48 Hours - Over the Edge

Episode Date: August 10, 2023

This classic episode of 48 Hours, which last aired on 2/1/2014, features a report on the investigation into the 2009 disappearance of Dawn Viens, and why her husband, California chef David Viens, jumped off a cliff when he became a suspect in her disappearance. 48 Hours correspondent Richard Schlesinger reports. 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. 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. And I always thought he was the best chef. I'd never tasted any food that was that good. David had the most beautiful plates. It was an art to him. Anytime that you went to that restaurant, he was determined that

you would leave happy. It was just an amazing place to go. And then you meet Dawn. She's very personal, very friendly, loves everybody. I always really liked Dawn. She loved my dad and my nan. No, they loved each other. They seemed happy, really. Dawn Vienz goes missing on October the 18th, 2009. That's the last time she's seen by anybody that we know of. I asked David, what's going on with Dawn? Where's she at? And he told me, oh, I fired her. And I'm like, you fired your wife?

That's pretty much all he said. Never saw her after that. Months and months are going by, and David Viennes was now a person of interest. When you introduced yourself as Sergeant Garcia from the L.A. County Sheriff's Homicide Division, how did he react? He immediately turned white. He was at a loss for words.

And I called him right over, and I was like, you know what, there's something that you need to tell me. And then he said, I don't want to talk about it here. We need to leave. He just kept saying, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, and I kept saying, you know, how could you let something like this happen? And I was just like, I can't believe you lied to me.

Sitting here that morning, monitoring traffic. Seemed like the cop was right here. I started, you know, like flagging him down. We were just, we were hauling. I immediately pulled out behind them. He was going quite fast. And had no intention of stopping. I remember coming up on this curb.

That's where I said, I don't want to die. The cliffs in this area range from 100 to 200 feet. They're completely jagged, lots of rocks. As we approached Point Vicente, he made an abrupt left turn into the parking lot. He pulled right up to like right here. He put it in park real quick and he's struggling to get it. And I'm trying to get mine off. And eventually I grabbed onto him like this, holding on to him like this. You to get it and I'm trying to get mine off and eventually

I grabbed onto him like this, holding onto him like this. I grabbed onto his pants. He's running towards the cliff's edge. She's grabbing onto him. He's trying to push her away. I'm running after him and he's taking his clothes off. He proceeded to this railing and began to climb over. And the railing was about this high, so we both jumped over.

I jumped out of my car. I ran up this way. I'm holding onto his hands and I'm like, please, please don't do this. And I looked over at the cops. I yelled out, stop! Just talk with us. He actually got to the point where he's swaying and I can feel his weight like pulling me. At that point he kissed his girlfriend and then he shoved me and he took off like this and went

ah and just went right over. I came over to the railing. I just grabbed her, and I pulled. The cop said, who was that guy? And I said, oh, my god, you don't even know who he is? I have no idea. And I was like, that's David Viennes. He just told me he killed his wife. 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 trialsals, 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 Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Have you ever wondered who created that bottle of sriracha that's living in your fridge? Or why Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. obsessed with and the bold 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 Plus. It's just the best idea yet. The minute that I saw him jump over, that's when reality really, really set in, that this woman really is gone. And when I saw him jump, I thought to myself, oh my God, he's dead too. In a flash, Kathy Galvin's life was forever changed. Kathy Galvin's life was forever changed.

David Vians, the man she had just seen jump off this stunning seaside cliff near L.A., was an accomplished chef and a successful, if unconventional, businessman. He was the last person you'd expect to jump off a cliff. When I knew him, he was very dominant, I guess is the best word. He was very, very charismatic. He walked into a room and you knew he was there. David Pappin was just a kid when his older sister Dawn began dating Vians

who worked in the same restaurant where Dawn waited tables. He was very passionate about his food. We would have Sunday dinners, him and I and Don, and it was a spectacle to have him in the kitchen. I never ate so good in my life. It was the early 90s in Vermont. Viennes was in the midst of a divorce and had three kids. When he met Don,

he never looked back, but he never turned his back on his children. Every time we would visit him, we would always do fun things and we always really look forward to being with him. Jackie is David Vian's youngest daughter. I just always really loved him. I think everybody that ever met him thought he was a great person to be around. And I always really liked Dawn. She didn't have any kids, so she treated me like her daughter. David and Dawn married in 1997. They moved around the country until 2008 when they settled down in Lomita, California.

until 2008 when they settled down in Lomita, California. Lomita is a small, sleepy suburb of Los Angeles. It has a nickname that people don't like, which is Slowmita. Larry Altman is a reporter for the local paper The Daily Breeze and a CBS News consultant. He says there's usually not much news in Lomita. It's one of the lowest crime rates of the 15 or 16 cities that I cover. But Altman was about to discover sleepy little Lomita had its secrets. Lomita had its secrets. Local businessman Joe Cacasey was learning about Lomita's secrets. His motorcycle repair shop was across the parking lot from Vien's new restaurant, where Dawn was the hostess who charmed the locals.

Great personality. I just thought she was a lot of fun and I loved her. She was really cool. Over time, Dawn began to confide in Joe, complaining that her husband was too controlling. Vians began to confide in Joe that Dawn drank a lot, something Jackie saw firsthand. I remember waking up and she'd be in the kitchen just chugging a beer at nine o'clock in the morning and then hide the can under the sink so that he wouldn't know she'd already been drinking. You think she was a an unhappy person? I think she was just confused with her life and as to how she got to where she was. You know I think she wanted things to be different. She basically just let my dad take care of her her whole life.

There is evidence Dawn was trying to become more independent. Not long before she vanished, Dawn asked Joe if he'd hold on to some money for her. There was like almost $700, and she said, if I bring more, you can put it in there. I said, yeah, it's your spot. You can put anything you want. She took him up on the offer. and she said, if I bring more, you can put it in there. I said, yeah, it's your spot. You can put anything you want. She took him up on the offer. On October 18, 2009, Dawn called Joe and asked to stash more money. She had saved up $1,000. She wanted to bring it over on Monday and drop it off

and put it with the other money, and I said, no problem. Monday came and went, but Dawn never showed up, either at work or at Joe's. Kekesi kept watch out of the rear window of his shop. He saw Dawn's car, but never saw her. After days went by, Kekesi asked David Vians where she was, and he said she had left him after he insisted she go to rehab for her drinking problem. I'm just stunned. I'm thinking to myself, did you forget who I am? I'm over at your restaurant every night. Your wife's over here every day.

This isn't flying. You're lying to me. And Kikasi started seeing other things through his rear window. And Kikasi started seeing other things through his rear window. First, he saw Kathy Galvin, who was then a waitress at the cafe, holding hands with Vians. Kathy had clearly become more than just David Vians' employee. We were around each other quite a bit, and I think that's how that happened. Just being around a lot, I started to like him. While we're on the subject, pardon me, but you know, you're young enough to be his daughter,

you're the new girlfriend, his wife disappears. That looks like a lot like motive to some people. Lots of guys have killed their wives because they wanted to move on with a younger woman. I don't think it was a motive. We weren't seeing each other prior to her disappearance and not even right after. because they wanted to move on with a younger woman. I don't think it was a motive. We weren't seeing each other prior to her disappearance and not even right after. Not long after Viennes and Kathy began going out,

Kikasi saw Kathy and Viennes' daughter Jackie throwing out some clothes in a dumpster in back of Viennes' restaurant. They pulled up in the back, opened the back hatch, and they got a big box, and they pulled it to the back, and they start pulling clothes out. I knew it was Don's stuff. Kathy told us there was an innocent explanation. I was the jealous girlfriend.

I thought he was going to take her back, so I threw out her stuff. But Joe Cacasey was becoming convinced that Vian's had killed Don, and he wasn't the only one. Some friends alerted Dawn's sister, who filed a missing persons report. That caught the eye of Larry Altman. His first story about Dawn's disappearance ran on Christmas Eve 2009, two months after Dawn vanished, and it got an immediate response. I received a phone call from one of Dawn's friends who had seen that story.

She said, hey, I read your story. There's more to this than you know. Altman went to see Vians, who told him the same story he had told almost everyone, that he and Dawn fought and she stormed out, carrying nothing but her Louis Vuitton bag. You can't go anywhere in Southern California without driving. So who walks away and leaves their car? That just didn't make any sense. But I asked him if he loved her and if he wanted her to come back. And he said, yeah, I loved her, and I hope she's safe.

He used the word loved. I loved my wife, with a past tense. Altman knew he was on to something big, and it all got more interesting when he dug into Vians' past. Turns out David Vians was more than just a great chef. He was also a pretty good salesman of marijuana. A lot of marijuana. 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. 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. 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 the 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 on Wondery Plus and the Wondery app.

Before life for David and Dawn Vians took a dark turn in 2009, they lived here on Anna Maria Island off Florida's Gulf Coast. We would wake up early, early in the morning, and we would walk an hour, hour and a half, up and down the beach, power walk, just get our day off right. David Pappin was Dawn's brother. Vians made him the manager of this restaurant, which he owned at the time. And that meant Vians could concentrate on his other, more lucrative business. He was in wholesale, selling hundreds of pounds of marijuana to smaller dealers. Did you know about his pot smuggling? I knew about his business, sure,

but that business was separate from the business him and I had together. In 2005, Vians was arrested for selling marijuana, and it was not his first arrest. Manatee County Detective Randy Barnett and DEA agent Derek Pollack worked on the Florida case. He was convicted in Vermont for distribution of cocaine in 1993. The police sat Vians down and asked for his help to break up the drug ring. He was an agent's dream to work with.

He returned calls. He was there for every deal that we needed for him to be there for, and he was on time. Viennes was sentenced to just one year in prison, and in 2008, he and Dawn headed to Lomita, where they lived quietly until the fall of 2009 when Dawn disappeared. That's when Viennes called his daughter, Jackie, to come help at his latest restaurant. I was excited to go back and to see him and her again and just kind of start over our relationship. And so when you got there, what happened? She wasn't there and I asked him where she was and he said that she'd taken off for a few days, that they got into a fight and that she'd taken off. It looked like Dawn had been replaced

in the restaurant and in the bedroom by Kathy Galvin, who was then just 22 years old. Jackie was 19. Did you get the relationship? Not really, no. But her father was carrying on with his life and cooking in the restaurant as though Dawn never even existed. I just remember feeling funny in the house, just thinking like, why, you know, what really happened that night and what's really going on? Jackie finally confronted her father. I said, Pops, where is she? You know, what really happened to her? Why isn't she back yet? It's no exaggeration to say the answer stunned Jackie. It felt like he punched me in the stomach. Her father confessed. He admitted that he had killed Dawn. And he just looked at me and he said, Jackie, it was an accident. You know, I was just like, what,

what do you mean it was an accident? And then he started to tell me what had happened. an accident and then he started to tell me what had happened. Viennes asked his daughter not to call the police and she didn't. I'm his kid. I don't want to see my dad in prison for the rest of his life and I felt obligated to hide that secret for him. But Viennes wanted more from his daughter. He wanted her to help cover up Dawn's death. He asked me to send some messages from her phone saying that she was okay. What kind of father asked their daughter to do that? I think he was just really scared.

Jackie did what she was asked. She and her father both sent text messages from Dawn's cell phone to Dawn's friends. Two of the messages were signed with Dawn's nickname, Pixie. Pixie was spelled wrong. It should have been spelled P-I-X-I-E, and it was spelled P-I-X-Y. So that made no sense. Who misspells their own name? So I collect all this information, and then I wrote another story. And then I wrote another story. Fast forward to February 2011. Sixteen months after Dawn disappeared, there was no trace of her whatsoever.

The missing persons case had been reassigned to the homicide squad. L.A. County Sheriff's Detective Rich Garcia was pretty sure Vienz had killed Dawn, but he needed evidence. So he got a wiretap for Vienz' phone and then turned up the heat on him. During the stimulation part of this case, when we wanted to stimulate David. I'm sorry, during the what part of the simulation? So how did you stimulate David Viennes? I think the first thing we did was we called in a local newspaper, which showed interest in the story right from the beginning. So we called in the reporter. They were trying to stir things up with David. And I recognize that. Well, what did they tell you? First, that they had found blood in the house where Don and David had lived. It was in the bedroom and in another room.

Well, that must have stimulated your interest. Yes. Yes. That finally elevated this case. The blood was so old that it was worthless as evidence, but the police never told Altonen that. I mean, let's be clear. Technically, you didn't lie to him. Never did.

You did find blood in that house. Sure did. The fact that it was of zero evidentiary value, oh well. Altman did just what the police hoped he would do. He went to David Vien's restaurant, but he was intercepted by Kathy. He came in with a big ugly smirk on his face and he was just like, so did you know that there's blood spatter all over the apartment? And she yells at me, stop saying this in front of the customers. Get out of here. And she literally pushes me out of the place. And off I go. He went to write the story that police were closing in on Vians, and in fact, they were. Detective Garcia had already sent two investigators to

meet with Vians' daughter, Jackie. By now, they strongly suspected that she was involved in sending one of those text messages that misspelled Pixie. Did you tell them the truth? I did, yeah. I told them what happened. And then she called her father to tell him what she had done. I said, pops, they're looking for you. I mean, they just came and talked to me, and I told them what happened. So, you know, beware. They're going to be coming for you. It was an unanticipated extra stimulation. And that next morning, February 23rd, 2011, Vians saw Altman's story on page one. He goes, so the paper came out and I was like, oh yeah, what kind of crap did they put in this time? Vians was about to crack. He confessed everything to Kathy.

And he goes, I'm sorry, it was an accident, she's not coming back. And it's like my balls dropped, you know. I said, what do accident. She's not coming back. And it's like my balls dropped. You know, I said, what? Do you mean she's not coming back? And he said, I'm sorry. It didn't mean to hurt anybody. I think I'm just going to kill myself. And with that, Vians raced to his car, with Kathy running after him. I know he wouldn't hurt me, so I got in the car. Kathy was in for the ride of her life.

I made sure my seatbelt was on, and I kind of turned to him like this, and he just vroomed. And it ended at the edge of the cliff. Had that happened before with people you've been pursuing? I've had them commit suicide. I never had them jump off a cliff. I've had him commit suicide. I never had him jump off a cliff. But the wild ride of David Vians was not over. The 80-foot dive off the rocky cliff did not kill him. He survived. Hello?

Hi, David. Hello, sir. How are you? He felt that he really had no way out. He took off and went, ah! David Vians thought he was putting an end to all the questions about his wife Dawn's disappearance that day back in February 2011. I received a phone call. They jumped over the cliff. What was your first thought? Wow. But the day held more surprises because somehow David Vians survived that 80-foot jump.

His swan dive was not his swan song. The way I understand it is he landed on his feet, so his legs were totally shattered. His hips were broken. Reporter Larry Altman, who wrote the story that drove Viennes over the edge, raced to the cliffs soon after Viennes jumped. And so he survives, but, I mean, had he hit his head, he'd be dead. The L.A. County Sheriff's Department flew back to the scene for us where rescue workers had pulled Viennes off the cliff, put him in a helicopter, and took him to a hospital.

Viennes' attempted suicide confirmed what Dawn's friends and family thought from the outset. He killed her, plain and simple. Dawn's brother, David. No one on this planet is going to take their life for something they didn't do. And from his hospital bed, just days after his leap... David, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used. David Vians confessed. This is from a police recording. What happened that night? What happened with Don?

For some reason, I just, uh, got violent. Why? Did Don do something to get you mad? Something happened, yeah. And on March 2, 2011, 17 months after Dawn Vians vanished, her husband David was charged with her murder. Hello. Hi, David. It's Richard Schlesinger. Hello, sir. How are you? Vians talked to us from the L.A. County Jail, where he was recuperating.

I just want to talk about you and Dawn for a little bit. He can't walk, but he was recuperating. I just want to talk about you and you and Dawn for a little bit. He can't walk, but he sure can talk. We were together 17 years. After our first kiss, I was just hooked. I was in love. But that's not entirely true, says Dawn's brother. They loved each other in the same breath. They hated each other. Anytime there's drugs and alcohol involved in any relationship, it's going to be toxic for sure. Those closest to her knew it.

Dawn had begun using drugs, hard drugs. I couldn't even go home without her asking me to find something for her. Something meaning? Like cocaine or meth. And it was drugs, says Viennes, that played a key role in this house the night Dawn was killed. I came home at about 12.30. Dawn still wasn't home. I assumed that she had gone out to get cocaine.

And I really needed to sleep. I'd worked 90 hours that week. Viennes says he suspected Dawn would be high when she got home. So he says he blockaded the bedroom door. And I fell asleep. Sometime later, she was pounding on the door, screaming. Just yelled to her to sleep in the other room, sleep in the other room. Viennes told us the same story he told Kathy. She came in like a hurricane. She starts messing with him and she broke through the door. And now she was over me. She had the light on, the nightstand in my face,

and she was slapping my face. Then I kept just saying, please leave me alone. And this went on, it seemed like, forever. Vian says he finally got out of bed and followed Dawn into the living room. got out of bed and followed Dawn into the living room. He says he saw Dawn and some cocaine. I took the cocaine off the table and I threw it in the sink. She started yelling. She kind of swayed her body and she hit the entertainment center and she was a mess. So what did you do? There was some clear masking tape on the desk. I took the tape and I taped around her arms, with her arms down to her side. So she couldn't hit me, she couldn't throw anything.

This was packing tape, or? This is just clear packing tape, yeah. Wow. I specifically remember asking, have you done that kind of stuff before? And he looked at me and he just goes. And I was like, oh, my God, you've tied her up before? And he was like, she just gets out of control.

She just she but she usually calms down and then we go out to eat. And I said, so this is normal for you then. You tie her up, wait till she relaxes and then you take her out to dinner. Like what? Vian says it always worked before, but this time he didn't just tape up her arms and legs. I tried to tell her to be quiet. It was almost three o'clock in the morning. She was screaming that I wasted her drugs. I put a piece of tape on her mouth. And Vians left Dawn there until he woke up later in the morning. Then I go out there to wake her up, and I find her, and her body was cold and hard.

She was dead. Oh my God, I couldn't believe it. Oh my God. I was just numb. So what did you do? I walked around and said, you need to think about this. This doesn't look good. You're going to be in trouble. I walked around and said, you need to think about this. This doesn't look good. You're going to be in trouble. Let's be clear. Did you mean to kill her that night? Absolutely not. Did you have homicide in your heart, Mr. Viennes?

No. I just wanted to sleep. I just wanted to calm down this situation so we could deal with it in the morning. Later that day, Vian says, he triple-bagged Dawn's body, put it in his car, and drove to the restaurant. And that's when he spotted a garbage truck. What did you do?

I picked the bags up and put it in the dumpster. And I went back in there, washed my hands, and just thought to myself, you're going to hell, David. But first, he had to go back to work, cooking and serving customers. But with Don gone, he soon realized he needed help. And that's when he promoted Kathy Galvin, first to hostess, then to mistress. Kathy stepped into my life. On one breath, I'm laying in bed with this young woman. Part of me thinking to myself, you're so sick. You were just laying in this bed with your wife two weeks ago.

But honestly, in my mind, my life was over anyway. And, but for a lucky or unlucky landing at the base of this cliff, it would have been. Do you remember walking to the edge of the cliff? No, I really don't. I don't remember any of it. Nineteen months after that leap. We are on the record in People versus David Viennes. David Viennes, now wheelchair bound, must appear in court to face murder charges and explain a wild story he told Sergeant Garcia about what he did to Dawn's body before putting her in the dumpster. In my time of doing this for a living, I've never heard anything like this. Neither had we. Even though David Vians had confessed to accidentally killing his wife Dawn, Detective Rich Garcia still had to verify his story.

That was hard because Garcia was missing one essential ingredient, Dawn's body. I just need the body, you know? Tell us where the body's at. Did you ask him that day where the body was? Yes. What did he say? He led us to believe that it would probably be at the restaurant.

Developing news now, in the search for Dawn Vians, investigators have been using jackhammers the past two days looking for her body. We tore the floors out of that place. We broke concrete. Did you find any trace of anything in that restaurant? Nothing. Nothing. Three weeks after Vians' sleep, Garcia got a break. Vian sent word from his hospital bed that he wanted to talk about how he had disposed of Dawn's body. You can hear on the police tape he was heavily medicated. I grab her by the hand, both hands.

I bring her out to the living room, force her on the floor. I wrap her hands up real quick. Was he in pain? I think, yes. He suffered a number of broken bones. Ow! Back hurts. If you listen to the tape, you can tell he's in pain.

My lower back is in pain. I have your pain medication. Detective Garcia does not believe the drugs affected Vien's mind. I felt that he was completely lucid. The story Vien's told Garcia was, if not unbelievable, certainly surreal and more than a little grisly. Vien's, the professional chef, tells Garcia that he disposed of Dawn's body by doing what a cook does best. He obtains a large pot, and he utilizes the pot to boil her.

Places her in the pot, put some water in it, put her face down because he didn't want to see her face. Her whole body fit in there? Her whole body fit in there. And then what'd you do with that? I cooked it for four days. You cooked Dawn's body for four days? Four days. And over a four-day period, he boiled her.

And he'd do it all night. And then the larger portions, he would break them down, double bag it, no more than 8 to 10 pounds per bag because he didn't want it to be found. And he'd put it in the trash bin. Did you ask him, like, how big a pot he used? Yeah, 50 gallons or something to that effect. When he was telling you this story, did you believe him? Yes.

May I ask why? Because it's a ridiculous sounding story. You don't make that story up. People do what they know how to do. He's a cook. He knows how to cook. At a time of panic, you're going to always draw back to the one thing you know. Always draw back to the one thing you know. You told the police in your confession that you boiled her over four days in the restaurant. Did you do that?

No. Why did you say that you did? Because I was hallucinating, Richard. I fell off an 80-foot cliff and was severely hurt. Do you think he boiled her, cooked her after killing her? Absolutely not. And Kathy was working with him side by side. I have no idea where we would have been able to put a 55-gallon boiling body with people coming in and out of that restaurant all the time.

All of us had access to the fridge. All of us had access to the stove. We had multiple cooks cooking with him. This is pretty much what the kitchen looked like. We went to the restaurant, which is now a pizzeria, with Viennes' mother, Sandy, to see how difficult it would have been. We bought a 55-gallon drum, the same type police say Vian's used to boil his wife. Sandy Vian says this stove is the same one Vian's used to cook all sorts of things. I know you're his mother, but suspend that for just a minute if you can.

I mean, is it possible? I don't see how. I don't see how. I think anyone and his brother would notice this. I believe you can see it from one of the tables in the kitchen. But a mother's opinion isn't as powerful in a court of law as the voice of her son. And when David Vians' murder trial began in September 2012, When David Vians' murder trial began in September 2012, the prosecutor made sure the jury heard all about the cooking of Dawn's body. And what size of a vat? It was big.

Like that. So, you have 50 gallon or 55 gallon? It's heavy to be a carry. This is roughly what the prosecution believes David Vians did. He took the pot filled with water and a body off the stove and put it on a cart. Then he wheeled the cart through the kitchen, through this narrow doorway into the dining room,

and up this hall to the outside where he would store the pot during business hours in that shed. And all the while, nobody saw anything and nobody smelled anything. But people did notice and remember that Vians complained to Kathy and others that money had gone missing from the restaurant. The prosecution says that gave Vians a clear motive for killing Don, and he is guilty of first-degree murder. The defendant said that he believed Dawn was stealing money from the restaurant. The prosecution did not prove...

The defense says Dawn's death was an accident, manslaughter. David Vians' murder trial took two weeks and boiled down to this question. Was the killing of Dawn Vians an accident or premeditated murder? Ladies and gentlemen, you've heard all the evidence that you're going to hear in this case. This is the time for the attorneys to deliver their closing arguments. Vians never took the stand, but defense lawyer Fred McCurry explained to jurors why Vians thought it was a good idea to wrap his wife in packing tape. This is how he had done it before on two fire occasions in order to constrain her when she had been out of control. And that is absolutely ridiculous.

Prosecutor Deborah Brazile. So it's ridiculous for the defense to expect you to believe that two prior incidents of domestic violence where the defendant bound his wife and she didn't die on those two occasions somehow makes this an accidental death. It took the jury five hours to make a decision. We, the jury in the Bob entitled action, find the defendant, David Viennes, guilty of the crime of murder. It still could have been worse for Viennes. Jurors did not convict him of first-degree murder because they didn't think he meant to kill Dawn.

The verdict was second-degree murder. But Viennes was not done. All you have to do, if you want, is fire him. He fired his lawyer. Thank you, Fred. To represent himself for the sentencing. You want to add anything, Mr. Viennes? Yes, sir.

Six months after his conviction, and nearly three and a half years after Dawn's murder, the sentencing hearing began. half years after Dawn's murder, the sentencing hearing began, and for the first time, Viennes addressed his wife's death in open court. The state's position was that I killed my wife intentionally because she stole between $200 and $300. It's ridiculous to think after 17 years that I would harm my wife at all, but let alone for $300. Ridiculous. I love my wife. I didn't cook my wife.

I'd like the opportunity to testify. I understand the defendant's upset. For that to happen, the Inns would have to have a new trial. The motion for a new trial is respectfully denied. And the judge denies that. Before Viennes is finally sentenced, Dawn's sister Dana tells the judge what Dawn's killing has done to her. The statement is emotional in ways that are surprising. I have to live every day with feelings that I have for this man that killed my sister. Because I love him very much.

He was like a father to me. But my life changed that day I got that phone call that she was missing and I knew that he had done something. Yes. Viennes immediately responds to Dana. Nobody loved Dawn Marie Viennes more than me, or misses her more than I do. I never meant for what happened to happen. Never thought it would happen.

I lied to the police out of fear. My life's been a mess ever since. And I'm sorry, Dana. To you and your brothers, you guys are like my little brothers and sisters. But the judge is not swayed by anything Vian says. I've considered the crime involved great violence. As of the crime alleged in count one, violation of penal code section 187A, second degree murder, defendant sentenced to 15 years

to life in the state prison. 15 years to life. Except for an appeal, this case is closed legally, but it remains an open wound emotionally for so many people. Like Jackie, David Vians' daughter, who in the end provided crucial evidence against her father by telling police he had confessed. So what are you feeling now? I don't know. The whole situation is just tough. There's something about this sort of weight that he had given to you that you still feel. I just feel kind of responsible, you know. How can you do that to yourself?

I don't know. I just wish I never said anything, you know. I mean, I know she loved him, and I know that he really loved her, too, and I just wish so many things could be different. Don Vience's body has never been found.