Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Gorgeous 28-year-old brainiac missing, carpet soaked with blood & bleach. What happened to Jennifer Rothwell?

Episode Date: November 22, 2019

Beautiful St. Louis resident Jennifer Rothwell has been found dead. Authorities find incriminating blood evidence and a surveillance video of husband Beau Rothwell buying cleaning supplies a day before he reports her missing.What happened to Jennifer?Joining Nancy Grace to discuss the case: Jason Oshins- NY Defense Attorney  Steven Lampley- Former Detective, & Author of "Outside Your Door" Dr. Debbie Joffe-Ellis- Psychologist, Mental Health counselor & Adjunct Professor at Columbia University Dr. Kendall Crowns- Travis County, Texas, Deputy Medical Examiner Levi Page: CrimeOnline Investigative Reporter Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. A gorgeous young 28-year-old chemical engineer, a beautiful and a brainiac, 28 years old, goes missing. She doesn't show up for work at a highly sought out job at dupont and co-workers start calling where is she where's jennifer what happened is it the weather it is only then police find her vehicle several miles away from home in a heavily wooded area, Kicker, her cell phone is still in the car. Last seen that morning, dressed up in business attire, headed off for her job, hair back in a little messy bun. What happened to Jennifer Rothwell?

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. crime stories with nancy grace jennifer rothwell is 28 years old and married she's five foot six inches tall she has long light brown hair curly hair she weighs about 150 pounds now she was last seen leaving her west st louis county house yesterday morningve Coeur police located a car not far from this house the same day near the intersection of Olive and Fifi Rd. Flyers of the missing woman are posted right now inside several businesses

in this very neighborhood. Please also tell us Rothwell's family and friends usually talk to her every day, but again they have not heard from this woman since Jennifer left home early yesterday morning, and that's why they filed a missing persons report. Police say Rothwell's husband, all of her relatives and family members, they spent the day talking to them. They said right now they have not named anyone as a suspect.

Again, they say everybody's cooperating, and they just want to know where this woman is. Again, police tell us this young lady has never disappeared before. You are hearing our friends at KSDK 5 News. That's Robert Townsend on the search for a beautiful young woman, a St. Louis woman, her husband and family begging for her safe return. Jennifer Rothwell, just 28 years old, goes missing on Tuesday morning, but then her car is found abandoned two miles away from home. With me, an all-star panel to break it down and put it back together again. Jason Oceans, renowned defense attorney out of

the New York, New Jersey area, joining us. Stephen Lampley, detective, author of Outside Your Door at StephenLampley.com, psychologist and adjunct professor at Columbia University, Dr. Debbie Jaffe Ellis, the deputy medical examiner, Travis County, Texas in Austin, Dr. Kendall Crowns with us, but right now to Levi Page, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. Levi, I keep looking at this gorgeous woman's picture. She's just 28 years old. Where was she last seen in St. Louis? She was last seen wearing business attire, leaving her home in St. Louis County. Wearing business attire. Interesting. Do we know what she did for a living, Levi? I don't think that has been released to the public, Nancy. Much about her has been released. We do know this, though. Her 2011 Hyundai Sonata was found,

and the co-workers were the ones that noticed she didn't come to work. Interesting. She was dressed in business attire, clearly on her way to work, but she never made it. A 28-year-old girl, Jennifer Rothwell, just seemingly disappears into thin air. She was seen early that Tuesday morning, as Levi Page is telling you, leaving her suburban home there in Northwinds Drive area. Unclear where we're getting that information from. Don't know if the husband left before her or after her or if the neighbors saw her. But we do know she left from her home seemingly to go to work. But it was coworkers that realized she didn't show up. We have also learned that her

cell phone was in the car, but her purse missing. To Stephen Lampley, detective and author of Outside Your Door, you know, most people in this day and age do not leave their cell phone. If you take anything, it's like a wizard with their wand in Harry Potter. You don't go anywhere without your cell phone. I find that very disturbing. Her cell phone was still in her car. Nancy, that's right. Even with me, when I leave the house, if I don't have my billfold, I'm good with that.

I continue on. If I don't have my cell phone, I turn my butt back around and come back and get it. Anytime you have a situation like that, especially with a cell phone, and you're correct, that is something that we notice that something calls for alarm. So we need to look at that, definitely. I also know that, as a matter of fact, she's a chemical engineer. She is no idiot she has not been seen or in contact with anyone since leaving her home and jason notions why it matters to me that she's a

chemical engineer why i think that's important is this is not a woman who didn't have a job and could just like go day tripping all over town and wander aimlessly at the mall including the parking deck where predators may be she's not hanging out in some crack house this is a professional woman 28 years old stunning by the way she she reminds me a lot speaking of harry potter she reminds me a lot of emma watson uh with the long auburn hair and usually I see it pictured back in a butt and a really loose bun but she has a job she goes to she has a fantastic education she's a chemical engineer with DuPont that is a very hard position to get you know how many people try to intern with a company like that they've got chemical engineers coming out their rear end, Jason Oceans, but she got the job.

No, highly qualified. You're right. Chemical engineers are sought after in the employment field. Engineers by nature, you know, there's a certain methodicalness attached chemistry to it. So there's a routine, right, that develops in work as well as someone who has those traits and uses them in employment. So business attire, ready to go to work, you know, same routine probably, pretty close to it, absent anything out of the ordinary. And here we have something out of the ordinary. You know, what I'm thinking of, it just hit me just then when you said routine and you said discipline. For a degree in engineering and chemical engineering, you have to be disciplined. It's like law school. If you're going to succeed and pass the bar the first time, you have to be disciplined. You have to have a study schedule. I remember studying literally at

least five hours a day, at least outside of class. You're much smarter than me, Nancy. That was 10 hours a day for me. When she's 28 years old, I just flashed back to 28. I was trying felonies day in, day out, left and right, and would have to suit up just like she did in a suit or a business dress, the pantyhose, the heels, the makeup, the hair, the blah, the blah to go to work. That is a whole regimen, Jason Oceans, to get to work at DuPont. So you're right about the routine. So what does that mean to you, Jason? That says to me that when you're disciplined and focused and there's a schedule that you could count on someone and expect them. So when there's something out of the ordinary, people notice that quickly because you are involved in a routine and

you are consistent about what you do. That makes it easier on an investigation to see where the deviations were. Well, another issue to Dr. Debbie Jaffe-Ellis, psychologist joining us. Dr. Debbie, the fact that she had a routine and was very disciplined makes the fact that her car is found abandoned a couple of miles away with her cell phone in it, it makes it even more nefarious sounding to me. Can you explain routine evidence, what it means when people deviate from a routine? Well, we have to be careful not to assume too much about it immediately because there are people who are very disciplined for a long period of time and then for whatever reason they've had enough they want to change they want to rebel so the thing that alarms me the most nancy whoa whoa whoa whoa

whoa dr debbie she's just 28 no she hasn't time to get disillusioned and bitter okay she's only been out of school for about uh four years and then she snagged this job, her dream job at DuPont. Please. She's not raging and bitter at this point where she's ready to just kick off her heels that she has to wear to work and jump off the end of the pier. All right? She's not there. And according to her family, she loved her job. Oh, Nancy, I wasn't suggesting any of the above. And rebellion doesn't necessarily have to have a negative connotation. Maybe I used the wrong word there. assume too quickly that because a person changes from their regular routine that it necessarily means something shocking it may in this case i hope not but it doesn't okay you know what dr debbie you're a psychologist sitting there in a classroom at columbia university what's a good alternative of what this could mean since she was dressed to go to work, was due at work, gave no indication to family or friends she was not going to work.

Now she's gone and she left her cell phone and her car behind. What did she just like go off on foot without her cell phone? What is your theory of the breaking away scenario? What happened? Right. So I don't have one theory. I'm not psychic. I can think of some possibilities.

One is... Okay, just give me one. Okay, well, something shocking happened. That's one. Like what? I mean, you're going... I'm saying this is bad. Her car is found.

Her cell phone is in it. She's disappeared. She didn't show up to her dream job and all looks bad to me but you're saying oh this could be at some point she just had an inner rebellion and what ran to pick the flowers then where is she i want to hear let's follow your theory through to its logical conclusion what scenario is in your head that could be anything but bad. Again, Nancy, I hesitate to have any one theory unless I have evidence. So far, the evidence points in the direction

that you're going in, which something pretty bad happened. But your original question was, what could it be or what could be behind it? There are a number of possibilities. At the moment, it's not looking okay give me one one possibility that's not bad just one okay and i hope it's right she's fallen in love this this incredible person has said join me take a break and she succumbs to temptation because it's very different to what she's done for a number of years till then.

What guy? What guy? You've asked me for another scenario. There's nothing in her text. There's nothing in her emails. There's no voicemails that say that. What did he say? Run away with me to Paris without your cell phone and don't take a vacation day?

Just blow off DuPont? That's the scenario? Nancy saying yeah you you pressed for another possibility because you said this doesn't have to be bad you said there's a lot of reasons she could have just left her car and her cell phone there and i i'm just i'm just i'm just waiting i'm with bated breath. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. It's like a missing woman in St. Louis County is escalating. Good evening. Thanks for joining us. I'm Courtney Bryant. I'm Steve Savard. Right now, St. Louis County police are at the home where the West County woman lives.

Jennifer Rothwell was last seen leaving her home in Creve Coeur Tuesday morning. Police found her car about a mile away near the intersection of Olive and Fifi. News 4's Kim St. Onge is live in Rothwell's neighborhood detailing the breaking developments at 10. Kim? And right now police have part of the street blocked off. If you look there in the distance and you see where those porch lights are, that is where Jennifer Rothwell lives with her husband here in Creve Coeur. And we've seen an officer going in and out of there carrying something. At one point it looked like he was carrying a large piece of cardboard. But for the last 15 or 20 minutes they've actually been inside. It appears they may be searching the home. I've asked police, is someone in custody?

Right now, at this hour, police are adamant that no one is in custody and that this is still considered a missing persons case. Rothwell's mom tonight tells me she thinks her daughter was taken. A frantic search tonight for 28-year-old Jennifer Rothwell, a chemical engineer at DuPont. She had just moved to Creve Coeur with her husband. Always had good grades. She works hard. People like her. Has a lot of friends at DuPont. Robin Vonhausen says her daughter left early for work Tuesday around 6.20 a.m. because of the weather.

Police found her car about a mile away near the intersection of Olive and Fifi. Her family tells me her cell phone was in the car, but her purse was gone. Von Hausen says one of her DuPont co-workers tipped him off that something might have happened. A co-worker texted and said, hey, how's Jennifer? They assumed that she just hadn't come into work because of the weather or whatnot. So it wasn't until late six or so in the evening before he even knew that she hadn't made it to work. That's when Rothwell's husband filed a police report. Police say they thoroughly searched the area where her car was found. No sign of her. Rothwell's family says she was happily married and this isn't like her to run away. There is nothing for her to run away from. It's just baffling.

I can only think that someone has taken her. Is that what you guys are thinking? That's what I'm thinking. I can't think of anything else. Her family is now offering a $25,000 reward for any information that helps find her. They've talked about starting a search party, but no details have been ironed out at this point. I asked police, okay, what's different about this particular case compared to, say, any other missing persons case? And they tell me

that Rothwell is a 28-year-old professional of sound mind and body who lives a low-risk lifestyle, and it isn't like that really to just go missing without warning. It appears this investigation is changing by the minute. We're going to stay on top of this and keep you updated with any new information. For now, though, live in Creve Coeur, Kim St. Onge, News 4. Well, there's the latest. The mother was begging for her safe return, and it is the husband that calls police and tells them she's missing. But big, big problem is that to you, Stephen Lampley, detective, author of Outside Your Door, you can find him at StephenLampley.com, is that now cops have a seven-hour lag time.

Apparently, the weather was so bad. heard that her theory of this young beautiful professional tripping away in her barefoot stockings uh to on a lark she could barely get in with the weather but the the issue is they got a seven hour lag time steven lampley that's that's a big deal hold on dr debbie i know you want to get back at me for that and i I will certainly allow that. Go ahead, Steve Lampley. Nancy, that's right. Seven hours is a long time. And, of course, you and I both are the first 48 are the golden hours. But seven-hour light time from the time she left to go to work until, I guess,

I think her car was discovered or he reported her missing, that's a long time. A lot can happen in seven hours. You can travel a long distance and then reference to the doctor if she did run away she's got a seven hour travel time so seven hours is indeed a long time yeah i mean you know 60 miles an hour for seven hours that's a long way but i'm also not hearing anything about a struggle uh to le, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter, the one who did not know she was a chemical engineer, that would be you, Levi Page. Do you know anything about the condition of the car? Did she run off the road? Did she have a single car incident? What do we know? Was there

struggle in the car? Was there blood in the car? Was there semen in the car? Were there clothes in the car? What do we know about the car? Nancy, her car was discovered and there was no damages to the car. It didn't seem like there was a struggle inside, like anything nefarious that happened inside. Her purse was missing and her cell phone was found inside. That's all we know about her vehicle that was discovered about two miles away from the home. We know the family and the cold weather trying to arrange a search crew. Take a listen to our friends at CBS News 4. We are closer to where Jennifer Rothwell's car was found on Tuesday night. And right now, missing persons posters like these are on trees all along Olive in the area.

And this is the area where St. Louis County police returned late this afternoon. Many officers heading out on foot, others stopping in businesses to talk to them, some even searching in dumpsters. Powerhouse Sky Zoom 4 captured the scene from above as St. Louis County police searched in connection with Jennifer Rothwell, reported missing on Tuesday.

Police also spent the day in and out of businesses along Olive asking for any surveillance video. It was here right in front of Bank of America that this video was recorded Tuesday night. A large police presence found an abandoned car same time, same place as police found Jennifer Rothwell's car. Rothwell's husband posted this on Facebook asking anyone who knows about his wife's disappearance to text him. Okay I'm trying to also determine why it took seven hours for her family or her husband to know notice she was gone. Now maybe she gets so engrossed at work that she's not one to text or email during the day or call. That could be very true Or maybe her husband has a job or he's out and about and he doesn't have access to a phone. But I know this, with temperatures in that situation,

Dr. Kendall Crowns, if she is on foot, how long could she last? It just depends on how well she's dressed. If she's just dressed in her business attire and no coat, it'd be a matter of if it's below zero, she could probably succumb to the cold in a half hour or so, somewhere in there. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. This is the area where we've been watching, as you can see behind me, St. Louis County police officers carefully combing this field and the nearby wooded area. Neighbors are telling us there's actually a creek just beyond that tree line and it appears there may be a flashlight. So they've been focused in on this area. By the way, this is the Robinwood West Park in unincorporated St. Louis County right next to Creve Coeur. They've been focusing on this area

for the last hour, but we can tell you all afternoon we've been watching as police officers have been carefully checking some of the other areas. C IS THE LAST HOUR OF THE DAY. BUT WE CAN TELL YOU ALL AFTERNOON WE'VE BEEN WATCHING AS POLICE OFFICERS HAVE BEEN CAREFULLY CHECKING SOME OF THE OTHER AREAS. CREEKS HAVE BEEN A REALLY BIG FOCAL POINT. AGAIN, ALL IN THE

NEIGHBORHOOD. THIS FIELD AND NEARBY WOODED AREA, BY THE WAY, THAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT IS ABOUT A HALF A MILE FROM THE HOME WHERE JENNIFER LIVED WITH HER HUSBAND, BO. SO RIGHT NOW YOU'RE LOOKING AT

VIDEO FLYING UP AHEAD. POWERHOUSE, SKYZOOM 4. AGAIN, YOU CAN SEE SEVERAL POLICE CARS. THAT WHOLE AREA, ABOUT A BLOCK OR SO, THAT INVESTIGATORS HAVE BLOCKED OFF. SO, RIGHT NOW, YOU'RE guys in four. Again, you can see several police cars. That whole area, about a block or so, that investigators have blocked off while they continue combing through this area. We're still working around the clock trying to figure out exactly why they're here, if they've possibly found something. Kim St. Onge at CBS News 4 St. Louis reporting on the intense search around missing Jennifer Rothwell's car found in a wooded area.

Straight back to Dr. Kendall Crowns, the deputy medical examiner in Travis County, Texas. That's Austin. Dr. Kendall Crowns, we've done a little research, and the temperatures were as low as 17 degrees at the time she goes missing. Yeah, so someone that's probably not dressed for the weather, let's say she doesn't have a coat, 17 degrees, she gets out of her car, starts walking, she's probably going to become hypothermic within a half hour to an hour or so, collapse, and then die shortly thereafter. What do you mean by hypothermic? What are the symptoms of that? What does the person go through if they are hypothermic? As her body temperature drops below normal and as it gets down to the 90 region of the body temperature, your mind starts slowing and you start becoming confused. And then if you drop into the 80s, you basically go into a coma and collapse. How cold does it have to be for that to happen?

17 would be, you could easily do that with 17 degrees, 20 degrees, anything below freezing, so anything below 32 degrees, if I remember right, that's freezing. To Dr. Debbie Jaffe-Ellis, she wants in. Okay, I'm prepared. I'm braced. I've got on my bulletproof vest. Hit me. Okay, Nancy.

Well, look, an effective psychologist, like an effective lawyer, will not jump to any definite conclusions without solid evidence. And so I don't for a minute want to be understood as having said, well, maybe Jennifer tripped off to some romantic. I didn't say that. You in your magnificent assertive style pressed me for other possibilities than something tragic. And so I hypothetically suggested that I could have made up 20 others. It's not looking good, but my... Well, really? Because I had to pull... I'm not a DDS. I'm just a JD. But I had to pull a tooth to get that one out of you. Remember you kept saying it doesn't have to be nefarious that she

broke her routine. And I had to like basically beat you black and blue to get that one scenario that she would run away with what a lover she hadn't even been married that long they're still in the honeymoon phase just four years for pete's sake yeah and you know what if i'm good at fiction i can give you 10 other scenarios none of which i'll believe until i have See, that's why you work at Columbia University, because you're a pro. Okay, Stephen. And that's why you do what you do. That's why I'm fighting with you. You often hear us discuss a primary, secondary, tertiary crime scene. We know that the first crime scene, the first scene, we don't know if there's been a crime yet, as Dr. Debbie Jaffe-Ellis has accurately pointed out, is her car, where her cell phone is.

We know she's now been gone for seven hours. So police naturally go to a secondary potential scene, and that is her home. Take a listen to our friends at KMOV. Posters bearing Jennifer Rothwell's picture line the streets along Olive and West County. Her family and friends posting on Facebook a $25,000 reward to find her. She was last seen Tuesday. Early Thursday afternoon, police returned to canvas the area where her car was found, right in front of the Bank of America.

Just about 10 minutes ago, police were telling us the husband, 28-year-old Bo Rothwell, was charged with tampering with evidence. We know that all afternoon police were out here in this wooded area. This is unincorporated St. Louis County near Creve Coeur, about a half a mile from where the couple lived. They just took down the crime scene tape within about 10 minutes. But as I mentioned, police now revealing to us some pretty gruesome details. So here's what they're telling us they're saying that the husband Bo was seen on the 11th the day before Jennifer

disappeared he was seen on video buying cleaning products including bleach carpet cleaner and gloves so last night we were there as police obtained that search warrant and went into the couple's home on Northwinds Drive they were in there for hours and they're now telling us the detectives located wet carpet soaked with bleach and large areas of blood on the carpeting and underlying pad. Carpet soaked with bleach. Jason Oceans, you're a veteran defense attorney. Why is it that so often when women go missing or when there is a homicide or a kidnap in quotas suddenly the husband or the lover becomes a an incredible neat nick i think of scott peterson remember how he did all the laundry and the sheets everything when lacy went missing and then there was jody arias. She just got the laundry bug

when her lover, Travis Alexander, was stabbed dead. And whoopsie, her DigiCam was in the laundry and it showed her leg and foot at the crime scene during the murder. So now you got the husband,

Bo Rothwell, bleaching the carpet. Jason, thoughts? Yeah, the analogies are good, Nancy. All of a sudden, you know, seemingly. Don't suck up, Jason. If this guy is your client, what do you do in the face of video of him buying bleach? Who knew he was a neatnik?

And then the bleach soaking the carpet maybe the kitchen floor maybe the bathroom but the carpet jason how are you gonna get out of that one in instant domestication i i get it nancy and so if you're looking at the end game of an attorney obviously you uh you're seeing the tea leaves and you're going to try to negotiate something else i if the you know the uh the body hasn't been found or things of that nature. Oh, so you admit there's a body? That's your defense? No. Your client buys bleach and suddenly you're talking about a body?

Nancy, you're looking at me. I'm totally not hiring you anymore. Yeah, we're going to wait for a trial, Nancy. We're not going anywhere until there's, you know, greater resolution. But for the moment, I mean, you're obviously absorbing all of that and advising your client that, as you said, does not look good that you've now been found on video purchasing cleaning products and bleach and the underlying area has copious amounts of blood. Not looking good. No, it isn't. crime stories with nancy grace

police are also revealing what they say beau did the day before his wife was reported missing november 11th police say beau r Rothwell was seen on video buying cleaning supplies. November 12th, around 6.20 a.m., Jennifer's mom says Bo told her Jennifer was last seen leaving for work. That evening, Bo says he filed a police report. Just hours later, police find Jennifer's abandoned car near Olive and Fifi.

Jennifer's mom says her phone was inside, but her purse was gone and then on November 13th last night at 7 45 PM, police execute a search warrant at the couple's home and Bo was taken into custody. Our cameras were rolling as investigators spent hours going in and out of their home. Bose arrest comes less than five hours

after posting this on Facebook, saying, some of you may have already heard, but last night my wife Jennifer went missing. I've filed a police report and the search is ongoing. Please, if you hear of anything or have any information, it would be greatly appreciated. Jennifer's mom tells me the two had been happily married for five years.

She thought her daughter may have been taken. She never said anything about not being happy with what was, you know, her job or the way her relationships were going. You are hearing our friends at KMOV. That was Kim St. Onge on the story from the get-go. There is no way that this woman is still alive. And it's very, very difficult for people on the outside looking in to imagine why in such a new marriage this would happen. But after the bleach was found, it was just a matter of time. Take a listen to Claire Killett at KMOV. In the case of the missing St. Louis County woman Jennifer Rothwell, just hours ago police

confirmed to us a body found near Troy, Missouri has been positively identified as her remains. Her husband, Beau Rothwell, contacted police Monday offering to help direct them to the body. Officers returned to highway 61 near Troy yesterday to look for additional evidence. Friends of the couple, just like police searching for answers. Actually, I thought he was a really easygoing kind of soft-spoken guy. Um, even playing sports like racquetball, you know, I'd be really aggressive and he'd be kind of laid back. Her husband, Beau Rothwell, is currently charged with second-degree murder.

Wow. Beau Rothwell, also age 28, now charged with murder, too, and the death of his wife, Jennifer Rothwell. I can say this much, Jason Oceans, a New York defense attorney, he better have a deal in place. What does he think, leading them to her dead body is going to get him a gold star at sentencing? Otherwise, he's going down for life, life without parole. Well, that could have also been negotiated with counsel at that point in terms of directing them where it was.

I don't know. It sounds like he called police and volunteered to take them to the body. I'd like more background on that relatively, but that's something generally counsel might negotiate at that particular point, looking at all the evidence ahead of you. But you're right. We probably might be looking for the gold star or, you know, maybe there are further aggravated circumstances unknown at the moment. So, you know, and as the doctor said, sometimes you're in a normal routine and then jump out of it, you know, mild mannered and laid back and then, you know, seemingly now confessing to the murder of his wife. So you can deviate from pattern. Well, yeah. And that's that's a tricky thing right there. Confessing to the murder. What he did was lead them to the body to dr kendall crowns deputy medical examiner travis county texas her body has been in the elements for several days

about an hour away at first he was only charged with tampering with evidence but now murder too what can they hope first of of all, they've got to identify her body. And having been out in the elements, what would her body, how far would the decomposure have gone? So decomposure is reliant on environmental conditions for it to progress. So usually in cold environments, the body will stay relatively intact for quite a while. I've seen it before in very cold environments where they will still look perfectly normal except they are frozen solid. So she could still be very intact because of the weather conditions that were there

in St. Louis at the time. Well, we know a body found in Missouri positively identified as the missing 28-year-old chemical engineer Jennifer Rothwell. It was found Monday night about 45 miles away from the home she shared with her young husband, Bo Rothwell. We know that he led them to the body and the day before, which is going to be a killer for him at trial showing premeditation at least 24 hours ahead he spotted on video buying cleaning products at a local store detective searched the home find wet carpet soaked with bleach and large areas of blood back to you dr kendall crowns deputy medical examiner travis county, Texas, Austin. What a lot of people don't know is that bleach does not totally degrade DNA.

You need something like muriatic acid at best to totally get rid of DNA. That's very true. I mean, if you just buy your standard chlorine bleach, it won't disrupt the hemoglobin and it can still be found. You've got to buy something that has an oxidizer in it like hydrogen peroxide or something like that that'll bust it up a little bit better and he might not be able to find the dna then but not a lot of people know that you know i wonder what was going on in that marriage i wonder what his job was and how he felt he compared to her who was not only just beautiful but also a brainiac with an awesome job we do know that he led police to her body about 45 miles northwest of her home now question to you jason oceans again i noticed this in the scott peterson case and many many

others he was a fisher. So where did he dump Lacey's body? San Francisco Bay, where he went fishing all the time. I wonder if there's a connection between husband Bo Rothwell and this location, Troy, Missouri, where her body was found. Well, again, very accurate, Nancy. Generally, people, humans go where, you know, mammals go where they know. You know, they operate in a range and where you think someone doesn't know that you're familiar with. You know, generally, those are the places that you will, you know, if you're encountering a criminal act and there's something to recover those are generally the known areas that someone has been tracking someone's past locations uh through their gps on the phone that's the methodology and you know to dr debbie joffrey ellis psychologist adjunct professor columbia university he was thorough if nothing

else he bought cleaning products including bleach carpet cleaner and gloves a court and we've learned this from the probable cause affidavit and the search warrant and the arrest warrant so it's when you look at him it's hard to fathom how he could so systematically but yet diabolically plan the cleanup of his wife's body and blood i mean i wonder if she was even alive at that time because he's the only one that spotted her leaving the home that morning to go to work and if he was already at the store getting carpet cleaner why would he do that if he did if she wasn't already her blood had already soaked the store getting carpet cleaner why would he do that if he did if she wasn't already her blood had already soaked the carpet so how do you explain psychologically someone who's doing a diabolical deed but is perfectly sane well someone who does such a deed according

to psychological linguistics is not perfectly sane they may be acting with clarity and determination and be lucid and and sound charming but according to my definition of sanity that's not it to me sanity um in a healthy human being healthy cognitive human being is the ability to pause reflect and choose the way of least harm and clearly that wasn't his tendency it sounds like he possibly again i don't know for sure not having spoken to him but highly possible he's a sociopath with no sense of guilt conscious morality a certain set way of thinking um to which he's the current well under the law insanity is not knowing the difference between right and wrong at the time of the incident and with this methodical planning the cover-up after uh wasting time seven hours before reporting her missing,

cleaning up the home, purchasing all of the items ahead of time. That is what we call in the law premeditation. Then lying about it, even begging for the public's help, shows an entirely lucid, functioning adult male. We wait as justice unfolds. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.