48 Hours - The Corn Rake Murder

Episode Date: September 27, 2020

A farmer says he found his wife impaled by a corn rake. The rake has just four tines – so why does she have six puncture wounds? CBS News chief investigative and senior national correspondent Jim Axelrod reports for "48 Hours." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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ConstantContact.ca it's the heartland of america small community farm town everybody knows everybody everyone knew amy mull You know, she was very bubbly, outgoing. All of a sudden, one day, she's dead. Delaware County 911, what's the address of your emergency? She ran into a wall. Everyone wanted to know what happened to Amy Mullis. Did she do anything? She says, there's nothing. Okay, what is your name, sir?

Todd Mullis. Todd was straight shooter, tough man, hard worker, farmer. He calls 911. He's telling them that somehow some sort of accident happened to his wife. Amy's body is face down. Sticking out of her back is a corn rake. Corn rake is a very sharp, heavy-duty farm tool. Nothing like a rake for leaves.

It has four prongs sticking out of it, and they're typically very sharp. I just grabbed her and she went in the trunk. Okay, you're headed to the hospital and she's in your vehicle? Yes. Amy is sitting on her son, Tristan's lap, and Todd is en route to the hospital. You feel anything? Amy, Amy. Amy.

She's not responding. The dispatcher says, can you pull over? And so he pulls over on the side of the road. Sir, do you feel comfortable doing CPR? I can try. I'll try anything. He attempts to lay her down flat on the seat, and he's pumping her chest, hoping to get her responsive. One, two. One, two.

One, two. One, two. Come on, respond. She's cold. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on.

And we never regained consciousness. Amy never regained consciousness. It was a death in a small town community. It shocked everyone. This is something that they were not prepared for, and it doesn't happen there. Todd's story was that he didn't know what happened, so he assumed that she fell on the corn rake,

and it was an accident. You don't fall on a rake that has four tines and suffer six puncture wounds. It's hard to believe that it's accidental. Rumors swirl that, wait a second, this wasn't an accident. They were having marital problems. You would think that, wait a second, this wasn't an accident. They were having marital problems. You would think that in a case like this, there wouldn't be a lot of unanswered questions. But here we are questioning exactly what happened and why this happened. By the authority of the state of Iowa, accused Todd Mullis of murder first degree. Thank you. Amy Mullis was a young and beautiful woman.

She was 39 years old. She was a daughter, a sister, a friend, and a mother to her three young children. In September of 2019, almost a year after Amy's murder, family and friends packed the Dubuque County Courthouse as lead prosecutor Maureen Hughes described what she says happened to the woman they knew so well. Amy had so much life left to live, but that life was viciously taken from her on November 10, 2018. Taken at the hands of this defendant. Amy's husband, Todd Mullis, the hardworking farmer who many saw as a devoted father to Tristan, Taylor, and Wyatt, was on trial for first-degree murder.

This brutal, senseless murder happened in a town called Earlville. happened in a town called Earlville. Amy was found in this red shed on the family's hog farm by her 13-year-old son, Tristan. She was face down with a corn rake sticking out of her back. Amy Mullis was viciously and deliberately murdered. From the start of the trial covered by Court TV, Todd Mullis' attorney, Gerald Firehelm, agreed with prosecutors that Amy had been murdered, but argued it wasn't Todd who killed her. I believe that you will find that there's a

reasonable doubt about Mr. Mullis's guilt. There's no way that Todd could have killed Amy. He did not have the opportunity to do this. 48 Hours hired legal experts Daniel and Dina Neshwat to look at the evidence from the defense point of view, and Matthew Triano to look at it from the prosecution's perspective. This is not a random third party. This is not a long-distance gunshot. This is up close and personal. As serious and brutal and violent as it comes. Doctor, did you know Amy Mullis? I knew her as a nurse in the emergency department. Dr. Craig Thompson was on duty the day Amy was rushed to the hospital in Manchester, Iowa,

where she once worked as a nurse. Shortly after arrival at the hospital, I understood that Amy Mullis had been pronounced dead. The first thing that Thompson, the medical director of emergency services, was told, Amy's death was a freak accident. Amy had been injured falling on a corn rake that was upended. Thompson is also a medical examiner, and he needed to make sure her injuries matched that story. Did you notice any or observe any injuries on Amy? Well, notably, she had six puncture wounds across the back. I found it very difficult to see how four tines could cause six holes in a

single impact. Literally, the math doesn't add up. Yeah, it's basic math. We have a problem here. Dr. Cruz, did you perform an autopsy on Amy Mullis? I did. Thompson contacted Dr. Kelly Cruz, a forensic pathologist for the state medical examiner's office. She has a small abrasion or a scrape in the middle of her upper lip. Cruz found blunt force injuries to Amy's face, hands and knees, possible evidence of a struggle. This is a photograph of the corn rake that was brought to the autopsy suite. There were two different directions of the six puncture wounds. And what do those different directions indicate to you?

To me, they indicate that she would have to be impaled with the rake at least twice, possibly three times. Which meant the Delaware County Sheriff's Office now had a murder to solve. I went immediately to the red shed. It was dark by the time Deputy Travis Hemsath arrived at the farm. There was a couple drops of blood on the floor, and that's where it was described to me that that's where she was positioned.

I looked on all the equipment in there for any other indication, such as blood markings that would indicate an injury, where she had fallen, anywhere else but where she was located. And did you observe anything? I did not. He noticed a few drops of blood and with his own eyes couldn't notice anything else and had concluded the investigation at the Red Shed.

Daniel and Dina Neshwat wonder whether Amy's death was even a murder. If this was a murder, and somebody is stabbing Amy, not one, not two, but three times, you're going to see blood drops on the chemical totes, on the shed walls, on a suspect. You're going to see it on Amy. The Delaware County Sheriff's Department doesn't investigate many homicides. Amy's was only the fourth in the last 10 years. So they asked for help from Iowa's Division of

Criminal Investigation. When deputies began digging into the Mullis's marriage, they discovered Amy had cheated on Todd five years earlier. Amy crushed the foundation of their marriage, the trust of their marriage by having an affair. Amy and Todd decided to try to work it out. They went to counseling. Amy quit her job at the hospital to work on the farm. Todd said she wanted to spend more time with her family, but Amy told friends she had no choice. She left because it was kind of a deal she made with her husband. The terms of the deal is that, Amy, you're done in the hospital. You're back on the farm. I'm keeping my eye on you. Yeah, and Todd's position is she signed up for that, right? We agreed that this was going to be the way it was going to go. It took Todd a very long time. I don't think he ever really trusted Amy again.

In fact, she told Terry Stainer she felt like a prisoner. It was very regulated who she could do things with. It was kind of a joke, the approved friend list that could actually do things with Amy. She was timed when she left home and when she got back. There was a line that was used that she was a prisoner of Todd. So this is pretty intense stuff. It's controlling behavior. By 2018, Amy was confiding in friends like Patricia Christofferson that things were not going well. She wasn't happy in her marriage and she hadn't been happy for many years. She wasn't happy in her marriage, and she hadn't been happy for many years. But Todd told a very different story to John Turbin, actually. Yeah, communication was great. We were together all the time, you know. It was good. Yeah, between us, it was good.

It just wasn't the whole truth. In July of 2018, five years after Amy's affair, Todd had noticed a change in her. His radar's up. His radar's up. Hey, wait a minute. I've seen this movie before. Yep. And that raises a red flag. Going over phone records, Todd discovered his wife had been communicating with another man, Jerry Frazier, a field manager for the Mullis farm. Todd couldn't see their 128 texts, but Matt Trajano says when Todd confronted Frazier, he was told, Nothing going on. This is business stuff. We're talking about kids' activities. Nothing scandalous.

All those texts, they were all about kids' activities and the pig farm? Correct. That's the story. Todd even called Frazier's wife. Jerry's wife convinces him everything is fine. They have a happy marriage and she has no concerns about her husband. And that puts his mind to rest. But as investigators quickly discovered, Amy and Jerry Frazier were having an affair. And that provided what they needed. A motive for Todd to kill her. The obvious choice, always, is the husband.

But Todd also had an airtight alibi, his son Tristan, which means as his father is tried for the murder of his mother, Tristan will be the most important witness for both the prosecution and the defense. Everyone was on the edge of their seats of what's the son going to say. No, Tristan, I'd like to direct your attention to November 10th, 2018. Do you remember that day? Yes. How do you think Amy Mullis died? Could it have been an accident? See more photos from the case on Facebook at 48 Hours.

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. 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. Please be seated, everyone. One of the most anticipated witnesses at Todd Mullis's murder trial was Todd and Amy's 14-year-old son, Tristan. We've chosen not to show his face.

He testified via closed-circuit TV. Do you swear that the testimony you give here today will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Yes, Your Honor. Everyone knew the stakes. From the first moments of the investigation, Tristan had provided an alibi for his father. Legal expert Matthew Troiano says Tristan told police.

I'm with my dad, right? I didn't lose sight of him. I'm with my dad the whole time. He may not know it, but he's alibying his father. If they are together the whole time, then he can't be assaulting his wife and killing his wife. whole time, then he can't be assaulting his wife and killing his wife. With the monitor facing the jury, Tristan spoke of the close bond he shared with his dad. We would go hunting, fishing, going on a four-hour ride. We'd farm together, obviously. The two often worked together on the farm. On the day Amy died, the two younger kids stayed in the house while Amy joined Todd and Tristan in one of their large hog barns. It's kind of an open barn, about about 100, about a football field long. Tristan described the division of labor.

He was setting up portable heaters, anticipating a delivery of piglets to the farm. heaters, anticipating a delivery of piglets to the farm. Todd was setting up equipment that provided water to the pens. Amy was cleaning the lights. So she would get on a bucket, a five-gallon bucket, and then she would reach up to these, the light bulbs in the ceiling, so she would clean those out. Everything seemed fine until Tristan noticed something was off with his mom. She said she was getting dizzy. She kind of like had to, like when she got in a bucket, she had to hold herself from falling off. And she got down in her legs. She was kind of shaky.

Tristan was worried. Four days earlier, Amy had undergone an outpatient medical procedure. This was her first time out of the house. I think I remember saying, you know, are you all right? Do you need help cleaning them? And then Dad kind of asked the same thing. She just said, no, like, I'm fine. But a little while later, Amy suffered another dizzy spell.

According to Tristan, Todd became concerned. He said, I really don't think it's wise for you to stay out here because, you know, I don't want you falling off and getting hurt. Tristan testified that Todd wanted Amy to go into the house and rest, but asked if on her way she could grab a pet carrier out of the red shed some 30 yards away from the front of the barn. Todd told her he would need it later to round up a litter of kittens to protect them from some heavy machinery he planned to use. He said, if you can get it to the shop, that would help. But if you just can't get it, then just leave it. We'll get it. Amy left. Tristan said he and his dad continued working together for about another hour and a half in the barn, then headed to an office at the front.

That's when Todd looked out the window and saw the pet carrier was not where he had asked Amy to put it. So he just told me to get it myself. He asked you to go to the red shed to check on your mom. He asked to go check on her because, like, maybe we thought that she was still struggling to get it out, to get the pet cage, or maybe she just wanted a house. So he just said, go check on mom. But he didn't, he told you to go to the red shed? Yes.

When Tristan got to the red shed, he made the horrifying discovery. She was kind of on her hands and knees, face down. Did you see anything that was protruding or sticking out of your mom's body? Yes. What did you see? A corn rake. What did you do? I checked for a pulse on her neck and her arm.

I just kind of freaked out. My anxiety level was zero to 100 in about a split second. Tristan screamed for his dad. Todd arrived, saw Amy, and told Tristan to go get the family truck. And what was your dad doing then? He was helping Mom out of the barn. Because the opening inside the shed was so narrow, Todd would later tell police he had to remove the corn rake from Amy's back in order to get her out.

Todd then picked her up and carried her to the truck. Tristan gets into the passenger seat. Todd puts Amy essentially on top of Tristan and drives. Can you imagine the trauma Tristan must be feeling? His mother on top of him as they're driving away with these serious injuries. Yeah, massive bleeding. Yeah, it's terrible, right? It's terrible. Tristan described to the jury that as they raced towards the hospital, Todd dialed 911.

I'm headed there. I'm about to go right up. Okay, so you're headed to where? Okay, what's the hospital? filed 911. He's frantic. He's excited. When he's on the phone with 911, the dispatcher says, can you pull over? And so he pulls over on the side of the road. First to arrive at the scene was Deputy Luke Thompson. Affirm that the testimony you give in this matter will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Yes, I do. Go ahead and have a seat there. First to arrive at the scene was Deputy Luke Thompson. I saw a young man, looked like he had blood on his coat, flagging me down as I pulled up. Thompson rushed to help Amy.

She was unresponsive and not breathing, no pulse. She had quite a bit of blood on her clothes. We put her on the ground and I started doing chest compressions. While Deputy Thompson worked on Amy, he asked Todd what had happened. Todd told him he wasn't sure, but that day Todd also said he suspected Amy had become dizzy and accidentally fell on the rake while trying to get the pet carrier. As for Tristan? Well, Tristan tells the police what?

His dad was with him the whole time. He was with his dad working in the hog farm the entire time. So if Todd didn't kill Amy, who did? There was certainly somebody else who had access to that farm, and that person also had a relationship with the Mullises and a relationship with Amy Mullis. That man Amy was having an affair with, Jerry Frazier, may have had his own reasons for wanting Amy out of the picture. Jerry Frazier had motive to kill Amy. He had a wife he had children he didn't want to leave his family why do you think todd waited to call 9-1-1 until he was on the road hear more of todd's 9-1-1 call at 48 hours.com Amy often complained that Todd works too much.

He preferred to stay home when she preferred to go out. You know, at some point, those opposites didn't attract anymore. And Amy sought attention elsewhere. The attention came from this man. State your name and spell it for the record, please. Jerry Frazier. Jerry Frazier, the married father of two, managed the Mullis's hog operation. And it's in that capacity that he meets Amy.

Since she was the farm's bookkeeper, Matthew Traiano says it was normal for them to be in contact. And then it morphs into a personal, romantic, sexual relationship. Their affair began in late May of 2018. How often would you and Amy meet for this physical relationship? It just depended. I mean, everything was very short. It was maybe once a week. Maybe more depending on just how it worked out. They would meet in secret, on the farm, on back roads, and occasionally motel rooms. Well, I think it was strictly or more sexual for Jerry than it was for Amy.

It seemed like Amy had very strong feelings for Jerry. And Patricia Christofferson told jurors Amy envisioned a future with him. He made her happy. She had talked about wanting to get married eventually with him. But after Todd discovered those phone records and began asking questions, Frazier got nervous. Yeah, I told her that we needed to slow down. Were you afraid about Todd finding out about your affair? Yes.

Why? Oh, why wouldn't you be? But they kept seeing each other. By late summer 2018, word was out about Amy's latest infidelity. Her friend, Terry Stainer, says Amy was worried. She said, I'm going to tell Todd that there's rumors out there to stop this. So if he hears it, he'll think it's just the rumor mill going around. Dina Neshwat says Jerry Frazier was also feeling pressure.

He had a wife. He had children. He didn't want to leave his family. She is a threat to Jerry and his family. So when Amy was murdered just two months later, Jerry Frazier immediately became a person of interest. He had motive. He had means. He is on that farm all the time. He had just as much motive as Todd did.

Special Agent John Turbitt interviewed Frazier. He sat next to me in my unmarked police vehicle, and we talked for an hour and a half. Frazier readily admitted to the affair, but insisted he couldn't have killed Amy. He was home in Anamosa, 45 minutes away. Frazier readily admitted to the affair, but insisted he couldn't have killed Amy. He was home in Anamosa, 45 minutes away. And just like Todd Mullis, his son was his alibi.

His college-age son had excellent recall, and so they had gotten up and spent all Saturday morning doing work, and then they watched college football. Investigators went through Frazier's cell phone records at the time Amy was murdered. We could see that Jerry Frazier's cell phone had cell phone activity around 1045, 1145, 1245, all of that down in Anamosa. But Daniel Neshwat says... If someone wanted to commit murder, today's day and age, no, don't bring your cell phone with you. Leave it at home. The cell phone pinging only means that's where the cell phone was.

Correct. Doesn't mean where Jerry was. Investigators concluded Jerry Frazier wasn't involved, and they turned their attention back to Todd Mullis, in spite of his alibi. Word was, Amy wanted a divorce. That's motivation. Because if she leaves and they get divorced,

he loses the farm. Loses half, at least. Pays her alimony, child support. Splits probably his life in half. So he needs things to be together. Investigators were especially interested in what Amy told her friends that Todd might do to her. I asked her why she stayed, and she said she was scared of Todd, and if he found out about wanting a divorce or an affair, that he would kill her. One time, she did say that if he ever found out, she would disappear. She even told Terry Stainer where to search for her on the Mullis property. She said, Tara, if I ever come up missing, have them look in our new timber. Stainer worried Amy's affair

would provoke Todd. I told her, you know, Amy, you're putting yourself in a really dangerous situation. And I said at that time, he is going to kill you. And why did you say that? Because Todd is just the person you don't mess with. As they built their case, investigators began focusing on Todd's actions the day Amy died. Focusing on Todd's actions the day Amy died. Like sending Tristan to the red shed long after Amy had gone to get the pet carrier. Why would she still be in the red shed? So an instruction would be wider than just the red shed.

Absolutely. Go find mom. Search the farm. So why would Todd pick red shed of all the possibilities? The prosecution would want you to believe that he wants Tristan to find Mom. He needs Amy to be located by somebody other than him. And then there was Todd's police interview when John Turbitt accused him of murdering his wife. Matthew Troiano says Todd's reaction was revealing. If you get put into an interrogation room and you had nothing to do with the death of your wife,

the death of anybody, but you are accused wrongly, you are going to fight back. You're going to scream, you're going to yell. Todd, you were there. You weren't there. And none of that from Todd? Nope. Not enough.

But Dina Neshwa disagrees. How would you describe his reaction? Baffled. What? Me? I'm responsible? If somebody said you killed your spouse, would you have an emotional reaction to that? Everybody reacts differently to everything. He tried to deny it several times,

and Todd even said, you want me to confess to something I didn't do. But what about Todd Mullis's airtight alibi? It turns out there may be some cracks in Tristan's story. At some point, did you lose sight of your dad? Yes. 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. 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 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+. It's just The best idea yet. Todd Mullis was the prime suspect in the death of his wife Amy, But he's always had a solid alibi from his teenage son, Tristan. Tristan told authorities he was with his father all morning. How important was that for Todd? Crucial. That was his saving grace. But everything changed just days before the trial

when Tristan was re-interviewed and admitted he did not have eyes on his father the whole time. Tristan said he lostinterviewed and admitted he did not have eyes on his father the whole time. Tristan said he lost sight of Todd a couple of times when Tristan went to get some water in the office at the front of the barn. Legal expert Matthew Traiano. This is not the situation that we had before where Tristan is saying, I'm with him the whole time.

I have eyes on my dad the entire time. Correct. And once you don't have that... Game changer. In that interview, Tristan estimated he was gone less than a minute each time. But when he was questioned by Prosecutor Maureen Hughes at the trial... Do you know exactly how long your dad wasn't in your sight? No.

Tristan, would it be accurate to say that you don't know how much time you were away from your dad when you were working in the hog barn? Yes. And with Tristan's revised statement, the prosecution insisted Todd had the opportunity to kill Amy. Every statement that he's given has been worse and worse for his father because the first one was pretty airtight. What do you think's going on with Tristan? I think he's like any other 13 or 14 or 15 year old where there's probably, I want to try to do the right thing. I want to try to maybe help my mom and help my dad. And you know, that's culminated and he has to testify against his father. It's awful.

But there was still room for doubt. Tristan said he never saw blood on Todd and that at no point while they were working together in the hog barn did his demeanor change. What's more, Dina Neshwat maintains that no matter how long it took Tristan to get those drinks of water in the office, there was no way Todd had enough time to get from the hog barn to the red shed. To expect him to stab his wife with a corn rake not once, not twice, possibly three times, wait for her to make sure she's dead, and then come with no blood, no torn clothes,

same composure as if nothing happened? It's not possible. Investigators didn't have any physical evidence linking Todd to the scene, but they did have electronics from the Mullis farm, including a security camera system. There's two vantage points for these cameras that look out over the property, one of which would have captured the area around the red shed, not inside the red shed, but around the red shed.

And when investigators searched for any footage from the day Amy died... We were unable to find any video. But strangely, one of the cameras had a recording from the next day. Well, now that doesn't seem to add up. Do you think he deleted the footage? I think that the reasonable explanation is that he deleted the footage. To make matters worse for Todd, investigators found a series of disturbing internet searches on Todd's iPad,

including what happens to cheaters in history, thrill of the kill, and killing unfaithful women. If I'm investigating a homicide and the guy I think committed the murder of his wife has been searching online about what happens to cheating wives, don't I have an open and shut case?

It doesn't look good. With the prosecution's case laid out, all eyes turned to Todd, who took the stand in his own defense. Were you surprised that Todd testified? You know, his reactions and his actions and what he does and doesn't do are made such an important part of the case

that the best person to explain that is Todd Mullis. For about three hours, Todd calmly addressed the many questions swirling around him, including why he didn't call 911 right away. I just wanted to help her. I just wanted, let's go to the hospital. Is there something wrong? I'm a doer, I guess. I just, I wanted to help. I was in reaction mode. I wanted to get her to the hospital. Todd also told the jury why there was no security camera footage from the day Amy died. He said he believed his cats had accidentally knocked

the antennas off the window ledge while they were trying to find a warm spot to sit. The colder it gets, cats go to heat. And there's a heater right below the window, sun comes up in the morning, they sit in the window. In fact, there were no recordings for nearly two weeks leading up to Amy's death. And the reason one of the cameras suddenly started working the following day? It was the day after, I think after talking to family members and stuff, they go, do you have anything on the camera? So I went out. I seen everything was knocked off, hanging down by the floor. I picked it all back up. I did not know how long it had been off or whatever. As for those Internet searches about cheating spouses,

one defense attorney, Gerald Firehelm, asked Todd if he had done them. No, I did not. Do you know who did? I have no idea who looked that up. Todd said other family members used the iPad, including Amy. Have you ever searched for wedding dresses? I have never searched for wedding dresses. Did you ever do a Pinterest search?

No. Do you know what Pinterest is? I have no idea what Pinterest is. Then came the question everyone wanted to know. Todd, did you ambush your wife Amy in that shed that day and brutally beat her and chop her up with that corn fork? No, I did not. Do you know who did?

I have no idea. In closing statements, the prosecutor left the jury with a final thought about Todd's motive. Why did he kill Amy? Because he didn't want to lose his farm? Because she was cheating? You might not like that Amy was having an affair, but that doesn't mean she deserved to die.

As for the defense... The state has not proven a case against Todd Mullis beyond a reasonable doubt. The dots don't even remotely connect here. There was zero physical evidence linking Todd to anything that happened. With the week-long trial complete, the jury was excused to deliberate and decide Todd Mullis' fate.

After a week of testimony, it was now up to the jury to decide if Todd Mullis had murdered his wife, Amy. I think the question is this. Not so much is Todd Mullis innocent of doing this. I think the more critical question is, did the state prove that he did it? This woman, who asked that we not use her name, was an alternate juror who weighed all of the testimony and evidence as she watched the trial. From where you're sitting, did the prosecution do a good job? I personally just wish that they would have been able to provide more forensics evidence. And some of the 12 jurors who went into the jury room to decide Todd Mullis' fate felt much the same way. This juror, who also did not want to use her name, said the jury was split going into deliberations.

What was the initial field? There was probably half at least that said he was guilty and then the rest were undecided. There were some that got difficulty saying he was guilty when there was no witnesses. This was a big deal that you were basically sifting through circumstantial evidence and there was no witness to the crime yes it was a serious a serious verdict to come up with i am informed that the jury has reached a verdict after roughly seven hours of deliberation a verdict we the jury find the the defendant, Todd Michael Mullis, guilty of the crime of murder in the first degree.

Guilty. Amy Mullis' family breathed a sigh of relief, and Todd Mullis subtly shook his head before being let out of the courtroom in chains. As this juror explained, the jury reached a consensus by going back through all the evidence. We talked about all the different scenarios it could have been, and we couldn't come up with a plausible explanation. But then we went back to Todd and all the points against him. It was a series of unfortunate events that just didn't add up. Starting with

Todd's decision to take the corn rake out of Amy's back and drive her away to get help before calling 911. I didn't understand why he didn't call 911. And the fact that he chose not to, was that a big deal for you? Yes, I think he wanted to get her away from the farm. Yes, I think he wanted to get her away from the farm. And, she says, Todd did not do himself any favors by taking the stand. To me, he seemed cold. He was a cold fish. You know, he was probably a man of few words, which a lot of farmers are. But when you talk about things that they're passionate about, like their families or their farms or their wives,

they usually can muster up some emotion. Then there were those internet searches. We spent quite a bit of time going line by line down and then looking at the searches before, looking at the searches after, and we concluded that it was him. It wasn't just a crime of passion. He had premeditation. After being found guilty, Todd Mullis hired a new legal team and submitted a motion for a new trial as he awaited sentencing. So now the issue is going to become a legal issue of did he get a fair trial? Was anything done wrong that shouldn't have happened? Todd's motion claimed that, among other things, Todd's trial lawyers blatantly disregarded his guidance to argue that Amy died from an accident right from the start. Amy Mullis was viciously

and deliberately murdered. And when that happened, Todd wrote on a sheet of paper, And when that happened, Todd wrote on a sheet of paper, what the F was that? The job of the defense lawyer is not to convince the jury that Todd is innocent. The job is to create reasonable doubt in the minds of the jury. He should never have closed that door. He should have left it open for the jurors to wonder, well, was it an accident or was it a murder? Earlier this month, the judge ruled on the motion. As to the defendant's motion for new trial and motion in arrest of judgment, I will deny those motions in their entirety. We will go ahead and proceed with sentencing at this time. Before being sentenced, Todd Mullis took one last chance to address the court. I did not do this.

This is supposed to be America where you shouldn't have to prove your innocence. I thought it was innocent until proven guilty. I feel this is the other way around. And I was a faithful and loving husband. Mr. Mullis, for the charge of murder in the first degree, you are sentenced to life in prison with no opportunity for parole. Now, as Todd Mullis is left to appeal his conviction from prison, the ripples of Amy's death continue to be felt by all who loved her.

This case is a tragedy all around. You have three beautiful children that not only lost their mother, they lost their father at the same time. What Todd Mullis did, if he did do this, is he acted selfishly in his own best interest to remove a potential problem in his life. But he didn't think or think enough about his three kids and all of the other layers of trauma that would result. Four victims, not one. Yeah, at least, not one. Yeah.

At least. At least. 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 Informants 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. Todd and Amy Mullis' three children, Tristan, Taylor, and Wyatt, are now with Amy's family. Kevin always had it. The beats were great.

A rising young music producer. I heard Britney and Rihanna were interested in his material. A lot of things were happening too quickly. I said, what's wrong, Kevin? I said, I feel like something's going to happen. Two different handguns. 10 to 17 shots. How much do you have to kill him?

Who killed Kevin Harris? The clues are absolutely out there. 48 Hours Suspicion. Wednesday at 10, 9 Central on CBS. 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.