Malala Yousafzai has playful

California woman’s conviction for murdering her husband overturned after two decades in prison

Jane Dorotik has spent two decades fighting for her freedom. The California mother and wife was convicted of murdering her husband Bob in 2001, but always maintained her innocence.

From prison, where she was serving a sentence of 25 years to life, Jane spent years filing motions pushing for a new examination of the evidence.

Working with Loyola Project for the Innocent, new testing of evidence was done, including of blood found in the couple’s bedroom. They said it revealed some of the spots were never tested and others were not blood at all.

“If you just look at all of the pieces of evidence that Loyola was able to absolutely take apart, and yet we know what was told to the jury in the original conviction,” Jane Dorotik tells “48 Hours” correspondent Erin Moriarty, who has has covered the case for 24 years.

“Jane, how would you describe what the last 22 years have been like for you?” Moriarty asked.

“It’s been torturous in many ways,” explained Jane. “I suppose many moments when I thought, “How do I keep going?’

WHO KILLED BOB DOROTIK?

When “48 Hours” first met Jane Dorotik in 2000, the life she had once found so serene in the foothills outside of San Diego — a life she had shared with her husband Bob — had taken an unimaginable turn.

Jane Dorotik: How can this be? How can this happen? Surely I’ll wake up and it’s a dream.

Jane had been become the prime suspect in Bob’s murder. Authorities believed that she viciously attacked him in their home.

Jane Dorotik: I certainly didn’t do this. I loved my husband.

Jane, 53 years old at the time, and Bob, 55, shared more than half their lives together.

Jane Dorotik: I was 23 when we were married … Bob was a wonderful, loving, creative person.

Bob spent most of his career as an engineer. Jane worked as a nurse, and later, as an executive in the health care industry. The couple raised three children, Alex, Claire and Nick.

Jane Dorotik: The family has always been incredibly important to both of us.

Also important to Jane, were their horses. While Jane’s passion was breeding and riding, Bob was an avid jogger. And that, says Jane, is the last image she has of her husband.

Jane Dorotik: Bob was sitting, actually, in this chair, facing the TV.

Although Jane was under suspicion, she allowed “48 Hours” into her home.

Jane Dorotik: He said he was going out for a jog, and he was actually — had his jogging suit on, was tying his shoes. … That was the last I talked to him.

It was around 1 p.m. on Feb. 13, 2000, when Jane says Bob left to go for that run. As hours passed without any word from him, Jane says she grew concerned.

Jane Dorotik: It was beginning to get dark … I — decided to go out and look.

Jane says she searched for Bob, driving up and down the hill where he sometimes ran. By 7:45 p.m., Jane’s concern turned to fear.

Jane Dorotik: I said, “Enough. This is enough. Something is wrong.” … And that’s when I made the call to the Sheriff’s Department.

Deputy James Blackmon: My first … thought that night was maybe this man had a heart attack and … fell down the embankment along Lake Wohlford Road .

As Deputy James Blackmon, and others from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, searched for Bob, concerned friends and family gathered at the Dorotik house.

Claire Dorotik: The minute I saw my mom’s face, I knew right away something terrible had happened.

The Dorotik’s daughter, Claire, 24 at the time, had spent the weekend visiting her aunt and returned home to a distraught Jane.

Claire Dorotik: She was freaked out, she was scared, she was nervous, she was crying.

Jane Dorotik: It was a horrifying feeling that got more and more horrifying when he wasn’t found.

And then, in the predawn hours of Feb. 14, Deputy Blackmon turned into a driveway, several miles from the Dorotik home, and noticed a body off the road.

Bob Dorotik T-shirt evidence — The T-shirt Bob Dorotik was wearing when his body was found on the side of the road several miles from their Valley Center, California, home. He had been bludgeoned in the head and strangled.

San Diego County Sheriff’s Department

Deputy Blackmon (2001): At this point, I could see the shirt, the … pants … And he was laying on his back.

From Jane’s description, he immediately knew it was Bob Dorotik.

Det. Rick Empson: I got there a little after seven in the morning.

San Diego County Sheriff’s Detective Rick Empson was called to the scene.

Det. Rick Empson: There was no evidence of any type of vehicle accident.

The evidence Empson did find suggested something else.

Det. Rick Empson: I could see that he had blood on his face … there was blood near the back of his head, and I could see that there was a rope around his neck.

Bob Dorotik had been bludgeoned and strangled. The one-time missing person case had turned into a homicide investigation.

Erin Moriarty: Is there anybody you could think who would want to see your husband dead?

Jane Dorotik: Nobody. Nobody.

As law enforcement asked Jane questions about Bob, she let them into her home.

Jane Dorotik: “Come in. Search. Look for anything.”

Detective Empson noticed a piece of rope hanging from the porch that caught his attention — thinking he had just seen something similar on Bob Dorotik.

Det. Rick Empson: It appeared to be the exact same type of rope that was found around his neck.

And when investigators got to Bob and Jane’s bedroom, they found something more troubling. They believed they were looking at blood spatter.

Det. Rick Empson: There was no question in our mind that this assault occurred in the master bedroom.

They documented their findings in a diagram, taking photos along the way of what they believed to be blood on various items in the bedroom, and of what appeared to be a large blood stain on the underside of the mattress.

Jane Dorotik: I do know when Bob had a nosebleed he made a comment about getting some blood on the mattress.

Jane says there was a logical explanation for some of the other blood, too — they had dogs who were injured and had bled.

Jane Dorotik: This little dog had an abscess on her cheek that was openly draining at the time and little drops of blood we’d find when she sat on the couch. … The carpet pieces are what the detectives removed, feeling that there was blood on the carpet.

Investigators quickly determined Bob Dorotik wasn’t killed where his body was found, because there wasn’t enough blood there. When they searched the Dorotiks’ home, they found spots of blood all over the bedroom.

San Diego County Sheriff’s Department

The spots of blood investigators said they found all over the bedroom surprised Jane.

Erin Moriarty: Do you have any other explanation of how that blood spatter could have gotten there?

Jane Dorotik: Not really.

Erin Moriarty: On the ceiling, on the window, on the walls?

Jane Dorotik: No.

Adding to authorities’ suspicions was the bloody syringe found in the bathroom garbage. Jane told “48 Hours” she used it to medicate her horses.

Jane Dorotik: I know that I give the horses shots all the time … if you go look in my fridge right now, you’ll find horse syringes.

Investigators theorized that Jane hit her husband with an object in the bedroom and strangled him. She then dressed him in his jogging suit, put him in their truck, and dumped him along the side of the road where his body was found.

Erin Moriarty: Why do they believe you killed your husband?

Jane Dorotik: You know, I guess I’ve been through that one a billion times. I don’t know.

But investigators thought they knew, believing the motive was money, and escaping a troubled marriage. Jane was the main breadwinner, and they learned the couple had split up for a year in 1997.

Jane Dorotik: I don’t make any apologies for the fact that we had rough times. But that doesn’t change the fact that we loved each other.

And that love, says Jane, is why they reconciled. They had been back living together as a couple for a year-and-a-half before Bob was killed.

Jane Dorotik: I really think the separation caused us to really regroup and think about what was important.

Claire Dorotik: They were getting along better than they ever had in the past. I was living there. I can tell you that.

But law enforcement was unmoved, and three days after Bob Dorotik’s body was found, Jane was arrested, and charged with first-degree murder.

Jane Dorotik: I know I didn’t do this. I know there is a killer out there … but how am I going to clear myself?

Kerry Steigerwalt: She’s baffled ’cause I don’t think she knows what happened.

Released on bail, Jane started preparing her defense, hiring attorney Kerry Steigerwalt.

Kerry Steigerwalt: She knows she’s placed as the killer and she’s not the killer.

And at trial, Jane’s attorney would present a surprise suspect, who he felt was responsible for Bob Dorotik’s murder.

THE TRIAL OF JANE DOROTIK

Jane Dorotik: I know that I am innocent, but I don’t have any more faith in the legal system. I believe I could be convicted for something that I didn’t do. And that’s very scary.

While Jane worried about her outcome at trial, Claire Dorotik was much more confident about her mother’s chances.

Claire Dorotik: My mom could not have done this crime. She didn’t have the motive, and she didn’t have the opportunity.

But when the case went to trial in 2001, a year after the murder, prosecutor Bonnie Howard–Regan described the Dorotik’s marriage as seriously troubled and told jurors that Jane didn’t want to pay Bob alimony in a divorce.

Bonnie Howard–Regan (in court): Bob Dorotik never went jogging. And he never left that residence alive.

According to the state, Bob had actually been killed Saturday night, nearly a day before Jane reported him missing. The autopsy performed, by Dr. Christopher Swalwell, showed undigested food consistent with what Jane said they had for dinner that night.

Bonnie Howard–Regan (in court): Are you able to give us an estimate of how long after Mr. Dorotik ate, how long after that, he — he was killed?

Dr. Christopher Swalwell: Yes. It was very shortly after he ate. …I would say it was probably within a couple of hours.

And he wasn’t killed on the side of the road, the prosecutor said. There wasn’t enough blood there. Instead, she said Bob’s blood was all over the bedroom. Lead detective Rick Empson testified he had asked Jane to explain that.

Det. Rick Empson (in court): She indicated initially that she had a dog that — had been bleeding, and then indicated that approximately a week prior, Bob had a bloody nose over in the corner by the stove, and that Bob had cleaned it up.

There was evidence someone cleaned the bedroom. The carpet next to the potbelly stove and tiled floor was wet and had blood stains underneath.

Erin Moriarty: Did any of the blood from his nosebleed get on the carpet?

Jane Dorotik: Uh huh (affirms).

Erin Moriarty: Do you know where?

Jane Dorotik: Uh huh. Right next to the tile. ‘Cause I — I’m the one that helped him clean it.

Authorities dismissed Jane’s explanations. Their theory was that Jane hit Bob in the head in their bedroom with an object while he was lying in bed, although they never identified or found any weapon. Charles Merritt, a criminalist and bloodstain pattern analyst for the San Diego County Sheriff’s Crime Lab, recounted 20 locations where he saw blood stains.

Charles Merritt (in court): On one of the pillows … on a lamp … this particular nightstand. … on the potbelly stove … on the ceiling itself. … and then on the underside of the mattress.

The jury was also shown this evidence of tire tracks found near Bob’s body. The state’s expert Anthony DeMaria said he matched the three different types of tires on Dorotik’s truck

Bonnie Howard–Regan (in court): Are you saying the measurements taken at the scene were equal to the measurements … taken off the actual vehicle?

Anthony DeMaria: Yes.

Bob Dorotik evidence: bloody syringe — A bloody syringe found in a garbage can in the Dorotik’s bathroom.

San Diego County Sheriff’s Department

The most telling evidence connecting Jane to the murder, according to the prosecutor, was that syringe found in the bathroom. It had traces of a horse tranquilizer inside. And even though there was no evidence that Bob had been injected with anything, it had Bob’s blood and a bloody fingerprint on it.

Bonnie Howard–Regan (in court): The evidence will show that the fingerprint on this syringe was Jane Dorotik’s.

Erin Moriarty: Can you explain that?

Jane Dorotik: I can’t really explain it, other than – I know that I helped Bob clean up a nosebleed. And if that’s the same time when I took the syringes and threw them in the trash … and there was some blood on my hand, that could have — made that happen.

But perhaps the most powerful witnesses were the Dorotiks’ two sons, Nick and Alex. They both testified against their mother.

Bonnie Howard–Regan (in court): Did you say anything specifically about the syringe?

Nick Dorotik: Well, I asked her — how it got there and what it was doing there.

Bonnie Howard-Regan: And what was your mother’s response?

Nick Dorotik: She said that — her biggest fear in all this was that the — that us family members would start questioning her.

Kerry Steigerwalt (in court): Your mother always settled things logically, tried to?

Alex Dorotik: No.

Kerry Steigerwalt: — you wouldn’t agree with that statement?

Alex Dorotik: Nope. …It would be my mom basically saying, “This is what you have to accept.” And then my dad would either accept it or there would be threats of divorce or something. That’s what I remember from growing up.

Jane’s attorneys Kerry Steigerwalt and Cole Casey admitted it was a big blow.

Erin Moriarty: Would you say that’s been the most damaging testimony?

Kerry Steigerwalt: Yeah.

Cole Casey: It’s not what they said. It’s the fact that they were there testifying for the prosecution.

When it came time for the defense to present its case, Steigerwalt actually agreed with the prosecution on a major point — that the murder took place in the bedroom. But he had a jaw-dropping alternative suspect: Claire Dorotik.

Kerry Steigerwalt (in court): Ladies and gentlemen, Claire hated her father.

He claimed Claire, an avid horsewoman, hated her father because he threatened to sell the animals she loved – and suggested that she was capable of murder.

Kerry Steigerwalt (in court): That’s what Claire is. A hot-tempered, explosive individual.

It was a risky strategy that Jane reluctantly agreed to.

Jane Dorotik: All I can do is trust what Kerry says is the best way to go.

Erin Moriarty: Are you at all concerned that the jury will wonder about a woman who would allow herself to be defended by pointing the finger at her daughter? Could that work against the two of you?

Kerry Steigerwalt: It may. I don’t know. … I think it is the most viable defense. And I think it’s supported by the best evidence.

Steigerwalt insisted Jane wasn’t physically able to commit the murder, but Claire was.

Kerry Steigerwalt (in court): She runs marathons. And she’s a personal trainer. She is as fit a woman as you will see at the age of 24.

But remember, Claire and her aunt said they were together, two hours away.

Kerry Steigerwalt (in court): They called the aunt …That’s the extent of the investigation on the alibi of Claire Dorotik. … That alibi is nonsense.

The jurors never heard from Claire, who took the fifth, or Jane, who chose not to testify. But they did hear from a woman who said she thought she saw Bob the day he disappeared – sitting between two men in a black pickup truck not far from where his body was found.

Kerry Steigerwalt (in court): Who killed Robert Dorotik? … Was it Claire Dorotik? … Or ladies and gentlemen, was it someone else?

In his closing argument, Steigerwalt accused investigators of dismissing witnesses like that woman and focusing only on Jane.

Kerry Steigerwalt (in court): The prosecution had focused on one person and that’s not the way to conduct an investigation. That’s not the way to run a case.

Bonnie Howard-Regan (in court): Jane Dorotik and Bob Dorotik were the only two people in that home that weekend.

Bonnie Howard-Regan said there is no need to investigate further when you have sufficient evidence.

Bonnie Howard-Regan (in court): They searched that bedroom and they saw all the blood and they knew that was the crime scene … What more investigation do they need to do?

It took the jury four days to return a verdict.

COURT CLERK: We the jury in the above titled cause find the defendant Jane Marguerite Dorotik guilty of the crime of murder in the first degree in violation of penal code …”

Erin Moriarty: Did Jane Dorotik get a fair trial?

Matthew Troiano: No. No. … Because fairness means that you’re presenting things accurately, and it — it appears like it was not done accurately.

JANE DOROTIK ADVOCATES FOR HER INNOCENCE

Jane Dorotik (jail interview with Erin Moriarty): It almost didn’t register for a minute. It’s like “No, this can’t be.” … I was so certain that I was walking out … I thought they would see the truth.

Jane Dorotik never imagined she’d be found guilty.

Jane Dorotik (jail interview): It’s hard to keep going (crying).

At the time of her conviction for the murder of her husband, she was 54 years old and sentenced to 25 years-to-life.

Jane Dorotik (jail interview): I mean, I just, I can’t see my way clear to a life in prison. I just can’t see it.

Determined to prove the jury got it wrong, Jane became her own advocate, working on her case for many years. “48 Hours” spoke with Jane again two decades later about her efforts.

Jane Dorotik: All through the prison — my prison journey, I continued to write to … all innocence projects I could think of, asking for help. … At the same time, realized … that I had to fight for myself.

Jane filed motions from prison citing such issues as insufficient evidence and ineffective assistance of counsel.

Jane Dorotik: I would describe my defense as limited and inadequate.

In her filings, Jane indicated that she wanted to testify at her trial but had left that decision up to her attorney. And that had she testified, she could have explained Bob’s stomach contents — stating that he sometimes ate leftovers from the previous night. She also described her attorney’s alternate suspect theory, pointing to her daughter Claire as the killer, as absurd.

Erin Moriarty: Do you believe that your daughter Claire had anything to do with the death of her dad?

Jane Dorotik: Absolutely unequivocally not. And my defense attorney, everybody knew she was away for that weekend.

In regard to that defense strategy, Claire, later wrote in a book, “how could I be angry at my mother, when all I did was worry about her.” Jane’s lawyer, whom “48 Hours” interviewed at the time of her trial, did not speak with us again.

Jane Dorotik: That was the worst strategy of my life ever… I said to my attorney, “If anything happens to Claire, I’m gonna stand up and say I did it.”

In her filings, Jane also questioned why her defense attorney accepted the “bad forensics “pointing to the bedroom as the murder scene, rather than presenting other scenarios as to where and how Bob Dorotik could have been murdered.

Erin Moriarty: Did the defense too easily accept the bedroom as a crime scene?

Matthew Troiano: That is a very legitimate argument.

CBS News consultant Matthew Troiano, a former prosecutor and current defense attorney, was not involved in the Dorotik case, but he reviewed some of the court documents at “48 Hours”‘ request.

Matthew Troiano: The defense made a strategic decision. … Are we going to dispute that a crime happened in this location or … are we essentially gonna concede that it happened there and then come up with a different narrative of how it happened there? And they chose the latter.

And that decision, Troiano says, likely led the defense to point the finger at Claire for the murder.

Matthew Troiano: They had to blame somebody else for something that happened in a specific location. … And they, at least, as it relates to the daughter, you know, went back to her, having some disagreement with her father about something. … And it was – it was a risk.

Erin Moriarty: Have you ever seen that kind of defense?

Matthew Troiano: You don’t — you don’t see it. I mean, it could happen when there are clear facts and evidence to support it, but when there are none … that’s, you know, that’s a showstopper.

And, in fact, Claire was never charged with any wrongdoing in connection to her father’s murder. The defense accepting the bedroom as the murder scene is especially puzzling to Troiano, as there were reports from several eyewitnesses who said they saw a man jogging that day — accounts consistent with Jane’s depiction of events, not the prosecution’s.

Matthew Troiano: That’s critical, critical evidence.

Jane Dorotik: And all of that was really not pursued. … And … I didn’t know of all the witnesses. … Had there been a thorough investigation initially, all of that would have come out.

Through the years, in filings, Jane raised problems with the entire case against her, arguing that authorities focused on her from the very beginning of the investigation and failed to follow other investigative leads. But motion after motion was denied. And regarding Jane’s ineffective counsel claims, the judge rejected them all, ruling that her attorney’s performance was not deficient, and that his actions had not affected the outcome of the case.

Jane Dorotik: There were many moments where I doubted when is this ever going to turn around. Many, many moments.

Still, Jane didn’t give up. She continued looking for new evidence to clear her, especially as DNA testing became more advanced. In 2012, she filed a petition for DNA testing of that rope found around Bob’s neck, and other items, like Bob’s fingernail clippings, which had been saved, but never tested. And in 2015, the motion was granted.

Erin Moriarty: Is that unusual that she finally even got testing based on her filing motions on her own?

Matthew Troiano: Yes, it’s — it’s very atypical.

It was at this time that Jane finally got the attention of a wrongful conviction group, Loyola Law School’s Project for the Innocent.

Jane Dorotik: I get this wonderful letter from Loyola saying, “You’ve contacted us and we’re interested in your case. … And after that, Loyola took over. Got the testing done.

And what that testing revealed, as well as a fresh examination of other evidence, would change the course of the case.

Matt Troiano: That’s really what flips the script to say that there’s more here. This is more than just an inadequate investigation. There is a different narrative that’s running through these test results. … there is evidence that another person could be involved.

A NEW LOOK AT THE EVIDENCE

Matthew Troiano: When you talk about the evidence in this case … the subsequent testing reveals that you might have a different explanation for things … that really shed light on what may have happened here.

Jane Dorotik spent years behind bars asking for a new examination of the evidence used to convict her of her husband Bob’s murder. Now, working with a team from Loyola Project for the Innocent, the court allowed them to have new DNA testing on items such as the rope found around Bob Dorotik’s neck, his fingernails, and clothing. Appeal filings state that foreign male DNA was found on several items.

Jane Dorotik: The results of that — none of my DNA anywhere.

Matthew Troiano: There is physical evidence … from fingernail clippings … from a rope … from his clothing, that is foreign to Jane.

The team from Loyola Project for the Innocent declined to be interviewed. We asked Nathan Lents, a Professor of Biology and Forensic Science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, who was not involved in the case, to review court documents about new evidence, such as the DNA on the rope.

Nathan Lents: While they didn’t get a profile that would be good enough to search a database or even match to a suspect, they did get enough DNA that is not attributable to Bob or to Jane.

But while Jane and her team believed the results pointed to her innocence, the state came to a different conclusion, stating in filings: “… the DNA obtained was too low level to make any reliable interpretation.”

Lents agrees the DNA levels were low, but he believes it was enough to exclude Jane, and that the absence of Jane’s DNA on the rope, as well as under Bob’s fingernails or on his clothing, is significant.

Nathan Lents: With the theory of crime that they presented, you would expect a lot of Jane’s DNA on Bob … and if — if she had moved his body, there’s a lot of DNA transfer that might have taken place there — that wasn’t found.

The appellate team also reviewed the bedroom blood evidence the prosecutor told the jury was fully tested and was Bob’s.

Prosecutor Bonnie Howard-Regan (in court): Now, the evidence will show that all this blood that has been described to you, the observations made in this bedroom, that it was all sent out for DNA analysis, and it all came back Bob Dorotik’s blood.

But according to the appeal, not every single spot in the bedroom believed to be blood was tested. Instead, representative samples were tested.

Nathan Lents: There were cases where just simply one swab with a control was taken and it was representative, uh, of a variety of spots. That’s not good practice … it just invites misinterpretation.

Matthew Troiano: When you’re talking about blood spatter and you’re trying to analyze how it got there … you need to do a fairly comprehensive test to be able to draw the conclusion that you’re drawing.

Erin Moriarty: But I think the prosecution could argue … You can’t afford to test, can you, every single drop that looks like blood?

Matthew Troiano: Right. … But when you say we did everything … and that’s not accurate, that’s where the problem lies.

In fact, the appellate team says that several blood-like stains on items including a pillow sham, the nightstand, a lampshade, turned out not to be blood.

And there were those stains on the bedspread, which criminalist Charles Merritt pointed to at trial and described as Bob’s blood. Jane’s lawyers learned those particular spots were never tested at all, and due to improper storage, the bedspread could not be tested again.

The handling of the evidence, over the course of the entire investigation, was also raised on appeal.

Nathan Lents (looking at photo with Moriarty): This one is hard to even look at. Um, you have an investigator who definitely should know better, um, handling murder evidence with his bare hands. … In addition to obviously depositing his own DNA all around this crime scene, he’s also risking transferring evidence from among the various spots that he’s collecting.

The contents of the Dorotik’s bathroom garbage can.

San Diego County Sheriff’s Department

And there’s that syringe, with Bob’s blood and Jane’s fingerprint, found in the bathroom garbage — something the appellate team, and Lents, thought could be explained.

Nathan Lents: And if you throw that syringe in the garbage can … Bob throws a — a bloody Kleenex in that garbage can, they could transfer. Transfer of DNA from one object to another in a trash can is not unexpected.

Lents feels the fact that syringe was even found in the garbage, points fingers away from Jane.

Nathan Lents: If you’re cleaning up after a murder, you won’t leave the bloody syringe in the waste bucket — basket.

But the state stood by its original investigation, maintaining the bedroom was the murder scene, stating that the evidence still points to Jane Dorotik as the killer, and that the defense “arguments are largely derived from speculation and misstatements of fact.”

Jane’s appellate team, though, maintains the bedroom did not even look like a crime scene, something Lents also believes.

Nathan Lents: There is not a consistent pattern to the evidence that indicates a violent bludgeoning that took place in that bedroom. … if Bob were alive today and investigators had walked in his room, no one would say, oh, this looks like someone was murdered here.

Jane Dorotik: If you just look at all of the pieces of evidence that Loyola was able to absolutely take apart … and yet we know what was told to the jury in the original conviction … So — how can that happen?

As her attorneys reviewed evidence, Jane Dorotik, in 2020, was temporarily and conditionally let out of prison due to COVID health concerns. The question now became, was the new evidence her lawyers were finding enough to make her release permanent?

JANE DOROTIK’S FINAL PUSH FOR FREEDOM

In the summer of 2020, Jane Dorotik and her team hoped a court would overturn the jury’s verdict, turning her temporary release from prison into lasting freedom.

Erin Moriarty: What were their major points?

Matthew Troiano: The testing that was done initially was insufficient. The way that that testing was presented to the jury was inaccurate. There were a number of different arguments that they made.

A hearing was scheduled, but then suddenly the state requested an unplanned virtual hearing.

PROSECUTOR KARL HUSOE (remote hearing): The people are willing to concede petitioner’s new evidence claim…

The prosecution admitted what Jane’s lawyers had argued all along.

PROSECUTOR KARL HUSOE (remote hearing): The DNA evidence as it exists now, in 2020, is much different in quality and quantity than presented at trial in 2001.

That the new DNA test results – as well as issues with how the Sheriff’s Crime Lab handled evidence — cast doubt on the verdict. But what came next was even more unexpected. The state requested that Jane’s murder conviction be overturned … and the judge agreed.

Jane Dorotik: I always believed that at some point … the truth would come out.

But Jane’s ordeal wasn’t over. Three months later, in another shocking move, the DA’s office decided to retry her.

Jane Dorotik: I don’t think any of us thought … that San Diego County would attempt to retry me. But they did.

Matthew Troiano: The state believes that she did this, and they want to pursue it. … Then you have this battle … in court. … If you’re conceding that there were problems … how are you going to do it again, essentially with the same evidence?

Jane Dorotik: It was astounding to sit in that courtroom and see what they try and put forward as actual evidence. And then also thrilling to see my team take it apart.

Dorotik tire tracks — Tire tracks near the site where Bob Dorotik’s body was discovered.

San Diego County Sheriff’s Department

Jane’s attorneys questioned the credibility of several of the State’s experts, including Charles Merritt of the Sheriff’s Crime Lab. The judge ultimately ruled that the new trial could go ahead, but that some key evidence presented in her original trial would not be admissible — including those tire tracks near where Bob’s body was found that were linked to Jane’s truck.

Matthew Troiano: You have a number of different trucks that could be consistent with those tire tracks … It’s in essence kind of junk science-y.

In May 2022, just as jury selection was about to begin, the prosecution surprised everyone yet again.

Jane Dorotik: We go into court as the jury is assembled and ready to come into the … courtroom Monday morning. And everything’s changed.

Deputy DA Christopher Campbell (in court): We no longer feel that the evidence is sufficient to show proof beyond a reasonable doubt and convince 12 members of the jury. So we are requesting that the court … dismiss the charges at this time. Thank you.

Judge: Ms. Dorotik, you are free to go. Good luck to you ma’am.

JANE DOROTIK (to reporters): It just is overwhelming to realize that now I can determine my own future. It’s something I’ve prayed for and hoped for.

After the hearing, Jane’s attorneys spoke about her decades-long fight.

MICHAEL CAVALUZZI ( to reporters) Jane’s dignity in standing up and stoically fighting for her innocence against every risk and every threat. That’s why this case got dismissed today and … as far as we’re concerned, we’re moving on.

The District Attorney’s Office and Sheriff’s Department declined to speak with “48 Hours.” The case against Jane Dorotik was dismissed without prejudice, which means, if new evidence surfaces, charges could be brought again someday.

Erin Moriarty: But then, doesn’t that leave still a shadow over Jane Dorotik?

Matthew Troiano: Oh, sure, it does. I mean, there’s no question about it. … From a practical perspective, do I think it’s over? Yeah, I think it’s over. But from a legal perspective, no.

Jane Dorotik is working to rebuild her life after spending nearly two decades in prison.

Jane Dorotik: My entire family has been blown apart by this hurricane of events. … It’s been heartbreaking on so many levels.

Claire Dorotik did not respond to”48 Hours”‘ request for comment, but Jane says they are still close. Her son Nick died in 2023. Alex Dorotik did not provide a comment to “48 Hours,” but according to filings by the state, he remains convinced his mother killed his father.

Erin Moriarty: Do you have hope that your family will come together at some point?

Jane Dorotik: Of course I do. Of course I have hope.

Jane also has hope that she can make a difference in other people’s lives, as she works with advocacy groups that help incarcerated women.

Jane Dorotik: To me, it’s not just about my story. And yes, we can all sit here and say, “This is so horrendous.” And “How did this happen to this woman?” … But unless we look systemically, how many others are we gonna find? And to me, that’s critically important.

Many unanswered questions about this case remain, including, perhaps, the most important one.

Matthew Troiano: What happened here? … We don’t know what happened to Bob Dorotik. … Where’s justice for Bob? Where’s justice for Robert Dorotik?

Jane Dorotik has filed a civil suit against the County of San Diego. The suit also names several members of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department and its Crime Laboratory.

Produced by Ruth Chenetz and Dena Goldstein. Atticus Brady, George Baluzy and Joan Adelman are the editors. Greg Fisher and Cindy Cesare are the development producers. Lourdes Aguiar is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the executive story editor. Judy Tygard is the executive producer.

Source link

Gypsy Rose Blanchard says she and her husband have separated 3 months after she was released from prison

Gypsy Rose Blanchard announced on her private Facebook that she and her husband Ryan Anderson have separated three months after she was released from prison for her role in the murder of her mother. The announcement came just weeks after Blanchard deleted her highly-followed TikTok and Instagram accounts.

Blanchard was convicted of second-degree murder for the death of her mother, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard, who was stabbed to death by Gypsy Rose’s then-boyfriend Nick Godejohn in 2015, a crime that inspired the Hulu mini-series, “The Act.” Godejohn told police he committed the crime at Gypsy Rose’s request when she learned that after a lifetime of being told she had several debilitating illnesses that required constant care, it was all a lie and she was a victim of child abuse. After pleading guilty, Godejohn was sentenced to life in prison.

Ryan Anderson and Gypsy Rose Blanchard attend “The Prison Confessions Of Gypsy Rose Blanchard” Red Carpet Event on January 05, 2024 in New York City.

/ Getty Images

Gypsy Rose, who was sentenced to 10 years, was released from prison after seven years on Dec. 28.

It was during her sentence that she met her husband, Ryan Anderson, a special education teacher from Louisiana. The pair wed in July 2022.

But on Thursday, she announced the two have broken up.

“People have been asking what is going on in my life. Unfortunately my husband and I are going through a separation and I moved in with my parents home down the bayo,” she wrote on her private Facebook account in a statement obtained by People magazine. “I have the support of my family and friends to help guide me through this. I am learning to listen to my heart. Right now I need time to let myself find… who I am.”

In an interview with Entertainment Tonight in January, Blanchard said she felt a connection with Anderson when he started contacting her while she was in prison. She said she was immediately attracted to the fact that he lives in Louisiana, where she is originally from.

“I wrote him a letter back and we became friends, and of course more than friends, and then now we’re married,” she said.

Immediately upon her release from prison, she told ET she and Anderson moved in together and were “learning about each other.” They had also discussed having kids, but were unsure of when they wanted to do so.

“With us getting married [while she was still in jail], she was able to come live with me straight out of prison,” Anderson told ET. “So, that was important. It’s what we both wanted.”

“We’re just trying to take it day by day,” Gypsy Rose added. “We’re just trying to start off the marriage on a good foot before we bring kids into this situation right now.”

Earlier this month, Gypsy Rose – who was determined to have suffered from a form of abuse that involves a guardian inducing illness for sympathy, leading to her decision to kill her mother – deleted her social media profiles that had amassed millions of followers.

She first deleted her Instagram account, which according to Entertainment Tonight had at one point more than 7.8 million followers. After deleting that account, she posted a series of TikToks saying she is doing her “best to live my authentic life and what’s real to me.”

“And what’s not real is social media,” she said, calling it a “doorway to hell.”

“It’s so crazy, I can’t even wrap my head around what social media is,” she said. “…And with the public scrutiny as bad as it is, I just don’t want to live my life under a microscope.”

Then she deleted her TikTok as well. People magazine learned that she deleted those accounts “at the advisement of her parole officer, so she won’t get in trouble and go back to jail.”

Source link

Ruby Franke’s husband claims Jodi Hildebrandt was possessed

The estranged husband of Ruby Franke, the Utah family vlogger convicted of child abuse, alleged that her business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, was possessed, according to an interview released last week by prosecutors in Washington County, Utah.Kevin Franke, who filed for divorce from Ruby Franke in November, said he became Hildebrandt’s “resident exorcist” during the time they allowed the former life coach to stay in their house.

The two were arrested in August after police found one of Franke’s sons emaciated with open wounds and bound with duct tape. He had escaped Hildebrandt’s home to a neighbor’s house. One of Franke’s daughters was found in a similar malnourished condition in Hildebrandt’s home.

Both women were sentenced in February to four one- to 15-year terms in prison, served consecutively. Under Utah law, the maximum aggregate sentence for consecutive terms is 30 years.

In the interview, Kevin Franke — who has not been charged with any crimes — said he witnessed Hildebrandt at times “go into possession mode” and “talk in different voices.”

“It was really creepy,” he said, “but the voices would say: ‘She’s ours. We’re not letting go. She is Satan’s bride.’”

Attorneys for Kevin Franke, Ruby Franke and Hildebrandt did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The interview is the latest window into the monthslong child abuse case that became a public spectacle. Last week, the Washington County Attorney’s Office also released Ruby Franke’s heavily redacted handwritten journal entries, which detailed months of abuse.

Ruby Franke, right, and business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, speaks during an Instagram video posted to their @moms_of_truth account. — Ruby Franke, right, and her business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, in a video posted to their @moms_of_truth Instagram account.@moms_of_truth via Instagram

The Franke family rose to prominence on YouTube, where they amassed 2.3 million subscribers to their now-defunct channel, “8 Passengers.” Ruby Franke’s strict parenting style on the channel had drawn concern from viewers and neighbors in the years before her arrest.

Hildebrandt also faced scrutiny over her life-coaching service, ConneXions, which some former clients have described to NBC News as a program that isolated them from loved ones and destroyed marriages.

Kevin Franke told authorities why he and Ruby Franke decided to take Hildebrandt in, sharing his timeline of events in the years the two women became close.

He said he got involved with ConneXions in 2020 after his wife and one of her close friends persuaded him to join a men’s group that met with Hildebrandt every week. For a while, he said, the meetings seemed to help strengthen their marriage.

But things began to change in March 2021, he said, when Hildebrandt allegedly told her inner circle that she “believed she was being tormented and haunted by shadow figures every night.” By mid-April that year, he said, Hildebrandt had reached out to Ruby Franke for help.

“Ruby was convinced that we could intervene and help Jodi,” he told investigators. “I didn’t want anything to do with it.”

Kevin Franke said he visited Hildebrandt’s home for the first time in May 2021, when she opened up to the couple about her struggles. That was when he noticed “crashes in the basement while we were talking upstairs and plates in the kitchen just flying off by themselves, like full speed smashing on the wall and falling to the floor by themselves.”

Eventually, he said, he reluctantly agreed to take Hildebrandt into his and Ruby Franke’s home. He said he saw Hildebrandt go into trances.

“The moment she showed up at my house, just the weirdest crap started happening: lights turning on and off, sounds of people walking in walls — like footprints going up walls and across the ceiling — and stuff floating around,” he said. “It was weird and I hated it. And I became the resident exorcist.”

He said Ruby Franke had begun going into her own trances by September 2021, during which she allegedly believed she was in heaven speaking with God and Jesus. He claimed she and Hildebrandt would lock themselves in a room for hours, after which, he said, Ruby Franke would tell him about her visions and the work God had called upon them to do.

Read NBC News’ coverage of Ruby Franke:

Kevin Franke described growing more suspicious of Hildebrandt and her intentions as Ruby Franke appeared to grow closer to her. He claimed that prompted Ruby Franke to ask for a separation in July 2022. After he moved out, he told investigators, every week turned into “psychological hell.”

“The only way I would ever get back into my house was I had to get Jodi’s approval, because if I didn’t get Jodi’s approval. I would never get Ruby’s approval,” he said.

“As I’m looking back, I’m realizing there wasn’t a solution, and it was, you either had Jodi’s approval or you didn’t,” he said, adding, “She became like the arbiter of truth, the arbiter of forgiveness, God’s own mouthpiece.”

In October last year, just before Kevin Franke filed for divorce, his attorney Randy Kester told TODAY.com that the Frankes had been separated “at Ruby’s directive.”

“Kevin did not want to be separated,” Kester said. “He wanted to work through concerns as a family. There was never any formal, written decree of separate maintenance or separation agreement. The separation was under terms prescribed by Ruby and Jodi Hildebrandt.”

Lawyers for Ruby Franke said at the time of the divorce filing that she was “devastated” by the news but that she understood Kevin Franke’s reasoning and respected his decision.

During the trial, lawyers for Ruby Franke said Hildebrandt “systematically isolated” her from her family over a long period, which caused her to adopt a “distorted sense of morality” under Hildebrandt’s influence.

“For the past four years, I’ve chosen to follow counsel and guidance that has led me into a dark delusion,” Ruby Franke said at her sentencing hearing. “My distorted version of reality went largely unchecked as I would isolate from anyone who challenged me.”

Hildebrandt also gave a brief statement to the court during the sentencing.

“I desire for [the children] to heal physically and emotionally,” she said. “One of the reasons I did not go to trial is because I did not want them to emotionally relive the experience, which would have been detrimental to them. My hope and prayer is that they will heal and move forward to have beautiful lives.”

Source link

Zoe Saldaña takes on new role in “The Absence of Eden,” directed by husband Marco Perego

Zoe Saldaña is known for starring in big sci-fi franchises like “Avatar,” Star Trek” and “Guardians of the Galaxy.”

Now, she’s taking on a new role, playing an undocumented immigrant who flees her home in Mexico for sanctuary. The film, “The Absence of Eden,” is directed and co-written by her husband, Marco Perego.

The movie does not take a political stance, the couple says, as it showcases the polarizing issue of immigration.

“I was really proud of him, that out of all the subjects that he could be, you know, building a story around, he chose immigration and the angle of humanity, which keeps us very neutral, but also keeps us in the form of art of telling stories that are compelling about human beings, about people,” Saldaña said.

The inspiration for Perego started with a personal project in 2016. He created a sculpture about immigrant children who died traveling from Syria to Italy. Perego collected 714 pairs of shoes to represent those children and filled them with concrete. It is now in a museum in Vancouver, Canada.

“For me it was, okay, how I can talk about humanity in more of a global aspect,” he said.

Perego spent two years researching and traveling to help tell this story for “The Absence of Eden.” He traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border with his co-writer multiple times.

“My biggest goal was to be as honest as possible when I was telling the story,” he said.

Saldaña explained it wasn’t only about sitting down with people who have been compelled to cross the border.

“It’s also people who work in law enforcement that have a duty to fulfill and sometimes that conflicts with their moral code or how they’re feeling in the core about what they’re doing.”

Zoe Saldaña and Marco Perego talk about their new movie “The Absence of Eden,” on CBS Mornings, in which Saldaña stars and Perego directs.

CBS News

Saldaña said they may be uncomfortable conversations, but she thinks it’s important to have all sides to properly understand the issue.

“I feel like the issue of immigration has been an ongoing issue,” she said. “I think that what’s important in my opinion is for us not to forget as Americans that this nation was founded by immigrants.”

As for working on set as husband and wife for the first time, the couple joked about a few moments they disagreed.

“When she speaks Spanish, I’m in trouble,” Perego joked.

As time progressed, Saldaña said, the two found a working rhythm.

“I feel like the more experience we have, it’ll continue to get better and better,” Saldaña said.

“The Absence of Eden” hits theaters on April 12.

Kelsie Hoffman

Kelsie Hoffman is a push and platform editor on CBS News’ Growth and Engagement team. She previously worked on Hearst Television’s National Desk and as a local TV reporter in Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Source link

Utah grief author Kouri Richins also tried to poison husband with Valentine’s Day sandwich, prosecutors say

A Utah grief author charged with spiking her husband’s drink with a fatal dose of fentanyl faces an additional charge of attempted murder after authorities said she allegedly drugged him with a Valentine’s Day sandwich in an attempt to kill him.

Kouri Richins was arrested last year on charges that included aggravated murder after authorities said she killed her husband, Eric Richins, at their home in Kamas, about 40 miles southeast of Salt Lake City, on March 4, 2022.

Eric Richins, 39, was found unresponsive in the home after having a drink to celebrate his wife’s business deal. A medical examiner said he had five times the lethal dose of fentanyl in his system and that it was “illicit” and not medical grade.

Charging documents filed Monday allege that was not the first time Kouri Richins slipped her husband drugs. On Valentine’s Day 2022, authorities said Eric Richins nearly died after his wife brought him a sandwich.

The documents state that Eric Richins texted his wife and said he was not feeling good and that if he did not feel better soon he was going to the hospital. His wife, who was not home at the time, told him he should take a nap, according to the documents.

That afternoon Eric Richins reached out to two of his close friends and said his wife had left him his favorite sandwich from a local diner with a note, according to the documents.

He told one friend, “you almost lost me” and described breaking out in hives after taking a bite from the sandwich. He said he had to use his son’s EpiPen and take Benadryl, prosecutors said in the documents.

“Eric Richins told Witness 1 that he had almost died,” the charging documents state. “Witness 1 could hear the fear in Eric Richins’ voice and tell that Eric Richins was scared.”

Eric Richins told the other friend he thought his wife had tried to poison him, prosecutors allege.

The documents state that opioids, including fentanyl, can cause allergic and pseudoallergic reactions, including hives. It also notes that Eric Richins did not have any food allergies.

Prosecutors said in the charging documents that Kouri Richins purchased illicit fentanyl before the Valentine’s Day meal in 2022 and again before his death.

Kouri Richins was also charged Monday with two counts of mortgage fraud, two counts of insurance fraud and three counts of forgery. Prosecutors allege that she was in financial distress at the time of her husband’s death and forged loan applications and fraudulently claimed insurance benefits after he died.

An attorney for her did not immediately respond to an NBC News request for comment on Wednesday. Kouri Richins previously denied the allegations against her and is in custody awaiting trial.

Source link

Children’s author Kouri Richins tried before to kill her husband, new counts allege

A Utah woman who authorities say fatally poisoned her husband in 2022, then published a children’s book about grief, now faces another attempted murder charge for allegedly drugging him weeks earlier, on Valentine’s Day.

Kouri Richins, 33, is accused of killing her husband with a lethal dose of fentanyl at their home in a small mountain town near Park City in March 2022. New charging documents filed Monday by Summit County prosecutors allege that it wasn’t her first attempt on his life.

They detail the perilous months preceding Eric Richins’ death, painting a picture of a paranoid man walking on eggshells around his wife as she made secret financial arrangements and bought illicit drugs that were later found in his system.

Prosecutors have said previously that Kouri Richins, who is being held without bail, may have tried to poison her husband the month before his death, but they didn’t file the additional charges until this week.

Eric and Kouri Richins in an undated photo.

Skye Lazaro

The chilling case of a once-beloved author accused of profiting off her own violent crime has captivated true-crime enthusiasts in the year since she was arrested for her husband’s murder. She had self-published “Are You With Me?” — an illustrated storybook about a father with angel wings watching over his young son after dying.

Once lauded as a heartwarming must-read for any child who’s lost a loved one, the book has since become a powerful tool for prosecutors arguing that Kouri Richins carried out a calculated murder plot and attempted to cover it up.

The mother of three repeatedly called her husband’s death unexpected while promoting her book and was commended by many for helping her sons and other young children process the death of a parent.

Her attorney, Skye Lazaro, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the new charges. Lazaro has argued in early hearings that the evidence against her client was dubious and circumstantial.

Details on possible prior murder try

One bite of his favorite sandwich — left with a note in the front seat of his truck on Valentine’s Day — made Eric Richins, 39, break out in hives and black out, prosecutors allege in the new documents.

His wife had bought the sandwich from a local diner in the city of Kamas the same week she also purchased several dozen fentanyl pills, according to witness statements and deleted text messages that were recovered by police.

The state’s star witness, a housekeeper who claims to have sold her the drugs, told law enforcement that she gave Kouri Richins the pills a couple days before Valentine’s Day. Later that month, Richins allegedly told the housekeeper that the pills she provided weren’t strong enough and asked her to procure stronger fentanyl, according to the new charging documents.

In witness testimony, two friends of Eric Richins recount phone conversations from the day prosecutors are now saying he was first poisoned by his wife of nine years. After injecting himself with his son’s EpiPen and chugging a bottle of Benadryl, he woke from deep sleep and and told a friend, “I think my wife tried to poison me.”

His friends say they noticed fear in his voice as Richins, who had no known allergies, told them that he felt like he was going to die and that his wife might be to blame. Opioids, including fentanyl, can cause severe allergic reactions, including hives.

Details on Eric Richins’ death

A month later, Kouri Richins called 911 in the middle of the night to report that she had found her husband “cold to the touch” at the foot of their bed, according to the police report. He was pronounced dead, and a medical examiner later found five times the lethal dosage of fentanyl in his system.

“One or two pills might be accidental. Twenty — or five times the lethal dose — is not accidental. That is someone who wants Eric dead,” Summit County Chief Prosecutor Patricia Cassell said.

She alleges that Richins slipped the synthetic opioid into a Moscow mule cocktail she made for her husband amid marital disputes and fights over a multimillion-dollar mansion she purchased as an investment.

Eric Richins’ family believes Kouri Richins spiked his drink the night he died, according to “48 Hours.”

Possible motive?

Years before her husband’s death, Kouri Richins opened numerous life insurance policies on Eric Richins without his knowledge, with benefits totaling nearly $2 million, prosecutors allege.

Kouri Richins was also charged Monday with mortgage fraud and insurance fraud for allegedly forging loan applications and fraudulently claiming insurance benefits after his death.

Prosecutors argue she was in financial distress when her husband died and say she mistakenly believed she would inherit his estate under terms of their prenuptial agreement. Newly released documents indicated she had a negative bank account balance, owed lenders more than $1.8 million and was being sued by a creditor.

Charging documents indicate Eric Richins met with a divorce attorney and an estate planner in October 2020, a month after he discovered that his wife made some major financial decisions without his knowledge. The couple’s prenuptial agreement only allowed Kouri Richins to profit off her husband’s successful stone masonry business if he died while they were still married.

Utah law prohibits anyone convicted of murder from profiting financially off their crime.

Maternal murder accomplice?

The case took another turn when a newly released court affidavit revealed last week that investigators believe Kouri Richins’ mother might also have been involved in his death.

A Summit County Sheriff’s investigator wrote in the affidavit it is “possible” that Lisa Darden was “involved in planning and orchestrating” Eric Richins’ death.

Investigators discovered Darden had been living with a female romantic partner who died suddenly in 2006. An autopsy determined the woman died of an overdose of oxycodone, the affidavit said. The woman struggled with drug abuse, but at the time of her death she wasn’t in recovery, which the investigator said would “likely rule out the possibility of an accidental overdose.” Darden had become the recipient of the partner’s estate shortly before her death, the affidavit said.

The affidavit also said conversations “have been found on Kouri’s phone showing disdain for Eric on Lisa’s part.”

“Based on Lisa Darden’s proximity to her partner’s suspicious overdose death, and her relationship with Kouri, it is possible she was involved in planning and orchestrating Eric’s death,” the affidavit states.

No charges have been filed against Lisa Darden.

Source link

Wife allegedly tried to kill her Air Force husband – but he claims he caught her trying to poison his coffee

An Arizona woman is accused of trying to kill her husband by poisoning his coffee. Melody Feliciano Johnson’s husband, who is in the Air Force, was suspicious of his wife and did not drink the coffee she had been prepping for him, according to court documents.

The couple, who have a child together, were going through a divorce while living in Germany. The husband, whose name was redacted from the police report, noticed that the coffee his wife prepped at night for him to drink in the morning started tasting bad. He told police he is the only one who drinks coffee from the machine.

He told investigators he bought pool chlorine testing strips and started testing his faucet water and the water in his coffee and found while the faucet water was normal, the coffee had high levels of chlorine.

He stopped drinking the coffee but didn’t immediately report his wife while they were in Germany. Instead, when they moved to Arizona on June 28, he decided to set up cameras in their new home on Davis Mountain Air Force Base.

On a video he recorded, he saw Johnson pour something into the water reservoir, according to court documents. He filed a police report with the Tuscon Police Department but there was no follow-up, so he bought additional cameras – placing one in the laundry room, where the bleach was kept.

One video showed his wife allegedly walking from the laundry room to the coffee maker. Another video showed her allegedly pouring bleach into a smaller container then walking it over to the coffee maker.

After the husband collected multiple videos to make his police report, police detained Johnson at home. Investigators searched the home with a warrant and found a liquid in the coffee maker that smelled like bleach. They also found a container that smelled like bleach.

Johnson faces charges of attempted first-degree murder, aggravated assault and adding harmful substances to food, drink or medicine.

Last month, a high bond was requested for Johnson, since she has a house and family in the Philippines and may be a flight risk, according to the documents.

Her bond was set for $250,000 and she pleaded not guilty during her arraignment on Friday, according to AZ Family.

Caitlin O’Kane

Caitlin O’Kane is a digital content producer covering trending stories for CBS News and its good news brand, The Uplift.

Source link

Arizona woman accused of pouring bleach into coffee of Air Force husband over period of months

An Arizona woman is accused of using bleach to poison the coffee of her estranged husband, a member of the U.S. Air Force, over a period of several months, according to court documents.

Melody Johnson was arrested on July 18 after her husband submitted video to police allegedly showing her pouring the toxic substance into his coffee machine.

The husband, who is not named in court documents, started noticing that his coffee tasted badly at the end of March 2023 while stationed in Germany.

Johnson and her husband are going through a divorce but lived together with their child.

The husband continued drinking the coffee for two to three weeks before using chemical testing strips to test the water in his faucet, which came back normal. When he tested the water in his coffee pot it showed “high levels of chlorine,” court documents state.

In May 2023, the husband set up a camera in the home which showed Johnson “pouring something into his coffee pot.” He pretended to drink the coffee until the family went back to the U.S. on June 28 because he didn’t want to file a report in Germany, according to the complaint.

Pima County Adult Detention Center in Arizona.Google Maps

While temporarily stationed at a hotel in Davis Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, the husband set up another camera which again allegedly showed Johnson “walk to his coffee maker and pour something into his water reservoir,” on July 5. The husband filed a police report the next day but was told by officers that it wasn’t clear what Johnson was pouring into his coffee pot.

When the family moved to permanent housing on July 7, the husband set up more cameras that looked like fire alarms to the ceiling, according to court documents. One was placed in the laundry room where bleach was kept, another was placed right over the coffee machine and a third was placed to show walking between those two areas.

After collecting multiple videos allegedly showing Johnson “take bleach, pour it into a container and then walk over and pour it into the coffee maker,” the husband went back to police, court documents state.

The husband told police he believes his estranged wife was trying to kill him to collect death benefits.

Johnson was arrested by the Tucson Police Department and charged with attempted first degree homicide, attempted aggravated assault and adding poison to food or drink. She’s being held at the Pima County Adult Detention Center, per online records.

A search warrant was executed at the home that recovered a container in Johnson’s bedroom under her bathroom sink that smelled like bleach and had some liquid inside it. There was also liquid inside the coffee maker that smelled like bleach, according to court documents.

It’s not clear if Johnson has an attorney at this time.

Source link

Husband of Georgia mother-of-four who vanished is arrested and charged with murder

The husband of a Georgia mother-of-four who had been missing for more than two weeks was arrested after deputies found her body, the Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office said Saturday.

Donell Anderson was taken into custody Friday night in connection with the disappearance and death of Imani Roberson. She was last seen July 16 in Conyers after leaving her mother’s house. Her vehicle was later found torched and in pieces in the Atlanta area, about 24 miles away.

Images provided by her family to NBC News affiliate WXIA in Atlanta appeared to show charred pieces of her vehicle still littering the site where it was found. And video from a neighbor’s doorbell camera, also provided by her family to WXIA, appeared to show the vehicle pulling out of Roberson’s driveway the evening she went missing.

Anderson was arrested at an apartment in Atlanta and charged with felony murder, malice murder, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm, Sheriff Eric Levett said at a news conference. He said there will be more arrests.

“This investigation is still ongoing and I can assure you that another arrest will be made,” the sheriff told reporters.

On the day Roberson went missing, she and her four children had visited her mother for a family dinner. Roberson and two of her children, ages 3 and 1 month, had left to go back home, her family and authorities said.

The other two children, 11 and 9, stayed at the grandmother’s house, according to the sheriff.

The following day, Roberson’s mother, Clarine Andujar-White, called her daughter repeatedly but she did not answer. She went by the home and found no one there, authorities said. Andujar-White filed a missing person’s report on July 17.

All four children are safe, authorities said.

Andujar-White said it has been a “very difficult day” for the family.

“When I couldn’t reach Imani almost three weeks ago, I knew something was wrong,” she said. “Late last night my worst fears were confirmed and our family is devastated.”

Roberson’s father, Ronald Acklin, said “this is not the news we wanted to have.”

“I said my goodbyes to my daughter yesterday,” he said through tears.

The sheriff’s office is still asking anyone with information to come forward.

“Put yourself in the shoes of this family. Put yourself in the shoes of this mother and father who not only just lost a daughter, they lost a daughter that has four children that’s young as 1 month old,” the sheriff said. “If you have a heart and you know something … you would call and give us information.”

Minyvonne Burke

Source link

Malala Yousafzai has playful “Barbie” moment with husband

Malala Yousafzai has playful “Barbie” moment with husband – CBS News

Watch CBS News

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai had some fun with a “Barbie”-inspired social media post. The renowned women’s rights activist shared a photo showing her and her husband, Asser Malik, striking a pose inside a life-size Barbie box. In her caption, she humorously wrote, “This Barbie has a Nobel Prize — he’s just Ken.” Malik joined in the fun by responding with a movie reference: “I’m Kenough.”

Source link