Small Town Murder - #420 - Cheating, Lies & Corn Rakes - Earlville, Iowa

Episode Date: September 8, 2023

This week, in Earlville, Iowa, problems enter the marriage of a farm couple, leading to cheating, and many hurt feelings. Tensions simmer, under the surface, and this all ends with someone having a large corn rake stuck in their back, and the spouse claiming that it they must have suffered an awful accident. The problem is, the evidence says otherwise. Also, weird behavior, a crazy 911 call, and even crazier internet searches lead to a conviction... but will it stand??Along the way, we find out that there isn't a lot of "rockin'" in this area, that no matter what your problems may be, the hogs still need to be fed, and that you can't accidentally fall on a corn rake, more than once!!Hosted by James Pietragallo and Jimmie WhismanNew episodes every Thursday!Donate at: patreon.com/crimeinsports or go to paypal.com and use our email: [e-mail] to shutupandgivememurder.com for all things Small Town Murder & Crime In Sports!Follow us on...twitter.com/@murdersmallfacebook.com/smalltownpodinstagram.com/smalltownmurderAlso, check out James & Jimmie's other show, Crime In Sports! On Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Wondery, Wondery+, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Small Town Murder early and ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. What if you married the love of your life and then stood by them as they developed 21 new identities? What would you do? This Is Actually Happening is a weekly podcast that features extraordinary true stories of life-changing events told by the people who lived them. Listen to the newest season of This Is Actually Happening on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, everybody, and welcome back to small town murder express yeah and choo-choo ah yay indeed jimmy yay indeed my name is james petra gallo i'm here with my co-host i'm jimmy wisman thank you

folks so much for joining us all aboard the murder train let's get this going pulling away from the station we have a crazy wild weird kind of a mysterious, strange case this week. And it involves a weird weapon that I don't think we've ever talked about before. For us to come up with it, this is episode 420. So for us to come up with a new murder weapon by this point is pretty, that's amazing, I've got to say. We've had wedgies, James. We've had a lot of weird stuff. We'll get into it all.

We've had wedgies, James. That's what I mean. We've had a lot of weird stuff. We'll get into it all. Quickly, though, before we start, get your tickets for the virtual live show coming up October the 26th. Halloween-themed, weird Halloween story. We're going to dress up in costume, just like we did last year at Halloween. We had so much fun, and everybody loved it, so we're going to do it again.

That is shutupandgivememurder.com slash virtual live. Tickets are on sale right now. Right. Get them October 26th. It'll be live. Tickets are on sale right now. Right. Get them October 26th. It'll be available for a week after that. So all through Halloween, we're going to have so much fun. We can't wait. And also at shutupandgivememurder.com, get your tickets to regular live shows.

Yes. If you're listening to this early, you can still time to get tickets for Atlanta September 8th, Charlotte September 9th, and also Dallas on December 2nd. Everything else pretty much is sold out so thanks for doing that everybody we appreciate it you certainly want Patreon that's something oh boy yeah patreon.com slash crime in sports is where you get all of the bonus material and by the way crime and sports is our other podcast that you should certainly be listening to it is wild stuff lately so get over there and check that out. But Patreon.com slash Crime and Sports.

Bonus stuff. Anybody $5 a month or above, a mere cup of coffee, people. Right? You are going to get, instead of a cup of coffee, you're going to get a couple hundred bonus episodes to binge on and new ones every other week. One Crime and Sports, one Small Town Murder, and this week, which you're going to get for Crime and Sports, we're going to talk about something very fun celebrity boxing hell yeah some of the dumbest things why did vanilla ice fight todd bridges let's find out why did manute bull fight william the refrigerator perry let's find out why did joey buttafuoco fight china let's we'll talk about it then we'll talk about the results it's gonna be wild stuff then for small town murder we're gonna talk about oh this is amazing victorian household dangers sounds weird but trust

me here late 1800s early 1900s your house is the most dangerous place ever everything is made of poison and is explosive people are explode your toilet is explosive middle of the night you go sit down on the bowl you could easily explode it's that crazy at the time safer to be at the bar and drink it really is we'll talk all about that safer to be where jack the ripper is in this time we'll talk all about that patreon.com slash crime and sports is where you get or no patriot yes that's how you do it right there that's patreon that's the one do that and also so much to plug this week. September the 18th, Your Stupid Opinions is finally coming. Yes, it is.

That is a Monday morning. It'll be every Monday morning. Our new podcast, it'll be about an hour long, and it's going to be us making fun of everything reviews from the Internet. It's so much fun. We cannot wait. We can't wait to show it to you. Put it that way. So that said, I think it's time to get into this

i think it's time everybody to sit back what do you say let's let's uh let's clear the lungs all of us we gotta get ready arms to the sky and let's all shout shut up and give me murder let's do this j Jimmy. What do you say? Let's go on a trip, shall we? All right. We're going to Iowa. Oh, boy. Iowa.

We were in Hawaii before. Now we're in Iowa, which is Hawaii, Iowa. Hawaii, Iowa. Right. We can combine them for the week. We're going to Earlville. Oh. Guy named Earl. He's got his own ville.

Earl. Good for you, Earl. That's nice. He got his own ville. Earl. Good for you, Earl. That's nice. This is in northeastern Iowa. It is between Cedar Rapids and Dubuque. Oh, over there. In between those two. Yeah, it's out there.

Population of this town, buckle up, everybody, 891. Oh, Earl. It is very small. This is a farming community. Put it that way. Our whole thing that takes place on a farm this week, it's a farming community. Median household income around here, 60,127, a few thousand higher than the national average. And the median home price here is $204,000, which is much lower than the national average. So it's affordable, but you have to be between Cedar Rapids and Dubuque to get it is the problem. So it's kind of out there.

Both of them are big, big places. Dubuque, is that? Dubuque is not a great, no, I don't think it's a big place. It's a metropolis for Iowa, isn't it? I mean, for Iowa, maybe, but that's a pretty sliding scale, isn't it? Cedar Rapids is a lot. That's a lot of town, right?, maybe, but that's a pretty sliding scale, isn't it? Cedar Rapids is a lot. That's a lot of town, right? Is it, Jimmy?

I don't know. We go to Omaha and we go, what the hell? There's nothing here. What do you think? Cedar Rapids is probably worse, I would imagine. It's a little smaller. Yeah, I don't know. We'll see.

History of this town, 1852, very quickly, George M. Earl came here. Yeah. Made it Earlville. Him and his wife and family they settled in and uh one time it was known as nottingham oh much better much better which was after a stockholder in the railroad but then they named it after this earl guy instead and uh the government changed the name to earlville because of a conflict with another community by that name very close by nottingham they were all naming after this guy 1838 or 1883 the masonic town hall was organized oh yeah they built a building for five thousand dollars and you know all this shit so five grand a whole five grand it was a big three-story brick building for $5,000. $18.83. I mean, $5,000 is an immense amount of money back then. Which was the same.

It would be amazing. You could build that. It's like half a block, this place. It's awesome. Reviews of this town. There are not many reviews of an 891-person town. Not a lot of people have gone through it. So I think here's five stars.

Okay. Very to the point. This is very like, I don't okay very to the point this is very like i don't have much to say this is all i got quote never had any problems and if we do someone's there right away to take care of it and if we do okay no matter what the problem i'm pretty confident it'd be taken care of. Here's four stars. If I could live here for the rest of my life, I would. Go ahead, then. You can do whatever you want.

I mean, if you get any problem, you got a solver there. They acted like, you know, I mean, I know I have to leave in five years. You have to. It's not fair. Ten-year land leases are tough, man, um i feel like i should like to stay here my neighbors are wonderful and i wouldn't trade them for anything so they love their neighbors there's that so there you go things to do here not a whole lot this is this is pretty much all there is to do you can farm or go to the Manchester River Days slash Rhubarb Festival. Okay.

And I'll read you what that is. Quote, Yeah. Rue Barbecue on the River Reimagined. Rue Barbecue? Yeah. Rube, or Rubicue.

That's a rhubarb barbecue. Okay. Rubicue, Q-U-E. Yeah. Yeah. Are we, are we barbecuing rhubarb now? Is that a thing?

I think we're grilling rhubarb now. Okay. The Midwest has lost its goddamn mind. They're grilling rhubarb. Everybody, stop grilling rhubarb. I don't know what's going on in Iowa, but people are grilling rhubarb over here. We got to stop it. We got to intervene.

Open flame it. Fuck. We got to intervene on this shit. Maybe that's how it tastes the best. I don't know. I've heard of a lot of pie applications for rhubarb but you have to use something else to make it good and and that's not a good that's not a good item this yeah on the grill seems like just what do you slap some olive oil on it a little

salt and pepper like it's a shrimp and slap it on there i don't know what to throw some garlic powder yeah maybe a little garlic powder if you're feeling adventurous. I don't know. So it says, put on by the Manchester area Chamber of Commerce, the well-loved rhubarb contest will remain and be surrounded by other events like music on the Makokita. I don't know how you say that. It's the river. First Friday farmer's market, community trip float trip kids games and activities a rockin street dance to end the weekend rockin jimmy it's gonna be a rockin street dance

the float james is down the river i think i think probably you just float down the river uh now music on the river here that's rockin that's you're gonna be rockin this isn't the rockin street dance that's the rock and street dance is different. That ends the whole thing on Saturday night. Oh. They're also going to. This is a different thing totally. You can only rock at the street dance.

You're not allowed to rock at the music. It's different. There's a lot of things here. It says bring your own chair and drink for this too. They don't have anything for you. So that's what that is. It doesn't say who is performing though that says there is music bingo and a cannonball championship i don't know what that is i guess

to diving into the cannonball fashion i suppose i don't know downtown street party also this sounds fun jimmy bring the kids down 5 30 to 6 to 6.30 p.m. They're going to have the river cleanup. Yeah. The what? River cleanup. Come on, bring a garbage bag, get one of them poker things, and pick some shit up. All right. Bring the fam.

Nothing more bonding than, baby, pick up that diaper. Yeah. Followed by the 5K fun run. They have a weird fucking vision of what fun is around here running and cleaning the river is that's a festival but while this is going on the triple threat band will be playing oh yeah so good for you guys triple threat also the av grows band g-r-o-u-w-s band will be playing blending blues rocks blues roots rock and soul so there's that and the andrew andrew egg family will be there oh family i just picture an eight year old on the drums and i'm like no i'm not watching this. They sound very blues rock.

What do they play? I don't know. The daughter's going to have a heroin problem when she's very young. I know that. The Anders eggs, they don't sound like people that sing that music. God, you know what? We got to get out of this. Let's talk about a murder. Let's talk about something less disturbing.

We'll talk about a murder here. Holy shit. Let's talk about some stuff. Let's start with a fella. Let's start with something less disturbing. We'll talk about a murder here. Holy shit. Let's talk about some stuff. Let's start with a fella. Let's start with a guy here. Let's start with Todd Mullis. M-U-L-L-I-S. Mullis.

He's born in 1980. Now, Todd, this is the words that are used not only in court documents but by his friends and everything is this exact phrase keeps coming up. Quote, Todd is very passionate about farming. Passionate. What does that entail? He loves it. He's loved to farm since he was a kid. All he ever wanted to do was have his own farm and be a farmer and have the biggest farm as he can get and and be a farmer so that's what

he's into wants to own a dog named bingo the whole thing he's everything just he i mean as a kid all those toys were farm related you know tons of farm toys yeah yeah there's always tractors and shit like that yeah they're always giving yeah there could be a love affair with it that fucking cord you'd pull and the thing spins around the cow says moo. Well, he also grew up on, like, farms, which helps also, I think. Like, I never thought that they never put two and two together of, oh, I can go to a farm and hang out there. That was never even a thought that that was possible. You know a lot of Italian farmers around these parts, Jimmy?

Oh! He never thought to fucking grow some rosemary, James? Heard them chickens back there. What are yous doing over there, you fucking bombing? I'm going to kick your asses if you don't get the fucking chickens in the fucking coop. You don't hear that a lot. The pig's going to crush your pig at the state fair? Oh, for Christ's sake, these fucking kids are killing me, I swear to God.

Wait till you see the Italian sausage I make out of this pig. at the state fair oh for christ's sake these fucking kids are killing me i swear to god wait wait till you see the italian sausage i make out of this pig i grew it myself you understand so that's what happens here he works very hard he purchases his first farm in 1999 19 years old he's got a farm wow Wow. That was his goal. Passion. So eventually, this operation grows to three farms and a part of another one that he adds on to. I think so, yeah. Wow. His farm has two hog barns that are enormous.

They're the length of a football field, these hog barns. Wow. They're fucking huge. These two huge hog barns. This is a big operation for a family farm it seems like a you know stretching the limits of a family farm of what you can pull off it feels like fucking all day work is what it feels like that's all he does he's a hard worker um so in 2003 what's a farmer need farmer needs a farmer's wife is what he needs you betcha and uh he meets a nice young girl named amy in 2003 she's about a year older than him so same age they meet at the

delaware county fair where really that's where the farmer's like well gonna go on to the fair find me a wife that's what they do right like well or he won so fucking far and away with the best cow she was like i'm gonna marry them maybe she was the prize i don't know maybe you don't know got me a blue ribbon wow maybe she was throwing those rings on those things as they you know and it was one of those games on the bottles and you either win a stuffed animal or a bride if you do really. Maybe they didn't expect he could do that well. Yeah. So they get married in 2004. Right away, Amy moves on to Todd's farm.

And Amy, for a long time, works in health care. So she's not working on the farm. He's working on the farm. They have three children together. 2005, 2007, 2010. I'm going to keep the children's names out of this even though they've been public they're still minors um all of them yeah and babies man yeah it's like once a kid's an adult i don't care 48 hours once a fucking whatever but like i don't know i just feel weird about it so

i don't want anybody breaking the kids balls at all so um let's leave them out of it and we'll we'll name them uh one two and three there's three one two and three here 2005 2007 that's it and 2010 is when they're born so um i believe it is two boys and a girl boy girl boy is how they went oh so 2013 rolls around yeah they've been together about 10 years and they have three kids and um i don't know if amy's restless or what the deal is here but she doesn't seem real happy at home and um it's pretty obvious because she has an affair with somebody at work so oh no that that'll you know it's a good sign that things aren't going well at home yeah clearly if yeah if you don't if everything's fine you don't need anything else yeah so i So I guess somehow through all this, Todd found out about it or she told Todd about it or the affair came to the surface. So they went to counseling together at the encouragement of a friend of theirs because they said that the counseling had helped their marriage.

So I said, you guys should try counseling if you have three kids and a farm before you get divorced. Give this a shot. Three kids and a farm. It's a lot. Boy boy does that say so much three kids and like fucking 200 pigs that's a lot to deal with and a farm that is growing and absorbing other farms it's a lot man it's a lot to deal with so it's a bit so getting to be an empire here so amy ends up they end up reconciling after this they decide they're going to try again she's not going to be you know she's not going to have sex with other people and he's not going to be a dick or do whatever you know made her want to have sex we're all gonna yeah so amy ends up leaving

her job and becoming a stay-at-home parent at this point oh as well now part of that is that through all this part of the deal is am Amy now has to be kind of accountable to Todd and let him know if she has to go somewhere and where she's going and who she's going to be with. And, you know, he it turns into like she's like a 14 year old that stayed out past curfew and didn't call. And like it's that sort of shit. Like now she now it's different. Now you now you need to call me at 930 and tell me whose house you're at. I'm going to speak to their mother. And now it's turned sort of shit. Now it's different. Now you need to call me at 9.30 and tell me whose house you're at, and I'm going to speak to their mother, and now it's turned into that now. Yeah. Yeah.

All right. Which, I mean, again, I get it, but if you don't trust your wife, then you should get divorced. Right. If you're not – well – I get not trusting her. She had an affair. But then if you can't – you either have to wash it away or –

Yeah. I don't know. And I don't know wash it away or, I don't know. And I don't know the situation, obviously, but sometimes two people make one person cheat. You know what I mean? Who knows? We don't know. I don't know. I wasn't there. We don't know if, yeah, or she had a wild, you know, wild oats to sow.

Right. He's more concerned with his pigs. We have no idea what's going on. No idea. So we're not defending anyone or blaming anyone we have no clue and that's because the other thing is inside of a marriage like oh god we've been married and divorced the amount of variables there's you have a farm i had no farm and i still couldn't make it work with no farm i didn't have to i never woke up because a fucking animal made noises. Never.

Never like, oh, got to go feed the pigs. It's almost daybreak. I've never had that thought and still couldn't make my first marriage work. So that's what I'm saying. So inside of a marriage, there's so many variables, especially with kids and farms and hogs and all these different things that we have no idea what causes these little fractures in marriages. No idea. So we're not you know, fractures in marriages. No idea. So we're not going to try to figure it out. But according to Amy's stepmother, Todd was resolved to work things out and told Amy's stepmother, quote, I'm not going to lose my farm and what I've worked for.

Attaboy. So he's like, I got a family and a farm and I'm going to hold it together. Now, Amy's friend patricia said quote she wasn't happy in her marriage at all and she hadn't been happy for many years okay so this continues to be she continues to be unhappy for the next five years after the affair and after all that until about 2018 uh june 2018 to be specific there's a man named jerryzier, F-A-R-S-H-E-R. I think it's Frazier or Frasher, one of the two. Jerry, anyway.

Jerry oversees the farm's hog operation. Oh. So he's the hog overseer. He's the hog department. Yeah, I am head of the hog department over here. Director of hogs. Director of hog-ness, of hog-itude. Yeah.

So the director of hog-itude here, Amy, begins to have an affair with it. Amy. So not okay here, obviously. And that's the other thing. If you're not happy, then leave, but don't have affairs. Right. That's not cool. Don't continue this.

That's not cool because you know it's not, you know he's not okay with it, and you know that it's not okay. That's not cool. Don't continue this. That's not cool because, you know, it's not, you know, he's not OK with it. And you know that it's not OK. That's why you're hiding it. So, you know, that's not cool. So and when it's like on the property, that's the other thing. Someone who's there. It's it makes it kind of even more unseemly, honestly. Now, Jerry said, quote, I know she wasn't happy.

She said she felt like a slave or a hostage around there. She said she was wanting to leave Todd. One time she said if he ever found out about the affair, she would disappear. I don't know if that meant she would take off. She would run away. Or he would disappear her. I'm not sure what that means. She would get wooed.

Mr. Wooed. Yeah. When asked, like, how often was this going on with you and her? Jerry said it just depended. I mean, it was everything was very short. It was maybe once a week, maybe more, depending on how it worked out. Whenever Todd wasn't around. That's a lot of sex.

That's a lot of sex. That's more than the couples having, I'm sure. Yeah, that's as much as a lot of married. That's more than a lot of married couples have. Once a week, sometimes more. Are you fucking kidding me? Multiple times a week, even if it's a quickie here and there. They're getting it in.

I mean, good for them. Wow. He said they would meet in secret on the farm, on back roads, and occasionally in motel rooms outside of town. You're fucking all the time. All the time. Everywhere. They have different fuck spots. It sounds like a fucking Bob Seger song is where they're fucking all the time all the time everywhere they have different fuck spots it sounds like a fucking bob seger song is where they're fucking it's night moves that's

enough to keep somebody happy for christ's sake bob seger wrote night moves about these two like this is this is crazy jesus christ i think that's what he said on the farm back rack roads and occasionally a motel room. Wasn't that how it went? Something close. Something close. And points way up high. Way up high. That's about all of it.

I think that's what's going on here. We got a real night move situation here, which is strange. I just can't imagine. That's so much sex. That's a full affair. That's a lot of extracurricular sex is what that is. Too much. Yeah.

That's a full affair. That's a lot of extracurricular sex is what that is. Too much. Yeah. July 2018. There is a text message confrontation when Todd reviews a phone bill and says, wow, that's a lot of talking between Amy and my hot guy here. Oh, no. So it shows that they texted in this July 2018 or from june or whatever the fucking bill was from

it showed that they had texted more than uh more than a hundred instances of them texting in a month in one month in a month which seems more than hog related that feels like probably just meet me here kb there yeah i mean, because I guess in a conversation, if it was about hog-related things, one back and forth could be 30 texts. You know what I mean? Yeah. Oh, then here? No, it was there.

Okay. So Tuesday, are we doing that? No, the guy said this. Is he coming Wednesday or Thursday? Well, he said he could come. You know what I mean? Like, you could go back and forth a lot. But it's still suspicious, especially if it's out of nowhere.

Normally, there's not 100 texts. All of a sudden, now there's a hundred texts that seems amy's it feels like amy's trying to get caught though because if you text with on a phone anybody that that's in control of that bill is allowed to see exactly what those words are so what is she doing she's not trying to hide anything that's for sure this was i think a paper bill that was just here's all the text just showed the numbers yeah and so he confronts them in july and jerry told todd quote it was i said it was about other stuff like showing pigs not fucking your wife it's it's about non-fucking your wife stuff you know like pig stuff stuff that doesn't involve wet stuff yeah stuff with my dick being super soft that's what

everything we talked about is like total flaccid shit like no firmly behind a zipper no nothing erector e subjects so todd then called frazier's wife called jerry's wife and was like hey um i got a lot of texts between your husband and my wife here and what the fuck is up with that and their discussion seemed to placate jerry uh todd where he was like okay i guess it's fine now frazier's wife thought todd was a little bit or a little bit loopy he was like that guy's a little fucking crazy he was a little yeah yeah because he he was very aggressive with the whole thing so then jerry said two days later, Todd called us both back and apologized, meeting him and his wife. He asked us to quit texting and we did.

He said, if you could just not text my wife, that'd be great. And so they stopped texting. Now they would just meet up and fucking whatever. So Jerry said he told Amy, we need to slow down. Your husband's calling my wife. This is a problem. Yeah. So Jerry said that he continued to work on the farm

and provide hog services to the Mullises and do all of this type of shit. He said Todd never showed any animosity toward him or anything like that. Todd seemed to buy the story of them just being friends and talking about hogs. And he just said, hey, can you be a little less friendly with my wife and he was like oh yeah totally get it that was that yeah that's how it works so night moves averted so todd though himself he wants to investigate a little further

though he's not satisfied on the surface he is but yeah it's bubbling underneath as anybody would be you'd have if you have a suspicion and also if the person has cheated on you before. So he shared his suspicions with Amy's stepmother as well. And Todd, again, questioned a mutual friend of theirs who's one of Amy's former coworkers about Amy's behavior and told the friend that Amy's acting just like she had during her first affair. I know this behavior so at one point their friend suggested maybe you two shouldn't be together if you think she's constantly cheating and she might be constantly cheating maybe that's because you're have a shit relationship and he said quote i've worked for this farm since i was 11 and i will not give it up you don't have to that. That's tough, man. That's tough.

In May of 1980, near Anaheim, California, Dorothy Jane Scott noticed her friend had an inflamed red wound on his arm and seemed unwell. She insisted on driving him to the local hospital to get treatment. While he waited for his prescription, Dorothy went to grab her car to pick him up at the exit, but would never be seen alive again, leaving us to wonder, decades later, what really happened to Dorothy Jane Scott? From Wondery, Generation Y is a podcast that covers notable true crime cases like this one and many more. Every week, hosts Erin and Justin sit down to discuss a new case,

covering every angle and theory, walking through the forensic evidence, and interviewing those close to the case to try to discover what happened. And with over 450 episodes, there's a case for every true crime listener. Follow the Generation Y podcast on the Wondery app, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Generation Y ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. why ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. I understand that anybody who's paid attention to the media would have to come to the conclusion that I killed my wife. Hi, my name is Zach Stewart Pontier. I'm one of the filmmakers behind The Jinx, and I'm excited to bring you the official Jinx podcast. We'll be revisiting all six episodes of part one and watching along with part two as

it airs on Max starting April 21st. Bye bye. The official Jinx podcast. Listen on Max or wherever you get your podcasts. So their friend that he talked to ended up learning about the affair from Amy. Amy told this friend and she told Amy amy quote you're putting yourself in a really dangerous situation and said todd is going to kill you because todd is just the person you don't mess with oh that's what her friend told her so the friend at said another friend who um at a work event said they heard rumors about the affair and told amy about the rumors hey people are talking about you and jerry fucking you know around town here amy got a amy got all upset about it what a small town jeez the hog guys plowing the farmer's wife let's all talk about it like people have nothing to do with the situation

what are you doing there's that bug that is a nice choice do you hear about jerry they don't call him the hog man for nothing if you know what i mean he's got quite a hog she's been tending to his hog you know what i'm saying a lot of hog tendon he's well the tender needs to be tended sometimes if you know what i'm saying so amy contacted another former co-worker yeah um to see if maybe she had heard rumors about it do you know anything if you heard anything about the affair and um said if you do please try to shut them down and say that's not true so now she's trying to put like operatives in the field like amy also told her friend that if i go missing this is where you should look for me

my body essentially not like i'll be in fucking right san diego there's a hotel a little hotel in mission beach i really like like that's not that's not what he's talking about find me there it's not that no well i'll be in cancun or anything he's we done z want to building a boat yeah no she said look for me in the wood pile literally we have a wood pile a check for me under there is that right yeah yeah she's like definitely look under there if i go missing oh so amy told said several times to several people that Todd would kill her if he found out about the affair and explained that her eldest child. Number one had told Amy, if dad finds out you're going to you're going to have an affair, he's going to kill you. Dad finds out you're going to have an affair.

He'll kill you. Yeah. OK, so the kid doesn't know for sure. No, the kid knows if it happens an affair, he'll kill you. Okay. So the kid doesn't know for sure that it's happening. No. The kid knows if it happens, dad will kill you. I think dad has talked about it possibly around the house maybe. You hear any inclinations? I'll kill your mom if she fucks anybody. You know what I mean?

Hand me that over there, son. There you go. Get the other side of this barrel. Hey, boy, I'll tell you what. If your mom keeps fucking people, I will kill her. Bury her under the woodpile. Oh. Want to get some ice cream?

Cut some links off that, would you, boy? Would you? All right. No, I don get some ice cream? Cut some links off that, would you, boy? Would you? All right. No, I don't think that's going on either. Who knows? So Amy talks to a friend of theirs, a mutual friend, about leaving Todd. And the friend said Amy was to the point where she felt like she was strong enough to leave on her own. It was not so much anymore she would leave for jerry but she would leave on her own

because jerry once his wife got into the picture he was like hey we need to stop this like we need to chill the fuck out yeah but worseover it's like you can't cheat on your spouse with somebody that has a spouse because you're just if you're in love with that person you want to be you put so many fucking roadblocks in the way of that whole happening. It's so crazy. But he seems like he was having an affair, and that was it. That's it. Once his wife was going to find out, he's like, hey, let's not do that. Whereas she was possibly having an I'm going to leave somebody affair, which is a different type of affair.

She's checking my phone now. This sucks. Yeah. Yes. I got a lot going on. This is a lot to deal with. So her friend said Amy said she was quietly looking for jobs and somewhere to live. And that same month in 2018, in July, Amy explained to another friend that Todd didn't want a divorce because, quote, he would lose half of everything.

And it's also socially unacceptable. OK. You know, because there's a town of 800 people. That are going to make fun of 800 people that are going to make fun of him that are going to make fun of him yeah whatever it is shitty feelings whatever it is they're going to talk shit about him at church or i don't know what or at the at the the county fair i have no idea we're never gathering there they were rumors were flying about affairs of people who cares so yeah that's a lot so on another and this is 2018 this isn't

1958 this is 2018 we're talking about socially unacceptable wow on another time amy said that amy explained to the friend that quote she was scared of todd and if he found out about wanting a divorce or having an affair that he would kill her. So she's told multiple people this. Not that that means it's true. That's the thing. So August of 2018, Amy's grandmother dies. Oh, no. And Amy's brother said by then Amy was planning to divorce Todd, and she told her family about it also.

And she said she expected Todd to flip out, but she was extra worried. She goes, that's to be expected. But she was very worried that number one, kid one, would be angry with her for leaving Todd as well. Sure. You know, kid one is 13 at this point. So you know, she wants to

hold it all together. I'm sure this kid he does. So Amy asked her brother to store some of their grandmother's furniture so that she would have some furniture when she left Todd. So that's how much she's planning. She's like figuring out how she's going to get a love seat. She's already decorating her place that she doesn't have. That's wild.

So at the end of the month, Todd told a mutual friend, the same mutual friend that keeps getting from both sides, this poor person. friend the same mutual friend that keeps getting from both sides this poor person can you both stop talking to me about your private business for the love of get a therapist and talk to them because i am not the one you're both making me lose so much sleep this is a lot you call one calls and the other calls so todd said that amy told him there were rumors about her affair, her having an affair, and that she cried for hours because she should leave because Todd said that Amy said, we're just, you're all better off without me. Like, you know, everybody's going to be better. Like, she's trying to make it like,

like she's making a sacrifice to leave. Okay. People are talking bad about you, and I'll just leave and make it easier. Because she's trying to make him not flip out yeah as she put it quote unquote so october 2018 amy's uncle suffers a brain a brain bleed my god her family falling like dropping like flies here so amy was away from todd and the children frequently to keep going to help her uncle out i guess so todd started to get pissed

off as he had a lot of there's a lot of shit on the farm to do and now he's got to do all the farm stuff and take care of the kids at the same time oh god damn and he's like i gotta deal with hogs and farms and employees and kids and you know it's a lot going on so in october amy called a friend crying and screaming saying that todd found out about the affair this month somehow he found out so that's that's what happened also this month todd found out in a field he found a a big corn rake and he put it inside their red shed a corn rake is a picture of big, like a big, like a pointy, you know, like a pitchfork, but curved at the end. So the tines are curved. Right.

And they're long. And they're long and sharp, pointy. Yeah. Pointy. So that's what it is, a big giant thing like that. So November 2018. By now, Amy and Todd have not slept in the same bed for five months. Oh, God, Jesus.

This is not going well. November 6, 2018. Amy has an outpatient medical procedure. It's an ablation. It's, you know. What is that? It's a menstrual thing. It's a female part.

Jamie just made a grossed out face like, ew. I don't want to be a part of that. Ew, blood. Not necessarily that part. It's just, that like, ew. I don't want to be a part of that. Ew, blood. Not necessarily that part. It's just, that's their business. I don't have any opinion one way or the other. It's inside the woman parts there. We don't know if whatever.

Good for you, Amy. I don't know what the fuck that is. Ablaze yourself, silly. So upon discharge, she has a 10-pound lifting restriction and rests at home for a few days. So then by November 10th, Amy texts her friend, text her to see how she's doing. And Amy says,

quote, thanks. Okay. Things are still very tense around here. Just not sure of anything anymore. Okay. So that morning, number one,

kid one and Todd left the house to go check on some off-site hogs. There's some other place they have hogs. You know, they got auxiliary hogs. He's got on-site hogs, off-site hogs. Those hogs moved out. They have their own place. You gotta check on them every once

in a while. They're down in Hogville. They're doing real good down there. They got jobs. Everything's working out. Then they returned to the farmhouse for breakfast amy made breakfast after breakfast kid one and todd go out to the north hog barn on the farm and since it's like i said long as a football field huge at 10 12 a.m amy emails jerry and, do you know what I'm doing today? Now she's moved to email, by the way. Oh, boy. See, it's email instead of the phone. Yeah.

Do you know what I'm doing today? Cleaning fucking light fixtures in the barn. What the fuck? That's what she says. A WTF. But what the fuck? So a few minutes after Kid 1 and Todd leave to go to the North Hog Barn, Amy comes out to join them. So I guess they were working to prepare the barn for incoming infantile hogs.

Now, they're not babies. They're just very immature. They're very immature hogs, very infantile. They laugh at farts and they're just, you know, they throw things in restaurants. It's really, they need to be matured a bit. Lots of puns with these things. So many puns and it's just, you know, loud burping during a wedding. Very inappropriate times.

Very rude. So Todd was arranging nipple feeders in the pens. Hot. Yeah. Hot nipple action. changing nipple feeders in the pens hot yeah hot nipple action kid one was bringing heaters from storage area to the pens and amy was cleaning the light fixtures because that doesn't require lifting she cleaned the fixtures while standing on a five gallon bucket which doesn't seem safe yeah so kid one and todd noticed that she seemed unsteady and they asked if she was all right and

she said yeah she continued to work but looked unsteady so both kid one and todd said why don't you stop working on the light fixtures you look a little wobbly there todd said uh amy why don't you go get a pet carrier from the red shed which is like 30 yards away from the the hog barn the pet carrier weighed about 10 15 pounds so todd asked amy to either take the pet carrier to their shop building across the yard or just leave it out for them and then they'll take care of it. So kid one and Todd continued to work in the hog barn for about another hour and a half. After Amy left, kid one took over cleaning the light fixtures. At some point, the kid lost sight of Todd while they were in the hog barn and didn't know for how long because he's cleaning. They're both doing separate things in the hog barn.

You're looking up. There are no hogs up there. Totally, yeah. So kid one was out of Todd's sight when he stepped into a small office in the corner of the barn to get a drink of water a couple times. That's when this was. When Todd noticed the pet carrier was not in the yard or in the front of the shop, he sent kid one to get the pet carrier out of the red shed. Apparently your mother didn't get the pet carrier. Go in the shed and get it for me, please.

So he goes, the kid goes into the red shed and he finds Amy on her hands and knees face down. Oh. And you know, like just sit on her hands and knees crawling almost. And she has a corn rake sticking out on her hands and knees, crawling almost. And she has a corn rake sticking out of her back. Oh, Jesus. Yeah, buried in her back.

She's, like, sitting up, you know, on her knees. So the kid yells for Todd, obviously. This is a horrible thing. He found your mother like this. Impaled. Impaled. Amy's unresponsive at the time. She's not answering or anything.

So this kid is smart too i mean for a for a 13 year old kid the kid checks whether amy has a pulse if she's breathing i mean most kids would have ran away or freaked out and screamed he got right down he's delivered a cow by now he knows what the fuck's happening and that's the thing on farms you deal with life and death and births, and I feel like maybe you might be a little calmer in a situation like this. Blood and viscera are much easier digested as a child that grew up on a farm. Absolutely. Yeah, totally.

You understand things live and die. Not your mom, obviously, but you might stay calm enough to know to check a pulse and not just go, ah, and run out of there. So Kid One yells for Todd and checking for a pulse and not just go and run out of there so kid one yells for todd um and checking for a pulse todd runs over and tells the kid to get the truck and bring it over you know you're on a farm you tell your 13 year old to go get the truck go get the one with the three on the tree and he knows he's like i'll be right here pops so todd doesn't help her at all or call 9-1-1 while he waits for the truck really but when the truck pulls up todd um he the kid thing one or kid one sees todd pull the corn

rake out of amy's back really pull it right out so at this point the kid gets in the passenger side of the truck and todd puts amy in the kid's lap, and they go to the hospital. So he's got his mom with puncture wounds in her back on his lap going to the hospital. While he's driving, he calls 911 at 12.01 p.m. He said Amy fell on a corn rake. He said his 13-year-old son yelled for him, and he found his wife unresponsive in a shed at their home at the 225th Avenue in Earlville. Here he said that the operator told him to pull over and perform CPR, which he did. Then a deputy arrives on the scene.

He takes over CPR because he's probably better at it. So on the 911 tape, he said, I'm headed there. I'm about to Oneida. And they said, OK, you're headed where? OK, what's that? And he said, I'm headed there. I'm about to Oneida. And they said, OK, you're headed where? OK, what's that? And he said, the hospital. I just grabbed her and threw her in the truck.

So now the deputy said, I saw a young man look like he had blood on his coat flagging me down as he pulled up. And then this cop rushed to help Amy. He said she was unresponsive and not breathing breathing no pulse. She had quite a bit of blood on her and on her clothes. We put her on the ground and I started doing chest compressions. So as he's doing chest compressions he asked Todd what the fuck happened. Todd

said he wasn't sure but he said that Amy had been dizzy earlier and so he assumes that she accidentally fell on the rake while trying to get a pet carrier okay so they asked the kid what happened and the kid says he was with his dad the whole time and you know he was working on the farm with his dad the whole time they asked todd what happened and he just said i told found her with a corn rake he says that his wife was in a

crunched up position with a corn rake impaled in her back. Before then, they were working in the hog building on their property. It was Amy's first day out of the house since undergoing surgery, he said. He said she helped clean light bulbs. She seemed to have dizzy spells. So he told her to rest inside. He said he pulled the thing out of her back and there we go. I mean, she was at this point an ambulance pulls up. The cop called the ambulance.

I mean, at this point, an ambulance pulls up. The cop called the ambulance. And it seems like jumping in the car and hauling ass and then calling 911 seems pretty fucking weird. But again, you ever have a farm? That's what I mean. I don't know. It's like you're very self-sufficient on a farm. That's the other thing.

You go, well, I don't need an ambulance. I have a truck here. I'll just put her in it and go why the fuck now the point of an ambulance is there's medical help being rendered in the ambulance on the way which helps the whole thing that's the point of it but you might go we do for our own here you know throw her in the truck and let's fucking go i mean that's and if he thinks that she fell then he doesn't have any reason to you know i mean not disturb everything that's what i mean yeah let disturb everything. That's what I mean. Yeah, let's help mom. That's what I'm saying.

It's very hard because it's a panic situation. Yeah. It's a panic situation. So people do weird shit in panic situations. And in a big city, if I see somebody with an object inside them, I'm not touching it because I don't want them to think I did it. I figured someone did it and I don't want my DNA anywhere near it. I don't want anything to do with it. Nope.

What do you do at that point, Jimmy? Mind your business. Mind your own fucking business. Call the police and step back. That's right. And I would even say even that point. How long have they been dead for? The cop's going to help, really?

None of my business. You know, the person looks like they've been there for a day. I don't think they need me involved in this. the person looks like they've been there for a day i don't think they need me involved in this but if it's my family i might call the police and then say hey i found my family like oh yeah i'm not touching any of this no no does she have a pulse i don't know i didn't touch her i didn't touch anybody so when the some bystanders who knew the family gather around now uh the kid goes back to the family farm with one of the people that pulled up and todd jumps in another's car and they follow

the ambulance so to the hospital at the hospital um they do a surgery on her they try to do an emergency surgery and it does not work and she passes away at the hospital, Amy. She's pronounced dead. Medical examiner completed an initial examination and discovered six puncture wounds on her back. There are four. Four arms on the fork? Four tines on the fork. Oh, boy.

There's six puncture wounds. That's different. That's a double stab, right? That's interesting. The medical examiner also observes injuries to Amy's chin, cheekbones, knees, and knuckles of each hand. Wow. The injury to her chin

had both crush and scraping components to it, but there was no debris in the wound from hitting a surface. It wasn't like she hit the floor and embedded some splinter or something in her chin, gravel, anything. So the medical examiner asked to see the corn rake and he discovered the rake had four tines. So he said, how does that create six puncture wounds on one impact?

Great question. So he contacts at this point, he steps back and contacts the state's forensic pathologist and says, I'd like you to take a look at this because I feel like I'm over my head here. So the deputies then, they go back with the kid to the family farm where, by the way, the other two younger kids are in the house the whole time. Oh, my God. They're in the house. Yeah. Holy smokes. So the farm where they showed the kid, kid one, shows them the red shed where he found Amy. That night, another sheriff comes in, and he's briefed and everything, and he does all this.

And this guy ends up being the guy who attends the autopsy performed by the forensic pathologist, the pathologist determined the damage to Amy's left hand could be defensive wounds consistent with a struggle and that she had blunt force trauma to her chin, cheek and ear. When examining the puncture wound to the, to Amy's back pathologist discovered two different wound paths. What does that mean? That means she was stabbed here and then the other one came at a different

angle. Straight on and then down or some shit. Yeah. Different angle. Straight on and then down or some shit? Yeah, different angle. Oh boy. So they reasoned that Amy was impaled with the rake at least two times and possibly three by the different tracks. Oh shit.

So they said the pathologist found the corn rake penetrated through Amy's back deep enough to rupture her breast implant all the way through her. Oh, all the way to the front. And exit her front side as well as puncture her lung and liver.

So their ruling is a matter of death is classified as homicide. As fuck, yeah. As fuck. So as part of the investigation, they execute a search warrant of all of Todd's electronics

and camera systems that cover the property because maybe we'll see what happened. No video from a camera pointed at the red shed could be recovered, and video from a camera pointed at the yard between the buildings

spanned from September 11th through October 29th, and then there's no video until November 11th, which is the day after this happened. What the fuck? That's not good. So then they look at his iPad. His iPad is out in his tractor, by the way. He's out watching.

That's modern day farming. It's not so boring while you're out there. You could put your iPad up and watch videos and shit while you're farming. What a different time it is. Just sit out there whacking while you're whacking down the corn. I get that farmers think they're like, ah, we're farmers. But like farmers from like 1880 would be like you pansy pussy fucking video watching smack walk behind the horse with the plow you son of a bitch that thing got power

steering it's self-propelled you ain't even got to put your foot on the gas you lazy bastard that ipad probably controls the fucking probably does yeah so the deputy discovered earlier in the year the google account todd used on his ipad was used to search for things like and i quote did ancient cultures kill adulterers oh todd thrill of the kill thrill of the hunt i mean that could be hunting stuff i don't know famous quote no thrill like that of hunting man okay never mind he he clarified he's literally looking for the he clarified he clarified it thrill the guilt or the hunt hey maybe he likes these at woods guys a hard farm nope nope it's a man hunting Then, just in case it wasn't enough, once you hunt man, you will always feel the thirst. He looks up a quote for that.

He wants to see if he kills, if he'll want to kill again. I guess, if maybe this is a new profession. What happens to cheaters in history? Then, quote, killing unfaithful women. What? What to do with large open chest wounds oh my and organs in the body where are they um yeah that's holy it's all a light-hearted nightmare on our podcast morbid we're your hosts i'm alina urquhart and i'm ash kelly and our show is part true crime

part spooky and part comedy. The stories we cover are well-researched. He claimed and confessed to officially killing up to 28 people. With a touch of humor. I'd just like to go ahead and say that if there's no band called Malevolent Deity, that is pretty great. A dash of sarcasm and just garnished a bit with a little bit of cursing. This mother****er lied. Like a little bit of cursing. This mother f***er lied.

Like a liar. Like a liar. And if you're a weirdo like us and love to cozy up to a creepy tale of the paranormal. Or you love to hop in the Wayback Machine and dissect the details of some of history's most notorious crimes. You should tune in to our podcast, Morbid. Follow Morbid on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to episodes early and ad-free by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Welcome to the small town of Chinook, where faith runs deep and secrets run deeper.

In this new thriller, available exclusively on Wondery Plus, religion and crime collide when a gruesome murder rocks the isolated Montana community. Religion and crime collide when a gruesome murder rocks the isolated Montana community. Everyone is quick to point their fingers at a drug-addicted teenager, but local deputy Ruth Vogel isn't convinced. She suspects connections to a powerful religious group. Enter federal agent V.B. Loro, who has been investigating a local church for possible criminal activity. The pair form an unlikely partnership to catch the killer,

unearthing secrets that leave Ruth torn between her duty to the law, her religious convictions, and her very own family. But something more sinister than murder is afoot, and someone is watching Ruth. With an all-star cast led by Emmy nominee Sanaa Lathan and Star Wars' Kelly Marie Tran, Chinook is available exclusively and ad-free on Wondery+.

Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. It's all a lighthearted nightmare on our podcast, Morbid. We're your hosts. I'm Alina Urquhart. And I'm Ash Kelly. And our show is part true crime, part spooky, and part comedy. The stories we cover are well-researched. He claimed and confessed to officially killing up to 28 people.

With a touch of humor. I'd just like to go ahead and say that if there's no band called Malevolent Deity, that is pretty great. A dash of sarcasm and just garnished a bit

with a little bit of cursing. This mother f***er lied. Like a liar. Like a liar. And if you're a weirdo like us and love to cozy up to a creepy tale of the paranormal. Or you love to hop in the Wayback Machine and dissect the details of some of history's most notorious crimes. You should tune in to our podcast, Morbid. Follow Morbid on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can listen to episodes early and ad-free by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. early and ad free by joining Wondery Plus and the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. So following the autopsy between this and that, they're like, OK, well, let's let's gather our suspects here. We have Jerry, first of all. They clear him as a suspect right away. He was as an alibi and everything else. So how's your search history? Jerry, let's take a look at your at your shit. The police officer said he sat next to me in my unmarked police vehicle and we talked for an hour and a half. Jerry readily admitted to the affair but insisted he couldn't have killed Amy. He was at home in Anamosa 45 minutes away. And just like Todd, his son is his alibi.

He said his college-aged son had excellent recall and so they had gotten up and spent all saturday morning doing work and they watched college football they went through his cell phone records at the time this happened and they said we could see that jerry's cell phone had cell activity around 10 45 11 45 12 45 all of that down in animosa okay so they eliminate him they also eliminate his wife as a suspect too oh yeah because she could be furious. She could be pissed. So they eliminate her. Then they talk to their friends of theirs and they say, Patricia, the one friend of Amy's, said, I asked her why she stayed.

And she said she was scared of Todd. And if he found out about wanting a divorce, that he would kill her. Jerry said one time, if she said he ever found out, she would disappear. A friend named Terryry said she said tear if i ever come up missing make them have them look in our new timber um terry said i i told her you know amy you're putting yourself in a really dangerous situation and i said at that time he's going to kill you and she said they asked why asked why. And Terry said, because Todd is just the person you don't mess with. Like we said before. So they, and Terry, let's sit down, Todd.

And he describes his marriage as a very healthy marriage. Is that right? Very healthy. They said, you're, you were a loving husband. Would you say, were you kind to your wife? He said, you can ask anybody. I was. That's not a yes. What is that? When people mean yes, they say yes. Then maybe they say, yeah, you can ask anybody. Totally. But they would say, yes, I am.

And you can ask anyone. So they said, okay. Then the cop said, how would you describe your marriage to me? And he said, pretty tight, actually. It's a weird way to describe a marriage. Pretty tight. Pretty tight? Pretty tight with with my wife we're close friends we're very close friend we're business partners you know wow so they said um yeah and todd said communication was great we we were together all the time you know i it was good. Yeah, between us it was good. Verbal diarrhea.

Those are weird answers, yeah. That's what that is. That's a word salad made into a, a word diarrhea crafted into a salad. So then they said, eventually they go through all this shit and the cop's like, yeah, okay. Here's him describing him. And he then says,

we've completed our investigation at this point and the case facts clearly show us that you're responsible've completed our investigation at this point and the case facts clearly show us that you're responsible for for amy's death at this point already they just tell him that todd said i'm responsible i shot the clerk i shot the clerk he pulled in my cousin vinnie and now they're gonna pull it back later he said i'm. I shot the clerk. I shot the clerk. I'm responsible. And the cop says, yeah. And Todd says, how?

Again, that's not a denial. No. That's tell me your case. What evidence can I. What do you know? Yep. That's what it was. So the cop says, Todd, you were there.

You were there. Yeah. So he cop says, Todd, you were there. You were there. Yeah. So, um, he then goes on, Todd opens up a little and says, well, yeah,

there was an affair in 2013. It kind of shattered his trust of Amy. He said that he's confronted her about a second affair, but he said his relationship was good now. And, um, the investigator said a man, she was in a romantic relationship with,

um, you know, Jerry says that all this stuff. So between what everybody else says and all, And the investigator said a man she was in a romantic relationship with. You know, Jerry says all this stuff. So between what everybody else says and all of this, Todd said, then he says, fucking, well, what evidence do you have? Can you tell me the case? Can you tell me what you have that I can deny? We'll give that to your lawyer in the discovery process. Don't worry. Well, then he tells the cop you want me to confess to something i didn't do which is something an innocent person

would say yeah you i'm not confessing something i didn't do that's something an innocent person would say now during the also something a guilty person would say knowing an innocent person would say so during the interview todd according to the cop was quote unemotional and very flat which he's also a farmer you know yeah you know those those iowa farmers from 800 people town are known to be real expressive they're known to be real they talk with their hands a lot real excitable real excitable the fiery iowa farmers is what it's called right usually i don't know if you know paul revere was a uh an iowa farmer and they're like get us one of those so that he can run around town. That way he can yell loud.

Tell us when they're coming. They're known to be super loud, those guys. So then the 911 call. Okay. On the 911 recording, because he's doing CPR, puts the phone down. The state claims that Todd can be heard whispering while he's doing chest compressions. And the jury will be able to hear this, too. Listen anyway and see what they think.

Quote, cheating whore. And quote, go to hell, cheating whore, as he performed CPR. Go to hell. And go to hell, cheating whore. Wow. So he claims that they should disregard the state's argument as it relates to the 911 tape because you can't clearly hear what he's saying. Todd mutters something under his breath. They said, well, it's barely audible. It is consistent, the jury finds, the court finds because they're wondering, is it going to be admissible?

So the judge says that it is consistent with Todd calling Amy, quote, a cheating whore and telling her to go to hell cheating whore. So the jury will be allowed to listen for themselves and believe or disbelieve and hear whatever they want. So here what he said, whatever came out of his mouth and discern for themselves. If he said it, if he said it, he wants the trial moved because he says you know christ when i my life has an affair everybody talks about it and they said no you're good oh boy yep they said the defense failed to show that there would be any prejudice for that so during the trial his lawyer says this this is todd's lawyer amy mullis was viciously and deliberately murdered yes he said they said that he agrees

that he'll say that, yes, she's been murdered, but it wasn't by Todd. Somebody must have came and did this. And he says, the lawyer, I believe that you will find that there's a reasonable doubt as to Mr. Mullis' guilt. Todd later claims after this, after the trial, Todd will claim that Amy

died as a result of a tragic accident, or he claims that now, not as a result of another person's actions. Oh, no, I'm sorry. During the trial, Todd will claim that Amy died as a result of a tragic accident. Or he claims that now, not as a result of another person's actions. Oh, no, I'm sorry. During the trial, they say it's somebody else killed her. Later on, he says she must have fell on the rake. What the fuck? You're going to change? I guess you don't have to give a.

I don't know. Now, but Todd's counsel during this conceded that Amy obviously died as a result of criminal behavior because the pathologist said there's different stab patterns. There's six and four. It doesn't add up. She didn't fall on it, stand up, get woozy, and fall again. That's what I'm saying. And so Todd also claims later on he says he never authorized his counsel to make such a concession to say that someone she was killed by a murderer and simply assuming this will permit him to argue that Amy desired. Basically, he's doing this to try to set up an appeal in case he's guilty later.

So they talk about her defensive wounds and everything like that. The Internet searches on Todd's iPad. They bring all of that up. That's not great. No, it's real bad. No. They said the jury could determine Todd's conduct was intentional and not accidental, making his conduct willful. That's what the prosecutor is saying. They're saying he impaled her several times. The cop said when he showed up at the farm, the deputy, he says, I went immediately to the red shed and there was a couple of drops of blood on the floor. And that's where it was described to me.

That's where she was positioned. It looked like 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 she said he said he didn't observe anything like that. So two falls would have been tough. Yeah. Now, the son, number one, testifies. He said she would get a five-gallon bucket, and then she would reach up to these light bulbs on the ceiling, and she would clean those out. And he also said, quote, she was getting dizzy. When she got on a bucket, she had to hold herself from falling off.

And she got down, and her legs was kind of shaky. So he said he was worried about his mom because she just had surgery. He said, I think I remember saying, are you all right? Do you need help cleaning them? And then dad kind of asked the same thing. And she said, no, like I'm fine. So then he said another dizzy spell happened. So they both, him and his dad, both became concerned.

And he said quote i don't think it's really wise for you to stay out here because you know i don't want you falling off and getting hurt that's what both people dad and the boy said so um the boy then says if you can get it to the shop meaning the pet carrier that would help but if you can't get it then just leave it and we'll get it so that's's when Amy left, and he said he just told me to get it myself after that, meaning dad. And so the kid says he asked me to go check on her because, like, maybe we thought she was still struggling to get it, you know, to get the pet cage, or maybe she just went in the house. So he said, go check on mom. And he said she was kind of on her hands and knees, face down.

He saw a corn rake. He said, I checked her pulse on her neck and her arm. I just kind of on her hands and knees face down. He saw a corn rake. He said, I checked her pulse on her neck and her arm. I just kind of freaked out. My anxiety level went from zero to 100 in a split second. I'll bet. I bet. Yeah. So they said that they were trying to get her out of the shed.

Todd testifies. Oh, boy. Says, I just wanted to help her. I just wanted to let's go to the hospital. There's something wrong. I'm a do Says, I just wanted to help her. I just wanted to, let's go to the hospital. There's something wrong. I'm a doer, I guess. Oh, boy. I guess I just wanted to help.

I was in reaction mode. I wanted to get her to the hospital. He told the jury that there's no security camera footage from the day that he died. He said he believed his cats accidentally knocked the antennas off the window ledge while they were trying to find a warm spot to sit they said the colder it gets the cats go to heat and there's a heater right below the window and the sun comes up in the morning and they sit in the window also cats are assholes you know you know how it goes so they said about the internet searches what about that? Did you do those?

He said, no, I didn't do those. He said, I have no idea who looked that up. He said other family members use the iPad, including Amy. So he's saying maybe it was those people. He said occasionally others use the iPad. Amy had the password and used it for bills and price quotes and stuff. He said it was possible she might have used it for personal items as well. He denied doing searches regarding cheating spouses.

Also, there was a thing about searching for wedding dresses as well, which is very strange. And the defense attorney said, have you ever searched for wedding dresses? And he said, I've never searched for wedding dresses. And they said, did you ever do a Pinterest search? And he said, no. They said, do you know what a Pinterest search is? And he said, I don never searched for wedding dresses. And they said, did you ever do a Pinterest search? And he said, no. They said, do you know what a Pinterest search is?

And he said, I don't even know what Pinterest is. So there's that. They said, Todd, did you ambush your wife in that shed that day and brutally beat her and chop her up with a corn fork? And he says, no, I did not. Uh-oh. We don't like that. I like contractions, especially from farmer who's used a lot of contractions um they said do you know who did he said i have no idea so the prosecution said he did

it because he didn't want to lose his farm the state says there's no evidence that he did it somebody else did it but not him okay so defense says that his defense verdict seven and a half hours over two days is what the jury deliberates. Oh, boy. First-degree murder is on the table here. Yeah. They find him guilty of first-degree murder. Dude, that tape is so fucked.

That's a tough one, yeah. How do you get around that? That's what's tough. Sentencing you, sir, may fuck off life without parole that's first degree automatic go to hell you cheating whore uh yeah he said quote this is supposed to be america where you have a fair chance of proving your innocence i thought it was innocent until proven guilty i feel this was the other way around that's what todd says okay well i mean they they deemed you guilty and then they yeah yeah it's tough it's yeah 2020 the family of amy files a wrongful death suit against todd

okay yes they do they say that um they're looking for todd to they want him to reasonably compensate amy's parents and children the lawsuit was filed on behalf of her estate her mother and stepfather and the conservatorships of her three children so no specific dollar amount being sought there's just a whatever so the filing seems fit yeah they said that todd breached his duty of care to plaintiffs by stabbing amy lynn mullis to death good good argument that's something so amy's family is seeking funds. She would be reasonably would have expected to have accumulated as a result of her own effort.

Had she lived out the term of her natural life. So, um, 2022 Todd appeals. Okay. They said the state must prove all the following elements for murder in the first degree on the date in question, he committed

the act upon her that's number one that she died as a result of this act that he acted with malice uh a forethought and that the he acted willfully deliberately premeditatively and with a specific intent to kill amy okay he says he challenges the sufficiency of elements one, two, and four. So that he actually did it, that she died as a result of what he did, and that he did it with whatever. So there we go. The state contends Todd only

adequately preserved error as to the first, as to identity, to preserve error. Okay, that's a different thing. They're talking about how he never argued the fact that he never said that amy died of a tragic accident till his appeal oh he told the cops that at first then when he got his lawyer a lawyer said someone else murdered her look this the science says someone else murdered her there's no accident here yeah so now he's saying an accident and

they're saying well you didn't say that to begin with and he's saying well accident and they're saying, well, you didn't say that to begin with. And he's saying, well, that's what I wanted the trial attorney to do, but he did something else. So that's how they're doing this. They said reviewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the state. We conclude there was sufficient evidence to identify Todd as Amy's attacker, though not a required element to the to the offense. We recognize Todd had motive to kill Amy. to the offense, we recognize Todd had motive to kill Amy. Witnesses testified Amy was getting up the nerve to leave Todd, but Todd was staunchly against divorce because it would put his cherished farming operation at risk. So yeah, they say all of this. They said that the kid could not say how long Todd was out of his sight. The two youngest children were inside. Both kid one and Todd

testified that no one else was on the farm that day and todd never heard anyone drive onto their property so there are no other potential assailants he didn't even say i did hear a car around 10 no i was there and nobody else yeah he was like it was just us so someone must have and then the lawyer he put himself in an accident it must have been an accident that's all the that's like the interrogation he gave and the lawyer said oh no it's this so now it's he's they have both sides of his story which doesn't the lawyer was like no dude we know more and and what you said just if if what you said happened then you're a murderer so we have to say that it's sad it's

exactly it's yeah so they said the conclusion is the court applied the correct standard and independently weighed the evidence and from our review of the evidence we believe it was not impossible for time to todd to commit the crime as he claims rather we find the greater weight of credible evidence established as todd was vengeful over amy's infidelity he researched how to kill his wife on the internet he planned her murder to avoid losing his farm in a divorce and took advantage of the opportunity when his weakened wife went to the shed, uh,

where he stored a corn rake. He slipped out of the barn, assaulted Amy and paled her at least twice with the corn rake and returned without being noticed by his son who was busy cleaning ceiling lights. He later sent his son to find Amy and we can call credible. Yeah. Go check on your mom. The incredible, the incredible evidence

in this favors his guilt. So the conclusion is it's affirmed. April of 2023, and this is still going on right now, he wants a new trial. Really? Yeah, he argues in a request for a new trial that there exists evidence of material facts

not previously presented and heard that requires vacation of the conviction. So if he's got new evidence, that's the only way he can appeal here. And I'd love to hear it. That's what I mean. We're open to hearing evidence. Evidence is great. There isn't a whole lot of evidence.

So if there's any more. The way this sits right now, there's a really damning tape. You said she's dead. Nobody else is there. the evidence shows she was murdered you're a murderer with that evidence and that tape fucking confirms it that confirms it but he says that's not what he was saying he says that's just your interpretation which i don't know you're doing cpr doing things that sound like go to hell cheating whores i really i don't know what sounds like that one two three four

those are the only things that you're supposed to be yeah you know yeah you count chest chest compression sound like go to hell cheating whore go to hell maybe there's a rhythm to go to hell cheating whore that's one two three four maybe that's i don't know i'm not a i don't know anything about medical anything so he states he wants to argue that amy's death was an accident not a homicide and it's something his counsel did not do and so that's going through right now who knows what will happen but there's a lot of people that believe in todd's cause really a lot there is a change.org petition a free todd mullis wrongfully convicted uh there's also a um a couple of websites that are todd mullis is innocent.com free Todd Mullis.com.

They said Todd did not murder his wife. He's a hard worker, a loving and faithful husband and father who became a victim of bad policing, shoddy investigation, and even worse, an overzealous prosecutor and law enforcement agents thirsty for convictions in order to further their career ambitions of becoming a judge and a sheriff. The justice system failed Todd horribly.

And as our country's founding fathers once said, it's better that a hundred guilty persons go free than that one innocent suffer. They said the evidence was not along the lines of what was just heard. The attorneys failed to effectively represent Todd and advocate for him and his rights. And cause this was the opening. They say this in the Change.org petition.

This is his attorney. Quote, good morning, folks. I agree with some of what the state has just mentioned to you in the opening. The evidence is much along the lines of what you just heard. So they're saying that means that he was agreeing with stuff that Todd doesn't agree with. So there's also a Facebook group called Todd Mullis is innocent that has two point seven thousand followers. Wow. So there is a large this isn't a small thing. This isn't small. And we have no fucking ideas.

Don't fucking yell at us. We're telling you what's out there, what is public and what's presented. I don't know if he killed her. I don't know if he didn't kill her. I don't I don't know. I have no idea. All I'm going to do is go listen to a tape right now. Yeah, let's let the courts sort that out. Yeah. So they're trying to do that. They say about the Facebook group that there's no physical evidence and nothing proving that Todd committed this murder.

Todd had a terrible defense team, did not receive a fair trial. He recently had a hearing to attempt to get a new trial. The judge denied the motion and sentenced Todd to life in prison, no possibility of parole. This is a group to support Todd and fight new trial. The judge denied the motion and sentenced Todd to life in prison, no possibility of parole. This is a group to support Todd and fight for his freedom. So, who knows? We'll see what happens. Either way, Amy, there's no recourse for her.

And this is tough. So, there you go, everybody. Whether you think Todd's innocent, guilty, we don't know. We're not there and we're not on a jury. So, we didn't hear all the evidence. We can tell you what the jury and the judge says and that's it and we have no goddamn idea talk about it amongst yourselves see how it goes and do all of that and you know where you can talk about that yeah you can talk about it on all the social media sites and you can follow us on social media very easily here at what is it small town murder on Instagram and Facebook, Instagram and threads,

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