WEBVTT - 10. Lifelines 0:00:14.996 --> 0:01:01.356 Pushkin as a girl. Growing up on a Colorado ranch, 0:01:01.796 --> 0:01:05.636 Jean Fred's first wife was Gutsie. Her sister Carol said 0:01:06.516 --> 0:01:10.996 she was fearless, bold, She rode horses and swam in 0:01:11.116 --> 0:01:16.556 rivers and fished in the pond. Then she moved away 0:01:16.636 --> 0:01:21.316 to Malibu and when she died at thirty four, her 0:01:21.356 --> 0:01:25.476 ashes were scattered on the sea. But near the ranch, 0:01:25.756 --> 0:01:29.476 several miles away, there's a tombstone with Jean's name on it. 0:01:31.556 --> 0:01:34.236 When I went to Colorado to meet Fred's daughters, I 0:01:34.276 --> 0:01:37.476 asked if I could see it. Jean was Kirsten and 0:01:37.556 --> 0:01:40.396 Heidi's mom. So one rainy afternoon, the two of them 0:01:40.436 --> 0:01:45.636 took me there. It was a spooky place, part junkyard, 0:01:45.876 --> 0:01:49.596 part bone yard, and the ominous thunderheads and vale of 0:01:49.716 --> 0:01:56.396 rain didn't help. So what kind of place is this? 0:01:57.116 --> 0:02:01.556 So we were I'm laughing because we were talking to 0:02:02.076 --> 0:02:05.276 a caretaker and just like he's pretty quirky. But he 0:02:05.396 --> 0:02:09.476 was a friend of my grandparents. Also, there's like a 0:02:09.556 --> 0:02:15.676 pet cemetery over there. This is a human cemetery. We 0:02:15.716 --> 0:02:18.036 walked over to a large rock with a plaque that 0:02:18.156 --> 0:02:23.556 said Schunhoven, Jean's maiden name. Jean's name was centered between 0:02:23.596 --> 0:02:27.276 her parents on its own plaque. I asked Kirsten to 0:02:27.316 --> 0:02:33.716 read it, sure, Jean M. Rayler Schunhoven nineteen forty two 0:02:33.836 --> 0:02:39.676 to nineteen seventy six, and the amas for Marguerite. I 0:02:39.716 --> 0:02:44.116 remember my grandpa telling me that they got a He 0:02:44.196 --> 0:02:48.116 showed me this stone and he said that he put 0:02:48.196 --> 0:02:50.996 my mom's name on there because her ashes were spread 0:02:51.036 --> 0:02:54.676 in the ocean. They just wanted a place to remember 0:02:54.756 --> 0:03:00.996 her by. Yeah, I don't feel her here or like 0:03:01.356 --> 0:03:03.956 feel the need to come here, even for our grandparents. 0:03:03.956 --> 0:03:06.196 Like that's what being at the ranches is, all those 0:03:06.236 --> 0:03:10.596 memories there. Do you feel your mom at the ranch? 0:03:12.876 --> 0:03:14.676 I don't know if I would say that I feel 0:03:14.716 --> 0:03:17.476 her there, but I'd think about the history, like you 0:03:17.516 --> 0:03:20.196 know that she grew up here and the memories there, 0:03:20.396 --> 0:03:24.316 And actually I think about like like that our dad 0:03:24.356 --> 0:03:26.636 has been there, and like he's taken a bath in 0:03:26.716 --> 0:03:29.436 this tub, like he talks about taking you know, taking 0:03:29.476 --> 0:03:33.076 baths there, and so just knowing that they were there. 0:03:33.556 --> 0:03:37.436 But it's not like I feel her presence or anything. 0:03:37.476 --> 0:03:40.916 It's more just right. They were so young when Jean died. 0:03:41.436 --> 0:03:46.236 Kirsten was in diapers. Hoti was barely six. Jean is 0:03:46.476 --> 0:03:51.716 understandably abstract to them. She's another loss, one they can't 0:03:51.756 --> 0:03:56.436 quite process, because to process that loss might make their 0:03:56.476 --> 0:04:06.356 pain unbearable. To most people who hear Fred's story, the 0:04:06.476 --> 0:04:10.556 rhyme of Jean's drowning and Verna's is uncanny, like something 0:04:10.596 --> 0:04:13.956 out of Edgar Allan Poe. It's so on the nose, 0:04:14.156 --> 0:04:18.716 it's practically clunky. It's definitely the hardest circumstance. To give 0:04:18.716 --> 0:04:22.316 Fred the benefit of the doubt about the mysterious death 0:04:22.316 --> 0:04:25.476 of the first wife makes the second wife's death suspect, 0:04:26.156 --> 0:04:28.916 and his conviction in the killing of the second wife 0:04:29.276 --> 0:04:33.556 makes the first wife's death seem like murder too, But 0:04:33.756 --> 0:04:36.996 not to the sisters. They don't see it at all. 0:04:38.116 --> 0:04:44.596 Here's Kirsten. I've definitely had hard conversations with my dad 0:04:44.716 --> 0:04:49.236 about Jean's death and just really finding out what happened 0:04:49.276 --> 0:04:51.676 because I was a baby, and just like the details, 0:04:51.756 --> 0:04:56.276 and also like were their investigations, you know, like supposedly 0:04:56.716 --> 0:04:59.876 Jean's dad like had it looked into, but it wasn't, 0:04:59.916 --> 0:05:04.436 like there wasn't a formal investigation. But I've definitely asked 0:05:05.116 --> 0:05:08.476 probing questions about it. But I kind of see it 0:05:08.516 --> 0:05:12.196 as like, look at my dad's history, and I mean 0:05:12.236 --> 0:05:14.036 I compare him to one of the Kennedy's. I mean, 0:05:14.076 --> 0:05:17.076 look at all just all of the horrible accidents that 0:05:17.116 --> 0:05:21.916 can happen to one family, like fires, bike accidents, car accidents, 0:05:22.036 --> 0:05:26.996 tractor accidents, just like accident prone or you know, whatever 0:05:27.036 --> 0:05:32.436 you want to say. Then Kim Verna's daughter said something 0:05:32.596 --> 0:05:37.476 totally surprising. She said she didn't know how Jean died. 0:05:38.836 --> 0:05:42.796 I mean, didn't she die of an aneurysm? No, see 0:05:42.836 --> 0:05:46.156 that it wasn't that. So our grandma kept telling us 0:05:46.236 --> 0:05:49.276 for some reason, how did she die? So she drowned 0:05:49.276 --> 0:05:51.996 in the swimming pool, but her ultimate cause of death 0:05:52.116 --> 0:05:58.876 was brain swelling and pneumonia from the drowning. But yeah, 0:05:58.876 --> 0:06:03.356 we were told that she had an aneurism. I mean, 0:06:03.396 --> 0:06:08.356 and I think that's medically. That is what people have proposed, 0:06:08.556 --> 0:06:10.716 you know, they're theories that because she was a flight 0:06:10.756 --> 0:06:14.356 attendant and the altitude and then she had just come 0:06:14.356 --> 0:06:16.316 back from a flight and they were drinking in the 0:06:16.316 --> 0:06:18.316 hot tub and then she got in the cold pool. 0:06:18.436 --> 0:06:22.276 So like vessels expanding and contracting, I mean, those were 0:06:22.316 --> 0:06:26.676 the theories, But I mean, ultimately she died of pneumonia 0:06:26.716 --> 0:06:31.156 and brain swelling. And I think the Corners report refers 0:06:31.196 --> 0:06:37.956 to occidental drowning. I mean drowning was the cause of death. Yeah, gotcha. 0:06:42.996 --> 0:07:16.796 I'm Dana Goodyear and this is Lost Hills episode ten Lifelines. 0:07:19.476 --> 0:07:22.676 Back in nineteen seventy six, the La County Coroner said 0:07:22.676 --> 0:07:25.916 that Fred's first wife, Jean, had died as a result 0:07:25.956 --> 0:07:30.036 of accidental drowning in the family pool. Her husband, the 0:07:30.076 --> 0:07:32.436 only witness, said he found her face down in the 0:07:32.516 --> 0:07:38.076 shallow end. Okay, case closed. Fred hinted at various reasons 0:07:38.156 --> 0:07:40.916 Jean might have drowned. She lost a lot of weight, 0:07:41.076 --> 0:07:42.996 She'd gone from a very hot, hot tub into an 0:07:43.076 --> 0:07:46.596 unheeded pool. She was deep into Life Spring, a potentially 0:07:46.676 --> 0:07:49.876 dangerous self improvement group. She was having visions of her 0:07:49.876 --> 0:07:58.916 own death involving water, but her death was unexplained. It 0:07:58.956 --> 0:08:03.036 wasn't until nineteen eighty one that Jean's drowning was investigated 0:08:03.116 --> 0:08:06.476 as a homicide by the Santa Barbara detectives, who were 0:08:06.516 --> 0:08:11.196 looking into Verna and Doug's drownings at Rock. At Fred's 0:08:11.196 --> 0:08:14.396 trial for the murders of Verna and Doug stan Rowdin. 0:08:14.556 --> 0:08:19.116 The DA was blocked from introducing testimony about Jean until 0:08:19.316 --> 0:08:23.636 the penalty phase, So while the jury was considering whether 0:08:23.676 --> 0:08:26.636 Fred should be sentenced to death, Rodin put on a 0:08:26.676 --> 0:08:31.996 mini trial for Jean. She was an aggravating factor, a 0:08:32.116 --> 0:08:35.516 reason in San Rowdin's mind to sentence Fred to death. 0:08:36.596 --> 0:08:39.156 Rowden told the jury that Jean's death was a murder 0:08:39.676 --> 0:08:43.236 quote a homicide done for the motive once again of 0:08:43.396 --> 0:08:47.756 enhancing this defendant's standard of living. This time, Fred didn't 0:08:47.796 --> 0:08:51.476 take the stand, but he'd certainly told his Jean's story before. 0:08:52.196 --> 0:08:54.876 He'd long been in the habit of buttonholing people and 0:08:54.956 --> 0:08:59.396 recounting the events of October fifteenth, nineteen seventy six. He 0:08:59.556 --> 0:09:05.396 cornered Jean's friend Barbara Warner at Jean's memorial service. I 0:09:05.556 --> 0:09:08.476 really think he had that story so down patch. He 0:09:08.556 --> 0:09:12.996 rattled off so bad with so little emotion, that I 0:09:13.036 --> 0:09:19.876 thought with him. He told the story repeatedly to his 0:09:19.916 --> 0:09:24.556 friend Mike Colleen. When Jean died. Fred spent an awful 0:09:24.596 --> 0:09:27.196 lot of time at our house. He would come over 0:09:27.196 --> 0:09:31.756 in the evening and cry, he if we went through 0:09:31.756 --> 0:09:35.196 it once, we went through it fifty times. Every step 0:09:35.236 --> 0:09:39.116 he took from the hot tub to the house. The 0:09:39.156 --> 0:09:41.796 way I recall the story was that one of the 0:09:41.796 --> 0:09:46.596 babies was crying in the background, and that when Fred went, 0:09:47.156 --> 0:09:49.196 Fred said, you know, like you stay here algi quay 0:09:49.356 --> 0:09:50.796 the baby and take care of the baby and get 0:09:50.796 --> 0:09:52.956 you a glass of wine, which he requested. So I 0:09:53.236 --> 0:09:55.076 believe he sais on the next seven minutes he was 0:09:55.116 --> 0:09:57.316 gone or something, because he'd stepped it out and timed it, 0:09:57.996 --> 0:10:00.356 and when he came back. Everybody knows the story. Jeanne's 0:10:00.516 --> 0:10:02.596 face out of the pool and all the terrible things 0:10:02.596 --> 0:10:06.156 had happened at that point. Fred even told the story 0:10:06.156 --> 0:10:09.676 to Santa Barbara detectives Fred Ray and Claude Tell when 0:10:09.676 --> 0:10:11.916 they came to talk to him about Verna and Doug's 0:10:11.956 --> 0:10:15.916 drownings in January nineteen eighty one. While discussing what had 0:10:15.916 --> 0:10:20.196 happened to Verna and Doug, detective said Fred quote continually 0:10:20.236 --> 0:10:24.756 referred to a handwritten set of notes that was weird. 0:10:25.836 --> 0:10:29.196 Fred also told the detectives he had notes on Jean's death, 0:10:29.436 --> 0:10:33.316 which they found later when they searched his house that 0:10:33.476 --> 0:10:38.876 was extra weird. Telling his gene story, Fred has always 0:10:38.876 --> 0:10:41.116 made a point of mentioning the alcohol he and Jean 0:10:41.196 --> 0:10:44.716 were drinking, and because he was the only witness. It 0:10:44.836 --> 0:10:49.276 features in other people's tellings too, A story with one 0:10:49.356 --> 0:10:54.796 source repeated so often it comes to resemble truth. She 0:10:54.836 --> 0:10:57.356 had already poured a glass of wine, even in the 0:10:57.436 --> 0:11:01.716 house to get her glass of wine to him, Would 0:11:01.756 --> 0:11:04.716 you mind bringing back to get your glass of wine. 0:11:04.836 --> 0:11:08.076 We sort of sold off that bottle, and then I 0:11:08.156 --> 0:11:11.716 got another bottle. The neighbor boy who ran over when 0:11:11.716 --> 0:11:14.556 he heard Fred calling for help that night, said he'd 0:11:14.596 --> 0:11:17.556 noticed wine glasses and a pair of unsmoked joints in 0:11:17.596 --> 0:11:22.436 the backyard, like a stage complete with props. But these 0:11:22.476 --> 0:11:27.196 were not incidental period details. They served a very important purpose. 0:11:28.156 --> 0:11:33.076 I believe they were intended to introduce doubt, reasonable doubt 0:11:33.476 --> 0:11:37.036 about how Jean ended up in the pool. And the 0:11:37.116 --> 0:11:41.636 reason I think this is Jean was not intoxicated, not 0:11:41.756 --> 0:11:45.956 even a little bit. Stan Rowdin the DA presented evidence 0:11:46.036 --> 0:11:49.676 that showed her blood alcohol level was point one milligrams 0:11:49.716 --> 0:11:54.116 per desolator, one one thousandth of the legal limit for driving, 0:11:54.596 --> 0:11:57.836 and there were no other drugs in her system. The 0:11:57.956 --> 0:12:01.756 fact of her sobriety is meaningful, and it could mean 0:12:01.956 --> 0:12:06.676 the La County coroner's report was wrong, and it can't 0:12:06.716 --> 0:12:11.516 be accident. Okay, this is doctor Ronald Wright, a forensic 0:12:11.556 --> 0:12:15.556 pathologist who's also a scuba diver. Adult humans that are 0:12:15.716 --> 0:12:24.316 not intoxicated won't drown in a swimming pool. It doesn't happen. 0:12:25.396 --> 0:12:30.876 If it does happen, they either committed suicide or they 0:12:31.476 --> 0:12:35.916 are a victim of homicide. Okay, it's easy. He testified 0:12:35.956 --> 0:12:38.716 at the mini trial, the Jeen's death was not due 0:12:38.716 --> 0:12:43.676 to natural causes. It was unnatural, and unnatural deaths are 0:12:43.716 --> 0:12:48.756 either accidents or suicides or homicides. I didn't see any 0:12:48.796 --> 0:12:53.116 evidence that she was suicidal, so therefore it looks like 0:12:53.156 --> 0:12:56.596 a homicide to me. But there were no signs of 0:12:56.636 --> 0:13:00.356 trauma to Jean's body. So during the mini trial, Rodin 0:13:00.396 --> 0:13:04.316 asked another witness, a pathologist who'd reviewed Jean's file, if 0:13:04.316 --> 0:13:07.636 it was possible for a person to hold another person 0:13:08.236 --> 0:13:12.676 underwater law enough to drown them without leaving marks. It 0:13:12.876 --> 0:13:16.756 is possible, was the response. In the end, though the 0:13:16.876 --> 0:13:19.876 judge ruled that the DA hadn't sufficiently made his case. 0:13:20.476 --> 0:13:23.916 He hadn't proved Fred's involvement with Jean's death. Beyond a 0:13:23.956 --> 0:13:27.796 reasonable doubt, and that's where Jean was left in a 0:13:27.876 --> 0:13:32.996 kind of limbo, unresolved, not likely an accident or a suicide, 0:13:33.516 --> 0:13:38.516 and not approvable homicide. Before we got off the phone, 0:13:38.596 --> 0:13:41.316 I asked doctor Wright about another part of his testimony 0:13:41.316 --> 0:13:46.476 which had caught my attention. Fred Rayler described having found 0:13:46.596 --> 0:13:52.556 his wife Jean, in the pool, face down, arms outstretched, 0:13:53.356 --> 0:13:57.716 and you said, that's impossible. That's not the way dead 0:13:57.716 --> 0:14:03.476 people float. Okay, when you lose consciousness from whatever you've 0:14:03.516 --> 0:14:08.556 lost consciousness, you know gravity works. Their arms aren't outstretched. 0:14:08.556 --> 0:14:13.316 They actually goes straight down in there. It's called a 0:14:13.476 --> 0:14:17.436 dead man's float. They teach people to do that in 0:14:17.596 --> 0:14:22.956 swimming lessons. So you found that to be suspicious that 0:14:22.956 --> 0:14:28.356 that's what his description of his wife. He's incorrect, Okay, 0:14:28.596 --> 0:14:32.316 she wasn't. That's not the way humans are when they grown. 0:14:33.156 --> 0:14:36.596 Did that make him seem like he was lying? I 0:14:36.636 --> 0:14:42.276 would think that's highly probable, although that is a jury determination, 0:14:42.556 --> 0:14:45.956 not mine. I'm just telling you you can't do it 0:14:46.036 --> 0:14:50.916 the way he said it happened. It was improvable. But 0:14:50.996 --> 0:14:55.476 it was so obvious. Fred the waterman, the navy diver 0:14:56.076 --> 0:15:00.636 had misdescribed the dead man's float. He says he didn't 0:15:00.716 --> 0:15:03.836 kill Jean. I asked him, just like I asked him 0:15:03.836 --> 0:15:07.236 about Verna and Doug. Fred, I have to ask you, 0:15:07.916 --> 0:15:13.636 did you kill Jean? I did not, but I don't 0:15:13.676 --> 0:15:17.276 believe him. And if it's possible to kill someone in 0:15:17.356 --> 0:15:21.316 water and leave no mark, that means those second secret 0:15:21.356 --> 0:15:26.156 autopsies of Vernon and Dug don't really matter. The findings 0:15:26.156 --> 0:15:29.836 of pre mortem trauma could be totally invalid, the bodies 0:15:29.876 --> 0:15:34.156 could present no traumatic wounds, and Fred could still be 0:15:34.196 --> 0:16:01.476 the one who killed them. In the search of Fred's 0:16:01.516 --> 0:16:04.916 house on Sea Level Drive, the Santa Barbara detective seized 0:16:04.956 --> 0:16:08.476 an eleven page document detailing plans for a sailing trip 0:16:08.516 --> 0:16:13.036 to Santa Island. It included an incredibly detailed hand drawn 0:16:13.156 --> 0:16:17.036 map of the island, including flora and fauna and shipwrecks, 0:16:17.156 --> 0:16:20.636 and all the spots to drop anchor. The guy was 0:16:20.676 --> 0:16:25.276 a planner. Fred told the detectives he had often sailed 0:16:25.276 --> 0:16:28.316 his boat Perseverance to Santa Cruz Island and had the 0:16:28.396 --> 0:16:31.836 dory out there at least a dozen times. He got 0:16:31.836 --> 0:16:34.916 to know the island and its features inch by inch, 0:16:35.396 --> 0:16:40.516 clocking every cove and inlet. How the shadows fell at 0:16:40.556 --> 0:16:43.636 the dot representing Bird Rock on the map, it says 0:16:43.956 --> 0:16:48.156 tunnel through rock. That's because the sea cave on the 0:16:48.196 --> 0:16:51.476 western end of Bird Rock at low tide becomes a 0:16:51.556 --> 0:16:58.716 passage through are on the John will help you, guys. 0:16:58.716 --> 0:17:01.316 On a month after we walked around Sea Level Drive 0:17:01.356 --> 0:17:05.556 together on a crisp clear October morning, John Lytell and 0:17:05.636 --> 0:17:08.676 I took a boat out to Santa Cruz Island. So 0:17:09.116 --> 0:17:11.756 welcome to board Blue guys. Glad to have you here. 0:17:12.036 --> 0:17:15.716 Um again, Captain Randy fun Fact on the boat, John 0:17:15.796 --> 0:17:18.036 McVie the basis on Fleetwood. Mac owned this boat for 0:17:18.076 --> 0:17:22.076 ten years. At the time of Doug's death, when they 0:17:22.076 --> 0:17:26.236 were both eight, John was Doug's best friend. Now he's 0:17:26.236 --> 0:17:29.676 a detective with the La County Sheriff's Department. I'm a 0:17:29.676 --> 0:17:31.756 deputy sheriff. You want me to not bring a gun 0:17:31.756 --> 0:17:39.516 on the boat. Sorry. For forty years, Doug's death has 0:17:39.556 --> 0:17:42.916 tormented him, but he'd never seen the place where it happened. 0:17:43.916 --> 0:17:46.996 Now he was ready to face it and hopefully get 0:17:47.076 --> 0:17:52.076 some resolution. Crossing the channel, John was chewing everything over. 0:17:53.316 --> 0:17:56.116 He takes him out there. Um, he knows when he's 0:17:56.116 --> 0:17:57.756 gonna do it, he knows why he's gonna do it, 0:17:57.796 --> 0:17:59.676 he knows where he's going to do it. Because this 0:17:59.756 --> 0:18:01.916 is the best scenario. I have to make it look 0:18:01.916 --> 0:18:05.476 like an accident. Well, this is what I got. He's 0:18:05.476 --> 0:18:08.636 a chatty guy, but as we approached the island, he 0:18:08.676 --> 0:18:14.076 got Captain Randy filled the silence. So Santa Cruz Island 0:18:14.156 --> 0:18:17.716 is about twenty eight miles long. It's the largest island 0:18:17.756 --> 0:18:21.516 off the California coast. So we'll just be seeing a 0:18:21.636 --> 0:18:25.436 very small, little, little tiny bit of the island. And 0:18:25.476 --> 0:18:30.836 then a bird rock loomed, craggy and imposing with creases 0:18:30.836 --> 0:18:34.636 and shadows that reminded me of he Man's Castle Gray Skull. 0:18:35.556 --> 0:18:39.076 At its western end was Scorpion Anchorage. We were heading 0:18:39.116 --> 0:18:41.836 to the other end to Little Scorpion Anchor. Just entering 0:18:41.916 --> 0:18:46.236 into the little Scorpion Anchory, the Perseverance anchored on January second, 0:18:46.476 --> 0:18:52.916 nineteen eighty one, rock is off to our starboard quarter. 0:18:53.236 --> 0:18:57.556 It was noon. We were right on time, and we'll 0:18:57.556 --> 0:19:00.036 come in here and circle around and find a find 0:19:00.036 --> 0:19:05.236 a good spot to set the anchor verna. Fred and 0:19:05.316 --> 0:19:08.796 Doug ate their lunch sandwiches and chips then got in 0:19:08.836 --> 0:19:12.596 the door. Between one and one thirty, Kirsen went below 0:19:12.676 --> 0:19:15.796 deck to take a nap with her grandparents. Heidi and 0:19:15.876 --> 0:19:18.116 Kim went with Fred's brother and his wife in the 0:19:18.116 --> 0:19:21.476 inflatable boat to explore the beach at Santa Cruz Island. 0:19:22.876 --> 0:19:26.076 John and I got in Captain Randy's motorized dinghy and 0:19:26.156 --> 0:19:30.516 powered toward Bird Rock. So if we get around, what 0:19:30.596 --> 0:19:32.436 we have now is a lot to lobster season, so 0:19:32.436 --> 0:19:34.476 we got to negotiate through this might feel the traps. 0:19:34.916 --> 0:19:36.516 There's a lot of kilp on the other side, so 0:19:36.556 --> 0:19:39.716 we'll see how close we can get. The criminalist Duane 0:19:39.756 --> 0:19:43.556 Moza had speculated that Fred killed Verna and Doug inside 0:19:43.556 --> 0:19:46.196 the sea cave on the western end of Bird Rock, 0:19:46.596 --> 0:19:49.276 so we headed there to see if the sea cave 0:19:49.356 --> 0:19:56.276 theory made sense. Cave entrances right around the quartery. I've 0:19:56.316 --> 0:19:59.676 been thinking the sea cave was too exposed. Anyone on 0:19:59.716 --> 0:20:02.836 the beach, including Heidi and Kim, could have seen Fred 0:20:02.956 --> 0:20:05.716 row the dory in or out of the cave, but 0:20:05.836 --> 0:20:08.916 the mouth of the cave was deep black with an 0:20:09.116 --> 0:20:13.036 aura of darkness around it. You can't see anything. You're 0:20:13.036 --> 0:20:16.476 not gonna see anything happening there, Pass up first rock, 0:20:16.596 --> 0:20:18.116 these people on shore work, and you see, you gotta 0:20:18.116 --> 0:20:21.236 think angles out here. Everything around the cave is dark. 0:20:21.316 --> 0:20:25.596 You really can't see even an orange the dory going 0:20:25.596 --> 0:20:29.876 in there. I told John about an earlier trip Fred 0:20:29.876 --> 0:20:32.996 and Verna had made to Santa Cruz Island six months 0:20:33.036 --> 0:20:36.516 before the fatal one. It was Fourth of July weekend 0:20:36.836 --> 0:20:40.556 nineteen eighty. They took the kids on perseverance and spent 0:20:40.636 --> 0:20:45.076 four days out there with get this, the lawyer Bill 0:20:45.156 --> 0:20:49.436 Fairfield and his family, and Fred's old sailing buddy, Jean's 0:20:49.436 --> 0:20:53.756 old flame Dick Philthowen and his wife and kids. It 0:20:53.796 --> 0:20:58.036 was the hot Tub Sextet reunited with Verna in place 0:20:58.076 --> 0:21:02.236 of Jean. They had a blast hiking to waterfalls, shooting 0:21:02.236 --> 0:21:06.396 off fireworks, belting out rounds of God bless America. It 0:21:06.476 --> 0:21:09.716 was the most perfect Fourth of July ever. Wrote later. 0:21:11.116 --> 0:21:14.596 He and Verna rode all around exploring in the dory. 0:21:15.316 --> 0:21:19.636 Fred commended her for her attitude. That's casing the joint. 0:21:20.036 --> 0:21:22.436 He understood exactly what he needed to do to get 0:21:22.476 --> 0:21:26.396 his job done without anybody knowing. That's what like technicians 0:21:26.396 --> 0:21:29.876 will do. The like I don't. A week after the 0:21:29.956 --> 0:21:33.876 July fourth cruise, Fred and Verna had their secret official wedding, 0:21:34.196 --> 0:21:38.956 solidifying the financial connection between them. If she died, everything 0:21:38.996 --> 0:21:43.396 she had and more the insurance they'd soon buy would 0:21:43.476 --> 0:21:47.716 be his outright or in a trust that he controlled. 0:21:49.316 --> 0:21:52.236 After looking at it, I didn't buy the sea cave theory. 0:21:52.836 --> 0:21:56.316 Too risky, no matter how low the visibility, and it 0:21:56.356 --> 0:21:59.316 was too different from the story Fred presented to authorities. 0:22:00.116 --> 0:22:06.156 Fred was methodical a planner. He liked to simplify hone control. 0:22:07.196 --> 0:22:09.596 So I asked Captain Randy to take us to the place. 0:22:09.676 --> 0:22:12.916 Fred said the dory had capsized in the open ocean 0:22:13.156 --> 0:22:16.996 on the north side of Bird Rock. So according to 0:22:17.076 --> 0:22:23.156 the drawings, the boat capsized right in here, out front 0:22:23.156 --> 0:22:27.876 of the rock. That's where. That's where, according to Fred, 0:22:28.276 --> 0:22:31.236 Lady jumped at the birds and they all lunged and toppled, 0:22:31.396 --> 0:22:35.396 and the dory overturned. He said he could see Perseverance 0:22:35.596 --> 0:22:39.716 anchored at Little Scorpion the entire time. That was the point, 0:22:39.836 --> 0:22:42.236 he said, to get a picture of Doug holding Lady 0:22:42.236 --> 0:22:44.556 in the dory with Bird Rock in the near ground 0:22:44.636 --> 0:22:48.956 and Perseverance in the distance. But as we moved toward 0:22:49.036 --> 0:22:52.116 the spot in front of Bird Rock, I noticed that 0:22:52.196 --> 0:22:56.476 Captain Randy's sailboat in Little Scorpion Anchorage was slipping out 0:22:56.476 --> 0:23:00.196 of view. The north face of Bird Rock is cupped, 0:23:00.436 --> 0:23:02.516 so when you're close to it, the sides of the 0:23:02.596 --> 0:23:06.676 rock block both anchorages from view, meaning you can't see 0:23:06.996 --> 0:23:10.756 or be seen by the boats on either side. If 0:23:10.756 --> 0:23:14.796 you're in this cove, you cannot see Scorpion Anchorage at all. 0:23:14.876 --> 0:23:16.916 All those boats on that side wouldn't see any Lady, 0:23:17.796 --> 0:23:24.556 where's that? If he doesn't right in here, nobody can 0:23:24.596 --> 0:23:27.596 see him. In front of the rock, there was an 0:23:27.596 --> 0:23:30.796 explosion of white water, a geyser that shot into the 0:23:30.796 --> 0:23:34.836 air as the waves pounded into an underwater cavern. Oh, yes, 0:23:35.116 --> 0:23:38.076 that's the blow hole. Go as close to that as 0:23:38.476 --> 0:23:49.436 we can. Fred said that after the cap size, he 0:23:49.516 --> 0:23:52.236 collected Verna and Doug and swam with them to Bird 0:23:52.356 --> 0:23:55.236 Rock with Lady on his shoulders, clawing at his head. 0:23:56.116 --> 0:24:00.516 He described maneuvering past the blowhole with difficulty to hoist 0:24:00.636 --> 0:24:04.316 Lady up. John stared up at the rock, the sixty 0:24:04.356 --> 0:24:09.836 foot cliff face. The dog up on this side. That's 0:24:09.836 --> 0:24:13.156 a dog, right, not a moungoat. This is a dog, okay, 0:24:13.476 --> 0:24:16.756 our eagle Popey, whose legs can't be more than you know, 0:24:16.876 --> 0:24:21.036 three inches block is all like muscles and stuff, and 0:24:21.676 --> 0:24:24.196 it's like it's sharp. The d did get him on 0:24:24.196 --> 0:24:29.036 the island on the side. No way, no way. We 0:24:29.196 --> 0:24:32.116 idled in our dinghy, looking up at the sheer rock wall. 0:24:32.876 --> 0:24:36.316 The blowhole went off again, and it all started coming 0:24:36.356 --> 0:24:43.876 together for me like a story. Fred would have rode 0:24:43.916 --> 0:24:49.356 them here, knocked them out, drowned them, flipped the doory 0:24:49.476 --> 0:24:53.316 and shoved it away, swum a short distance to the rock, 0:24:54.116 --> 0:24:58.516 and waited for rescue. Maybe he offloaded lady on his 0:24:58.596 --> 0:25:01.236 way to the spot on that gentle ledge on the 0:25:01.276 --> 0:25:05.556 eastern side, like the Santa Barbara Day thought making excuses 0:25:05.556 --> 0:25:09.156 to Verna and Doug about why or maybe lady he 0:25:09.316 --> 0:25:11.596 was still in the door until the murder, and she 0:25:11.636 --> 0:25:14.436 made her own way over to the eastern ledge, her 0:25:14.516 --> 0:25:20.236 survival instincts kicking in her little legs, paddling furiously. Verna, 0:25:20.396 --> 0:25:24.196 he would have killed for the money, Doug, because he 0:25:24.396 --> 0:25:30.916 was the witness. We went back to our boat and 0:25:30.956 --> 0:25:34.116 got ready to head home. From the back deck, John 0:25:34.196 --> 0:25:38.036 squinted out at bird rock. Doug's ashes had been scattered 0:25:38.036 --> 0:25:40.876 at sea, and there was no marker for him anywhere 0:25:40.876 --> 0:25:46.196 on land, so this was it. Bird Rock was his grave. 0:25:47.556 --> 0:25:48.956 I'm looking at that, and I see all the rocks. 0:25:48.956 --> 0:25:51.836 I'm like, those are all tombstones. That's all death. That's 0:25:51.836 --> 0:25:55.196 how I look at it. I just this is a 0:25:55.236 --> 0:25:58.796 weird I got a creepy feeling. This whole place is 0:25:58.836 --> 0:26:05.916 not what I thought it would be. Before Christmas, in 0:26:05.956 --> 0:26:08.956 December of nineteen eighty, John had said goodbye to Doug, 0:26:09.516 --> 0:26:11.756 thinking he'd see him again in a few months or 0:26:11.756 --> 0:26:15.876 whenever the railers got back from their sailing trip to Mexico. Instead, 0:26:16.276 --> 0:26:24.836 over the holidays, Doug had died here. John looked ill 0:26:25.276 --> 0:26:28.396 and kept turning his face away from the rock, only 0:26:28.436 --> 0:26:31.996 to have his gaze pulled back to it. This is 0:26:32.036 --> 0:26:36.916 like death. You just feel death. I don't. I know 0:26:36.916 --> 0:26:39.476 it's not like that for everybody, but I don't. I'll 0:26:39.476 --> 0:26:44.036 probably never ever come back here again. No way we're 0:26:44.116 --> 0:26:57.276 worth it. I don't know. That affects me so much. 0:26:59.756 --> 0:27:01.956 I don't know if I don't know. Back then, I 0:27:02.036 --> 0:27:03.556 wasn't like I want to be in law enforces to 0:27:03.556 --> 0:27:11.636 solve crimes. But more helping people that are helping people 0:27:11.636 --> 0:27:18.036 that are getting drowned and getting killed. Just say it's 0:27:18.076 --> 0:27:25.476 not fair. It's not fair. It's bullshit, like he didn't 0:27:25.556 --> 0:27:28.636 he didn't kill, just that he like killed part of 0:27:28.636 --> 0:27:35.636 our lives. We turned around and headed back across the channel, 0:27:36.116 --> 0:27:43.156 with hundreds of dolphins leaping in our wake. I asked 0:27:43.236 --> 0:27:47.116 John if the trip had brought him clarity, and he said, yeah, 0:27:47.756 --> 0:27:51.356 he felt he knew where Doug had died. It's a 0:27:51.356 --> 0:27:55.796 great place to kill somebody. Nobody can see you, nobody 0:27:55.796 --> 0:27:59.996 can hear you. But where that happened, Where that that 0:28:00.036 --> 0:28:05.396 little co is. It's like Professor Plum with the candlestick 0:28:05.436 --> 0:28:08.956 in the conservatory. Nobody saw it, but you know what happened, 0:28:09.836 --> 0:28:11.996 and that when you look at it that way, it's scary, 0:28:12.236 --> 0:28:34.116 Like that area is scary because it's perfect. The case 0:28:34.156 --> 0:28:37.836 against Fred Rayler, in spite of all that scientific evidence, 0:28:38.316 --> 0:28:42.036 was largely circumstantial if you looked at it one way. 0:28:42.356 --> 0:28:46.676 Fred was a victim of unfathomably bad luck. That's been 0:28:46.716 --> 0:28:49.636 the subtext of every conversation I've had with him. His 0:28:49.756 --> 0:28:54.556 persona is built around this idea of steadfast, stoic perseverance 0:28:54.676 --> 0:28:58.476 in the face of hardship. Looked at another way, the 0:28:58.516 --> 0:29:03.796 authority's way. Fred's a devious and malicious killer. From that 0:29:03.836 --> 0:29:06.516 point of view, it's no coincidence that people close to 0:29:06.596 --> 0:29:11.356 him kept drowning. He was drowning. But that's the thing 0:29:11.356 --> 0:29:15.876 about circumstantial evidence. It doesn't look the same to everyone. 0:29:20.596 --> 0:29:23.196 The first time I went up into the hayloft in Colorado, 0:29:23.516 --> 0:29:27.316 I saw something really strange. It was a kiddie pool 0:29:27.476 --> 0:29:30.996 with a plastic skeleton in it and an oar and 0:29:31.076 --> 0:29:35.276 a headless dummy dressed in boy's clothing and not attached, 0:29:35.716 --> 0:29:40.596 a painted pumpkinhead, a skeleton with an oar, A dummy 0:29:40.636 --> 0:29:44.676 with no head. Law enforcement thought Fred had stunned Verna 0:29:44.716 --> 0:29:47.756 with the door's oar. A dug sized dummy and a 0:29:47.836 --> 0:29:50.236 dummy head had been used in the trial and helped 0:29:50.276 --> 0:29:55.036 to convict Fred. Clearly, this was someone's morbid idea of 0:29:55.076 --> 0:29:58.476 a joke. Wait, Heidi, can you come over here and 0:29:58.596 --> 0:30:04.876