Cold Blooded "Hero"

Early, Iowa, is a small town of a few hundred people in Boyer Township, Sac County, in western Iowa, about two hours from Omaha, Nebraska, and two hours from Des Moines. It was incorporated in 1883 and named after Judge D. Carr Early. The case began with a shooting on 13 December 2001.

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it In 1988, at 22, she married Dr John Pitman III, a plastic surgeon. Their son Bert was born in 1990. this part of the story is covered for now They divorced in 1996. details of the account remain covered until revealed She moved back to Chicago with Bert.

There she dated Dr Joseph Laspiza, an oral surgeon. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it Laspiza denied everything and called it an extortion scheme. Her civil suit for the money went nowhere.

About 1997 she met Michael Roberts, an Australian entrepreneur, online, when that was still unusual. They married within a year. Their sons Noah and Mason were born in 1998 and about 1999 or 2000. The family moved to Early about two to three years before the killing, buying a house from Mona Weedy, a real-estate agent whose family lived two doors away. Mona's son Dustin, born in 1981, was about 18 when the Robertses arrived. He was quiet, had been in special education classes, worked at a Dairy Queen and on an ethanol plant, and liked golf and snowmobiling. Michael took him under his wing; Dustin went to church and paintball with the family.

this part of the story is covered for now A custody hearing was due in early 2002, and Pitman paid $1,000 a month in child support. details of the account remain covered until revealed Her marriage to Michael was also failing, with mutual accusations of abuse.

On 13 December 2001 Michael was in Minneapolis on business with his colleague Ray Friedman. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now He called in the afternoon; she told him to come back the next day when her husband would be home. That evening Marie Friedman, Ray's wife, arrived to spend the night because their husbands were away. details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it She said she saw the tops of two heads, one with dark wavy hair like Ray Friedman's, and then a man in a black leather jacket grabbed her hair and choked her with the pantyhose. She blacked out. When she came round she ran to the master bedroom, opened the gun safe by the bed and took out a .40 calibre Beretta and a .357 revolver. She said she fired blindly over her shoulder and hit one intruder; the other fled. this part of the story is covered for now

Bert called 911. Police found Dustin Weedy dead on the floor, shot nine times; eleven rounds had been fired from two guns. Three wounds were to the back of the head and neck, and one shot had gone through an eye. There was no forced entry and nothing had been ransacked. Dustin's car was in the driveway with an old computer from the house inside it. The next day police also found a pink spiral notebook in the car, five pages in Dustin's handwriting. details of the account remain covered until revealed It contained details of Pitman's private life. Police kept the notebook secret for ten years.

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it At 3 a.m. she was told that the man she had shot was Dustin. She insisted that Dustin had been the one pulling and choking her. this part of the story is covered for now She was celebrated as a heroic mother and appeared on the Montel Williams show, where Michael held her hand and Montel called the killing justifiable homicide. Michael offered a $10,000 reward for the second intruder, and the family went to Australia on holiday.

details of the account remain covered until revealed On 19 December 2001 the paper published a story describing a town at odds over Dustin's death, because many local people believed he had gone to the house to help. Dustin's uncle Bruce thought his nephew had walked in on something and been shot by mistake. Michael Roberts publicly rejected that idea and said Dustin had told Bert that his father was dead and that Bert was next.

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it She said she had stood over Dustin and told him to stop moving or she would blow his brains out, then shot him again. Bert walked in, banged his head on the table and asked why she had gone back upstairs. this part of the story is covered for now The investigation stalled and the lead investigator was reassigned to a post-11 September terrorism task force. Mona and Brett Weedy divorced.

On Thanksgiving Day 2002 Brett Weedy went to Dustin's grave, put his arm around the headstone and shot himself with a .22. He left four suicide notes saying he had cried every day since 13 December. He was buried next to his son. In 2004 Michael Roberts filed for divorce. details of the account remain covered until revealed She told Mary Higgins to forget the notebook, reverted to her maiden name and moved to Omaha, Nebraska, where she became engaged to Russ Shirts. In 2009 she reported that her Lexus had been broken into and blamed Michael. Police found no break-in but discovered that she had altered her divorce decree, invented a maiden name and obtained a driver's licence, Social Security number and passport in it. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it

this part of the story is covered for now In 2010 Ben Smith, then 33, became Sac County attorney. On his second day in office a special agent, Trent Valetta, brought him the case, and Smith reopened it with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation. details of the account remain covered until revealed Smith was astonished that she knew about evidence kept secret. A document examiner found the incriminating pages were in Dustin's handwriting, but one page of random numbers and impressions came from someone else. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it

this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it A defence psychologist, Dr David Grove, diagnosed acute stress syndrome and PTSD, but the judge excluded his evidence as an improper bolster to her credibility. this part of the story is covered for now Bert, by then an adult with a large tattoo of his mother defending her children, testified for the defence. details of the account remain covered until revealed Dr Pitman denied ever meeting Dustin or hiring anyone. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it The ninth shot came 10 to 15 minutes after the previous one, when blood had begun to dry and spatter. this part of the story is covered for now

details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now It contained a plan of her former home, information about Dustin, Jeremy Collins and Michael Roberts, including Michael's Social Security number, date of birth, description and address. It said the statute of limitations had run out on assault and burglary and that there was nothing to lose if someone 'feels bad and wants to do the right thing'. Prosecutors believed she wanted Michael and possibly others harmed. details of the account remain covered until revealed

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed She remains at the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women in Mitchellville. Michael Roberts moved to California with Noah and Mason; Bert has remained supportive of his mother.