48 Hours - Shattered Dreams

Episode Date: March 28, 2024

In March 2011, David Ditto called 911 to say his wife, Karina, had fallen down a flight of stairs in their Mira Mesa, California home and slammed her head on a tile floor. Karina died two days later, and the medical examiner ruled that she was beaten and strangled. Investigators believed David drugged his two children so they wouldn't wake up during the murder. “48 Hours" correspondent Maureen Maher reports. This classic "48 Hours" episode last aired on 7/6/2013. 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. I'm Erin Moriarty of 48 Hours, and of all the cases I've covered, this is the one that troubles me most. A bizarre and maddening tale involving an eyewitness account that doesn't quite make sense. A sister testifying against a brother. A lack of physical evidence. Crosley Green has lived more than half his life behind bars for a crime he says he didn't commit. Listen to Murder in the Orange Grove, the troubled case against Crosley Green, early and ad-free on Wondery Plus and the Wondery app. Hi. Hello.

I'm Maureen. Maureen, hi. David. Thank you for agreeing to talk to us today. Obviously, this is not a normal setting for when we would do an interview. Tell me your name and tell me where we are. Obviously, this is not a normal setting for when we would do an interview. Tell me your name and tell me where we are. I'm David Ditto and I'm at Vista Detention Facility. I met my wife Karina, I was on vacation from school my junior year in college.

She was his American dream, and she had always thought she would live in the United States with this handsome American. Just a really amazing, beautiful, friendly, happy, faithful human being. She was a relatively sheltered girl living in La Paz, Mexico, and she immediately fell head over heels for him. The closer I got, the more I got to know her. There was something right from the beginning.

She loved her life. She loved her husband. She loved her children. She was a beautiful, loving wife. From the outside looking in, the Ditto family looked like it was the perfect family. My wife hurt herself lying down the stairs. Can you bring an ambulance? I heard a horrible falling down the stairs.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, coming down the stairs. I jumped up and ran over and found Karina laying at the foot of the stairs. When the paramedics walked into the house, Karina Ditto was laying on the floor in the foyer. She had her hands to her side, and she was covered in blood. Did you believe that Karina was going to make it? I kept asking them, you know, is she okay? Is she okay? Does she have a pulse?

It was a fall. It was suspicious. Karina had many bruises all over her body, and she had a laceration to the back of her head. Were you ever violent with Karina? No. I don't believe that David ever hurt Karina. That's all just lies. David Ditto controlled every single aspect of Karina Ditto's life.

This portrayal of her as being afraid of David, that's just not true. They're making me out to be a monster. Did you get anywhere close to having a physical altercation with her? No. So then what are you doing here? I don't know. I'm Maureen Maher. Tonight on 48 Hours, Shattered Dreams. It was the early hours of March 12, 2011.

When David Ditto found the lifeless body of his wife, 38-year-old Karina. How old is she? I do not want you to hang up. When first responders arrived at the Ditto home in Mira Mesa, a San Diego suburb... I started asking her, what's wrong? What's wrong? Are you okay? Honey, are you okay? An emotional David told them his wife Karina had somehow fallen down the stairs and struck her head on the tile floor. She wasn't moving, wasn't talking, so I grabbed her and held her, lifted her into my lap, and was holding her and trying to get her to come to, and she didn't respond or didn't move at all. Karina was rushed to the hospital, unable to breathe on her own.

For two days, David and his family stood vigil as she clung to life. I mean, I was told that first day that she was brain dead. And that it was almost impossible that she would ever recover. Then the next doctor or nurse, the next doctor would tell me, you know, it's still the same situation. She's not going to recover. It was really hard.

I think at first it was just so hard for him to believe. You know, they had their life planned ahead, and it was just so hard to accept that this actually was happening. David's mother, Pat, couldn't believe what had happened to Karina, the beautiful young woman who had captured her son's heart 20 years ago. This was the girl. This was the one that was going to be his wife. It was the summer of 1993. David was on college break,

vacationing in Mexico. On his way to Cabo San Lucas, he stopped in the tranquil resort town of La Paz. Stopped to have to have lunch on the waterfront and was parked in my car, looked across the street, saw a pretty lady with pretty eyes and a beautiful smile and she caught my eye. Karina was a shy 20-year-old girl. She'd smiled at me once or twice and I got up the nerve to go over and talk with her. Would you describe it as love at first sight? As close to love at first sight

as you can get, I believe, yeah. When she was eight or nine years old, she'd say that she wanted to date an American. Karina's mother, Silvia, owner of a beauty salon in Mexico, knew her daughter was instantly smitten with David. She, however, was not. At first, I didn't trust him.

He was too good-looking, and I said no. It's not possible for him to fall in love with a person like my little girl. And I asked him, why her? She's Mexican and has different customs. Karina spoke no English, and David spoke little Spanish. But often, love has its own language. The two sparked up a long-distance love affair through phone calls and letters.

And within a year, they married. They first had a civil wedding in La Paz with Karina's family, and then a traditional ceremony in San Diego with David's family. My stepdad Bill walked Karina down the aisle, since her dad wasn't here to walk her down the aisle, and that was really special. David's sister Maggie was one of Karina's bridesmaids. It was a beautiful wedding, it really was. The pictures, when I look at them now, I think,

Oh, Karina, so young young my brother was so young I remember he had cut his hair I think probably to please Karina's parents her family more newly married at the tender age of 21 Karina left her family and all that was familiar behind to start a new life with her new husband. I really respected the choice that she made to come up here, leave all her family, come to a new country where you don't speak the language, you're not familiar with the culture. How did she adjust to life here in the States? There was some difficulty.

It was completely different. She was nervous and like a stranger in a strange land. While going to school to learn English, the newlywed was completely dependent on her husband. And so he helped her a lot and kind of guided her at the beginning. Give me a kiss. Karina devoted herself to learning everything she could about life in America and she was particularly devoted to building her life with David. Karina really wanted to be a mother. It's something that she knew almost her whole

life that she wanted to be a mom and she was really good at it. In 1996 they had their first child, a son. A few years later, their daughter was born. As the couple was starting their family, David was also starting his career. He took a job as a lab researcher at the University of California, San Diego. We were, you know, financially just kind of starting off. It was a little bit of a struggle. Didn't have a lot of money, but we had, you know, enough to pay the bills and, you know, have food and everything.

It seemed Karina was actually living the life she had always dreamed of as a little girl in Mexico, from the perfect husband... They had great plans for this place. ...to the perfect home that David spent years saving up for. She wanted this house. She wanted this house, and David, you know, made every effort to get this house for them, and they did.

They were just the ideal family, and everybody thought so, and just, you know, know thought what a wonderful family but appearances can be deceiving as revealed in Karina's letters to her mother sometimes I don't know why I married him wrote Karina I'm in despair 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. 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 Plus. It's just the best idea yet. As Karina Ditto was fighting for her life, David Ditto was describing to first responders

the events leading up to and immediately after his wife's horrifying accident. Earlier that evening, the kids went to bed. Then Karina and David settled in for the night to watch Braveheart, one of Karina's favorites. We got our snacks and candy and chips and drinks and stuff. And we were watching the movie. At some point, they paused the movie so each could use the restroom. David used the bathroom downstairs.

Karina went upstairs. David returned to the living room. What happened next was simply unthinkable. I heard the cat screech at the top of the stairs, and I heard just a really noisy bang, bang, bang, bang coming down the stairs. And I jumped up and ran over and found Karina laying at the foot of the stairs. And she wasn't moving, wasn't talking.

David says he grabbed Karina and pulled her away from the stairs. Kneeling by her side, he shook her. When she didn't respond, he began CPR. Finally, Karina started moving. She was grabbing on me, trying to pull herself up, and I was holding her up. And then she just stopped moving. She just kind of collapsed and was laying there, lifeless, in my arms. And I didn't know what to do. I laid her back down and I don't remember if I started doing CPR again or not, but I realized that I just didn't know what was happening to her.

And that is when David made that 911 call. My wife put herself lying down the stairs. Can you bring an ambulance? Okay. Are you with your wife right now? I need to go get her. I need to go get her. It was just after midnight. First responder Lisa Challender was on duty. We were expecting to see a fall. We were definitely not expecting to see a cardiac arrest. Karina's heart had stopped,

and she was covered in her own blood from a gash to the back of her head. The amount of blood surprised the experienced paramedic, but it was the location of Karina's body that immediately made her suspicious. The stairway was here, and the patient was over here, so you don't fall down the stairway and then bounce around the corner. From the blood pattern around Karina to these scratches on David's face. He said that when he was doing CPR at one point she had come back too and then he got the scratches on his face from that.

Lisa felt the scene actually suggested there had been an intense struggle and that David's story didn't add up. She had so much blood on her face that if he had put his mouth over her mouth he would have had her blood on his face. Given their concerns about David's behavior and the suspicious nature of the scene, first responders called the police. But here at the house that night David repeatedly told them Karina's injuries were the result of a fall down the stairs. So police allowed him to

leave the scene to be at his wife's side at the hospital. What the cops didn't know at the time is that over the years there had been problems in the Ditto's marriage. When you fought would it get verbally abusive? There's only one time that I could recall and it was more than 10 years ago. Karina and I were arguing about something and she was really upset and she asked, I just want to know one thing. I want to know if I make you sick or if I'm sickening to you. And I just said yes. One of the few people who knew about the problems in David and Karina's relationship was Karina's

mother. He wants to tell me what spoons I should use when it's time to eat. He wants to tell me how much water I should use to water the plants. He punishes me with money. He takes it away for months. Karina confided in letters to her mother that David had become impossible to live with and that she wanted to leave.

There's times that I don't even want to speak to him. I don't want him to touch me. I have to tell him that sometimes I can't stand the situation. Would she have described you as controlling of her? I don't think so. She had freedom to, you know, do the things that she wanted to. Were you strict with her about what she spent and where she spent it? We were on a tight budget at times.

And I managed the finances. So we didn't have a lot of money sometimes to spend on clothes or, you know, going out to eat and things like that. or going out to eat and things like that. Did you make her pay you back for diapers and other goods for the kids? I don't think so. I honestly don't remember for sure. I don't think so. By 2009, their marriage had reached a breaking point. I said, well, maybe we should look into separating because she was clear that she didn't want

things to continue the way things were. But David Ditto wasn't about to give up on all that he had invested in his marriage and asked Karina for a second chance. And what did you ask for a second chance to do? What did you want another chance at? asked for a second chance to do. What did you want another chance at? To do the things that she said that she missed from the way things were before.

According to David, their relationship did improve, but he noticed a change in Karina. Did you feel like you were in charge in the relationship, and now suddenly she was trying to be in charge? I wouldn't say suddenly, but, yeah, she was taking charge of some things. Taking charge and continuing to assert her independence. For the first time in 15 years,

Karina got a job working at a nearby department store. She was making money and friends. She was very nice. One of the nicest friends I've ever met. She struck up a relationship with a young co-worker named Jonathan Moda. So you were friends? Yes.

Did you have a flirtatious relationship as well? Yes. It was flirtatious, but in a fun way. It was just playful banter, just sexual jokes here and there and stuff like that. Moda says their flirting never got physical, but it did get personal. Did you ever text her a particular picture of your private parts? Yes, I did.

Why? She asked for it. Moda also made suggestive comments on one of Karina's Facebook photos, comments that David read. The comment was something like, how about you and me? Or how about you and me, girl? Or how about you and me, baby? Or something like that. Did you think there was anything going on between them? No.

But just a few months before, Karina's mother, Sylvia, says David worried that she was going to leave him. In August 2010, while visiting the family, Sylvia says her son-in-law turned to her for help, something David strongly denies. He cried a lot and said Karina wanted to leave him. He told me that I have a lot of influence over my daughter and wanted me to speak with her and plead for her not to leave him. So I told her, give him another chance, my love. The next time Sylvia would see her daughter was seven months later. She says David only told her that Karina had been in an accident. She says David only told her that Karina had been in an accident. It wasn't until she saw with her own eyes the seriousness of the situation.

I began to hug her, talking to her, telling her to please open her eyes. After being in a coma for two days, Karina's life came to an end. Were you there when they took her off life support? Yes. Did it seem impossible to you that your healthy wife had fallen down the stairs and now she was gone? Yes. From a fall? It was unthinkable.

Yes. From the fall? It was unthinkable. Shocking, surprising. Equally shocking, however, is what David Ditto did just 15 minutes before his beloved wife was taken off life support. With his cell phone, David took this photo of his once stunning wife, Karina. She'd been covered with paintings of her own handprints. And it was for a reason, says San Diego prosecutor Claudine Ruiz.

The only reason that I could come up with for why David Ditto took that photograph was as a trophy. To remember what he had done to her that he had the final word he controlled her life and he controlled her death I know what happened that night and I know that I didn't kill her I know what happened that night, and I know that I didn't kill her. I know that she fell down the stairs, and she obviously hit her head and hurt her head. For veteran San Diego homicide detective J.C. Smith,

Karina Ditto's brutally bruised body told a different story. Karina had many bruises all over her body, and she had a laceration to the back of her head. She also had bruising and swelling to the front of her face, both of her eyes. Smith says Karina struggled violently until the bitter end, so violent that it left marks on David Ditto.

That was consistent with domestic violence, with a violence, with a fight, with a woman scratching and fighting for her life. Reaching up and clawing? Yes. But if there was a violent struggle that night, wouldn't the commotion have woken up

their 14-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter? Both the children were upstairs sleeping. You would think that with all the noise of a struggle, with the paramedics coming, the firefighters responding with lights and siren, and all these men coming in with equipment to work on a victim, the children never woke up. And David had access to narcotics, and we thought, possibly, he used the drugs on his kids.

Did you give your children anything that night to make them sleep? No, absolutely not. And what do you think about that accusation? That's a pretty strong accusation because it clearly implies premeditation. It's baseless, like most of the insinuations and accusations. By now, detectives were having a tough time buying any part of Ditto's story. So these are the stairs inside the Ditto home. It shows 11 carpeted and padded stairs with a tile floor at the bottom.

I know that this photo obviously was taken a few months after the incident. Do you remember seeing any scuff marks along the side, the banister being pulled off, the railing having any sort of marks on it, any blood anywhere around here. Just a few days after the homicide, we inspected the walls and the railing and the floors and the carpeting. There was nothing, no blood on the carpet at all. The railing was fine, no damage, no problems at all. Investigators also say one of the most disturbing red flags was this large bruise found on Karina's thigh. I think David stomped on her and kicked her. And that right there really made me and the other detectives think that we're dealing with an assault and not a fall.

Were you ever able to find a shoe that matched that in the house? We didn't find a shoe that matched perfectly. that in the house? We didn't find a shoe that matched perfectly. Detectives may have strongly suspected David Ditto was lying, but they needed more solid evidence, and they got it from the San Diego County Medical Examiner, Dr. Othan Mena, who says Karina Ditto did not accidentally fall down the stairs. Instead, Dr. Mena says she was beaten and strangled. There were too many injuries to be explained by what we were told happened. Therefore, I have to find what it was the reason her heart stopped. And in my opinion, it's because she was asphyxiated either by strangulation or by

smothering while also being beaten. Three days later, David was arrested. Visibly shaken at his arraignment, David Ditto went from a grieving husband to a man charged with his wife's murder. David's mother, Pat, couldn't believe it. When the judge stated that the medical examiner had said blunt force trauma and strangulation, we hadn't dreamed of that at all. Before March 12, 2011, there was no known history of abuse.

No physical abuse, that is. In Karina Ditto's life, it was more about power and control. It wasn't until she started to break free from that relationship that he lost control. San Diego County Prosecutor Claudine Ruiz. But he was not the type of abuser who would lose his temper and beat his wife. He was a cold, calculating man. And he made the decision to kill her. When you hear these words, violent, controlling, jealous...

Well, there was no violence. There was no violence. These are not words that you associate with your son? Absolutely not. Even the one person who knew Karina best had her doubts. Karina's mother, Sylvia, believed David's story, at first, until she returned here to La Paz and began to think about all those letters from Karina and all those bruises on her daughter's body.

Eventually, and somewhat reluctantly, Sylvia had a change of heart about her son-in-law. Why did he have the heart to cause a person so much harm? He could have returned her to me or divorced her, but not kill her. Those letters may have suggested motive, but detectives believe it is the physical evidence that proves murder.

She had blood in her hair that had coagulated and then the blood around her had already began to dry. Says to me that she had been down for a while. David had time to think about what he was going to do if he needed to straighten up the house before the paramedics came because he knew he was going to be under scrutiny. And just like first responder Lisa Challender, detectives were equally troubled by inconsistencies at the scene. It's not consistent with the fall down the stairs. All the blood, everything is three, four feet away from the bottom of the staircase. Here's the most unexplainable element of that story to me.

Okay. When you look at the pictures, at the bottom of the stairs, there is no blood. That's wrong. pictures. At the bottom of the stairs, there is no blood. That's wrong. David's defense attorney, Keith Ruttman, argues it's absolutely plausible that Karina's head landed exactly where David says it did. You're saying this is where she landed, and there is a blood splotch there. Correct. And it depends upon how much blood you're looking at. Remember, if David is kneeling next to her, his pants had blood on them. That could have absorbed some of the blood. No one saw her fall. So you can't say how she fell

down the stairs. But every single one of the people that treated her and dealt with her, every single one of them said these injuries are inconsistent with a fall. And every day you hear of medical events that no one has ever heard of before. So you believe that every one of those people was wrong? Yes. Every one of those people? Yes. And you then believe this was just a freak accident?

Yes. But no one other than David knows for sure what really happened that night. Did you strangle her? No. He fooled people. People don't want to believe that there is that side, that dark side. It's just, it's not me. It's not true. 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 Plus. Join Wondery Plus 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, wherever you get your podcasts. KARINA DITTO, Former Attorney, David Ditto's Murder Trial, California, CAROLYN DOUGLAS, New York, Karina Ditto was 38 years old. She would have been 39 today. As David Ditto's murder trial begins, prosecutor Claudine Ruiz wants the jury to focus in on

the horrifying details of her version of this case. She scratched at him with both hands, but he pinned her arms back and he restrained her with his body. Then he slammed the back of her head and her head started bleeding. Ruiz marches witness after witness to the stand. I do. bleeding. RUIZ MARCHES WITNESS AFTER WITNESS TO THE STAND. I do. FORENSIC EXPERTS, FIRST RESPONDERS LIKE RAY MCQUEEN. Based on that cardiac rhythm, that's a complete dead heart. WITNESSES MAKE THE CASE THAT DITTO'S STORY OF A FALL DOWN THE STAIRS JUST DIDN'T ADD

UP. MEDIC LISA CHALLENDER. Theirs just didn't add up. Medic Lisa Challender. And so for somebody to have fallen, excuse me, fallen onto the tile surface, how come she was injured on both sides of her face and then the back of her head also? But David's lawyer, Keith Ruttman, says the evidence points to an accident, refuting the police version of the scratches on David's face. The first element they say is it just does not make sense that somebody who's being given CPR would even be able to move their arms and reach up and scratch, because that's why you're giving them CPR. They're not breathing, they're not moving.

Right, but David testified she came too, so at that point you would imagine that he would stop giving her CPR, giving her the freedom to move about. Ruttman says investigators came to the wrong conclusions because they did a sloppy job. If you're conducting a criminal investigation into a murder of your wife by a husband while his kids are upstairs sleeping, you have to do it right. In court, he tries to show the jury that procedures were not followed. The right questions were not asked. Did you ever hear anyone ask him to explain how the blood got all over her body? No, I never heard anybody ask him that. The biggest oversight, Ruttman tells the jury, was that the

county medical examiner, Dr. Mena, did not have complete information when he examined Karina's neck. And his immediate explanation is that's consistent with what we see in strangulation cases, so it must be strangulation. What Mena didn't know, according to Ruttman, is that a resident doctor at the hospital accidentally punctured an artery in Karina's neck while trying to give her blood to revive her. Never knew that that arterial puncture had occurred, so was never able to discount that. Ruttman says it was that puncture that caused her neck to bruise,

not being strangled, as Dr. Mena testified. The puncture was discovered by Ruttman's star witness, renowned medical examiner Michael Bodden. He reviewed the autopsy report, and he reviewed all the medical records from the hospital, and he was the one who first noticed that there was a potential contributing source of blood from the arterial puncture. How does he believe Karina died? Well, his testimony was actually, to be technically correct about it, was that her injuries were consistent with the fall

down the stairs. But Dr. Mena says he was aware of the puncture. The defense believes that the mistake of the resident is the hemorrhage that you saw that you believed was strangulation. No, it cannot be because the two hemorrhages were separate. The hemorrhage that was by the, because of the resident placing a line, that was down here by the clavicle. The hemorrhages were separate. The hemorrhage that was by the, because of the resident placing a line, that was down here by the clavicle. The hemorrhages that I saw were over here by the thyroid gland or by the voice box. Karina's injuries tell a story, says Mena, about what happened to her that night. What's the story you were able to piece together by the condition of her body?

Her body told me that she was beaten because she had way too many injuries to be explained by a fall downstairs. And that is exactly what the jury heard him say. But then Ruttman took a big gamble. He did something that is rarely done in a murder trial these days. He put David Ditto on the stand. these days. He put David Ditto on the stand so jurors could hear from David directly and judge for themselves if he was telling the truth. Karina was here at the base of the stairs. Her head was on the tile floor. Her shoulders were flat on the tile floor. And then he addresses a key point to the prosecution's case, how Karina's head got to where the blood was on the tile floor. And then he addresses a key point to the prosecution's case, how Karina's

head got to where the blood was on the floor. So I was holding her and I lifted her head and shoulders and kind of just pulled her and then just kind of took steps with my knees and pulled her, and pulled her several times until she was laying alongside the thing. Okay, thanks. Did you try to give CPR to Karina? Yes, I did. Was she moving? No, she wasn't.

Was she talking? No, she wasn't. I lifted her up and held her in my arms. Just her head and her shoulders. I just said, honey, honey, are you okay? Trying to wake her up. Were you able to wake her up? No.

trying to wake her up. Were you able to wake her up? No. David also got emotional when he acknowledged there were problems in his marriage, but said both he and Karina were working hard to save it. We talked a lot and cried a lot. But she said yes, and she wanted to try again. Jurors had to weigh David's testimony against that of Karina's mother, who told them of

his controlling ways, as described by her daughter. For example, you water the plants at a certain time. La comida a tales horas. Food at a certain time. Telefono tenía tiempo para hablar. Food at a certain time. The phone, she had set time to talk to us, to call us. Good afternoon. In closing arguments, Ruttman tells jurors that even if there were problems in the Ditto's marriage,

that is not enough evidence that he killed her. What she would tell her mother, sometimes I feel like I want to be single again. Everybody feels that way. Everybody. At one point or another in your marriage, everybody feels that way. And he says the fact that David Ditto's story is so odd is precisely why it had to be true. You'd think if he planned all this, he'd have a better story put together. The blood would be in the right places. The injuries would be consistent with what he saw. That's not what he said. And he backs up his point that it was a freak accident with some mathematics. If it's a one in a million chance that Karina Ditto fell down the stairs and hit her head in just the right way, it's a one in a million chance, that means it happened to 311 people last year.

A thousand if it happens in China. But Claudine Ruiz isn't buying any of it. She wants the jurors to believe it was cold-blooded murder. This was no accident. And the bruises all over her body tell you that. 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 a virgin. It just happens to all of us. I'm journalist Luke Jones, and for almost two years I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn. When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with. In the Pitcairn Trials, I'll be uncovering a story of abuse

and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific island to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. After four weeks of testimony, the case against David Ditto was now in the hands of the jury. His attorney, Keith Ruffman, was feeling optimistic. I was confident that we presented the best case that existed and that they had left too many unanswered questions for 12 people to conclude that David just upped and murdered his wife in the middle of the night with his kids upstairs.

Unlike Ruttman, David's sister Maggie was not as optimistic. After our attorney's closing argument, that's when I felt worried. Our closing argument just was not, it didn't drive the points home. It took only one day for the jury to reach a verdict, and that made David's mother, Pat, very nervous. I felt that because they came to a decision so quickly, they did not consider all of the evidence. We, the jury, in the above entitled cause, find the defendant, David Patrick Ditto, guilty of the crime of murder.

Guilty of first-degree murder. The verdict stunned everyone who believed David was innocent. I never dreamed that they would find him guilty of first-degree murder. I mean, that was over the top. I was shocked. But no one was more shocked than the defendant. I really didn't think there was any way I would be convicted. I didn't think it would be possible to convince a jury of 12 people that I killed her when I knew that it wasn't true. And I knew that

some of the evidence, you know, looked suspicious, and I saw some some problems but it didn't prove anything I didn't prove that I that I hurt Karina in any way was there a particular piece of evidence or someone's testimony that came to the forefront right away for me it was the medical examiner's evidence we sat down with three of the jurors. Francine Fullman Miso found that Karina's injuries told an undeniable story. Just seeing the pictures, you know, of her, just seeing that because that was so objective

and convincing for me. Juror Christine Ellis. Even though we had all the testimony about their relationship and everything, I was trying to go on the actual physical evidence that they brought forward. And it just didn't seem that they could possibly be from a fall down the stairs. I lifted her up and held her in my arms. Nor was juror Patricia Welk convinced by Ditto's story. I found his testimony disingenuous,

and it seemed very disconnected from the context of the situation. I was troubled by that. It's sad to think that someone went through that kind of pain at the end of their life, you know. Do you believe justice was served? I do. Prosecutor Claudine Ruiz says the last chapter of Karina Ditto's life may have ended very differently if not for the first people who stood up for her.

The patient's head was right here. The paramedics were really the unsung heroes in this case because they arrived on the scene knowing nothing. And when they walked in, they immediately knew something was wrong. Is it possible, then, he could have gotten away with murder and called it an accident? He very well could have.

I saw my role in this call as providing care for Corrina Ditto. Every person that was involved in this had a part to it. I know that we were the first people to draw attention to it. This is a tragic case. Nine months after David Ditto was found guilty of first-degree murder... It's tragic for the victim. It's tragic for the children. Judge Kenneth Soh sentenced him to 25 years to life. Now 45, David Ditto will most likely spend the rest of his days in prison.

When the case against David finally came to an end, Sylvia was back home in La Paz, Mexico, where it all began for David and her daughter. I felt guilty. Even today I still feel guilty. Because had I told her to pack her things and leave him, this wouldn't have happened. As Sylvia looks through a photo album full of memories, she hopes and prays she won't lose touch with the grandchildren she loves dearly, but has not seen since the trial.

It's very difficult when I speak to them on the phone. I can't control myself when hearing their pretty voice. They are not alone. They have a lot of family here, and we love them. The children are now living with David's sister, Maggie, and her family. You still have photos of David and Karina in your salon and all over your house. How do you feel about David Ditto today? I only see him as a son who left, a son who made us feel good at one time, a son who behaved badly.

But I have him in my heart. I don't hate him. I forgive him. If you like this podcast, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a quick survey at wondery.com slash survey.