Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Wife found impaled with 4-pronged corn rake. Hubby says accident.

Episode Date: October 14, 2019

When Amy Mullis died, her hog farmer husband said it was an accident. Police say Todd Mullis killed his wife with a four pronged corn rake. With Nancy Grace today to get to the truth: Ashley Wilcott,  Judge and trial attorney; James Shelnutt, 27 years Atlanta Metro Major Case detective, SWAT Officer, retired; Caryn Stark, Psychologist; Dr Kendall Von Crowns , Travis County Texas Medical Examiner; and reporter Levi Page. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Hello? Where are you at? I'm on the road. I'm on a bus. Okay. What's going on? My wife went out to the hospital. She's on the fourth floor sitting in the barn. Okay. She's not responsive. I'm just here in my car.

Okay. Your wife is in a barn. You said she's unresponsive? No, she's not. She's not. She's not. She's not. She's not.

She's not. She's not. She's not. She's not. She's not. She's not. She's not. She's not. She's not. She's not. Okay. She just gone. Okay. We'll get an ambulance going in just a second. I'm headed there.

I'm about to go right up. Okay. So you're headed to where? Okay. What's the hospital? I just grabbed her and she's in the truck. Okay. You're headed to the hospital and she's in your vehicle?

Yes. My doorway truck. Okay. Just a second here. Is she in the car? There is no car. How did a farmer's wife end up dead with a corn rake impaled in her back? Now, how could that be an accident? Well, we know it's not suicide.

I mean, that's physically impossible. But could it be an accident? Well, we know it's not suicide. I mean, that's physically impossible. But could it be an accident? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. You were hearing just a tiny bit of that 911 call. Take a listen to a little bit more. Let's see what clues we can glean.

I'm going to have another dispatcher get on. I'm going to ask you to pass it. Can you pull over? I can. Okay, how about you pull over? can glean. What's your current location? We'll get an ambulance headed your way. Oneida. What? Brian Coleman's new house. I can be right in Oneida, right? Oneida. East of Oneida.

East of Oneida. Okay. Do you have anything? She says there's nothing. Okay. What is your name, sir? I'm Morris. And what are you driving?

A white Chevy. A white Chevy truck? I still don't understand how a woman, a farmer's wife, can be impaled in the back, and it'd be an accident. With me, an all-star panel to break it down and put it back together again first of all with me dr kendall crowns medical examiner out of travis county texas that's austin karen stark psychologist joining me out of manhattan karen stark.com james shelnut major case detective sw SWAT officer out of Atlanta Metro, retired.

Ashley Wilcott, judge and trial lawyer, court TV anchor at AshleyWilcott.com. But first, to Levi Page, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter where you can read about this and all other breaking crime and Justice News. Levi Page, first of all, explain to me the precise injuries this woman, Amy Mullis, suffered. How do you get a corn rake in the back? Well, Nancy, she did have a corn rake in her, and we know that the medical examiner that examined the body said that this was a homicide after examining her body. Well, that's interesting that he could know that from just looking at the injury on her back, a mortal injury, I might add. I'm talking about a 39-year-old woman, a mother, a wife with her life in front of her. At 39, you're just getting started.

You're starting to realize what all you did wrong in your 20s, and you're fixing it. Dr. Kendall Crowns, this is when we need you. Medical examiner out of Austin. Dr. Crowns, how can you just look at a back injury and tell it's a homicide? What if, you know, typically many, many barns, most barns have an upper level. It could be storage, it could be anything, but if she fell from an upper level onto a corn rake and you know those corn rakes are mean looking rakes uh jackie's holding one up for effect right now in the studio and it it looks pretty evil it's got four tongs and they curl backwards just imagine it coming up curling backwards into a circle and then sharp tongs pointing upward.

It looks pretty evil. So how can he just look at it, he or she look at that, and say, oh, yeah, that's homicide. Well, the key thing is from the autopsy report, it says there are six injuries, whereas the corn rake has four prongs. So that means there's at least two extra injuries on there beyond the number of prongs the corn rake has. So to get six injuries, she would have had to have fallen twice on it, or someone would have had to have done it to her. So unless she's Wiley Coyote, someone did it to her. Well, do all corn rakes have four prongs? Are there any corn rakes that have six prongs?

Well, you got me there, Nancy. I don't know. I'm not a proficiency expert on corn rakes. So my understanding was there was four. Okay. Wildly shaking her head no is Jackie. Jackie, how do you know there's not only, oh, rephrase, Your Honor.

How do you know there's only four prongs always on a corn rake? I grew up on a farm, worked in corn. Corn rakes have four prongs. There are other tools like lawn rakes that have more, but corn rakes only have four. Okay, now see, Ashley Wilcott, judge and trial lawyer and court tv anchor at ashleywilcott.com ashley that's what you call an expert witness i'd have to and believe me i the blue james shelna you probably remember since you were swat and homicide in

atlanta metro ashley sometimes you just got to call somebody and put them on the stand to explain that kind of thing like right now i'm sure a jury would want to know, well, how do I know it's not a six-pronged corn rake? Well, I guess according to expert Jackie Howard, it has to have four prongs. Well, absolutely. You can use an expert. But don't forget this. You know, this occurs where they are farmers. This is farmland.

So keep in mind, a jury of your peers, quote-un unquote, is going to know probably a lot about farm tools as well. Okay, guys, we were talking about the death of a beautiful young mom. Amy Mullis, just 39 years old, in her farm, on her farm, the family farm. Let's hear more of that 911 call. Wife in the vehicle, unresponsive. They're coming to Oneida. I asked them to stop there. We've got the ambulance paged out. Can you hear that, wife? Let's hear more of that 911 call. to where you're at. Okay. Okay. I'll turn off the thing. Go on.

What? I'm just, just eating the one I got. Okay. All right. You feel anything? Amy, Amy. Okay. You hear someone saying, Amy, Amy, Amy, Levi Page, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. Who is that?

That is Todd Mullins that is saying that, Nancy. So explain to me that the Todd Mullins is the husband? Yes, he is the husband. He's 43 years old, and the victim in this case is Amy Mullins. She is 39 years old. You're hearing the 911 call. You hear the husband saying, Amy, Amy, Amy. You know, that's a horrible moment.

Karen Stark, psychologist, joining me out of Manhattan. You can find her at karenstark.com. I remember, I think the first time my dad had a heart attack and I could hear my mom, the first thing I heard early, early in the morning was her going, Mac, Mac, Mac, and a slapping sound. She was trying to revive his heart. That's a terrible feeling, Karen Stark. I know, Nancy. I had the same thing with my dad. And I remember it clearly, Amy, Amy, Amy, because he wants this operator to believe, this person to believe that he's really making an effort to revive her. That would be the normal thing to do. Even though he's saying that it seems like she's not alive, he keeps wanting to say, Amy, Amy, Amy, like he's doing the best he can to see if he can revive her.

Well, Jackie Howard, I thought I had you stumped because I went on Google to look up corn rakes and I found one with about 12 prongs. Guess what? It's a, it's not a corn rake. It's a, it's a fat rake and it's Google's fault because it came up under corn rake. Miss know-it-all. Okay, take a listen to this. that she's not conscious or breathing, wasn't it? She fell on a fork. I had to put a fork on her. It was an old fork sitting in the corner, and then she was halfway out of the bar. I was trying to get out, and then Tristan yelled, and I ran over there, and she was laying there. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. I couldn't get her out of the barn. The doors were in there. She's not responding. At this moment, she's not responding. We haven't pulled over a long time ago. Was this like a pitchfork? One of them old corn forks. Right.

That's what it's called. Yeah, it's kind of got a curve on it. I don't know how this is going to happen. I'm sorry about my cursing. So is she bleeding? I can't tell. When I seen it, I just, she was face down. Who pulled the pitchfork out of her?

No, how old is she? I didn't get out of her? Is he doing the kitchen? No, how old is she? I didn't get out of the door. How old is she? I don't know, is she 38? Okay. She can be 38 or 39. Okay. She did not respond to me.

Okay. Okay, now, did you hear that? To Dr. Kendall Crowns, medical examiner, joining me out of Austin, that's Travis County, Texas. Dr. Kendall Crowns, he said she was face down. Now, I find that significant because if you fall from an upper level, wouldn't you, if it's, if you're impaled through your back, you could probably verbalize this better than I can, but if you fall onto it, how could you get then face down if you fell onto it? Because he definitely says it was an accident. Yeah, that is very odd that she's face down.

I would think that if she fell onto it, she would remain on her back. But there is also always the possibility that she rolled or if she fell from a height that she fell onto it and bounced. But again, that's very unlikely. Well, did you just say she fell from a height that she fell onto it and bounced but again that's very unlikely well what did you just say she fell and bounced if she fell from an upper level impaled on it and kind of bounced if you will after she hit it it was stuck i find that really hard to believe dr kendall crowns i mean you are the medical examiner as do i bounce with a corn rake in your back. There's always a possibility.

Okay, but you know, Ashley Wilcott, we don't deal in possibilities. We deal in probabilities and reasonable doubt beyond, you know, find the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt. Take a listen to this, Ashley. I have to get her. She's laying on my son's lap. Is she flat on the, are you able to get her flat across maybe the seat? Oh, it's from the back of the truck. But she's laying on my son's lap. Okay. Oh, my God. When I pushed on her, she got like stone in her mouth.

She's foaming from the mouth. I don't know how to get her to lay flat. She's, you know what I mean? She's laying across the front lap. She's got red blood, you know, around her back. Maybe he can get on the floor of the truck and she can get, you can lay her across the seat so we can get her flat. But you can get out and we lay her on the, and we'll get her on the seat. You know, we'll leave the seat back for a little bit.

First of all, to Levi Page, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter, I don't recall you telling me that the son was there. Tell me about the son. And is the mom actually lying in his lap? Yes, the son was 13 years old, Nancy, and he is the one that actually discovered his mother in the barn with the corn rake inside of her. And he called his dad and said, look what happened to mom. And they put her into his vehicle, his truck, and went on the road. He called 911, then they pulled over. And that's when he started doing chest compressions, and then an ambulance actually came and met him.

So I guess they took the rake out to get her into the car. Yes, he took the rake out because he said that he could not get her out of the barn with the rake still inside of her. Oh, my stars. To Dr. Kendall Crowns, medical examiner, Austin, Texas. Dr. Crowns, what does it mean if foam is coming out of your mouth? Foam coming out of your mouth is usually from pulmonary edema or your lungs filling up with fluid with heart failure. We see that a lot in drug overdoses and drownings. It could be if it was bloody foam, it could be the fact that her lungs were compromised by the

corn rake and she was hemorrhaging into her airways and then it was coming out of her mouth guys this is a part of the 911 call that i find very very intriguing listen keep doing the compressions until they can help and take over. Okay, keep going. You're doing Good. Come on. Come on. You want to go? You want to go? Just go. The officer there with you, sir? Yeah, he's here. Okay, good job. Guys, I hope you all have 2020 hearing, because Karen Stark's psychologist out of Manhattan,

I clearly heard him whisper, whore, as he's allegedly doing CPR. I heard that, and I was listening very carefully, and I heard it. Well, I could not hear it, Nancy, because there was a lot of background noise, but I'm going to take you a word for it. Let's listen to it again. Listen very carefully. Keep doing the compressions until they can help and take over, okay?

Keep going, you're doing fine. Keep going. Come on, just respond. Keep going. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Do you want me to stand in the line with you? No, I can't talk in the phone. Okay, all right. I got it. Okay, all right. Okay.

Okay, am I the only one that heard that? As you will, did you hear it? Yes, I think I did hear it. It's really hard to tell. And let me just suggest this. Wait, wait, wait. Thinking is not enough. James Shelnut, did you hear it?

I heard it. Okay. So I've got one person on board. Dr. Kendall Krause, did you hear it? Yeah, I did. Okay. Levi Page, did you hear it? Yes, I've listened to that like 10 times, and I picked up on it.

Okay. So Karen Stark, you're the naysayer on the jury. Ashley Wilcott, I think I can turn Ashley because she says she thinks she heard it. I think I can turn her around. I totally heard it, and I'm not the only one. Listen to Marie Hughes. I'm going to play you the part where you're doing the chest compressions, and I'm just going to ask that you listen in between whisper at the end of that?

Yes. And what did you whisper? I couldn't hear it. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Now, John, did you just hear that whisper at the end of that? Yes. And what did you whisper? I couldn't hear it.

Okay, I'm going to play it again. Okay, so I'm not the only one, so I'm not completely insane. So a guy, imagine this, hunched over your body as you're dying, and your husband calls you a whore. Levi Page, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter, what brought that on? Well, Nancy, Tom Mullins was actually interviewed by investigators and he said that in 2013 that his wife had cheated on him and that in 2018, during the summer,

he had suspected that she was having an affair after he had looked at his cell phone bill and had read where she was exchanging a lot of text messages with someone that worked on his farm. Wow, somebody that he worked with every day. To James Shelnut, Atlanta Metro Major Case Detective, retired SWAT officer and lawyer, when he started looking, he saw over 100 text messages

between the two of them in just a couple of weeks. Now, that, I'm sure, raised his suspicion, James Shelnut. Absolutely raised his suspicions. You know, it used to be that the personal fingerprint was the gold standard of evidence, and it still is very important nowadays but more than anything in the society we live in your electronic footprint such as cell phone bills internet searches things that nature are critical to homicide you know we are talking for those of you that just joined us about the death of amy mullis a 39 year old wife and mom. She was killed by being impaled on a corn rake in the family barn to Dr. Kendall Crowns, medical examiner, Austin. Dr. Crowns, again, tell me, why are you so convinced this is murder based on the injuries alone? Well, again, with the corn rake having four prongs,

as we've established, there's six injuries injuries so that's two different strikes and then the among those six injuries four go one direction and two go the another direction so it's uh two separate injuries separated in time so you can't fall on it get up take it out and then fall on it again i mean you'd have the worst luck ever if that was your life. To Levi Page, investigative reporter, CrimeOnline.com. Levi, what, if anything, did her friends, Amy Mullis' friends, have to say? So when they were interviewed by law enforcement, they said that they had a nickname for her, and it was P-O-T, Pot, and that stood for Prisoner of Todd.

They also said that she wanted to get out of this marriage and that he could also make her disappear if he found out that she was having an affair. Take a listen to our friend at KWWL. This is Ashley Scott. According to court records, Todd Mullis, his wife Amy, and their 13-year-old son have been working on their family farm. Amy Mullis had apparently briefly left the shed they had been working in to grab a pet carrier. After noticing she had been gone for a while, Todd Mullis sent their son to check in on her. That is when their son had discovered that his mom had been impaled by a corn rake in her back. Her death was ruled as a homicide the following December. Mullis claims his wife had been experiencing dizzy spells

due to a medication she was taking while recovering from surgery. He also suggests that she may have fallen into the corn rake while working from a ladder. However, evidence from the autopsy report shows that Amy had suffered from six fatal puncture wounds, even though the corn rake only had four prongs. According to a police investigation, Todd Mullis had recently learned that his wife had had multiple affairs throughout the course of their marriage. Wait a minute, Levi Page, you only told me about one affair. Well, I told you about the other one that he had in 2013 as well.

Oh, I thought that was the same person. No, two different ones. Okay. All right. I don't like that preachy, judgy tone in your voice, by the way, Levi Page. Not judging. Not judging. Nancy also wanted to mention that the medical examiner had also discovered defensive wounds

on her hands. She had cuts and bruises on her hands, and that's also what made him determine that this was a homicide. But wait a minute. To Dr. Kendall Crown's medical examiner, Austin, she works on a farm. How do I know those are defensive wounds? Well, usually defensive wounds are in certain locations like the back of forearms back of hands and even front of hands and in areas

that you would necessarily wouldn't necessarily injure while you were working so in their shapes you can make the decision whether they're defensive or not you know James Shelnut an Atlanta Metro major case retired I recall prosecuting a millionaire for the murder of his wife. And their home caught on fire. He was found by fire department in the yard across the street lounging Romanesque. And they talked to him for two or three minutes before he said, oh, yeah, my wife's in there. So they got her out. She was still alive but unconscious.

She had bruises to her knees. And I recall the medical examiner said that also could be defensive wounds where you curl up in a ball when you're being beaten, James Shelnut. Absolutely. Yeah. You would expect that. And, you know, that's part of the totality of certainly what you're going to look at as an investigator. You know, you're going to do a couple of things. And just I want to put this in perspective as to what this situation looks like when this guy gets to the hospital. Hospital likely has a protocol where they're going to call law enforcement. They're going to come out, investigators are going to come out, and they're going to take the statement of Todd Mullis.

And then one of the investigators is going to take charge and say, hey, let's preserve this evidence. We have a lady struck down in the prime of her life. This is something we need to make sure is an accident or confirm whether or not it's a homicide. So you're going to preserve her body as evidence. You're going to be getting those search warrants to do that. And you're going to go out to the scene of where this happened. And you're going to look at a couple of things. You're going to look at what statements Todd Mullis made at the hospital.

You're going to look at the crime scene. You're going to try to discover and locate this corn fork to make sure that it's preserved. Because you're going to need people like what we've got on the panel here, the medical examiners, to look at that and match up the injuries. And you're going to look at motive. You're going to look at that and match up the injuries. And you're going to look at motive. You're going to look at electronic footprint. So, you know, in this case, looking at motive, you know, three of the most common motives that are out there, as you know, Nancy, are money, sex, and revenge. And this has got all three of them. Well put. Well put. Now I see why you're also a lawyer. You know, aside from the injuries themselves, there is also the issue of her feeling threatened during the marriage. For instance, according to her friends, and this is really hard to get into court, to get into evidence,

if you want it in evidence because it's hearsay, and there's really no way to corroborate it. You know, the hearsay rule has many, many exceptions around 30. For instance, dying declaration. If someone says something and the moment they're dying, that can be allowed in. There are a lot of hearsay exceptions. This, however, is most likely not going to be one. And it is that she felt that he would, quote, make her disappear if he ever found out about the affair. Ashley Wilcott, judge and trial lawyer, anchor at Court TV. How many times have you heard that? Oh, exactly.

And guess what? Motive. Juries like to hear a motive behind what's happened. And there it is. You know, to Karen Stark, psychologist at karenstark.com, joining us out of Manhattan. Karen, there have been so many times I've had a domestic homicide and the woman is almost always a female victim, although there are

male victims of domestic homicide, very few and far between. But so often, I would say well over 50% of the time, the victim has told somebody, family, neighbor, friend, sister, you know, if anything ever happens to me, he did it. Or they've had an emergency key somewhere to get into somebody else's home. The case I was talking about earlier, the victim, Pat, had given her best friend, both of them were piano teachers, a key. The best friend had given Pat a key so Pat could get into her home if there was an emergency with her husband. She was that afraid of him. Same thing here, Karen Stark, and typically that evidence does not come into court. But I find it very, very significant, Karen.

I agree with you, Nancy. I mean, think about it. We're really close. I haven't heard you say anything like that. I don't say anything like that. It really is the woman understands that she's in a situation that's very frightening and unfortunately doesn't feel like she has the power to leave. trolled she feels that dependent on the person but instinctively she knows something is really wrong maybe she's being beaten behind the scenes or threatened and is letting somebody know if it ever happened he did it Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. You know, why is it that people have to go online? Has nobody ever listened to crime stories before? Don't they know? Didn't anybody watch the Top Mom trial, Casey Anthony, where she did searches for how to create homemade chloroform?

Anyway, isn't it true to Levi Page that there were some damning searches on his iPad? Yes, and this iPad was linked to his Gmail account, and the searches were killing unfaithful women, and the other search was what happened to cheating spouses in historic Aztec tribes. Okay, you know what? He is a nut. And first, I'm going to go to Ashley Wilcott on that, then to our bona fide shrink, Karen Stark. Ashley Wilcott, did he just say what happened to cheating women in Aztec culture? Yeah, he sure did. So listen, you know, again, when you have somebody who's performing those kinds of searches on their computer, there's no such thing as coincidence in my mind when it comes to criminal crimes.

So is it coincidental that, oh, he happened to be looking this up innocently? No, I don't believe that it is. The Internet history included searches on infidelity, historic punishment for cheating spouses, i.e. the Aztec culture. What a weirdo. Okay, not only that, not only that, he researched the placement of organs in the body. Okay, to Dr. Kendall Crowns, that's bad. That always is when they're talking about doing something to organs, trying to figure out where the organs are at in the body. And what's the significance of that, Dr. Crowns? Well, you're trying to figure out what's the best area to hit to kill the person the easiest.

So, you know, of course, chest is always going to be your number one go-to. You know, the only time I've looked up where are organs in the body is when John David's stomach was hurting. I thought maybe he had appendicitis. He didn't. His search history started way back, years before it goes, up to four days before Amy is murdered.

Topics like, quote, was killing more accepted centuries ago. Quote, characteristics of cheating women. Quote, did ancient cultures kill adulterers? As Levi Page pointed out, the thrill of the kill. And once you hunt man, you will always feel the thirst. Well, I would want a divorce right there if I heard all of that. Not only that, he also looked at designing wedding rings and bridal shops.

That's a complete dichotomy that doesn't even make sense. To Karen Stark, what do you make of his Google searches? Well, Nancy, he obviously was thinking that he was going to be justified in killing her because the way that I'm trying to imagine his mind was working, he felt like in ancient times, maybe he would have been entitled to kill her in some fashion because she was unfaithful. And if you take a look at everything that he's been searching for, it's very clear that something is going to happen. Then he's going to also tell himself that he's justified, that she deserves to have this happen because she's a cheating spouse. To James Shelnut, lawyer, Atlanta Metro Major case detective, SWAT officer, retired. James, how do you go about calling that evidence out of an iPad

in this case? Well, first of all, there's going to be a forensic dump of all the data in this case. You know, you're going to have your specialist take a look, download everything, search this computer. They're going to go back and issue subpoenas to internet providers. They're going to go back and take a look at all the electronic footprint that's out there. And they're going to confiscate that. There's programs that you can run this data through that looks for certain key identifiers to mine the data is what it's called. And those are the common ways that you're going to get that data out. In a very lengthy criminal complaint, cops laid out a case against Todd Mullis. Witnesses describing him as controlling and jealous. Now, how does controlling play into this, Karen Starr? You're the psychologist.

Controlling is, Nancy, very clearly somebody who is paranoid, who constantly thinks that something is going on. And actually, I'm thinking in this case that the more he was trying to control her, the more that she was being, you know, subtly behind his back trying to be with other people, looking for ways that were indirect to give herself some freedom. Unfortunately, not leaving. But this was a very insecure man who could not let her be. The medical examiner there in the jurisdiction noted the corn rake only had four tines, as Jackie Howard has pointed out, our expert, but that her body had six puncture wounds from different angles. That's the kicker.

To Dr. Kendall Crown's medical examiner, Austin, what would she have gone through in death? So what would have happened is the tines would have punctured through her skin, through her musculature, into her organs. Depending on what's hit, she wouldn't have died instantly. She would have hemorrhaged internally. It would have taken several minutes for her to bleed out as she's laying there with the corn rake stuck in her body. So you would have had the pain of that and then the slow lingering death from exsanguination or bleeding out.

And, you know, that must be a horrible, horrible death. And you see your husband over you calling you a whore at the time your life is draining out of your body. We've been talking about an alleged sex relationship on her part, Amy's part, but I think it was a lot more than that. Because according to Amy Mullis' stepmother, Todd Mullis, the husband, said, quote, he wasn't going to lose the farm over this. Amy Mullis allegedly telling a friend she'd get $2 million and half the farm if she were to leave Todd Mullis. James Shelnut, you said the motives for murder were, let's see, sex, revenge. Did you say money?

Money, sex, revenge. I mean, you see it over and over, Nancy, as you have when you prosecuted these cases. I mean, $2 million and half the farm. It was all about the farm. Is that ringing a bell, Ashley Wilcott? Remember other cases where husbands didn't want to lose half of everything, such as Chris Watts, such as in the Kelsey Barrett case. They weren't married, but they had a child together. He was a farmer. If they broke up, she could go after him for money and child support. I mean, it's a common theme, Ashley.

I will never understand it, why individuals resort to these types of heinous murder crime activities instead of just dealing with it and losing half of whatever it is and go through a normal divorce. But this is one of the motives that we see again and again, and not just by men in relationships, but also by women. And, you know, to you, Karen Stark, psychologist, how many times have we said, why not just get a divorce? Well, because it takes a certain personality, Nancy, because we do say that. But in these cases, you're talking about people who will not have a problem killing somebody else. They're psychopaths, right? So look at the way he killed her. And she, as we were just told, did not die instantly.

Here's a man who was enjoying making this woman suffer. He was getting a kick out of what he was doing. And that is not your average person. In the end, Levi Page, the case goes to trial. What was the defense? The defense, Nancy, actually changed. She accidentally fell because she had had outpatient surgery recently, was on medication, and was dizzy. However, the defense, when presented with the medical examiner report that this was a homicide, that there was defensive wounds, that there were several puncture wounds.

The defense said that someone else that worked on the farm did this. Well, I understand that Tristan, the little son, the 13-year-old boy, took the stand. What was his testimony? He testified about discovering his mother's body and the anxiety that that put him through, Nancy. And the prosecution, in their opening statements, they were very powerful. She hid home the fact that he knew that his wife was in there with a rake in her and that he sent his teenage son in there to find her, knowing that she had a rake in there. And she talked about how evil it is to send your own son in there

to discover his mother with a rake in her. And such a horrific scene. In the end, husband Todd Mullis convicted. Ashley Wilcott, what's the possible sentence? All right, so first degree murder is the charge that he faces. And the possible sentence in this case is life without parole. We wait as justice unfolds. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.