Buried in the Backyard (2018–…): Season 2, Episode 8 - A Deadly Plea - full transcript

A long-held secret
in South Florida

threatens to expose
a deadly truth.

When I begged her
to come forward,

she said, "I can't.
He's evil."

She had first-hand knowledge

that the body was buried
on her father's property.

Did a sordid life
put a beloved mother

in grave danger?

I'll be here for you
when you get back.

I'd rather be dead than anything
ever happen to her.

That's when
he dropped the bombshell.



He said, "We're swingers.

We have sex
with other people."

You take risks

when you go
into those situations.

And will investigators

finally unravel
a baffling mystery?

They didn't have a body.

They didn't have
a murder weapon.

It was a mystery.

I'm a very positive person.

I'll-- I still believe
she's alive.

Nestled on
the idyllic Pinellas Peninsula,

the wealthy suburb
of Belleair, Florida

is well-known
for its sun-drenched beaches



and beautiful
waterfront properties.

Belleair
is a luxurious community

with exquisite
multimillion-dollar homes,

beautiful views of the bay,
palm trees,

one of the best country clubs
in the state of Florida.

It's a really nice,
upscale community.

It's pretty beachy

and the weather is always
really nice and warm.

But even
swanky resort towns

have a seedy side.

And on this sweltering
September afternoon,

Pinellas County investigators
find themselves

in a remote backyard
a few miles away.

A woman
from the local area

came forward.

She knew somebody

who was involved in a murder.

She was able
to provide us information

about the murder and she had
first-hand knowledge

that the body was buried
on her father's property.

She said, "I know I kept
that secret for nine years,

but I'm living in fear."

And I think in many ways

she was relieved

to finally be telling
the truth.

With their source
leading the way,

are investigators
on the verge of unearthing

a deep, dark secret
in this marshy backyard?

One of our
forensic technicians

noticed a depression
in the ground

and pushed her probe
into the ground.

At one point,
it hit something hard,

and when they brought it back,

there was some green
plastic material

and that was the tip-off.

Adrenaline pumping,

investigators start digging.

A few anxious moments later,

they uncover something
far more concerning.

There was a plastic tub
which was upside down.

It had duct tape
sealing the lid.

We all wanted to know

the answer
to the same question.

Was there going to be
a dead body?

It's close to quitting time

on a Thursday afternoon

in Tampa, Florida.

The staff at Beggins Realty
can't stop buzzing

about the big event
the next day.

Everybody in that office

was talking about
the beach party.

This was a very close-knit
office family.

They-- they really liked
each other,

they enjoyed
each other's company.

Office cheerleader
Rosemary Christensen

ducks out a little early
to show a property

but promises her co-workers

she'll bring her famous
potato salad

to the party the next day.

Rosemary would always show up

because she liked, you know,

being around people.

Rosemary
was very well respected

and liked
through her co-workers.

She was a big part
of that office.

The following day,

Rosemary's colleagues gather

for the party of the season

but surprisingly,

Rosemary is a no-show.

Rosemary
was seldom late,

and when she didn't show,
that raised concern.

She wasn't answering her phone,

which, if you're in
the real estate business,

your phone is your lifeline.

Her co-workers anxiously

try her husband, Robert,

but he's not picking up either.

People went by her condo

out on the beach.

Car was there,

no Rosemary.

No sign of forced entry,

no sign of any damage
to the vehicle,

knock on the door,
no answer.

They just were concerned
about her.

I got a call at my desk
by my sister-in-law,

who worked for Beggins Realty.

She explained
that Rosemary was missing

and her husband
can't be found

and they were very concerned

on what their next step was,
what do we do?

Detective Jim Beining
urges his sister-in-law

to file
a missing-persons report.

And a few hour later,

sheriff's deputies make
a welfare check

on Rosemary
and Robert's Belleair condo.

When police
first entered the condo,

what they found was an extremely
neat apartment.

It smelled freshly cleaned.

TVs, CD players,

you know, normal things
that somebody would steal

out of a home,
they were all there.

Inside the closet, a lot
of the clothing was missing

as if it was packed up
and she had gone somewhere.

If Rosemary and Robert

are off on
some unforeseen adventure,

why is her cell phone sitting
on the dresser?

She was known to have
that cell phone

all the time.

It was unusual.

There was no two ways about it.

With so many questions,

deputies are looking
for answers,

and when they spot something
on the kitchen table,

they just might have one.

Robert left a note for Rosemary

basically saying,
"Hey, look,

I'm going
on this trip to see family."

It stated that he was
going to Decatur, Illinois,

to see his daughter
from another marriage.

He was sorry he missed her
and he would be back

and that he loved her.

When you work
on missing-persons cases,

the person that you want
to look at first

is gonna be the person
that's closest to them

because many times,
that is your suspect.

When we talked to Robert,
he had no clue where she was.

He hadn't had any communication
recently with her.

Obviously,
we needed to make sure

that he was telling the truth,

but he appeared
to be very cooperative

and concerned.

He explained
that he was on his way back

to Pinellas County.

Two days later,
Robert shows up

at the Pinellas County
Sheriff's Department

a very anxious man.

He had left messages,

you know, trying to find her.
"Where are you?

Rosemary, call me.

I'm up in Decatur."

He never got
any response back.

As Robert tries
to calm himself,

he tells investigators
the last time he saw Rosemary

was the night before
her work party.

He believed that she went off

somewhere the night before
with a friend

but he didn't know
who that was.

Robert says
he hit the sack early

and when he woke up
the next morning

to head out for his trip,

Rosemary hadn't come home.

There were a lot
of unanswered questions

that law enforcement had.

If your wife is missing,

why in the world
would you take a trip?

And Robert's response was,

"It's been a planned trip."

He stated he went there
to attend an event

for his daughter.

Police did confirm
that he was with family

in Illinois.

Robert appears
to have nothing to hide

and has just as many questions
as investigators

about where Rosemary
could possibly be.

When you have
a missing-persons case,

any possibility is there.

She could have went off
on her own.

There's no way Rosemary
would have packed up and left.

If she was gonna leave
and go anywhere,

she would have come
to my house,

so I knew at that point

there's something wrong.

Nobody knew for sure.

Law enforcement wanted to look

at all different possibilities.

Curious about who
Rosemary might have met up with

the night she disappeared,
detectives subpoena

her phone records.

The only thing of interest
was there was some calls

to South Carolina.

Robert says he has no clue

who Rosemary might be
talking to in South Carolina

and investigators start
scrolling through her emails

hoping they'll provide one.

We found out that Rosemary

had some computer activity

with a man in South Carolina.

It was rational to believe

that she put her trust
in the wrong person.

Perhaps she had gone
into the dark world

of the Internet
and never came out again.

Maybe she was a bad girl

behind closed doors,
leading two lives.

We get a call
from state attorney's office.

We thought this is the day
we've been waiting for.

Once you put money up
and people start talking,

you're gonna get results.

Forty-three-year-old
Rosemary Christensen

has mysteriously vanished

from the shores
of Belleair, Florida.

Is it possible a potential
online romance

has taken a very dark turn?

Upon examining
Rosemary's computer,

we found the IP addresses
and where they're coming from

and we made contact
with the man

that was in South Carolina.

He said he only knew Rosemary

through online chatting
with her.

He never met with her,

never came to Florida
and talked with her.

And he hadn't had
any communication

recently with her.

This man accepted full knowledge
of knowing Rosemary

through communication online

and explained it was a friendly

chat relationship
type of thing,

there was nothing
that was romantic,

there was nothing
that was off-the-wall,

it was just straight-out
talking with this woman,

but it's very possible
that he came down here

and did something to Rosemary

and went back
to South Carolina,

and this lead needed
to be checked out.

Investigators did look
at her credit card transactions.

They looked at
his transactions.

We could show
that he was not in Florida

at the time
when Rosemary went missing.

He had had a, you know,
a solid alibi.

So, we believed
he wasn't involved.

It's been a week
since Rosemary went missing.

Desperate to find her,

her husband holds
a press conference

pleading with the folks
in Florida for help.

I love Rosemary.

I always have
and I always will.

And, baby, I'll be here
for you when you get back.

I'd rather be dead than anything
ever happen to her.

Robert wanted to
get the word out

that he needed help

and that he wanted to help
law enforcement find Rose.

He was literally begging.

I love my wife.

It was hard on all of us.

Not having Rosemary's vibrance
around anymore,

her friendliness,
her caring,

was a huge loss.

We really wanted to get answers

as to what really happened.

Looking into the background

of Rosemary Christensen,

we never found anything
that was ever

any type of conflict
or personal attack

or any information
that would lead

to what happened to Rosemary
at that time.

Rosemary Christensen

always seemed destined
for the glamorous life.

She grew up halfway
across the globe,

in Australia, before being
swept off her feet

by her gallivanting
first husband.

She married a man
who was an ambassador

from the Netherlands
and they lived in Cairo, Egypt.

It was a very elegant,
diplomatic lifestyle.

She lived almost like royalty.

Rosemary quickly
settles into her role

as a diplomat's wife and mother

to their two young sons.

Being married to a diplomat,

it's a lot of work.

She had a lot of entertainment
responsibilities

and with the politics
and the false personalities,

it's not a lifestyle

that everybody
would want to have.

Rosemary
and her husband soon divorce

and the 40-year-old
dips her toe

into the waters
of online dating.

It isn't long
before she connects

with a good-looking
Florida bachelor,

49-year-old Robert Temple.

Robert was a very
charismatic kind of guy.

Knowledgeable and, um,

like a man's man.

He rode a motorcycle.
He wore leather.

He was adventurous
and a little bit of a bad boy.

It was like starting
a new chapter in her life,

in that she's now doing things

that she would've
never been able to do.

I think that was
very exciting for her.

In 1996, Rosemary
takes a blind leap of faith

and moves halfway
across the world

to be with her handsome
new boyfriend in Florida.

When Rosemary came to Florida,

her sons stayed in Holland

with their dad,
going to school.

Rosemary and Robert
got married pretty quickly

and bought the condo
that they ended up moving into.

She had a job she liked.

She had people that she was
hanging out with

that she liked
and her boys were here a lot.

So it was-- it was
a good time for her.

Until the day three years later

that Rosemary seemed to vanish

from the shores
of Belleair, Florida.

This lady right here...

changed me so much.

She turned my life around.

I owe her everything.

We asked all the questions

that you might ask anybody.

You know, "When was
the last time you saw your wife?

How was your relationship?

Do you have any idea
where she went?"

That's when he dropped
the bombshell.

He says, "We're swingers.

We have sex with other people.

We have an open relationship."

Robert suggested that
because they were swingers,

because they had
an open marriage,

that she may have run off
with individuals

she had come
into contact with.

Nobody knew what to say next.

You could hear a pin drop.

It was somewhat believable
in the sense

that she was attracted
to the bad boy in Robert

so maybe she was a bad girl
behind closed doors.

My reaction to Rosemary being

in a swinging affair
was ludicrous.

There is no way

that she would have
ever been involved

in anything like that.

Investigators
have to follow every lead

and if Robert was saying
that they were swingers

and she might have taken off
with a swinging partner,

they had to follow
up on that lead.

Robert explained
that he and Rosemary

would meet people
sometimes in these clubs

and then see
where it goes from there

or they would meet people
directly at homes.

And then they would have their--

their relationships there.

In our investigation,

it just opens up the door

to how many suspects
could there really be,

and where do we find them?

Invigorated,
detectives hit the streets

around Belleair
hoping to find

any trace of Rosemary.

We were meeting
with people at these nightclubs

in the Tampa Bay area to see if

anybody has seen Rosemary.

They looked around that area

far and wide.

And ultimately,
nothing came of it.

But then
somebody called in a tip.

One of the swinger nightclubs

thought they had seen
Robert and Rosemary

at their establishment.

We talked to the person

that waited
on Robert and Rosemary.

And he had
a credit card receipt

from about two weeks
before her disappearance.

The concern turned
to grave concern

not only about where she was
but about her well-being

and whether there was
something darker out there.

The husband
of missing 43-year-old

beloved Rosemary Christensen

has just shocked
their Florida community

by announcing they're involved
in an alternative lifestyle.

We interviewed
Robert Temple several times.

He was able to describe

in detail
these swinger nightclubs

where he and Rosemary
would meet up.

Of course we're gonna
take that seriously.

We're gonna look into
every angle we can

in that direction.

We turned to sending flyers
and meeting with people

at these nightclubs
in the Tampa Bay area

to see if anybody
has seen Rosemary

there with anybody that would
lead us in a direction

that we could look.

We're thinking, you know,

maybe she'll return
to this place.

Maybe she's with somebody else.

Some of these places
reported seeing Rosemary there

after she disappeared.

There were some surveillance
videos that we could look at

but oftentimes,
it was somebody else

that resembled Rosemary,

but it wasn't really her.

To investigate
their activities

and their swinger lifestyle,

their computers
were confiscated.

They were examined.

But everything turned
into a dead end.

A few days later,

Rosemary's teenage sons

travel across the Atlantic

desperate to help
find their mother.

They came over from Holland

and we went to the press

to let them know
that the boys were here

and they were interviewed
by the--

all the major news stations.

As time progresses,

as we still not have heard
anything from her,

I keep on-- on feeling
and thinking

the worst scenario possible.

They came over
to the United States

so they could talk
with the media

and talk with us in person

to find out what was going on
in the investigation.

I'm a very positive person.

I'll-- I still believe
she's alive.

I think it was quite
frightening for the family

to think what might've
happened to her.

They knew something bad
had happened

but they didn't know
what led to her disappearance.

Rosemary's sons are devastated

and angry
Robert has gone public

with the explosive allegations
about the couple's secret life.

The reason
that we're basically here

is to-- to clear
my mother's name.

Anything that was said
about my mom

by Robert, we believe
not to be true.

And we just wanted to--
to defend her--

Her honor.
- her honor,

and to make sure
that anything that is said

that we can set
that straight and--

and that we can help her
and the police

and the press in any way
to help find her.

They wanted
the record to be clear

and to be accurate
about who their mother was.

For a woman of this nature,

big heart, big personality,

refined, to be with somebody

that had that kind of
bad-boy persona,

I think that they
tolerated him.

Not big fans.

Detectives soon learn

Rosemary's friends
share her sons' disdain.

Her friends and family did
not believe Robert

was good enough for her
in any fashion.

They did not like him.

Robert worked in a call center

that catered to sex calls
and psychics.

He did nothing
to really make their life

any better than it was.
It was all her.

She bought the condo.

She bought everything.

And he really didn't
contribute a whole lot.

Robert constantly called her,

texted her.

I mean, he was very,
very controlling

and my perception of him

was that he was not
trustworthy.

As it turns out,
Rosemary's friends

have a good reason
for their misgivings.

We learned that Robert
was having an affair

through talking
to his co-workers.

He was engaged in an affair

with a young girl
who he worked with

named Leslie Stewart.

Leslie was married

but involved
in a open relationship

and Robert was supposed
to be in an open relationship

with his wife as well.

Beautiful, blonde, and 22,

Leslie is young enough
to be Robert's daughter.

Despite talk
of an open relationship,

Robert's fling with someone
half his age

apparently didn't sit well
with Rosemary.

We learned through the ladies

that worked
at the real estate company

that Rosemary found out
they were seeing each other

and so went
to their place of work.

She was gonna give Leslie
a talking to,

tell her to "stay away
from my husband."

But it fizzled out

when Rosemary
couldn't find Leslie

because Leslie
was hiding under a desk.

Clearly things were toxic,

clearly things were unhealthy

from a marriage standpoint

and they were percolating
when this happened.

The story has all the markings

of a love triangle
gone terribly wrong.

Our investigation
did not reveal any conflicts

in Rosemary's life
besides Leslie Stewart.

Since Robert
was not in Florida at the time

when Rosemary went missing,

we believe
that Leslie potentially

could have something to do

with the disappearance
of Rosemary Christensen.

If her competition

is keeping her
from leading this life

that, in her early 20s,
looks so grass-is-greener,

why not get rid of her?

After a week
of endless searching,

investigators
in Belleair, Florida,

have found no trace
of Rosemary Christensen.

But what they do have
is a new person of interest.

We learned that
Robert Temple

was having an affair
with a young lady

by the name
of Leslie Stewart

and Rosemary confronted her
regarding her husband.

With Robert
apparently out of town

when Rosemary vanished,

could Leslie be to blame?

We believe
that Leslie potentially

could have something to do
with the disappearance

of Rosemary Christensen.

Leslie was placed
in an interview room

and was recorded.

Leslie was very
forthright with her

relationship with Robert Temple

and their affair.

She was very candid about

that they had worked together
and that they had

been in kind of
this open lifestyle.

So where was Leslie
when Rosemary went missing?

When Robert
went to Decatur, Illinois,

Leslie apparently
went with him.

Obviously we asked Leslie

what was the reason

why she left town
with Robert Temple?

And she did indicate

they did stop
in Tallahassee, Florida,

because she had
some family there

that she wanted
to stop and see.

Police did confirm
that she was with family.

Leslie said she didn't know

anything about what
might've happened to Rosemary.

She was a travel companion
to Robert

and pretty much left it at that.

Still, investigators

can't help feeling like
both Leslie and Robert

might be hiding something.

But suspicion
doesn't equal proof

and after interviewing
both of them,

that's all they have.

They didn't have a body,

they didn't have
a murder weapon,

they had no blood evidence,

it--
it was a mystery.

Needing more information,

investigators
start the process

of obtaining a warrant

for Robert's
credit card records.

Meanwhile,
Rosemary's friends despair

over the lack of answers.

About a week
after Rosemary went missing,

my worst fear was that

something terrible

could have happened.

Not knowing, it leaves
a missing part of your life

and you just,
you want to know the answer.

The real estate company

put together
a $10,000 reward bulletin

for information on Rosemary.

Once you put money up

and people start talking,

you're gonna get results.

Soon, tips are flowing in,

including one
from a local psychic.

We got this lead
from a psychic that

had a vision that Rosemary
was in a pond

close to her residence
in Belleair.

Well, you can't discard
any lead.

What if there's some person

calling in
really knew something,

and maybe it wasn't a vision,

maybe they knew something more.

It's a pretty big deal
to activate

a search team of divers,

I mean, there's always
some risk involved,

there's a lot of money
and resources, but you--

you have to remember,
at that point,

they were literally
running dry on leads.

No one wants
to find Rosemary in that pond

but her family and friends
are desperate for answers.

There was nothing
found in the pond,

no human remains,
no nothing.

It turned out to be
another dead-end lead.

We still didn't know

if she was alive or dead.

Finally, the warrant

for Robert's
credit card statements

comes through
and detectives make

another troubling discovery.

He went on a shopping spree

and loaded up on ammonia,

bleach, air freshener,

and a plastic tub.

This purchase was made
on August 27th, 1999,

which would be a day
after Rosemary

was noticed to be missing.

It wasn't a big jump
for investigators

to suspect that he had used
these cleaning supplies

to remove any sort of evidence
in the apartment.

Hoping they're on the verge

of a break in the case,

investigators pay Robert Temple
another visit.

We asked him
about the purchases.

He said,
"I went and bought

all of these cleaning supplies

including this tub."

When we asked
Robert Temple about the tub,

he claimed he was hauling
computer supplies

back and forth from Illinois.

But investigators
can't help wondering

whether Robert used the tub

for something
far more sinister.

Their next question
was obviously,

"Can you show us the tub?"

Because if you can show us
the tub then

maybe there's not
a body in it.

He had a tub
that met the description

and it was brand-new.

The problem is that

just having a receipt
for cleaning supplies and a tub

wasn't enough evidence
to prove anything.

He could've been a clean freak,
who knows?

While investigators
continue looking into Robert,

Rosemary's friend Laurel
does some sleuthing of her own.

I would go and spy on him.

I was just trying
to keep track on

what he was up to,
what was going on,

just to see if I could get
any information.

And then one time,

I noticed Robert and Leslie

moving stuff out of the condo,

into a truck.

I'm going, "My God.

He is leaving the state."

That's the moment
that it actually hit me,

he had to get out of town
as soon as he could

because he had murdered
Rosemary.

Forty-three-year-old
Rosemary Christensen

vanished less than a month ago

and when her husband Robert
is spotted leaving town

with his 22-year-old
girlfriend,

Rosemary's friend fears
he's running

from a deadly secret.

When I was watching
Robert pack up the truck,

I was thinking
that hopefully

they would have something
to hold him on

and that's why
I called Detective Beining.

There was nothing
we could do about it

because it was not a crime
for him to leave town,

he wasn't told
not to leave town

and I couldn't keep him here.

And we still
couldn't arrest him

without Rosemary's body.

This was very
frustrating for us.

It was devastating to know

that Robert could just

drive out of the state.

I mean, I just felt like Robert
was getting away scot-free.

Florida investigators
do what they can

to keep tabs
on Robert and Leslie.

They lived in Fort Lauderdale,

they were in Texas,

they were in California,

they were roaming
all over the place.

As far as having them
in arm's reach,

they were gone.

I lost a lot
of sleep over it.

I wanted to know what happened

and I wanted to seek justice

for Rosemary
and for her boys.

They went back to Holland,

back to school, and--

and it was very hard on them

not having a resolution,

and I didn't know
if we would ever get it.

As the months moved
into years,

we had contact
with family members,

we had contact with coworkers.

The only person who didn't call
is Robert Temple.

There really
wasn't much more to investigate

unless somebody
called in a tip.

The case absolutely went cold.

Nearly a decade passes

until suddenly

an alarming call
comes into the office

of local defense attorney
Jay Hebert.

It was a regular workday,

I was at my desk
and the call came in,

and a woman said,
"It's Leslie Stewart."

It was perhaps
the most chilling phone call

I've ever had with a client.

Leslie tells her attorney

she's at a family reunion
in Seattle, Washington,

away from Robert
and their young daughter.

She's held on to a deadly
secret for far too long

and wants to come clean

but she needs his help.

Leslie, at this point,

had spent the last
nine years of her life

being controlled,

being manipulated,

being abused.

This was the very first day

that she was not
with Robert

in nine years.

I advised her,

"Are you sure
you want to do this?

Because once we start,

there's no turning around."

September 2nd, 2008,
we get a call

from state attorney's office
and Jay Hebert.

I said I have a client

that wants to come forward

and get something off her chest

and help you solve this case.

Leslie tells investigators

that before she left to see
her family in Washington,

Robert had threatened her life.

Okay.

Leslie can't take one more day

of Robert's threats

or holding on
to their deadly secret.

And then she came
right out with it.

And she said,
"Rosemary's dead

and Robert killed her.

And we buried her."

At that moment,

the hair on my neck stood up.

And I knew the facts
were going to finally come out.

Robert told her

that if she doesn't come back,

he's killing the child

and he's gonna kill himself.

Myself and another detective

went to Seattle, Washington,
to interview Leslie,

and then we put her up
in a hotel

with an armed guard with her
at all times.

She told us that
she and Robert

were living
in Redding, California.

And he was there right now
with their daughter.

We were able to contact
the Redding Police Department

and explained our case to them.

It was very important
to get this right

because he had custody
of their child

and he had already made threats
to kill this child.

Leslie said that every day
at a certain time,

he walks up to the bus stop

to pick up his child.

So, it was chosen at that point
to take him into custody.

Investigators inform Robert

he's been arrested
for his threats against Leslie.

And when they confront him
with her accusation

that he killed Rosemary,

Robert has his own
stunning story to share.

Robert tried to blame Leslie,

stating that she and Rosemary

got into a physical argument

and that's when
Leslie killed her.

And then they had
to get rid of the body

so he helped her
get rid of the body.

After nine years of waiting

for a solution to this crime,

investigators finally have
an eyewitness saying

that Robert did it.

But the problem is,

that both Leslie and Robert
lied in the past.

So the question is,
who is telling the truth now?

Finally, nine years

after Rosemary Christensen's
disappearance,

her husband Robert
is in custody in Florida

while he
and his girlfriend Leslie

point fingers at one another
for her murder.

Robert was saying
that Leslie and Rose

got into it with a knife,
and she had the knife

and he was trying
to take it away,

and Rosemary unfortunately fell
on the knife

and she died from her wounds.

Leslie vehemently
denies Robert's story.

Leslie said that

she was contacted by Robert

to come to their condo.

They partied
in the living room,

and it was getting fairly late.

And Leslie questioned Robert,
"Where is Rosemary?"

So, he stood up
and led her to the bedroom

and opened the door,

and there was Rosemary
in a pool of blood.

He told her, "If you don't
help me dispose of Rosemary,

then I'm gonna kill myself

and this is all
gonna be on you."

Leslie claims
she was paralyzed with fear.

Certain Robert wasn't bluffing,

she tells investigators

she had no choice
but to help him.

Now they had
to get rid of the evidence,

so they folded up Rosemary

and put her into this
big storage tub.

Leslie said
he instructed her

that they're gonna go

to her father's property
in Bell, Florida,

and behind this camp
in the backyard,

they were gonna dig a hole

and he was gonna bury her.

Under the cover of night,

the couple digs
until they have a hole

deep enough
to hold Rosemary's body.

She told us
they took the tub

and they flipped it over
upside down.

So the lid was down

and they left her there
in a shallow grave

until nine years later.

We went to the property.

We brought
Leslie Stewart with us.

We had the forensic team
with us

to assist in the dig.

You would think
after nine years

that someone
would be completely gone.

Well, she was not.

Because thank you
to Robert Temple,

he sealed the box
with duct tape.

The body obviously
had been badly decomposed

but not to the point
where it would have been

if it had been in just dirt,
normal dirt.

It was Rosemary Christensen

in that backyard.

Leslie told us that

there would be
a kimono wrap inside the box.

And when we pulled that
kimono wrap out of the box,

there were three slits

in the back of the night robe,

which is an indication
of a stabbing.

It's also proof
to investigators

that Leslie
is telling the truth

and Robert is lying.

Rosemary could not
have fallen on the knife

as Robert claimed she did.

She died
of multiple stab wounds.

You can accidentally
get stabbed with a knife once,

but I don't know how
anybody could explain

somebody accidentally
getting stabbed multiple times,

which in fact
is what happened.

Leslie has made good
on her part of the deal,

and after nine years,

Robert Temple can no longer run
from the truth.

Warrants were drawn up

to charge, Robert Temple

in the murder
of Rosemary Christensen.

Three years after detectives

unearthed the body
of Rosemary Christensen,

61-year-old Robert Temple
stands trial

for the murder of his wife.

And the truth
about his relationship

with Rosemary
is finally made public.

Before Rosemary went missing,

she was starting to see

who the real Robert Temple was.

And-- and she decided
she was gonna get a divorce.

And that's basically
what set him off.

I couldn't do anything
to harm her.

Rosemary died because Robert

could not control her

like he wanted to control her.

He had to be in control
all the time.

After a week-long trial,

it takes a jury
less than two hours

to reach a verdict,

guilty of first-degree murder.

Finally seeing Robert convicted

was a tremendous relief

for all of us.

It was like, okay, now,
we can actually move on.

But they move on
with broken hearts,

knowing just how much they lost

when they lost Rosemary.

Rosemary's boys,
they were a very close family

and it took a while

for them to even get on
with their lives.

They're now parents.

They now have
their own children.

They're doing very well.

Rosemary would be
a very proud grandmother

at this point.

And that's the point where--

that's what I feel
so strongly about.

She was a beautiful individual

and her beautiful life

will be remembered

by all of us.

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about Buried in the Backyard,