Beloved Daughter's Suspicious Death Leaves Family Devastated | The New Detectives | Real Responders

A St Louis teacher collapses in front of her class, her organs shutting down and her students panicking. Frantic doctors scramble to discover the source of her mysterious condition, but science makes a shocking revelation. What was once thought to be a disease is now believed to be a crime. in Columbus Ohio a woman is found shot in the head the

death

is ruled a suicide but something is not right and the

detectives

refuse to let the matter rest to find answers the investigators must decipher a pattern unraveling the mystery that leads to the murder the Meticulous work of forensic experts can often find even the smallest traces left by a killer and put an end to his murderous attraction in this episode.

Some of the names have been changed. September 26, 1993 St Louis Missouri Donna Bley, seventh grade math teacher and mother of two teenage children, was In the middle of her lesson, she had not felt well all summer, but she thought it was just the flu and Kenneth, Let's move on to the number. She hoped it would pass once the school year started. You do it first, but it wasn't like that. Because? She got worse, wait for one, he collapsed in front of her class, are you okay, what should I do? The alarmed students called the principal she was teaching.

Paramedics arrived to find Donna struggling to breathe. They had no idea what was wrong with her or why. she collapsed The doctors tried to stabilize her but her body was shutting down she was losing consciousness Donna was fighting for her life in the emergency room the doctors fought to save her but it wasn't enough even with their best efforts Don was still fighting she was now paralyzed with no feeling in her arms and legs, she was immediately put on a ventilator to help her breathe, intensive care specialist Dr. Gregory Becker, we had no idea what was wrong with her.

She had non-specific symptoms, she developed numbness. the lower extremities uh confusion uh I was sure her oxygen levels were dropping and she seemed to be having difficulty breathing we were uh uh

real

ly baffled with what was going on Jim boy Donna's husband rushed to see his wife, the doctors Those who treated him assured him that we were doing everything possible but the prognosis was not good. Donna was in critical condition. Jim told the doctors. Donna had felt sick but she had never been this bad. Donna was in cardiac arrest. Doctors desperately tried to get her heart beating again.

Okay, let's do it. again turn up the highest SES, here we go and clear up 1, two, three, she had a variety of symptoms that we couldn't classify into a single diagnosis, the doctors stabilized Donna and took her to the ICU, but they still had no idea what was it. causing Donna's symptoms when we get to a situation like this where a patient is getting sicker and sicker right in front of us okay uh a variety of tests but the test results didn't show anything. I'm going to have to go somewhere. Jim stayed next to his wife, so promise me you'll drink it all.

He brought her flower cards and her favorite smoothie. He did everything he could to care for her while the mysterious illness ravaged Donna's body. The search for a diagnosis continued. the entire battery of tests we did was a urinary heavy metal test when she came back um her urinary excretion of arsenic was skyhigh astronomically Donna's body was being poisoned sir the amount of arsenic in her system was 420 times the normal amount apparently she has RA Why were the levels so high and how did it get into her system? Are you worried about any kind of concern?

Others were exposed to arsenic. Doctors immediately informed Donna's

family

and also called the police. Jim Buy told doctors that he had no idea how this could have happened and he wanted a full police investigation. She was poisoned by some officers. He arrived at the hospital and interviewed the doctors, nurses and everyone who cared for Donna, but no one had seen anything like this before St. Louis County Police Detective Tony Grimel became the lead investigator on the case. I found out that at the hospital Donna's arsenic level was right at the lethal dose and that she was hesitant and possibly she could die since arsenic poisoning is rare.

Detective Grimmel needed to investigate the toxin. I determined as much as I could about arsenic and discovered that it is found in pesticides and herbicides and is also found in the environment in well water. Detective Grimel had hoped to speak to Donna in a statistical statement, but that would be impossible at this time. It wasn't just her. She was in critical condition but she was paralyzed from the neck down and couldn't speak, she couldn't communicate with Donna. The

detectives

would have to find her answers another way if they could call me. They actually asked the hospital staff to contact them if they showed up.

With any new information, nurses were stationed in Donna's room 24 hours a day to monitor her condition in color. Well, Detective Grimmel's next step was to determine if she was dealing with accidental exposure or something criminal. This is the first kind of arsenic case I've ever had. been involved in the questions we didn't have answers to is how did he get an internal system what type of arsenic was it where did it come from to find the answer the detective turned to an expert from St Louis County Medical Center In the examiner's office he met with Chief Toxicologist Dr.

Christopher Long. Arsenic symptoms are so common and typical like the flu or possibly food poisoning that most doctors tend to focus on that area to see if there is some type of biological reason why you have these symptoms. and they don't

real

ly consider arsenic or heavy metal poisoning, but arsenic poisoning is much worse than any flu: it attacks the body's red blood cells and devours them until the body completely shuts down. Everyone has arsenic in their system, but usually at low levels. There are no symptoms or problems, but the levels in Donna's system suggested something else due to the high levels that appeared to be administered by herself or someone else, although environmental factors such as a tampered water supply were not ruled out.

Investigators had to look at all possibilities, including attempted suicide or murder. Detectives visited Bly's home in hopes of developing leads. Investigators interviewed Donna's husband and her teenage children. Jim Bley said that Donna had no history of depression, never talked about taking her own life and never attempted suicide, but the

family

mentioned that Donna had problems with several students who were angry with her because of her grades. Jim also said that Donna had problems with a teacher who used to work with her and that Donna was an easy target, to give her a hard time, something like that.

I felt that since he had a glass of water on his desk at all times, anyone at school could have administered the poison to him by dropping it into his glass or mug on his desk while at home researchers were taking a sample from the family. Tap water was sent to the laboratory for analysis based on what the children said, they collected jars, jars and utensils. Detectives also collected household products and cleaners. They were looking for anything that contained arsenic, such as pesticides or any kitchen items that may have been contaminated. This was done to remove anything from the house that could make children sick if it contained arsenic and also to include or exclude any of these items as used. in Donna's poisoning in the bathroom.

Police found remains of hypodermic needles. Jim told investigators that One of the children used hypodermic needles to take medication. Let's go ahead and take them. They were taken with the other items. Tests will be done. Alright. Thank you. Thank you. Student detective Gri went to the school to follow up on the family's suspicions. Director. He said that although Donna was often sick, she was in good spirits and was not depressed. He also told the detective that the problems with the former coworker and the angry students were not serious and neither of them had been at school in months.

There is nothing negative about either of them. these children Rimmel now believed that if Donna was poisoned it did not happen at school. I think it's something interesting. This piece will make 52 layers viewable on mobile devices or the big screen, all free, no subscription required at the St. Louis ID Office. County Police Department, household items were tested for arsenic, syringes found in Bly's home were quickly discarded as the husband said they were used for prescription medication for one of the children and all other tests came back negative None of the household items contained the deadly poison.

The water was also clean. Detective Grimmel was at a standstill and there were no clues in sight. He didn't believe that in a family of four, one person could have accidentally ingested a lethal amount of arsenic. at home and the others had no signs of arsenic in her system, so what she was seeing was self-inflicted, was it a suicide attempt or was it used as a weapon and an attempt to kill her and the only person who could shed light on the investigation was the only person. who was not speaking, St. Louis schoolteacher Donna Buy collapsed in her classroom and was now in intensive care.

High levels of arsenic were found in her system. Detectives believe Donna was trying to commit suicide or that someone else was trying to kill her after following her. They found clues both at her school and at her house, they found nothing. Detectives began asking questions if someone wanted her dead, who it could be and what her reason for doing it was. She is quite busy and stressed at work. They decided to investigate the bullies' family. Financial Records It wasn't long before Detective Tony Grimmel found a life insurance policy for Donna and it was recently increased from $200,000 to $600,000 and there was some more.

Accounts showed the family had $20,000 in credit card debt. HB, the case was heating up. and then Detective Grimmel got a call, it was Donna's nurse and she was calling from the hospital. He said that despite intensive treatment to remove the poison from Donna's body, he was getting worse and said she noticed a pattern that always followed after each of Jim Bal's attempts. visits his wife suffered a relapse despite Donna's serious condition Detective Tony Grimmel had to find a way to communicate with her she was paralyzed from the neck down and couldn't speak basically all she could do was shake her head yes and no and she had eye contact uh um she couldn't write because of her paralysis uh and what I did looked pretty bad you could be there with the kids in the waiting room the detective needed to talk to Donna alone even though Donna didn't could talk could communicate and made arrangements to communicate with her at the hospital the hospital had been using an alphabet board to communicate with Donna could shake her head yes and no so she could answer questions that required a yes and no answer but yes there was something more specific, I had to spell it using the alphabet board.

The first thing I talked to Donna about was to see if she had administered this to herself if she had attempted suicide and she said no. Uh, I asked him. I asked him a series of yes and no questions as many times as I could. I asked her what she believed she had received the poison at home. She indicated no, if she got it from friends. She indicated no. Detective Grimel didn't want to tire Donna out even though she still didn't get the answers she needed, she would have to come back when I started to leave uh she started shaking her head she didn't start crying uh I was worried because she was, I don't want to say frantic, but she was upset, clearly upset. uh, I was afraid that maybe she was in pain and had some problems.

I called a nurse to consult with her, she said that she didn't want me to leave, that I wasn't in pain, that there was something else I needed to know and that The first thing she explained to me was that she was afraid that Jim, her husband was involved m m Jim is that your husband Jim, do you feel like he's involved in this? Nodding slowly and painfully to each question and letter of the alphabet. Donna remembered a curious incident. months ago, okay, have a good day, it happened on a busy morning as the family was rushing to breakfast and Donna was getting ready for her class.

Jim, byy, always cooked, it was his idea to take some of the burden off his wife. He gave Donna a glass of milk to calm her stomach and reminded her to drink it. Thanks, honey, that's when Donna saw a pink residue at the bottom of the glass. Donna's story placed her husband under suspicion. This, along with the recent increase in Donna's life insurance, made Jim Byy, the prime suspect in the poisoning of his wife,but investigators were a long way from proving that he was trying to kill his wife. Detective Grimmel asked Donna for a hair sample from her, she sent it to the lab to establish a timeline of the poison.

Al and there was one more thing about Jim. visits I called the hospital to tell them that Mr. Boy was no longer allowed to see his wife. I contacted security and froze visits because I thought there was a chance he was also administering some of this at the hospital after my interview. I went out to the waiting room the first thing he asked me was what did he tell you. I told him that she told me several different things and that he and I were going to have to talk again and that we were going to have to talk. at the police department and more evidence emerged when Donna's relatives discovered a gym bag hidden in the Bly home and took it to the police.

The detectives were baffled by what they found inside other women's things, all in this bag and I know it's not hers and then there are these escort service ads local escort service ads love notes maybe taking out some of these notes where you find that these contents also include photos of naked women and sexual paraphernalia here and in the bag we obtained cell phone records and we found out that he was using two dating services uh and that he was using a cell phone for this in the lab St Louis toxicologyThe County Medical Examiner's Office examined Donna's hair, the hair grows about an inch per month and because arsenic attaches to the follicles and stays there, scientists are able to obtain an accurate timeline of her poisoning. hair and provided answers to questions about when, how much, and for how long.

Donna was ingesting arsenic. The chief toxicologist, Dr. Christopher, had long performed an atomic absorption test. The arsenic analysis cannot be seen because it is done at the molecular level and you cannot see the small molecules or electrons that the computer can determine the difference in light. absorption prints a concentration and is kept on computer the results came from her hair we clearly showed that on the other end there was no arsenic which was somewhere five or 6 months earlier from that time the arsenic levels in her hair increased and increased dramatically every month up to and including the time of her admission to the hospital, this would show that she had been exposed over a period of time and that the dose was being increased during that time.

The toxicologist reported her findings to the researchers. It was really an opportunity to put science to work. work to show how toxicology is part of the picture and sometimes we can be a very important part of the picture in determining whether someone is a bad person or not. The police asked Jim Bully to come and answer the questions correctly. Here Jim, this room, here Jim, byy, seemed to be the perfect husband. He worked as a high school counselor, coached baseball and was a scout leader. I told him that she was pointing the finger at him and that he was now the prime suspect and I let him know.

He was more than willing to cooperate with her rights, to tell them and tried to explain the pink milk, uh, and her feeling that he was

suspicious

, she has poison in her system, the thug claimed that his wife's illness caused him had caused hallucinations. Confused, we realized how much the insurance detectives asked him about Donna's $600,000 insurance policy, about her financial difficulties, and about her extramarital affairs. Someone talked for hours. Jim byy seemed to have an answer for everything he tried to waste, but he explained those and he was good at explaining things. B's background was in Psychology, he seemed to be in control, so the detectives took a new approach.

Have you noticed throughout all of this that every time he speaks he is in control and larger than life, but when we talk, he shrinks back? in his chair, have you noticed that yes, he, seems very confident and comfortable when he speaks and very uncomfortable when you speak well? I think what we should do is go back there, hit it and just get on the podium. and don't let him talk at all, just give him everything you have this time, they would be verbally aggressive and not let him redirect the blame. I've been listening to you all night, now it's time for you to listen to me well.

I think no, no, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. I heard you lay out the case against him. The investigators didn't let Bly respond for an hour and a half at the end of that whole hour and a half o So when he first spoke, he asked me how much time do you think he was going to give me, which in itself was an admission from the TCID , but not a confession. After more than 8 hours of interrogation, investigators still unable to confess to poisoning his wife with nothing solid to hold her back, Detective Grimmel went to the district attorney.

St. Louis prosecutor Bob McCoa had to make the decision. In reality, we had very little evidence. He was one of those where you knew the guy did it, but if we were going to do it. Whether or not they would be able to prove it at that point was up in the air, but the detectives did not give up and continued to pressure Bly for a confession, but Jim byy still would not break and without stronger evidence, the police feared that man suspected of poisoning his wife would walk free someone was trying to kill Donna Bley 420 times a lethal dose of arsenic was discovered in his system.

He knows what I like to do and the police thought they knew who was responsible. Donna's husband, Jim, is the Letter i detectives were building a strong case against Jim and discovered that he was sponsoring sexual services and purchased a $600,000 life insurance policy on his wife. They wanted to have a seat there. The detectives brought Jim in for questioning in hopes of breaking him down, but he had been hindering them. for hours yes, I am going to talk about Donna and we would like you to tell us what happened to her. Detective Tony Grimmel went to the prosecutor's office to try to get an arrest warrant.

You have to do the right thing and you and me. you both know what that's like look at yourself look at this place you're in now at the same time B finally confessed that she had been poisoning Donna. He didn't want to kill her. He just wanted to make her a little sick. You have to do it. Believe me, I just wanted to make her a little sick. She was very stressed. It's been a long summer, but he didn't admit that he was trying to kill her. Yes. Lieutenant Barner at the police department, technicians there requesting a warrant.

I can talk? With him, please, St. Louis Detective Tony Grimmel was seeking the arrest warrant. Tony B is here confessing to Barer right now. He used that for the separation reason I wanted. He and his wife haven't had much quality time together. He wanted to do it. he was sick so she could stay home from work and he could spend her sick time and stay home with her and take care of her and have a good time with her. Jim bought he was arrested, he told investigators where he had hidden the box of rat poison in the house he led the police to the garden store where he bought the poison.

Hello, I'm glad you can come here. He even pointed out which brand he bought. This is the product you purchased. Yes, for months. The boy had carefully prepared arsenic potions to feed. His unsuspecting wife told police that he dissolved the poison in water before adding it to Donna's food or drink. Time to go to bed. Investigators asked police chemists to verify B's story. In the laboratory they discovered that the poison gave the water a pink tint. When the mixture was added to the milk it did not color the milk but left a small pink residue. It's fine for years.

The boy Jim had been living a double life with expensive adulterous affairs. I don't know, I don't know, the police say when he caught up with him. He, Bly, carefully planned to get rid of Donna and collect enough money to continue his afterlife. Where is your medicine? But it does not work. Medical and forensic science was able to prevent him from killing Donna. Do you want me to help you. St. Louis Attorney Bob Mulla. I had a strong case, the charge that we present assault in the first degree is the most serious charge, there is less than

death

, it carries a sentence of 10 to 30 years or life in prison, in addition to the fact that we present a charge of armed criminal action because he used poison to commit his crime and that gave him the possibility of another life sentence.

Jim Bly was convicted of trying to kill his wife by poisoning her. He was sentenced to life in prison. Medical personnel and St Louis detectives intervened and saved a woman's life. life, but tragically in Ohio the intervention came too late Columbus Ohio is located in the center of the American heartland in early 1994 the city police found themselves at the center of a brutal and mysterious case at 2:51 a.m. the police received a frantic call to 911. The caller now identified himself as Richard A. He said his wife had just committed suicide and the operator asked him to stay calm and wait for emergency personnel who were on the way to arrive.

Sergeant 18 180 1881 in a 47 43 possible. 47 officers from the Columbus Police Department arrived. At the address there was no one there to receive them, they called but there was no answer, it was police, police, hello. Tentative location, officers entered the residence and found empty hallways, it is clear CLE, it appeared the house was empty in the master bedroom. Roberta was at the foot of the bed show me your hand he looked dazed confused and unable to move in the bed be good a woman lying on her back with a gunshot wound to the left side of her head his wife a blue steel .38 caliber revolver was Resting on his blood-stained chest, Robert was questioned by responding police officers.

Are you okay, sir? He told him that he went to his room and found his wife. He had no idea what happened. How much did you drink tonight? Officers noted that she appeared to have been drinking how much be I don't know Medics were called to the scene without touching the body examined the woman at 30:3 a.m. m. Janet a was dead. The doctors were declared at 303 a. m. Within minutes homicide detectives arrived at the home and were required to investigate any firearm-related deaths, officers on the scene informed detectives. Detective Eric Pila was the lead investigator on the case.

A small dark-colored revolver was on his chest and there was a large amount of blood that had come from the wound and ran down his body along his appendages and shot in several areas. The detective interviewed Janet's husband, Robert, the detective He still seemed to be in shock and was unresponsive. My first impression of the husband was that he was extremely distraught. about to be in shock or extremely lethargic or drugged, impassive, just a little dazed when he composed himself, he told investigators that same night, he and his wife watched some television after dinner, she fell asleep and was going to a business trip to Cincinnati early the next morning.

Robert told investigators that Janet was nervous about her trip. I'll miss you but I'll be fine. She was deathly afraid of speaking in public. I have to go to bed. I have to get some rest. Okay, she wanted to get a good night's sleep, so she she kissed him goodnight and climbed into bed and said he stayed up a little later and watched a kickboxing movie on tv so you fell asleep on this couch here he explained to her that he had fallen asleep on the couch had woken up decided he went to bed went upstairs turned on the light in the bedroom and found his wife lying there with a gunshot wound to the head, he said he then went and checked her pulse and was shocked when he discovered that his wife had committed suicide.

Asleep and didn't even hear the gunshot at first glance the investigation seemed routine, a tragic suicide, a distraught husband left to pick up the pieces of his life, but few investigations are routine and Detective Pila knew this one would be no different in Columbus, Ohio. Robert woke up with a nightmare after falling asleep on a couch while watching TV, he got up and went upstairs, there he found his wife Janet shot in the head at Point Blank Range, there was a blood stain on her chest and a revolver was next. to her hand, what have you done?

He told the detectives that Janet was nervous about a business trip she was going on the next day, she feared that might have caused her to take her own life, didn't it? , said he had a gun in the house. To protect myself I woke up normally I kept it under the couch where he had been sleeping but he wasn't there do you remember what it was? He said Janet must have taken it before or while she was sleeping watching a game Detective Eric Pila Robert asked, what did he remember, yes, right here I asked him, do you know if you touched the body?

At first he said no, then he said okay. I checked his pulse and explained that he had been a doctor in Vietnam. I asked him specifically, how did he do that and he said that he had touched hisneck to check for a pulse. Crime scene investigators photographed the scene documenting the position of Janet's body, her arms and the blood that ran across her upper chest, rearranging her hair to better see her blood. pattern, the gun was collected along with other evidence in the search of the room, detectives also noticed a flashlight in the dresser. Jenet's body was taken to the coroner's office for examination.

Officers checked for signs of forced entry and found none at the Franklin County Coroner's Office. The examiner took a sample from the victim's hands and examined the rest of her body. He took blood samples for a toxicology test. Janet had an x-ray of her head to determine the angle at which she was shot and the trajectory of the bullet. All physical evidence supported self-inflicted. The injury and autopsy report classified Janet A's death as a suicide, but to experienced homicide investigators something still didn't seem right. Robert A's story didn't add up. He made a metal note when he told me that he had turned on the light. that um that's not something normal that seemed uh uh abnormal to me that someone would turn over their wife sleeping in bed and they would turn on the light and wake them up while they were going to bed, that just seemed funny to me at that time the researchers from The beautiful image decided that they needed to know more about Janet's mental state.

She's fine, she would be fine. They talked to her parents to see if Janet was suffering from depression or was upset about something. He was also Janet's parents. she said she was fine, in fact she had been looking forward to her business trip her husband the parents' comments did not seem to support the coroner's findings according to homicide detective Carl Ranken she had a good job it seemed like Janet a was not a very good candidate for suicide and that in fact she had things to look forward to even the next day, she was always very jealous.

The detective asked her about Janet's relationship with her husband. Robert insisted on going to Cincinnati as well and the fact that Janet didn't want him to leave, they talked about taking care of the dog and that Janet didn't feel comfortable even leaving the dog with Robert. Janet told her parents that Robert had been dating another woman for several months, she had it all. Just 3 weeks before her death, Janet said she planned to divorce him. She had a dog that she loved. She had this, which strengthened investigators' suspicions that Janet had not taken her own life. But they needed proof, so they returned to the crime scene and started from scratch.

They reexamined photographs and noted that Janet's head injury was on the left side. When they interviewed friends and family, they discovered that he was right-handed, statistically good, the gun was. It was also placed very awkwardly in his hand, according to Detective Ranken, the butt of the gun was facing away from his hand, the barrel was actually pointing up, this would be a difficult shot for a right-handed person in the lab. forensics, the toxicology results on Janet's blood came back, it looked like she had taken a massive dose of sleeping pills, maybe she had tried to kill herself with pills and when that didn't work, she got the gun, but there was a problem, the opinion of the toxicologist was that Janet after taking that. many drugs would not have been able to form a thought pattern having been in bed having taken the drugs having gone down the stairs having taken a gun from under the sofa where Robert was sleeping going up the stairs he had gone back to bed and shot himself despite problems in the marriage and a minor domestic incident the detectives had little else to talk to you here, okay, but that changed, the police had a break when a call came in from a woman who said she was the last person who spoke to Janet the night he died.

She the woman was a close friend of Janet, but she had not shown up because she was afraid of Robert's violent temper. She told the police that the night Janet died she had come to borrow a dress that was pretty. Janet was excited and looking forward to her trip to Cincinnati. I'm glad I have time away from her husband, you I borrowed, oh my gosh, a little upset the night Janet died, she called and spoke to her friend at 11:30 p.m. She was whispering and said Robert was angry and said yes, he wanted to go on the trip to Cincinnati with her but Janet had refused.

What was the situation there? The friend told investigators that Janet then abruptly said that Robert was going to come into the room and she had to leave he was very off the phone with me Janet hung up quickly very violent temper was the last time anyone heard from her not exactly the pieces They were fitting in the detectives were now ready to confront Robert, you know, we've been wondering. They told him they needed the truth and they set up a polygraph test and asked him to take it. Why would he be right on the dresser? Don't know.

I want to talk to my lawyer Robert. I do not have any problem with you. It's fine to talk to your attorney to prove that Janet's death was not a suicide, but the cold-blooded murder detectives needed hard evidence and that evidence was right in front of them in the crime scene photographs at the time, they said. determined that if we were going to have any substantial evidence of blood spatter, evidence contained in the photographs, that we were going to have to consider leaving the apartment and hiring someone to take a look at these photographs. History of I do not remember up to this point the beliefs of the detectives.

They were just another theory, but the coroner's report was conclusive. If they hoped to reopen this case, they needed much more than a theory. They needed science to back up their suspicions. Janet A's death had been ruled a suicide, but detectives were concerned about the way the evidence was moving forward. You know, Ian, she was right-handed, but the gun was found near her left hand. Yes, I made the call, but you, her husband, Robert, were the only other person in the house. He was not there. You know, friends and family said the couple got married. It was Rocky weeks before her death she said she intended to divorce him.

The detectives were sure it was a murder and that Robert was the main suspect, but to prove their case they had to turn to a forensic specialist. . Columbus police contacted a renowned blood spatter expert and took the case. crime scene photographs to Corning, New York, where Professor Herbert McDonnell is director of the forensic science laboratory, they simply objectively wanted me to look at the photographs and see if I could form an opinion based primarily on the bloodstain patterns that were present in the photographs. To Dr. McDonald, something about the footage didn't make sense - you can't have a gun after you've shot yourself in the head, land on your chest and then somehow reach underneath and get blood all over it - it's just that the sequence That's wrong.

The obvious thing is that it was a homicide and not a suicide. Not being in this position was the information the detectives had been waiting for and the proof they needed. The detectives presented their new findings to the medical examiner. Janet A's cause of death changed to suicide. undetermined Detective Carl Ranken was presented with the evidence. This is very unusual for a detective to come back and um ask for something to be changed on the death certificate, especially something as important as from a suicide to at least undetermined, the path was cleared to charge Robert. Janet's murder robbery detectives discussed their evidence with Franklin County Prosecutor Jeff Allen, informed by his friend once we had Professor McDonald's report.

He was convinced that we had a case we could take to a jury, so that was probably the main factor. In my determination that we had a case that we could prosecute, I believe that we could clearly show, based on McDonald's weed, the toxicologists, the friends and family of the members that they had had recent contact with Janet and that, however, the lady the defendant was the only other person in the house. uh, she was the person who shot Janet and she didn't do it herself. An arrest warrant was issued for Robert A for the murder of his wife.

He was taken into custody without incident. I think they had been arguing. I think Robert was 100% wanted to go to Cincinnati and he was demanding it no you're not going to bed the couple argued go to bed Janet went to bed yes she took sleeping pills to get a good night's sleep I think Robert laid on the couch drunk more dazed and getting angrier as time went on and I think Robert reached under the couch and pulled out the gun that he knew was there in the first interview, he says, I turned on the light, well, I don't know I think he may have even had a flashlight with him to make sure he didn't make a mistake in what he was about to do and I think he took that gun and I think he went upstairs after killing Janet.

He put the flashlight on the dresser. Robert repositioned Janet's body. She had blood on her hand, so he wiped it on the top of her chest. He planted the gun to make it look like a suicide, but under the gun her blood had already dried without blood pattern analysis. done by your McDonald without the toxicology um without having a crime scene as good uh set of photographs as we had there would have been no reopening of this case there would have been no trial and there would have been no conviction the jury in Robert A's trial heard the forensic evidence found him guilty of Janet's murder he was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison.

Killers go to great lengths to create blame-shifting scenarios leaving few traces of their guilt, but it doesn't matter how small or well-hidden forensic investigators live. to expose these telltale traces and avenge the victims of the murderous attraction