The search for Nancy Guthrie. Drama in a Georgia courthouse. And an ice skating scandal.

[00:02] Mazda has been named Consumer Reports' safest new car brand. It starts with our approach. Every Mazda comes standard with proactive safety features. So you're more aware of what's around you, more focused on the road ahead, and ready before problems ever start. [00:19] Mazda. More of what matters most to you. Go to mazdausa.com to learn more. Consumer Reports does not endorse or promote any product. [00:30] Is your education moving at the speed of the world around you? Grand Canyon University doesn't settle for the status quo, they shatter it. At GCU, they offer industry-driven programs, built to move at the speed of relevance, focusing on practical skills and career readiness for every learner. With over 132,000 students joining in, both on campus and online, GCU is proving that education can be affordable and exceptional. GCU is purpose-driven education. [01:00] you. [01:01] Good morning. You're listening to the Dateline Story Meeting. We will jump in so we can get started on a busy day. Our producers are catching up on breaking crime news. What's the timeline on things? We were supposed to start trial on Monday. This is affluence money greed. [01:18] Welcome to Dateline True Crime Weekly. I'm Andrea Canning. It's February 12th, and here's what's on our docket. [01:26] Emotions run high in a Georgia courthouse [01:30] takes the stand. I would be so angry, not understanding how God could allow...

[01:39] The devil and his angel's house. In Dateline Roundup, Luigi Mangione's outburst in the courtroom. And the latest chapter in the saga of Alec Murdoch, the disgraced attorney convicted of murdering his wife and son. Murdoch's defense team went before the five justices of the South Carolina Supreme Court to argue why he should get a new trial. Plus, remember Olympian ice skaters Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding? [02:09] the world's attention. [02:10] This man was running with this stick just coming down at my leg. But before all that, we wanted to update you on the latest developments in the search for Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of our colleague and friend, Savannah. [02:26] Nancy Guthrie has been missing from her home in Tucson for more than 10 days. According to the Pima County Sheriff, she was abducted in the early morning hours of February 1st. Up until Tuesday, the sheriff said investigators had no suspects or leads in the case. That all changed Tuesday afternoon. As you may have seen, the FBI released video captured by Nancy's security camera in the early morning hours of her disappearance. [02:54] walking up to her front door. Here to tell us more about what was in the video and what it all means for bringing Nancy home is NBC News National Law Enforcement and Intelligence Correspondent Tom Winter. And I should say we're taping this conversation on Wednesday afternoon. Tom, thanks for being here. Hi, Andrea. Good afternoon. I know you've been all over this story. And, you know, just personally and professionally, it's a difficult one for you, for all of us. Remind us of the timeline of Nancy's disappearance.

[03:24] And we've learned a lot more about that from law enforcement. The timeline here has become a little bit more clear. So it's Saturday night, approximately 9.30, 9.45 in Tucson. And it's the Guthrie family that drops off Nancy at her home in the greater Tucson area. At approximately 1.47 a.m. on Sunday morning, there's this moment where somebody is seen on the Nest camera on the front door of her home. [03:54] by the FBI. And then a critical piece of evidence, apparently Nancy Guthrie's pacemaker had the ability to communicate and give information and reporting kind of real time to her phone. And at some point around 2.28 a.m., they're no longer in connection. And that is what investigators believe is a moment where she is now officially out of the home and away from the home, probably a moment or two before that. And so the family is advised that Nancy Guthrie did not join up with [04:24] to watch a stream of a mass of a church on Sunday morning. The family gets there, and in less than 10 minutes, they realize something is terribly wrong. They pick up the phone, they call police, and the sheriff says, look, we immediately saw some things that just didn't seem right, were indications that this could be the site of a crime, and as a matter of fact, actually dispatch homicide detectives, Andrea, right from the very beginning. Yeah, her vital medication was apparently left behind, wallet, phone, there's her blood on the [04:54] Tom, there have been reports of several ransom notes being received by TV stations and TMZ demanding payment for the safe return of Nancy. You have actually seen a copy of one of the notes. Can you sort through what we know and don't know about them and what you're allowed to share?

[05:09] Yeah, sure. And so everybody understands the details that we withhold from these notes, really just because there are certain aspects of the investigation we don't want to kind of tip off whoever they're looking for. But the gist of it is this. They point out the fact that she was wearing a white Apple watch. They point out the fact that there were floodlights at the home. There's a request for cryptocurrency. And they provide some specific deadlines. [05:39] Nancy Guthrie and Savannah Guthrie together is she is wearing a white Apple watch. That's public information. That there's a floodlight at the home. I mean, how many homes in this country don't have floodlights outside or some sort of lighting outside of a home? The thing that people have been focused on are these potential deadlines. But then we saw the Guthrie family, as you know, start to put out videos and saying, look, just reach out to us. We're ready. We're here to talk, but provide us with some form of proof of life. It's our understanding that that hasn't happened. [06:09] see whether these notes are credible or not. We don't have any additional insight into that so far. [06:14] Right. So you mentioned the surveillance video that was released on Tuesday by the FBI. I feel like it's, it feels like everyone in the country must have seen it at this point. Initially, we were told that [06:27] Nancy did not have a subscription to, you know, having the video saved. And we were told there may be no footage ever. But that all changed. It all changed. It was clear that there was a lot of work between Google, which is the parent company of Ness, which was this camera and the FBI. Yeah, a lot of people hard at work, surely just working around the clock with what we're talking about. At what point did the FBI decide to go public with it? Was it immediately?

[06:57] aware of them. I mean, first off, it's our understanding that the family was briefed on these images, wanted to make sure, see if anybody in the family recognized anybody in the course of this. And then the decision is made to go public because you want to involve the whole country. Tom, can you just, for our listeners who are not looking at the video right now, and we will link to the images and the videos in our episode description, but can you just describe exactly what we see on the tape? Right. Well, you see a couple of different things on the tape. I mean, [07:27] They've got their head down there and almost intentionally looking at the ground like they don't want the camera to see their eyes. And this individual approaches, they're kind of fiddling around. You get some real close-up images of their gloves. You see this gun that's carried in a holster externally. It appears that it would be set up if somebody was a right-handed shot. And then you see a backpack on them with the kind of reflective tape out front in this light-colored mask. But their eyes are very clear. [07:57] Some people say that around the mouth there might be some facial hair, either a goatee or a mustache or both. And the backpack is very large. And one of the things that sticks out, and I'm sure you noticed this, just how full that backpack is. Oh, my gosh. Full. To the seams almost. Yeah. I mean, and very chilling, very jarring to look at those images. That's right. About eight hours after those images were released, we learned that a man had been taken into custody for questioning.

[08:27] And it sounds like it's not really going anywhere, right, with him? Right. Well, this person was released. They took his phone. They've kept his phone. They conducted a court-authorized search. I think that's notable. As you know, you don't search a home without that court paperwork. But when you actually conduct those searches and talk to them, you might realize that some of those things are easily explained, and they might not actually point towards the crime. Okay. [08:57] and that they have made a lot of progress. What is next? What are the most critical steps, do you think, going forward? So you're already seeing some activity since this video came out. You're looking at a lot of searches that are occurring on the ground, FBI agents combing through Nancy Guthrie's neighborhood, just the old-fashioned shoe leather or boot leather, whatever you want to say in this particular instance. They're going from store to store, gas station to gas station, pulling video. All of that's part of the investigation. So [09:27] kind of humming on that. And that's something that I think will get to the point of identifying, is this one person, [09:33] Is it [09:33] two, three, four people who's involved in this. Why did they do this? It's so obviously nerve wracking for everybody in that community. And just what the Guthrie family has been put through here and our colleague Savannah, it's just, it's so awful. And I think everybody wants an answer for Nancy. Everybody wants an answer for Savannah and the family just to figure out how did we get here? Why would somebody do something like this?

[09:59] Yeah. And it's just you feel almost like you know Nancy. You know you're rooting for her, even for people who haven't met her. It's like the whole country has come together for Savannah's mom, which is so wonderful. And if anyone does know anything, you can call 1-800-CALL-FBI. That's [redacted phone]. Or you can visit tips.fbi.gov if you want to leave a tip online. [10:29] You've done such a great job. And during a difficult time, you're really breaking things down for people. So we appreciate it. Well, you got it. I'm so glad we had a chance to talk. And it's all about getting information out. And certainly, we got to hold out hope for Nancy. We all want that so badly. And our prayers and hearts are with Savannah and her family during this difficult time. Thank you. Thank you. We'll be right back. [10:58] Insurance is not one-size-fits-all. That's why drivers have trusted progressives' name-your-price tool for years. [11:06] Just tell Progressive what you want to pay. [11:09] And they'll show you coverage options that fit your budget. [11:12] Visit Progressive.com to find a car insurance rate that works for you. [11:17] Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Price and coverage match? Limited by state law. Mint Mobile plans are only $15 per month. Wondering what's the catch? There isn't one.

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[13:01] Join the millions who are already banking fee-free today. [13:05] Head to chime.com slash dateline. That's chime.com slash dateline. [13:11] It only takes a few minutes to sign up. [13:13] Chime is a fintech, not a bank. [13:16] Banking services for ChimeCard provided by Chime's bank partners. [13:20] Optional products and services may have fees or charges. [13:24] Stated cash back for Chime Prime only. No minimum balance required. [13:34] For our next story, we're heading to the college town of Athens, Georgia, where it's week two in the trial of a man accused of murdering University of Georgia law student Tara Baker 25 years ago. Prosecutors say DNA evidence proves Edric Faust is the killer, but he says he's innocent. And in a blistering cross-examination this week, Faust's defense attorney confronted the person he alleges is the real murderer. Schmelin, you have not shared a tear. [14:01] Come on now. [14:09] Hey, Andrea. Dorothy, let's start with just a quick recap of the case. Remind us who was Tara Baker and what happened to her in 2001. Yeah. [14:18] Tara was a 23-year-old first-year law student at the University of Georgia. On January 19, 2001, at about 11:20 a.m., firefighters responded to a fire at Tara's home. She lived off campus. When they entered, they found Tara's body. She'd been raped, strangled.

[14:38] stabbed, and left for dead. And her bedroom was on fire. So awful. Dorothy, you and Dateline Field producer Justin Ratchford have spent a lot of time in Athens covering this case. What struck you the most about the location of this crime? I mean, this is a place where parents send their children off to college, hoping that they're safe. Yeah, that's exactly right. Well, first of all, Athens is like the quintessential college town. [15:08] for their futures. And just like Tara was doing when she was killed. She had her whole life in front of her. It's, that's what makes this really hard to hear. So what did investigators learn in those early days as they were investigating this off-campus crime? [15:23] Thank you. [15:24] Well, [15:24] There were certainly indications that this didn't feel like a random attack. There were no signs of forced entry. Nothing was taken except her laptop, and she was still wearing her diamond earrings. Investigators looked at various people, a classmate, a lawyer from the law firm where she worked, and Tara's boyfriend, Chris Milton. But police said his alibi checked out, and no one else rose to the level of arrest. But evidence was gathered and organized, and that would become important over the years. [15:54] cases when they go unsolved, because in this case, 25 years later, investigators finally made an arrest. This was such a long time coming, Dorothy. That's right. They used new technology to retest the rape kit that was done at the time of Tara's murder, and they got some viable DNA. This time around, when they ran the suspect DNA through CODIS, that's the National Criminal DNA Database, they got some viable DNA.

[16:19] It got a hit. [16:20] a repeat offender named Edric Faust, and that was just really out of the blue. [16:26] So the prosecution, of course, Dorothy, focused its opening statement on that DNA match. [16:32] which jurors [16:34] They like to hear about DNA. Right. The prosecutor said the chances that the DNA belonged to anyone but Faust were 1 in 800 quadrillion. Right. But so, okay, there's an unusual twist. Right. [16:47] The defense is not disputing. [16:49] this: "How does Mr. Foss's DNA simply being in Ms. Baker's body establish that he is the person that killed Ms. Baker? [17:00] Yeah, defense attorney Amon Cruz agrees that Foss DNA was inside Tara's body, but he's more interested in the fact that someone else's DNA was there, too, and it was her boyfriend, Chris. So Chris was Tara's boyfriend, as you said. They were intimate, so I would think that would be expected to find his DNA, but the defense says there's more to it, Dorothy. [17:30] last saw Tara Annette [17:32] makes him, according to the defense, deeply suspicious. [17:35] Okay, so that was the lead up to what happened on day six of the trial when the prosecution called Chris to the stand to tell his story. Take us through his testimony, Dorothy. So the prosecutor asked Chris about his and Tara's relationship. How was the state of you and Tara's relationship in those months leading up to her murder?

[17:58] Everything was wonderful. We were both in the understanding that we were pursuing [18:05] future paths for us to have a better future together. Our relationship was strong. [18:11] He talked about getting the awful news. He was working at a plumbing job and got paged by Tara's mother. What did you learn when you called Miss Virginia Baker? [18:22] She had told me that there was a fire. [18:27] It tears residence. [18:29] and there was a body discovered in the fire. [18:32] in that moment, [18:33] What was your reaction to hearing that information? [18:38] Devastated. [18:39] Chris also talked about how he got so upset he punched a wall. Yeah, and that's pretty important to the case. The defense argued that Chris's hands showed cuts and scrapes after the murder. And that could implicate him in the very violent crime, right? But that first day, police noted nothing on his hands. Later, I think it was like two days later, he told the court he really lost it. I started having an extreme... [19:04] emotional moment. [19:07] And there was a wall in front of me. [19:09] and I punched it [19:12] I don't know, maybe... [19:14] 30 times, maybe more. [19:17] Chris told the jury he cooperated with investigators from the beginning, doing repeated interviews, giving them DNA samples. He said he struggled with his grief in private. I would find myself on my knees.

[19:31] Thank you. [19:33] pounding the ground, the sand, whatever, just... [19:38] Just finding myself so mad at God. [19:42] not understanding. [19:45] Oh, God. [19:48] It could allow the devil... [19:51] into his angel's house. [19:53] Dorothy, then it was the defense's turn to cross-examine Chris Melton. This is such a big moment in all of this. He is really the crux of their defense, right? Yeah, right off the bat, things were tense. [20:04] The defense attorney brought into question [20:07] Chris's emotions, suggesting they weren't authentic. - Why didn't you cry? - When? - Just now. Why didn't any tears fall out of your eyes? [20:16] They are falling out. [20:18] Well, let's talk about January 19th. Would you agree that today you were much more emotional than you were on the day that you learned of Ms. Baker's death? [20:27] I was holding it together best I could. [20:30] The defense's cross-examination was all about timelines. Where was Chris the morning of the murder? Where was he in the days before Tara was killed? And I know we said off the top that, [20:40] you know, his alibi was checked out? Well, there's all kinds of timelines involved here. There's another timeline that's really important. So Chris testified that he and Tara had seen each other the weekend before the murder, so a few days before. But the defense brought up something that Chris told investigators in 2024. He said that he hadn't seen Tara for 10 days before her death. The last time you saw Ms. Baker, was it six days before or 10 days before?

[21:10] . [21:10] Thank you. [21:11] From the beginning, you've said that? Yes, sir. [21:14] that you've seen her the weekend and that has always been what you said. [21:18] There was a time that I was confused. [21:20] Mm-hmm. [21:21] And it was 20 plus years later. The defense's point is that Chris's stories are inconsistent, probably untrue, and his timeline isn't trustworthy. So the prosecution, Dorothy's still calling their witnesses. Do we know what's next? Given the many delays, I'm guessing this will go on another week. OK, thank you, Dorothy, for this update. You're welcome. Thanks, Andrea. Up next, it's time for Dateline Roundup. We've got updates on Luigi Mangione and Alec Murdoch. [21:51] on a 30-year-old ice skating scandal, the attack on Nancy Kerrigan. [21:59] In the U.S., there's a break-in every 26 seconds. That means somewhere right now, an intruder is getting closer. [22:06] The problem is most security systems only alert you after a break-in has already started, and that's too late. [22:13] When intruders step near, SimpliSafe Home Security steps up. Using the Outdoor Camera Series 2 and Advanced AI Alerts, SimpliSafe's U.S.-based live agents identify threats on your property and help deter them, stopping crime before it starts. That's why over 5 million people rely on SimpliSafe, and why U.S. News and World Report named them the best home security system of 2026.

[22:40] SimpliSafe. No long-term contracts. Plans start at around a dollar a day. Right now, get 50% off a custom system at simplisafe.com slash dateline. [22:50] That's half off at simplisafe.com slash dateline. There's no safe like SimpliSafe. [22:57] With no fees or minimums on checking accounts, it's no wonder the Capital One bank guy is so passionate about banking with Capital One. He wouldn't just tell you about no fees or minimums, he'd also talk about how Capital One cafes are open seven days a week to assist with your banking needs. [23:14] "'What's in your wallet?' [23:16] Terms apply. See CapitalOne.com slash bank. Capital One N.A. Member FDIC. [23:23] Grainger knows when you're a procurement manager for an office park, you're not managing one building. You're managing all of them. And to stay ahead, you need to see through walls and around corners. Lights about to fail, filters ready to clog, HVAC on its last leg. If you wait until something breaks, you're already behind. Count on Grainger for quality products, easy reordering and 24-7 support. Call 1-800-GRAINGER, click grainger.com or just stop by. [23:50] Grainger. For the ones who get it done. [24:00] Welcome back. Joining me for this week's Roundup is Dateline producer Mario Garcia. Mario, welcome back. Thanks for having me back, Andrea. So first up, we've got an update out of New York. It's a story you know very well, the case of Luigi Mangione. He is the man accused of gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson back in December 2024. Luigi Mangione has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him.

[24:25] So what's new, Mariam? That's right, Andrea. I mean, Gianni was back in court this past Friday. And, you know, bear in mind, he's facing criminal charges in both federal and state court. His federal trial on stalking charges is now set for jury selection to begin on September 8th and with opening arguments in October. So— [24:43] Okay, he found out the date of his state trial, June 8th. Whatever happened was not sitting well with him as he was being escorted out of the courtroom. [25:13] We've seen him to act like that in court. What did he mean by that, Mario, in this particular case by double jeopardy? Because I think when most of us think of double jeopardy, we think if you're acquitted, you can't be tried for the same crime. [25:26] twice. Well, you're not supposed to be tried for the same crime twice, as you said, Andrea. And our legal expert, Danny Savalos, told our friends over at NBC News Now that double jeopardy is not likely at play here because the state and the federal government are considered two separate sovereigns. And he's being technically being charged with different crimes in each jurisdiction. So it's definitely a rare situation, I would say. So as we all know, Mario, trial dates move around

[25:56] Constantly. So we'll see if these dates hold. OK, now we're going to go to a case I know well. It's another high profile defendant. She was back in court this week across the country in Salt Lake City, Utah. Corey Richens. Corey is the mom of three who wrote a children's book about grief before she was charged with her husband Eric's murder. Prosecutors say she laced his drink with a lethal dose of fentanyl. Richens denies that and she has pleaded not guilty. [26:26] leave it because I feel like I've been on this story for such a long time. It's finally underway. [26:30] It is finally underway, Andrea. Jury selection finally began in the Ritchison trial on Tuesday, and many of the potential jurors told the judge that they'd heard of the case but didn't know much detail or have a strong opinion about it. There's been a lot of buzz about the questionnaire that the prospective jurors are filling out. [27:00] bumper stickers on their cars. Both the prosecution and the defense are trying to weed out anyone, anyone who might have some kind of bias. So the jurors will find out next week if they've been selected. All right, we'll keep a close watch on that one. And it brings us to our main story in Roundup this week. On Wednesday, there was a high stakes hearing at the Supreme Court of South Carolina in the case of Alec Murdoch, the disgraced lawyer convicted of fatally shooting his wife,

[27:30] to what's new here, just give a really quick recap of this complicated story. Complicated indeed, Andrea. Murdoch called police in June of 2021, you might recall, to report finding his wife and son fatally shot when he says he arrived at their home. But investigators didn't buy that. They methodically pieced together cell phone video, vehicle data, and witness testimony that placed Murdoch at the scene at the time of the shootings, and he was arrested for those murders. At his trial, prosecutors said he'd killed [28:00] Maggie and Paul to cover up financial crimes. And a jury convicted him in March of 2023. Okay. Murdoch ultimately was sentenced to life in prison, and he got a life sentence for each of the murders. So, Mario, tell us what his team is now arguing to the Supreme Court of South Carolina. On Wednesday, Murdoch's defense team went before the five justices of the South Carolina Supreme Court to argue why he should get a new trial. And one of their main arguments is that [28:30] of someone that had been in the courtroom the whole time, the court clerk. Yeah, this was a lot of drama involving this clerk. Remind people of what happened with her. Her name is Becky Hill, and I covered the original trial, and Miss Becky was everywhere and had regular contact with the jury as part of their job, getting them into the court, getting them their lunch and everything else. And after the trial, she was actually criminally charged for her behavior during that trial. She denied tampering with the jury in any way, but pleaded

[29:00] including misconduct in office, and then she later apologized to the court. Okay, what does the defense say, Ms. Becky, did that specifically violated Murdoch's right to a fair trial? [29:12] Murdoch's defense says that Ms. Becky made comments to jurors that could have influenced them to find Murdoch guilty. For example, they point to remarks she allegedly made encouraging jurors to watch Alec Murdoch's demeanor closely during testimony or urging them to move deliberations along. Let's listen to Murdoch's defense team make their case to the justices on Wednesday. [29:42] I've never seen a factual pattern like this where the clerk of court sets out to influence the verdict. Mary, what do the prosecutors say in response to this argument? [29:54] Well, not surprising, Andrea. The prosecutors dispute all of this and say any comments by Ms. Becky were limited and did not affect the verdict. In fact, the prosecutors say nine of the jurors told a lower court judge exactly that at a previous hearing. And so if the court were to grant Murdoch a new trial, do we think he stays behind bars? Even if that happened, Andrea, he'd still remain in prison because of his lengthy state and federal sentences for his financial crimes. [30:24] courts handle claims of jury influence moving forward. I find this completely fascinating. With these appeals, hard to say when we could have a ruling, right? Right. Cases like this could

[30:36] typically take weeks or months, Andrea. Thank you for all these updates, Mario. Thanks for having me. [30:42] For our final story, we're heading to the Winter Olympics. Millions of ice skating fans have been glued to the games this past week, watching the gravity-defying spins of quad god Ilya Malinan, or the fancy footwork of ice dancers Madison Chalk and Evan Bates. It made us think back to [31:06] for something that happened off the ice. We are talking, of course, about the afternoon in January 1994 when 24-year-old ice skating champion Nancy Kerrigan was attacked at a Detroit ice rink by a man with a baton. Dateline interviewed her soon after it happened. This man was running with this stick just coming down at my leg. Philip Hirsch is a special contributor to NBCOlympics.com focusing on figure skating. Welcome to the show, Philip. My pleasure. [31:36] people about Nancy Kerrigan. She was such a big deal in the world of ice skating at the time. So Nancy had something about her. She just had a beautiful, beautiful line on the ice. She was the bronze medalist at the 1992 Winter Olympics and then went on to become U.S. champion in 1993. And she became sort of America's sweetheart. Philip, Nancy was in Detroit getting ready to compete in the 1994 U.S. National Championship. She had just finished practicing for the day.

[32:06] Take us to that moment where everything changed for her. Well, most of us in the U.S. media were actually sitting watching the short program of the Paris competition when somebody ran into the press seat area and said Nancy's been attacked. Nancy came through the curtain separating the practice rink. [32:23] from the backstage area and was attacked by somebody using what turned out to be a metal baton. She was whacked on the knee and the very famous video of this shows her screaming "Why, why me?" Why? Why? Why? I remember it like it was yesterday. [32:46] In sort of press box banter, one of my colleagues immediately said, where was Tanya? Really? For those people who weren't born or were too young, Tanya Harding was a big competitor of Nancy Kerrigan. Tanya was an extraordinary skater. She was a much more athletic skater. She won the 1991 U.S. Championships and became the first U.S. woman to land a triple axel jump in competition, which was a very big deal. [33:16] It was just a normal assumption for people to say, totally jokingly, where was Tanya? The attacker fled. So this was really the beginning of a mystery of... [33:26] who this man was. Let's take a listen to this Dateline interview that Jane Pauly conducted with Nancy Kerrigan just days after the attack. I don't know why that man did what he did to you. And you don't know either. Yeah, I've...

[33:40] I wondered why and thought if I could just ask him, you know, I'd just like to know. [33:46] But I don't think I could understand anyway, if he were to be able to give me an explanation, because I don't think that way. [33:56] It's too vicious and cruel and [33:59] How could you [34:01] I can't understand it. [34:02] The police in Detroit investigated it. It turned out that the masked hitman was a guy named Shane Stant. So Shane then leads to Tonya Harding's ex-husband, Jeff Galluli. [34:16] And leads to Tanya's bodyguard, Sean Eckert. Jeff Gululi ended up pleading guilty to planning the attack. So both Tanya and Nancy end up going to Lillehammer, Norway, a few weeks after the incident. As members of the U.S. Olympics figure skating team, there was so much tension hanging over the competition. Nancy's recovering from the attack. Tanya's under a cloud of suspicion. What happens? The biggest deal of the Olympics may have been the first practice when they were on the ice together. [34:46] Everybody was waiting for that moment. Nancy wore the same dress that she had when she was attacked, which is her way of saying, I'm here and I'm strong. As it turned out, Nancy skated throughout that competition as well as she ever had in her life. What happened with Tanya? One of her bootlaces broke as she tried to tighten the skates, and that caused a long delay. Tanya had a very bad short program. She was not able to land a triple axel. At that point, the competition between Nancy and Tanya was over.

[35:17] Less than a month later, Tanya Harding pleaded guilty to a criminal charge of conspiracy to hinder prosecution. She never admitted to helping, you know, plan it. [35:26] but she did admit that she took part in covering it up. Right, exactly. She eventually admitted to having some knowledge of what had happened. She was basically kept from skating in any sanctioned competition for the rest of her career. You've said after the attack, figure skating went viral on national TV, print outlets for the next two months. It just really supercharged interest in the sport. Well, the irony of this was that [35:54] Most of the figures gave the initial reaction was how horrible this was. And then the next two or three years went by, they realized it was making all of them rich. [36:02] A lot of skaters made a lot of money because Tonya Harding's cohorts and she had raised the visibility of this sport to a level that it had really never seen. The ratings were off the charts for the first part of the competition. All right. Well, Philip, still capturing our attention all these years later. Thank you for your unique insight into such a crazy time. Thanks, Eddie. [36:32] True Crime Weekly. To get ad-free listening for all our podcasts, subscribe to Dateline Premium. We hope you're all enjoying the Olympic coverage. Dateline will not be on NBC for the next two weeks because of the games, but you can still stream episodes on Peacock.

[36:48] And look out for an exciting drop in our podcast feed on Monday. We'll be sharing all six episodes of Keith's original series, The Girl in the Blue Mustang. It is the story of a young woman's murder in a California park and ride, a witness who knew too much, and the Dateline viewer who changed everything. I was sitting at home and some force compelled me to go watch this episode of Dateline NBC. [37:18] story on a special edition of Talking Dateline. Thanks for listening. Dateline True Crime Weekly is produced by Carson Cummins, Caroline Casey, and Kiani Reed. Our associate producers are Ellery Gladstone-Groth and Aria Young. Our senior producer is Liz Brown-Kurloff. Production and fact-checking help by Audrey Abrahams. Veronica Mazzaka is our digital producer. Rick Kwan is our sound designer. Original music by Jesse McGinty. Paul Ryan is executive producer. And Liz Cole [37:48] everyone. [37:56] Everyone's talking about protein lately, but how do you actually get enough of it? Muscle milk. Muscle milk has a great-tasting new formula with no artificial sweeteners, flavors, or added colors. It's high-quality, complete protein designed to support healthy muscles with fewer ingredients than the previous formula and 26 to 42 grams of protein. For when you're stuck in meetings or need a post-workout recovery. Available in chocolate, vanilla cream, cookies and cream, and strawberries and cream. Try the new great-tasting muscle milk today. Available in stores nationwide. Muscle milk. Protein for all.