02x04 - Queen vs. Princess

[bunniefuu]

KATHY: You had
to have the looks,

the personality,
and it also

depended on who
you were friends with.

DEBRA: She was crowned
Dairy Princess.

It would be easy to see where
someone could be jealous.

The problem in a small town is,
if you go out with somebody

and you break up, he's gonna
go out with somebody you know.

JENNIFER:
She did thrive in that drama.

I felt like I was being brought
into a soap opera that I really

didn't want to watch.

What really stood
out was anger.

So she was number one in
everything she did, even crime.

It's brutal.

[theme music playing]

CLARK: I was the manager
at a full-service hotel.

I was still at home,
ready to come to work,

[phone ringing]

and the phone rang,

and it was
our maintenance engineer,

and he said, "Clark,
you gotta get here now."

And I said, "Why, what's up?"
He says, "Just get here."

It's about
a 15-minute drive.

The back side of the hotel was
where the employees parked.

So I pulled in there, and right
away, you could see

the confusion, all the squad
cars and the activity going on.

And one of the detectives came
over to me right away and says,

"I need for you right now
to go look in her car."

So I looked in the driver's
side, and Lisa's body was laying

in there between the seats.
I was shocked.

She'd been m*rder*d.

NARRATOR:
Lisa Cihaski was born

into a family of farmers
in Marathon County,

a place where cows
outnumber people.

LOUISE: In Marathon County,
everybody knows

who you are --
their business

is as important
as your business.

That's the rules.

JENNIFER:
If somebody gets married,

everybody in that community

goes to that wedding.

People,
in my opinion,

had nothing else to talk about
than other people's stuff.

NARRATOR:
And no one loves to gossip more

than the town's teenage girls.

LOUISE:
It was the '80s.

We were just like people
portrayed in the movies.

Drank with our friends.
We partied in the woods.

People had cool cars.

It took a lot to keep your hair
looking the way that it did

when you were damaging it
with perms in the '80s.

In a town where everybody
knows each other,

Lisa went to
a consolidated high school.

There were nine buses that took
the kids from these

little tiny towns.

And in total, there were

But even in a school that
small, there are cliques.

There were cliques for sports,

cliques for smart kids,

agriculture groups.

I was one of the kids
with the jean jacket.

And we'd always go out
in the back and smoke.

Of course,
you had the jocks.

LOUISE: There was always
the high school bully,

mean girl,
whatever you want to call it.

They were conceited
and self-centered.

You know,
that's what you got.

NARRATOR: But you don't always
have to be mean to be popular.

KATHY:
Lisa was a very popular girl,

very friendly, very pretty,
always dressed very nicely.

Lisa was in student council,
and she was a cheerleader.

She didn't really like
studying, but she made

the National Honor Society.

You know,
everything came easy to her.

NARRATOR:
And she walked the hallways

with a crown on her head,
literally.

DEBRA: When she was
crowned Homecoming Queen,

she seemed right in her place,
like she fit there.

If you think of The Breakfast
Club , Lisa would probably

have been Molly Ringwald.

It would be easy to see
where someone could be jealous.

NARRATOR:
Especially when she's captured

the heart of the most eligible
farmer in town,

Bill Buss.

GINI: In high school,
they started dating.

He was cute.

He had blue eyes,
he had dark hair, he was tall.

He's not like
other guys around here.

He doesn't drink.

You just know
he would treat a girl right.

He was a serious farmer,

very serious about his farm.

Farming is a dedicated job.

It's a strict schedule --
milk in the morning,

milk in the evening,


GINI: Lisa helped
him forget his problems.

He felt like he could let loose
with her and relax.

NARRATOR: It may seem like Lisa
is living a teenage dream,

but heavy is the head
that wears the tiara,

especially in a town
where the glory days end

with high school.

And in June of 1986,
Lisa is at a crossroads.

LOUISE: In Marathon County,
you don't leave your territory.

You go to school, get married,
buy a house, have some kids.

It's kind of
how the process works.

Lisa wasn't
sure it's what she wanted.

So many women,
you know, think about that.

Is this something
really I'm cut out for?

Is this going to be my life?

Do I want to just sit back
and just have babies?

I think Lisa wanted
to do more with her life.

Exploring the world is
where she was at.

Lisa wanted to go
to somewhere warm,

because it's always
cold in Wisconsin.

We talked about
going lots of places.

You dream of that nice
blue water and palm trees.

NARRATOR:
But leaving town means

she'll have
to part ways with Bill.

GINI: It was more
Lisa's idea to break up.

She was just like, okay,
I'm graduating high school,

I need to kind of experience
something besides us.

But they remained great friends.

NARRATOR:
In the fall, Lisa enrolls in

Dakota County Technical College,

three hours away
from Marathon County.

She had gone away to school in
Minnesota to be a travel agent,

you know,
trying to find herself.

NARRATOR: Lisa was a talented
and beautiful young woman

with big dreams,

the kind other girls
want to see fail.

DEBRA: In Marathon County,
there's a little bit of snark

from girls
about kids who leave.

It's, we'll see how well
she does out in the world.

Like, oh, you're going there?

Oh, well, I would
never go there.

NARRATOR: But after completing
her program in six months,

Lisa finds the place she most
wants to go to is back home.

GINI: She decided
she didn't want to move.

God bless these people,
a lot of them don't move away.

A lot of kids
in Birnamwood live with

their parents by choice.
That's what Lisa did.

SCOTT: On the morning
of September 21st, 1989,

I was off duty.

And as I drove past the parking
lot of this hotel complex,

I noticed a lot of
commotion taking place.

I made contact with
the lieutenant on the scene,

who told me to go home,
put on a suit,

because we have a homicide.

Lisa Cihaski
was in her 20s.

She was employed
by one of the local hotels

in Marathon County.

LOUISE: Lisa worked
at the front desk.

We were
the people who checked you in.

My initial thought was

maybe it was
somebody from the hotel.

I think some of the detectives
were thinking that right away,

because they wanted all
the hotel records and all

garbages from rooms
and who's checked out already.

And then one of the detectives,
he said to me too, he says,

"Are you willing to be
fingerprinted

and give a hair sample?"

Because realistically,
you're a m*rder suspect,

as is all the employees here.

If you didn't agree to it,
you're gonna go high on

the list of suspicion.

The interviews
started right away.

I told detectives I worked
that day, September 20th.

It was busy, Wednesdays
are always a busy day.

I left probably
around 5:30, 6 at night.

There was still light outside,
and I remember seeing Lisa.

I said,
"I'm calling it a day."

And she said,
"I'll see you tomorrow."

And that was the last that
I seen her that night.

GINI: That evening, after Lisa's
shift ended, about 8:30,

she went,
and she changed her clothes

into jeans and sneakers.

She said good night to people,
went out the door.

There was a problem with
the car, like a light was going

on or something,
and she was concerned about it.

CLARK:
She had just bought that car.

But I remember her saying,
once in a while, something was

acting up on it.

GINI: That night, Lisa
didn't arrive home.

She didn't call.
She didn't say she'd be late.

And this was highly unusual.

Mrs. Cihaski
started calling around.

And she called the hotel.

She called friends of hers,
and nobody had seen her.

Her mom really
started to worry.

The next morning,
no word from Lisa.

So her mother gets up,
she drives the road going by

the hotel, and she looks,
and she sees her daughter's car

still in the lot.

So she parks, and she gets out,
and she looks through

the window,
and her daughter is lying

slumped over.

And she reaches in,
and she touches her daughter.

And she's cold.

DEBRA:
She was such a genuine...

She was
such an innocent person.

I don't know why this had
to happen to her.

SCOTT: You could see that Lisa
Cihaski's body was seated

in the driver's seat.

There was a smudge of some sort
on the driver's side mirror.

She was either trying to fend
off her attacker or trying to

save her own life.

It was obvious that she had
suffered a strangulation injury

due to ligature marks
around her neck.

What really stood out,
as far as motive, was anger.

To do a strangulation death
where someone is trying to

struggle against you,
you have to have a lot of anger

to continue doing that.

SCOTT:
We wanted to focus on

the first 72 hours, definitely,

on a homicide where you try
to task as many people as

you can to it.

The sheriff's office was not
as large as what it is today.

And the pool of detectives
available would have been

less than seven.

And the pool of potential
suspects was huge.

We were trying to determine
individuals that would have

a suspicious background from
that particular hotel complex.

We had to take a look at

the number of guests
that were present.

Then you have the open parking
lot next to a restaurant that

is very popular.

And could someone have been
waiting out there?

REPORTER:
The initial shock surged

through
this area September 20th,

when Lisa Cihaski
was found in her car

strangled to death.
-She's a very nice person.

I can't imagine
anyone wanting to hurt Lisa.

KATHY: When I heard about
Lisa's death, I was at home.

My mom and I were in the living
room watching the noon news.

And my mom and I just looked at
each other, and we were just

like, oh my god, how could this
have happened and who would

have done such a thing?

SCOTT: When you're talking
about a young female k*lled in

a parking lot that's well lit,
that does cause a lot of

individuals to be concerned
about themselves

or their loved ones.

We changed
our security procedures.

All the female employees
were walked out

by a night manager
or the chef.

They made sure
they got in the car,

started the car,
and waved goodbye.

We didn't have
a clue yet who did this.

The whole town
was speculating

what happened.

Was it a dr*fter
from the hotel?

Was it just some guy
from the neighborhood?

Was it a couple guys?

So the speculation was
running real high.

I mean, we worked in a hotel.

You see strange things.

There were a lot of men that
flirted with the staff members,

people at
the front desk and bar.

We had a box of lost and found
wedding rings in the safe.

I remember the detectives
asking me, do you know

who could have done it?
No. I couldn't imagine who.

It had to be a stranger.

NARRATOR: That same day,
a hotel employee

gives investigators
their first big break.

They learned that someone
who had worked with Lisa had

seen her in the car after work.

While she was pulling out,
her headlights went

into Lisa's car.

She saw somebody in there with
Lisa, who she thought was

a man -- she said they had
a halo of blonde hair.

So they put out a sketch based
on her description, and then

they put it in all the media.

NARRATOR: Twenty-four hours
after Lisa's body is discovered,

a tip comes in close to home.

GINI: The bartender said there
was one individual named George

who would hang out at the bar.

He was there for a sales
training, who was kind of

a partier, hung out at the bar
all day, flirted with all

the girls and the staff.

He actually had a date
the same night that Lisa died.

But he left abruptly.
He stood the date up.

The next morning,
he checked out

really early and vanished.
I think he was like 5' 6".

His hair was a little shaggy.

So maybe that's the individual
she saw in the car with Lisa.

We had to take a look at if
there was any opportunity for

Lisa Cihaski to have had
contact with that particular

guest, because maybe they had
some type of confrontation.

GINI: So when they get ahold
of George, George said,

"I had partied so much
that I fell asleep.

"I didn't go to my date
because I was just

"sleeping from partying.

"And the next day, I got up
and thought, I don't need to be

here for the training anymore.
It's over, so I left."

NARRATOR: It's not
the most convincing story,

but his manager is able
to corroborate his alibi.

CLARK: At that time,
the detectives started looking

at hotel employees and seeing
if there's any surprising names

from warrants
or other police departments.

And then they interviewed
a few guys from the kitchen.

There was an individual who
she had known from high school,

his name was Mark, who wound up
working as a dishwasher.

And he would pinch
her on the arm and say,

"You're a pretty little thing."

KATHY: He was
a year younger than me.

It was kind of a rough
upbringing for him.

I remember him being
on drugs in school.

Lisa was wary of strangers
and wouldn't have let

a stranger in the car.

But perhaps if Mark asked for
a ride, she might have let

him in the car --
maybe he fit the description.

So they brought this guy Mark
in for questioning.

And the police asked him,
"Where were you that night?"

And he said, "I was
in Milwaukee with my dad."

And they go, "Well,
do you have proof of that?"

And he goes, "Yeah,
I got a speeding ticket."

So he was able to show that,
so he was written off.

None of the investigation came
out with an obvious person

who would have
a motive to k*ll her.

So I think there was a lot of
frustration to try to figure

out who it was.

People were freaked out because
they thought it was a person

who probably was traveling
through, had stopped in

the hotel, and followed
her out and k*lled her.

DEBRA: It was at a point where
everybody was worried because

there was some crazed
k*ller on the loose.

NARRATOR: With hotel employees
and guests written off

as potential suspects,

detectives dig deeper
into Lisa's personal life.

You do start to take
a look at relationships that

the individual would be
involved with and how those

relationships could have
impacted what occurred on

that particular day.

You have to think,
well, it could have been

someone inside her circle.

It's very seldom
that it's a whodunit.

On most
homicide investigations,

the perpetrator is someone
that is a spouse

or a significant other
who k*lled in a fit of anger.

NARRATOR: All eyes turn
to Lisa's old high school

boyfriend, Bill Buss.

Lisa told me she was getting
back with Bill when I met

her at
the Howard Johnson restaurant.

The breakup after
high school was traumatic.

I do believe that she wanted
to be a farmer's wife.

She just needed
to explore a little bit more.

When she moved back,
she definitely wanted to get

back with Bill.

NARRATOR: Police learn that
Lisa's been back in Bill's arms

for the past three months.

Now he's
a suspect in her m*rder.

So they brought Bill
in for questioning.

When police asked Bill about
his whereabouts that night,

he had explained to them that
earlier in the evening,

he called Lisa at work.

He said, "Okay, I'm going
to go play darts till 11.

I'll talk to you later."

And they were able to confirm
that Bill, through one of

his friends that was
indeed playing darts.

And the police ruled out
Bill pretty quickly.

And they didn't feel that
he had anything to do with it.

Bill seemed so distraught.

NARRATOR: But they soon
learn that Bill and Lisa's

relationship is more complicated
than meets the eye.

The problem in a small town is
if you go out with somebody

and you break up, he's gonna
go out with somebody you know.

And so Bill told police
that he was dating Lisa.

But prior to that, he had dated
Lori Esker for about a year.

Bill had met Lori just like
he met Lisa in high school.

Lisa was older
than Lori.

They had lockers near each
other, and they were friends

with each other.

Lisa and Lori's moms knew
each other from school.

After Bill and Lisa broke up
and Lisa was at college,

Bill almost immediately
started dating Lori.

She was smitten with him.

Bill had loved Lori.

LOUISE: That was
an uncomfortable situation

for Lisa -- Lisa didn't like
he was dating someone else.

It hurt, I'm sure.

NARRATOR: Turns out
Farmer Bill has a type.

GINI: Both of
these girls were popular.

And both of these girls
had won contests.

Lisa was the Homecoming Queen
of Birnamwood.

And Lori Esker was crowned
Dairy Princess in June of 1989.

NARRATOR: In Marathon County,
a Dairy Princess

outranks
a Homecoming Queen.

DEBRA: So a Dairy Princess is
someone who is very involved in

agriculture
and have a real desire of

staying in the industry,

and it also means that
you're very popular.

It's a county award,
so she was representing

all the dairy farms
of Marathon County.

Here you guys go!
You get another cow!

They go to a lot of different
functions and try to get other

young ladies to get involved
in the agricultural business.

To be a Dairy Princess
would be an absolute honor.

NARRATOR:
Every farmer's daughter

would do anything to wear
that crown and sash.

The person who won would become
a spokesperson for the industry.

I mean, Lori was perfect
for it, she was a shoe-in.

It symbolized her as
an icon of the industry.

There's some true legitimacy to
whoever holds the title,

you know, a real honor.

NARRATOR: The Dairy Princess
and the Homecoming Queen.

GINI: There was overlap
between the two women.

Bill was kind
of walking a tightrope.

NARRATOR: How could
Farmer Bill possibly choose?

It seems he didn't have to.

Lori and Lisa were
people who were former

friends, they were wholesome
and well-liked.

NARRATOR: After learning
about Farmer Bill Buss's

ex-girlfriend, Lori Esker,

investigators take a closer
look into her background.

KATHY:
Lori was a pretty girl,

always looked nice, had hair
done, makeup on, dressed nice.

Lori and I
got closer senior year.

We sat next to each
other in class.

To be popular in our school,
you had to have the looks,

you had to have personality
and friendliness, and it also

depended on who
you were friends with.

NARRATOR: Lisa may have
been queen of the cool kids,

but Lori ruled

her own circle of friends,
the Agriculture Club.

KATHY: At that time,
we called them Dirts.

I was a Dirt.

All of us farm kids, you had to
go home after school and do

your chores, so Lori had to go
home and help on the farm.

DEBRA: Lori definitely was
a hard-working farm girl,

expected to be able
to carry two pails of milk.

She was very strong,
she was really,

really into agriculture.

Lori was in 4-H,
Future Farmers of America.

She was good at what she did.
She was determined.

She won awards for these groups
that weren't just local,

they were district
or statewide contests.

In school, she was
student council president.

She was used
to being a winner.

Lori wasn't conceited,

but she was self-centered.

She talked nonstop, and the
subject of the conversation

was usually Lori.

Her friends called her
Ratchet Jaw, because

it would never stop --
she was known for exaggeration.

Some might call it lying.

I'm gonna get a new truck,
I'm gonna have the best farm.

Everybody thought Lori
kind of told tall tales.

NARRATOR: With looks, brains,
and brawn, Lori makes an ideal

Dairy Princess of Marathon
County, a title she wins after

graduating high school
in June of 1989.

When I saw Lori in the paper
for being the Dairy Princess,

I thought, oh my God,
good for her.

She was so into it.

So she was a perfect candidate
in that position.

I remember her having
a great big smile on

her face,
big accomplishment.

NARRATOR: But Lori has
already won the greatest prize,

the hand of farmer Bill Buss,

whose heart
had been broken when Lisa

left for college.

GINI:
Lori wanted to be a farmer,

and Bill
wanted to be a farmer.

He was kind of
perfect for her.

He represented
everything she wanted.

I went to college at UW-River
Falls, and its nickname was

Moo U, because there were a lot
of agriculture students there.

My roommate Anne and I
had a three-bedroom apartment,

and Lori ended up
living with us.

She was going to school
for agriculture and journalism.

NARRATOR:
It's the perfect university

for a Dairy Princess and just

a two-hour drive
from Marathon County.

Lori did talk about the fact
that she was the Dairy Princess

for Marathon County.

I felt that Lori was honored
and felt that it was exciting

and an accomplishment for her,
but I had never heard

about a Dairy Princess.

NARRATOR: Lori works hard,
not just at her studies,

but also at maintaining
her new relationship with

the farmer of her dreams.

GINI: While Lori was
at college, she called Bill

multiple times a week.

She wrote him letters, and she
came home every weekend.

JENNIFER: She was very obsessive
and fixated on Bill,

on the fact
that they were together.

She talked and talked
and talked about Bill and how

Bill could
give her certain things.

Lori was going to basically get
her MRS degree and marry Bill.

NARRATOR: But sometimes
dreams don't come true,

even when you're a princess.

Bill didn't think they were
getting along, and he tried to

break up with her
several times, and she'd go,

"We'll work it out."

Then the summer between
freshman and sophomore year,

Lori went home to see Bill,
and he told her that it was

over, that he was
breaking up with her.

For Lori,
she basically lost

everything she believed
she deserved.

He went home,
and she decided,

no, I've got to go
speak to him.

So Lori drives
towards Bill's farm.

NARRATOR: And that's where Lori
gets the shock of her life.

Lori gets out,
sees Lisa with Bill,

and Lori could see
she'd been replaced.

She could not accept the fact
that she was a loser

in this situation.

And Lori comes marching toward
Lisa and yells, "You b*tch!"

Lori had confronted
Lisa in front of Bill.

They were yelling
at each other.

DEBRA: Lori was very strong,
and she could lift

two pails of milk.

Just her strength and her
capabilities would have not

been a close mark to what
Lisa could produce.

And Bill said to her,
"It's not just that I'm with

Lisa, it's that we're not
meant to be together."

You know, Lisa said, "I'm sorry
that this happened,"

and managed to calm her down.
Lori's like, "Okay,

I accept this."

By the end of it,
they were hugging,

like they were able
to calm each other down.

So it ended okay.

Lori went back to school
in River Falls that fall.

SCOTT: At that time,
we had detectives

taking a look at Lori Esker.

I knew for sure that
Lisa Cihaski was

k*lled by strangulation.

In my mind,
it was a fit of anger.

This was only, like,
three months after the breakup.

When detectives came to talk
with Lori and asked her about

her relationship with Lisa
and Bill, she was honest.

She said, "Yeah,
I went out with him.

"It was very hard for me.

We had words with each other,
but I've accepted it."

The detective wanted to
establish where she was when,

so they asked her for
the timeline of that evening,

and she said she had gone to
the college library to study

until about 9:30.

So she had an alibi,
but when they checked it out,

they found nobody
remembered seeing Lori.

JENNIFER:
You know, back in the late '80s,

it would be easy
to go to the library,

not check in and just go
there and do their thing.

I know that I did that a number
of times where I would just go

in, do my thing,
and find a quiet corner

to go study.

NARRATOR: And police find
someone who vouches for Lori's

whereabouts on
the night of the m*rder.

Lori said she called her friend
back home, Scott,

and they were
able to verify that.

They had a record
of the phone call.

They found that she had indeed
called him from the library.

Lori's alibi checked out.

SCOTT: Lori Esker was always
cooperative with the detectives

and was always willing to talk.

GINI: Bill told police,
"She's not violent,"

and he didn't think
Lori did it.

Lisa's mom didn't
think she did it.

They thought
that she was obsessed,

but there was nothing about
her that made you think

this is an evil m*rder*r.

JENNIFER:
She was attractive.

I thought she would
meet somebody else.

You know, I had
guy friends in other circles

that, you know,
may be a good match or,

you know, a connection
for her, a good distraction.

I didn't think she would've
gone home midweek to m*rder

somebody over Bill.

NARRATOR: Investigators may have
let Lori off the hook,

but the small town
rumor mill keeps turning.

KATHY: People in the area were
starting to point fingers,

and with
the triangle of the three,

and to find out it had gotten
heated at one point before,

I think that's where people
started coming up with that

they thought it was Lori.

NARRATOR:
The women of Marathon County

know that Lori hasn't quite

told police the whole truth
about her and Bill and Lisa.

I really don't think she could
conceive why he would choose

Lisa over her.

And she didn't believe Lisa
would stick with the farm.

It's a lifestyle
with borders and limits.

You know,
you can't travel with cows.

JENNIFER: Lori wanted to
become the Dairy Princess,

to become Bill's wife,
to become Bill's children's

mother, the farming wife,
the queen of the community.

Those goals were shattered
by Bill and Lisa.

Lori's world fell apart.

NARRATOR:
After the fight with Lisa,

Lori starts a whisper campaign

to make certain Bill
sees things her way.

GINI:
She was very good

at making people
feel sorry for her.

Lori told everybody,
"Lisa is gonna marry him,

divorce him,
and take half."

Lori had said that
Lisa was pregnant

and she was going
to marry Bill for that reason.

LOUISE: I don't believe
Lisa was pregnant.

She's trying to get Bill back
and get everyone on her side.

I think it's just
who Lori was.

It was like, okay,
there she goes again.

Lori did thrive
in that drama.

I felt like I was being
brought into a soap opera

that I really didn't
want to watch.

NARRATOR: Investigators
turn back to Bill Buss

to ask about Lori's
behavior after their breakup.

GINI: Bill told police Lori knew
how to get into Bill's bedroom.

And she was found in the house
sometimes when nobody was home.

She had come on two separate
occasions to try to seduce him.

She let herself in, crawled into
bed, got on top of him,

and she was wearing a blue
teddy, and then one other time,

she was wearing a red teddy.

And he tried to be as kind
as he could and dissuade her.

It would be easy to say to
Lori, "Why are you putting

yourself through this?"

As pretty as she was,
in my opinion, she may have

lacked that self-esteem.

It was just like, well,
why do you want a guy that

doesn't want you?

NARRATOR:
Detectives are no longer buying

Lori's story that she made
up with Lisa.

Five days after her first
interview with police,

she's called in a second time.

GINI:
The detective asked her,

"Have you ever been
in Lisa's car?"

She denied being in
Lisa's car repeatedly.

And then she stops, and she
goes, "Well, one time, I was

"at Bill's house,
I saw the car there.

"So I know
this doesn't sound so great,

but I opened the door
and looked in."

NARRATOR: Detectives know
a red flag when they see one.

They ask Lori to take
a polygraph test,

and the Dairy Princess agrees.

On the way to the room,
they walked her down a hallway.

And in one of the rooms,
Bill was hooked up to

a polygraph machine
so that when she walked by,

she would see him,
and it might unsettle her.

It was a ploy
to have her react.

They hook her
up to the machine.

They ask her the questions,

and she fails.

So they let her
have another test,

and they ask her questions,

and she fails.

And at that point,
the detective said,

sometimes people
do terrible things by mistake.

And Lori decided to
go ahead and talk.

GINI: After she failed
the polygraph test two times,

Lori started crying.

It had to be terrible
carrying that around.

I think that she got
backed into a corner

and had to confess.

The night of the m*rder,

Lori was looking for some type
of closure, because Bill made

the decision to be with Lisa.

She knew
that Lisa was at work.

However,
Lori did not have a vehicle.

GINI: That was the other reason
why nobody particularly

suspected Lori was
she didn't have a car at school.

She was carpooling with
people back and forth.

So they didn't have any reason
to think she had driven there.

But she confessed
to renting a car.

NARRATOR: Detectives run
the mileage on the rental,

and it backs up
Lori's confession

that she drove
two hours each way.

If you'd have taken the mileage
from where Lori Esker was

residing at school on
the western side of the state,

driving it to the hotel
and back, the mileage

is almost perfect.

GINI: As she drove into town,
she saw Lisa coming

out from her job.

Lisa seems
a little surprised to see her.

CLARK:
And Lisa, having known her,

must have let her in the car

where they could hash
this thing out.

GINI:
Lori got very upset.

Lori said she was shaking
her and yelling at her

and calling her names.

And she saw a belt in the back
seat, which was Lisa's belt

from work,
and put it around her neck.

It's hard to believe
a woman would k*ll another

woman by strangulation.

It's a long time
you have to strangle them

for them to die --
a long time.

It's brutal.

SCOTT: Lori Esker was charged
with first-degree intentional

homicide as a result
of that interview.

GINI: She became the first woman
in Marathon County history

to be charged with
first-degree m*rder.

So she was number one in
everything she did, even crime.

LOUISE: I was happy
they found the person.

So the community
would have peace.

NARRATOR: News of Lori's arrest
becomes a national sensation.

The title became
the Homecoming Queen

was m*rder*d
by the Dairy Princess.

GINI:
There was even a bumper sticker

that someone made that said,

"Wisconsin, if the cholesterol
doesn't get you,

the Dairy Princess will."
She had a tiara.

She had her sash
and a big smile.

And from there,
she went on trial for m*rder.

NARRATOR: The trial
begins in June 1990.

The defendant indicated
to her that she still had very

strong feelings for Bill.

It was overwhelming
to go to Wausau and testify

in that trial.

I was looking around
at Bill and Lori and just

really overwhelmed
and shocked.

How is it somebody
that lives in the same house

as I do
would m*rder somebody?

It was difficult
for me and challenging.

And all along, I had hoped
that it was in self-defense.

NARRATOR: After 7 and 1/2 hours
of deliberations,

the jury reaches a verdict.

The jury in the Esker case
found her guilty

of first-degree
intentional homicide.

There is elation whenever
you can successfully close

a particular case, because
you do give closure to that

family and also hold someone
accountable that elected to

steal someone else's life.

NARRATOR: Lori is sentenced
to life in prison with

the possibility of parole.

I felt that she got
the sentence that was

coming to her.

When I see Lori's parents in
church or at a family function

with my brother,
I feel for them.

They're innocent.

JENNIFER:
Why anybody would go that far

to m*rder somebody over
a stupid guy, you know?

No offense to Bill,
but what brings somebody to

that level where
they would want to do that?

GINI:
The prosecutor argued that Lori

had been an overachiever.

She had this dream that she was
going to be a successful

farmer, that she was
going to be married

to a successful farmer.

She had basically been awarded
everything she ever went after

and that she had a dream,
and she felt it was destroyed.

KATHY: There's no winners.
Each family lost a child.

Both families lost a daughter.

But one is still here,
and one is not.

LOUISE: I would love to hear
where Lisa would have traveled.

I wish all of those things
could have happened.

Lisa told me, "When I die,
I hope I'm a little old lady

with lots of grandkids."

She didn't get her dream.

[crying quietly]

♪♪♪

On the next
Mean Girl Murders...

They both straight A students.

They both wanted
the same things.

She's got one up on her.

They was just toxic
going back and forth.

Failure was not an option.

It just threw me off

how much hatred was
coming through in the voice.

♪♪♪