Dateline NBC
Tonight’s episode of Dateline NBC looks into the murder case of Susan “Susie” Casey. Casey was murdered in 2008, and her body was found in the Yellowstone River.
Casey was a 34-year-old mother of four who lived in Glendive, Montana. In 2008, she disappeared near her apartment, where her children were waiting for her to return home. One month later, her body was found in the river.
Casey’s case has been the subject of true crime tv episodes including an episode of See No Evil that released in 2018 and an episode of Scorned: Love Kills.
Casey’s ex-husband Walter “Marty” Larson, Jr. was convicted of murder and sentenced to 100 years in prison.
Walter “Marty” Larson Will Be Eligible For Parole in 2043
Susie was like lightning in a bottle…
Tonight on a #Dateline Weekend Mystery at 8/7c.
Larson was arrested after a four-year investigation; he was picked up in Arizona in February 2012.
After the 2013 trial, Larson was found guilty of deliberate homicide involving Casey and was sentenced the same year. At the time, the assistant Attorney General and prosecutor, Brant Light, said that Larson strangled Casey and then dumped her body in the river.
“Once he killed Susan it became all about him, all about his survival, all about covering up his tracks so he could get away with it,” Light said.
The judge sentenced Larson to a 100-year sentence plus another ten years for tampering with evidence. He will not be eligible for parole until he has served 30 years in prison.
The judge also required Larson to pay $15,000 in funeral costs and $1,000 in jury expenses, according to KULR8 news.
Larson Was Reportedly Upset He and Casey Were Not Getting Back Together
Tonight on #Dateline at 8/7c…
Casey and Larson were married in 1993 and had their first child the same year. They had a son two years later before Casey filed for divorce in 1997.
According to court documents, Larson did not want to get divorced, and he did not have contact with his children for years following the divorce. In 2007, Casey began allowing Larson to see their children again, and Larson said that they had discussed possibly moving to Rapid City together.
Larson testified that, on the day before Casey’s disappearance, he drove to her home, which was located three hours from where he lived. During the drive, he called and texted numerous times.
Bank surveillance video showed a van matching the description of Larson’s and then a man walk toward Casey’s apartment at about 4:30 a.m. He said that he knocked quietly on the door but got no response, returned to his van, and tried to call Casey again.
According to the Billings Gazette, it came out in court that no one walked by the bank security camera again until 5:58 a.m., at which point Larson returned to the minivan and pulled into the alley behind the apartment building where investigators said they found drag marks.
Light argued that Larson began “spiraling out of control” when he found out Casey was seeing someone and then drove through the night to confront her. Once there, he waited outside the apartment and confronted her. Casey never made it inside her apartment.
Larson has maintained his innocence, but courts affirmed his conviction and sentence once again in 2015.
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