Dateline: Unforgettable: What Was Nathan Leuthold Convicted Of?
Deadly Valentine is a Dateline: Secrets Uncovered episode that aired on NBC in 2019. The episode follows the investigation of Denise Leuthold’s murder, which led up to the conviction of her husband, Nathan Leuthold. Nathan Leuthold is a former Baptist missionary whom the court convicted of the first-degree murder of Denise in 2014. The episode will now feature on Dateline: Unforgettable on Oxygen on January 16, 2024.
Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of murder and assault. Reader discretion is advised.
Nathan and Denice Leuthold, who had known each other since childhood, married in July 1995. The couple moved to Lithuania briefly and pursued missionary work. They made frequent missionary trips, and on one such trip, they met a young teenager, Aina Dobilaite, a 21-year-old Lithuanian woman.
Nathan Leuthold allegedly murdered Denise so that he could pursue an affair with Dobilaite. Denise and Nathan were reportedly funding Dobilaite’s education in the US. Also, he allegedly visited Dobilaite at a local spa and sometimes in hotel rooms. According to Oxygen, Dobilaite’s school in Florida asked her to leave. The management allegedly found her to be having an inappropriate relationship with her sponsor.
Denise Leuthold was found dead in her parents’ home in Peoria. Nathan Leuthold called the police and reported the murder on February 14, 2013. He claimed to be a victim of a home invasion. The killer shot Denise in the head with a handgun and left her lying dead on her car keys. Authorities initially believed that a burglar might have broken in. However, they discovered that someone had fetched a spare pair of her car keys to drive to an abandoned park and leave the car there.
Investigators found it unlikely that a burglar would find a spare pair of keys. Moreover, the murderer used a Glock 40 to shoot Denise. In fact, it was the same gun that Nathan Leuthold owned and now claimed was missing. “How to muffle a gun,” “hitting someone over the head to knock them out,” and “lethal injection” were among Nathan’s internet searches on his computer, ABC News reported. In addition, kitchen cabinets left open and drawers pulled out were other signs that suggested it wasn’t a regular burglary.
Where is Nathan Leuthold now?
The court found Nathan Leuthold guilty of murdering Denise in 2014 and sentenced him to 80 years in prison. He is currently serving time at the Illinois Department of Corrections and was 39 at the time of the conviction. According to The Washington Times, Nathan’s attorney argued that the prosecution lacked solid evidence to prove his guilt. They cited a lack of solid evidence for Nathan and Dobilaite’s affair or the fact that Denise’s murder wasn’t indeed the result of a burglary gone wild.
However, the murder weapon belonging to Nathan Leuthold and his internet searches became the primary evidence that led to his conviction. “I know you want me dead. “Why do you want to humiliate me by running around with a 20-year-old,” Denise allegedly wrote in her diary, as reported by ABC News.
While addressing the courtroom in his 26-minute long speech, Peoria County Circuit Judge Kevin Lyons said that Nathan Leuthold “poisoned” his otherwise law-abiding and righteous life, DeWitt Daily News reported.
Deadly Valentine will air on Oxygen on January 16, 2024, at 8 pm ET. In fact, the episode remains one of Dateline’s most memorable cases and is now a part of the Dateline: Unforgettable series.
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