'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,/9j/2wBDAAYEBQYFBAYGBQYHBwYIChAKCgkJChQODwwQFxQYGBcUFhYaHSUfGhsjHBYWICwgIyYnKSopGR8tMC0oMCUoKSj/2wBDAQcHBwoIChMKChMoGhYaKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCj/wAARCAAGAAoDASIAAhEBAxEB/8QAFgABAQEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUG/8QAIhAAAgEEAAcBAAAAAAAAAAAAAQIDAAQFEQYSISIxQVFh/8QAFQEBAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH/xAAYEQEBAQEBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABAgAhUf/aAAwDAQACEQMRAD8Am8NY/FnH4q5hWaKCdo7aWJVB2HDnn2xPdsL8HTxWYvIAt5OqSOyiRgC2tkb9/tKUqAB1aXnm/9k='%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Dateline: The House, which aired originally on Oxygen on April 17, 2020, looked back on the 2017 incident in Laurel, Maryland, where Scott Horn was found dead in his backyard.
The official synopsis of the Dateline episode reads as follows:
A former FBI agent is murdered at his house, and as police dig into his past, they begin to think the key to solving the mystery might be quite close to home. Josh Mankiewicz reports.
Scott Horn, a retired man living in Maryland, was an ex-FBI cop who served for 23 years. After his recent retirement, he became a real estate agent and lived in a four-bedroom apartment with his estranged wife, Anne Reed. The couple had recently filed for a divorce.
In March 2017, Scott's son Riley found his father's dead body, who was shot in the neck and beaten to death, in his home's backyard. While Scott's wife was suspected of her husband's murder, she was not found guilty due to lack of physical evidence. Scott Horn's murder remains unsolved to this date.
More on Dateline: The House in our story.
Dateline: The House- Details of Scott Horn's murder in 2017
As told by his children Kelly and Riley, Scott Horn was still a disciplined and a man of habit, even after retiring from the FBI, after serving 23 years in the force.
He would get up at 7:30 a.m. sharp and even call his daughter Kelly to wake her up daily. However, on the morning of March 16, 2017, Kelly did not get the usual call from her father, which concerned her. He was also unreachable on the phone.
After some time, Scott's son Riley went up to his father's house with a GoPro to find his whereabouts. After searching the house, he finally found his father's dead body near the house's furnace shed in their backyard. Scott was shot in the neck and beaten to death.
On investigation, the police concluded that Scott was beaten to death by a piece of firewood, which was later tossed into the furnace to erase the murder weapon. While they did find Scott's DNA on the burned firewood, it was not enough to rule it as a murder weapon in court.
On investigation, the police also found that Scott Horn was estranged from his wife, Anne Reed Allen, and had also filed for divorce. Dateline reporter Josh Mankiewicz commented on the dysfunctional family, saying:
“The family I’ll be telling you about was unhappy in a way and to a degree that I’d never seen. There was also an abundance of love in this household because families can be complicated.”
Dateline: The House- Anne Reed was never found guilty of her husband's murder
Laurel Police Department and even Scott's kids believed that Anne killed her husband with her now-boyfriend Jason Byrd.
Scott's daughter Kelly claimed that her mother was extremely violent, passed a handgun, and could have easily killed their father. Reaclling violent incident on Dateline, Kelly recalled, her mother said:
“She said, uh, you know, ‘We made an agreement, you said I’m taking care of the kids and if you get in my way there’s going to be a problem,’” His [ Scott's] whole demeanor changed. It was more like, ‘OK, we’re just going to take a step back.’”
While everything pointed towards Anne, no physical evidence pointed towards her and her boyfriend. Her DNA was not found at the crime scene, her defense attorneys argued that she walked with a cane and was not physically capable of a violent beating, the reason of Scott's death.
Moreover, she was already taken out of her husband's insurance policy, which rules out money as the motive for murder.
After hearing her attorney's defense, the jury found Anne not guilty, and the Laurel Police had to close Scott's case for lack of evidence. Anne cannot be tried again for her husband's murder, as per double jeopardy rules.
While Scott's children never got the justice and closure they deserved, they wanted to continue with their father's legacy, which they discussed on Dateline:
“Riley and I determine how we do things by how would dad do it? So, just doing it the Scott Horn way,”
Also Read: Dateline: Silent Witness - Who was Michelle Young and what happened to her?
Trending
For the latest scoops on your favorite TV shows and movies, follow SoapCentral.
Your perspective matters!
Start the conversation
