Plastic surgeon’s murder investigation uncovers unlikely suspect on ‘Dateline’

(NBC News) — On Friday’s “Dateline,” investigators uncover a trail of clues pointing to an unlikely killer after prominent plastic surgeon and local musician, Dr. Frank “Buddy” McCutcheon, was murdered in his Asheville, North Carolina home.

New details come to light from police footage and exclusive TV interviews with insiders close to the case, including Detectives John Ledford and Walt Thrower, Prosecutor Meghan Lock, Defense Attorneys Sean Devereux and Steve Cash, Buddy’s family members and more.

Here’s a preview of Keith Morrison’s report:

A Friday night in July, sticky, hot. Buddy McCutcheon and his wife Brenda settled down in the air-conditioned quiet. Brenda said she was upstairs in their bedroom, asleep, while Buddy dozed off downstairs in front of the TV.

Was it sealed by then? The fate that awaited them?

3 a.m., a sound like a sharp thunderclap. In one awful second, her husband of over 30 years was taken, and life as she had known it was over.

Dawn was still hours away when sheriff’s deputies headed to the house. Of course, the inquiry was just beginning.

Did Buddy McCutcheon take his own life? Did home invaders shoot him dead? Or was it something more sinister?

But the clues that might tell them remained hidden — in plain sight.

Watch Friday’s “Dateline: The Day The Music Died” on NBC4 at 9 p.m.

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