48 Hours - Mystery on County Road M - Encore

Episode Date: September 4, 2022

Todd Kendhammer says his wife was killed in an accident -- a pipe flew off a truck and crashed into their car. Authorities say the scene was staged. "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty reports.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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ConstantContact.ca I'd like to make a toast to Todd and Barb. Hope you live a long and happy life. Here's to Todd and Barb. All right. Jessica, a little b-girl. I always said when I was younger, you know, God, I want to be just like my parents. There's my son, Jordan. How old are you, Jordan? I want to be married young and have kids and all off,

just totally in love with my partner, just like them. All right, ladies and gentlemen, it's my understanding you've reached a verdict. Is that correct? Yes, Your Honor. Did it ever occur to you that your dad would be blamed for the death of your mother? Mr. Ken Hammer, if you'd please rise. Absolutely not. We, the jury, find the defendant, Todd A. Ken hammer if you please rise absolutely not leave the jury find the defendant Todd a Ken hammer guilty the first degree intentional homicide is

charged in the information husband's killer wives all the time husband's killer wives where only they know the motive every day but it happens all the the time. Todd Kenney recalled 9-1-1 at 8.06 a.m. on a Friday morning. He reported that there was an accident where a truck lost a pipe and it hit his wife and he needed help. He tried to do CPR while she bled all over. I think he was just frantic. This is the driver. This is Todd. I got to see if she's okay. Well, just wait. Let them do their work, okay?

The only thing he really cared about was what's happening to Barbara and when can I see her. She don't like to be alone. No, I wanted to go with her, man. I just didn't love you. The injuries on Barbara did not occur by a pipe coming through the windshield. Do you believe that Todd Kendhammer murdered his wife? Yes. And they exhaustively searched for a motive in this case. No infidelity, no financial trouble, no life insurance, no domestic violence history, no argument history.

Do I know why he did it all? I don't. no domestic violence history, no argument history. Do I know why he did it all? I don't. But I know it didn't happen from a pipe coming off a truck, because there was no truck, and none of his story is true. What are we looking at here? Here's the area where the pipe went through the windshield. You can tell standing right next to it, it's pretty easy to take a pipe and hit it just like that. It only makes sense one way, is that he caused her injuries, caused her death,

and tried to cover it up. It was a sensational narrative, the way the state wanted to present it. A man kills his wife, stages an accident. The jury was given a very narrow view of what really happened and what the evidence really showed. was given a very narrow view of what really happened and what the evidence really showed. What do you want people to know about your father?

That he's not a bad person. He didn't do this, and he deserves to come home. Do you think that Todd Kendhammer got a fair trial? No, I don't. All right, Dad, we'll get you out of the way. If this could happen to Todd Kendhammer got a fair trial? No, I don't. All right, Dad, we'll get you out of the way. If this could happen to Todd Kendhammer, it could happen to anybody. 🎵🎵🎵 Every year where the Mississippi widens out on its steady journey south, alongside the river town of La Crosse, Wisconsin, bald eagles gather. Lofty symbols of freedom, they soar close to the remote country road where 46-year-old Barbara Kendhammer was fatally injured. six-year-old Barbara Kandhammer was fatally injured. The circumstances so unusual made headlines and sent her husband Todd to prison for life. I just became fascinated by the story that

I saw unfolding here. I'm looking for the actual exhibit here. Now Todd Kandhammer's appeals team says his murder conviction is the true injustice that occurred in this controversial case. Do you believe that Todd Canthammer had anything to do with the death of his wife? No. This was an accident. You don't believe there was a murder at all? Not at all. This is not a murder case. It was because of this man right here, right?

Lawyer Jerry Buding is best known for defending Stephen Avery on Netflix Making a Murderer. And now, along with attorney Kathleen Stilling, who also happens to be his wife, they've taken on Todd's case, which they say should be measured by his marriage to Barbara. Their relationship was really special. And that was one of the things that really drew me to this case. The idea that out of the blue he would snap and kill his wife and then stage the accident, it just seems so implausible to me. They insist this isn't a murder mystery.

It's an old-fashioned love story that ended in a tragic accident. I want to talk to you about Bart. love story that ended in a tragic accident. I want to talk to you about Barbara. During his trial, Todd told the court that he fell for Barbara at first sight. Just one of these things where you know immediately that's the girl you want. Both were just 16. Friends at first, they began dating in 1989. And in August 1991, they sealed the deal.

Good night. Good night. Soon, Jessica and then Jordan came along. Hey. Witnesses, they say, to a romance. How would you describe your dad? Well, Mom always called him a wild hare. He's always, always, always on the go. Always has some new crazy idea.

And she just, like, was all about going with him for anything. To the kids, it was clear. Todd adored Barbara. He's just always, like, doting on her with stuff. Did your parents argue more than any other couple? Definitely not. I would say no. Basically, whatever my mom wanted, my dad gave it to her.

Barbara worked in the cafeteria at the West Salem Middle School. Todd at a factory, making aluminum soda cans. On the side, he flipped houses with Barb. That was like the biggest out-on-a-whim thing. He's like, let's buy a house and flip it. And we're just like, okay. For extra income, Todd also worked with glass, replacing people's smashed and broken windshields.

They paid their bills and lived comfortably. They were just in a really good time in their lives because they had their first grandchild and they were well off. In 2016, Jessica and Jordan threw their parents a surprise 25th anniversary party. Everything was perfect. It was good. Until it wasn't. Yeah. It was a month later, September 16, 2016. The Kendhammer family was preparing for their annual camping trip. The plan was to leave later that day, after Barb finished work. I woke up in the morning. My and dad were still home. I heard mom in the kitchen. It was early that morning. Jordan, home from college, says he heard the garage door open and his parents' car leave. No arguing, nothing unusual, he says. Just his dad likely driving his mom to work at school. If he had off, he'd take her to work and he'd

go about doing his errand things and then when he got done he'd pick her up. A little after 7 45, the couple stopped at the home of a neighbor. They were looking after her house while she was away and stayed just a few minutes and And then, surprisingly, instead of heading to Barb's school, Todd headed north, away from it. Why he did would become a critical question. At 8.05 a.m., a distraught Todd made that call to 911. He said there had been a horrible accident and Barbara was badly hurt. She's hitting her head and in the throat, I think, in the throat or something. At the scene, Todd began to tell his version of what happened. There was a pipe in the ground. No, it came out of that tree, off a truck.

Off a truck? A truck or a trailer or something. Barb was rushed to the hospital. Is she okay? I can't tell you that. I don't know. Placed by cops into a squad car, Todd continued with his account. I thought it was a bird at first, and then at the last minute I seen it, that it was a pipe. Soon, Jessica and Jordan met their father. He seemed devastated, his T-shirt soaked in blood. He was kind of pale and shaky and

panicky and wanted to know how she was doing like all the time. Tell me what he told you about the accident. They were driving and something came and it hit mom. I was like, how did a pipe hit her? He said it came through the windshield and I pulled it out of the windshield. I was like, how did a pipe hit her? He said, it came through the windshield, and I pulled it out of the windshield. How did you find out how seriously your mom was really injured? The neurosurgeons kept coming in and giving us updates, but the way that they're talking, her prognosis was pretty poor.

The start of a family holiday fast turned into an all-night bedside vigil. It wouldn't last long. It was like 4 or 5 or something, and they actually pronounced her, like, brain dead. How did your father deal with that news? He was just very upset. As dawn broke over the Mississippi, Barbara Kendhammer, wife, mother, grandmother, took her last breath. She was gone. The family mourned. They had already made the tough decision to donate Barbara's organs. But things would soon get even tougher.

Police were already suspicious of Todd. Take pictures of Todd, his front, all the blood, his knuckles, everything. At the scene of the incident, cops had noticed Todd's bloody knuckles, and he had what appeared to be scratch marks on his neck. The police kept finding one more step and one more step that would disprove his story. 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. 28 hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. It was called Candyman. The scary cult classic was set in a Chicago housing project.

It was about this supernatural killer who would attack his victims if they said his name five times into a bathroom mirror. Candyman. Candyman? Now we all know chanting a name won't make a killer magically appear, 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. We're going to talk to the people who were there, and we're also going to uncover the larger story. My architect was shocked when he saw how this was created. Literally shocked. And we'll look at what the story tells us about injustice

in America. If you really believed in tough on crime, then you wouldn't make it easy to crawl into medicine cabinets and kill our women. Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, early and ad-free with a 48-hour plus subscription on Apple Podcasts. So how big is this pipe, Tim? 53 inches long, and it weighs about 10 pounds. This thing is heavy. and it weighs about 10 pounds. This thing is heavy.

This is the pipe that Todd Kandamer says flew off a truck, smashed into the windshield of the car he was driving, and caused his wife Barbara's death, a story that prosecutor Tim Grinke says is simply preposterous. Our theory is that he used that himself to put the hole in the windshield. It didn't fly off of a truck going by. Todd said he was traveling north on Highway M. Grinke says the police became suspicious of Todd when pieces of his story just didn't seem to add up. Turned right onto Bergen-Cooley Road.

Starting with that mysterious truck. This is the description Todd Penthammer gave police. It was an older, like a bigger flatbed mysterious truck. This is the description Todd Penthammer gave police. It was an older, like a bigger flatbed-looking truck, like a pickup truck with a flatbed on it. What color was the cab? I don't even remember. It was darker. That's all I know, dark green or dark blue.

So he's going this way, and he claims that a truck carrying a pipe was going this way. Correct. Were you ever able to find a truck carrying a pipe was going this way. Correct. Were you ever able to find a truck? No. Police spent some time looking for the truck and putting out word to the community to ask if anybody saw a truck that day. Surveillance video from a horse ranch down the road

does show what appears to be the Kent Hammer car passed by at approximately 7. 57 a.m on the day of the incident but at around the same time no truck that matched the description todd gave police was ever seen heading in the opposite direction and then four days after the incident medical examiner dr kathleen m McCubbin conducted an autopsy on Barbara. She didn't understand when she first heard a pipe had done it. She had called law enforcement to look at the pipe because she didn't understand how that could be. Barbara had three lacerations on the back of her head.

She said that the injuries to Barb were very inconsistent with a pipe of that size and that weight coming through windshield. She concluded that Barb died of blunt trauma injuries of the head and neck with skull fractures, cricoid cartilage fractures, and ultimate brain death. The cricoid is the ring-shaped bony cartilage structure that's located in the lower neck. What do you believe caused the broken cricoid cartilage? It's consistent with strangulation. The medical examiner also noted that there were countless other injuries on Barbara that suggested there could have been an earlier struggle.

She had scratches on her neck, a broken nose, a laceration on her forehead, and bruising all over her body. She had some injuries to her fingers. Do you need any medical attention? Todd also had injuries to his hands. He said that came from striking the windshield when he saw something flying at him. And he had what appeared to be scratches on his neck and chest as well. He said he got that because he worked with glass.

Turns out he doesn't work with glass. He puts in windshields, but he doesn't normally work with glass or broken glass. So those injuries seemed odd. It seemed consistent like someone who was in a fight, a really bad fight. Police had also interviewed a construction worker who said he drove by the Kendhammer car around 8 a.m. but didn't see any damage to the windshield or any people around. He saw the car in the ditch and thought maybe somebody had just driven off the road or tried to make a turn and got stuck.

So he didn't see anybody. He didn't see either Todd nor Barbara. Could they have been hidden in the high grass? Well, that's the only thought is that he was maybe trying to hold her down and keep her from calling for help. There were other red flags. On the day of the incident, Barbara was scheduled to work at 8 a.m., but she never called to say she'd be late. She also did not make her daily call to her mom. It's a woman who's never been late for work, who always calls her mom. When you look at patterns,

that's an obvious change of the pattern. And where were Todd and Barbara driving to that morning? Going in the opposite direction from Barbara's work. I'm going to put a windshield in a truck for a guy. This is what Todd Kandhammer told investigators on the drive to the hospital. Todd told police that on the way to drive Barbara to work, he decided to drive over to pick up a truck that needed a windshield replaced. He said the truck, with keys inside, was in the driveway of a person he knew from work named justin heim

no i didn't call him i was just going to swing over if it was there grab it but when the investigators spoke with justin heim he told a very different story when the police looked into that they found justin heim never had ordered a windshield from todd didn't need a windshield todd didn't even know where he lived. So just one week after Barbara's death and just two days before her funeral, investigators asked Todd to come down to the police station under the ruse that they had some leads on trucks that may have dropped the pipe that day. Are you okay if I take up? I didn't take any medicine this morning.

Yeah, that's fine. As investigators began to question him, Todd told them he had not taken his anti-anxiety medication, and he appeared confused and forgetful of details. I just don't, I remember, I remember, and I don't know how, I remember, I remember that's where I was, and I don't, the pipe was, the pipe was there. He was trying to help. Like, he thought they were trying to help him find the cause of the accident. How did the pipe get through the windshield? Let's start there. It came, I don't know, it came off the truck. But they were closing in on what they believed were Todd's lies.

There's no explanations for it. You can't. The injuries that were unbarred did not occur from that accident, from a pipe going through your windshield. And then when police pressed him about where he was actually going that day. I talked to Justin. Todd Canthammer changed his story. He told a story that he wasn't going to Justin Heim's house. He was actually a friend of Justin's. Police would later find that friend who told them he also didn't need a windshield

and was not expecting Todd the day of the incident. Isn't it possible he was in shock? Isn't it possible that he just can't remember anything from that time? Part of it. I could see somebody not remembering a detail or two, not remembering something traumatic. But the things that surround it you usually do remember. So things like remembering where you were going.

After three and a half hours of questioning Todd, investigators let him go home. But they kept building their case. Do I know exactly blow by blow how it happened? No, I don't. But I know it didn't happen from a pipe coming off a truck. Three months after Barbara's death, Todd Kendhammer was arrested. We were basically just like, well, how do we get him back out? Because he's not supposed to be in there. Jessica hoped a jury would believe her father when Todd took the stand to tell his side of the story at his trial.

I think he just looked like somebody who was trying to explain away his lies. What started out looking like a tragic car accident would soon become much more complicated. In December of 2017, when Todd Kendhammer went on trial for his wife Barbara's murder, almost everyone who attended was there to support him. Yet his daughter Jessica feared the worst. Every day, I was in a constant state of anxiety and couldn't eat and couldn't sleep. The cause of Barbara Kendhammer's death was blunt impact injuries of her head and neck. The state's star witness was medical examiner Dr. Kathleen

McCubbin. I do not believe that these injuries are consistent with the end of a pipe striking the back of the head. Todd's trial lawyer, Stephen Hurley, didn't call a forensic pathologist of his own to dispute the state's case but tried to create reasonable doubt during cross-examination. If her head were moving at the time of the pipe coming through, the pipe had the potential, because it is some five feet long, to strike her head in more than one place. Is that correct? That may be possible, yes. Attorney Hurley asked McCubbin if Barbara's large water mug could have slammed into her face if she ducked to avoid the pipe and caused some of the injuries.

Yes, it could be. It's a possibility. But when Hurley questioned Dr. McCubbin, he didn't focus on one of the critical injuries that Barbara suffered, the cricoid fracture, which the prosecution insisted could only have been caused by Todd. It could have happened in a multitude of ways, but I believe during the fight, her cricoid fracture happens. This is a view from the inside of the car. The windshield of the car was as hotly disputed as the medical evidence. The defense's expert, Mark Meshulam, with over 30 years of experience working with glass, believes the evidence supports Todd's story.

By observing the crack branching... The fracture patterns on the windshield, he said, show three different events. Fracture patterns on the windshield, he said, show three different events. The first one was a hand impact when Mr. Kenhammer's fist went into the glass. The second event was the puncture when the pipe broke through the windshield. And the third, harder to detect, was caused, he said, when Todd removed the pipe from the windshield. The lines that are highlighted in here... But the state's forensic expert, Nick Stocke, said the impacts didn't occur in the order that Meshulam said they did.

DA Grinke argues this is more evidence showing that Todd Kendhammer intentionally damaged the windshield, and it was not from a pipe falling off a truck. They couldn't have done what he said it did. The crime lab found that the windshield had two strikes on the outside which is impossible. However the pipe comes it's not gonna hit and then back up and then hit again. If he wanted to kill Ma why the hell would he go through all the work and trouble to find a pipe, drive all the way out to the middle of a busy road. He has, like, 28 guns in the basement.

There's more than that. This one's from their cruise. Jessica and Jordan don't believe prosecutors ever answered critical questions about what happened. They never really said how he killed her or what he did to stage everything. If what they're saying is he staged it and killed her at the same time, the time frame doesn't fit up either. You don't have enough time to do all that stuff.

Because that construction worker drove by at 8 a.m. that morning, Todd had just five minutes to stage the crime before he called 911 at 8.05. So in that short period of time, called 911 at 8.05. So in that short period of time, he had the presence of mind to go get the pipe out of the trunk, go around, break it twice, and call 911 and administer CPR. Yes, you can do a lot of damage in two or three minutes. So it's more time than people think.

Mr. Hurley, you'll be applying your next witness? Yes, I appreciate it. With so much at stake, the defense decided to gamble by putting Todd Kendhammer himself on the stand. Did you ever strike Barbara Kendhammer? No. Todd tried to explain to the jurors why during the police interrogation he told investigators conflicting stories about where

he was going that morning. When I watched that video, it's me in the picture, but it's not me talking. It's not right state of mind talking in that. I wasn't thinking of where I was going or what I was doing. I was thinking of Barb. Todd seemed to be doing well. Mr. Greinke, you may begin your cross-examination. Until he had trouble remembering details about that day. I don't recall if I said that or not. I don't remember that. I can't recall for sure. But his most damaging testimony may have been when he changed his story yet again.

He told the jury about a third person he was supposedly going to see on the day of the incident, Jared Loggin. And today you say that you were trying to find the house of Mr. Loggin. Correct. That's another kind of odd statement to make that that's why you're going that way and why you couldn't have told the police that the first time or the second time or in the year before the trial. And just like the others, Todd said he was going to visit that morning, Loggins said he had never arranged for Todd to replace a windshield. Did you change your story for trial because you knew the police had figured out your lies? No.

We at the jury find the defendant, Todd A. Kendhammer, guilty of first-degree intentional... The jury was out just nine hours before they reached their verdict. Three months later... Today is the time set for sentencing this matter. Everyone was back in the courtroom. The conviction had an automatic life sentence, but it was up to the judge to decide if Todd Kendhammer would be eligible for parole. I am here today. I do not stand alone.

Jessica and Jordan were stunned when Jerrianne Buchner-Wetstein, their mom's cousin, spoke out against Todd and read a letter signed by several other cousins. I just remember thinking like, wow. Barbara found the courage that day to fight back. Therefore, we stand here today united with that same courage, asking you to sentence her killer to the maximum penalty possible. Jessica says Jerrianne had been estranged from their mother. She basically painted the scene that she just feels so bad about my mom and her big blue eyes, even though her eyes are green. My mom hates her. We reached out to Jerrianne, and she denies Jessica's claims that she was estranged from Barbara. But her testimony wasn't the only surprise that day.

Grinke had some harsh words for the Kendhammer family, who had to sell Todd and Barbara's home and Jessica's house to pay Todd's legal bills. Pardon my language, but to be perfectly frank, they need to get their head out of their ass. They need to start looking at this in reality. I don't think you should be able to talk to Ellie in a courtroom. If you can think that to yourself, then that's fine, because I also think you're an ass. At least word it different. Don't you think you might have added to their pain at that sentencing by saying that?

I think I have to try to open their eyes in some way. I think they're giving him false hope, and I think he's dragging them down with him by using all their money to continue in his lies. The judge ruled Todd Kendhammer would be eligible for parole after 30 years. But Todd's case is far from over. 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 Marcia 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. 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. 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 bolder risk takers who brought 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-free right now by joining Wondery+. It's just the best idea yet. We, the jury, find the defendant, Todd A. Kandhammer, guilty. Todd Kandhammer's verdict was guilty, but Jessica and Jordan are determined to clear his name.

Because he didn't do it. And he doesn't lie, so when he says he didn't do it, we believe him. That belief is why Barbara and Todd's children brought on buting and stilling. So this is Todd's. Who understand that undoing a murder conviction is an immense challenge.

It's very difficult to reverse a judgment that's become final. It's kind of like trying to turn an aircraft carrier. It's slow and difficult to do. Still they overcame a big first hurdle, getting back in court. Good morning judge. Morning. Attorneys Jerome Buding and Kathleen Stilling. Todd Kandhammer was granted an evidentiary hearing. It was a chance to argue that his original defense team had been ineffective and that there was critical new evidence. So we were grateful that the judge was taking the time to see what we had come up with. And four years

after his conviction for the intentional homicide of his wife, Barbara, inmate Kendhammer was back in front of Judge Todd Bierke. So present is Mr. Kendhammer in custody. It opened the courthouse doors a crack to the possibility of a new trial. Is this the most hopeful you have felt, that your dad may have a chance to walk out of prison? Yeah. that your dad may have a chance to walk out of prison? Yeah. The burden is now on the defense.

Jerry Buding starts by calling a forensic pathologist, something Todd's first defense team had elected not to do. They chose to go a different route, and I think that was a serious mistake that really damaged Todd's ability to defend himself. But now, Dr. Shaku Tease, who has performed some 6,000 autopsies, would examine Barbara Kendhammer's medical records and autopsy photos. Did you observe anything on her body that was consistent with Barbara Kendammer having been beaten with fists? No.

Or that she was a woman who had been in a fight? No. Dr. Tease contradicted the findings of the medical examiner who had performed the autopsy and testified at trial, Dr. McCubbin. Yes, some of her injuries certainly could be consistent with an assault or beating as well, yes. Consistent with strangulation? It could be, yes. But for Dr. Tease, the stark photos and silent sketches tell a different story. I don't see any injuries on Barbara that I would say are suggestive or are consistent with strangulation.

And Dr. T suggests that the injury to Barbara's cricoid could be due to that large travel mug. So if she had that in her lap when she's moving forward, could that have caused the cricoid fracture? It could be the mug. As for the injuries to the back of her head, if the pipe is coming in, how would she get severe injuries in the back of her head? Because she ducked and the pipe came through like that and grazed the back of her head. Barbara Kendhammer died as a result of an automobile accident. And Tease believes some injuries seen in the autopsy came from the final act of Barbara Kendhammer's generosity, the harvesting of her donated organs. But DA Grinke doesn't buy the theories of Dr. Tease. I don't put a lot of faith in her testimony. But when it comes to Todd

Kendhammer's guiltilder innocence, Buting and Stilling say there is more than just physical evidence to consider. Something very traumatic and attention-grabbing had occurred, which would likely obliterate any short-term memory that Mr. Kenthammer would have had. The defense hired another expert, this time in human memory. Dr. Jeffrey Loftus testified that Todd Kendhammer's various stories could be a result of stress from a terrible accident. Would you say that this was a situation that was ripe for an inaccurate memory? Yes. Still, the most controversial aspect of this story is about that pipe that Todd claims

crashed through his windshield and killed Barbara. As part of their initial investigation, local authorities had attempted to reconstruct Todd's story of the deadly incident on County Road M. They tested and taped, dropping a similar pipe off a truck to see if it could in fact bounce. The idea? To determine if a pipe might have bounced high enough to hit the windshield of Todd's oncoming car. But Kedhammer's lawyers thought the pipe test was inconclusive. They never shared the investigator's video with judge or jury, and neither did the state. I didn't think we needed it. The defense didn't want it. We disagreed not to use it. It was only at the new evidentiary hearing that the pipe test was finally presented in court.

The first time the judge ever even heard of those experiments is in our motion. Buting and Stilling shared the pipe test video with 48 Hours. What you're showing me is that the state's own experts did an experiment that if in, the pipe bounced like this, it could have done exactly what Todd said it did. That's right.

Now that one hits on its end, and look how it bounces. And comes up really high. Comes up high. In your mind, those videos show it could have happened. That's the point, yes. Which contradicts state investigators, who from the beginning had suggested that a pipe slamming through Todd's windshield was next to impossible. What are the odds that that would happen to a guy that changes windshields? I mean, what do you suppose those odds are?

One in a trillion? At all? Buting and Stilling introduced evidence from across America to prove it's more common than you think. This one is in near Bakersfield, California. A pipe that looks remarkably similar that went right through this person's vehicle. Here's another one. This one's Houston. Okay. And it goes right through and hits the passenger. Would have killed a passenger.

And it turns out you don't have to be an expert to find a piece of pipe along a country road. There was another pipe on the road up the ways that someone found. There was a pipe, and when was that pipe found? Shortly after. And it was very similar to the one that went through the windshield? There was a hammer, some material. What do you think happened?

I believe a pipe came through and hit mom. That belief in their father would not waver. Still, how could the experts at trial see a case so differently? We decided to ask another forensic pathologist to take a fresh look at the evidence. The more I looked at it, the more I understood why it's so complicated. What do you make of the new evidence that was presented? Go inside the case at 48hours.com. 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 reach the age of 10 that would still have heard it. It just happens to all of them. 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. If it didn't happen the way Todd says it happened, then how did it happen? Dr. Lindsay Thomas is a forensic pathologist who

has performed about 5,000 autopsies. This is the kind of case where it isn't that clear-cut. 48 Hours asked her to review the medical evidence in this case, including Dr. McCubbin's autopsy report. The original autopsy was very well done, and the conclusions that they reached were very reasonable. Still, Dr. Thomas says she wouldn't have reached some of the same conclusions. And that's what makes this case so challenging. The most troubling injury for her is that cricoid fracture on Barbara's neck. She agrees with Dr. Tease, the forensic pathologist who testified for the defense in the evidentiary hearing,

and does not believe that Barbara was strangled. I've never seen a fractured cricoid in strangulation. I wouldn't say it absolutely can't happen, but certainly I haven't seen it, I haven't read about it, I haven't heard about it. It seems more consistent with the kind of thing that would happen in a weird car crash. And she believes the injuries to the back of Barbara's head were too severe to have been caused by Todd's fists, but says Barbara could have been hit with a heavy object, like her mug. Yeah, it would have to be a pretty substantial coffee cup, but I understand there was a pretty substantial coffee cup in the car. Ultimately, Dr. Thomas can't say for sure how Barbara sustained her injuries. Based on just the medical evidence alone, it wouldn't be one where you could definitely say,

oh, this is clearly a homicide or clearly an accident. The idea that a man is sitting in prison, does that concern you? Well, it always does when you have a case like this that isn't clear-cut. You just worry a little that the evidence was given too much weight one way or the other or the jury wasn't given all of the relevant materials. Had you ever served on a murder trial before as a jury member? No, never. Tim Brennan, the jury foreman, says he found Dr. McCubbin's testimony very convincing. We shared with him some of the new information

from the evidentiary hearing, including Dr. T's conclusions. If you had heard a medical examiner disagree with Dr. McCubbin, would that have made a difference? Without hearing the full extent of that, it's hard to say. Still, he stands by the jury verdict.

When Todd Kenhammer gave his testimony, he just came across as a person with a lot of falsehoods. When you say falsehoods, did you feel he was lying? Definitely. I'm very confident that we got it right. As the Kendhammer family awaits the judge's ruling, Todd is serving his life sentence more than two hours away from his kids. What do you miss the most about your mom and having your dad around?

I used to be annoyed that he would call me all the time and like always come over, but I kind of miss it now. I just miss having them around all the time. And Jessica's daughter, Carlin, is growing up without her grandparents. Their dream was always to do stuff with their grandkids, so it's just really hard to not have him with her. Now Jessica and Jordan, and all those who believe in Todd Kandhammer, continue to wait, hoping he gets another shot at what they believe is justice. Do you think your dad will be coming home?

Yes. We aren't going to stop until he can be home. Prosecutor Grinke believes justice has already been served for Barbara Kandhammer. Do you have any concerns at all that you might have convicted an innocent man? Not in 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.