,
and my mom was knocking on

the door,
and he won't let her in.

Narrator: It turns out
that this mysterious woman

is the reason for
donnie's absence.

He came home one day

and told my mom he was
getting married the next day.

The long and short of it

was that donnie slept
at our house that night,

got up the next day,

packed his little pinto
and left

and went and married noreen.

♪

noreen kumeta
is a 19-year-old

library clerk
who donnie met through work.

What's more,
she knows nothing

about his relationship
with dianne.

I would say that my mom,
that christmas was --

she was very depressed,

you know, that she just blew up
our lives for -- for donnie.

Narrator: Dianne hart finds
herself blindsided.

She's left to raise
four kids alone.

That's when life
in our house went downhill

about as fast as it
could go.

♪

narrator:
It's August 1973.

Dianne hart has left her
husband to be with donnie rudd,

only to be abandoned herself.

For donnie, it's all smiles
as he exchanges vows

with his new bride,
noreen kumeta.

Well, I didn't think twice
about going up

and being best man
at that wedding.

Donnie and noreen
seemed happy.

I think we maybe saw noreen

once after that --
we did not have much of

a chance to ever develop
a relationship with noreen.

Narrator:
On September 14th,

the harts receive
an unexpected call.

[ phone ringing ]

the phone rang,
and I answered it,

and it was donnie,
and I was pretty nasty to him.

And he wanted
to know if my mom was home,

and I just said, "no,"
and he goes, "well, can you

tell her I called?"
and I said, "no."

I said, "you're a jerk,"
basically hung up on him.

It was the next day
is when it came out

that noreen had been killed.

He called us the night

that noreen died

and told us that

she had died.

He was obviously very upset.

Narrator: Donnie explains
that he and noreen were

driving home from
a visit to noreen's mother

when his car
was run off the road.

Noreen was thrown
from the car,

and her head
struck a rock.

[ distant sirens wailing ]

she was rushed to
the hospital,

but it was too late.

The coroner rules
the death as accidental.

♪

dianne is conflicted
about the tragedy.

I think she felt
very regretful

about what had happened
to noreen,

but I think that there was
part of her that

saw the door open
for her to return to donnie.

Narrator: Little by little,
donnie and dianne rekindle

their connection.

♪

the hart children have
misgivings about donnie rudd.

After all,
he broke their mother's heart.

But it's clear to all of them

that dianne is
hopelessly in love.

She still wanted
to be with him.

It was a magnetic pull
that there was nothing

that we could do.

Narrator: Dianne decides
to take donnie back,

despite
the children's concerns.

Cindy: So after noreen died
and donnie moved back in,

I really felt like maybe
things were gonna be normal.

We were gonna have two parents
in the house,

and we were all gonna
live together on

carlton road, and things
would be different,

mom would be happy again.

Narrator: But what
the children don't know

is that their stepfather
is hiding a secret.

One night, when donnie is
driving 16-year-old lori home

from a friend's,

she works up the courage to
ask about noreen's death.

He said, basically,
she -- she was murdered,

that they were run off
the road and that, um,

he thought it was
some kind of a hit.

Narrator: Donnie tells lori that
at the time of noreen's death,

he was secretly working for
a u.S. Attorney.

He believes that this work
has made him a target.

There was some corruption
that was going on in

hoffman estates
at that point.

He claimed that it had
something to do with that

corruption, um,
investigation that was going on,

that somebody had tried to do
a hit on him, because he was

doing this undercover work.

That concerned me, you know,
was somebody still after him?

Narrator: Dianne, however,
doesn't seem concerned.

In 1974, she and donnie marry
quietly in a private ceremony.

♪

the couple have had
an unconventional start,

but before long,
they're beginning to thrive.

He became an expert
at, um, condominium law,

which is the rules
and regulations that begin with

someone owning
a part of a building.

He had found a big specialty,

and he was making quite a bit
of money and becoming very

successful in his law practice.

Narrator: And given
his larger-than-life persona,

what happens next
comes as no surprise.

Welcome to the condominium
television network.

I am your host,
donnie rudd.

Tracy, I've probably,
in my lifetime now,

attended in excess
of 5,000 board meetings.

Donnie launches
his own tv show.

He even acquires
a new stage name.

Called himself "mr. Condo,"

and I would say that marketing
himself was his primary

business during that time,
not practicing law.

Narrator: In 1974, at the age
of 38, dianne decides

to enroll in law school.

I think one of the things that
came out of living with donnie

was he did open my family's
eyes to the possibilities

of a better education.

My mom was a house wife
and had never thought of it,

but I think donnie
kind of opened her eyes

that that was out there.

Dianne graduates
with flying colors,

and, before long,
is a practicing attorney,

just like her husband.

At last, dianne and donnie have
everything they've ever wanted.

I'm not sure
if it's really that you believe

your lies or that
your truth is different.

[ indistinct chatter ]

narrator:
It's christmas 1988.

Dianne and donnie's relationship
has had its share of strife,

but that's all
behind them now.

Narrator: They are enjoying
high-flying careers

and a more stable family life
in the chicago suburbs.

But on April 4, 1991,
the hart and rudd families'

quiet and exclusive
suburb is stunned.

Lori: Well, it was funny

because loretta was originally
my mother's client,

my mother had incorporated her
and she had a, um,

dispute with her --
her business partner.

And so she -- my mom
had referred her to donnie

to handle
the business dispute.

Detectives find
no murder weapon

and no trace of the killer,

but when they canvass
the area, they catch a break.

A neighbor remembers hearing
a gunshot around 3:20 p.M.

And gives a detailed
description of

a car
outside loretta's house.

She recalls it because it had
a memorable vanity plate --

mr. Condo.

The police, pretty much, after
finding loretta's body,

were at donnie's house
within an hour or two.

Donnie tells police that
loretta was one of his clients

and that they had met
earlier that day,

but he knows nothing
about her murder.

They asked donnie
whether he had a gun,

and donnie was
a big gun collector.

He had a ton of guns.

And then he brought them up
and said,

"here's the guns I have
in the house.

Take a look at them."

so they asked donnie

if they could do
a gunpowder residue test,

and donnie, he said,

"you just had me

"get these guns.

"I handled each of
these guns and opened them.

"there is going to be gunpowder
residue on my hands.

"there is no accurate test
that you can give me now,

because you asked me
for these guns."

narrator: When police
investigate further,

they learn that loretta
thought she was owed payment

by donnie.

We do know that he had told her
that she had won a case

against her law partner

and was supposed to
get a substantial amount of

money and that loretta
was very upset

that the money hadn't come
and that she had bills to pay.

Lori:
Loretta had told her daughter

if he didn't come up
with the money,

she was calling the attorney
registration and disciplinary

commission on him.

Narrator: Police think that
the money owed to loretta

could potentially be a motive
for donnie to kill his client.

It's totally uncontroverted

that donnie was there
that afternoon.

The only real question was,
did he, you know,

was he there when she died?

Narrator: In November 1991,
donnie receives a subpoena

to appear in front of
a grand jury

on suspicion
of loretta's murder.

Dianne decides to act as
donnie's defense attorney.

She became very committed
to making sure that

donnie had his story down
when it came to loretta.

Dianne has proof that donnie
called her when he got home

on the day of
loretta's murder.

She builds a timeline
that shows donnie

couldn't have shot loretta
at 3:20 p.M.

And then driven home in time
to make the call to dianne.

Lori: She drove the route.
She timed everything.

So she got her phone records,
you know,

so she could prove conclusively
what time he got home.

Cindy: She had
the weather report about how

it was raining that day,
and the traffic was worse,

and she managed to put in that
they didn't have as good of

a time of death

that could prove that he was
at the house at the time

she died,
and she went through it,

and she was very focused
and very convincing.

Narrator:
There are question marks over

donnie's conduct
on loretta's case,

but dianne's timelines
convince the grand jury

not to press charges
for murder.

The day he got off,
it was definitely a relief.

Narrator: Thanks to dianne,
the whole family is

able to move on
with their lives.

So it kind of, um, actually
was, well, vindication, maybe.

I guess he didn't do it.

Narrator: By thanksgiving 1991,
the camera's rolling in

the rudd home,
and it's almost as if

nothing had ever happened.

Donnie is cooking up a storm
for the extended family.

[ child speaking indistinctly ]

[ indistinct conversations ]

[ indistinct conversations ]

we might have been having
a good time in that moment,

but the things that were going
on in the background were

very disturbing.

♪

narrator: It's christmas 1991
in the rudd and hart household,

and the hart kids are trying

hard to pretend
things are normal.

Narrator:
Behind the idyllic scenes,

donnie and dianne are struggling
in the wake of

the grand jury hearing.

You'd wake up, and the front
page of the newspaper

would say,
is mr. Condo really mr. Con?

And you'd think,
"everybody's gonna lose

"their jobs,
and all this is --

terrible things
are gonna happen."

and then eventually,
he would get more clients,

and he would be talking,
and we would go out to dinner,

and everything seemed normal.

Narrator: Donnie and dianne
are planning a move

to texas to escape
the negative publicity,

but right before they leave,

dianne is given some
devastating news of her own.

Glory: We found out
that my mom had cancer.

You know, no one had had
cancer in our family,

and, um, we always
thought of our mom as

so strong that it was --
it was a real --

real shock.

Narrator: The hart children
do their best

to remain upbeat
for their mother.

We had some
really good christmas.

-Yes, we did.
-That was amanda's

first christmas --
there's donnie.

Narrator: But there's still
an apparent tension

between donnie
and his wife's children.

Do you notice he's always
kind of away from all of us?

-Lori: Yeah.
-Glory: He's away from the fray.

He's always sitting
in a chair in another room.

He's waiting for it
to be over.

Narrator: Donnie is struggling
with dianne's illness.

Glory: Well, I feel like he --
he didn't like that,

you know, she was getting
this extra attention.

Almost became like
he was gonna compete

with my mom
when she had cancer.

Cindy: The first time
my mom went to chemo,

he -- they were, like, two hours
late coming home because he

had to stop at the doctor and
get something fixed for him.

He did not like anybody having
more attention than he did.

Narrator: Dianne gets
the all clear some months later.

She did he have a short period
of time where she appeared

to be cancer-free.

Narrator: But in may 1995,

the cancer returns --
this time, it's terminal.

The breast cancer had spread
into her abdomen

and wrapped itself around

her mesenteric arteries,

and that it was not treatable.

Narrator: The hart children
are devastated

but are determined
to rally around dianne.

They organize a big family
vacation to wisconsin.

Got three months to go.

[ speaking indistinctly ]

this was happy.
This was --

it was happy and sad,
because this was

when we found out mom
was gonna die.

-Yeah.
-So we were trying to

have, like, a good weekend.

Narrator: Donnie doesn't
handle the news well.

Even on video,
he appears detached from dianne.

She always thought she was
gonna die from the cancer,

so she was belligerent
and depressed.

Narrator: Even now,
dianne isn't getting

support she needs
from donnie.

I think by that point,
she realized that this hope

that donnie was gonna
be there for her,

you know, I think
she realized that who was

there for her
was her children.

Narrator: Dianne deals
with the situation

the only way she knows how...

...By throwing herself
into work.

I remember I was
sitting there once,

and she was working,
and I started to film her.

She was just answering
the phone and doing

normal stuff,
and I was like, you know,

I think that's maybe something
I want to capture.

No, I get really tired.

Narrator: Lori's video
reveals the state of

donnie and dianne's marriage.

Donnie had --

by this point in time,
had no conscience.

The only thing donnie
was out for was himself.

Narrator: Despite his wife
dying of cancer,

donnie has once again
left dianne for another woman.

After 22 years together,

dianne decides to move away
from their texas home.

It was about a month
before she died

when she finally
agreed to come home.

I think she was tired.

She was weak, and she wasn't
fighting it anymore.

Narrator: She moves in
with a close friend

in chicago to be near
her kids.

But it was a difficult time,
because my mom,

she -- you know, she loved
her home in texas, and...

She loved where she lived,
and...

I'd have to move her up to

chicago and bring
her stuff up there,

and...

It was very difficult for her.

Narrator:
But she can't forget donnie.

We would have done
anything for her,

but I still think
at the end of the day,

she really still wanted him.

John: We knew that it was time
to put her back in the hospital,

and so when we put her
in the hospital,

I believe she was in there
for a total of two weeks.

It was bad times,

and we had set up
the -- the rolling watch

so that there was
always somebody there.

Narrator: Dianne holds out
for a little longer.

Lori: Yeah, she was
kind of holding on because

she was waiting for donnie
or donnie to come see her.

And I told her I said,
"ma, you need to go."

I said, "it's okay.
We're gonna be fine."

and then
she stopped breathing...

And then I watched all the blood
drain from her face.

And I remember,
it kind of looked like frost.

It was kind of sad.

♪

you know,
she finally found peace.

She found peace.

And I think that that was
the only way that she would

ever probably finally
been able to break free of him,

was -- was by --
just by dying.

Narrator: Dianne's funeral
takes place in June 1996

in south barrington,
illinois.

It was a lovely service.
Lori spoke at it.

She was always really good

and made everyone laugh
a little bit,

and when we were at the church,

we were sitting in the church,
and all of a sudden,

donnie showed up.

John: His arm in a sling
and on crutches.

And, uh, it was basically
an insult,

I mean,
even in mom's funeral,

he was trying to distract
attention away to himself.

So, uh,

the one nice thing
about the funeral

was that, um,
it separated us from him.

Narrator: The family are furious
at their stepfather's behavior.

But they hope that the man
who has caused their mother

so much heartache will now be
out of their lives for good.

He did move away,
and we separated ourselves,

and, you know,
it was a very positive thing

as far as I was concerned,
but I figured he'd be back.

Narrator:
The hart children are attempting

to move on with their lives

after losing their mother,
dianne, to cancer.

They try to forget
about the stepfather

that caused them
all so much grief.

Lori: I think we learned
not to talk about donnie.

Narrator: But a phone call
in November 2012

threatens to open old wounds.

John: I got a call

that told me
about this article

that they'd put out on donnie,

you know, about this --
this bodtke case.

Narrator:
It's been over 20 years since

the murder of
donnie and dianne's neighbor,

loretta bodtke,
and in all that time,

the case
has remained unsolved.

Donnie rudd was cleared
by the grand jury

in 1991, but his stepchildren
have doubts.

John: I found, uh,

the detective's number, it was
listed in the article,

and I called him up.

And I told him,
I said, you know,

"why have you been
investigating this for so long,

"and it's a cold case file,
and you really

haven't talked to any of
the people that lived with him?"

narrator:
Detectives speak with john,

and soon,
they call his sisters.

Lori: I think the police,
at that point,

felt that donnie
was a suspect,

because loretta had been
really angry at him.

Narrator: Donnie told loretta
that she had won

an $800,000 settlement,

but he never produced
the money.

After learning this,
police decide to

speak to some of
his other clients.

It doesn't take long
to discover donnie rudd's

track record.

Donnie was a con man.

He was a con man

that had a law license.

Underneath that top
notch reputation,

there was this huge amount of
chaos and fraud and negligence

that was going on
in his practice of law.

Narrator: Despite the evidence
of donnie's corruption,

it's hard for police to find
enough solid evidence to link

donnie to loretta's death.

They never found the gun
that killed loretta,

and that was a big piece of
the evidence that they needed.

Narrator: But when police
speak to the hart family,

they discover another
mysterious death,

that of donnie's young bride,
noreen kumeta,

39 years ago, in 1973.

I told them I felt
that something had

happened with noreen,

although I wasn't sure
exactly what happened,

I was so young.

You know,
there's always that thing,

and it's, like, this little
feeling that you have in

the back of your mind of...

He's capable,
but did he actually do it?

Narrator:
In his statement,

donnie said that he had
swerved off the road

and hit a ditch to avoid
an oncoming car.

He was saying that he had no
choice but to run off the road

and that noreen

had fallen out of the car,
and she had hit her head

on a rock.

Narrator: But when police
arrived on the scene,

both noreen and donnie
were inside the vehicle.

According to donnie,
he had moved her back in.

If you get in a car accident
and someone falls out of

the car, who picks 'em up
and brings 'em back?

And he suffered
no injuries at all.

Narrator: What's more,
in 1973, donnie rudd

received life insurance
payouts of $120,000.

40 years after the crash,
police reclassified noreen's

death as a suspected homicide,

and in February 2013,
they take action to prove it.

Cindy: Noreen's family,
for all those years,

believed that
it was an accident,

but they agreed to have
her body exhumed.

Narrator: Pathologists
carry out a forensic exam,

and what they discover
leaves police stunned.

Her head was really bashed in,
and it was --

there was damage on both sides
of her head,

as if she had been clubbed.

Noreen didn't die from being
thrown from the car.

The evidence shows that
she was beaten to death,

and the only person
with her that night

was her new husband,
donnie rudd.

I had spent most of
my childhood really avoiding it,

talking about it very little

and wanting it to all go away
and not really

accept the truth.

Narrator: In December 2015,
42 years after the supposed

accident, donnie rudd is
arrested for her murder.

[ suspenseful chord strikes ]

john:
When he finally got charged,

I actually was at work when
they called me, and I had to get

in my truck and go away,
and I cried,

because it had been
so many years that he had been

running around as a free man,
hurting people,

and I knew he wasn't gonna
hurt anybody anymore.

Narrator: After learning
of donnie's arrest,

the hart children begin
to reevaluate the events

surrounding
their mother's cancer.

If he's capable of that,

I mean, what else
was he capable of?

Cindy: The doctors all said
that her cancer

shouldn't have come back.

Narrator: After dianne's
first cancer diagnosis,

she was advised to stop
taking her prescribed

estrogen tablets.

She was told that if
she continued to take estrogen,

that it could
make the cancer grow

even though she'd had
her breasts removed.

Narrator:
As far as the family know,

dianne had avoided estrogen,

but a chance discovery
makes them reconsider.

We got an email from one of
my mom's friend's daughters,

who said that
she had found syringes

and estrogen in a closet.

Narrator: They also discover
searches on donnie's computer

about the effects of estrogen
on hormone-receptive cancer.

That's when he started
with the insurance policies

on ma and jackin'
the insurance up.

Narrator: The computer searches,
syringes, and insurance policies

lead the harts to suspect

that donnie may have
accelerated dianne's cancer

by secretly
administering estrogen.

Cindy:
My mom was cremated.

I'll never know
if he did something.

Narrator:
There is no direct evidence

that donnie was involved,

and he is never investigated
or charged in relation

to dianne's death.

But the case against him
for noreen kumeta's murder

is striking.

They had some pretty compelling
evidence against him.

Narrator: At donnie's trial,
prosecutors lay out what

they believe happened
on the night in question.

Donnie and noreen are driving
back from her mother's house.

It's a dark night
on a secluded road.

Donnie pulls in
and gets out of the car.

He hauls his new wife out
and beats her

around the head
with a blunt object.

Once his new bride is dead,
he runs their car off the road

and waits
for someone to find them.

I think donnie killed her
for the insurance money.

Most of the suspicious things
that have happened

around him have
always been about money.

Narrator:
In less than three hours,

the jury returns its verdict.

Donnie rudd is found guilty
of first-degree murder.

At the age of 76,

he's handed a 75-
to 150-year sentence.

[ jail door clanks shut ]

♪

cindy: We felt relief,
but I think there was still

some sadness in it, um,

that it happened so late
in donnie's life,

um, and what things
could have been like if --

if only he had been held
accountable earlier --

earlier in his life.

Ronnie: I was shocked
by the magnitude

of the sentence.

I feel sorry for donnie,
because I think I would

feel sorry for anybody
that I knew

that is going through
what he is going to go through

the rest of his life.

Narrator:
For the harts,

it's hard to comprehend that
the man who was part of

their family for so many years
is now a convicted murderer.

Glory: I mean, I was the type
of kid that was afraid

there was a monster
under my bed.

As I got older,
I realized

the monster wasn't
under the bed.

The monster was

sleeping in the bed
with my mom.

Narrator: Donnie rudd remains
the number-one suspect

in the unsolved murder of
loretta bodtke,

but due to
insufficient evidence,

no charges have ever
been brought.

The hart children believe
he is responsible due to

the fact that he had
a strong motive.

Donnie knew he was
gonna lose his law license

if loretta reported
him to the ardc,

and so he probably murdered
her so she wouldn't do it.

I think donnie kills
when something is

just an obstacle
in front of him.

Narrator: The hart children
will never know if donnie

played a role in their own
mother's death.

I think donnie

took from our family what,

I hope, that each of us kids
give our family

is just stability
and love

and, you know, the chance
to grow old together.

I think that he took apart

that american dream family
that we had.