Snapped: Women Who Murder - Cynthia Mueller

Episode Date: December 6, 2020

When medical examiners determine that a terminally ill Arizona man may have not died from natural causes as his family previously thought, a homicide investigation begins to unravel the truth.Season 24, Episode 12Originally aired: November 11, 2018See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wonder East Podcast American Scandal. Our newest series looks at the story of OxyContin, a popular painkiller that helps spur an epidemic of addiction and drug abuse, in which prompted a broad campaign to hold the pharmaceutical industry accountable. Listen to American Scandal on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. For this Arizona couple, happiness meant having it all. He was very smart with money. The super-super nice house, like a five-carter-rage, For this Arizona couple, happiness meant having it all. He was very smart with money.

The super-super nice house, like a five-car garage. Two stories. But a devastating diagnosis would turn their world upside down. He had been diagnosed with early ALS. Imagine having a brain that is exactly the same, but a body that is completely failing you. He, uh, when it's sleep-up brain. Is this really the heartbreaking story of a life and love cut short?

Or does the true tragedy go beyond what meets the eye? Oh, okay, there's nothing to tell me to do. She's like this crazy guy's trying to kill us. This man either is nuts, or they have stumbled upon a major crime. We found with Android notes about sexual preferences men had and different intimate details. The lonely widow, before she actually was widow. It's scared. It was just scared. Hi. My name is Sarah. I'm a professional. I'm a professional.

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I'm a professional. I'm a professional. I'm a professional. I'm a professional. I'm a professional. I'm a professional. I'm a professional. I'm a professional. 12, Prescott, Arizona. Just before noon, a call comes in to the Prescott Police Department's non-emergency line. Hi, my name is Angel Pachers, and I'm a caregiver for an elderly man. And he has, when it's sleep-up, right?

19-year-old Angel tells the operator that his patient, David Mueller, suffered from the terminal illness ALS. I'll be here. And if I have one to see, you're 52. You had all the scariest disease. Is there someone who's deceased? Please well respond.

Even if it's a hospice, please will respond just to ensure that there's nothing suspicious that took place. Around 11.45, patrol officers and paramedics arrive at the upscale Mueller residence. Angel directs them to the master bedroom where they find David lying in bed. They find David unresponsive and cold to the touch

in the bed. They would check the patients if there's any chance of, um, you know, bringing them back and bare certain was that he was gone. At David's bedside is his wife, 48-year-old Cynthia Mueller. She is visibly distraught. When the authority showed up, Cynthia was still on the floor bawling.

She was speaking in like this belief, can't believe this happened. Another caregiver, 61-year-old Chuck Todd, attempts to console her. He was laying there peacefully. There was no blood, no sign of a struggle. There was no sign of any. He looked like he was well cared for.

He's face up, he was clean. It just looked like a natural passing. But could something evil be at the root of David's death? For many years, David Mueller and his wife, Cynthia, enjoyed a comfortable life together in their sprawling, presky at home. For Cynthia, this luxurious lifestyle was a far cry from her humble upbringing. Your father is in the military.

They're moving around all of the time, so she's been ripped in and out of schools. A lot of what happened with her early on in life is going to make her very independent person very driven to make sure that she finds her own success. When it came time for college, Cynthia enrolled at Arizona State University in Tempe, majoring in public programming. No longer being shuttled from one military base to the next, Cynthia became a social butterfly.

Her good looks didn't hurt either. She was tall, she was pretty, very outgoing. Cynthia, an attractive woman, definitely an extrovert, didn't have any problem in social settings. As the years passed, Cynthia seemed to always have a boyfriend by her side. It wasn't until 1999 at the age of 35 that Cynthia met the man who would become her husband.

Cynthia's was working for APS. It was at APS that Cynthia met an engineer, David Mueller, who they struck up a friendship. 38-year-old David was a brainy engineer who'd landed in Phoenix after growing up in Michigan. David was driven. He and his dad would sit there and have, you know, technical conversation.

He was very intelligent. We wanted to go to Med School, but he switched to civil engineering, which made a lot more sense to me. He wasn't a social guy. He dated occasionally when he was in college and stuff, but I never saw too much interest in that. For Cynthia, a woman who was used to having men

fawn over her, David was different and also a challenge. She saw this guy and was very interested in him and had to pursue him. He wasn't interested at first and had to convince him to go out with her. But after their first date, David fell hard for Cynthia. David was approaching 40. I think he thought he would never be married. And he would never have kids.

All of a sudden, he saw a future that he didn't think would ever happen. Just a few months after they started dating, David proposed. Cynthia said yes. The two were happier than they'd ever been. Their bosses, however, were not. APS had a no-dating fellow employees' role,

and it came out that they were dating, and they broke the rules. David got demoted back to subcontractor, and Cynthia, I believe, got let go. A few months later, David accepted a job as a contractor at the Palo Verde nuclear plant in Tonapa, Arizona. The pay was extremely good, so good that Cynthia no longer needed to work.

Instead, she spent her newfound free time planning the wedding of her dreams. It was like a whirlwind relationship. I don't even think it was six months from the time they met to the time they were walking down the aisle. It was that fast. After tying the knot,

Cynthia and David began building the family they had both longed for, adding a daughter, and five years later, a son. They purchased a home in Prescott to provide a safe environment for their children. It was a house, I'm kind of like the house, Gritzelstown, like kind of in the forest where the mountains are. It was a super, super nice house.

Thanks to some wise financial planning, the house was something David could easily afford. We knew how to take care of his money, too. And he wasn't going to spend it frivolously. He tried to give her what she wanted. This is the American dream, right? We have Cynthia staying at home, raising her children, becoming very active in her community. She and David are very active in their church.

Then, in 2009, David began experiencing some unusual health problems. All of a sudden, David starts having numbness in his limbs. He could not do things with his hands that he used to be able to do. He would be walking and stumbling for no reason. They didn't know what was going on. David's doctor delivered a diagnosis that blindsided the couple. We went to the doctor and he had been diagnosed with early ALS.

ALS or Lou Gehrie's disease. Imagine having a brain that is exactly the same as it was before your diagnosis, but a body that is completely failing you. The disease progressed quickly. By 2010, David was wheelchair-bound and unable to work. Cynthia stepped up to the plate. She needs to find a job that gives her the flexibility.

And she's able to do that with real estate. In fact, she starts flipping properties and press kit and is able to keep everything in copicet and keep the family going. But as David's disease continued to progress, it became clear to Cynthia that she needed help. She hired a nanny to help with the kids, and in the summer of 2012, she hired 18-year-old Angel Batrez Estrada

as David's in-home caregiver. My first man, David, at Chranic Gate, and which is a care facility after a good month or two, he asked me to go and do private care at the end of his house. We'd get him up in the morning, take him to the bathroom, toilet him and everything, and they had a power chair that he rode around in.

And he just basically showed him that all day. Then, in November, Cynthia's father offered to send help in the form of a fellow veteran and family friend, Chuck Todd. 61-year-old Chuck was looking for a change of scenery after a failed marriage. Chuck Todd was a stillbird from Washington State. He had medical issues in the past, so it apparently was better for his condition

to be an enwarmer weather at that time. Chuck proposed that, in exchange for a bed in Cynthia and David's basement, apparently was better for his condition to be an in warmer weather at that time. Chuck proposed that in exchange for a bed in Cynthia and David's basement, he would care for David at night, for free. Cynthia jumped at the offer. He came down this cool little convertible car and brought everyone presents, everyone's happy to see him. With a nanny, Chuck, and Angel on board,

Cynthia felt the situation was finally under control. She did what she could, you know, in a tough situation. She hung in there. Their luck had finally seemed to change, which makes David's passing on November 16, 2012, all the more difficult to fathom. Cynthia continues to be exactly as you would expect a heartbroken wife to be knowing that her husband has just passed away. Me and Chuck Katto kind of restrained her

and pull her out of the room, where she once again fell on the floor and just falling. While the scene appears to be the end of a heartbreaking chapter in Cynthia's life, investigators will soon learn that there may be more to David's death than meets the eye. Coming up, officers on the scene hit a roadblock. They refuse to sign off on that desert advocate.

And an unusual situation becomes even more bizarre. She's like this crazy guy trying to kill us. Police in Prescott, Arizona are gathering information in the deaths of 52-year-old David Mueller, who suffered from ALS. David's caregiver of four months, Angel Estrada, tells police that he was in disbelief to discover that David had passed. Everything that he needed, I had to take care of.

I became friends with him. I had learned to demand life. Like, I knew his beliefs. I had to take care of. I became friends with him. I had learned to the man's life. Like, I knew his beliefs. I knew how he thought. Everything. It's like, you just see a friend pass away. Angel says that just before noon on November 16, he found David unresponsive in his bed.

He was back there just checking on him. That's when he found out that Mr. Mueller was deceased and turned call the Prescott Police Department. Authorities thought that this was the natural progression of ALS and Lugerred's disease. They thought that he had finally succumbed to his disease. Following protocol, the responding officers notified David's physician of his passing and request that he signed the death certificate.

However, David's doctor is surprised to learn that David is deceased. David's doctor believed that David, while very sick, was not an immediate peril, he did not believe that David was going to pass away from his disease any time soon. Better refuse to sign off on that test certificate. He said David Mueller was not in the terminal stages of his disease, and therefore he did not think he should have died from ALS.

With that, patrol officers have no choice but to call in detectives. In everything in the scene, Luke consistent with someone who had passed away of natural causes as David Mueller was found. Lovidity was present with his body, consistent with the way he was lying, indicating he hadn't been moved.

Detectives want to talk to the three people who were present when officers first arrived, caretakers Angel Estrada and Chok Todd, as well as David's wife, Cynthia. However, it appears Cynthia is still in no condition to speak to police. At that time, Miss Mueller was reported to us being distraught,

to distraught to really talk. There really was not a lot of information that we received from Cynthia Mueller. As far as details go, the patrol officer did speak with her briefly, but there wasn't a lot of information related to us. Instead, detectives turn to Chuck Todd and Angel Estrada. Angel explains that he is a professional caregiver

who works full-time for the Mueller's. Chuck tells them he is also a caregiver of sorts. Asked him to expand on his relationship to the family and it was just a, quote, long time family friend, unquote. And he advised me basically that he was there helping out the family with Mr. Muleer. Police ask Angel and Chuck to pace them through the events prior to David's death.

David usually reached up around 9.39.45. But that morning, with David still asleep at 11 a.m., Angel became concerned. So I go over there and I start climbing David's name. Just to try to wake him up, I tap on his foot, which was exposed out of the blanket. And once I do, I feel that his foot's cold. I go for either of his leg, or onto his shin,

and I tap him on the tube, and it's cold too. Angel says that at that point, he called out for Chuck. He comes in and says, hey, what are you doing? And I'm like, I even passed away. Angel and Chuck tell detectives that, at the time, Cynthia was out running errands. Cynthia is not actually home when the caregiver discovers David in the bed.

In fact, she had just dropped off the nan of your college. I claw the police department. I tell Chuck to call Cynthia and tell her what's happened. We tell her that she needs to come home. It's an emergency. And at first, she resisted. She said, once tonight, what's going on? Refuses to come home until you tell her what's happened. We tell her that she needs to come home. It's an emergency. And at first, she resisted. She said, once tonight, what's going on? Refuses to come home until we tell her.

So we just tell her that he hits something that needs to be addressed while we're here. According to Angel, Cynthia arrived just minutes ahead of the first responders. She gets home. And she walks in. And that's when Chuck kind of grabs her by the shoulder and tells her that David has passed away

and sleep. She went over and started beating on his chest, trying to give him CPR, slapping him on the face, and wake up, wake up. She has this look of disbelief on her face, and just kind of throws herself to the ground, just bawling. Detectives ask the two when was the last time they saw David alive.

Chuck says he heard David around 2 a.m. He apparently would snore and people could hear him in there. Both Chuck and Angel appear to be telling the truth. There didn't appear to be a whole lot of information or suspicious activity that would have let us believe a crime occurred. They were not going to do an autopsy based on the fact that me had a terminal illness, and that was the likely cause

of death. With no autopsy slated to be performed, David's remains are turned over to the family, who informed detectives that David had left specific instructions regarding his body. David Mueller's wishes had been that he goes to a medical research facility. On November 16, David's body is released to a facility in Phoenix.

Over the next few days, his loved ones struggled to come to terms with the news of his death. We were sad, especially sad, because he was not going to get to see his kids grow up. What's not unexpected took him way too young, but, you know, unfortunately bad things happen to good people. And it happened to him. As David's family is mourning his passing, a bizarre sequence of events is about to unfold. It starts on the morning of November 24th,

eight days after David's death, and almost 200 miles away. In Henderson, Nevada, a woman suddenly calls 911, saying that she is being stalked and harassed by a man. In fact, she's driving at the time on the phone with police and telling them that that man is being stalked and harassed by a man. In fact, she's driving at the time on the phone with police and telling them that that man is following her and at times pulls up alongside her. And you can hear them yelling at each other back and forth

as they're going down the road. As the caller tries to distance herself from her pursuer, she identifies herself to the operator. Her name is Cynthia J. U.R. As for the man following her, Cynthia identifies him too. She looks over and she's checked hard driving next to her. They're speeding. They're going down.

She's trying to get away. Todd's trying to run him off the road. Cynthia tells the operator her kids are in the car. And as she narrates the events as they are unfolding, it's clear to the operator that Cynthia fears for their lives. She pulls off into this gas station, alerted the patrons there. That's crazy guys trying to kill us.

Coming up, police in Henderson attempted to fuse a terrifying situation and quickly learn there's something even more troubling to come. He said, oh, you want to know what's really going on. He was extorting and said, if you don't do this, I'm going to do that. And the mystery around David's death deepens. I mean, why do you think you even chucked it? Because he loves me, he told me. Whatever your plans this summer, podcasts will make them better.

Long road trip? Lose yourself in the season of morbid. While laxing up the beach? Have a good laugh with SmartList. And right now is the perfect time to discover the summer of podcasts with two months free of Wondery Plus. With Wondery Plus, you get early and ad free access to your favorite podcasts. You can also listen to our entire library of award-winning, binge-wraiting shows. That's thousands of hours of captivating content in any genre you like, from true crime to business, comedy sports, history, and even podcasts for the whole family.

With Wendry Plus, you also get access to special live events found nowhere else, as well as discounts in the Wendry shop. Don't let the summer of podcasts pass you by. Right now, new subscribers can enjoy two months free of Wendry Plus. Visit Wendry.com or download the Wondery app to get started. Detectives in Prescott, Arizona have concluded that 52-year-old David Mueller died of natural causes inside his Arizona home. natural causes inside his Arizona home. Then, one week later, police 200 miles away

in Henderson, Nevada get a call from David's distraught widow, Cynthia Mueller. Cynthia claims that one of David's caregivers, Chuck Todd, is trying to run her off the road. She pulls into this gas station in Henderson, and Todd quickly pulls in afterwards and cops come. They release Cynthia and then they arrest Todd. Henderson police take Chuck to the station for questioning.

Within the hour, detectives in Prescott receive a game-changing call. It was a Saturday morning. And I got a telephone call from the Anderson Police Department saying that they had an subject in custody. They identified as Chuck Dodd. I ended up speaking with a detective about what it occurred specifically Chuck Stamon on what he had

told the Anderson Police Department. When police asked what brought Chuck and Cynthia to Henderson, Chuck explains that after Cynthia's husband died, she sought the best way to help her children cope with their loss was to take a little vacation. They go up to this RV park where Chukta is and they're doing stuff with the kids, they're taking him to the water park.

But Chuk says that while they were at the RV park, he and Cynthia got into a bit of a squabble. She and Chukta got into an argument since she picked up the stuff and left. Chuck claims that he never tried to follow her and had coincidentally crossed paths with her on his way to the gas station. He says that he had just so happened

to see them driving on the road and that ended up falling her when she parked over to gas station, he parks over there. Chuck insists the whole thing was one big misunderstanding. But according to the detective, it was clear that Chuck was getting more irritated by the minute. He was getting more and more agitated. At the time, he blurred it out something in anger.

He said something to the effect of, oh, you want to know what's really going on. She and I just committed a murder and pressed it. They realized that this man either is nuts, or they have stumbled upon a major crime. We're a little bit skeptical. It just by nature of doing the job. But when somebody's making an accusation,

like Mr. Todd made, you have to take it serious, and you have to follow it through. Is it possible that the murder he is confessing to is David Mueller's? If they want to answer that question, there's one thing detectives must do first. We were scrambling at that point to locate David Mueller's body.

Detectives reach out to David's physician, who puts them in touch with the research facility in Phoenix where the body was sent. But the facility explains that David's remains are no longer there. It was determined that he had a condition that wouldn't allow them to do research on his body. So based on that, they had sent him to a crematory in Phoenix. It was scheduled for cremation that day. We had to high-tail it down there and get the body secured.

The entire unit basically scrambling at that point. On November 24th, the body is secured and transported back to the Yavapai County Medical Examiner's Office. But one question remains, did Cynthia conspire with Chuck in order to murder David? Or was Chuck lying in order to cover his own true motives? Detectives believe there's one way to find out. We attempted a Roost telephone call with her from the Medical Research Facility.

I'm in charge of the dissemination of the body parts and organs of tissue. And I was doing the preliminary checks on your late husband and some of the stuff. It's not, it's not Edna. During this call, the detective who's posing as one of these people at the medical research facility said that he had seen David's body

and appeared, he didn't pass naturally and it appeared to be a murder. Posing as the researcher, the detective tells Cynthia that he believes she's the one who murdered David. And if she doesn't pay him some hush money, he's going to the cops. You need to do something for me in return. We can have this whole thing cleared up tonight. I would only need to come see an audience.

She didn't play ball. She just essentially acted very confused and hung up. Is Cynthia telling the truth? Shortly after the phone call, a judge signs off on a warrant to search the Mueller residence. When detectives arrive, Cynthia immediately tells them about the call. She said something in the effect of, I got the weirdest phone call with the presumption

that she was referring to the room's phone call. While CSI scour the home for signs of foul play, detectives escort Cynthia to the station. We were contacted by homicide investigator down there at Phoenix, who's contacted by that biological services, and they did see evidence consistent with investigation. I'd like to ask you what's going on and you go from there, you know.

Okay, here's what anything happened, James. Instead of talking about David's death, Cynthia steers the conversation toward Chuck Todd. It turns out Cynthia had met Chuck at the very RV park she had just left, long before Chuck moved in to care for her husband. This is where Chuck taught, and he was a married man. Any is a marine, and he's like my dad's age.

Cynthia claims she thought Chuck was nice, but over the next several months she didn't think much more about him. That is, until her father suggested that Chuck move in to help her care for David. Cynthia was thrilled to have the help, but once Chuck arrived, she could tell he had other ideas. He kept coming onto me a lot there, and I think he had moved it himself, that we were going to be a couple or something. According to Cynthia, she said that he had a romantic interest in her, but she didn't have one in him. Is it possible Chuck Kill David,

in order to have Cynthia all to himself? Detectives posed that question to Cynthia, but getting a clear cut answer from her proves tricky. Our interview was very non-linear. It was very difficult to keep her on focus when I was interviewing her. Then, two hours into the interview, Cynthia doesn't abrupt about face.

She says, you know what, I heard Chuck Todd say, he strangled or murdered someone. He said he strangled somebody. Yeah, and I think he said he strangled David. I mean, why do you think he rejected it? Because he abounced me and told me. Justice Cynthia dropped to this bombshell. She immediately ends the interview.

And she stands up in the interview room saying she wants to leave. Based on that, she's as if her rights are determined at the interview, saying she wants to leave. Based on that, she's bezz of a rights-terminate the interview, so we recisted. There's no physical evidence. Nobody's admitting to it, other than Mr. Todd, but she's not admitting to it. See, there Chuck's lying, David died of natural causes

or Chuck murdered David. Now he's trying to drag Cynthia into it or he's telling the truth and they both committed the murders. We had to determine which scenario took place. On the morning of November 25th, the Yavapai County Medical Examiner's office begins its examination of David Mueller's body. The body had arrived and they were ready to do the autopsy, which I believe is about eight that morning. I shot over there and assisted me.

What was relayed to me, I couldn't believe it. It was just, it was crazy. You have the M-EATs saying, I may not be able to tell you exactly what killed David Mueller, but I can tell you what didn't. ALS did not kill him. Coming up, Taudrey knew allegations raised even more questions about Cynthia's statement. They begin this rather salacious affair. The End. The End. The End. The End. The End.

The End. The End. The End. Investigators in Prescott, Arizona are working to unravel the true story behind 52-year-old David Mueller's death. Not only is Chuck Todd confessing to murdering David Mueller, but he's actually saying that he had help. Police weren't sure if he was telling the truth,

or if David's wife, Cynthia, was also involved as Chuck Todd claimed. Investigators hope the coroner will be able to clearly identify David's cause of death. Unfortunately, that isn't the case. Essentially, he was searching all obvious causes of death. Unfortunately, that isn't the case. Essentially, he was searching all obvious causes of death in the human body and found none. While David's cause of death is inconclusive, the medical examiner does feel certain about one thing.

The medical examiner said he did not die from ALS. Prescott detectives pay a visit to Henderson Nevada, where Chuck Todd is being held. The detective is creating Chuck Todd in. And the first thing he says is, hey, guys, I made the whole thing up. You know, I was just trying to get even with that lady. According to Chuck, he made the whole murder story up to exact revenge on Cynthia for ending their love affair.

An affair, Chuck claims, began six months earlier when he met Cynthia at the RV park in nearby Boulder City. Cynthia was up there visiting her father, and at that point, somehow, they were introduced to each other. According to Charles Todd, that's where they first began this rather salacious affair. Chuck says that over the next six months, Cynthia often left her husband David in the care of Angel

Astrada and would slip away to have sex with Chuck. Chuck also claims that just a couple weeks before David's death, Cynthia, not her father, asked him to move in with her. She finds a use form back here in Prescott. Under the assumption that he's coming here to help her and help her take care of her husband. But Chuck says that when David died, Cynthia's passion toward him quickly began to cool, and at the RV park in Boulder City, Cynthia dumped him.

For her to say, I don't need you anymore. And that really hit him to the core. According to Chuck, he was so angry and heartbroken that he decided to make the false claim that Cynthia had conspired with him to murder her ailing husband. He might be trying to say that she did things that she didn't because he is heartbroken and doesn't have anything left to lose. Detectives aren't buying it.

By initial response to him is like, hey, sorry Chuck, it's too late. Can't play that game anymore. He said, okay, fine. You know, I did it. Let's just get this thing over with. And then he started going into a couple of hours interview and telling us what occurred. Chuck tells them that on the night of November 15th, Cynthia brought up an unexpected topic, how to kill her husband. When they were out in the garage drinking wine and smoking cigarettes, she said, hey, he's going to die anyways.

You know, what do you think we can do to make it quicker? And he said he'd seen a movie or something where somebody did the plastic bag and the pillow so we kind of threw that out there. Chuck tells police he didn't think much else of it until they went into David's room around 2am to check on him. He said that he walked in the room with her and she pulls out a plastic bag.

They took a plastic bag and they wrapped it around David Mueller's head and then pressed the pillow over his face. Chuck Dodd said he had it restrained David's right arm, while Cynthia actually smiled at him with the pillow. He put up a fight he refused to die, and he actually physically resisted. After that, they put the pillow back, removed the plastic bag, left the room.

He said Cynthia told him, this is going to be the best relationship of your life. And he was under the impression there was a lot of money coming his way. They had a nice home, and there was going to be a lot of benefit to him coming down the road. Chuck tells detectives that a few days later, after David's body was delivered to the research facility, he and Cynthia took her children to the RV park in Boulder City. Chuck thought they'd be celebrating their six-month anniversary

and the fact that they could now openly be together. But Cynthia had other plans. I don't even think it was a week after her husband died that she cut him off completely. She told him she didn't need him anymore. He was so upset with her that he implicated himself. With Chuck Todd's third and most salacious statement now in tow, detectives aren't sure what's fact and what's fiction.

Just because Mr. Todd says that this is what happened, we have to know for a fact beyond a reasonable doubt that this is what happened and this is who did it. However, Chuck's statement does give them enough ammunition to place him under arrest and charge him with first degree murder. Unfortunately, detectives will need more concrete evidence before they can charge Cynthia with any crime. So, they decide to reach out to David's primary caregiver, Angel Estrada,

and his helper, Juan Navarez. He said originally he was an assistant living facility where David was staying. He had at least a several month relationship with David. He became like a best friend to me. The two men tell detectives that they could tell the Mueller's marriage was toxic from the moment they began caring for David. I observed some good times, but it was quickly overshadowed

by all the tension and all the arguments between Cynthia and David. There were disagreements over money and what was to be done was certain money that they had had. They were very, very bitter with each other. They were always arguing. And it was just, just ugly. According to Angel in one, the situation was so bad

that David had expressed fear for his life. David told me more than once that he was afraid. He said they're trying to kill me in this house. Just came out of nowhere, so it freaked me out, too, but he was having these type of feelings for a while. They believed that he was trying to poison him. He goes into a state of, for he's delirious almost. He thinks that people are out to kill him.

He would have days where he was completely fine, or other days where he was just completely lost. And so at the time, I didn't think about it until later on, but that was the first indication. Angel and Juan tell detectives that David was so convinced Cynthia was trying to kill him that in March 2012, David took matters into his own hands. Cynthia and her children went out to visit her father

in Boulder City, and at that time, David was able to transfer from the residents to an assisted living facility. And it was reported that Cynthia got back, that she was very angry. Juan says that Cynthia quickly moved David back into the family home, and that David was more fearful than ever. David was scared by that point, and he was just scared.

However, Angel tells detectives that when Chuck Todd showed up, the mood around the Mueller home lightened, at least for Cynthia. I need to know that anything was actually going on, but I do know that the open sexuality between Chuck and Cynthia was kind of, in my opinion, crossing the boundaries.

That wasn't the only time Cynthia's behavior made Angel uncomfortable. He said, approximately a couple weeks prior to David's murder, he was sitting there talking to Cynthia, since she was me using her loud. If you were to murder someone, how would you do it? I was like, wait, what? Yeah, if you were to murder someone, how would you do it?

And get away with it. And I just kind of sat there. She came back with, and I think kind of in a light hearted tone, you know, what about smothering them? Looking back at it now, they're just all huge red flags. After speaking to David's caregivers, detectives are certain Cynthia Mueller was the mastermind behind her husband's murder. I think there was a very clear linear pattern of behavior leading to David's murder.

That showed preparation, showed planning, showed knowledge and foresight that she was going to kill David Mueller and enlisted the help of Chuck Dott to do it. Coming up, detectives hone in on their suspect and look for her weak spot. They choose very angry. The David was accessing that money. But as the investigation around her titans, a new witness threatens to derail the entire case.

Somebody actually slept with her that night. Prescott Arizona 2013. Authorities believe 48-year-old Cynthia Mueller and her alleged lover, 61-year-old Chuck Todd, conspired to murder Cynthia's terminally ill husband, David. She became extremely angry when she got the first bill for the system-loving facility. So if there was a cataclysmic event that really started to downspiral, they have been it right there. Detectives decide to take a closer look at the couple's finances. It turns out the Mueller's weren't quite as well off as they appeared.

They were having difficulties financially. They were already behind on their mortgage. They were behind on all kinds of different bills, credit cards, those kind of things. In fact, the family's primary source of income was the proceeds from David's life insurance policy. He had a life insurance policy that he was able to draw off because he was terminal.

The original life insurance policy was 400,000. They chose to take 200,000 out, where he secured a bank account with only his information on it because he wanted to go to his care and not allow him to send the access to it. The longer he was alive, the more money that was being spent from his insurance. Daily, she was losing money.

Then, detectives finally catch the break they've been looking for. She starts to learn all kinds of different things. When you have access to an email, some things showed up when we were doing searches on Miss Mueller. She has signed up to all of these dating sites and is going on dates with men

and telling them that her husband is already dead. The image she was projecting was the lonely widow. It had been a long illness and that she was sad. She was researching Dr. Jack Vorkian, Euthanasia, Death of the Fingulty, and found a keyword searcher on her computer. Detectives now believe they have enough evidence to arrest Cynthia Mueller for the murder of her husband.

And on April 4, 2013, they make their move. My advisor, she was under the rest for the murder of David Mueller, and I think she said you're kidding me. Cynthia Mueller was ultimately charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy commit first-degree murder, fraud schemes, felony theft, and a misuse power of attorney. When I found out that Cynthia was arrested,

it really, it was devastating for me, just because of the kids. In May 2015, Cynthia's trial gets underway inside a Yavapai County Arizona courtroom. The state's theory was that Cynthia's motive for taking David's life was monetary. The state parades all of these witnesses in. They build a fairly substantial but solid case of the mindset of Cynthia.

But the biggest witness for the state is Chakhtad. Chakhtad was a crucial witness for our case. I mean, he was able to say exactly what happened in that room and all the external facts supported what he said. Cynthia's defense team pushes back on the state's assertions and claims that if anyone had a motive to kill David Mueller, it's the man now sitting on the witness stand. Todd's the jilted lover in his mind anyway,

and Cynthia denies that that had happened in that fashion. She denies it she ever had an affair with her. They are trying to paint Chuck Todd as a stalker, as an obsessed man, who wanted to have a relationship with Cynthia and for whatever reason she was refusing him, and he had an extra grind, and he was gonna bring her down with it. The defense then calls their own sensational witness,

Natasha, the former nanny to the Mueller children. down with it. The defense then calls their own sensational witness, Natasha, the former nanny to the Mueller children. Natasha claims she was in the Mueller home the night of the alleged murder and tells the court her version of what happened that night. Todd and Cynthia are out in the garage, smoking, drinking wine. Cynthia becomes extremely drunk, according to Natasha.

Cynthia is so intoxicated at that point in time that she literally falls down in the hallway. That Natasha has to help her up and physically put her in bed. According to Natasha, she and Cynthia stayed in Cynthia's bed all night. Natasha actually slept with her that night, so our theory was at least based upon what Natasha had to say. Todd clearly does this on his own, thinking that he is going to, you know, gain Cynthia's love by doing this. But prosecutors don't believe that ever happened, and in their closing arguments,

they remind jurors of Chuck Todd's testimony just days earlier. According to Todd, Natasha's asleep. And that together, they go into David's room and take a pillow and Chuck Todd, physically, smothers David. With so many different versions of events, when the jury begins its deliberations, a guilty verdict seems far from a sure thing.

You don't have any physical evidence in this case. You just have one man's confession dragging another woman into a crime. On June 11, the jury announces they have into a crime. On June 11th, the jury announces they have reached a decision. They convicted her of every single thing that she was accused of, and gave her the strongest sentence

that she could have possibly received. She's now serving a life sentence. Her conviction was sweet and it was peace and justice for David. I felt relief and I felt like justice was served. This seemed like a particularly anuscrime. I can't even begin to fathom the horror that David Mieler went through in the weeks

months leading up to his murder. For more information on snapped, go to oxygen.com. You