Dale Robinson led law enforcement to the body of Deanna Zuleger Scantlin on Monday night. Now, he also wants to tell his story about how he says Deanna died.
During his first ever media interview since his arrest, Robinson was candid but emotional.
Robinson simply said, "I just wanted to tell my story. I've been mute for too long."
Even more, he said it was for Deanna's family because the holidays are approaching.
"The kids, the holidays and the simple fact of going through court in Marathon County, nothing happened in Marathon County," Robinson said.
"She wasn't kidnapped, or wasn't forced," said Robinson. "I knew Deanna pretty good. This was my sixth or seventh encounter with Deanna."
When they were apparently at the Dells of the Eau Claire he said, "We were lying down, she got too close to the edge and she fell and I panicked. I went down, jumped in the water and tried to save her."
"She had a bad head injury, and her neck was bad," said Robinson. "I sat on a wooden bench for about an hour to think about what I should do. By the time I got back to my car, to the best of my knowledge she had passed."
"I went to one spot, got out of the car for a minute. I carried her into the leaves and ferns. I laid her in the fern, sat there for a while and left," said Robinson.
Still, after talking with Robinson face to face for an hour and listening to his story, we wanted to hear it from him.
We asked, did you kill Deanna?
Robinson said, "No, I did not."
We also asked, could you have saved her?
Robinson said, "I don't know."
