48 Hours - Father and Son

Episode Date: June 19, 2016

A son fights to prove his father killed his mother.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. ...

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to this podcast ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app today. Even if you love the thrill of true crime stories as much as I do, there are times when you want to mix it up. And that's where Audible comes in, with all the genres you love and new ones to discover. Explore thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. Listening to Audible can lead to positive change in your mood, your habits,
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Starting point is 00:01:00 to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military. And when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. Real people. Real crimes. Real life drama.
Starting point is 00:01:25 Real people, real crimes, real life drama. My mom was a research scientist, and my dad was a pediatrician. My mom was super outdoorsy, loved to be outdoors. I really viewed my dad as being a really good father, being very caring, engaged. They were a great couple the first 10 years of knowing each other, and then they sort of degraded. After the divorce, we spent most of our time with my father.
Starting point is 00:01:53 As I got older, he became more confrontational with my mother. Just because you don't get along with somebody doesn't insinuate that you want to hurt them. And I never, ever, ever wanted to hurt Uta. He asked me, would it be bad if Uta wasn't around anymore? I was the first one to find her. I drove over. The door was unlocked.
Starting point is 00:02:23 I went in. I could hear the water running. I knocked. I came in the bathroom and I found her in the tub underneath the water. 911, what is your emergency? I found my girlfriend. She must have hit her head and fallen over the bathtub. I think she's dead. The police said this was a suicide. Everybody knew it wasn't a suicide. As I thought about my dad's behavior before and after her death, it became more and more apparent
Starting point is 00:02:54 to me that he was responsible for killing her. I didn't have a motive to kill Uta, and I don't know that I was the last person to see Uta alive. Johnny did not kill Uta. He cared too much about having his kid's mother in his kid's lives. Pella was a teenager who got swept up in a crusade that was started by others. The evidence is overwhelming. It was this defendant, Johnny Wall, that killed her.
Starting point is 00:03:22 My father being put on trial is the culmination of a lot of work. A struggle occurred in Uta's bedroom. Someone else was there. Look carefully at those injuries. It's reasonable that she could have done that to herself. I will be sitting across from him. I'm sure he doesn't have warm feeling towards me. His conviction is incredibly important to me.
Starting point is 00:03:53 I'm Susan Spencer. Tonight on 48 Hours, father and son. As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. It was called Candyman. It was about this supernatural killer who would attack his victims if they said his name five times into a bathroom mirror. But did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? I was struck by both how spooky it was, but also how outrageous it was. Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder,
Starting point is 00:04:31 early and ad-free, with a 48-hour plus subscription on Apple Podcasts. Have you ever wondered who created that bottle of sriracha that's living in your fridge? Or why nearly every house in America has at least one game of Monopoly? Introducing The Best Idea Yet, a brand new podcast from Wondery and T-Boy about the surprising origin stories of the products you're obsessed with and the bold risk-takers who brought
Starting point is 00:04:55 them to life. Like, did you know that Super Mario, the best-selling video game character of all time, only exists because Nintendo couldn't get the rights to Popeye? Or Jack, that the idea for the McDonald's Happy Meal first came from a mom in Guatemala? From Pez dispensers to Levi's 501s to Air Jordans, discover the surprising stories of the most viral products. Plus, we guarantee that after listening, you're going to dominate your next dinner party. So follow The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Best Idea Yet early and ad
Starting point is 00:05:29 free right now by joining Wondery Plus. It's just the best idea yet. September 25, 2011 was one of the last days of my mom's life. We were up here camping. We loved to get out in the outdoors. My mom was always pushing when we were young, take us out on hikes. The majestic mountains high above Salt Lake City have been a playground for 19-year-old Pella Wall and his family since his childhood. It was a beautiful day. I think the leaves may have been changing.
Starting point is 00:06:15 Just gorgeous. We have a picture with all of us, you know, the whole group all together. He treasures that picture from September 2011, the last time he and his mother, Uta von Schwedler, ever would be in these mountains together. I definitely feel that that is a special place, you know, that's one of the last places I was with her. It's beautiful and so I do feel that there's some sort of like special connection connection up there on the peak. This evening we meet to celebrate the life of Uta von Schwedlow. Two years later, Pella, his younger brother and sister, and family friends gathered to celebrate her life. Comforting words, but little real consolation, as was clear when Pella read a message from his brother Liam, remembering their mother.
Starting point is 00:07:23 One day I was saying, see you soon, and the next day my world was flipped upside down with the police on my doorstep. No one knew if it was a suicide, an accidental death, or a homicide. For a very long time, I just could not process it. It was really traumatizing. One person not on hand to recall those dark days, Uta's ex-husband and father of their children, Johnny Wall.
Starting point is 00:07:50 When I was very small, we actually lived in Malibu right next to the walls. Klaus Fiebig is Johnny Wall's childhood friend. Is it stretching a point to say that he was like a brother to you? No. We really became tight. Years later, while in grad school, Klaus introduced Johnny to Uta, who had moved to California from her home in Germany to study biology. And it clicked with them, and they became a couple. And I thought, what a wonderful thing, where you have two good friends,
Starting point is 00:08:20 and you introduce them, and it works. And it did work, at least for a while. Five years after they married in California, the couple moved here to Salt Lake City, one-year-old Pella in tow. Both Johnny and Uta had jobs at the University of Utah Medical Center. He is a resident in pediatrics
Starting point is 00:08:38 and she as a research scientist studying HIV. One of her papers had been actually recognized as one of the most, I think it was the 30 most prominent HIV papers in the last 30 years. Almost this entire lab is focused on different aspects of HIV research. Biomedical researchers Heidi Schubert and Orly Arden met Uta during her early days in the lab. We had this chemistry, you know, she looked at me, I looked at her, and that's it. We were friends. She was passionate about learning a lot of stuff and just being involved. She was always like calling you up, hey, do you want to go to the reading of that play? Do you want to go to
Starting point is 00:09:12 the dance performance? Do you want to go to the concert? But her true passion was her four kids. Two have asked not to appear on camera. She was a combination of a soccer mom and a walking mom. She would run from the lab home on her bike, get into the car, drive the kids to a soccer game, run back, take another kid to wherever they needed. Dr. Wall was busy as well, building his practice as an extremely well-liked and well-respected pediatrician. And he was a fabulous pediatrician. His patients loved him. Wendy Wall, Johnny's older sister, remembers how excited her brother was to be a father.
Starting point is 00:09:55 I think nothing in his life made him happier than being a dad. He's someone who just loves kids. It was, on the the surface a perfect family. Beneath the surface it was a very different story. I think there were a lot of issues, a lot having to do with us children. I know that all the kids struggled with their mother. I mean Uta was a lovely person but she could be really awful at times, too. Your father alleged that she was physically abusing the children. She had disciplined us from time to time.
Starting point is 00:10:38 I had been hit when I was younger, but it was something that was when I was very young, but not something that continued. I think Uta is somebody who very much loved her children, but I also think she really, really wrestled with maternal responsibilities and with being a mom. In fact, years later, Uta would end up in family court several times, once accused of actually biting her youngest son. How the story goes, I suppose, is that my brother Liam was on top of her car, and my mother was trying to get him down, and somehow she had bitten him. Uta always denied it, but did go for court-ordered counseling.
Starting point is 00:11:20 But the marriage was in trouble long before that. Johnny told us that Uta was having an affair. She was having an affair with another scientist in Germany. And he was obviously very upset about this. The question of this affair was something that my dad did bring up regularly. I think that was very, very tough for Johnny. And it only got worse when in 2006, Uta ended the marriage, leaving behind her four children, ages 5 to 12. Ultimately, Uta walked out. She had an affair with somebody else, and she walked out on Johnny and her kids. I recall being told that she was moving out and being very upset by it.
Starting point is 00:12:01 But I do very distinctly remember thinking that it was not for the worse that they were splitting up. They tried to work out a flexible custody plan with the kids living with their father most of the time. It didn't work, and rising tensions soon became the backdrop to tragedy. In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn, and it harboured a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once and it harboured a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reach the age of 10 that would still a virgin. It just happens to all of us.
Starting point is 00:12:52 I'm journalist Luke Jones, and for almost two years, I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn. When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with. In the Pitcairn Trials, I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely, Pacific island to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery+.
Starting point is 00:13:23 Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Hot shot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty. Her specialty? Representing some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals. However, while Nicola held the underworld's darkest secrets, the most dangerous secret was her own. She's going to all the major groups within Melbourne's underworld, and she's informing on them all. I'm Marsha Clark, host of the new podcast Informants Lawyer X. In my long career in criminal justice as a prosecutor and defense attorney, I've seen some crazy cases, and this one belongs right at the top of the list.
Starting point is 00:14:02 She was addicted to the game she had created. She just didn't know how to stop. Now, through dramatic interviews and access, I'll reveal the truth behind one of the world's most shocking legal scandals. Listen to Informant's Lawyer X exclusively on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. And listen to more Exhibit C true Crime shows early and ad-free right now. I've always considered myself a happy person.
Starting point is 00:14:35 Of course, ups and downs, you know, it's hard times, it's happy times. But I'd say on the whole, I'm very happy. A real achievement for Pella Wall, given his family history. A perfect storm of abuse charges, family fights, and finally, divorce. My defense mechanism for myself is looking at everything as dispassionately as I can, so not trying to get super emotionally involved. Apparently it worked. Despite his volatile home life, Pella excelled in school. I got a 4.0 GPA, so I had all A's, and I was awarded academic all-state for soccer.
Starting point is 00:15:16 It wasn't easy, with mom and dad living in separate homes. After the divorce, we spent most of our time with my father. It was probably a couple times a week switching between houses, which was very stressful. It's something that we hated doing. None of us wanted to do it. But it sounds, on the other hand, as if they were struggling to do something that was fair. My dad very much wanted us to spend time with my mom, which was very good. But Dr. Wall's goodwill didn't last very long. As he became more confrontational with my mother, I think I really, I viewed him less and less as a good father.
Starting point is 00:15:55 He was frustrated with Uta. Sometimes she would, supposed to take the kids for a weekend or something, and she would make other plans and drop them at his doorstep. Even the family's history became a major source of dispute. I don't quite understand how the scrapbooks became so contentious. The scrapbooks were something that my mom very much cared about. The scrapbooks were filled with photos that Johnny had taken. Johnny was the family photographer, and they were organized by Uta.
Starting point is 00:16:27 She would stay up late and just put everything in order and try to remember and write everything down. So these scrapbooks really meant something. They were in the original divorce document. My dad used those scrapbooks to control her. So I'm not going to give you the passports unless you let me have the scrapbooks, or I'm not going to give the scrapbooks back until you give me the passports, or that kind of thing.
Starting point is 00:16:49 That's very odd. It's very odd. It's not normal. Their battle lasted more than five years, during which time Johnny Wall remarried and divorced again. His second wife had also left him, and he was blaming it all on Uta. It might have been the end of 2010 that he was giving her the year's warning and he was going to move away and take the kids. It was also in 2010 that Nils Abramson, a local therapist and social worker, began a relationship with Uta. She had a very brisk kind of walk and always smiling. You know, she had the 10 different colored watch straps so they could match her socks.
Starting point is 00:17:32 Nils said Uta enjoyed life to the fullest and wasn't shy about speaking her mind. She would tell a stranger, you need to put sunscreen on. You know, that's very funny. It's like, I mean, it's not offensive, but it's it's getting into somebody's business you don't really need to. And Nils says he saw firsthand the lengths to which Johnny Wall would go to provoke his ex-wife. At one point, he shut off his home phone. After that, she said, I'll buy the kids phones. So she bought the service for all the kids. And then he would try to interrupt that too. In his life, the center was, what can I do to hurt Uta?
Starting point is 00:18:09 More than what can I do to help my kids? But in those last months, friends say Uta was getting her life together, just as Johnny was losing control of his. The household was terrible. What do you mean terrible? He didn't have the heat on. Everything was messy. It looked like somebody, a homeless person sleeping almost. Really? It was that bad? You're not exaggerating. No, it was very, very bad. That was when I really realized, wow,
Starting point is 00:18:36 this is getting very crazy. In early 2011, Uja had had it and went to court, hoping to win primary custody of her children. There were pretty much hostages in this battle, and I think it got to a point in which the kids had to be taken out, and she was aware that she needs to do that. Finally, in September, an agreement was reached to review the children's custody arrangement. So she thought that there was going to be a change? I think that she thought she was pretty sure that things would change. Unfortunately, she was right. Five days later, everything changed. On Tuesday, September 27, 2011, the kids were staying with Johnny,
Starting point is 00:19:22 and Nils and Uta looked forward to a quiet evening alone. I went in like I normally would and heard the water running. Tapped on the door and said, hello, hello, and opened the door, and there she was underwater. And, you know, I grabbed her arm, pulled her out of the water partway, but as soon as I lifted her up, she was stiff, and I knew. You didn't have any doubt. I knew she was dead. The street where Uta von Schwedler lived is quiet now, but it was teeming that night
Starting point is 00:19:54 with Salt Lake City police, homicide detectives, crime scene investigators, and the local media, all with one basic question. How is it possible that a bright, vivacious, very fit, 49-year-old woman could drown in her own bathtub? I thought she might have slipped and hit her head. Investigators found no sign of a break-in and no valuables missing from the house. What they did find in the tub of cold water, along with Uta's body, was a kitchen knife and, oddly, one of those treasured photo albums, evidence that seemed to hint at suicide. You know, when they suggested that, I was blown away. I mean... As far as you're concerned, this is impossible. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, completely impossible.
Starting point is 00:20:46 Nils told police there was another explanation that made a lot more sense. I told him everything that, you know, that I had done and that I knew about. It's like, did she have any enemies? It's like, well, yes, probably her ex-husband. That very night, investigators picked up 47-year-old Johnny Wall for questioning. Johnny was awakened in the middle of the night, dragged out of bed, hauled down to the police station, told by police detectives that his wife was dead, or his ex-wife was dead, and then interrogated for four hours. Dr. Wall appeared shocked and overwhelmed.
Starting point is 00:21:26 I'm trying to be honest because you guys are accusing me of something really horrendous. It is really horrendous. Somebody died. Somebody's not here anymore. Yeah, and I can't grieve because you're yelling at me. Johnny Wall waived his rights to an attorney during the police interrogation, but later hired Fred Meadows as his defense lawyer. the police interrogation, but later hired Fred Meadows as his defense lawyer. Partway through the interview, Johnny makes a statement, I was asleep, and then it's like a light goes on with these two cops. They start in with the, well, we have a witness who saw you there, and that was a total lie. Don't you think I would remember if I went over to her house? Apparently not. You don't remember a lot of things.
Starting point is 00:22:05 Johnny's memory seemed fuzzy, and detectives were frustrated. Did you go over to Uta's house between Thursday and the time that you picked the kids up? I don't remember. Are you kidding? How did you pass grade school? The following morning, my dad walks in, trailed by my three siblings, and then he told me that my mother was dead and that he was a suspect. Stunned by the news himself, he could hardly believe his father's reaction. It was out of control. He essentially started acting like an infant.
Starting point is 00:22:39 You know, he's laying on my bed in the fetal position crying, saying, you know, I want my mommy, having us, like, comfort him. You know, a whole lot of things about, you know, is this a dream? I just want to wake up. Am I a monster? Could I have done this? A traumatized Dr. Wall checked himself into a psychiatric hospital, leaving his son to answer those questions. I was absolutely 100% convinced that he was responsible for my mother's death. The medical examiner's report on Uta's death six weeks in the making gave the cause as drowning, but left undetermined how she drowned. Johnny Wall had his own theory.
Starting point is 00:23:31 Did he tell you that this was suicide? He did. I think a couple times at the dinner table it came up, and he basically said that your mom chose to leave you. That it was a choice that she had committed suicide. Pella wasn't buying it. So I thought about my dad's behavior before and after her death. It became more and more apparent to me that he was responsible for killing her. Several aspects of the case baffled investigators. Uta had superficial knife wounds on her leg and one wrist, and she also had a high level of the anti-anxiety medication Xanax in her system. Did she ever take antidepressants? No.
Starting point is 00:24:13 Did she ever take anti-anxiety medication? No. She used recreation and exercise as her mental health drug. She was at about twice a therapeutic level. It was clearly enough to make her drowsy, maybe render her unconscious. And if she's trying to get into a bathtub, it's not that hard to drown.
Starting point is 00:24:37 But police grew more suspicious of Dr. Wall when it was learned that just months before Uta's death, he'd written a Xanax prescription for his mother. The mother had said she didn't recall receiving it. Then when they talked to the dad later, dad said, yeah, we got it. And I got rid of it. The time of Uta's death was put at sometime after 10.30 Monday night, September 26th. As for what Johnny Wall was doing early the next morning. The whole time that I was awake and home before I went to school, he was not home.
Starting point is 00:25:13 And that was unusual? That was unusual. Johnny did turn up that morning just in time to drive his younger children to school. And then at 8.30 a.m., he had his car washed, as seen on this security tape. From what I've read, at least, he didn't strike me as somebody who was particularly meticulous. He was about some things. That afternoon, before his mother was found, Pella noticed something odd about his dad. He had this terrible scratch, you know, blood on the side of his eye. I mean, this was a serious eye injury? It was a serious eye injury.
Starting point is 00:25:52 He said that he had been sleeping on the porch the night before and that Molly, our dog, accidentally scratched him in the eye. Was that something that he did very often? This whole sleeping on the porch thing was not something I ever saw him do. Including that night? Including that night. If Pella's fears were true that his father killed his mother, then he and his siblings were now
Starting point is 00:26:13 living with a murderer. Part of the reason I was concerned for my safety as well as my siblings' safety was that I saw this anger that he had towards my mother. It didn't die with her. It jumped and expanded. And you really didn't feel safe? I really didn't feel safe. This was, this is not a superficial concern. This is, I might die. But Salt Lake authorities made no effort to
Starting point is 00:26:37 remove the children from Johnny Wall's care, and the police investigation stalled. For a long time, I was just hoping that the police would make the arrest and that once the arrest was made, then everything could move forward, the kids would be safe, and it didn't happen. And so in January 2012, one day before his 18th birthday, Pella Wall packed his bags and moved out of his father's house, leaving his siblings behind. I realized that my presence there was not protecting my siblings.
Starting point is 00:27:11 And once I had that realization and I moved out, then I could take active steps to protect them. And your father's reaction to this was? Nothing positive, not a positive reaction. He's extremely upset. Nothing positive, not a positive reaction. He's extremely upset. He sought refuge with the family of his best friend, Jessica Oglesby, whose parents, Amy and John, already had six kids.
Starting point is 00:27:37 You know what, Pella, let's just do a seasoning on top. And yet welcomed Pella with open arms. He didn't have the support necessary to help him do what he really wanted to do. Which was? Was to have the children removed from their father's care. And he asked for my help. And I helped him. Pella then turned to the courts, beginning a vicious tug of war over custody of his siblings. And eventually winning.
Starting point is 00:28:07 of his siblings and eventually winning. So they were removed from my dad's care and they lived with a series of essentially family friends. A victory for Pella but the war was far from over. His dad sued him for those treasured scrapbooks whereupon Pella fought back with a wrongful death suit holding his father responsible for his mother's death. Describe your relationship with Ute. That meant Pella's lawyers could question Johnny Wall directly and under oath. Have you ever told anyone that you would be better off if Ute was dead? No, that wouldn't be true. When questioned by police just hours after Ute's death,
Starting point is 00:28:44 Johnny's memory had seemed to fail him. Don't you think I would remember if I went over to her house? Apparently not. You don't remember a lot of things. But 18 months later, in a deposition for Pella's suit, it was much better. I don't know why she was there. I think she was probably looking for something. there. I think she was probably looking for something. He now told an elaborate story about discovering Uta in his house in the early morning hours of the day she died. Can you tell me what was in your house that Uta may have wanted? An old bag of coffee. Coffee bags? Well, coffee bags because she had told him previously that she had put some substance in the coffee that caused his second ex-wife to have a miscarriage. Run that by me again?
Starting point is 00:29:34 Yeah, and I don't know why he said that. That's what he said in the deposition. And again, that was speculation on his part. Problem is, the miscarriages were in 2008, three years before Uta died. And Johnny's then-wife said she never even drank coffee when she was pregnant. There were a whole lot of news stories that we hadn't heard, contradictory statements, newfound tales that he's spinning in front of me. DNA results from the crime scene, including from
Starting point is 00:30:06 under one of Uta's fingernails, didn't clarify things, showing only a positive match to a male in the Wall family. So your contention is that this DNA is absolutely meaningless? It's meaningless. Johnny has the same DNA as his two sons. But with the knife wounds, the Xanax, and Johnny's own words, investigators felt they had a solid case. And on April 25, 2013, more than a year and a half after Uta was found dead in her bathtub, Johnny Wall was arrested and charged with her murder. So what was it like then when finally, after all this time, he was actually charged? Exhilarating. A real huge relief. I couldn't believe that it had happened. I felt devastated. I think we all did. It was just, it was, it was an incredible tragedy.
Starting point is 00:31:02 It was an incredible tragedy. On February 18, 2015, the doctor, now the defendant, would stand trial. Ladies and gentlemen, there is only one person who did this to Devon Schwedler, the defendant. Ladies and gentlemen, the evidence is going to show that those knife wounds were self-inflicted, that the Xanax was most likely voluntarily injected. And without those facts, it's clear that death was not a homicide. Soon, a jury will decide how Ute von Schwedler really died. His campaign to see his father tried for murder has cost Pellewal emotionally and financially. It's essentially my entire inheritance from my mother. He says he has no regrets.
Starting point is 00:32:06 But his Aunt Wendy, Johnny's sister, regrets everything he's done. I think that Johnny felt devastated, you know, when Pella, in some ways you could say, turned on him, I suppose. Everybody in our family, Johnny included, still very much loves Pella. And I think that we're all trying to remember that he's gone through incredible trauma. The culmination of Pella's efforts, the murder trial of his father, Mr. Jansen, are you ready to call your first witness? Yes, you're on air.
Starting point is 00:32:39 Leads off with testimony from the man who made the grisly discovery of Uta's body. The state would call Nils Abramson. Her boyfriend, Nils Abramson, told prosecutor Matthew Jansen what else he found. This is Alana's personal scrapbook album. You indicated that this photo album was in the tub? In the tub, yes. It was floating by her feet by the cold water shutoff. This was a long time in coming.
Starting point is 00:33:07 What was your general state of mind when the trial began? Apprehensive, but completely ready. Nill's cross-examination was rough. I don't remember. As defense attorney Fred Meadows zeroed in on him as a possible suspect. Did you turn the body? I don't recall. Let me have you read the beginning with the fire department.
Starting point is 00:33:32 Does that refresh your reflection as to what you said to Wilkinson? Yes, it does. And did you in fact tell him that you rolled the body? It says right there I did. It was implied that you might be a murderer. I knew that would come up. I wasn't sure it would come up the way it did, but I misspoke in my first statement.
Starting point is 00:33:49 To clear up any confusion, the prosecutor asked Nils one simple question. Did you kill the two-punch swindler? No. Pella, now 21, was a prosecution witness, but the judge gave him special permission to sit through all the testimony. Mr. Wall, if you want to come forward and be sworn, please raise your right hand. He'd waited more than three years for this day.
Starting point is 00:34:15 Did you approach the stand thinking, I am not going to look at him, or I'm going to look right at him? I knew that I'd look at my dad at some point on the stand, but I think most of what I was focusing my attention on was talking to the jury. So I was in my bedroom getting my stuff, getting ready to go, and my dad
Starting point is 00:34:34 came in trailed by my three younger siblings. They were all kind of crying, obviously very distraught, very upset. And my dad said, Uta's dead, and they think I did it. Pella told the jury about his father's bizarre behavior. And so he was kind of just babbling and rambling, but he was saying things along the lines of, am I a monster? What if I did it and I don't remember? I think he also
Starting point is 00:34:57 said, I want my mom or I want my mommy at one point. Defense attorney Meadows treading lightly suggested Pella didn't really know much about his parents' relationship or why they fought. I feel like I heard about the divorce decree quite a bit. I don't know that I actually read it myself. The bottom line is you really don't know in terms of what the court had ordered what your dad was entitled to with those. At the time or now? At the time. I may have known that they were shared property. I may have known that. I'm not 100% sure though. You may be seated. With a circumstantial case and no direct evidence against Dr. Wall, the trial soon became a battle of expert witnesses. There's 15 different patterns altogether.
Starting point is 00:35:48 The majority of them are on the top side. Prosecution blood expert Rod Englert. This comforter is consistent with a violent struggle. There's some violence going on. There's a struggle. More than one person. Englert told the jury that Uta fought desperately to live, despite high levels of Xanax
Starting point is 00:36:07 in her system. Uta rallied and was fighting back. In the bathroom? In the bathroom. She stopped fighting when the Xanax kicked in, prosecutors believe, theorizing that it was injected by Dr. Wall, who crushed the pills and mixed them with alcohol. Ridiculous, says the defense. Uta took the Xanax herself, and the bloodstains don't contradict that. Could they tell you if someone rallied after being unconscious or unalert? No. Defense expert Anita Zanin. Could you conclude, conclusively determine whether or not there was a struggle there? I could not. There's some movement, but what caused it, whether it was one person, two people, ten people, I can't answer that. Another defense expert, forensic pathologist Judy Melnick, said the knife wounds on Uta's leg and wrist do tell a story.
Starting point is 00:37:02 None of these wounds are fatal. They're all superficial. The fact that the knife is underneath her, in my opinion, makes it more likely that it's self-inflicted. She also had a theory as to why one of Uta's precious photo albums would be found with her. There's a much-loved photo album in the bathtub. People who self-injure or commit suicide will often have mementos next to them. But when prosecutor Anna Rossi suggested that the crime scene was staged to look like a suicide, I want to talk about some of the questions that you had. Things got heated. If someone came in there with the intent to murder her and make it look like a suicide, they're not going to stab
Starting point is 00:37:40 her there, correct? She's a tough person. I don't see any injuries on her body that suggest that someone restrained her in order to inject her. And even if they did, she's still got multiple minutes where she could fight them off. It doesn't make sense. Johnny Wall did not testify, but his own words on tape when questioned by police were powerful evidence against him. I'm asking you a very simple question. I know. Did you drive from your house to Uta's house between Thursday and Monday? I don't remember. So what did you make of that? I think it was suspicious. He was evading questions. What traumatic incident could have happened between Thursday and Monday? I don't know.
Starting point is 00:38:28 That did happen. You don't know. Trying to basically create a scenario that he could wiggle out of. The defense argued Dr. Wall's memory lapses were natural. You're selectively doing that. Given that detectives bullied and lied to him for hours. You think this is our first rodeo? The reason why you don't want to remember is because you yelled
Starting point is 00:38:51 at her. And we will prove it. How could you say that? We will prove it. I didn't do it! The prosecution's final witness? Good morning. Dr. Marcella Fierro, who said, based on the medical and psychological history,
Starting point is 00:39:07 Uta had no reason to kill herself. This is an organized professional woman, okay? She has four kids, which is enough to drive anybody nuts, but she's not nuts, all right? And yes, several years ago, she was upset and she was depressed because she had a pending divorce. That, my friends, is normal. That is not mental illness. With only closing arguments remaining, that issue, Uta's state of mind, may be a major factor when the jury decides the doctor's fate. Is the state prepared to proceed with the closing argument? The state is ready. All right, go ahead.
Starting point is 00:40:02 Four weeks of testimony has come down to two questions. Did Johnny Wall kill Uta von Schwedler or did Uta kill herself? What was your state of mind? How did you feel it had gone? I felt good. At one point, I was scared it was going too well. You know, I was afraid something bad was going to happen. As you've already heard many times, Uta von Schwedler was found dead in her bungalow home. This was no suicide. Uta was murdered. It makes no sense to say these are defensive injuries. The locations are consistent with them being self-imposed. Defense attorney Fred Meadows also attacked the testimony of the state's expert witness, Dr. Marcella Fierro.
Starting point is 00:40:42 She's small and she's thin. Who testified that Xanax would have rendered Uta unconscious. I think she used the expression that it was like she would be hit by a board or knocked out, something to that effect. Well, if she's unconscious, how do those handprints show up on the wall? They can't. If she's struggling and fighting, why don't we have more than just the handprints? Just because Dr. Marcella Fierro thinks something happened doesn't mean it did. Dr. Fierro didn't say that she got hit by a board when that Xanax was administered. She said that she was hit by a brick wall.
Starting point is 00:41:22 And I'll contend that's a Johnny Brickman wall that hit her and hit her hard. I expect Johnny to be vindicated. I believe that Johnny will be found innocent. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the case is now concluded, and what remains is for you to deliberate and decide the verdict in this case. For you to prevail, basically the jury has to believe his story on about five different subjects. If they doubt any one of them, it sort of falls apart.
Starting point is 00:41:50 No, that's not true. You've got to remember, we don't have to prove anything. The state has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed it. We're told that deliberations could go well past 5 o'clock tonight. In fact, the jury deliberated until almost 9, and then a verdict. We got up, we started yelling around the house, we have a verdict, we have a verdict, let's go, let's get our stuff on. I got the text and I was out the door like a bullet.
Starting point is 00:42:25 In the packed courtroom, members of one family hope for two very different outcomes. Dr. Wall, would you and your counsel please rise? The verdict will now be read. State of Utah versus Johnny Brickman Wall. We the jurors in the above case find the defendant, Johnny Brickman Wall, as follows. Count one, criminal homicide, murder, guilty. On one side, warm embraces and tears of joy. On the other, shock and disbelief.
Starting point is 00:42:59 For Johnny Wall, no obvious emotion at all. As soon as that word was read, there was just this release of breath, just, right? It was just like this huge weight had just dropped off. A lot of relief, a lot of happiness. People are going to hear the word happiness and it's going to be a little jarring, you know, because this is such a wrenching experience for anyone to have had to have gone through. Happiness in the sense of safety. We can put this stage of our life behind us. But no verdict can fill the void. I dearly miss Uta's bright and engaging smile.
Starting point is 00:43:44 In a written statement, Johnny Wall's family said this verdict will not bring Uta back. Now, to that tragedy has been added the conviction of an innocent man. I think on some level he really does believe that he's innocent and at this point that he was wrongly convicted. that he's innocent and at this point that he was wrongly convicted. Pella has his conviction. He would like a confession. You don't expect that you'll ever be in a situation where you'll be able to talk to him and just say, what were you thinking? Why did this happen? I mean, I expect that I will talk to him once he's in prison.
Starting point is 00:44:24 I mean, I think I can ask him the questions, but I don't expect that he'll answer. He'll just, you know, shake his head and basically maintain the victim stance that he's always maintained. But you do think you'll talk to him again? Yeah, I think I will. In the name of thy son, Jesus Christ, amen. Amen.
Starting point is 00:44:43 Okay, guys. Today, Pella and his younger siblings consider the Oglesbees their family. And here we go. One, two, three. Although the memories of their mother, Uta, are as enduring as the mountains she loved. I think she really enjoyed being up here, being outside in the fresh air. How do you want people to remember her? I just want people to remember her as a person, as a real person. And I think that the real Uta, my real mom, that's who I want to remember,
Starting point is 00:45:20 and that's who I want other people to remember. With the curly red hair? Curly red hair. Three months after the murder trial, Ute von Schwedler's family and friends were reunited in a Salt Lake City courtroom at the sentencing hearing for her ex-husband and convicted killer, Johnny Wall. Oldest son Pella Wall was there front and center and witnessed his father enter the courtroom dressed in prison blues, handcuffs, and leg shackles.
Starting point is 00:46:01 So please step forward and tell me anything you'd like me to consider in making my sentencing decision today. Pella told the crowded courtroom how his father's fatal decision had caused so much damage. The fact that my father clearly premeditated my own mother's murder, making the incomprehensible judgment that she was not fit to live, is something I will have to carry for the rest of my life. Then Johnny Wall, the former pediatrician, finally would break his silence with a message for his children. I can no longer assist them and support them in achieving their hopes and dreams, nor can I comfort them in their times of need. I can only hope that they know how much I love them unconditionally, absolutely.
Starting point is 00:46:47 And he emphatically denied any involvement in his ex-wife's death. I did not kill Uta. I am innocent of this crime. As for my future, it is my intent to exercise my right to appeal and I will continue to fight this wrongful conviction. We, the jurors in the above case, find the defendant. The jury had recommended Wall serve a sentence of 15 years to life for Uta's murder, and the judge agreed. What the jury found was a chilling and despicable crime. This is a sad day, and it's with a heavy heart that I impose this sentence. Pella now can begin a new chapter in his life. Like his father, he plans to be a physician. If you like this podcast, you can listen ad-free right now
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