Monday: Family Portrait

A husband is found dead in a stable in what appears to be a horse accident. But when bullet casings and a bloody pipe are found nearby, blame shifts to his wife, whose daughter and son accuse her of plotting the murder and convincing her son to commit the crime. Tamron Hall reports, Aug. 30, 10 p.m./9C.

Audio files:

Little more than an hour before Neil Olsen was murdered, his stepdaughter, Amanda Robinson, is recorded having a phone conversation with her boyfriend who is in prison. In this phone conversation, Amanda tells her boyfriend that Neil has smacked her mother and that if " that thing" doesn't happen that night, her mother will leave Neil. Listen to the audio here.

Hours after Neil Olsen's body is discovered in a horse stall, Amanda receives a phone call from her imprisoned boyfriend. In this conversation, Amanda tells her boyfriend that Neil has been murdered and that she is not OK with having advance knowledge of the plot to kill Neil Olsen. Amanda also tells her boyfriend that her mother is upset about the murder and that she thinks her mother is "regretting some things." Listen to the audio here.

In this clip recorded shortly after Amanda has returned to Massachusetts for Neil Olsen's funeral, Amanda tells her boyfriend that the murder investigation is underway. She says that she has spoken to police detectives and that things don't look good for her brother. Amanda also hints that knows her call is being recorded and that she doesn't want to put herself in jeopardy by answering her boyfriends questions about the murder and the investigation. Listen to the audio here.

The full transcript of this episode will be available Tuesday afternoon. The full video will be available on the Dateline.msnbc.com site by Monday at 11pm PT.

Discuss this post

I knew Tamaron Hall could do better than daytime... She's the 'Barbara Walters' or 'Oprah' of tomorrow...

    Reply#1 - Mon Aug 30, 2010 11:03 PM EDT

    One of the most boring Datelines of all time. The murder put aside, storywise where's the beef? There's nothing particularly interesting on this at all and it didn't deserve TV time. As far as the actual case, given everything, this woman was an idiot for not taking a 10 year deal instead of facing Life in prison. Ten years for murder is a pretty good deal. If somehow she really didn't tell him to murder her husband, then what exactly was the guys motive for killing his stepfather even if he hated him and framing his mother and getting the sister to go along?

    Whoever decided that this story needed airing for Dateline should be fired. It was basically a routine murder.

      Reply#2 - Tue Aug 31, 2010 9:45 AM EDT
      Reply
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