Dateline aired an episode titled Malice on February 27, 2026. It followed the story of William “Jake” Embert, a 53-year-old Army veteran from Albany, Georgia.
Jake was found shot dead in his home in June 2014. While his death was ruled a suicide at first, his family refused to accept the conclusion. They hired a private investigator, and the case was reopened. After more than a decade, the case led to the conviction of his wife, Susan Embert.
Keep reading to know more about the case featured in Dateline: Malice.
Dateline: Malice – Complete timeline of William “Jake” Embert’s death
Jake Embert was born on May 2, 1961, in Wilmington, Delaware. He was the only son in a family of six children. He served in the army and proceeded to serve in the Marine Corps Logistics Base in Alabama, Georgia. According to Dateline, he was a devoted father and well-liked in his community.
After his first marriage ended, Jake found love again. In December 2012, he got engaged to a nurse named Susan Fortune, and they got married in March 2013. Their marriage, however, would not last more than one year.
June 28, 2014: Jake is found dead
According to Dateline, Jake was shot and killed on June 28, 2014, in his home in Dougherty County, Georgia. Susan Embert called the police and informed them that her husband had died by suicide. So, his death was ruled a suicide.
But those who knew him did not believe this. His two grown-up children, Rachel and Will Embert, had been most vocal in their struggle to see that their father was accorded the justice they felt he was not given. They claimed that he was not the type of a person who would take his own life, and they were hellbent on proving it.
The family hires a private investigator
The family of Jake employed the services of a private investigator, who revealed some disturbing facts showing that nothing was as it seemed. The results that the investigator discovered were frightening. Hair fibers taken from Jake’s hairbrush were discovered to have traces of antifreeze and insecticides, indicating that there could have been long-term intentional poisoning, but this would later become very controversial. As shown in the Dateline Episode, the investigator further discovered that Susan had deposited a lot of money in her own bank account when her husband died.
Additional physical evidence raised questions. Jake was left-handed, and the weapon that Susan claimed he used to shoot himself was in his right hand. According to one of the prosecutors speaking with Dateline, when an individual is about to shoot themselves using a gun, why would they use the non-dominant hand to do it?
The private investigator wrote a seven-page report on his findings and mailed it to Dougherty County District Attorney Greg Edwards on December 31, 2014. Having examined the case, the prosecutors were convinced that Susan murdered Jake and faked his death as a suicide.
2015: Arrest and charges
In February 2015, Susan Embert was arrested and held without bond. In June 2015, she was charged with malice murder, felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during a crime.
2019: First trial and conviction
The initial trial of Susan Embert started in December 2019, and she was guilty of all five counts, as reported by Dateline. She was sentenced to life imprisonment. Justice, it appeared, had at last been served, and it was not yet over.
Her conviction was reversed more than three years afterward. The trial was vacated because one of the jurors is a convicted felon. Thus, he could not serve as a jury. The case would be required to be retried.
2025: A second trial ends in a mistrial
As prosecutors pushed forward, the second trial of Susan started on December 3, 2025, but it was declared a mistrial on the first day. The motive: a coroner brought up the evidence of the antifreeze, which had been declared inadmissible earlier. Another trial was set barely a month later.
January 2026: Third trial, final verdict
Susan was put on trial again in January 2026, according to Dateline. She was finally convicted of malice murder, felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm in the process of a crime. She was also charged with life imprisonment without the chance of parole, and an additional five-year sentence to serve consecutively.
The case had a bitter ending for Jake’s daughter, Rachel. As per Dateline, she sent an email to the office of the district attorney in which she said:
“For eleven years, we have waited, endured, begged, hoped, shattered, rebuilt, and broken again. Our father was murdered once. The justice system has destroyed us repeatedly ever since.”
Edited by Sahiba Tahleel