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The House

40m 38s

The House

Scott Horn, a retired FBI special agent, was found dead in his backyard in Laurel, Maryland, in March 2017. His daughter Kelly reported him missing after he failed to make his usual morning call, and his son Riley discovered the body under a tarp, recording the scene on a GoPro. The murder was violent: Scott was shot in the neck and then beaten with firewood, indicating a personal attack. Police, led by Detective Kessie Henderson, quickly focused on Scott’s estranged wife, Anne Allen, who lived separately in the same house during a contentious divorce. Investigators uncovered a history of domestic strife, including 15 police calls to the home and allegations of volatile behavior, but no prior convictions. Anne was arrested, along with contractor Jason Bird, but Bird’s charges were dropped. At trial, prosecutors argued Anne had motive and opportunity, citing her presence at the home and suspicious behavior, but they lacked forensic evidence—no DNA linked her to the crime, and the life insurance policy no longer named her as beneficiary. Defense attorneys argued tunnel vision and pointed to Anne’s physical frailty and the darkness of the scene. The jury deadlocked initially but ultimately returned a verdict of not guilty, freeing Anne. The case remains unsolved, leaving Scott’s family and former FBI colleagues without closure, as they strive to honor his memory in their daily lives.

Transcription

5839 Words, 31660 Characters

English
I'm Lester Holt, tonight on Dadeline, a dead body in a yard, terror in the night, the end of a family, the start of a mystery. My dad was my best friend. He just liked to make people smile. He would always boast about how he was an FBI agent. He was so proud. My brother and his friend came running down to the neighbor's house. He's going alone. OK, I'm calling. Well, please form it. Can you come down here, ma'am? Where is my arm? His body appeared to be concealed. A robber is not going to take the time to cover your body. It's personal. There may be some tenants that had a bad blood. I'm going to be handled for all this time. Some of them that he put behind bars might have had it out for him. Several doors were padlocks. It seemed like it was forever, but it was maybe a ten-second silence in the courtroom. He wasn't an FBI agent. It's out with many criminals. You could take care of himself. At least he thought so. Here's Josh Mankowicz with The House. A young man walks toward his house in the middle of the evening. He's wearing a GoPro camera to do that. Now, if it sounds strange for someone to start recording a video of their own actions, we'll stay tuned. This is actually one of the less weird things you'll hear about. What happened next was nothing short of terrifying. What he found that night would spark an investigation and a mystery that would only deepen over time. It's all linked to the drama that began just hours earlier when a daughter couldn't find her father. Scott Horne wasn't the kind of dad to disappear. You see, Scott had spent 23 years as an FBI special agent. Even in retirement, he still scheduled his life like clockwork. If he did something, he normally did that same thing every single day at the same time. He never slept in either. He was up every morning at 7.30. Scott's daughter Kelly was living on her own by age 18. Even so, she remembers her dad starting each morning with the same phone call. Your dad called to wake you up every day. Yeah, he would call. That's it. Are you up? And then five minutes later, he would call and say, "Are you up?" Well, so he's not just the alarm clock. He's also the snooze alarm. Yeah. Except on that morning, March 16, 2017, Kelly's phone was silent. So I texted him and he didn't respond and I called him and the phone went straight to voicemail. I texted him and I said, "I hope you're okay." This is unlike him? Totally. He would respond to you? Yeah. Kelly reached out to her dad's next door neighbors, Marty and Cindy. Kelly called and asked me if I'd seen Scott all day. I said, "No, I hadn't." And she said, "Call a wellness check." So I called the little police. They came out. Did they Scott, right? Yes. On my toes. Officers from the Laurel Maryland Police Department met Kelly at the house. To do what's called a welfare check. When police go to an address, essentially, to make sure something bad hasn't happened. We walked through the house. Not to lose. I looked at it before me. They moved from room to room. So my dad normally would take the dogs out to make sure they went potty outside. And there was P all over the floor. Which meant the dogs had been left inside for a long time. Right. Because now it isn't just the morning he's been missing, obviously. Nobody has seen him since like the day before. Right. They went into the basement. Another officer searched upstairs. Officer Matt Zimmerman was there. Nothing appeared to be in disarray. Nothing appeared to be. Have a struggle. She grabbed some belongings and stated that she was going to continue to try and locate her father. I guess we'll wait until later. Later eventually arrived. And Kelly still hadn't heard from her dad. By this time, you have to be really scared. I was. I was. Kelly had been talking with her older brother Riley. He hadn't seen their dad since the night before and was worried too. So that evening, Riley went over to the house with a friend. That's when Riley hit record on his GoPro and headed up the lawn of his family's large suburban home. As they walked, Riley and his friend heard banging and clattering on the left side of the house. And when they went to the area where the sounds had come from, they could make out a tarp in the darkness. They lifted it up. What they saw sent Riley running to a neighbor's house where his sister Kelly was waiting. Just call 911. Okay, I'm calling. I need a police officer in your mouth. Kelly ran to the house. I didn't understand what was happening. I saw a body. They didn't know who it was. I honestly don't remember. I was so, like, my adrenaline kicked in and I ran up to the house and I stopped right before the door. And I just felt to my knees and I was crying and screaming. So I went out to the porch and saw her prostrate in the snow, you know, just screaming. It was 10 minutes or so before I could understand what she was saying. So what, that, um, her dad was dead. For the second time, officer Zimmerman was first on the scene. My father is under a blanket. It's a GoPro on it. So we started moving down the driveway. I told him to show me where he found the body. Right here. I can't look. He's gone right. Scott Horn was dead. Now, the mechanics of a murder investigation began. Yeah, crime scene tape broke the body. Get a couple more units here to have a potential crime scene. When we return, a body in the side yard, police in the front and someone in the house, apparently unaware of it all. Hello. What place for it? Can you come down here, man? Well, we're to conduct an investigation right down there. And whoever murdered Scott Horn didn't just kill him. This was overkill. So someone shoots him from behind and then after he's on the ground begins beating him. That's correct. Police were swarming the house on this quiet residential road. Scott Horn had been found by his son. He'd been murdered in his own backyard. Detective Kessie Henderson came to lead the investigation. He didn't need a medical examiner to tell him Scott Horn had been the victim of a brutal murder. And it wasn't just a beating. Another investigator noticed a bullet lodged in a shed. Scott was shot in a neck. Would the neck wound have killed him by itself? No, the neck wound would have disabled him. That's correct. Could you tell what he was beaten with? He was beaten with firewood. You didn't find a specific piece of fire what he was beaten with? No, when I unable to find that. I was unable to find it maybe because next to the body was a wood burning stove. It connected to a boiler that heated the whole house. Scott had installed the system. He was quite proud of it. Suddenly, it seemed Scott's own accomplishment might have helped his killer destroy the murder weapon. Possible that someone just threw it in the boiler after they were done using it? That's correct. Detective Anderson had a sense of how Scott died. To get to the who, the detective needed more about his victim's life. And right there at the crime scene, family and friends were eager to talk. I go right up to the officers and I identify who I am and I let them know that he's one of ours. They know he's a retired FBI agent. Monique Winkus had been one of Scott's supervisors at the Bureau. It has to be weird being both an FBI agent and a friend of the victim in that situation. It is. It's a tough place to be. You want to do so much more. You're more friend and special agent in that moment. Yes, I'm there for the family. I'm there for him. Not surprising. That was the way Scott had been there for the Bureau. He'd carried FBI credentials for more than two decades after serving in the Air Force. He just liked to laugh and make people smile. So it's us back in the news. He was the perfect good cop. He what? He would say, "Listen, just be honest with us, work with us, and I'll talk to the prosecutors. I'll talk to my boss. We'll see what we can do for you." And then you would come in and put them in a chokehold. Right, exactly. Tell us the truth. On drug cases, bank robberies and kidnappings, Scott Horan's good cop persona came in handy. After a while, family considerations made him ask for a lower octane assignment. Background checks for people seeking government jobs. That squad handled polygraphs, presidential appointments, new recruits came through that squad. Now that's not exactly the sexiest of FBI details. It's not something that everyone shoots for, but it really had consistent hours. It's a dad schedule. It's a dad schedule, exactly. Scott's wife Ann worked long shifts as a nurse. Their daughter Kelly says dad liked being Mr. Mom. He made sure that we ate a well-balanced meal every night, and he made sure we went to bed on dime, and all of our homework got done, and that our clothes were clean. He took me everywhere with him and taught me so much. Scott loved his family, including the four-legged members. Mom and Bear, there was Papa Bear, and then there was Kenai Bear. And running a close second to family. Scott's passion for this four-bedroom house. You'd had more than just his fingerprints on it. Our house is so wonderful. I know it sounds really conceited, but it's something to be proud of. And a lot of the nice things about it, he had personally worked on. Oh, yeah. Lots of projects. Solar panels, wood burning stove. You know, the pool had solar panels that heated it. All he is doing. There were just so many projects that he was excited and did in the house. Now, that house Scott had loved so much, had become a crime scene. Outside, officers stood watch. But inside. Whoa! Yeah. Someone was walking down the stairs. Who else lives here? Anyone else? My husband? Your husband. It was Anne Allen, Scott's wife, and Kelly and Riley's mom. Anne appeared to have no idea what was transpiring just outside her front door. What? I don't know. Well, we're just conducting investigations right now, ma'am. It would be up to a detective to tell Anne what was going on. This is a man deceased who's in the yard, okay? It's a deceased man. Coming up. Did Scott have money problems? I'm going to gamble all the time. Or other problems. We did receive leads and then maybe some tenants had bad blood. When Dateline continues. I try to get a second evidence taken out for her. As he began his investigation, detective Kessie Henderson thought it best to keep some details of Scott Warren's murder to himself. Ma'am, detective Henderson? So as he talked with Scott's wife Anne in the couple's kitchen. Henderson was careful not to share everything he knew. Where is Scott? The last time I saw Scott was early this morning. This was a man deceased who's in the yard, okay? Is it deceased to me or is it my daughter? Anne seemed to have no idea what was going on. And if you're wondering why Anne hadn't been out searching for her husband earlier. The answer is that after two decades of marriage Anne and Scott were living separate lives under the same roof, while negotiating a divorce. He doesn't talk to me. I mean he won't tell me anything. I hardly ever see him. He's gone most of the day, every day. I don't know what else to tell you about. Right away Anne helped police with this detail. Where Scott had likely been the night before his body was found. He'd been at a casino. We established a timeline for him and we wanted to look at maybe someone followed him. Security footage from the Maryland live casino showed Scott spending some of his final hours playing cards. After midnight he cashed out and had to do his car. How do you know he wasn't followed coming back to the casino? The video footage of him walking around in Saundered Casino. He's by himself. There was no one tacking along behind him. Winnie went to his car. There's no one following him in the parking garage. The night of his murder, Scott horn won less than $100. Kelly says that was typical. Her dad was hardly a high roller. I wouldn't call it gambling. If anything, when my dad went to play he would go and strategize what table was the best table to sit at because of winning. Detective Henderson still had to determine if this was a random crime of opportunity. A robbery gone wrong. Investigators at the scene had noted Scott's cell phone and wallet were missing. We checked into the activity on his bank cards. There were no activity. In my experience, when a robber takes property from a victim, they end up at a gas station. And they're trying to use the cards as quickly as possible. Yes, didn't happen. No, not in this case. And anyway, the crime scene was telling the investigators this wasn't random. There was a lot of emotion involved in the way Scott was assaulted. Because whoever murdered him shot him. He falls to the ground. They could have shot him again. But instead, they choose to beat him to death. That's great. Which sounds like anger. They did us. As an FBI agent for 23 years, Scott Horn had come into contact with plenty of bad guys. Many of whom might have carried a grudge about Scott putting his hands or his coughs on them. So they looked at Scott's cases and found a whole lot of nothing. There had never been any threats in his past that I'm aware of. There had never been anything like that that I'm going to get you or curse you. And even though that does happen. It does. But that didn't seem to apply with him. That is correct. It did not apply with him. So what about Scott's second career? After fixing up his own house, Scott had bought several properties in the neighborhood. He was now a landlord with more than a dozen tenants. We did receive leads and maybe some tenants had bad blood. Detective Henderson found out Scott had recently evicted some people from one of his rental properties. And he possibly, those people could have been angry enough at Scott to want him dead. We received that information. We followed up on that as a lead. A lead that, like others, didn't go anywhere. As they ticked through the possibilities, investigators were thinking the heart of this mystery was closer to home. That included considering Scott's son Riley. Detective's new. The person who discovers the body is sometimes the murderer. I want you to listen to me. I want you out front on the porch. Have a seat. Have a seat. We brought Riley back to the station. He voluntarily came. And he also voluntarily gave us a detailed description of what he found and how he found it. And where he'd been. But Detective Henderson quickly determined. Riley had been at work all day. As far as you know, he had no history of being an odds with his dad. He actually loved his dad and his dad was one of the stronger figures in his life as a mentor also. Like Kelly, Riley said his dad had been his best friend. So then who were Scott's enemies? That big house looked beautiful from the outside. Inside was another story. Coming up. Life behind closed doors. You sort of keep the details of this from other people. Yeah, it's embarrassing. We got to the point where there were locks on everyone's doors. The celebration of Scott Horn's life drew quite a crowd. Nobody could make Scott laugh more than Scott could make Scott laugh. There were jokes and tears. And there was an air of awkwardness too. Scott's estranged wife was in the front row. Just about everyone who was close to Scott knew there'd been trouble inside that marriage and that home. I even said, I said, Scott, you should leave the house. Debbie Wrights and Tessier was an FBI colleague and one of Scott's best friends. She says the clashes with Anne started years earlier, mostly over the kids. What I saw, sometimes she would be really sweet and nice to the kids. And then she could just turn on a dime and be mean to them. You saw that. I saw, yeah, I saw that on occasion. And he'd tell you about it other time? Yeah. It turned out Scott's friends were getting only glimpses of what happened at all. Daughter Kelly says growing up, her mother was volatile, sometimes violent. Because, you know, you don't want everybody to know that you're living in this atmosphere. Kelly says one time she got in trouble for breaking a rule and having a Facebook account. And then for borrowing a pair of her mom's heels. For that, she says, and made her sleep in a hallway for months. Her dad, she said, pushed back. We were in the hallway where I had been sleeping and an argument arose and my dad said that, you know, that I deserved to have my bedroom back. And my mom got so angry. Out of nowhere, Kelly says, and pulled a handgun from underneath her bathrobe and pointed it at Scott. She said, you know, we made it agreement. You said, I'm taking care of the kids. And if you get in my way, there's going to be a problem. Like, his whole demeanor changed. It was more like, okay, you know, we're just going to take a step back. And you leave the house with him. What do you say? He just said, if you ever see her gun again, call 911. You never saw that gun again. No. Kelly says that happened about five years before the murder. And she says the fighting escalated in the years that followed. It was bad. It got to the point where there were locks on everyone's doors on the outside and on the inside. Both spouses padlocked their bedroom doors to keep the other out. Scott and Ann became two sides of the same coin, bound together, but unable to face one another. It was a toxic atmosphere that seemed beyond repair. Riley began recording his interactions with his own mother. That's why he was wearing a GoPro that night he went looking for his missing dad. By that point, the family home was already quite familiar to the Laurel PD. How many times police come to that house? They knew us regularly. They were there a lot. You lost count. Yeah, yeah. We didn't lose count. Between 2012 and the start of 2017, Laurel police responded to that home at least 15 times. Sometimes it was Ann calling. Sometimes it was Scott calling. Sometimes it was the kids. Sometimes they went down and filed paperwork on their own. We found 30 cases ranging from domestic violence to second degree assault to numerous protective orders. All of it representing more contact with law enforcement and the criminal justice system that most of us have in a lifetime. None of those cases resulted in criminal convictions for anyone. Kelly says her mom told her to move out of the house at 18. Scott, however, stayed. This was after all his house. That said, Debbie believes Scott may have underestimated his wife's resolve. And that Ann's engine was running on spite. She said he loves this house. She said I hate this house. And if he thinks that he's going to live here and keep this house, he has another thing coming. She said because I will take this house from him and I will take everything he has. And I can do it. Detective Kessie Henderson heard all of this. And thought back to the first night he spoke with Ann. Was she really as clueless as she seemed? No, I haven't. I haven't. She seemed calm. Maybe too calm thought Detective Henderson and definitely too eager to offer up alternative theories. Scott has enemies. Scott has gambling problems. Did you find any evidence that Scott had any enemies other than his wife? No. They did find evidence that Ann was likely home all day. She said as much to police. That would mean she was there that afternoon. When Kelly and the officers went to check on Scott. How could Ann not hear them? Investigators now believe Scott was already dead at the time of the welfare check. As for those sounds, Riley said he heard by the side of the house when he went over there that night. He later told police there was more to that. He'd seen someone out there. Did you actually see what was there? I did not. I was just all shadow. Are you something or something? He said he believed that shadow was his mom. Police asked Ann about it that night. Have you been outside? I was outside to put wood on the fire, but that was the action. And you didn't see something? No. Investigators thought Ann was hiding something. Were they all just dead wrong? Coming up. Another side of Ann. Ann was very kindhearted, very compassionate. And wood chips in a washing machine. It suggested a cleanup. When date line continues. His investigators dug into the circumstances surrounding Scott Horn's death. His estranged wife Ann was quickly emerging as a prime suspect. Police spoke with neighbors like Cindy and Marty. You thought it was Ann from the get-go? I did. Yes. They say Ann seemed aggressive and never missed a chance to spread what they say were lies about Scott. This is Ann Allen. I just wanted to give you a quick call. Here's a voicemail. Ann left them months before Scott was killed. He's brutal. And he, because he ran the street until I married him at age 37. He was nothing but a man for. Another neighbor shared with police this video of an interaction she had with Ann on the street. I left because I was not going to be beaten up by them. At the time Ann was claiming her family was abusive to her. You know, I have a really hard time believing that that happened. I know because you're stupid. And you don't know how deceptive an FBI agent can be. And as neighbors shared these stories, one name kept popping up. Jason Bird. Jason Bird is a person who was previously employed by Scott Horn. He was one of Scott's contractors. And prosecutor Melissa Hotmayr heard enough to make her think Jason should be investigated. What was the gossip in that neighborhood? I mean, your people went out and talked with a bunch of neighbors. That Ann was out to get Scott. That they had a very contentious divorce. That she was having an affair with Jason. And wanted to, I guess, I don't know ride into the sun set with Jason. Ann denies they were anything more than friends. Still, police wondered if Ann's friend had helped her after the murder. Maybe disposing of the gun and Scott's wallet and cell phone. It turns out Jason's truck was spotted at the house. And neighbor Cindy took this photo of what police thought was Jason, leaving the house that afternoon. That led to a police theory. Ann had asked Jason to get rid of Scott's things. He doesn't seem to be carrying anything in his hands. But I guess he could have had Scott's property in his pockets. Yes, he could have had Scott's property in his pockets. He could have had the hang on in his pockets. Weeks went by and there were no arrests. Kelly thought it was just a matter of time. I never had any doubt that she didn't. You were still sure it was her? Yes. Could Kelly be right that her mom killed her dad? "Impossible," says Ann's friend, Rita Lapinski. She and Ann went to high school together. And Rita says Ann's life is marked by her goodness to others. She says Ann used that kind heart and compassion over her 30-year career as a nurse. Part of it at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. She would tell me how sometimes she would actually hum or softly sing to her patients. Whether they were soldiers or infants. Anne's background is not what you typically associate with someone who's a murderer. Correct. Anne's divorce attorney Lauren Collecas says the picture police were getting was clouded by a tumultuous marriage and a bitter divorce. And she says, "Don't blame Anne for that." Why was that how such a toxic place and why didn't anyone want to leave? So I think a lot of the issues that developed between Anne and Scott actually arose from their daughter Kelly and Anne had a difference of opinion from Scott as to how to deal with Kelly. Despite Anne's long hours at work, Lauren paints her as an involved parent, Scott as overly permissive, and Kelly as an out-of-control team. There were many allegations that Anne made against Kelly that Kelly was physically violent with Anne. Kelly denies all of that and says her mom lied. So was Anne me, erratic, or violent. Her attorney Lauren says not at all. She was just a mom trying to compensate for her husband's lack's parenting. Anne grew up in a very strict Catholic family and she had her idea of how to deal with Kelly. She says Scott had turned the kids against their mom. Kelly's story about the gun? Anne's lawyer says it never happened and police found no proof Anne had ever bought a gun. And as for what neighbors and friends thought and heard, Lauren says Anne was just trying to defend her reputation and get a fair settlement. Anne knew that Scott was going around telling these individuals their personal business, painting a terrible picture of who Anne was as a wife and a mother. Lauren says she hoped the police suspicion of Anne would subside. It did not. Once again, body cams were rolling on June 30, 2017. At a hotel two and a half miles from her former home, Anne Allen was arrested for Scott's murder. Jason Bird was later arrested as well. It was like a weight off of our shoulders. You know, something's finally going to be done. After Anne's arrest, the crime lab gave police some welcome news. Some woodchips found in the family washing machine had Scott's DNA on them. Get linked. The house and the person in the house, which was Anne Allen, to the murder. And it suggested a cleanup. Even with this new evidence, prosecutors were worried. The case against Anne Allen was threatening to fall apart before it even got started. Coming up. From the moment Detective Henderson arrived on that scene and was the one and only suspect. Did detectives rush to judgment? And did the jury hear enough to make a judgment? We were really limited to what the jury could hear about what really went on in that house. Charged with her husband's murder, Anne Allen pleaded not guilty and waited in jail for her trial to begin. Her friend Rita was stunned. It was like you got to be kidding. There's no way that Anne would do something so heinous. There is no way. Anne's defense attorney Andrew Jessica. So she's in jail and she just couldn't conceive that anybody could think that this life-long nurse would harm anyone. Jessica says he looked at the state's case and saw no real evidence. He says common sense told him there was no way Anne could have pulled off such a brutal beating since she walked with a cane or a crutch. The scene itself is so important in the manner of the killing. His forehead was demolished by whatever was hitting him, was presumably a piece of wood. And it didn't have that strength. I'm guessing the state responded to that by saying that people who were furious enough at other people can do superhuman things. They can say that, right? But then again, there needs to be evidence of it. Not long after Anne was arrested, the state's case seemed to fray. The first arresting Jason Bird prosecutors decided not to move forward and dropped all charges. When we got to the point when we were going to present evidence to the grand jury to make a decision, there wasn't enough. Search warrants were executed for Jason's home, for his truck. Correct. And nothing. None of Scott's stuff was there. Right. Prosecutors forged ahead, hoping a jury would see what they saw. A woman who appeared sweet and harmless, but was actually filled with murderous rage. But prosecutors were also hampered by what they could say in court. Maryland law doesn't allow all prior bad acts to come in, and so because of that, that we were really limited to what the jury could hear about what really went on in that house. Do they get a real perspective, they get a real picture of what life was like there? I don't think they did. The jury didn't get to hear just how toxic that marriage was. Didn't get to see the entirety of those police files on the family. Because you're stupid. And didn't get to hear any of those neighbors recordings of Anne. Still, prosecutors said Anne was the only person who hated Scott enough to kill him. It's personal. You think Anne killed Scott, not as a result of some argument that sort of flew off the handle. And when she woke up that day, that was the plan. I think she waited for him to get home that day. I think she knew he was going to go put a log or a few logs on. I think she waited and she went out there and attacked him. Have you been on fire? I'm a job type to put wood on the fire, but that was it. And they said Anne's story about going outside to throw logs on the fire was beyond suspicious. And did you see Scott open? No. Literally, in order to open that shed, would have had to step over Scott Horn's body. And she saw nothing. Saw nothing. On top of her hatred for Scott, the state said there was another motive. It was life insurance. How much? It's a $500,000. The prosecutors knew that defense attorneys would say Anne was physically too frail to beat Scott to death. So they were ready. A security camera at neighbor Cindy's house showed that sometimes Anne used crutches. And other times, she did not. The crutch and the cane would come and go. It seemed at will. I mean, neighbor saw her both before and after walking around. She was fine. I mean, was she a person in her 60s? Absolutely. But she's not incapable of committing this crime. But jury heard about the wood chips in the washer, except Anne's DNA wasn't on them. Just Scott's. In fact, prosecutors couldn't prove that Anne's DNA was on Scott's body at all. Jury's like DNA. Jury's like DNA. You didn't have it. I didn't have it. You go with ibuprofen or Advil every night. Why? The defense thought prosecutors had every reason to worry. As they said, there was zero proof Anne killed Scott. They argued the whole investigation was a classic case of tunnel vision. I think 100% from the moment Detective Henderson arrived on that scene and was the one and only suspect. And you can see it when you watch his first interaction with her in the kitchen. Listen, listen. If you know anything about that, didn't you hear that? He was interacting with her like he knew that he found the person that did this and that was it. The defense argued there was nothing suspicious about Anne not seeing Scott's body in the yard. The video proved how dark it was. And even police didn't find it when they went there for the welfare check that afternoon. The defense pushed back at the state's theory that Anne was motivated by money. Turns out she wasn't the beneficiary on that life insurance policy. Scott had taken her name off it and a deep dive into the family finances showed this. Scott had 220,000 plus in credit card debt spread amongst 21 different credit cards. And she's on the hook for that. Absolutely. The defense rested and jurors went to deliberate. After one day they told the judge they were deadlocked. She sent them back and on day two there was a verdict. When the verdict was read and just starts like wailing, just wailing. And she kept on just saying thank you God, thank you God, thank you God. I had a lot of people who were praying for Anne and when I heard the verdict it was like yes, the prayers were answered. Anne Allen was found not guilty and she was set free. I think she got away with murder. Everybody got up and it was over onto the next case. Scott's friends at the FBI were devastated. I wish there was more justice for him. He worked as an investigator solving crimes and his crime will never I don't think ever be solved. Laurel police say the case isn't closed, but they're not actively investigating unless [BLANK_AUDIO] seeds come in and cannot be tried again and after the verdict, she moved to another state. As for Riley and Kelly, they told us they're moving forward and trying to live each day the way their dad would have. You know, Riley and I determined how we do things by how would dad do it so just doing it the sky horn way. That's all for now. I'm Lester Holt. Thanks for joining us.

Podcast Summary

Key Points:

  1. Scott Horn, a retired FBI agent, was found murdered in his backyard in Laurel, Maryland, on March 16, 2017, after his daughter Kelly reported him missing.
  2. The murder involved a gunshot wound and a brutal beating with firewood, suggesting a personal, anger-driven attack.
  3. Police focused on Scott’s estranged wife, Anne Allen, due to a toxic marriage, multiple domestic disputes, and 15 prior police visits to the home.
  4. Anne was arrested along with contractor Jason Bird, but Jason’s charges were dropped due to lack of evidence.
  5. The trial revealed limited evidence
  6. Anne was found not guilty by a jury, and the case remains unsolved, though police say it is not closed.

Summary:

Scott Horn, a retired FBI special agent, was found dead in his backyard in Laurel, Maryland, in March 2017. His daughter Kelly reported him missing after he failed to make his usual morning call, and his son Riley discovered the body under a tarp, recording the scene on a GoPro. The murder was violent: Scott was shot in the neck and then beaten with firewood, indicating a personal attack.

Police, led by Detective Kessie Henderson, quickly focused on Scott’s estranged wife, Anne Allen, who lived separately in the same house during a contentious divorce. Investigators uncovered a history of domestic strife, including 15 police calls to the home and allegations of volatile behavior, but no prior convictions. Anne was arrested, along with contractor Jason Bird, but Bird’s charges were dropped.

At trial, prosecutors argued Anne had motive and opportunity, citing her presence at the home and suspicious behavior, but they lacked forensic evidence—no DNA linked her to the crime, and the life insurance policy no longer named her as beneficiary. Defense attorneys argued tunnel vision and pointed to Anne’s physical frailty and the darkness of the scene. The jury deadlocked initially but ultimately returned a verdict of not guilty, freeing Anne.

The case remains unsolved, leaving Scott’s family and former FBI colleagues without closure, as they strive to honor his memory in their daily lives.

FAQs

Scott Horn was a retired FBI special agent with 23 years of service, who was found murdered in his own backyard in Laurel, Maryland, in March 2017.

His son Riley found his body under a tarp in the side yard of their home while searching for him with a friend, after Scott failed to make his usual morning phone calls.

Scott was shot in the neck and then beaten to death with firewood, which investigators described as overkill and indicative of anger.

Scott's estranged wife, Anne Allen, was arrested and charged with his murder, along with a contractor named Jason Bird, though Bird's charges were later dropped.

Anne Allen was found not guilty of murdering her husband, Scott Horn, due to lack of direct evidence linking her to the crime.

Prosecutors presented wood chips with Scott's DNA found in the washing machine, her presence at the house, and her history of a contentious divorce, but lacked direct DNA or eyewitness evidence.

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