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48 HOURS
Air Date: Saturday, May 14, 2016
Time Slot: 10:00 PM-11:00 PM EST on CBS
Episode Title: "DEATH OF AN OLYMPIAN"
[NOTE: The following article is a press release issued by the aforementioned network and/or company. Any errors, typos, etc. are attributed to the original author. The release is reproduced solely for the dissemination of the enclosed information.]

OLYMPIC HERO DAVE LAUT SHOT SIX TIMES - HIS WIFE PULLED THE TRIGGER

In Her First TV Interview, Jane Laut Tells Erin Moriarty Why She Killed Her Husband "48 HOURS: DEATH OF AN OLYMPIAN" - Saturday, May 14

Olympic hero Dave Laut was shot six times with his own gun. His wife, Jane, pulled the trigger. Was it cold-blooded murder? She says she had no choice.

In her first television interview, Jane Laut tells Erin Moriarty what happened that night and why she killed him in 48 HOURS: "Death of an Olympian," to be broadcast Saturday, May 14 (10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

"He was going to kill me," Jane Laut tells Moriarty. "I didn't think I was going to live that night."

The Lauts seemed like the perfect family. They met in high school. Dave Laut was an Olympic shot-putter who earned a bronze medal in the 1984 Games and was aiming for a gold medal in the 1988 Games when an injury upended his chances. Eventually he became a school teacher and coach. Together, they adopted a son, Michael.

"She was a nice girl," says Dave Laut's mother, Dotty. "I loved her all these years, I did."

Something changed, however, on August 27, 2009. Jane Laut called 9-1-1 and told a dispatcher she and her husband heard a noise outside. They went to look together, but he sent her in the house. She said she heard shots and he never returned. Police found Dave dead from multiple gunshot wounds. She continued with that same story when talking to police at the stationhouse, police say. But hours later, she changed her story. This time, she said she had been abused verbally and physically. That night she thought Dave Laut, the Olympic hero, was going to kill her and their then 10-year-old son.

"I thought I - for sure - it was the only way to stop him," Jane Laut tells Moriarty. "You, you don't get how he - he would not stop coming after me."

So what happened? Is Jane Laut just a heartless killer who wanted to end her marriage? Or was she the woman who kept a lifetime of abuse secret. She didn't think anyone would believe her because her husband was a hero. Investigators believe evidence at the house suggests Jane intended to kill her husband that night and telling police two different stories was a giant red flag.

Her attorney, Ron Bamieh, counters after years of abuse and fearing for her child's life she "did what any mother would do to save her son."

"To even try to figure out what happened," says Rebecca Laut, Jane's sister-in-law, "it just kind of goes beyond your scope of understanding."

Moriarty and 48 HOURS investigate the Laut story through interviews with Jane Laut and her attorney, Dave's mother, brother, sister-in-law, and the lead investigator. 48 HOURS: "Death of an Olympian" is produced by Judy Rybak, Greg Fisher, Chris Young Ritzen, Ruth Chenetz and Dena Goldstein. Michael Vele, Marcus Balsam, George Baluzy, Mike Baluzy, Atticus Brady and Mike Mongulla are the editors. Peter Schweitzer is the senior producer. Susan Zirinsky is the senior executive producer.

Chat with members of the 48 HOURS team during the broadcast on Twitter and Facebook. Follow 48 HOURS on Instagram. Listen to 48HOURS podcasts at Play.it.

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