Janelle Lydick
Appearances
Dateline NBC
The Premonition
Yeah, the divorce papers were on the coffee table, and they were covered in blood also.
Dateline NBC
The Premonition
Was it imperative that you notify her right away about the death? They were still married, so she would be the next of kin and the person we had to notify.
Dateline NBC
The Premonition
I needed any evidence that they may have collected, including the fingernails of John Yelnik.
Dateline NBC
The Premonition
Yes. What did she say? No. We were just really good friends for a long time. Did you believe her?
Dateline NBC
The Premonition
He wouldn't answer the question directly. That's kind of strange. He kept saying about, I have to take care of the kids.
Dateline NBC
The Premonition
Someone else you looked at. Why? He also borrowed money. He wanted to start a lawn mowing business or lawn care business. He borrowed $20,000 to be exact. I didn't know anything about him. So I wanted to find out more about him and try to find out if it's a possibility.
Dateline NBC
The Premonition
What happened there? We looked into him only because he was trying to get out of the partnership.
Dateline NBC
The Premonition
I just kind of followed along and in the back of my mind saying, really?
Dateline NBC
The Premonition
No, I was more upset with the family pushing it to get things done when I still had more work to do.
Dateline NBC
The Premonition
Yeah, I figured it couldn't hurt, and I had the time, and I'm like, okay, let's go down and listen to what they have to say. Did you learn anything from them?
Dateline NBC
The Premonition
For one, he had the wrong shoe size. He has like a size 13 shoe or something like that, huge shoe. And his footprints were not anywhere near that.
Dateline NBC
The Premonition
You really cast a wide net looking for suspects. I did, because at that point, the neighbors could have been suspects. Anybody was.
Dateline NBC
The Premonition
And it happened two doors down from my kids' best friends, where they would stay or play. So I was not comfortable in letting my kids go there anymore for a while.
Dateline NBC
The Premonition
She was money hungry. That's the very first thing I heard about her. Gold digger? Gold digger.
Dateline NBC
The Premonition
For a cardiac arrest it is. So I actually turned the car around with my whole family in it, four kids and my husband, and just pulled up in front of the house. What do you see? Blood is the first thing that I noticed on the walls. When I stepped in a little bit further and I saw a body on the floor. And I'm like, okay, you go clear the house.
Dateline NBC
The Premonition
She said that Foley had a mark on his forehead, and she asked how he got that. And he said he just came back from hockey and got hurt in hockey. Did it seem like a plausible explanation, given that he plays hockey? I don't know. It threw up a little bit of red flag.
Dateline NBC
The Premonition
I went backwards from the way I think that most people do it. I looked at everybody who could possibly have been first. I wanted to make sure that nobody else could have possibly have done it. You went from the outside in?
Dateline NBC
The Premonition
Yep. This was, I don't know if somebody else is in a house, so I stood between the house and them and waited. So you're protecting the scene and kind of protecting your four kids who are out in the car.
Dateline NBC
The Premonition
Why is that expecting too much? I know they wanted me to go up and arrest Foley right away. And it's like, you can't do that. You just can't walk up and arrest somebody when you have the possibility of it could not be him.
Dateline NBC
The Premonition
I've worked with him, you know, on other cases. He's been my backup. You know, I let him behind me with a gun and I was okay with that. I was safe. And so I guess I didn't want to believe that.
Dateline NBC
The Premonition
Yeah, and I think in my eyes, I think that's what the family thought I was doing, too. Does the same thin blue line apply here? Yes.
Dateline NBC
The Premonition
Very. Because I had probably 50% of them like, how could you possibly do this? How could you investigate one of your own?
Dateline NBC
The Premonition
This was a bitter divorce battle. But he's a state trooper. It's not like I could walk up to him and he knew it. He knew what I was planning. He probably was one step ahead of me every time. But why not even try that first day to interview them? I don't know. I don't know why we didn't do that. I didn't because I was with the scene. I was there for 24 hours.
Dateline NBC
The Premonition
No. He was a district attorney. He was there for years. He knew. Hopefully, he knew what he was doing.
Dateline NBC
The Premonition
I don't have any doubt that he did it. It was like, okay, we got the right guy. A bad apple in law enforcement.
Dateline NBC
The Premonition
I just had to keep going. He probably was one step ahead of me every time.
Dateline NBC
The Premonition
I needed any evidence that they may have collected, including the fingernails of John Yelnik.