WEBVTT - #349 Maggie Freleng with Gwen Graham 0:00:02.040 --> 0:00:05.960 A warning for listeners, this episode contains discussion of suicide. 0:00:06.240 --> 0:00:16.520 Please listen with caution and care. In nineteen eighty seven, 0:00:16.640 --> 0:00:19.200 Gwen Graham was twenty three years old and had high 0:00:19.280 --> 0:00:22.160 hopes and dreams for her future. She was a natural 0:00:22.200 --> 0:00:26.680 caretaker and wanted to be a veterinarian. After moving across 0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:28.760 the country to Michigan, she went to work at a 0:00:28.840 --> 0:00:30.600 nursing home called Alpine Manor. 0:00:31.120 --> 0:00:32.080 Gwen liked it there. 0:00:32.320 --> 0:00:38.640 She enjoyed her coworkers and loved helping people. Gwen men 0:00:38.640 --> 0:00:40.920 and a woman named Kathy who also worked at the 0:00:41.000 --> 0:00:44.640 nursing home, and they started a relationship. During that time, 0:00:44.800 --> 0:00:47.960 some of the patients that Alpine Manor passed away. It 0:00:48.040 --> 0:00:51.199 wasn't unusual though, Many of the residents were elderly or 0:00:51.240 --> 0:00:56.120 in poor health and died of natural causes. But months later, 0:00:56.320 --> 0:00:59.440 after Gwen had broken up with Kathy, she learned that 0:00:59.520 --> 0:01:02.120 Kathy had accused her of doing the unthinkable. 0:01:05.080 --> 0:01:06.960 Let's say, I know the police are coming down to 0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:10.760 talk to me. They told me they said, your extra 0:01:10.880 --> 0:01:13.240 friend said that you killed somebody at an earthy home. 0:01:13.280 --> 0:01:14.760 And I laughed at him. I said, I can't believe 0:01:14.760 --> 0:01:19.000 he came down here for that bullshion. But then when 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:22.360 they charged me with four more, that's when I started 0:01:22.400 --> 0:01:29.080 losing it. My name is Gwendolin Graham. I've been incarcerated 0:01:29.760 --> 0:01:33.920 in Michigan for thirty five years for something that I 0:01:33.959 --> 0:01:36.399 didn't do, that didn't even happen. 0:01:39.440 --> 0:01:42.520 From LoVa for good. This is wrongful conviction with Maggie 0:01:42.560 --> 0:02:05.920 Freeling today. Gwen Graham Gwendolyn Gail Graham was born in 0:02:05.960 --> 0:02:10.280 Santa Maria, California, on August sixth, nineteen sixty three, to 0:02:10.440 --> 0:02:12.440 Mac Wade and Linda Ruth Graham. 0:02:13.840 --> 0:02:19.040 I had a normal upbringing. I went to a public school. 0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:24.279 I have a younger sister, Corina, and an older brother, Robert. 0:02:27.240 --> 0:02:30.000 We were always at the beach. My dad used to 0:02:30.000 --> 0:02:32.560 take us down there. He had bought an old vintage truck, 0:02:33.320 --> 0:02:35.160 and those kids would be on the back of the 0:02:35.200 --> 0:02:37.640 truck or like on the sideboards and stuff, and he'd 0:02:37.639 --> 0:02:40.000 be driving around the dunes. He'd let us kids drive, 0:02:40.120 --> 0:02:41.840 so we felt grown up and everything. 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:46.520 Gwen and her siblings were growing up in a farm 0:02:46.800 --> 0:02:48.080 just a few miles from the beach. 0:02:49.240 --> 0:02:51.440 We have chickens in the backyard, and it was fun 0:02:51.440 --> 0:02:53.760 to have the little chicks when they be born. We 0:02:53.919 --> 0:02:57.440 turned the eggs in the incubator and stuff. We had 0:02:57.440 --> 0:02:59.520 a ducks. They would follow you around. That's like a 0:02:59.520 --> 0:03:00.480 puppy dough would. 0:03:03.360 --> 0:03:06.760 Gwen's younger sister, Karina remembers how Gwen loved and cared 0:03:06.760 --> 0:03:08.200 for these animals. 0:03:08.880 --> 0:03:13.720 Watching her take care of her animals and her little pig, Petunia. 0:03:13.919 --> 0:03:17.320 She loved that little pig. You know. She had a 0:03:17.360 --> 0:03:21.600 dog named Mitzi and she loved that little animal. So 0:03:21.680 --> 0:03:23.800 she was always very compassionate. 0:03:29.840 --> 0:03:32.880 But while Gwen cared for everything and everyone around her, 0:03:33.240 --> 0:03:34.800 she was struggling with herself. 0:03:36.920 --> 0:03:39.440 I didn't really know what to ask her what was 0:03:39.440 --> 0:03:41.840 going on. I felt like there was something. It just 0:03:41.880 --> 0:03:47.320 made me feel real different, probably around seven six and seven, 0:03:47.520 --> 0:03:51.400 because I liked girls, and I knew if that was 0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:53.160 I knew the end that there was something wrong with that, 0:03:53.200 --> 0:03:55.400 because they're supposed to like little boys and I didn't 0:03:55.800 --> 0:03:58.200 like little girls. And I didn't know what it was. 0:03:58.320 --> 0:04:00.600 I just knew that it was different, and I kept 0:04:00.600 --> 0:04:00.920 it to. 0:04:00.920 --> 0:04:07.000 Myself, especially because her family was pretty conservative. They were religious, 0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:09.920 and in their world, being gay was taboo. 0:04:11.320 --> 0:04:14.120 My parents had put us in a private Christian school 0:04:14.680 --> 0:04:17.400 and My uncle was a head administrator there, and I 0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:21.440 remember at some point there was a discussion about homosexuality 0:04:21.480 --> 0:04:24.440 and it was not certainly not in a favorable light. 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:27.120 And I realized at that time that that was me. 0:04:28.400 --> 0:04:30.640 And I had a friend at school and I went 0:04:30.680 --> 0:04:33.120 and talked to her and I told her I think 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:36.240 I'm gay, and she told her parents about it, and 0:04:36.800 --> 0:04:39.240 I believe they contacted mind that's how they found out. 0:04:40.320 --> 0:04:43.240 Gwen doesn't remember much about the discussion she eventually had 0:04:43.240 --> 0:04:46.640 with her parents about her sexuality, but she does remember 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:47.680 the aftermath. 0:04:48.720 --> 0:04:52.760 The philosophy or whatever the means, was just the prey 0:04:52.800 --> 0:04:55.960 it out of you, I guess. My uncle kept me 0:04:56.000 --> 0:04:58.719 after school for I think about three weeks, and we 0:04:58.839 --> 0:05:01.120 prayed on it and just prayed about it, talked about it, 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:04.680 and it just never went away. It just didn't happen 0:05:04.800 --> 0:05:06.880 like that for me, and that just made me feel 0:05:06.920 --> 0:05:09.760 like there was even more wrong with me because that 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:10.400 didn't work. 0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:13.600 So Gwen kept to herself after that. 0:05:15.600 --> 0:05:18.520 There used to be, uh, these really really tall trees 0:05:18.560 --> 0:05:21.800 across the street from us, and he used to crawl 0:05:21.760 --> 0:05:24.039 away into the top of these really tall trees and 0:05:24.360 --> 0:05:26.599 look over like the entire city. I felt like I 0:05:26.720 --> 0:05:30.719 was on top of the world. That's where I would go. 0:05:30.880 --> 0:05:34.720 So I always would go buy some place to be alone. 0:05:35.880 --> 0:05:37.760 She was pretty much closed off. 0:05:38.720 --> 0:05:40.520 This is Gwen's sister Karina. Again. 0:05:41.760 --> 0:05:45.400 As far as being gay, that's not something that she 0:05:45.560 --> 0:05:49.640 and I really talked a whole lot about. I know 0:05:49.760 --> 0:05:51.920 that she had her struggles with it. 0:05:55.240 --> 0:05:57.200 I would decide I was just gonna go ahead and 0:05:57.760 --> 0:06:01.000 pretend like I wasn't and just try to be what 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:05.480 I was supposed to be date date guys, which that 0:06:05.640 --> 0:06:07.960 was like super rare. Most of the time. I just 0:06:08.000 --> 0:06:09.599 pre didn't like I didn't want to date. It didn't 0:06:09.600 --> 0:06:14.520 bother me, and I just just ignored it. When you know, 0:06:14.520 --> 0:06:16.400 I didn't discuss it. They didn't ask. 0:06:23.760 --> 0:06:26.640 When she was in the second grade, Gwen's family moved 0:06:26.640 --> 0:06:30.160 from California to Texas. She lived there until she was 0:06:30.200 --> 0:06:33.440 about sixteen. That's when her parents split up and she 0:06:33.480 --> 0:06:37.719 went back to California to live with her dad. In California, 0:06:37.800 --> 0:06:43.520 Gwen found herself becoming more accepting of her sexuality. 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:48.040 I became acquainted with people that were comfortable with that lifestyle. 0:06:48.200 --> 0:06:51.000 They were out in the open about it, and it 0:06:51.040 --> 0:06:53.400 made me comfortable to be out in the open about 0:06:53.400 --> 0:06:55.960 it and not be as a you know, like ashamed, 0:06:56.120 --> 0:07:00.719 outwardly ashamed, publicly ashamed about what I was. I accepted it. 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:04.400 That's who I am, and that makes me happy. There's 0:07:04.400 --> 0:07:06.120 really nothing I can do about. I can choose to 0:07:06.160 --> 0:07:09.600 be miserable and the rest of my life and live 0:07:09.680 --> 0:07:13.840 for everybody else, or just live for me and just 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:14.800 be okay with it. 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:19.840 When did you find out that Gwen was gay? 0:07:21.040 --> 0:07:24.600 That wasn't my later teen years. I guess I was 0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:29.680 like many fifteen. She was sixteen. Then I found out, 0:07:30.280 --> 0:07:32.120 and I just I didn't have a problem with it. 0:07:32.120 --> 0:07:35.520 It didn't change how I felt about her. I've always 0:07:35.560 --> 0:07:38.000 loved her just for who she is. 0:07:46.280 --> 0:07:49.080 Gwen moved back to Texas a few years later. She 0:07:49.200 --> 0:07:52.200 soon met a woman from Michigan and the two started dating. 0:07:52.600 --> 0:07:55.600 They decided to move to Michigan together, but when Gwen 0:07:55.680 --> 0:07:59.720 got there, she realized the change was not what she anticipated. 0:08:00.560 --> 0:08:02.280 She had told me she had a really good job 0:08:02.960 --> 0:08:06.560 either four. I think it was Ford, one of our companies, 0:08:06.720 --> 0:08:08.560 and come to find out, she did not. When I 0:08:08.600 --> 0:08:13.440 got here, she was on public assistance and felt like 0:08:13.560 --> 0:08:17.080 the state owed hood living and she just wasn't going 0:08:17.120 --> 0:08:20.360 to work anymore, so I walked into a really bad situation. 0:08:21.240 --> 0:08:23.280 Did you start working at the nursing home right away? 0:08:23.920 --> 0:08:27.680 Yes? I did. I took the first job. I hit 0:08:27.720 --> 0:08:28.600 the ground run. 0:08:28.360 --> 0:08:31.560 And Gwen took a job at Alpine Manor Nursing Home 0:08:31.760 --> 0:08:37.480 in Walker, a suburb of Grand Rapids. Alpine Manor Nursing 0:08:37.520 --> 0:08:40.720 Home was a safe haven for its residents and its workers. 0:08:41.440 --> 0:08:45.960 Many people who identified as queer or LGBTQ worked there. 0:08:46.520 --> 0:08:48.920 It was a comfortable environment where they felt free to 0:08:49.080 --> 0:08:52.520 joke around with each other and pursue all kinds of relationships. 0:08:53.600 --> 0:08:55.240 I think it was mostly the women. There was a 0:08:55.240 --> 0:08:58.280 few men there. It was an intimidating universe. So I 0:08:58.400 --> 0:09:00.360 was just really shy. 0:09:00.920 --> 0:09:04.360 But soon Gwen made friends and started socializing. A woman 0:09:04.440 --> 0:09:07.960 named Don became one of Gwen's first friends. Don's roommate 0:09:08.000 --> 0:09:10.880 also worked there at the nursing home. Her name was 0:09:11.000 --> 0:09:12.080 Kathy Wood. 0:09:13.240 --> 0:09:15.880 So she became a friend. What did you like about her? 0:09:16.280 --> 0:09:17.360 What was your friendship like? 0:09:18.160 --> 0:09:23.040 Well, Kathy was very intelligent, a lot of fun to 0:09:23.080 --> 0:09:23.640 be around. 0:09:25.720 --> 0:09:28.520 At the time, both Gwen and Kathy were getting fed 0:09:28.600 --> 0:09:31.280 up with their respective partners. 0:09:31.040 --> 0:09:33.400 Don had lost her job and she was just sitting 0:09:33.400 --> 0:09:36.360 around the house doing nothing, and my Griffert didn't want 0:09:36.360 --> 0:09:38.200 to work. She didn't want to do anything, she didn't 0:09:38.200 --> 0:09:40.400 want to move forward in life, and I just felt 0:09:40.440 --> 0:09:44.880 like over time her and I decided that well, she 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:47.400 didn't want to support Don anymore, and I didn't want 0:09:47.400 --> 0:09:50.520 to support the person I was with. So I'm moving 0:09:50.600 --> 0:09:52.480 with Kathy. After she made Don leave. 0:09:55.600 --> 0:09:58.439 They started out his roommates. Gwen was seeing another woman 0:09:58.480 --> 0:10:01.079 who worked at the nursing home, and Kathy was married 0:10:01.080 --> 0:10:04.400 to her husband Ken, but Kathy and Ken were going 0:10:04.400 --> 0:10:05.640 through a rocky time. 0:10:06.640 --> 0:10:08.960 She said that her husband was coming over that night 0:10:09.000 --> 0:10:12.040 to pick up some of his things, and I said, well, 0:10:12.040 --> 0:10:13.520 I'm going out on the eight with a girl, and 0:10:13.559 --> 0:10:15.880 so I went over to the girl's house. And I 0:10:15.960 --> 0:10:19.000 wasn't over there at the girl's house very long, and 0:10:19.280 --> 0:10:22.120 Kathy had called and she was hysterical and saying that 0:10:22.920 --> 0:10:26.200 Ken was going to hurt her and please hurry back, 0:10:26.280 --> 0:10:29.040 and she was just really hysterical. I said, yeah, I'm coming. 0:10:30.080 --> 0:10:33.160 Gwen headed over ready to go to battle for her friend, 0:10:34.840 --> 0:10:35.319 but she. 0:10:35.320 --> 0:10:37.680 Stops me at the door and she's tea saying everything's okay, 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:40.920 everything's okay. So I walked in and Ken was sitting there. 0:10:41.240 --> 0:10:43.960 He stood up and he introduced himself. He was really polite, 0:10:44.440 --> 0:10:47.720 really well spoken, and we sat down and had a 0:10:47.720 --> 0:10:51.760 friendly conversation. And the whole time I'm thinking about the 0:10:51.800 --> 0:10:56.080 phone conversation and what happened is that. 0:10:57.720 --> 0:11:00.800 After Ken left, Gwen asked Kathy what that was all about. 0:11:01.240 --> 0:11:04.880 Kathy tried to explain, but things weren't adding up. 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:08.360 It didn't take me too long to figure out that 0:11:08.520 --> 0:11:11.880 she had done that because she was it was manipulative 0:11:12.320 --> 0:11:14.160 and she just didn't want me out with the girl. 0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:16.960 I want to ask you about that, like, about Kathy 0:11:17.080 --> 0:11:20.080 being manipulative and a liar. Is this like one of 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:22.040 the first times you started to realize. 0:11:21.679 --> 0:11:26.440 That that wasn't the first incident. I thought, well, it 0:11:26.480 --> 0:11:28.960 can't really be that bad. I mean, the girl likes 0:11:29.000 --> 0:11:30.920 me and stuff, and we ended up being together. 0:11:33.320 --> 0:11:36.040 Gwen really liked Kathy, but as time went on, she 0:11:36.080 --> 0:11:40.440 started noticing that Kathy was becoming increasingly jealous and manipulative. 0:11:41.600 --> 0:11:46.679 Over time, thanks to God to be more vicious, more calculated, 0:11:47.360 --> 0:11:51.040 and not really good motive. Sometime just took the minute 0:11:51.040 --> 0:11:53.000 to sit down and think about the thing that she 0:11:53.080 --> 0:11:54.760 did figure out why she did him. 0:11:56.440 --> 0:11:58.600 Gwen remembers one day she was with her good friend 0:11:58.640 --> 0:12:01.679 Lisa outside of the nurse home waiting for Kathy to 0:12:01.679 --> 0:12:04.880 get off work. When Kathy saw them together, she was 0:12:04.880 --> 0:12:06.800 suspicious and vindictive. 0:12:08.240 --> 0:12:11.880 She ended up calling Lisa's cousin and telling him that 0:12:11.920 --> 0:12:15.800 Lisa had confided in her that the baby that they 0:12:15.840 --> 0:12:18.200 had together was not his, that she had had an 0:12:18.200 --> 0:12:21.960 affair on him. She just really visious stuff like it. 0:12:21.960 --> 0:12:24.840 It wasn't true, but this caused the conflict with him, 0:12:24.880 --> 0:12:27.000 and I do believe they ended up not together. Her 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:29.480 and her husband ended up splitting up over it. 0:12:31.880 --> 0:12:35.960 If I was to pick a partner for Gwen, she 0:12:36.080 --> 0:12:39.800 would not be absolutely not be one that I would 0:12:39.840 --> 0:12:44.000 choose for her. Some of the things that she'd done 0:12:44.040 --> 0:12:48.320 to Gwen, you just don't do to somebody that you 0:12:48.360 --> 0:12:49.840 say you care about on your love. 0:13:01.920 --> 0:13:04.880 Gwen dated Kathy for nine months before they split up. 0:13:05.880 --> 0:13:10.920 I just got tired of all the the manipulating, the games, 0:13:11.600 --> 0:13:13.959 and I just couldn't do it anymore. I just wanted 0:13:13.960 --> 0:13:15.199 to be happy. I didn't want to be in this 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:18.079 situation anymore, and I rubbed her. 0:13:19.000 --> 0:13:21.840 Gwen and Cathy agreed to remain friends after the breakup. 0:13:22.480 --> 0:13:25.920 Gwen then left Alpine Manor for another job and started 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:29.320 seriously dating another woman from the nursing home named Heather. 0:13:29.920 --> 0:13:32.400 The two decided to move out of Michigan and out 0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:35.480 of respect for their friendship. Gwen told Kathy the. 0:13:35.440 --> 0:13:39.080 News, and I thought that everything was okay. I told her, 0:13:39.120 --> 0:13:42.800 I'm going to Texas and I'm going with Heather, and 0:13:42.880 --> 0:13:44.880 she seemed to be okay with everything. 0:13:44.720 --> 0:13:46.600 So you thought everything was fine. So you and Heather 0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:49.520 go to Texas and then tell me what happens. 0:13:50.960 --> 0:13:52.800 Last thing I know, the police are coming down to 0:13:52.880 --> 0:13:56.800 talk to me about her, saying that I killed people 0:13:56.800 --> 0:13:58.760 at a nursing home or killed a person up to 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:00.880 nursing home as I was started out. 0:14:04.240 --> 0:14:07.280 In August of nineteen eighty seven, around the same time 0:14:07.360 --> 0:14:10.480 that Gwen moved away with Heather, Kathy told her now 0:14:10.520 --> 0:14:16.040 ex husband Ken a shocking tale. Between January and April 0:14:16.040 --> 0:14:18.640 that year, while Gwen and Kathy were still working at 0:14:18.640 --> 0:14:22.560 Alpine Manor, a number of the patients passed away. Among 0:14:22.600 --> 0:14:26.200 them were sixty year old Marguerite Chambers, May Mason and 0:14:26.240 --> 0:14:29.640 Bell Burkhard, who were both in their seventies, and Edith 0:14:29.640 --> 0:14:33.400 Cook and Myrtle Luce, who were in their nineties. Like 0:14:33.480 --> 0:14:35.920 most of the residents at the nursing home, these women 0:14:36.000 --> 0:14:39.800 were either elderly, ill, or both, and their causes of 0:14:39.840 --> 0:14:43.880 death were listed as natural, such as Alzheimer's and heart attack. 0:14:45.440 --> 0:14:48.800 But Kathy told her ex husband these five women hadn't 0:14:48.840 --> 0:14:52.160 died of natural causes. She told him she and Gwen 0:14:52.240 --> 0:14:54.760 had plotted to murder the women as part of a 0:14:54.840 --> 0:14:58.840 lover's pact that would bind them together for life. Kathy 0:14:58.880 --> 0:15:01.760 painted Gwen as the mass remind of the crime, saying 0:15:01.760 --> 0:15:05.000 that she herself had acted as a lookout while Gwen 0:15:05.320 --> 0:15:10.720 killed the patients by smothering them. Over a year later, 0:15:10.800 --> 0:15:14.960 in October nineteen eighty eight, Ken went to authorities and 0:15:15.040 --> 0:15:18.720 told them what Kathy had said. His report launched an 0:15:18.960 --> 0:15:22.720 entirely new investigation into these women's deaths. Three of the 0:15:22.760 --> 0:15:26.360 bodies had been cremated, but the medical examiner, doctor Stephen Cole, 0:15:26.800 --> 0:15:30.920 had the other two exhumed in order to re examine them. 0:15:31.320 --> 0:15:34.320 Upon this second look, doctor Cole determined that these two 0:15:34.360 --> 0:15:38.320 women had died from asphyxiation. He proceeded to change the 0:15:38.320 --> 0:15:42.120 manners of death on both their death certificates, from natural 0:15:42.160 --> 0:15:47.680 causes to homicide. Quickly, the media started buzzing about the 0:15:47.720 --> 0:15:52.720 case in salacious detail. Newspapers seized on Gwen and Kathy's sexuality, 0:15:53.080 --> 0:15:56.800 depicting them as a pair of lesbian serial killers. 0:15:57.480 --> 0:16:00.800 And it was in the paper and they were saying 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:04.840 that people were killed at the nursing home. And I 0:16:04.960 --> 0:16:07.400 wasn't too worried about it. I never really thought it 0:16:07.440 --> 0:16:10.640 was going to go anywhere. So when they showed up 0:16:10.640 --> 0:16:12.720 at the door, when they came to talk to me, 0:16:12.800 --> 0:16:15.880 that that was sound of ridiculous. They told me, they said, 0:16:15.960 --> 0:16:18.440 your ext girlfriend said that you killed somebody at a 0:16:18.520 --> 0:16:20.600 nursing home. And I left him. I couldn't believe, I said, 0:16:20.600 --> 0:16:22.280 I can't believe he came down here for that bullshit. 0:16:23.280 --> 0:16:27.440 But on December fourth, nineteen eighty eight, Gwen was arrested 0:16:27.440 --> 0:16:32.960 for murder. When she was arrested and brought back to Michigan, 0:16:33.440 --> 0:16:36.320 Gwen still thought things would be cleared up, that the 0:16:36.320 --> 0:16:39.200 police would realize Kathy was lying and that she would 0:16:39.200 --> 0:16:44.800 be released, but that didn't happen. The police and prosecutors 0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:48.720 then used doctor Cole's conclusions to bolster the story that 0:16:48.800 --> 0:16:52.480 Kathy was telling, saying that the other three women also 0:16:52.960 --> 0:16:54.560 must have died by asphyxiation. 0:16:56.200 --> 0:16:58.800 When they charged me with four I think four or more. 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:02.640 That's when I started losing it. I couldn't believe that 0:17:02.720 --> 0:17:03.960 it got as far as it did. 0:17:19.080 --> 0:17:23.520 This episode is underwritten by AIG, a leading global insurance company. 0:17:23.960 --> 0:17:27.960 AIG is committed to corporate social responsibility and to making 0:17:28.000 --> 0:17:30.679 a positive difference in the lives of its employees and 0:17:30.760 --> 0:17:33.720 in the communities where they work and live. In light 0:17:33.760 --> 0:17:36.719 of the compelling need for pro bono legal assistance, and 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:41.200 in recognition of AIG's commitment to criminal and social justice reform, 0:17:41.520 --> 0:17:45.520 the AIG pro Bono Program provides free legal services and 0:17:45.600 --> 0:18:00.160 other support to underrepresented communities and individuals. Gwen's trial star 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:03.920 in September of nineteen eighty nine. The state's case was 0:18:04.000 --> 0:18:08.800 presented by Assistant Kent County Prosecutor David Scheiber. He started 0:18:08.840 --> 0:18:12.040 by telling the jury about the alleged lover's packed that 0:18:12.160 --> 0:18:13.560 Kathy had described. 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:19.560 This idea of the lover's packed, this lover's tryst, this 0:18:20.520 --> 0:18:27.080 homicidal lesbian duo was extremely shocking and salacious. At the time. 0:18:28.119 --> 0:18:31.879 This is Elizabeth Cole, clinical fellow at the Michigan Innocence Clinic. 0:18:32.760 --> 0:18:36.479 It was no secret at the time that Gwen was 0:18:36.600 --> 0:18:40.200 in a relationship with another woman, that she had dated 0:18:40.240 --> 0:18:44.600 other women in the past, and that she identified as gay, 0:18:44.680 --> 0:18:50.199 and that played a really large part of trial. It 0:18:50.280 --> 0:18:52.840 was sort of central to the prosecutor's theme. 0:18:53.320 --> 0:18:56.440 And that's how the prosecutor targeted his audience. 0:18:57.600 --> 0:19:01.439 I mean, Grand Rapids is beautiful, but it is not 0:19:03.040 --> 0:19:06.120 the most liberal of towns, especially not in the eighties. 0:19:07.040 --> 0:19:10.000 As Gwen has told me before, there's a church on 0:19:10.040 --> 0:19:13.280 every street corner, and we have seen in the transcripts 0:19:13.680 --> 0:19:17.360 this intense undertone of homophobia throughout. 0:19:18.040 --> 0:19:21.400 Schiper used that to his full advantage. When questioning Gwen 0:19:21.560 --> 0:19:22.600 on the stand. 0:19:23.200 --> 0:19:27.040 The prosecutor asks her about her relationship with Kathy and 0:19:27.480 --> 0:19:32.879 whether or not that relationship was satisfying. And there was 0:19:32.960 --> 0:19:36.040 a lot of questions about whether or not Gwen had 0:19:36.040 --> 0:19:40.040 attempted to seduce other women, and whether or not Gwen 0:19:40.440 --> 0:19:44.119 had been faithful to Kathy in this relationship. And I 0:19:44.160 --> 0:19:47.399 think that all of these little things really tried to 0:19:47.520 --> 0:19:53.400 show how the prosecution was trying to portray Gwen, which 0:19:53.480 --> 0:19:57.520 was this controlling, corruptive individual who has no sense of 0:19:57.600 --> 0:20:01.960 morals and who is a day from every aspect. 0:20:03.080 --> 0:20:05.720 They spent more time to just going over details of 0:20:05.760 --> 0:20:09.040 my sex life, saying it was kinky. And I was 0:20:09.040 --> 0:20:12.800 thinking if it was my person, my grandma, that had 0:20:12.840 --> 0:20:15.480 been killed and they were talking about that, I would 0:20:15.480 --> 0:20:17.600 have been out in the courtroom and probably would have 0:20:17.600 --> 0:20:19.040 set up said well, the fun does I got to 0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:21.480 do with anything? Can we get back to, you know, 0:20:21.800 --> 0:20:23.400 my grandma? 0:20:27.080 --> 0:20:30.240 But the actual evidence against Gwen was thin. It was 0:20:30.280 --> 0:20:33.600 a story that started with Kathy. And before trial, when 0:20:33.640 --> 0:20:35.960 Gwen and Kathy were in holding cells next to each other, 0:20:36.359 --> 0:20:39.320 Gwen says she had a chance to ask Kathy about it. 0:20:41.400 --> 0:20:45.639 I said, why are you doing this? She said, because 0:20:45.640 --> 0:20:47.800 you hurt me, because you lied to me, because you 0:20:47.920 --> 0:20:50.480 cheated on me. I said, there is nothing I can 0:20:50.600 --> 0:20:54.119 do to change that, and she started She started crying 0:20:54.160 --> 0:20:56.600 and saying, but I loved you, and started banging her 0:20:56.640 --> 0:20:59.080 head on the wall in there, and so I was 0:20:59.119 --> 0:21:05.119 calling the guard and telling them she's over there hurting herself. 0:21:06.320 --> 0:21:09.199 After that, Gwen thought that Kathy would come clean on 0:21:09.240 --> 0:21:09.719 the stand. 0:21:10.840 --> 0:21:13.639 That's not what she did at all. I don't know 0:21:13.680 --> 0:21:17.960 what happened to her between that and getting on the stand. 0:21:18.000 --> 0:21:21.760 All of a sudden, she was totally composed and nailing 0:21:21.760 --> 0:21:22.439 me to the cloth. 0:21:29.320 --> 0:21:32.480 Kathy testified as to what she told Ken and eventually 0:21:32.480 --> 0:21:36.119 told police that she and Gwen plotted to kill the 0:21:36.200 --> 0:21:40.800 women in a lover's pact. The medical examiner, doctor Cole, 0:21:41.280 --> 0:21:44.080 testified that the cause of death for the two women 0:21:44.160 --> 0:21:48.760 he re examined was asphyxiation, and finally, witnesses from the 0:21:48.840 --> 0:21:52.280 nursing home said they had heard Gwen and Kathy making 0:21:52.400 --> 0:21:57.919 jokes about killing patients. So what did the defense do 0:21:58.000 --> 0:21:59.600 at trial? How did they try and refute this? 0:22:00.240 --> 0:22:03.120 So the defense really tried, I think, to poke holes 0:22:03.160 --> 0:22:05.919 in every space that they could. 0:22:06.480 --> 0:22:10.000 Gwen's defense attorney, James Piazza, started with Kathy. 0:22:10.800 --> 0:22:15.040 The defense really tried to show that this was nothing 0:22:15.119 --> 0:22:20.560 more than a story made up by Kathy, but he 0:22:20.600 --> 0:22:22.960 was limited in what he was able to do. He 0:22:23.640 --> 0:22:27.240 requested mental health records on Kathy to be able to 0:22:27.320 --> 0:22:31.880 discuss that with her. So the judge says, after reviewing 0:22:31.880 --> 0:22:36.720 the records himself, that he was denying the motion for 0:22:37.480 --> 0:22:39.720 her psychological records to be revealed. 0:22:40.720 --> 0:22:43.679 The judge determined that Kathy's mental health records would be 0:22:43.720 --> 0:22:47.600 irrelevant to the defense and could potentially even hurt their case. 0:22:48.200 --> 0:22:51.280 Despite this being an attorney's decision to make, the judge 0:22:51.280 --> 0:22:55.080 maintained that having these files available might actually help the 0:22:55.119 --> 0:22:58.399 prosecution's case because it would help argue that Kathy was 0:22:58.400 --> 0:23:04.040 susceptible to manipulate by Gwen. After an unsuccessful attempt at 0:23:04.119 --> 0:23:08.800 dismantling Kathy's credibility, defense attorney Piazza then pointed out the 0:23:08.840 --> 0:23:12.280 homophobia that was on display in the courtroom. 0:23:12.720 --> 0:23:16.359 Everyone's sex life is not important because we're talking about 0:23:16.440 --> 0:23:21.480 murders here, and so I think he tried to sort 0:23:21.480 --> 0:23:26.800 of minimize the idea that because everyone is gay or 0:23:26.880 --> 0:23:29.879 was in a relationship with one another, that that meant 0:23:29.960 --> 0:23:31.679 something in this case. 0:23:33.119 --> 0:23:37.920 Then Piazza focused on doctor Cole. On cross examination. Piazza 0:23:38.000 --> 0:23:41.400 questioned Cole about changing the manner of death for two 0:23:41.600 --> 0:23:45.440 of the women on their death certificates. Did he see 0:23:45.480 --> 0:23:49.720 any evidence in these two bodies that it was a homicide. 0:23:49.520 --> 0:23:53.000 Based upon his testimony at trial. The short answer is no. 0:23:53.600 --> 0:23:57.840 There were a number of other things that these people 0:23:57.920 --> 0:24:01.200 could have passed away from. They were at a nursing home. 0:24:01.400 --> 0:24:04.640 Most of them had multiple maladies that could have been 0:24:04.800 --> 0:24:09.120 the reason they passed away, and doctor Cole at trial 0:24:09.240 --> 0:24:15.560 testified that there really wasn't any typical signs of smothering, 0:24:15.600 --> 0:24:19.080 which was the allegations that each of these individuals had 0:24:19.080 --> 0:24:23.399 been smothered, such as burst capillaries, bruising on the face 0:24:23.480 --> 0:24:26.120 or in the mouth, things like that. He said there 0:24:26.160 --> 0:24:29.720 was no evidence of that, but based on what Kathy stated, 0:24:30.000 --> 0:24:33.640 he determined that it was a homicide. Each time. 0:24:34.920 --> 0:24:37.840 Doctor Cole admitted that if it wasn't for Cathy's confession, 0:24:38.280 --> 0:24:40.800 which he knew was the reason for the re examinations, 0:24:41.280 --> 0:24:43.879 he would not have determined the cause of death to 0:24:43.960 --> 0:24:48.560 be asphyxiation as for the other three women, because there 0:24:48.560 --> 0:24:53.040 had been no reexaminations. Piazza asked the judge to determine 0:24:53.080 --> 0:24:56.480 that there wasn't sufficient evidence for the jury to conclude 0:24:56.520 --> 0:25:02.320 that they were murdered. His request was denied. Finally, Gwen 0:25:02.400 --> 0:25:05.159 took the stand to defend herself, but it didn't go 0:25:05.280 --> 0:25:06.359