48 Hours - House of Secrets

Episode Date: September 3, 2024

On September 4, 2006, Kathy Wangler, wife of anesthesiologist Dr. Mark Wangler, died from carbon monoxide poisoning in their home in Lima, Ohio. Their thirty-year marriage had been falling apart; three years later, in 2009, investigators came to the conclusion that Dr. Wangler had murdered his wife. Kathy’s mother and sisters felt that since Mark was familiar with gasses that he was able to plan and execute the perfect murder. Mark was arrested and the case was brought to trial. “48 Hours" correspondent Peter Van Sant reports. This classic "48 Hours" episode last aired on 6/16/2012. Watch all-new episodes of “48 Hours” on Saturdays, and stream on demand on Paramount+.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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, and even your overall well-being. And you can enjoy Audible anytime, while doing household chores, exercising, commuting, you name it.

There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial, and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.ca. It was 1989 in Titusville, Florida. Kim Hallig said she and her ex-boyfriend Chip Flynn were kidnapped and attacked at gunpoint. Kim fled the scene, but Chip didn't make it out alive. Did you kill Chip Flynn? No, ma'am. Crosley Green has lived more than half his life behind bars for a crime he says he didn't commit. I'm Erin Moriarty of 48 Hours, and of all the cases I've covered,

this is the one that troubles me most, involving an eyewitness account that doesn't quite make sense. A sister testified against a brother. They always say lies, You can't remember lies. A lack of physical evidence. And questions about whether Crosley Green was accused, arrested, and convicted because he's black. Just because a white female says a black man has committed a crime, we take that as gospel.

Listen to Murder in the Orange Grove, the Trouble Case Against Crosley Green, early and ad-free with a 48-hours-plus subscription on Apple Podcasts. My parents had a very loving relationship. They were a team. They were always there for us whenever. They always supported us. I thought it was great. Because I love you too much, Mark.

She was very outgoing and very bubbly. I loved Kathy. Merry Christmas. If you could describe Kathy in one word, it would be fun. She had this musical laugh. outgoing and very bubbly. I loved Kathy. Merry Christmas! If you could describe Kathy in one word, it would be fun. She had this musical laugh, really enjoyed life. There's Mark. Mark Wengler is an anesthesiologist, and by all counts an excellent doctor.

Mark's sweet, he's considerate, he's smart, he's funny. He's a very spiritual man. Mark Wengler is a religious man. I'm Greg Sawinski, I'm the crime reporter at the Lima News. I've been here for 16 years. On September 4th, 2006, there was a strange incident at the Wengler home on Yorkshire Drive. My dad said that he woke up in the middle of the night.

I remember having to go around and figure out, you know, is there a fire in the house? You know, what alarm is going off? I figure out that it's the carbon monoxide detector and I then go up to check on Kathy. So he ran upstairs to check on my mom and she wasn't responding so then he started giving her CPR and called 911.

People do die by accident so it seemed like one of those things that we initially were gonna write about and probably never write about again. It's like one of these freak accidents that you hear from people of other people's families that this happened to and you never think it will happen to yours. Nobody listed as a suspect. There really didn't seem like a reason to list anybody as a suspect.

Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas. There were several things that were red flags, suspicious in nature. Three years later, you start hearing some whispers behind the scenes. You heard that they were in the house removing ductwork. They were continuing to check into different angles. You think, what's happening here? Why are they doing all this investigation?

Is this a murder case now? I had formulated a theory that carbon monoxide had been forced through the ductwork at a very high rate of speed over a short duration of time up the ductwork and into the room that Kathy was in. There's a lot of mystery and intrigue surrounding this case. We felt we had enough evidence to make an arrest. This was a murder. This whole case hinges on the theory that gas filled the garage, came down here to the basement, was sucked into this furnace, went up two floors, and killed someone.

That's ridiculous. As police continue to investigate the strange death of Kathy Wengler in her home, At first it was just lonely and devastating. Her husband, Dr. Mark Wengler, found comfort in his church. He also found comfort in an old friend, Esther Erkman. The thing is with Esther and I was we had known each other for a long period of time. Not romantically, you know, had just known each other. In fact, Esther and her husband had been friends with Mark and Kathy for years. Yeah, I saw them many times. They would go out with us, with my husband and I, on many occasions.

Esther, a psychologist with a PhD, had great respect for Mark, a top anesthesiologist in Lima, Ohio. He's a good doctor. He's a requested doctor. He practiced for 29, 30 years with never losing a patient, never being sued for malpractice. They were brought together by an odd twist of fate. Esther had lost her spouse as well when he underwent a gender change operation and began living life as a woman.

Some of my friends tell me that I should write a book, but then I challenge them and I ask them, would it wind up in the autobiography or the fiction section? Because nobody would believe it. The couple began seeing each other and soon fell in love. As people sail through life, you know, in a sense, he's the anchor that I need, and I'm the wind in his sails. But Mark was still haunted by what he has always said was a bizarre accident when Kathy was killed by carbon monoxide poisoning that Labor Day weekend in 2006.

It happened to be a Sunday, so Kathy and I got up and went to church together. On that night, the two were sleeping in separate bedrooms. I would go to bed earlier because I had to get up earlier. Kathy was very much a night owl. Mark was sleeping on the first floor, here in the master bedroom. The next thing that I remember is waking up or being woken up by an alarm. We had the carbon monoxide alarm down in the basement. A piercing sound?

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Mark says his natural gas water heater had malfunctioned, sending poisonous carbon monoxide into the ductwork of the house. Kathy was sleeping here on the second floor, and horribly, with this door closed, this room became a gas chamber. Mark says he began staggering around, feeling strangely woozy and disoriented, the classic signs of carbon monoxide poisoning. I was nauseated. I remember vomiting somewhere along the line as I was going through the house.

And I then go up to check on Kathy. She was sleeping on one of those inflatable mattresses. Was she breathing? I guess she was at that point. one of those inflatable mattresses. Was she breathing? I guess she was at that point. I couldn't wake her up. Mark quickly calls 911. My carbon monoxide detector has gone off,

and my wife's having a seizure. I'm going to start opening all the windows and stuff. Please get here quickly. I did do CPR on her. I did do CPR on her. One, two, three, four, five, ten, two... She's not coming around. Okay, just go... Are they on their way? Yes, they're on their way.

Just go ahead and continue CPR. The paramedics rushed in, but just 38 minutes later, Kathy was pronounced dead at the hospital. Their youngest son, Aaron, away at college, received a call with the tragic news. I just cried the whole time. It was very like, I can't believe this is real, you know? Like, you just can't believe that your mom's gone or like even one of your parents, and especially I was 21 at the time. You don't expect to lose a parent at so young. Aaron and his older brother Nathan rushed to Lima to be

with the family. Just devastating. I just sobbed on each other's shoulders. We just bawled and bawled. The only reason he survived, Mark says, is blind luck. He says Kathy caused the toilet in the master bathroom to overflow. Mark had opened a window and turned on a fan to air the room out. Mark was questioned by police, but not charged. With Esther by his side, he slowly moved on with his life and returned to work. Just having somebody who's an anchor, a point of sanity in my life was such a blessing. And 14 months after Kathy's death, they were married. I take it you love this man.

I do, I love him very much. They settled into a life focused on each other and their church. Traveling to Zambia on aid missions. We've been providing means to have water wells drilled in that country, which just has a huge impact. But back in Lima, the newlyweds lived under a cloud of suspicion. You've talked about insinuation, and you know there's sort of a whisper campaign out there.

Absolutely. That suggests you and Mark were having an affair prior to Kathy's death. Is that true? No. He didn't even hold my hand, Peter, until after my divorce was final. That's the kind of man he is. While Mark believed the investigation was over, Allen County Prosecutor Juergen Waldick never closed the case, always troubled by Mark's story. On the very night that your wife is killed by carbon monoxide,

you happen to be sleeping in a bedroom with the window open and a fan going. Okay, is she still conscious? I mean, is she breathing? No, I think she's not breathing. And Waldick was bothered by Dr. Wangler's behavior on the 911 call. At the insistence of the 911 operator only, he goes back and checks to see whether she has a pulse

or whether or not she's breathing. Sir, I need you to check for me. No, she's not breathing. Okay, does she have a heartbeat? No, she doesn't! If things look so fishy, why wasn't Dr. Wangler charged with the crime? We continued the investigation. We had our suspicions.

Is there a part of you that wonders, could he have done this? Never, never. That's never even crossed my mind. You've never doubted your phone? Never once. Did you murder your wife, Kathy? Absolutely not.

Kill her with carbon monoxide? No. Are you living with a killer? No. You know, if I was living with the evil genius, I think I might be one of the first to know. In fact, you have a Ph.D. in psychology. Yes, I do.

And as part of that, you can read people pretty well, I take it. I'd like to think so. But Kathy's family is convinced Mark has everybody fooled. That the man trained to put people to sleep had come up with a textbook murder. Kathy Wagner is dead today because of money. You're sure of that? I know that. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California.

Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert 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. Hotshot 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 defence attorney, I've seen some crazy cases, and this one belongs right at the top of the list. 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. Before her bizarre and tragic death by carbon monoxide poisoning,

Kathy Wangler touched many lives, says her friend Sherry Miller. She looked right into your heart, and if you were a good person, she was going to pull you right into hers, and she was going to love you with everything she had. Friend Heidi Frederick. There are people in this world that just naturally glow with life,

and Kathy was one of those people. Kathy was the oldest of five siblings in a tight-knit Ohio family. Her sister Joanne. She was always looking out for everybody and she was a good sister. Everybody was really close. Kathy married Mark Wengler when they were both in their 20s and she worked to help put him through medical school. Each summer as a volunteer at the Allen County Fair, Kathy raised thousands of dollars for the local school district. In her 30s, she went back to school here at Ohio State University to get a degree in business.

Rodney Null was one of her professors. She honestly wanted to learn, grow, and do more things with her life. But most of all, Kathy was a dedicated mother. A very loving person, always there for my brother and I through thick and thin, always pushed us to excel, supported us nonstop, supported my father. Her husband Mark says they were opposites. She was very outgoing. I tend to be much more introverted. A lot of people say I'm awkward around other people,

and that's a fair assessment. I am rather awkward. The early years with the children were happy ones, enjoying holidays... Oh, a break box! ...and traveling the world. And here's Kathy. But the couple drifted apart after their sons went to college.

She would come home from Walmart and pop a bag down, and I'd say, oh, what'd you get at Walmart? And she would say, like, why do you need to know? And I'm like, well, I guess I didn't need to know. I said I was just curious. So little things like that. Did the two of you talk about separation? No, we never did. Never talk about divorce?

No, no, we didn't. But by 2006, they were sleeping in separate bedrooms. Kathy had gained quite a bit of weight. And as she gained a lot of gained weight she snored violently. Mark was also upset by her lack of attention to housekeeping and the amount of money she was charging on credit cards. Tens of thousands of dollars worth of jewelry. I came to find that there was about another sixty thousand dollars worth of credit card debt came to find that there was about another $60,000 worth of credit card debt that I had not been aware of.

He also discovered she had opened a secret bank account with $16,000 from their joint account. The fact that Kathy had set up a separate bank account, isn't that an indication, isn't that evidence, that she was heading into a new and separate life away from you with her own finances? Yeah, it was. And we were in counseling at the time. Would you say that the two of you were falling out of love? No, I wouldn't say falling out of love.

At least, you know, I didn't consider that. You know, I loved Kathy. But Kathy's family became concerned after Joanne witnessed a disturbing incident between them. They were literally having a wrestling match over a checkbook. When I turned around, they kind of stopped. And he said to Kathy, this is no way to run a marriage. Did it upset you when you saw it? Yes. I was physically shaking. I don't know what made me say it, but I looked at Kathy and I said, is it safe to leave you here? And she said, yes, I'll be fine. Soon after, the marriage hit rock

bottom. She kind of got emotional and broke down and told me, you know, things were bad. She said, if I could imagine everything awful that could have been done to her other than being beaten or raped, Mark had done it to her. And she said when the time was right, she would sit down and explain everything to me. But we never got that time. But Mark tried to blame Kathy, making a stunning comment to her mother, Sarah, a year before Kathy's death. He said, first place, he said, I want to tell you one thing. Your daughter is a monster. I said, oh, really? I said, in what way is she a monster? Well, she doesn't do what I tell her to do. I said, that's a monster?

Kathy's mother suggested a divorce. Oh, he said, I can't get a divorce. Then he quoted a couple doctors that had gotten divorces and how much it cost them. But Kathy told her sister Joanne she was reluctant to get a divorce too. And I said, why can't you? And she said, he will cut off the boys. And I said, well, what's wrong with that? They're in their 20s.

You know, they're out of the house. And she goes, I can't leave. He'll cut the money off to the boys. With tensions escalating in the summer of 2006, Kathy told various friends about her fears. She had told me that her husband was out to destroy her financially, emotionally, psychologically, in the community, at her church, that he was in the process of working to destroy her. Rodney Knoll remembers his last conversation with Kathy. I say to her, I said, well, take care of yourself.

The usual getting ready to say bye kind of comment. And she says, oh, I will. You have to when somebody's trying to destroy you. And she says, and I mean that literally. And three days later later she's dead i gotta tell you that that leaves a feeling in the pit of your stomach your gut that something sinister something evil's happened it was almost like a sherlock holmes kind of a mystery because we don't have that smoking gun. By early 2007, four months had passed since Kathy Wengler died from an apparent accidental carbon monoxide poisoning. Somehow, while sleeping in the same house, Dr. Mark Wengler had escaped death.

Did you ever, for a day, believe this was an accident? No. Kathy's mother, Sarah, and her family were convinced Mark was getting away with murder. I know we all felt Mark did it. The police investigation seemed to be going nowhere, so Sarah and her daughters launched their own plan. It was my strategy. They stayed close to Mark,

pretending they believed his story. That's what we wanted him to think. Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer. That was the philosophy. All the while, writing down his actions after Kathy died, hoping to build a case against him. The fake crying, get rid of all her stuff right away. He kept giving different stories about how she died.

He didn't want to be buried beside her, and he didn't care where we buried her. In the limo on the way to the grave site in Salina, Mark was kind of short with my mom. He told a joke about how people were dying to get in the cemetery. Convinced Mark was responsible, Sarah called the Allen County Sheriff's Department

with an ultimatum. I said, you people have never returned our phone calls. We have now decided that we're going to the media. Soon after, the Sheriff's Department assigned veteran investigator Clyde Breidigen to the case. The family had some doubts, but the family wanted answers. And Breidigen had questions. What did kill her? They were looking for the answer.

Was it the hot water tank? Was it something inside that home? And I conducted like 80 or 85 interviews with different people. Breitig and quickly learned from Kathy's family that the Wangler marriage had become a disaster. Mark and Kathy treated each other equally evil, and that they would do things to each other just to get under each other's skin. And Mark's story of a faulty water heater that emitted carbon monoxide wasn't quite adding up. Breitigan interviewed gas company workers who had been at the Wangler house after Kathy's death.

And they examined and tested the water heater, the furnace, the vent-free fireplace. They could not find anything malfunctioning on the morning of the 4th. And Mark's behavior, his lack of anger, struck Breitigan as odd. From my point of view, if my wife had died in our home and there was any suspicion from an appliance, I would be yelling and screaming, okay, who installed this and what did you do wrong?

None of that ever took place. And there was that seemingly strange coincidence. An anesthesiologist whose wife dies from being gassed. As an anesthesiologist, wife dies from being gassed. As an anesthesiologist, you know about carbon monoxide. Not really. Carbon monoxide isn't something that comes into play as an anesthesiologist. But Breitigan learned from one of Mark's medical partners that simply wasn't true. He had told me Dr. Wangler was a master with gases and that he had been trained in the

old style anesthesiologist techniques and knew all about gases, knew all about carbon monoxide. But where exactly would the carbon monoxide have come from? Right in Dr. Wangler's own garage, Breitigan figured, which held two cars and a generator with a camper in the driveway. I had formulated a theory, a mobile source of carbon monoxide. One of the cars, the generator, whatever, had introduced carbon monoxide into the home. Police performed tests on the camper. And either by use, and I can't prove or disprove this, by use of a hose, introduced the carbon monoxide into the furnace with the furnace motor running.

The poisonous gas traveled through the ductwork of the house into Kathy's bedroom, two floors above, killing her. Crazy. Wrong. Speculation. Killing her. Crazy. Wrong. Speculation. Mark's defense attorney, Chris McDowell, says the hose theory is nonsense. The hoses that were in this house were the hoses that are in anyone's home. A garden hose. Pests were performed on the garden hose. And there's no residue of any of this on this hose.

The hose theory is totally debunked. In fact, McDowell says any theory involving gas from a motor is impossible because that hot gas would have had to travel downward from the first floor garage into the basement. According to the prosecution, the gas then goes down these steps and into the basement. It defies the laws of gravity, the laws of what gas does. Well, according to them, it goes into the furnace area here,

and then he somehow unscrews all of these screws. It's absolutely bogus. It's science fiction. But Breitigin acted on his theory. The detective got a search warrant and removed sections of the ductwork from the Wangler home. He had it tested at a lab for the presence of microscopic exhaust residue. The conclusions were that something had been introduced into the ductwork at a very high rate of speed over a short duration of time. Which is crazy because had that really occurred,

they would have found him dead right here. What really happened, McDowell says, was a tragic accident caused by a defective vent connected to the water heater. And gas from this water heater that ordinarilyarily would go outside, is now trapped inside the home. And it eventually makes its way up to the bedroom where Mrs. Wangler is sleeping. But police don't buy that. And three years after Kathy's death, they finally arrest Mark Wangler and charge him

with murder. Just, in a nutshell, horrible. I just had a very sick feeling, and you just feel all of that energy drain out of you. You've gone from being a valued member of this community to, in some people's eyes, an evil genius who killed his wife. Yeah, I guess that would be a correct assessment of the situation. While awaiting trial, Dr. Wangler takes comfort in his religion. And Kathy's loved ones hope that judgment day is near.

If he has killed his wife, he's going to hell along with Satan. 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, 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?

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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-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. It's just the best idea yet. From the bottom of our hearts, we want to say thanks. We prayed for a good jury,

and my lawyers told me that they couldn't be more pleased. Four and a half years after Kathy Wengler's poisoned, lifeless body was discovered in her home, her husband goes on trial for her murder. Did you hook up a hose? No, I did not. To your motorhome? Absolutely not. Did you hook up a hose? No, I did not. To your motor home? Absolutely not. And gas your wife that night?

Absolutely not. He needs to be found guilty, for everybody's sake. Kathy's family arrives at the courthouse, ready to absorb every detail. Go ahead, ladies. The defendant was deeply obsessed with religion. In her opening statement,

Assistant Prosecutor Jenna Emrick cuts to the heart of Mark Wangler's motive. And a divorce would cause him to lose his standing and reputation in the church. And of course, a divorce after nearly 30 years of marriage would cost him a small fortune. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, Dr. Mark Wangler is innocent. In his opening, Wangler's attorney Chris McDowell makes his strategy clear. This case has been brought as a result of a poor police investigation.

The prosecution begins. 911, what is your emergency? brought as a result of a poor police investigation. The prosecution begins... 911, what is your emergency? ...as jurors watch Mark listening to himself on that 911 call. Is she breathing? No, I think she's not breathing. Does she have a heartbeat?

No, she died in bed. The courtroom is riveted. Did you open up her airway? Yes, I did. Okay. I'm an anesthesiologist. Okay. Well, first of all, he's an anesthesiologist.

Lead prosecutor, Juergen Waldick. And he shouldn't need prompting from a 911 operator to check to see whether his wife is breathing, to see whether she has a heartbeat. You know, are you aware that carbon monoxide can affect different people in different ways? But McDowell says any odd behavior is because Wangler himself was overcome by carbon monoxide. Because your brain is starved of oxygen. You become very confused. You become disoriented. He appeared to have no trouble walking, no trouble talking to you, no trouble relaying information to you. But the prosecution argues that Mark's efforts to give Kathy CPR were all an act anyway. Come on, Kathy, come on. Because Kathy was most likely dead before he dialed 911.

She's not coming around. An emergency room doctor testifies Kathy's body was already cold. What I can say is that it seemed to me from my experience of 22 years that she'd been dead for much longer. that she'd been dead for much longer. The prosecution then introduces photos taken shortly after Kathy's death showing soot marks above the vent in her room. They say it's telltale evidence that engine exhaust was used to kill her.

They believe Dr. Wangler closed all the vents in the house except the one in the house, except the one in her room. People will testify that those stains had been on the walls for years before. Those marks were actually there before I moved for college. Aaron Wangler tells jurors he should know because that used to be his room. So that was back in 2004. I never really cleaned my room that much at all, to be honest.

And older brother Nathan Wangler testifies the soot marks are just residue from burning candles. If we enjoyed candles, we burned a lot of candles. Throughout the entire house, there's actually discoloration on the walls, on the ceiling. Investigators were never able to test those soot stains. Mark had painted the wall in the months after Kathy's death. Yet it's not soot marks, but secrets that prosecutors hope will sway the jury. These journals written by Dr. Mark Wangler, evidence Breidegen uncovered

during a search of the Wangler home after a tip from Kathy's mom. Then I said to him, when they got search warrant, I said, did you find the journals? And he said, what journals? I said, there's journals. Because Kathy always told me about every morning he'd get up and write something in his journal.

The entries are damning. Lord, Satan has found a weak area to attack me, my marriage and family. For the first time, Mark Wengler's most private, secret feelings about his wife and marriage are publicly revealed as Breidegen reads them in court. Five things I have asked Kathy to improve but has not. Number one, keep the house cooked, clean, make bed. Two, lose weight. She has gained around 80 pounds in the past 20 years.

The entries are extremely personal. I feel judged and rejected by Kathy. Kathy thinks I am boring in bed. Kathy doesn't really listen to me. I do not trust Kathy. I feel picked on and put down. I just went home after reading them every night, depressed. I felt sorry for the guy. But Mark Wangler says the marriage counselor had told him to write down his feelings and to be brutally honest. We were in counseling. I was trying to reconnect. I loved Kathy.

As time goes on, the entries get increasingly desperate. Sometimes I feel rage. I feel trapped with no escape. I pray that I can endure life. Please cast Satan and his demons attacking me out from my life for a time. I think he thought Kathy was evil and that Satan was working through her. His mind was twisted to the point that he thought that's what God wanted him to do, to rid the world of the evil one. I see that I am sensitive and that I tend to keep anger inside until I explode. Dr. Wangler even wrote about taking his own life in a way that startled

investigators. Thoughts of suicide are a little strong again. Satan is attacking in new way this time, using car exhaust. And then, on September 1st, three days before Kathy's death, an ominous plea to God. Dear Lord, I place our marriage on your altar. Please act in a powerful way.

Then in November, two months after her burial, Mark writes... And I prayed for God to act in a powerful way that night. Little did I know that three nights later, our marriage would be changed forever. He used God to justify his actions. I was thinking he was thanking God she was dead. The diaries are powerful circumstantial evidence. But are they enough to convict the doctor of murder? Prosecutor Waldick still has one big hole in his case. Prosecutor Waldick still has one big hole in his case. He hasn't explained to the jury exactly how the carbon monoxide got into the ductwork,

or what engine was used. But as we talk right now, you can't say definitively what the source of that carbon monoxide was, right? No. And that doesn't trouble you? No. And Chris McDowell is counting on those missing facts to set Mark Wengler free. There is not a single theory the government has come up with that makes any sense whatsoever. 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 they reached the age of 10 that would still a virgin. It just happens to all of us. 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+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous. In his ears, the Lord's ears are open to their prayer.

But the faith of the Lord is against those who do evil. James 5.16 says, therefore confess your sins to one another. As Dr. Mark Wengler's freedom hangs in the balance. This may be my last Wednesday night prayer meeting. He and his wife Esther find strength in their faith. If the Lord calls me to serve him in prison, you know, as an inmate, that's what it's going to have to be. We just pray for your guidance, strength.

And we just have to be prepared for whatever happens and to accept whatever happens. This is the day of days for you. Do you have some optimism? Yeah. The way the evidence is, is just absolutely overwhelming. So, yeah, I've got a great deal of optimism. The problem with lying is that it's the little details

that catch up to you. Final arguments begin with prosecutor Janet Emmerich zeroing in on Mark's suspicious behavior the morning Kathy died. The defendant started to head into his own house because he wanted to take a shower. Now, if you really thought that a faulty hot water heater had just killed someone in that potentially unsafe home, the last thing you're going to do is go in there and take a shower. 911, what is your emergency? Emmerich dissects Mark's 911 call, saying it too points to his guilt. Is she breathing?

No, I think she's not breathing. Consider the defendant's tone of voice and demeanor. Does it sound a little staged, a little phony to you? Red flag. But defense attorney McDowell has a different take on that 911 call. When you listen to the tape, you can hear the panic in his voice. Okay, does she have a heartbeat? No, she doesn't. And he insists the prosecution never offered a clear explanation of how Dr. Wangler might

have murdered his wife with carbon monoxide. It's their theory it came from an internal combustion engine. If that's the case, there would be the strong smell associated with that gas. The gas and the vehicle exhaust fumes are intertwined. If you have one, you have the other. The lack of the exhaust smell is strong evidence of accident. He thought he had a perfect crime. As the case goes to the jury, Kathy's mother and siblings wait and pray for a verdict of guilty. We're

gonna put it in the hands of God. There will be justice with Kathy's death. What What is this weight like for you? Terrible. No words can describe it. But Kathy's son, Aaron, is praying for an acquittal. What if the verdict goes against your father? I'll be devastated. I mean, I've already lost one parent, and to lose another would be... It'd be a lot. Who's that?

That's my home phone. Excuse me. On the second day of deliberations, the call comes in. Okay, we'll be right there, Bill. That was Bill, and they have a verdict. What are you thinking? Just praying that, you know, for an acquittal. That's all I can say, Peter. Would you give the verdict forms to the bailiff, please?

Kathy's mother and siblings gather on one side of the courtroom, her two sons on the other. We, the jury, being duly impaneled and sworn by the defendant Mark A. Wangler, guilty of aggravated murder. Guilty of murder. Tears of relief and tears of sorrow. Mark Wangler appears stunned.

Then, Judge Richard Warren has some scathing words as he sentences him to life in prison. You violated the Ten Commandments. Thou shall not kill. You also violated the Hippocratic Oath. As a doctor, which is the first thing, you shall do no harm.

This courtroom drama isn't over. Kathy's mother is about to have the last word. We know you have always been a very selfish person who really did not care about our beautiful daughter, only yourself. It's a moment Sarah Schlarman has been waiting for

for almost five years. Laura, you senselessly robbed Kathy of her many most precious moments, her two sons, Nathan and Aaron. She worshiped them, did everything in the world for them. Then, the man once revered for saving lives is led away to prison for taking one. Esther Wangler vows to keep fighting to free her husband. He's innocent of his charges, so be out on appeal.

We will stop at nothing to get him out on appeal. This is a cruel, cruel, biased investigation. But it's clear this fight has taken its toll as she retreats to her home, comforted by her son. It's just going to be shock for a long time, just figuring out what to do day by day. For now, the case is closed. But for Detective Clyde Breidegen, there is no celebrating.

Thank you, sweetheart. Only thoughts of a family destroyed. Mommy, I love you! Thank you, guys. Thank you, guys! I feel sorry for everybody involved in this. Kathy's gone. Her family lost Kathy. Happy birthday, Peter Nathan! The two boys, Aaron Aaron and Nathan lost their mother. Nobody won in this

case. Nobody won. It's just sad. She loved life. I was always happy, loved family. I miss that laugh. If you like this podcast, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a quick survey at wondery.com slash survey. Paramount Podcasts