[ominous music playing]
[Tish] A tight-knit neighborhood
can feel like a sanctuary.
[Barbara S] It's a very nice community.
Everybody gets along.
[Diane] We used to house hop,
and we would just visit each other's homes.
- We're having a barbecue. - We'd love to have you there.
Oh, we love to.
- [dog barking] - [woman shrieks]
[Tish] The arrival of one twisted soul
can tear everything apart.
This isn't over.
[Diane] We were just hoping to get along and be friends.
[Barbara R] Oh, my God.
Who would do such a thing?
[Christopher S] I knew it was gonna be a matter of time
before he would snap.
Hey, you bozos.
[Diane] He just kept on, and on, and on.
How's your pig of a wife today?
[Lance] He's just toxic, venomous,
confrontational, adversarial.
You did this.
- [man] Your house is on fire. - [Mark] What?
[Barbara S] He said, bullets will fly, and people will die,
and I'll take my neighbors down with me.
I'm sick of your crap.
This ends now.
[Diane screaming]
- [ominous music playing] - [woman] Bye, daddy.
This isn't over.
[man] Squeeze the trigger when the vision is on target.
- [gunshots] - [sirens blaring]
- [woman screaming] - [man grunting]
[alarm blaring]
[man] You started it.
[Tish] Stevensville, Maryland, a friendly community,
situated just off the Chesapeake Bay.
It offers a beautiful rustic way of life.
[Rob] Stevensville, Maryland
would be considered a rural area.
Typically law abiding citizens, respect the police,
respect the law.
[Tish] Emory Circle is a cherished
cul-de-sac neighborhood.
[Barbara S] All the lots are at least like acre,
two acres, three acres,
so you're not really shoved up against each other,
and there is a real very nice community.
Everybody gets along great.
[ominous music playing]
[mellow music playing]
[Jason] I think it was a blown gasket.
- [Mark] I think you're right. - [Diane] Oh, boy.
My whole family's turning into gearheads, what's next?
[laughter]
[Tish] Mark and Diane Xander settled here seven years ago
with their sons, Christopher and Jason,
as well as the family dog, Lena.
[Diane] In 1990, um, we had our home built,
and we moved there,
and we were so proud.
[Tish] Diane is the assistant vice president
at a local bank.
Mark runs his own auto detailing business.
[Diane] We knew each other from high school,
and I always had a crush on that man.
Actually, Mark offered to fix my car for me,
and it was all uphill from there.
He rotated more than just my tires,
and we were very, very happy.
[Tish] Joe and Barbara Saia lived a few houses over.
Hey, guys.
Hey. What you're up to?
Just up for a walk.
- We love the snow. - Yeah.
We like the area,
and we like the lot,
and we thought it would be a nice place
to live, and for our kids.
So, are we still on for the barbecue?
- Absolutely. - Yeah.
Looking forward to more of those tasty burgers.
I do my best. [laughs]
We'd have cookouts and, you know,
just visit each other back and forth.
[Christopher X] Everybody that we lived around
were, you know, fabulous people.
You know, it was a very, like, peaceful place for sure,
you know, friendly place.
- Awesome. - Perfect.
We'll see you then. [Diane] Bye.
Hi, Linda.
How's Max, that rascal?
He's taking me for a walk.
[Tish] Now, the little community of Emory Circle...
- Hey, look. - [Tish] ...is about to gain
some new members on a lot next to Mark and Diane.
[Diane] They pulled up, and Mark and I said,
you know, we should go over and say hi.
Let's go introduce ourselves.
[tense music playing]
Let me help.
This one's kind of heavy.
I got this.
You okay?
Yeah, I'm fine.
All right. Okay.
[Tish] Charles Richter, known as Pete,
is a former Baltimore police officer,
now working as a security guard
His wife, Barbara, is a baker.
[Mark] Sorry to bother you, just wanted to say hi.
We're your neighbors next door.
[Pete] Hey. Nice meeting you.
Charles, but everybody calls me Pete.
And I'm Barbara, his better half.
[Tish] With two grown children out of the nest,
Pete and Barbara are renovating their new place
to make it their retirement home.
[Diane] Mr. Richter was boisterous, and loud,
and aggressive,
but we figured he was just excited.
I'll tell you. You know what?
We're really looking forward to spending
our retirement years somewhere really nice and peaceful.
[Tish] But today's peace and quiet
is tomorrow's violence and tragedy.
[tense music playing]
He practically admitted that he and his buddy did it.
What kind of bully are you?
You did this.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Calm down.
[Tish] For now, the only thing the new neighbors
might worry about is occasional loud music.
[Diane] He told us that he worked at night,
and Mark and I looked at each other...
Just letting you know our son Christopher
likes to play the drums.
And our son Jason really likes to play the guitar,
but please let us know if it's an issue.
He was excited.
Your sons area musicians? So am I.
I like to play a little piano, sing a little bit.
He talked to us about the fact that he had friends
that would gather and play music.
He did play music sometimes for senior citizens.
Oh, I'm liking this place already.
We're having a barbecue.
All the other neighbors are gonna be there.
- [Pete] Oh? - Yeah. Come, it's at 6:00.
We'd love to have you there.
Oh, we'd love to.
[Diane] Great, see you there.
- We'll look forward to it. - That's a nice thing.
- [Diane] Bye. - Oh, isn't that nice?
- We're making friends already? - Yeah.
[Diane] We were just hoping to get along, and be friends.
They were our next door neighbors,
and we just needed to get along.
[Tish] The renovations on Pete and Barbara's home
are going well...
until they make a disturbing discovery.
[Barbara S] Oh, my God.
The Richter's home was vandalized.
Who would do such a thing?
[intense music playing]
Oh, my God.
Oh, Pete.
Oh.
I'll take care of things.
[tense music playing]
[sirens blaring]
Did you see anyone near the Richter's house lately?
Oh, we had a friend went over there the other day
to look around, but we didn't see anyone.
Yeah. That's right.
My husband and another neighbor,
being curious, not up to anything malicious,
um, walked over and peeked in their porch window.
And just to see what the layout was looking like.
[Tish] To Pete, this sounds highly suspicious.
He practically admitted that he and his buddy did it.
- [man] Sir. - [Pete] Take him in.
[Diane] From that escalated the fact that,
from Richter, that clearly,
we were guilty.
Aren't you at least gonna bring him for questioning?
We'll let you know if we turn up any leads.
[Tish] This response is nowhere
near good enough for Pete.
[Rob] Pete claimed that the officers
either didn't do a good job,
or tried to destroy evidence
so they didn't have to do a good job.
And I think he would accuse the police
of looking the other way to that crime.
[Christopher S] I know nobody was ever charged
with the burglary, and I think
that's what set Pete Richter over the edge.
[Diane] Mr. Richter would not leave the vandalism alone.
He didn't understand the word no.
And so, he just kept on, and on, and on.
He had accused all the neighbors of that.
And I... I mean, that didn't make sense.
I mean, you just don't do that.
I mean, it was ridiculous.
[Diane] When you're not guilty of something,
when you're innocent, and you're being targeted,
after a while, it does get upsetting.
[Tish] Despite being falsely accused,
Mark and Diane are determined to keep the peace
in the neighborhood.
[Diane] Most of us just thought it would calm down,
and we would give it a try.
You have to work sometimes at relationships,
but it never calmed down,
it only escalated.
[Tish] Whoever vandalized Pete Richter's house
has gotten away with it.
Now he keeps watch for anything
that crosses the line.
[Diane] One of our neighbors drove a tractor trailer
for a living, that was his livelihood,
that's what he did.
And on the weekends,
he would sometimes bring the trailer home.
It wasn't the prettiest sight to look at,
as you're sitting on your front porch.
We all agreed to that, and we talked about it.
But he didn't have any place else
to park it on the weekends.
[Barbara S] As long as it was only there
a little bit of time, you know,
just for an overnight or something,
it wasn't bad.
[Tish] Yet Pete's not putting up with this eyesore.
It's been out there for days,
makes the whole street look like a garbage dump.
You should get it towed away.
[Mark] Whoa, take it easy, Pete.
Trailer belongs to one of our neighbors here.
[Tish] But Pete makes a fair point.
The neighbors in Emory Circle have agreed to abide
by a set of covenants.
[Barbara S] The covenants are like the house
has to be a certain size,
you can't have extra buildings on your property,
that kind of thing.
It was, um, done so
to keep the neighborhood nice.
Well, what's the sense of setting a covenants agreement
when people do whatever they want, don't you agree?
We're not gonna make life difficult for our neighbors.
We each had to sign the covenants.
The problem was we didn't have an acting association.
So, if you're going to enforce the covenants,
you had to do it as a one-on-one.
So that's the way it is.
[Diane] When we wouldn't side with him,
for him, that was defiance.
And he looked right at me,
and said, you're either with me or you're against me,
and if you're against me, I will make your life hell.
Cool down, Pete.
Things will sort themselves up.
[Tish] Pete doesn't want to wait for things
to settle down on their own.
[Diane] Richter had the county come,
and post a sign that said you couldn't park
in excess of so many poundage.
And it made it harder for this man that was,
you know, trying to earn a living for his family.
I guess he thought he was gonna be
the boss of everybody.
[Tish] And as Pete tries to lay down the law,
things will only go from bad to worse.
- Get away. Leave me alone. - [dog barking]
Stop that.
This isn't over.
[tense music playing]
[Rob] If you're on board with Pete, hey, it was great.
But if you weren't on board with Pete,
uh, there was gonna be hell to pay
from a neighbor's standpoint.
[Tish] Emory Circle is an attractive place
because of the wide open lots.
Yet for Pete Richter, his neighbors,
and especially their dogs,
are still too close for comfort.
Linda Austin's property runs behind Pete's house.
And so, he started picking on her,
and he said he didn't like dogs.
[dog barking]
Get away. Leave me alone.
[Tish] Mark Xander claims to witness a troubling event
involving Pete and Linda's dog.
[dog barking]
Get away. Leave me alone.
[Diane] Were the dogs barking?
Sure.
But those dogs were fenced in.
They weren't in a position to jump the fence.
[Pete] Leave me alone, go.
[Tish] According to Mark, Pete pulls out a spray can...
- Eat this. - [Tish] ...to deal
with his neighbor's pet.
Hey.
[dog whimpering]
[Diane] He was standing there,
shooting this can at her dog,
and Mark observed this...
- Stop that. - What?
[Tish] Mark and Diane have already decided,
as much as possible, not to escalate things
with Pete directly,
but Mark still wants to let Linda know what he saw.
[Diane] Mark thought that it had to be Mace,
so he wrote a note,
and put it in our neighbor's mailbox to let her know
when she came home what he observed,
so that she would have some idea
what might have happened to her dog.
[tense music playing]
What kind of bully are you, Macing a dog?
[Diane] Linda, she's a strong willed individual.
She was furious.
I'm pressing charges of animal cruelty.
I told her what you did.
Your dog was barking and bothering me.
You need to get her under control.
You could've blinded Max.
Both of you, off my property now.
[Barbara S] I don't know if it's because he thought
from he had been in the city as a police office,
he could be the boss or do whatever he wanted.
[Tish] Now, Pete wants proof when neighbors break
anymore of the Emory Circle covenant rules.
[Barbara S] He always had a camera,
he would hold it out,
looking all the time, to see what you were doing.
He was always the one to take pictures.
[Pete] I've got you both on camera as trespassing.
Now, I advise you to leave before I call the police.
This isn't over.
I'm going to charge you over what you did to my dog.
[Tish] Pete denies that he used Mace against the animal.
[Diane] I know that they ended up in court over that,
and Mark was subpoenaed.
But unfortunately, since he couldn't read the labeling
on the can, the case was thrown out.
Richter was never charged with anything.
[Tish] In this ongoing dispute,
property lines become battle lines.
[indistinct chatter]
My brother and his friends were playing basketball.
[Lance] He disliked the boys
because they played basketball.
He didn't like the sound of a ball dribbling.
[tense music playing]
[Diane] The basketball hoop was very close
to their property line.
And so, he would stand there with the video camera,
and wait for the ball to trespass
onto his property.
And the Richters just couldn't wait for that ball
to go over there.
[Tish] It's just a matter of time
before the inevitable happens.
[tense music playing]
[Christopher X] The basketball, like, missed
the basket, and rolled over into his yard.
That's it.
[tense music playing]
Hey, you bozos.
How are you making noise,
and acting like you own the street?
[Diane] Richter was harassing the kids.
So, I went out there...
Anything that comes on to my property belongs to me.
[Lance] He would say you're trespassing,
if you try to retrieve the ball...
Hey. Why don't you leave them alone
and stop being such a grouch?
And I said, "If the ball goes on his property
and he feels the need to keep it, have at it.
But let the kids just play ball."
[Lance] He would try to overwhelm people
with his personality.
And if you stood up to him,
he didn't like it.
Get out of here.
[Diane] We really thought,
if we didn't engage in conversation with this man,
that eventually he would just leave us alone.
That he would give up, that he would stop.
But he never did.
[Tish] Day in and day out,
Pete keeps close watch on his boundary line
with the Xanders.
[Lance] He was on a large lot, and for some reason,
that seemed to incite him to be more territorial.
[tense music playing]
[Christopher X] Mr. Richter had put up like stakes
marking the property lines,
and I think one of them was like in my father's way,
and he just like picked it up, and like threw it.
[Tish] For Pete, this is just one more bad neighbor
breaking the rules,
and he won't take it lying down.
[Christopher X] Pete thought that it was me,
and so, he sued me, took me to court.
And that one basically got thrown out
because the judge was, like, this obviously
wasn't me that was on that video.
[Diane] The sad thing is it wasn't just our family,
there were other neighbors
that were also taken to court.
So it seemed like Richter was in court all the time.
[Lance] He'd certainly wanted everything prosecuted.
He enjoyed being in court.
He enjoyed the adversarial nature of litigation.
[Rob] And I think that also fueled Mr. Richter's fire,
and just continue to agitate and agitate,
uh, this situation.
[Tish] It seems fanning the flames
is what Pete Richter does best.
[Diane] As a security guard, he worked at night.
And so, he would sit in his car, ten, 15 minutes
before he had to leave,
and he would just shine his high beams at our home.
What is that?
And our bedroom window, unfortunately,
faced in that direction.
What time is it?
- [Mark] What the... - [Diane] Who is it?
- [Mark] What is he doing? - [Diane] Who?
- [Mark] It's Pete. - [Diane] What?
[Christopher X] It went on for months and months.
Pull the curtains.
Ignore him.
Come back to bed.
[Barbara S] And then, he would go
to the other neighbors,
and he would sit
in front of their driveways.
He would come down to our house
and he'd shine the lights on our house.
And I called the police, and they said,
"Well, there's nothing we can do.
He hasn't done anything."
And I say, "But it's like he's trying
to intimidate everybody."
I guess, you can do whatever you want
until somebody gets hurt.
[Tish] Once again, the Xanders tried to suffer
the harassment in silence.
[Diane] What do we need to do to keep him
from hating us so badly?
We weren't trying to annoy him,
but nothing was working.
[drums playing]
[Tish] Any and every little thing
triggers another explosion
across the adjoining yards.
[Diane] Granted, my son did play, and granted,
you could hear him from the garage,
even though he kept the garage door shut.
And unfortunately, our garage door faced
their property line.
[Christopher X] He heard me playing drums,
and he was very angry about that.
This is supposed to be a quiet neighborhood.
I offered to lend them money to stop this.
[Christopher X] He wanted my parents
to sound proof the garage,
which they didn't have the money for.
He'll stop soon, don't make a fuss.
Pete, don't.
Come back.
[drums playing]
[tense music playing]
[knocks on window]
Open up.
[Christopher X] I think I was overwhelmed
by how angry he seemed.
You could actually just see it in his face.
[Christopher S] A lot of people in the community
knew he was a loose cannon,
and just knew it was gonna be a matter of time
before he would snap.
You leave my boys alone right now.
How's your pig of a wife?
Your house is on fire.
[tense music playing]
I've had it up to here.
[Barbara S] It was just constant tension.
It was just, like, unreal.
I'm tired of this racket.
I offered to insulate this place for your parents,
but they still didn't do nothing.
[Diane] It scared Jason, so he called me.
- Hello? - [Jason] Hey, mom.
[Diane] And said that Richter was there
with his finger in our son, Chris's face,
about the drums.
Richter's here, he's talking to Christopher.
What? What? No. No. No.
Put Richter on.
Our mom wants to talk to you.
[Diane] And I told Richter, "We can talk about this
if you'd like, when Mark and I come home,
but you are to leave my property immediately,
and you are to never come and approach my sons,
"unless I'm home."
You leave my boys alone right now.
Do we understand each other?
The boys said he was clearly, vividly,
perturbed, and angry with me.
[Tish] Pete Richter won't let this go.
[Lance] Mr. Richter did actually sue his neighbors,
civilly, over the Xander young boy
playing the drums.
They had a week-long jury trial.
[Diane] Mr. Richter was suing for over $40,000,
and the jury found us in violation
of a noise ordinance,
and awarded Richter $5,000,
but in the end, the judge decided
that my son could still play the drums.
He just had to do it within a specific amount of time.
[Lance] I think ultimately the family across the board
tried not to engage this man,
tried not to provoke him in any way, shape, or form.
They wanted to live their lives,
but it was very difficult
because he was so venomous.
[Christopher S] It got to the point where
if Mark was cutting the trees and came around,
Richter would scream at him for being on his property.
[Rob] And it's just a constant agitated state,
um, that Pete laid him.
[Tish] It's not just the Xanders
suffering the consequences of Pete's obsessions.
[Barbara S] My one son had, um, a dune buggy.
It didn't have tags, but I mean,
he was just trying it out
in our yard, and then,
he went out into the circle.
Not on the highway or anything,
but we end up in court over that,
and it was so ridiculous.
He saw you on the road with no tags.
[Lance] I do believe Mr. Richter
charged most of his neighbors at one time
or another with something.
Whether it was a civil violation,
an animal violation,
allegations of not keeping their yard
properly maintained,
whatever he could find, he pursued.
[Tish] All through the neighborhood,
Pete is a constant, menacing presence.
Hey, Joshua. How was your day?
- Not so good. - [Barbara S] What?
And he would just follow my son,
just to harass him.
My son was a little bit worried
because we always said,
"Don't ever go by that house.
Don't walk in that yard,
you know, stay away from it."
[Tish] Avoiding Pete is next to impossible.
Life on Emory Circle
gets more and more stressful.
Lovely day, isn't it, Mark?
[Christopher S] He would entice people
into conversations, and then,
start recording them,
trying to provoke them
to do something to him.
How's your pig of a wife today?
[Diane] He would make it a point
to call me names.
He would do stuff like that,
hoping to get a rise out of Mark.
Come on, Lena. Let's go home.
[Diane] He was hoping that Mark
would just fly off and come after him,
but Mark never did.
[Tish] In this tense situation,
Pete is on perpetual alert for any threat.
[Barbara S] He said somebody threw nails
on his driveway.
[Tish] Just like when his house was vandalized,
Pete believes the Xanders are responsible.
[Barbara S] That didn't even make sense.
I think it was more like maybe construction,
or maybe they dropped a box of nails or something.
I just don't believe anybody did that.
[Tish] Pete calls the police,
but is foiled yet again.
Something's got to be done around here.
[Pete] It's obvious the Xanders did this.
Yeah. You.
There's no proof that any of your neighbors
- were involved. - [Rob] And Mr. Richter,
I think, just got to the point where he felt
as though his repetitive complaints
were met with deaf ears.
When in reality, you know,
the matters were looked into.
It's just that the evidence
didn't support his claims.
What's it gonna take for you to do
something about this?
[Tish] Now, the intolerable situation
explodes to a whole new level.
[Christopher X] The neighbor knocked on the door,
and my father was, uh, the one who answered.
What's going on? What's up?
Mark, you have to get out of there.
- Your house is on fire. - [Mark] What?
Oh, my God.
[Tish] This neighborhood war
has reached the point of no return.
-Diane. -[Barbara S] It just got worse and worse.
What's the matter with you?
[Pete] I'm sick and tired
of you not having any respect.
You did this.
[sirens blaring]
[Diane] Oh, my God.
[Christopher X] I was at work at that time actually,
and somebody told me
that my family's home had burned down,
and I was just in shock.
- [Diane] Oh, my God. - [woman] Are you guys okay?
- We will be. - Oh, thank God.
[Barbara S] It was so fast,
and it started like at the top in the whole house,
you know, it was just burned.
[Diane] Oh, no. Oh, my God.
- [man] You all right? - [Diane] Our house.
- [man] What happened? - [man] Mark, what happened?
[woman] Someone should call the cops.
[Diane] That was my household.
Hey, Mark.
You got what you deserved.
You. You did this.
[Diane] Oh, no, no, no. No, no, no, Mark.
No. No. Please. You would think
that one would have compassion
for a family that just lost everything
they owned, but he was just so hateful.
[Tish] Firefighters are unable to save
the Xanders house.
In the aftermath,
the whole community wants answers.
The fire marshal investigated,
but they couldn't determine
the point of origin.
Ultimately, the investigation
the fire marshal closed it as a mulch fire.
[Lance] It was a mysterious fire.
I don't know how mulch would spontaneously combust,
so that was suspicious.
[Tish] Emory Circle doesn't have long to recover
from this terrible night.
Soon after, in a strange coincidence,
the Saia's house also catches fire,
but they're luckier than the Xanders.
[Barbara S] The next door neighbor
got the fire under control
before the fire department got there,
or our house would've burned.
[Tish] Once again, it's deemed a mulch fire,
and no one has any hard evidence
to prove otherwise.
[Diane] After the house fire,
we entertained moving,
but we couldn't find anything,
and we missed our neighbors.
[Tish] Six months later,
the Xander home has been rebuilt,
and is ready for their return.
- Hi. - [Diane] Hey.
[Barbara S] We had to come and say hi.
- [Diane] We missed you. - [Barbara S] Welcome back.
[Diane] Welcome. New house, what do you think?
It looks fantastic, they did a great job.
- We won't keep you. - [Mark] Nice to see you.
We just wanted to say hi.
Thank you so much for coming by.
- [Joe] All right. Okay. - [Barbara S] Yes.
- So glad you guys are all okay. - [Diane] Bye.
[Tish] But some things in the neighborhood
still can't be fixed.
[Diane] When we moved back into the home,
Richter was on his warpath
with other people in the community
- that he was bothering. - All right.
All right. Okay. Okay.
Boys, let's just go, okay?
Let's go home. Come on.
In hindsight, I wish we would have moved.
A few of the other neighbors did move,
but we loved our home.
Our children practically grew up there,
and we love the neighbors
that did stay, so we didn't move.
[Tish] Living so close to the Richters,
every day brings a new provocation.
[crows crowing]
[Christopher X] My father saw that Lena was gone,
and then, went looking for Lena.
[whistles] Lena.
[Diane] That particular day,
I can't remember why the dog went over there,
but I believe she was in chase with a rabbit.
- [whistle] Where are you? - [dog barking]
[Tish] Mark realizes Lena is barking from inside
- Pete's garage. - [Mark] Pete.
[Diane] Mr. Richter grabbed the dog,
he chained her, and then, he called animal control.
[dog barking]
Hey, Pete.
What's the matter with you?
Let my dog out of there.
Your dog attacked my wife.
- It could have killed her. - No way.
[Tish] According to Pete,
when he and his wife Barbara came home,
the Xander dog charged onto their property.
[dog barking]
[screams]
Pete.
Get away from her, you damn mutt.
[barking]
Go.
Come here.
[Lance] Mr. Richter claims his neighbor's dog
attacked his wife and bloodied her nose.
[Tish] Under questioning, Pete's claim falls apart.
[Diane] When animal control went over,
she had a bloody nose.
Animal control asked her if she was okay.
She said, "Yes, I'm fine.
I just had some sinus surgery done."
Their stories were conflicting.
On scene, we could tell he was fabricating
these allegations that the neighbor's dog
had attacked her.
[Tish] Predictably, Pete files a complaint about Lena.
[Diane] We had to go to court for it,
and the end result of that
was I was told to be more careful with the dog,
and that never pleased Richter
because he wanted something serious to happen.
He wanted us to be, you know,
mandated to chain our dog.
Come on, Lena. Come on.
Look at this day. So beautiful, right?
[Tish] Diane is about to learn
that Pete can teach an old dog new tricks.
[whistling]
[Lance] Mark Xander had a special whistle
that he used to call his dog.
Mr. Richter learned that whistle,
learned to mock that whistle,
would try to get the dog
to come on to his property.
And she went to the whistle.
- [dog barking] - Hey. Hey. Hey.
Hey, Lena, that's not Mark.
[Tish] And now, there's something
even more disturbing to worry about.
[Diane] Mr. Richter carried a 22-caliber derringer,
and he made us aware of that
on numerous occasions.
What's going on? Are you okay?
No, I'm not okay.
I just saw Pete, he had a gun.
I believe Richter targeted Mark the most
because he didn't carry a weapon.
The other neighbors, they all had weapons.
Mark and I, we never believed in weapons.
Mark didn't hunt, and of course,
we were an easy target
because we were right next door.
Maybe we should have a gun, too.
- No, no. No. - For protection.
No. No. No. That's not the answer.
I know what to do.
I know what to do. Let's go.
[Tish] Diane turns to the courts
to keep her neighbor at a safe distance.
[Diane] We obtained
a no trespassing order for him.
Peace order was to keep him off her property.
Keep him from contacting her,
harassing her, speaking to her.
[Tish] But the peace order won't work
if both parties don't follow the rules.
[Diane] Pete still comes to that property line,
and make hand gestures
and start, you know, calling names.
Hey, Xander.
I want you, your damn dog,
your family on that side of property.
You try going over here, it will be the last time.
[Tish] No property border or peace order
will stop this ticking time bomb.
And the worst is yet to come.
[Diane] Mark came home.
He gave me a kiss.
He told me he was gonna go trim the hedges
that we had in the back, and I said okay.
And that was it.
He left, and of course, the dog followed him.
And then, at that point, some time,
Richter imitated the dog whistle,
and the dog ran across the property.
[whistling]
[dog yelping]
Lena. Where are you going?
[Christopher X] He was well aware that Pete
would bait her, you know,
that this had happened before.
Your damn dog has been on my property again, Mark.
[Christopher S] Mark came over
to try to get the dog.
That's when they got into the confrontation.
[Barbara S] Richter once said,
bullets will fly and people will die,
and I'll take my neighbors down with me.
Send police.
I'm sick of your crap. This ends now.
No.
[ominous music playing]
[Diane] You know, it's odd
because when I was in the kitchen,
starting dinner,
something told me to take Mark a beer,
or check on him, or let him know
that we were gonna eat dinner early that night.
[sirens blaring]
[Diane] Out of nowhere,
the police officers were everywhere.
The fire truck.
[man] Ma'am, there's been an incident.
It's involving your husband.
What? What?
And that's when I noticed
Mark laying on the front yard.
No.
[Rob] Mark Xander had been shot.
Mark.
And I screamed,
"You can let me go, that's my husband."
[Tish] Emergency crews worked desperately
to save Mark's life.
[Diane] I could tell by their actions
that it was horribly, horribly going wrong.
[Christopher S] They loaded him into the ambulance,
took off up the road.
[Diane] Jason and I went to the hospital.
And that's when we were immediately told
that we had lost Mark.
That he didn't make it.
That he was gone.
[Tish] The man who shot and killed Mark Xander
is next door neighbor Pete Richter.
He also made the call to 911.
[dispatcher speaking]
[Pete speaking]
[dispatcher speaking]
[Pete speaking]
[dispatcher speaking]
[Pete speaking]
[Tish] After summoning authorities,
Pete sets up his video camera in his garage.
[Christopher S] Richter was sitting on a stool.
He was spinning the gun around his finger,
just sitting there, kind of nonchalantly,
spinning the pistol.
[police speaking]
[Pete speaking]
[police speaking]
[Pete speaking]
[police speaking]
[Pete speaking]
[police speaking]
[Tish] According to Pete,
Mark's dog came on his property.
[Christopher S] He then claims
that he is wringing the dog
back to the garage,
as he's done in the past,
to phone animal control.
So Mark, according to Pete,
went to get the dog,
got into a fight with him in the garage.
What the hell are you doing with my dog?
[Rob] He's tying his dog up in his garage,
and he's now attacked from behind
by Mr. Xander.
I'm sick of your crap. This ends now.
[Christopher S] Pete Richter claimed
that he was trying to shoot Mark Xander
in the butt, that's what he said.
- [gunshot] - [Mark grunts]
[Christopher S] According to Richter,
Mark took off running across the yard,
made it through the tree line and collapsed.
[Rob] Now, look, let's face it,
if Mr. Richter is attacked in his home,
he has a right to protect his home,
his property, his family.
And maybe the shooting is justified.
[Tish] Investigators start combing
through Pete Richter's house, gathering evidence.
[Lance] They found lots of ammunition.
He had all these videos of the neighbors,
which showed he was obsessive.
The most telling thing though was that
we found a picture of the Xanders burned house.
The top of that had written on that photograph like,
"The Lord Works In Mysterious Ways."
And at the bottom said,
"What goes around, comes around."
That shows you that he relished the fact
that their house burned down.
[Tish] Pete's version of events
is soon completely shredded.
There is no blood or sign
of any struggle in the garage.
Mark could not have been shot there as Pete argued.
He was clearly struck in the back on his property.
[Lance] The medical examiner
and the other forensic investigator
didn't believe that Mark Xander
could have travelled very far with injuries like this.
That defied Pete Richter's theory
that Mark Xander ran all the way
from his garage back into his own yard.
He couldn't have gone that far.
I mean, it was obvious to us
that Pete shot this man in cold blood,
and then, tried to come up with his best self-defense
fabricated story to save himself.
[Diane] I do believe that Pete,
when he came home that day,
he saw an opportunity
because he saw Mark trimming the hedges,
and he did what he had done in the past.
He baited our dog.
[whistling]
[dog yelping]
Lena, where are you going?
Your damn dog is on my property again.
You're trespassing on my property now.
Give me my dog back, right now.
Are you threatening me?
[Diane] Richter was standing there,
and said something to Mark,
hoping that Mark would approach him,
and come into his garage, but Mark didn't.
I'm calling the cops. Let's go, Lena.
[Diane] He just turned around and walked away,
and that's when Richter shot him in the back.
- [gunshot] - [Mark grunts]
[Tish] To increase their chances of conviction,
prosecutors charged Pete Richter
with both first and second degree murder,
and the use of a firearm in the commission
of an act of violence.
[Diane] Thank God...
the jury saw through him,
it didn't take the jury long
to find him guilty of second degree murder.
[Rob] Mr. Richter was sentenced
to 20 years in prison,
and then, consecutively,
five years for the use of the handgun
in the commission of the felony.
[Tish] The Xander family and their friends
take some comfort from the decision.
All continue to mourn Mark's tragic death.
[Christopher X] It was pretty incredible
how the community came together,
and supported my family,
and showed their respects to my father.
That made me realize that
there's far more love in the world
and support than there is evil.
[Tish] In honor of her husband,
Diane is working to get Mark's Law
passed in the Maryland State Legislature.
Under this provision,
gun owners would not be allowed
to regain a gun permit,
if it had previously been revoked.
[Diane] I want so badly to try
and prevent the pain my family and friends
have carried for almost 10 years
from happening to another family
or another neighborhood.
I deeply feel when Mark's Law is passed,
others will be spared the pain
that we have suffered.
[Barbara S] I think in the beginning,
everything was so numb.
Some people have moved away,
and a lot of things have changed.
But we're still there.
And Diane's still there.
[Diane] I met my husband when I was just 18,
what the heck do you know at 18?
But we managed to stay happily married
up until he was murdered.
And, um, had two wonderful boys,
we used to tease each other,
um, and say, if we didn't do anything else right,
we did raise two wonderful human beings.
My beautiful grandson, Caleb,
was born in 2018.
And so, I retired.
And he is my sunshine.
He is everything.