In a Michigan courtroom not far from his old comic book store, Michael George was standing trial, charged with the first-degree murder of his then-wife Barbara.

Kaplan, prosecutor: He was the husband from hell.

The man who intended to put George away was Steve Kaplan, the head of the county's cold-case unit. Going into this trial, his team's record was 20 for 20. Once mothballed cases had resulted in 20 convictions.

But getting the comic book man with nothing but circumstantial evidence -- no weapon, no witness, no DNA -- made this case maybe the toughest of all to win.

(opening statement)

Steven Kaplan: We will prove to you that it was a murder. And if it's a murder, there's only one person in this world who had a reason to kill this wonderful person, and that's Michael George.

Steve Kaplan: We're attempting to show that he hated his wife. He wanted to replace her with a younger, thinner and better-looking model.

And that younger model, the prosecutor told the jury, was the other woman, shop assistant Renee Kotula. George and she had moved in together a few months after the murder and later married.

Kaplan: Renee was working at the comic book store. And he and Renee were having a tempestuous affair which he didn't even try to keep secret, except from his wife.

The prosecutor carved away at Michael George’s character. He said Renee wasn't the first infidelity.

There was this woman who'd struck up an affair with George two years before the murder. She'd asked that our cameras in the courtroom not show her entire face on TV.

(in court)

Patrice Sartori: I was under the impression, when we were dating, that he was separated from his wife, because he lived separately from her. Or he was divorcing her.

And the parade of testimony that Michael George was a womanizing creep continued with an old customer of his from the comic book store.

Theresa Danieluk: My name's Theresa Danieluk.

Kaplan: Theresa Danieluk is our best witness showing Michael George’s bad character.

Theresa testified that she and her 12-year-old son went to Comics World every Saturday, including the Saturday before Barb's murder. She remembered Michael George sidling up to her that day, even though Barb was in the store.

Steven Kaplan: And what, if anything, did Michael George say to you about Barbara George?

Theresa Danieluk: That she was unattractive. And she was heavy. That he wouldn't have been with her if it wasn't for his two daughters.

And that same customer could not believe later that Michael George made what she thought was clearly a pass at her during his own wife's viewing at the funeral home.

Steve Kaplan: In front of an open casket, he approaches Theresa Danieluk who was there to pay her respects and he gave her a hug.

Theresa Danieluk: It was a hug that I would give my husband. Not that I would give to someone else. And, I felt very uncomfortable.

Steven Kaplan: How far were you from Barbara George’s coffin when he hugged you?

Theresa Danieluk: I was very close to her. When he hugged me I could see her over his shoulder.

And there was more. Weeks later, back inside the comic book shop, he slipped the same woman a note.

Steven Kaplan: Read it to us.

Theresa Danieluk: “You look very, very, very pretty today. Thanks for coming in, sincerely Michael.”

Steven Kaplan: Phone number on there?

Theresa Danieluk: 263-

Kaplan: All of that evidence showed that he didn't like his wife and he didn't care about his wife. His conduct is inconsistent with an innocent husband whose wife has been the victim of a horrible crime.

It was a crime, not incidentally, argued the prosecutor, that Michael George profited from.

Kaplan told the jury the husband -- a onetime insurance salesman himself -- received $130,000, tax-free, from his wife's insurance policies. Not bad money in 1990.

(opening statement)

Kaplan: She was worth more to him dead than alive.

And a witness who'd worked with Michael George in the insurance business thought it unusual that she'd have two policies for $130,000 and his was worth only $30,000 after he'd let another one for $50,000 lapse.

Brad Staeb: Typically the husband is the breadwinner. There is economic value for each spouse. Mike should have had much more than what Barb had.

But persuading the jury that Michael George didn't like his wife and was an amoral man, in general, when it came to women, wasn't going to be enough to get the prosecutor a murder conviction.

He had to take the jury back to the comic book shop on July 13, 1990 and hammer home why it wasn't a botched robbery -- a major theme of his argument.

Steve Kaplan: If the jury accepts our proposition that this is not a robbery, they're left with only one conclusion. The person who killed Barbara George is somebody who knew her and had a reason to kill her.

The prosecution laid out the evidence you've already heard about money not taken from the register or from the victim's pockets. How Barb's good jewelry went untouched.

And valuable comics stolen?

The prosecutor let the jury listen to Michael George himself on that subject in his interview with the detectives in 2007, how his own theory of the crime had shifted from a robbery to a vendetta.

(Interview tape)

Michael George: I think Barb was at the wrong place at the wrong time. I think somebody wanted to get back at me.

The prosecutor thought the changing story was terribly important.

Steve Kaplan: You tell the police it's a robbery and 17-years later you concoct this new theory.

Dennis Murphy: It's some sort of a vendetta, right?

Steve Kaplan: Yeah, a vendetta against him, the defendant. If he truly thought somebody was out to get him, he would have shared that with the police. Because he would have wanted protection from that killer. He would have wanted his children protected and his mother protected.

What's more, that same witness -- the comic store patron -- who'd testified about Michael George’s inappropriate note and hug had something very important to add for the prosecution's case about the supposed theft of valuable comics from the back of the store.

Theresa Danieluk said she'd been talking to Michael George about a week after the murder and he'd told her "nothing was taken." All his good comics were still there.

It was more testimony for the prosecution's theory about a robbery that wasn't.

There were smaller pieces of the puzzle the prosecution threw in as it built its circumstantial case, like testimony from a nearby shop worker who recalled hearing frequent arguments between Barb and Mike George but nothing like the one on her last day.

Kimberly Koliba: It was more violent.

Mr. Kaplan: What does that mean?

Kimberly Koliba: Louder. He sounded much angrier than normal arguments.

And the lead detective back then, Don Steckman, telling his story about Michael George seeming to know that his wife had suffered a head injury in the back of the store. It was information he didn't have at the time, testified the former cop.

Steven Kaplan: Had you indicated where she was found?

Donald Steckman: No.

Kaplan: Had you indicated whether her head had been injured?

Steckman: No.

Kaplan: Had you asked for his theory?

Steckman: No.

Kaplan: How is it that he told you?

Steckman: It was, he volunteered that statement.

But to tie the case all together for the jury, the prosecutor would put the murder of Barb George on a timeline and explain why a reflexively answered telephone meant Michael George did it.

The defendant's 1990 story was that he'd left his Clinton Township shop sometime after 4 p.m. to go to his mother's house.

She lived in Hazel Park, about a half hour away.

It's Michael George’s alibi that he was at his mother's house from about 4:30 to 7:30 p.m.

A little after he arrives, his mother said she took her grandchildren to the park and he was sleeping on the couch when they got back, sometime after 6 p.m.

Barb was murdered a little after 6 p.m. If Michael George’s account is true, he was at his mother's at that time and, therefore, could not be the killer.

The prosecution called its star witness to give Michael George’s alibi the lie.

Michael Renaud, the comic book collector who called the shop late that afternoon, was about to recollect again an 18-year old memory: how he'd been talking to a co-worker at the department store where he worked back then about a comic he owned that had jumped in price.

Renaud told the co-worker that the Georges over at the comic book shop would know what was going on.

He called Comics World on Friday the 13th.

Mr. Kaplan: Who answered the phone?

Mike Renaud: Michael George.

Mr. Kaplan: How long did you talk to the defendant at that time?

Mike Renaud: Less than five minutes.

Mr. Kaplan: What time did you call the defendant?

Mike Renaud: Anywhere between 5:15 and 5:45.

Mr. Kaplan: Do you remember how he seemed to you?

Mike Renaud: He seemed like he was in a hurry.

Dennis Murphy: How important is he to your case?

Steve Kaplan: Without Michael Renaud we cannot win this case. Because, without Michael Renaud, we cannot place the defendant physically in that store close to the time of Barbara’s shooting.

Dennis Murphy: So if he's in that store between 5:15, 5:45, he can't be asleep at his mother's house.

Steve Kaplan: Not only can't he be asleep at his mother's house, but he has to be the killer. And the reason he has to be the killer is he's denying being at the store.

And Renaud said he was sure of the time he'd called because he knew it was a little after the co-worker had clocked in that day. The co-worker had gone back to look at his time stamp and it read 4:53 pm....a time certain that stood out in a case with some fuzzy memories.

And then there was this woman, an acquaintance of Barb's, who had another timeline detail to bolster the Prosecution's case. She testified that when she arrived at the shop about 5:30 that night, the front door was locked. Barb had ducked into the nearby fast food place, Hungry Howie's.

Steve Kaplan: Now, if somebody called the store at about 5:30 p.m., while Barb is at the Hungry Howie's ordering food, she can't answer the phone, can she?

Barbee Hancock: If she's not there, no, she cannot answer the phone.

But someone else could and the prosecution speculated that it was Michael George, and he had brought a gun with him.

Steve Kaplan: Notice the time. That's the time we believe defendant returned to the comic book store, entering with his key through the back door without Barb George not knowing he's there.

(closing argument)

Kaplan: The phone rang. Barb is out of the store. Ring, ring, ring. "What do I do? Do I answer? Do I not answer?" It's instinctive. It's reflexive to answer a phone.  "Hello." And that's the mistake he made.

A murder with no witnesses.

No weapon recovered.

The prosecutor had essentially given the jury the following: a shabby husband who wanted out, and who made big bucks from her death, a robbery that wasn't, a story about a late afternoon phone call 18 years before.

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