What happened to Lauren DeWise? Details explorer ahead of 20/20 on ABC
A new episode of 20/20 airs tomorrow, bringing to us the harrowing murder case of Lauren DeWise. Premiering this Friday on ABC, the episode recounts the chilling homicide case near Bozeman, Montana, when an intruder entered the home of three women and shot two of the women at close range.
One of them was Lauren DeWise, who died from the injuries she sustained. The case is going to be retold by ABC News correspondent John Quiñones, who answers questions and reports on the case that shook the community of Montana. The 20/20 episode features never-before-seen police video from the case as well as an interview with the survivor, Ashley Van Hemert.
Who is Lauren DeWise and what happened to her?
Lauren Walder DeWise was born in Lakeland, Florida, and grew up in New Jersey. She got her degree from the University of West Florida and taught at a middle school in Pensacola for a few years, according to The Mirror.
Lauren was married to Joseph Paul DeWise and the couple had a daughter together. They lived in Montana where she was working as a Banking Center Manager at a local bank. However, Lauren moved in with her friends, Audria and Ashley sometime in November 2017 because of troubles in her marriage, according to The Mirror.
One morning in January 2018, when Audria got home, she saw that the rear door of their home was broken and there were unidentified footprints in the snow. When she went in, she found that Lauren and Ashley were shot, and she immediately called 911 to report.
Lauren was found dead in her bedroom from multiple gunshot wounds, while Ashley was barely still alive and gravely injured, and she was rushed to the hospital. When investigations began, the marital issues between Lauren and Joseph came to the forefront, and this led authorities to focus on Joseph as a suspect.
Who Killed Lauren DeWise?
Joseph DeWise was arrested soon after the incident, but the 47-year-old denied all charges. However, police found several recordings of the altercations between Lauren and Joseph, even one where he could be heard telling Lauren "I will kill you" several times, according to The Mirror.
There were also several witnesses against him. Audria had noticed Lauren often had bruises and even a black eye at one point. According to the Pensacola News Journal, Lauren’s employer also provided records of two incidents where Lauren came to work with bruises and had also requested that her husband be removed if he came to the workplace.
In December 2018, Joseph went to trial for Lauren’s murder and Ashley’s attempted murder, where Audria testified against him. According to the Pensacola News Journal, she said that Lauren had confided in her about Joseph’s abusive behavior. But the most significant testimonies came from Joseph’s children from a previous relationship, Joe and Natalie. 15-year-old Joe testified that he was accompanying his father when he committed the crime. He also helped the police locate the weapon, which was a .22 caliber pistol.
19-year-old Natalie testified that on the morning of January 7, Joseph had confessed to her about what he did. Natalie also described him as violent and controlling. Along with these testimonies, the prosecution presented further evidence of gunshot residue on Joseph's jacket and recordings found on Joseph’s phone where he had threatened to kill Lauren DeWise.
Joseph DeWise was found guilty after a seven-day trial and was convicted of deliberate homicide, using a firearm, and attempted deliberate homicide. According to NBC Montana, in February 2020, Joseph was sentenced to 220 years in prison with no possibility of parole.
Catch the full case of Lauren DeWise's murder on the upcoming episode of 20/20.
