Dateline Tonight: She convinced police his death was suicide; family helped convict her
Susan Embert, 61, was convicted of murder for a second time in January in the fatal shooting of her husband Jake Embert, a development that his family called long-awaited justice — and that is the focus of dateline tonight in an episode airing at 9 ET. The episode revisits a case that family members say was marked by investigative failures and three criminal trials spanning years.
Dateline Tonight episode details
The episode, titled "Malice, " revisits the June 28, 2014, shooting of Jake Embert in his Georgia home more than a decade ago. It includes audio tied to the initial response: a 911 call placed by Susan Embert and recordings from a countywide police channel in which officers described the scene as an apparent suicide. The coroner at the time ruled the manner of death a suicide.
dateline tonight focuses on investigation
The program examines what Jake's children and sister have said were early missteps in the investigation and a chain of events that led to three criminal trials in Dougherty County. Family members argued the inquiry was flawed from the start; that skepticism helped propel prosecutors to pursue murder charges. In January, prosecutors secured a second conviction of Susan Embert, and she was sentenced to life in prison without parole. She has continued to maintain her innocence and has said she had nothing to do with her husband's death.
Family reaction and trial history
Jake's family described a long, painful fight for answers. His daughter used the phrase "a slow, grinding, merciless erosion of our humanity" to characterize the impact of the legal saga. Family members questioned the initial conclusions: they noted Jake's opposition to suicide, reported plans for the father and son to watch a local car race that afternoon, and highlighted what they saw as a lack of urgency around holding a funeral. The son, who was 17 at the time of the shooting, recalled his father as someone who opposed suicide and as his closest friend.
The episode also highlights medical history presented by the family: in the months before his death, Jake experienced worsening health problems, including heart attacks, seizures, stomach pain and nausea. On the day he died, a recording captured Susan telling police that he had said he was "sick and tired of being sick and tired. " One officer on the recorded channel described the death as "obvious" suicide and said a. 45 handgun was "right there in his hand. " The county coroner at the time concurred with a suicide ruling.
Prosecutors later described the killing as financially motivated and staged to look like suicide. The conviction in January marked a major shift for the family after years of trials and appeals; for Rachel Embert, the verdict felt like justice while leaving lasting damage to the family.
The episode airing at 9 ET revisits recordings, interviews and courtroom developments tied to the case and the extended effort by Jake's relatives to secure accountability. Viewers can expect the program to trace the investigation's initial conclusion, the family's objections, subsequent trials and the conviction and sentence imposed in January.
