NBC Dateline: Was Bill Stout killed by his wife?

Bill Stout's wife Anne Marie Stout was found guilty in the 2007 Montana murder case. She was convicted for shooting her husband in the head while he was asleep on the night of June 9, 2007.

After being charged with deliberate homicide in June of the same year, the accused underwent a three-week long controversial trial. In September 2008, a jury found her guilty of shooting her husband in the head, following which Ravalli County District Judge Jeffrey Langton sentenced Anne Marie Stout to life in prison.

Bill Stout was allegedly shot with his own pistol, which was later recovered in their garage along with a rubber glove consisting of Anne Marie's DNA and gunshot residue. Authorities also found out that Bill's gun had gone missing 10 days prior to his murder and he had even informed the police about the same.

NBC's Dateline will explore the Montana murder case of Bill Stout, with Keith Morrison reporting on the incident this Saturday, June 4, at 9:00 p.m. ET.

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Exploring Bill Stout's murder case ahead of NBC's upcoming Dateline episode

Bill Stout was shot in the head and cruelly murdered by his own wife Anne Marie Stout one summer night in June 2007. He was in bed fast asleep when Anne Marie decided to shoot him with his own pistol. While the murder weapon was not found at the crime scene, the investigation eventually led to a house search that led to the recovery of the same. The pistol used to kill Bill was stashed in the victim's motorcycle saddlebag, tucked away in the family's garage.

The investigation further helped the authorities uncover perhaps the most crucial evidence of all, a rubber glove amongst the wet laundry. The glove had traces of Anne Marie Stout's DNA, making her a prime suspect in the murder case. Moreover, a note written in her handwriting on how to use a gun was also discovered in the bedside table, which only added to the suspicion. The final nail in the coffin came in the form of an extensive internet search history researching ways to kill someone.

Reports state that Anne Marie was the last person to see Bill. The couple's younger son claimed to not have seen his father after he returned home on the evening of June 9, 2009, or the following morning before he left for the Missoula shopping trip with his mother.

After Anne Marie Stout was accused of murdering Bill and arrested for the same, she was put on a three-week long trial during which a number of controversial revelations were made. It was revealed that the victim had been having an affair with a woman named Barbara Miller and Anne had found out about it, leading to complications in their marriage. The trial also discussed Barbara's apparent pregnancy with Bill's child and purported letters, emails, and alleged harassment.

Bill Stout's wife and murderer, Anne Marie Stout (Image via Oxygen)

While Anne Stout attempted to point accusations towards Miller, the investigation revealed that the former was responsible for all purported emails and harassment. She created fake email accounts using her work computer as well as the system in their house to harass Miller.

With all the evidence pointing towards the murderer being her, including the rubber glove found in the house consisting of her DNA on the inside and gunshot residue on the outside, Anne Marie Stout was ultimately found guilty of murdering her husband by a jury. She was sentenced to life in prison in September 2008, over a year after the murder of Bill Stout.

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Dateline will explore the murder case of Bill Stout in its upcoming episode on June 4, 2022, exclusively on NBC.