48 Hours - Reasonable Doubt

Episode Date: January 11, 2026

In 1999, Judi Eftenoff died of a cocaine overdose in her Phoenix house. Investigators wondered if it was a terrible accident or if a murderer had staged it to look that way. “48 Hours" Correspondent Erin Moriarty reports. This classic "48 Hours" episode last aired on 1/29/2003. Watch all-new episodes of “48 Hours” on Saturdays, and stream on demand on Paramount+. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Love at first sight, and I mean, I've been... I've dated quite a few women over my life and the whole nine yards, and it was just when you know, you know. Brian's not your typical family man. He admits to living on the edge, on the wild side. I was the gas pedal, she was the brakes. We used to always say that. But did he go over the edge and commit murder?

Did you kill your life? No. One determined prosecutor is out to prove he did. prove he did. This is a killer who thinks he can talk his way out of everything. Do you was a wonderful wife, mother, daughter, and a friend. Brian says he found his wife on the floor of their home. There was an eyewitness, his own daughter.

Will she tell a different story? Is that a picture you hear? Yes. Erin Moriarty investigates, what if there was no murder at all? I would say it's virtually impossible, given the... given the evidence that I've looked at. A 48 hours mystery, reasonable doubt. Early one September morning in 1999,

Brian Eftanov arrived home after a long night out with his best friend and walked into a nightmare. Can she awake and copy to you? No. He discovered his wife on the bathroom floor of their Phoenix home. I'm going to leave the phone, but I got to get a monster off of her and she's going to die. Eftanoff tried to give Judy's CPR. I couldn't get her jaw open, but I wasn't going to stop.

I wasn't going to stop. Baby, don't you do this to me. I can't raise those kids about babies. Stay with me. I'm begging her. Judy, don't leave me with those kids, you know, come back. Read! The police are there now.

But Judy was dead. After the Eftanoff's two children, five-year-old Ricky and three-year-old Nicholas were taken to neighbors, police set about trying to figure out how this young mother died. Because of the bruises on Judy's body, police initially suspected an assault, but there were no signs of a break-in. What's more, there were no obvious injuries to cause death.

She had some small lacerations of the lips. She had some very small bruising on the face. Medical examiner, Dr. Philip Keane, was sure that these injuries even combined could not have killed her, but he couldn't determine what could have killed her. determine what caused them. Could she have sustained that injury by hitting a counter or hitting the floor? Yes, she could sustain that in the fall because all it is is it's a blunt force impact. Judy's husband Brian, the owner of an auto parts business, was taken to the Phoenix

police station for questioning and interviewed by Detective Joe Petrosino. As far as you know, she wasn't expecting anyone. Absolutely not. Everybody loved Judy. She was my better half. She was just a wonderful mother. Wonderful mother. Fun. Fun. Life of the party. And she was beautiful and warm and...

She was really loyal. Yeah. Judy's mysterious death came as a shock to her best friends and to her parents back in North Dakota. The son called us. He just said, I don't know how to tell you. Yeah. Except just to tell you.

They found Judy dead this morning. No. I'm like, you can't be Judy. I watched the news and they showed her a house and they showed her in a body bag and they were taken her out of the house. It was terrible, especially she's two little babies and sad. Although Brian Eftonoff was the last person to see Judy, he had an airtight alibi. A surveillance tape from the casino where he had been gambling that night with his friends. He had his time accounted for pretty well.

She says, well, I was at the casino with my friend Nick from 10 o'clock until I found her. And Judy was fine, Brian says, when he left her that night. He told police his wife was putting the kids to bed and acting normal when he said goodbye. I walked into the bedroom where she was laying out. The kids said, I need the ATM card. Gave her kiss and I left. It was just after he got home at about 5.15 a.m. that Brian discovered his wife's by then rigid body and called 911.

So how did Judy die? It took several weeks to finally solve the mystery, and it came in this report. When the final medical examiner's report came out, what was your reaction? Heartbreak. The answer was in the toxicology results. Judy Aftanov died of a stroke caused by COVID. caused by cocaine intoxication. The Judy I knew didn't do cocaine, and that just threw me.

To Judy's friends, Liza, Shannon, and Lynette, this news seemed unbelievable. The entire time that we were friends, there was no drug use. But Tamara Colwell, Judy's best friend. Look how happy she is. Her eyes are gleaming. Admits Judy started using drugs after she got married, that Brian is the one who introduced her to cocaine. I asked her, you know, why are you doing coke now? She said that Brian seems to think that it makes their sex life better.

In fact, Brian himself pointed out to police where his wife often hit her drugs. Probably heard you relax. Just a while. You know, kind of... Coke. But while the existence of cocaine and Judy's systems certainly explained her mysterious death, death. It still didn't answer all of the medical examiner's questions. We know that there are injuries that were not self-inflicted.

How did Judy Aftanoff sustain those minor scrapes and bruises on her face and her head? Detective Petrusino has his own theory. I think once that I was looking at a cocaine overdose, well, why would she beat up? Coming up, the unique theory that became a thing. that became this homicide detective's crusade. I think the ultimate responsibility for Judy's death resides in the hands of Brian Eftanoe. Judy Harding met Brian Eftanoff at a nightclub in Phoenix.

A night neither of them could forget. Love at first sight, and I mean, I've been, I've dated quite a few women over my life and the whole nine yards, and it was just when you know, you know. She called one day and said, and said, Mother, I think I've met the man I'm going to marry. Judy was 23.

Brian, a handsome, fast-talking charmer from Indiana, was 10 years her senior. I was the gas pedal, she was the brakes. We used to always say that. I was the gas pedal, she was the brakes. After rough childhood in Indiana, his parents both died young. Brian grew up to be a natural salesman, and Judy was sold. She was immediately attracted to him. Immediately attracted to him.

She was a small town girl from North Dakota, as stunning as she was sweet. She was a cheerleader in the homecoming court. One of the first girls around here to play hockey. Right. And I think she did that just to bug the boys a little bit. After she and Brian married and had children, Judy continued to work in sales at Neiman Marcus. Once they got together, we didn't really see her that much anymore. see her that much anymore.

None of Judy's family or friends had ever liked Brian, and when they heard she had suddenly died. And I said, I know how it happened. Right away, you said that? Right then. They all thought the same thing. I thought it was Brian. The first thing that I thought, I thought that he killed her.

There was only one problem with that theory. Despite Judy's cuts and bruises, the county medical examiner wasn't at all convinced that she was murdered, that she might have died of an accidental overdose. So he listed her death as undecided. Case closed, or it might have been if not for one detective, Detective Joe Petrosino. He not only believed that Judy was murdered, he thought he knew who killed her. I think the ultimate responsibility for Judy's death resides in the hands of Brian Efton. At first, it was just the injuries that made the detectives suspect Judy's husband.

But over time, Petrosino became convinced, in large part, because of Brian himself. I said it before, and I'll say it again, Brian is his own worst enemy. In the hours and days just after Judy's death, Brian's behavior just seemed inappropriate to those around him, especially to his mother-in-law. And he said, you know, Grandma, he said, I hate to ask this question right now. He said, but you know, how soon can I get remarried after all this? Judy hasn't even been married? No, we had just picked out her casket. And Brian called a bizarre press conference the day after Judy died.

Judy was a wonderful wife, mother, daughter, and a friend. I just want to urge all husbands out there. fathers to take some of the pressure off their spouses. It's been more time sharing the load of parenthood because it has a toll. And listen to what he told Detective Petrosino when asked whether he ever fought with his wife. Did you ever fight with your wife?

Of course. I have a ton of respect for women. But if you're going to act like a guy, you get treated like a guy. You hit me or something, throw something at me, smack me in the face. Good chance. You're probably going to get smack back. From there, Petrusino started to gather stories that Brian had beaten Judy in the past. She called me and she said, you know, she goes to him.

She goes, can you pick me up? She goes, I think my jaw is broken. I said, I know he's just beaten you. She said, Mom, who told you? I said, never mind. Pick up that baby and get out of that house. But what he really needed was an eyewitness to domestic abuse. A few weeks later, he found one. Ricky Eftonoff, Judy and Brian's five-year-old daughter. Okay.

Sometimes she just, you just kind of fight like how dinosaurs fun. In a series of interviews with counselors, she gave disturbing but also conflicting stories of domestic abuse. Ricky tells that mommy and daddy are fighting like dinosaurs, or words to that effect, kicking and punching, and mommy hits her head. Isn't it possible that Ricky may be confusing that night with other nights when she saw her parents fight? Is it possible? Is it possible?

It's like Kurt asked me... But Petrusino still couldn't figure out how Brian could have killed Judy that night. So he was far from being able to charge Brian with murder. My lieutenant said, well, we're not going to count it as a homicide. He said, you can work it as long as you want, but I'm not counting it as a homicide. Then, Brian gave him an idea. That's my tape recorder. That's Brian's downfall. Joe, Brian Aftanov. How are you?

Brian, how are you? He called me regularly. Joe. Brian. How are you? How was your vacation? It wasn't bad. And said, could you please find out who killed my wife? Are you tired of me bugging you? In this phone call, Brian told Petrosino, there was only one way his wife could have as much cocaine in her system as she did. That's one gram of coconut system at one time.

That's impossible. Some medical experts said Judy had taken as much as a gram of cocaine. To me, that someone was, you know, like, forced her to do it or something. You know what I'm saying? Uh-huh. So he said that himself. Yeah, that's in a phone conversation. If we're talking about a gram of cocaine, somebody forced her.

She'd never do that much cocaine. It was the clue Petrusina was looking for. What do you think caused those bruises on Judy's neck here? I think he was getting her to swallow. And with that, Detective Petrusino came up with his theory of how Brian killed his wife. I think he beat her up. He heard her. He knows he heard her. She's going to call the cops this time. And he needs an alibi because, you know, he doesn't want to go to jail.

And if he puts a little cocaine in her, pours it down her and anybody comes and looks at her, she's going to be high on coke. He has a built-in alibi. She's got any marks on her. It's because she's bouncing off the walls or something. She fell down. It's a highly unusual theory and so difficult to prove that initially the county attorney's office was reluctant to take the case. I had other cases, but when I'd walk into my office and see Detective Petrosino sitting there.

Good morning. What are you working on? That helped drive me, what are you going to do? And once I got involved and heard about some of the things that were going on, I wanted the answers. I wanted to know what happened. Eight months after Judy's death, prosecutor Kurt Altman and Detective Petrusino

went before a grand jury. And Brian Eftanov was arrested for murder. His two children went to live with Brian's sister. I'm sure he'll tell you that I'm just wrong. Maybe I am. And if I am, I'm sorry that Brian's life has been, you know, hell, but I didn't make his life. He did.

Brian Eftonoff stands trial for murder. That's next. This is police. Somebody p. You're asking. And you're bad. More than one year after 30-year-old Judy Eftanov was found dead in her home. The husband is on trial for murder.

This time, Mr. Alman, you may present your opening statement. Thank you, Your Honor. Did you kill your wife? No. Did you fight with her that night? Did you grab her by the throat, leave her to die? No. Did you stuff cocaine down her throat?

No. Why did the police say you did? It's the only evolving theory that they could come up with. Ladies and gentlemen, count one is murder to second degree. But Brian Eftonoff is facing more than just a murder charge. He's also accused of illegally transporting cocaine. It was found mixed in with Judy's belongings in a box sent to her purse. box sent to her parents.

Trying to prove to us that Judy was a cocaine addict. Well, sending a box full of love, not hate. Brian admits sending the box, but says he didn't know cocaine was inside. He says he was set up. Here's what I think. Well, geez, well, we can't get him for the murder. Maybe we should get him for the cocaine. I've got tapes from everywhere.

Eftanov might not be on trial at all. Phone calls, interviews. If not for Detective Joe Petros. Petrosino, firmly convinced that Brian is guilty of both crimes. There's never been any doubt in my mind of that. Even after medical tests clearly showed Judy died of a stroke caused by cocaine, and the medical examiner refused to rule the death a murder, the 26-year veteran cop doggedly pursued a homicide investigation.

Okay, so she's throwing things at you? One of my old buddies said I'm just a burned-out detective, so I'm somewhere between burned out and overzealous. I'm just figuring I'm just doing my job. Do you think that you got in your mind that Brian did this and you were just determined to bring him to trial? No. I was determined if there was evidence to take him to trial. I was going to take him to trial.

All the evidence you're going to hear are small pieces of a puzzle. Petrosino convinced a reluctant prosecutor, Kurt Altman, that Eftanov wasn't acting like an innocent man. Weird things like some phone calls. I've got some other stuff going on with, you know, a book and a screenplay and whatnot. Sure. My responsibility to public to do that, Joe. Have you ever had a case quite like this? Oh, no. No way.

Joe, we had sex with other girls. Can I say that it never would have been brought without him opening his mouth? I don't know that, but it sure would have been a lot more difficult. Even so, it's not going to be easy. Judy Eftonov did not die by accident. Before Altman can prove Brian Eftinoff killed his wife. She did not get that amount of cocaine into her system by accident. He has to convince a jury.

A murder occurred at all. The defendant is the only person that could have done this. You're convinced Judy was murdered? Absolutely. That this was a homicide. Absolutely. According to Altman, Eftanov forced his wife to swallow cocaine to cover up injuries he had given her during a domestic argument.

Where's the evidence? In part in the testimony of his star medical witness. Once you get beyond a gram of cocaine, it becomes rather improbable that anybody could even ingest that much. Toxicologist Dr. Randall Bezalt says his calculations show Judy had taken as much as a gram of cocaine an hour or two before her death. That's correct. Too much cocaine, he says, and taken too quickly for Judy to have taken it on her own.

But his calculations are disputed by other expert witnesses. That's not a permissible calculation. You really kind of out on a limb when you try to take those numbers from an autopsy. Even a witness from the county's own medical examiner's office says the amount of cocaine may have been smaller. Doses were taking some kind of hours prior to death. That undermines the theory that a murder occurred at all. If the medical experts can't themselves say it was a homicide, how can you? It doesn't have to be called a homicide by the medical examiner's office for the jury to find someone guilty of murder.

Altman believes the injuries on Judy will convince the jury she was murdered. So he turns to the one eyewitness he believes who can say how she got them. The problem is that witness is only seven years old. Ricky Eftanov, Brian and Judy's daughter. I did not want to put Ricky on the stand. What happened to your mom? She died. Unfortunately, in the position I was in, I had to.

She's one of several witnesses whose face the judge asked us not to show while on the stand. Is that a picture you drew? Yep. Altman asked Ricky about a picture she drew that he believes accurately described some of Judy's injuries. And what does it show? She was all swollen, but I didn't really see that. In fact, after a year and a half, Ricky can't remember much of anything about that night.

She was what? That was on your mom? Well, only a little bit. They were. Fight-type injury. She had a bump on her head. She had a cut on her eye. She had a bloody nose.

The county medical examiner, Dr. Philip Keane, is particularly concerned with the bruise on Judy's scalp. This is a large bruise, and it's a full thickness bruise of the scalp. So that's a pretty good blow. A blow, the prosecution argues that was delivered by Brian. But Dr. Keene didn't do the autopsy. And according to Dr. Archaeus Mosley, who did.

Okay, so there is a bruise on the back of her head. There's no skull fracture. There's no contusion on her brain. The bruise on Judy's head was never serious. If it had been up to me, I probably would have left that out entirely. Testimony that's damaging for the prosecution, because Dr. Mosley, a member of Keene's own staff, is testifying for the defense.

He believes it's possible Judy took cocaine, had a seizure, and simply hit her head when she fell. And it certainly doesn't help the prosecution when friends and neighbors who knew Judy during her marriage admit they saw her use cocaine. Yes, once with Brian. Do you remember estimating you might have done cocaine once a week with Judy? Yes. With evidence like that and with a confusing and conflicting medical testimony, Brian is beginning to feel confident. They do not have a case. They will never have a case.

Maybe too confident. I'm going to get it quick. As he prepares to take the biggest gamble of his life. Are you worried at all what the jury will think of you? Yeah, I can see why my lawyer doesn't want me to get on a stand, yeah. Brian Eftonoff takes the stand. That's next. Do you have a dark curiosity?

Heart starts pounding, horrors, hauntings, and mysteries is a weekly podcast hosted by me and Kailan Moore. Each week, I'll take you on a dark journey through Tare. terrifying true urban legends, bizarre true crime cases, chilling tales of backwoods horror and more. So if you're looking to join a passionate community of The Darkly Curious, check out Heart Starts pounding on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. And remember, stay curious. Here in cause number CR 2000-200-808265, the state of Arizona versus Brian Thomas, F.inom.

If I'd have made it home earlier, Judy may be. alive. Brian is one of a kind. Maybe a vegetable. Maybe an organ donor only. He was just about the most unsympathetic character I have come across. I mean, intracerebral hemorrhage is more 50 or 60% of the time. Goodbye.

We do not like smug people, especially whose wives die such horrific deaths, and they don't seem to act right about it. Sitting in the courtroom every day is Paul Rubin, a reporter for a local Phoenix newspaper, The New Times, who has followed Brian Eftonoff's case since the beginning. You had this guy who oozed arrogance, and he also thinks he's a little bit better in every aspect of life than you or I or anybody. The jurors are here. The attorneys are here.

The defendant is here. They do not have a case. They will never have a case. Mr. Aldman, make your seat. You will see that over the next few days. They're grabbing its straws. Actually, the trial drags on for more than a month. An eternity for Judy Eftanov's parents.

Did you ever expect the trial to last this long? No. They have to face the ugly details of her death. Her legs were very stiff. Rigamortes had already set in. They also have to hear the embarrassing facts of her life. Do you remember telling Detective Pethamette? Telling Detective Petrusino, Judy might do five, ten little lines during a social name.

Yes. Eftinoff also has difficulty sitting in court, but not because of what he's hearing about his wife. He threatened me and my son. Did he threaten to hurt you physically? He said that I was effing going down. All they did was make me look like a big, evil, big intimidating man. He's upset because he feels the case's focus not on Judy's... death, but on his character.

Shouldn't I get the benefit of the doubt? Isn't it the state's burden of proof to show that I killed, Judy, not to come up with some theory that he shoved cocaine down her throat? This case is fraught with reasonable doubt. This because Brian is weird doesn't mean he's a killer. Reporter Paul Rubin doesn't believe the evidence against Eftanov is very convincing. Usually it's a who-dunit, it's a murder mystery. Well, this one was, maybe it's a who-done-it, but it was a was a-there-a-done-done-it. Still, Rubin believes Eftanoff's own ego could do him in.

Brian thinks he's smarter than everyone else. He was a salesman. He thinks he can sell the jury. He thinks he could sell the judge. He can sell everybody under the sun. And sure enough, so you are going to testify? I am going to testify. I want everybody to know what really happened here.

Brian syndrome. The boy cannot help himself. Against the advice of Jim Cleary, Eftonoff's defense attorney, He takes the stand. What position was she in when you first saw her? Do you guys want a full demonstration? Eftanoff begins with an unusual and rather strange demonstration. Like this, except for she was all the way down, I can't.

I'm restrained right now. It makes everyone in the courtroom uncomfortable. His ego wouldn't allow him to miss that chance on the stage up there. I had blood in my mouth. I had blood on my face. Judy's mother Sharon says, in explaining how he found his wife... It was a maternity.

Brian gave the performance of a lifetime. I'm trying to cry on the stand and no tears. You know, I mean, there's my wife. I'm going to do whatever it takes to bring her back to life. I don't think anybody killed my wife. I think she OD'd. I'm positive she OD. She couldn't put it down.

It's like a lace potato chip. It's hard to put down. When you start, it's hard to stop. But then he contradicts himself. Eftanoff actually tells the jury that Judy may have been murdered. And if it was anything like a one-time dose of like a gram or more, then there's obviously foul play. Taking the stand has given Brian Eftanoff a chance to tell his story.

Did you have any involvement in putting cocaine into her body the night before she died? No. But... Mr. Eftonoff. It also gives prosecutor Kurt Altman the officer. opportunity to question it. And Eftinoff is suddenly in the hot seat. You don't lie under oath, right? Is that a question?

That is a question. No. To me, it was obvious he was lying, and I think everybody else thought so too. Canber hit you? No. You heard your brother-in-law testified, didn't you? Yes, I did. In fact, what you told them was that you never hit her with a closed fist, but you hit her, right?

Absolutely not. We never had a discussion about close fist on closed fist, we would be. That discussion never happened anytime, any place, anywhere. And it gets even hotter. You call your loving wife a co-core during your dependency hearing on November 12th, didn't you? Absolutely not true. He told me a year earlier that he told her she was a co-cor. And those two words were so repulsive and so vile.

It really, really turned the jury off. There are two copies of that transcript. What is yours dated? Here's how this works. When you take the witness stand in a criminal case, I ask the question. Okay. Kurt Alton was smart enough to use those two words whenever he could. Never called your wife of Cokor?

Never. I counted 14 times. Your loving wife of Cocor. Never. You're gonna stop answer my question then? I didn't hear a question. The jury can disconvict him just because they don't like him, more than on any scientific evidence.

Still, Eftanov leaves the witness box convinced he helped his case. I understand you've reached a verdict? Yes, we are. The verdict coming up next on four. Next on 48 hours. This is a killer. This is a killer who thinks he can talk his way out of everything. I didn't kill Judy.

I did not kill Judy. It took the jury five weeks to hear all the evidence. But only a day and a half to decide Brian Eftonov's fate. Three male jurors locked their eyes on me. I understand you've reached a verdict. They just locked out of me. Brian had lost the self-important swagger, you know.

Please hand the verdict forms to the bailiff. I think he realized that at the end of one day, if they were coming back, it wasn't going to be good. It is an anxious moment for everyone. I started to cry. I just thought, you did it. My daughter would be here if you wouldn't have touched her. All right, the clerk will now read the verdicts. verdicts.

We, the jurors, do you find the defendant guilty of count one second degree murder? Brian Eftonoff is found guilty of murdering Judy and also guilty of sending cocaine to her parents by mail. Is this your true verdicts of saying why not? Yes. Yes. He did it. No, everybody knows he did it.

Not only us. Why do you think they convicted you? I don't have the slightest idea. Not based on the evidence, that's for sure. Based upon the verdict of guilty, count one, first degree murder, and count two. His sentence? 50 years in prison.

A lot of time for Brian Eftonoff, now 42, to wonder how much his own testimony put him there. I know we were asked after the trial lots of times how much of a factor his person personality was and the answer is none. But the jurors who met with 48 hours after the trial admit Eftanoff certainly didn't help his case. It was clear that he was not a likable guy, that he was abrasive and obnoxious.

And in the end, they say, he gave the most damning testimony at trial. Brian said that if she had that much cocaine in her, somebody forced it on it. Must have been foul play was his word. We did agree with that. And the bottom line was she died of a cocaine overdose. And she was impossible to snort that much that she had in her system. Even so, it took a while for four women Anna Bowman to feel comfortable convicting Brian. I think I was pretty sure that he had done it.

My concern was that the evidence was not there. And I believe in the system. But does that bother you that as jurors that you're asked to make a decision that even medical experts can't? Of course. Yes. But did they make the right decision? These well-known experts say, maybe not. The prosecution says that Judy Aftanov was first knocked unconscious

and then was murdered by stuffing cocaine down her throat. Does anyone in this room agree with that scenario? No, no, no. Was this man wrongly convicted of murder? That's next. The trial is over, but has it really solved the mystery of Judy Eftonov's death. As you saw during the hour,

the county's own doctors and toxicologists couldn't determine if she was even murdered. And as it turns out, they're not the only ones who raise serious questions about the case against Brian Eftonov. I was shocked. Amazed.

It appears to me the evidence was not there. 48 hours brought together these four well-known forensic experts and asked them to study the medical testimony and evidence from the trial. This is our death investigation class coming through here now. This is Dr. Lee Hearn, the chief toxicologist for Miami-Dade County, Florida.

Dr. Edward Briglia is chief toxicologist for Suffolk County, New York. Dr. Charles Wetley is the Suffolk County Chief Medical Examiner, and Dr. Don Ray now retired, spent nearly 24 years as Chief Medical Examiner in Seattle. Among them, they have studied hundreds of deaths from cocaine. The prosecution says that Judy Aftonoff was first knocked unconscious and then was murdered by stuffing cocaine down her throat. Does anyone in this room agree with that scenario? No, no.

No. Is it even a possibility? It's highly improbable as far as I'm concerned. I would say it's virtually impossible, given the evidence that I've looked at. The same thing here. I just don't see the evidence for it. In fact, not one of them, not a single one. believes Judy Aftinoff was even murdered,

as the prosecution claims. I think she was a cocaine user. I think she was binging on cocaine on the night of her death, and that she developed a cerebral bleed because cocaine raises your blood pressure. It happens fairly often. And that was the cause of her death. What's most disturbing is that this doesn't seem to be

just a difference of opinion among experts. We spoke to more than a dozen. and couldn't find a single one who agreed with the prosecution's star medical witness. Remember Dr. Randall B. Salt? He's the toxicologist who testified that Judy Eftanov died shortly after taking a large dose of cocaine. The lion's share of what we're looking at here occurred within one to two hours prior to death. While that testimony greatly influenced the jury, the problem say these doctors is that Dr. Beesalt based his opinion on blood test results, that are unreliable when taken after death.

The method that was used to arrive at that conclusion is totally unaccepted by the forensic toxicology community. But what is more important say these experts is that Dr. Bayesalt's theory and the prosecutions is simply not supported by the evidence. Where is the cocaine in the stomach? It is not there. And that renders a major problem in this case. that had she been forced to take cocaine and then died as the prosecution said within that hour,

there'd be much more here. Well, indeed, I believe that between 10 and 30 percent of the dose would still reside in the stomach. Undisputed evidence shows that most of the cocaine in Judy Eftonov's body had already broken down into byproducts called metabolites. Very little remained in her stomach. This is a quantity of cocaine, 3.5 milligrams, cocaine hydrochloride. that was a little bit more than was calculated as being the total amount in her stomach. We have literally seen thousands of cases of oral overdose.

I am not aware of a case in which death ensued within one hour in which there was not copious amounts of the insulting agent in the gastricontents. And this is simply not the case in this particular situation. What about the prosecution's witness argument that There was so much cocaine in her body that she simply couldn't have done that on her own. I would characterize that as absurd, first of all. This is a gram of cocaine, and it's not really that much cocaine, and that could be consumed pretty easily over a period of a couple of hours.

Dr. Basalt refused our repeated request for an interview about his report. But what about the injuries found on Judy's body that the prosecution argues is proof, she was beaten and forced to take the cocaine. These are not indications of anybody who's sustained any type of beating at all. These to me are very nonspecific. It might be indicated indicative of some type of a struggle or fight, but certainly not a beating. But it is just as likely they all say that the injuries occurred naturally as part of an accidental overdose.

People with seizures do a lot of flopping around sometimes and so there is a reasonable explanation. for the presence of these types of injuries. What about the blunt force trauma on the back of her head? She didn't start out lying down on the ground. You know, she presumably lost consciousness and collapsed, and she's bound to hit something. And this raises perhaps the most important question of all. If these medical experts and others

are so convinced Judy Eftanov was not murdered as the prosecution contends, isn't that reasonable doubt that her husband killed her. Do you feel then based on what you've seen here, everything you've read, that there could be an innocent man in prison? Well, of course. There's no evidence that she was forced to swallow the cocaine, and consequently there is an innocent man in jail. I think it's very possible that there is an innocent man in jail. Innocent of murder, certainly. Since we first broadcast this investigation, Brian Eftanov took his case to the Arizona Court of Appeals. He argued

that because the toxicology report could be interpreted in different ways, there was insufficient evidence to prove murder. And also that his seven-year-old daughter was not a competent witness. His appeal was denied. The conviction stands.