Murder of Bill Stout by Anne Marie Stout featured on Dateline: Unforgettable

Dateline: Unforgettable is featuring the case of Bill Stout, who was murdered by his wife, Anne Marie Stout.

On June 10, 2007, Anne and her youngest son went on a shopping trip. When they returned to their home in Darby, Montana, they found Bill dead on his bed.

An autopsy revealed that the 52-year-old died from a single gunshot wound to the head, but responding officers didn’t see a gun nearby.

After obtaining a warrant to search Bill and Anne’s home, detectives found the murder weapon in Bill’s motorcycle saddlebag. It was located in the garage, along with a rubber glove.

Ten days before Bill was murdered, he contacted the Ravalli County Sheriff’s Office and reported his gun missing.

His holster and ammunition were also missing.

Clues, DNA evidence led to Anne Marie Stout’s arrest

After detectives sent the items to the lab for testing, they ascertained that Anne’s DNA and gun residue were on the glove.

Investigators also found a handwritten note on Anne’s nightstand that they deemed suspicious. It was instructions on how to use a gun.

On her computer, her search history showed that she looked up ways to murder someone without getting caught.

Several weeks after Bill’s death, Anne was charged with deliberate murder.

Possible motives for the killing of Bill Stout

Prosecutors believe that jealousy was one of the motives behind the killing. 

Police learned through an investigation that Anne and Bill began having marital issues when Bill had an affair with a woman from Arkansas in 2005.

He apparently knew the woman for years before he married Anne.

After finding out about the brief affair, the couple and their children started receiving several harassing letters and emails believed to be from the other woman.

Bill reported it to the police, and the letters and emails stopped in June 2006.

Investigators discovered that the emails didn’t come from the other woman, they came from Anne.

She used her work computer to create a fake account, police said. 

Another motive is money. 

Two years before Bill was murdered, he took out a $500,000 life insurance policy, and Anne was the beneficiary. 

The three-week trial ended with a guilty verdict

In September 2018, a jury deliberated for six hours before finding Anne guilty of fatally shooting her husband in the head while he was sleeping.

That same year, a Ravalli County judge sentenced her to life in prison.

Dateline: Unforgettable airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on Oxygen.