Dateline: The Shadow – What happened to Justin Michael? Disturbing details from the true crime episode, explored

Justin Michael was murdered in his sleep while his fiancée lay beside him, and Dateline: The Shadow tries to unpack how and why it happened.

The Dateline: The Shadow episode aired as part of Season 6, Episode 9 of Dateline NBC, and focuses on a case that stunned a quiet Iowa town in 2014. The hour follows the events leading up to the murder of 30-year-old Justin Michael, who was engaged to Angie Ver Huel at the time.

The Dateline: The Shadow episode doesn’t rush to the crime scene but starts with the couple’s plans—wedding invitations, a stable life in Grimes, Iowa, and no indication that something was about to go wrong. The show uses interviews, police records, trial footage, and family testimony to walk viewers through what looked like a random break-in but quickly unraveled into something much more personal and calculated.

Dateline: The Shadow doesn’t lean on suspense for drama but instead builds tension by focusing on what each person knew and when they knew it. The Shadow peels back the layers slowly, starting with a gunshot in the night and ending with a tangled trail of jealousy, obsession, and identity theft.

Dateline: The Shadow - Inside the murder of Justin Michael

On May 8, 2014, at around 3:30 a.m., Polk County deputies responded to a 911 call about a shooting in Grimes, Iowa. Inside the house, they found 30-year-old Justin Michael shot dead in bed. He had been shot four times—once in the neck, twice in the face, and once in the temple—while sleeping on his back next to his fiancée, Angie Ver Huel.

She was unharmed. Just down the hall, Justin’s mother, Marie Michael, was visiting for the night and sleeping in a separate bedroom. She told deputies that a man in dark clothing had entered her room, shined a red laser pointer at her face, then turned and left. Seconds later, she heard gunshots.

Police initially found an unhooked DVD player in the living room, suggesting a possible burglary. But as investigators looked deeper, the scene began to look staged. At 4:00 a.m., just half an hour after the shooting, off-duty Boone police officer Cory Rose found a red Ford Taurus Limited wrecked near Granger, about 5.5 miles from the crime scene. The driver was identified as David Moffitt. He was picked up by a cab and sent home. Deputies didn’t know it yet, but that car crash would end up being the break in the case.

The next day, a search of the crash site turned up two loaded magazines with ammunition that matched shell casings found at Justin Michael’s house. Investigators also found earmuffs, the kind used for shooting, and a receipt in the name of Andrew Wegener—another of Angie Ver Huel’s ex-boyfriends. Wegener told police he had nothing to do with the case. That’s when detectives started to look at Moffitt more closely.

David Moffitt had dated Angie for a few months in 2013, before she met Justin. After their breakup, Angie said he sent her a few vulgar texts but never made direct threats. Still, Moffitt had taken a job at Wells Fargo shortly after their breakup and ended up working in the same department as Justin. In September 2013, Moffitt learned that Angie and Justin had gotten engaged.

Prosecutors said this news deeply unsettled him. When they searched Moffitt’s home, they found pages of surveillance notes detailing Justin’s house, including entries on neighbors’ habits, security lighting, and possible entry points. They also found a fake ID with Andrew Wegener’s name and evidence that Moffitt had used it to buy the murder weapon from a seller in Sigourney, Iowa.

Moffitt was arrested on May 9, 2014, and charged with first-degree murder and burglary. At trial, his defense team claimed insanity, citing his history of depression and the side effects of anti-psychotic medication. His lawyer said Moffitt had told a therapist in January 2014 that he was having persistent thoughts about killing someone.

He was briefly put on medication but stopped therapy soon after. Prosecutors argued that Moffitt knew exactly what he was doing, citing the fake identity, gun purchase, and deliberate planning. The jury agreed. On July 1, 2015, David Moffitt was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Trending

Follow for more updates.

×

Was this article helpful?

Thank You for feedback