Dateline looks at Venus Stewart case

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - The Venus Stewart case gets a national spotlight Friday when Dateline takes a 90-minute look at the investigation and ultimate conviction of her husband, Doug Stewart, for murder.

Venus Stewart vanished from outside her parents' Colon Township home on April 26, 2010, and initially, Doug's alibi that he was at their Virginia home when she went missing seemed to check out.

But the persistent investigators from the Michigan State Police and other agencies led them to evidence that eventually prompted Doug's arrest, trial and conviction.

He's now serving life in prison without the possibility of parole. This week, he sent a letter to prosecutor John McDonough urging a longer sentence for his accomplice, Ricky Spencer.

24 Hour News 8's Dani Carlson covered the case from start to finish and is featured throughout the Dateline special, "Deadly Game," anchored by NBC correspondent Dennis Murphy.

The special reviews how investigators pieced the puzzle together, looked at tips that didn't pan out, and kept digging for evidence in the case.

It includes interviews with investigators, including Michigan State Police detective Shane Criger. At one point, Criger said, Doug Stewart "asked me if I wanted (his kids) bunk bed. He was willing to give me the bunk bed because he said he's leaving it" at their Virginia apartment.

But it was his pickup truck that turned the investigation. Criger said "the truck was in disarray. It had not been cleaned." And in that truck was the evidence prosecutors used to convict him.

The Dateline special on the Venus Stewart case airs at 9:30 p.m. on WOOD TV8.