WEBVTT - 4. The Shallow End, Part 2 0:00:14.996 --> 0:00:26.356 Pushkin. In September nineteen seventy six, a month before her 0:00:26.396 --> 0:00:29.876 thirty fourth birthday, Jean found the thing she was sure 0:00:29.996 --> 0:00:33.996 would save her. It was called life Spring, and Jean's 0:00:34.036 --> 0:00:39.276 parents Colorado Baptists did not approve. Life Spring was part 0:00:39.276 --> 0:00:42.716 of the Human Potential Movement, a for profit self improvement 0:00:42.716 --> 0:00:46.196 group like Landmark or ast, the promise to help its 0:00:46.236 --> 0:00:51.236 followers attain the heights of happiness and success. Jean signed 0:00:51.276 --> 0:00:54.116 up for a five day basic training course. There would 0:00:54.156 --> 0:00:57.356 be lectures and guided meditations, and she hoped to come 0:00:57.396 --> 0:01:01.556 away with clarity. Fred was in a long haul in Hawaii, 0:01:01.956 --> 0:01:04.956 overseeing a bunch of knuckleheads trying to dig a trench 0:01:04.996 --> 0:01:08.436 on the ocean floor. His marriage to Jeanne was at 0:01:08.436 --> 0:01:11.956 an all time. She told her friend Barbara Warner that 0:01:11.996 --> 0:01:14.836 she'd already broken things off with Dick. It was just 0:01:14.956 --> 0:01:21.996 too destabilizing given how volatile things were with Fred. What 0:01:22.876 --> 0:01:28.596 possibly was the camp more than affair? And not possibly 0:01:29.636 --> 0:01:32.716 could camp or all hostituation better pull out of that 0:01:32.836 --> 0:01:38.876 because becoming a little fright and they decided to which 0:01:38.876 --> 0:01:42.836 they did do. Jean filled out her Lifespring forms in 0:01:42.916 --> 0:01:47.236 big loopy handwriting. Her main goal was to decide quote 0:01:47.276 --> 0:01:50.596 whether or not to dissolve my marriage of seven years unquote. 0:01:51.276 --> 0:01:54.956 She was also hoping to disentangle herself emotionally from Dick. 0:01:55.836 --> 0:01:57.756 She noted that the affair had been going on for 0:01:57.796 --> 0:02:00.996 three years, but that she'd stopped the physical part of 0:02:00.996 --> 0:02:04.876 the relationship three months earlier, and one more thing, the 0:02:04.956 --> 0:02:07.596 affair was not the reason she was doubting her marriage. 0:02:08.636 --> 0:02:12.036 Life's encouraged people to tune into exactly what they wanted 0:02:12.276 --> 0:02:16.236 to rest back control of their lives and experiences. Through 0:02:16.276 --> 0:02:20.916 meditation and insight training, they would realize they weren't lost. 0:02:21.956 --> 0:02:26.836 They already had the answers. The answers were inside them. 0:02:27.956 --> 0:02:31.116 The first step is to create a vision. A vision 0:02:31.236 --> 0:02:34.636 brings the future to life and provides a structure for 0:02:34.756 --> 0:02:38.396 laying new track. Declaring your vision is an act of 0:02:38.516 --> 0:02:42.796 freedom which releases you from the past. Jean was hoping 0:02:42.796 --> 0:02:47.116 that Lifespring would be transformational, and it was so much 0:02:47.156 --> 0:02:50.636 so that soon after completing the basic course, she signed 0:02:50.716 --> 0:02:53.716 up to do the advanced The clarity she'd been after 0:02:54.396 --> 0:02:57.476 she'd found it, she was dialed in on the life 0:02:57.476 --> 0:03:01.396 she wanted. How would your relationships be different if you 0:03:01.556 --> 0:03:05.756 lived your life based on your own heartfelt vision. What 0:03:05.916 --> 0:03:08.796 concern Forget what she'd said about moving on from Dick. 0:03:09.356 --> 0:03:13.036 She'd meditated on it, and she knew she wanted him back. 0:03:14.116 --> 0:03:16.436 The number one thing she wanted to work on it. 0:03:16.476 --> 0:03:20.236 The advanced training was quote setting myself up for my 0:03:20.316 --> 0:03:25.596 future with Dick fell Tholen. Unte Number two was quote 0:03:26.036 --> 0:03:29.996 getting out of my marriage as pleasantly as possible. Unquote. 0:03:30.556 --> 0:03:34.796 She continued, in full blown fantasy and self actualization mode. 0:03:35.236 --> 0:03:38.316 Quote I will eventually be married to Dick, have his 0:03:38.436 --> 0:03:42.356 present three children, and will totally be happy. Of course, 0:03:42.396 --> 0:03:46.636 I plan on him attending Life Spring unquote. She flew 0:03:46.676 --> 0:03:48.956 her daughters to the Midwest and dropped them off with 0:03:49.036 --> 0:03:53.596 Fred's parents. She had the answer. It had been inside 0:03:53.636 --> 0:03:57.516 her all along. Now she just needed to execute the plan. 0:03:59.396 --> 0:04:30.716 I'm Dana Goodyear and this is Lost Hills, Episode four, 0:04:31.556 --> 0:04:39.716 The Shallow End, Part two. Life Spring was founded in 0:04:39.796 --> 0:04:43.916 nineteen seventy four by a man named John Hanley. Life 0:04:43.916 --> 0:04:49.316 Spring was slick and corporate self actualization for yuppies. Participants 0:04:49.316 --> 0:04:52.196 would pay several hundred dollars for a training, which was 0:04:52.276 --> 0:04:56.316 five days of lectures, group work, and meditation. There's a 0:04:56.356 --> 0:05:03.236 whole network of these training programs that were all kind 0:05:03.276 --> 0:05:07.596 of the same approach, which was, take people who are 0:05:07.676 --> 0:05:10.556 really vulnerable, who are looking for some meaning in their 0:05:10.596 --> 0:05:14.756 life or trying to put themselves together, bring them together 0:05:14.796 --> 0:05:18.996 in a big room, tear them apart, bring them down 0:05:19.076 --> 0:05:23.956 to just zero, and then rebuild them. This is Mark Fisher, 0:05:24.116 --> 0:05:26.796 an editor at The Washington Post who wrote about Life 0:05:26.796 --> 0:05:29.916 Spring in the eighties. He actually went through the basic 0:05:29.956 --> 0:05:34.876 training as a reporter. The cell is you've got all 0:05:34.956 --> 0:05:37.276 kinds of problems in your life, you're really not happy. 0:05:37.636 --> 0:05:41.956 We're going to guide you to understanding who you really are, 0:05:42.436 --> 0:05:45.316 what you're about, and how you can succeed in every 0:05:45.316 --> 0:05:48.076 way that you want to live. Spring would consider it 0:05:48.116 --> 0:05:52.116 an honor to assist you in creating and implementing your vision. 0:05:52.756 --> 0:05:56.116 Our commitment is that you experience a profound shift and 0:05:56.196 --> 0:05:59.476 your ability to relate to yourself into others. It says, 0:05:59.716 --> 0:06:02.076 we're going to get rid of all the stuff that 0:06:02.156 --> 0:06:05.596 weighs you down, that makes you unable to be happy, 0:06:05.716 --> 0:06:09.476 unable to succeed, and once we trash that, we're going 0:06:09.476 --> 0:06:11.436 to get to the core of who you really are, 0:06:11.516 --> 0:06:14.036 which is something good, and we're going to build on that. 0:06:15.076 --> 0:06:19.316 Lifespring was different from some of its competitors and fellow 0:06:19.476 --> 0:06:24.436 children of that world of training, in that Lifespring was 0:06:24.756 --> 0:06:29.796 much rougher, especially in its early years. It was an 0:06:29.876 --> 0:06:35.316 often brutal kind of approach. There were confrontational encounters involving 0:06:35.396 --> 0:06:39.516 personal insults and humiliation, but then on the other side 0:06:39.516 --> 0:06:43.356 of that, there were guided meditations that could be extremely powerful. 0:06:44.276 --> 0:06:46.756 You're in a room with a couple hundred people and 0:06:46.876 --> 0:06:50.516 everyone closes their eyes and there's some soft music and 0:06:50.836 --> 0:06:54.076 you're taught to relax, and it almost kind of a 0:06:54.196 --> 0:06:59.516 kind of a hypnosis procedure, and then the leader, the trainer, 0:06:59.756 --> 0:07:04.396 tells you a story, a very emotionally evocative story, usually 0:07:04.436 --> 0:07:09.516 about something in someone's childhood that gets people really heary, 0:07:09.636 --> 0:07:11.916 and you get this sort of group cry going on 0:07:11.996 --> 0:07:15.516 in the room, and you build as the music builds 0:07:15.556 --> 0:07:20.796 to a moment of extraordinary catharsis, and it's kind of 0:07:20.796 --> 0:07:24.796 a weep arama, and it's a hugely powerful moment in 0:07:24.836 --> 0:07:29.956 the room. For some people, it was great. For others, 0:07:30.716 --> 0:07:34.636 it was devastating. One of the trainees told me when 0:07:34.676 --> 0:07:39.796 I was in the program that Lifespring was an enema 0:07:39.916 --> 0:07:44.076 of your emotions, and for some people that's enormously dangerous, 0:07:44.156 --> 0:07:46.916 and that's where some of the casualties come from. That 0:07:47.116 --> 0:07:50.476 was Lifespring's term for people who had tremendous emotional and 0:07:50.516 --> 0:07:54.876 physical damage from the program. They called them casualties. They 0:07:54.916 --> 0:07:59.116 also called them wackos and basket cases, and those were 0:07:59.156 --> 0:08:03.196 their terms for people who suffered really ill effects from 0:08:03.516 --> 0:08:07.716 the Lifespring training. By the early eighties, dozens of trainees 0:08:07.716 --> 0:08:12.636 had sued Lifespring. Six trainees had died. At the end 0:08:12.676 --> 0:08:16.076 of each training, the trainer would have to file what 0:08:16.276 --> 0:08:21.676 Lifespring called incident reports, and those would describe trainees who 0:08:21.716 --> 0:08:27.756 became panicky, who had visions or regress to the womb, 0:08:28.196 --> 0:08:32.316 and so some of those people ended up in psychiatric hospitals, 0:08:32.436 --> 0:08:39.796 and some of them became suicidal. After trainings, people sometimes 0:08:39.796 --> 0:08:43.636 experienced a Lifespring high, a kind of manic state that 0:08:43.676 --> 0:08:49.996 could spiral precipitously into depression. Many trainees lost extreme amounts 0:08:49.996 --> 0:08:52.796 of weight. Weight loss was actually kind of a promise 0:08:52.836 --> 0:08:57.036 of the program, an outward sign of self mastering. Jean 0:08:57.156 --> 0:09:00.236 was always slim five eight one hundred and twenty pounds, 0:09:00.916 --> 0:09:03.036 but in the weeks between her basic training and the 0:09:03.076 --> 0:09:07.156 advanced she was down to one O nine. Then Fred 0:09:07.196 --> 0:09:10.236 says she dropped it under a one hundred hounds and 0:09:10.316 --> 0:09:14.876 she started saying strange things about out of body experiences 0:09:14.916 --> 0:09:18.916 and seeing the future. She would say things to me like, 0:09:19.276 --> 0:09:21.076 you know, I don't have to look in the rearview 0:09:21.116 --> 0:09:23.316 mirror of the car anymore, because I know when there's 0:09:23.356 --> 0:09:27.076 a car behind me, And I would say that's fine, 0:09:27.196 --> 0:09:33.036 but for me, Heidi and Kirsten and you, would you 0:09:33.116 --> 0:09:36.076 please look in the room mirror before you James, Wayne's 0:09:36.116 --> 0:09:40.676 just to confirmed, would you already believe? Gene was nagging 0:09:40.756 --> 0:09:43.996 him to try Lifespring to make the divorce go more smoothly, 0:09:44.756 --> 0:09:48.476 and he had noticed some benefits. She'd become more loving 0:09:48.476 --> 0:09:52.676 toward the kids, he wrote, and also quote less materialistic. 0:09:53.036 --> 0:09:55.316 She tried to sell the Jaguar after she wrecked it 0:09:55.356 --> 0:10:00.676 and had it fixed, and then I finally gave up 0:10:00.716 --> 0:10:04.196 and said, Okay, sign me up. I'll go too. And 0:10:04.236 --> 0:10:07.236 so I was scheduled to do that, and I think 0:10:07.316 --> 0:10:12.076 November or December of that year. In early October, right 0:10:12.116 --> 0:10:15.516 after Jean completed her second life Spring course, Fred returned 0:10:15.556 --> 0:10:20.076 from Hawaii to celebrate Jean's birthday. A few days later, 0:10:20.276 --> 0:10:24.236 Jean wrote to her sister Carol. Her tone was giddy. 0:10:24.396 --> 0:10:26.836 Carrol was into Life Spring too and knew the lingo. 0:10:27.516 --> 0:10:32.356 Jean confided that she'd done some extracurricular meditating and quote 0:10:32.796 --> 0:10:35.596 asked if I would see Dick this year. Got a 0:10:35.756 --> 0:10:41.356 yes answer, so I proceed to ask when the answer, 0:10:41.476 --> 0:10:45.196 Jean wrote, came in a vision involving white specks and 0:10:45.276 --> 0:10:49.156 the number twenty two. Then she wrote, out of nowhere, 0:10:49.436 --> 0:10:53.716 she'd started singing sleigh bells ring? Are you listening? Did 0:10:53.756 --> 0:10:57.716 that mean she'd be with Dick by Christmas? As for Fred, 0:10:57.796 --> 0:11:02.076 it seemed like problem solved. It's all out with Fred 0:11:02.076 --> 0:11:04.636 and I, she wrote. He came out and asked where 0:11:04.636 --> 0:11:07.716 we stood, so I laid it all on him. He 0:11:07.836 --> 0:11:10.236 had tears in his eyes, but the whole situation is 0:11:10.276 --> 0:11:14.956 progressing fantastically. He's terrifically understanding. Just knew it anyway, but 0:11:15.036 --> 0:11:18.716 wouldn't admit it to himself. She told her sister they'd 0:11:18.716 --> 0:11:22.316 planned to do the divorce cheaply through UCLA aid. They'd 0:11:22.316 --> 0:11:26.436 still spend holidays together and share childcare. She told another 0:11:26.476 --> 0:11:30.156 friend that Fred had unexpectedly conceded to her on every point. 0:11:30.676 --> 0:11:33.596 They'd sell the house, split the money, and she would 0:11:33.636 --> 0:11:37.196 be free. He even told her she could have custody 0:11:37.196 --> 0:11:41.356 of the kids. Of course, it would mean a shift 0:11:41.396 --> 0:11:45.436 in lifestyle. She told her friend Patty Letell that supporting 0:11:45.476 --> 0:11:48.836 two households in Malibu on their salaries would be out 0:11:48.836 --> 0:11:52.916 of the question. Here's Patty speaking to an investigator. And 0:11:53.036 --> 0:11:57.276 another thing that she told me is that they split 0:11:57.356 --> 0:11:59.676 up the moment they could apt to beach at Halls. 0:12:00.956 --> 0:12:03.356 I think that he, you know, he liked living near 0:12:03.396 --> 0:12:08.676 anything like the house separately. That's what she told me. 0:12:08.756 --> 0:12:10.756 She's to be back getting her roommate. You know, I'd 0:12:10.796 --> 0:12:12.116 have to get to tell to live in an engine 0:12:12.276 --> 0:12:16.596 or truly lived yeah or whatever. In the letter to 0:12:16.636 --> 0:12:19.836 her sister, Jean explained that Fred would be moving out 0:12:19.876 --> 0:12:24.436 soon to a rental property they owned an Oxnard. Coincidentally, 0:12:24.676 --> 0:12:26.916 it was four blocks away from Dick and Linda ville 0:12:26.956 --> 0:12:29.796 Thowen's house. I guess that's the way it's supposed to be, 0:12:29.996 --> 0:12:35.316 she wrote. Around this time, Jean's friend Candy Henman says 0:12:35.316 --> 0:12:39.116 she ran into Jean at the bank. She said she 0:12:39.196 --> 0:12:41.556 finally made her decision and I was so proud of 0:12:41.556 --> 0:12:44.276 her and happy for her that she was going to leave. 0:12:45.596 --> 0:12:48.836 She says that Jean told her her marriage was over 0:12:49.596 --> 0:13:09.116 and that she would soon be free. This whole time, 0:13:09.196 --> 0:13:11.796 Fred says he and Jean were not on the brink 0:13:11.836 --> 0:13:15.036 of divorce. He was not about to move out. They 0:13:15.036 --> 0:13:18.836 were working things out for him to stay. So add 0:13:18.876 --> 0:13:21.676 that to the list of things he says Jean's friends 0:13:21.796 --> 0:13:28.116 got wrong. No choking, no violence, no imminent divorce. Oh, 0:13:28.196 --> 0:13:31.596 and the gun, which Jean reportedly moved over to Verna's house. 0:13:32.356 --> 0:13:35.476 Fred later wrote, quote, my only pistol was still in 0:13:35.556 --> 0:13:42.636 my house on Calpine when Jean died on October fifth, 0:13:42.756 --> 0:13:47.276 nineteen seventy six. Jean turned thirty four ten days later, 0:13:47.436 --> 0:13:50.356 on October fifteenth. She left the house early to fly 0:13:50.396 --> 0:13:53.636 a turnaround to Chicago. All the way from la to 0:13:53.716 --> 0:13:57.556 Chicago and back in one long, twelve hour stretch. So 0:13:57.716 --> 0:14:00.916 she flew to Chicago and then flew back in the 0:14:00.956 --> 0:14:07.956 same day. And so she got back that night. After 0:14:08.076 --> 0:14:11.716 Hyden had his surgery, their older daughter, Heidi was in 0:14:11.716 --> 0:14:14.756 the hospital getting her tonsils removed. Fred had spent the 0:14:14.796 --> 0:14:17.596 day with her there. Heidi had to stay at the 0:14:17.636 --> 0:14:21.076 hospital that night, after Jeane got home from Chicago and 0:14:21.116 --> 0:14:24.236 they put their toddler, Kirsten, to bed, she and Fred 0:14:24.316 --> 0:14:29.316 had the evening to themselves, and Jean asked me to 0:14:29.356 --> 0:14:33.716 go ahead and turn on the hot tub, and she 0:14:33.756 --> 0:14:36.596 had already poured a glass of wine, and I carried 0:14:36.676 --> 0:14:40.956 the other wine out to the to the tub. Fred 0:14:41.036 --> 0:14:43.836 liked the hot tub hot. He cranked it up to 0:14:43.876 --> 0:14:46.756 one oh four, one oh five, he says, and got in. 0:14:47.596 --> 0:14:50.636 He filled his glass and started to drink. Jean was 0:14:50.676 --> 0:14:53.316 still inside talking on the phone with a friend, a 0:14:53.396 --> 0:14:56.956 pretty normal conversation for Jean in those heavy days when 0:14:56.956 --> 0:15:00.156 she believed she had psychic powers. She told her friend 0:15:00.236 --> 0:15:02.836 she'd tried to see what her friend's X was up 0:15:02.876 --> 0:15:07.436 to the next time she meditated. Then, according to her friend, 0:15:07.716 --> 0:15:10.196 Jeane said she had to go. Fred was waiting in 0:15:10.196 --> 0:15:12.916 the hot tub, and she said, you know how he 0:15:12.956 --> 0:15:16.116 gets when he has to wait. Fred says he and 0:15:16.236 --> 0:15:18.796 Jean finished the bottle of wine together in the tub, 0:15:19.516 --> 0:15:23.556 and I was out there when she came out, and 0:15:25.036 --> 0:15:29.636 we sort of killed off that bottle. Jean wanted more wine, 0:15:29.676 --> 0:15:31.876 he says, and asked him to go inside for another 0:15:31.916 --> 0:15:33.996 bottle and change the baby while he was at it. 0:15:34.956 --> 0:15:36.676 He left her in the hot tub and went to 0:15:36.756 --> 0:15:41.356 Kirsten's room. So it was a fairly warm night, and 0:15:41.716 --> 0:15:46.956 you know, like the windows in Kirston's bedroom were open. 0:15:47.956 --> 0:15:53.596 Everything was quiet. We had a German shepherd that was ours, 0:15:53.636 --> 0:15:58.476 called utah Uta, and then we had we had basically 0:15:58.516 --> 0:16:03.596 inherited a docun from the people across the street, the Morgansterns. 0:16:03.796 --> 0:16:08.356 Their little docun mail was named Geronimo, and he was 0:16:08.436 --> 0:16:14.596 infatuated with Uta, who was a female. So they hung 0:16:14.596 --> 0:16:18.676 out together and sometimes he stayed over there and with us. 0:16:19.956 --> 0:16:22.916 So I went in and changed Kirsten, and then I 0:16:22.956 --> 0:16:26.716 got another bottle of wine. And when I walked out, 0:16:27.316 --> 0:16:31.396 there was Uta and Geronimo both with their paws on 0:16:31.436 --> 0:16:35.036 the edge of the pool, and Jeane was floating face 0:16:35.156 --> 0:16:38.316 down in the pool. And I was stunned. I just 0:16:38.796 --> 0:16:41.036 you know, it was just the wrong picture. I couldn't 0:16:41.036 --> 0:16:45.956 imagine that Jeane. He said, I had left the hot 0:16:45.996 --> 0:16:48.356 tub and walked ten or twelve feet over to the 0:16:48.356 --> 0:16:51.316 swimming pool, and now she was faced down in the 0:16:51.316 --> 0:16:54.556 shallow end. He said he found her with her arms 0:16:54.596 --> 0:16:58.916 spread wide and floating on the surface. So I pulled 0:16:58.956 --> 0:17:03.236 her out and yelled for our neighbor. Their bedroom was 0:17:03.436 --> 0:17:06.676 closest to our property line, so he heard me and 0:17:06.716 --> 0:17:13.676 I said, you know, Paul Leon Quick Leon Morgenstern, a 0:17:13.756 --> 0:17:16.836 spleen surgeon at Cedar SINAI was awakened by a knock 0:17:16.876 --> 0:17:20.356 at the door around ten forty five. He put a 0:17:20.396 --> 0:17:23.316 bathrobe on over his pajamas and hurried to the railers, 0:17:23.516 --> 0:17:26.276 where he found Fred giving Jean's CPR by the side 0:17:26.276 --> 0:17:31.636 of the pool. They were both naked. He came over 0:17:32.276 --> 0:17:35.676 and helped me with the CPR, and then the fire 0:17:35.716 --> 0:17:40.876 department game and loaded us up and took us to 0:17:40.916 --> 0:17:44.516 the hospital. When they left for the hospital, Jean's heart 0:17:44.596 --> 0:17:50.276 was beating, but she wasn't breathing. She was comatose. Yeah, 0:17:50.476 --> 0:17:56.156 she was. She was breathing with the machine to start with, 0:17:57.396 --> 0:18:00.636 or later. I think she was on the eventI latter, 0:18:03.276 --> 0:18:07.036 but she you know, she didn't come out of the coma. 0:18:07.476 --> 0:18:11.956 She was. She looked like she was sleeping. And you know, 0:18:11.956 --> 0:18:15.196 when I would sit with her an older hand, her 0:18:15.236 --> 0:18:18.996 hands were warm, it would be just like she was sleeping. 0:18:20.396 --> 0:18:22.996 And what was going through your mind during that time 0:18:23.476 --> 0:18:28.756 sitting with her? Oh? Everything in the world, all the 0:18:28.796 --> 0:18:33.876 way from you know what happened? How could this have happened? 0:18:33.916 --> 0:18:38.676 Why didn't the dogs bark? I could only assume that 0:18:38.756 --> 0:18:41.836 she had told them to be quiet, or else they 0:18:41.876 --> 0:18:44.076 would have been barking if she should have been if 0:18:44.116 --> 0:18:46.116 I think, if they would have sensed that she was 0:18:46.196 --> 0:18:49.356 in distress, they would have been barking. I never really 0:18:49.436 --> 0:18:55.956 understood that, and then I didn't get much sleep that 0:18:56.076 --> 0:18:58.436 first night. I vaguely just sat in the waiting room 0:18:58.476 --> 0:19:02.676 and cried, when did you know in your heart she 0:19:02.756 --> 0:19:07.476 was going to die? Well? When the neurologist was a 0:19:07.556 --> 0:19:11.796 young man, very nice. He basically said, took us to 0:19:11.876 --> 0:19:15.316 one side and said, look, you know, this is considered 0:19:15.356 --> 0:19:22.916 brain death. Jean was taken off the ventilator on October 0:19:22.956 --> 0:19:26.756 twenty first. The official cause of death was pneumonia as 0:19:26.796 --> 0:19:29.996 a result of drowning in the family pool. She had 0:19:30.116 --> 0:19:35.836 no other injuries, and, just like with Erna, Fred was 0:19:35.876 --> 0:20:01.316 the only witness unless you count the family dog. The 0:20:01.556 --> 0:20:05.636 LA coroner said Jean's death was an accident, no foul play, 0:20:06.396 --> 0:20:08.436 but there were plenty of people who had their doubts. 0:20:09.276 --> 0:20:11.596 One of the doctors who treated Jean at the hospital 0:20:11.716 --> 0:20:15.956 later said he felt suspicious of Fred. He didn't understand 0:20:15.996 --> 0:20:19.476 why this woman had drowned. Her family and friends felt 0:20:19.476 --> 0:20:22.916 the same way. Jeanne was an excellent swimmer, a good 0:20:22.956 --> 0:20:26.676 athlete in general. It was the small details that didn't 0:20:26.676 --> 0:20:30.076 sit right. For instance, there was talk that the shock 0:20:30.116 --> 0:20:32.556 of going from a very hot tub into a cold 0:20:32.596 --> 0:20:36.516 pool could have somehow contributed to her death, but plunging 0:20:36.516 --> 0:20:38.996 in the pool did not seem like something Jeanne would do. 0:20:39.716 --> 0:20:42.756 The begging convenience. I have never owned Jane in my 0:20:42.836 --> 0:20:46.716 life to jump in a pool. We lived right across 0:20:46.836 --> 0:20:50.836 the pool and we were an apartment. I am from 0:20:50.836 --> 0:20:52.396 a life of me. I'll never figure that one out. 0:20:53.476 --> 0:20:56.996 How she got in the pool. That's Barbara Warner, her 0:20:56.996 --> 0:21:03.476 old roommate, and the dogs. Their presence in the story 0:21:03.556 --> 0:21:08.036 seemed odd, unbelievable to people who knew the family. I 0:21:08.076 --> 0:21:10.916 thought it was an unusual because here had always put 0:21:10.996 --> 0:21:14.556 the dogs tight up. Patty Littell didn't understand what the 0:21:14.636 --> 0:21:17.436 dogs were doing at the pool in the first place. Yeah, 0:21:17.476 --> 0:21:19.356 because they were tied up by the back door. And 0:21:20.236 --> 0:21:21.956 I could be wrong when I always got the impression 0:21:21.996 --> 0:21:23.836 that the cred wasn't too crazy about the dogs. And 0:21:23.876 --> 0:21:26.356 after his wife dies, I think one of them got 0:21:26.396 --> 0:21:30.036 killed and the other was given away. Fred had Jean 0:21:30.116 --> 0:21:33.556 cremated and he scattered her ashes at sea, though her 0:21:33.596 --> 0:21:36.796 family was afraid to go on the water. Jean's parents 0:21:36.796 --> 0:21:41.156 held a memorial service on land. Barbara Warner remembered Fred's 0:21:41.156 --> 0:21:46.956 behavior at the service as noticeably strange. After the memorial service, 0:21:47.116 --> 0:21:51.436 I went through the reception and he he had me 0:21:51.516 --> 0:21:52.956 very tightly, and that I have to talk to you. 0:21:52.996 --> 0:21:55.796 I have to talk to you. And I said fine, 0:21:56.396 --> 0:22:00.076 told me as fine, and virtually told me who ate him? 0:22:00.316 --> 0:22:07.916 What halfen? That? At least that was hand rendered what happened? Um, 0:22:07.956 --> 0:22:10.076 As I think back on at the time I was, 0:22:10.316 --> 0:22:12.596 I was, of course, I was so emotionally upset. At 0:22:12.596 --> 0:22:16.156 the time, I thought, oh, okay, wonderful. You know that 0:22:16.276 --> 0:22:21.196 doesn't tell much. Um. I really think he had that 0:22:21.316 --> 0:22:23.796 story so down pat He rattled it off so bad 0:22:24.636 --> 0:22:29.716 with so little emotion that I thought there's something wrong 0:22:29.756 --> 0:22:32.396 with him. But see, in my mind I always thought 0:22:32.436 --> 0:22:34.716 something was wrong with him anyway, So I was preconditioned, 0:22:35.836 --> 0:22:38.316 and I think he had to make sure I was 0:22:38.356 --> 0:22:40.956 buying his story. And I believe that to this day 0:22:42.236 --> 0:22:45.276 that he had to be sure. I wasn't going to 0:22:45.356 --> 0:22:50.356 question thank you, It's going on to Candy Henman, there 0:22:50.476 --> 0:22:53.716 was no question as to his guilt. When I knew 0:22:53.756 --> 0:22:55.996 for sure that he did do it was when I 0:22:55.996 --> 0:23:00.596 went to Jean's funeral and he walked up in his hole. 0:23:01.636 --> 0:23:06.076 Everything around him seemed black, dark, and his face, his look, 0:23:06.236 --> 0:23:10.676 his everything was just darkness, and I knew without a 0:23:10.716 --> 0:23:16.716 doubt that he had done it. He just looked wicked, 0:23:17.236 --> 0:23:22.356 an evil funeralists, dark face in my face and coming 0:23:22.356 --> 0:23:24.636 over and being friendly and chatty, and I was thinking, 0:23:25.036 --> 0:23:27.396 you're a murderer. Why are you even talking to me. 0:23:28.636 --> 0:23:33.036 Jean's sisters, Carol and Linda, were the most unnerved. Carol 0:23:33.156 --> 0:23:35.796 later said she'd reached out to the District Attorney's office 0:23:35.796 --> 0:23:38.876 to ask them to investigate, but the office scared her 0:23:38.996 --> 0:23:42.276 by saying that Fred could sue for defamation of character. 0:23:43.156 --> 0:23:48.756 She gave it up. There was one more person who 0:23:48.836 --> 0:23:53.116 was deeply disturbed by all of this, Verna Johnson, the 0:23:53.196 --> 0:23:57.396 woman who would become Fred's second wife. Michelle Williams went 0:23:57.436 --> 0:23:59.316 to see Verna when they found out Jean was in 0:23:59.356 --> 0:24:04.916 a coma in the hospital, Verna, Jane's very closest friend 0:24:04.956 --> 0:24:09.716 at that time in Vernon eye rolls. Verna's husband, Bill 0:24:09.796 --> 0:24:13.196 had been an electrical contractor. He'd died less than a 0:24:13.276 --> 0:24:15.876 year earlier after falling from the roof of an eighth 0:24:15.876 --> 0:24:19.196 story building in Westwood where he was working. He had 0:24:19.236 --> 0:24:22.396 been depressed and it looked like a suicide, but no 0:24:22.436 --> 0:24:25.316 one really knew for sure. I went down and sat 0:24:25.356 --> 0:24:27.916 with Verna because I knew how close she was to Jane, 0:24:28.156 --> 0:24:34.396 and Vernon had losses. Verna was really spooked. The whole 0:24:34.396 --> 0:24:37.156 thing with Jean reminded her of some of the exercises 0:24:37.196 --> 0:24:39.996 from the Life Spring training. Jean couldn't stop talking about 0:24:40.716 --> 0:24:46.116 guided meditations involving water and death. When I went down 0:24:46.156 --> 0:24:48.716 to talk to Vernon that night that Jeane, you know, 0:24:48.996 --> 0:24:52.716 or the night after whatever Jane had become unconsciously, you know, 0:24:52.756 --> 0:24:56.396 I had drowned, Verna told me that Jeane had gone 0:24:56.396 --> 0:25:02.796 to this Life Spring weakened and that Jane had told 0:25:02.876 --> 0:25:07.116 Verna that she had imagined her own death over a water, 0:25:08.236 --> 0:25:13.196 and that troubled Vernon. Now that Jean had drowned. It 0:25:13.276 --> 0:25:16.796 was an eerie resonance, and one Fred would circle back 0:25:16.836 --> 0:25:20.916 to repeatedly. He noted that Jean had spoken about a 0:25:20.916 --> 0:25:23.996 guided meditation she'd done in her Life Spring workshop that 0:25:24.116 --> 0:25:27.556 was focused on death and dying. She told him she'd 0:25:27.636 --> 0:25:30.956 envisioned a quiet pool of water and a tombstone with 0:25:30.996 --> 0:25:34.796 no date on it. Jean believed she could see the future, 0:25:35.196 --> 0:25:38.796 and it turned out she could with one small caveat. 0:25:39.636 --> 0:25:58.116 She thought the vision meant she would never die. Candy 0:25:58.196 --> 0:26:01.516 Henman didn't stay mad at Fred for long. She noticed 0:26:01.556 --> 0:26:08.636 he did have some good attributes. Tall, good build, dark hair, 0:26:10.116 --> 0:26:14.836 just a handsome man. She thought an adventuresome friend of hers, 0:26:14.996 --> 0:26:19.196 Gail Carmichael, might like him, despite the drama over Jean's death. 0:26:20.316 --> 0:26:24.316 He was. He was very attractive, and he had such charisma, 0:26:26.156 --> 0:26:31.276 and she also was that way. Nothing scared her. I 0:26:31.316 --> 0:26:33.876 had told her what I thought had happened prior, but 0:26:34.036 --> 0:26:37.956 that everybody else thought he was innocent. Everybody in town 0:26:38.076 --> 0:26:40.596 was just so upset over what happened to Jean, and 0:26:40.676 --> 0:26:44.156 nobody had any idea that it was related to Fred, 0:26:44.196 --> 0:26:47.916 and everybody at that time was touting how wonderful he was. 0:26:50.516 --> 0:26:53.876 Fred told an investigator how Candy had played matchmaker with Gail. 0:26:54.676 --> 0:26:57.956 And let's be clear This is Fred's version of their 0:26:57.996 --> 0:27:02.316 wild first date shortly after Jean died. She said, you know, 0:27:02.356 --> 0:27:04.196 when you're ready to ask them to get back in 0:27:04.236 --> 0:27:07.636 the circulation so forth. But me now, she said, well, 0:27:07.636 --> 0:27:12.516 why don't you consider coming over dinner? And I said, okay, 0:27:12.636 --> 0:27:14.676 I said, this is a kids think, But the kids 0:27:14.676 --> 0:27:16.636 she said, oh yeah. So I went over with the kids. 0:27:17.196 --> 0:27:21.276 And so I went over and this blond parking hour 0:27:21.396 --> 0:27:24.916 of the forward lady pulls up her pink Cadillac said, 0:27:24.956 --> 0:27:28.756 bll whatever, the hear was brand new win. She got 0:27:28.756 --> 0:27:31.196 out of kind of lights. Your still warm, So I said, 0:27:31.236 --> 0:27:32.596 you know the light you still watch? She said, you 0:27:32.636 --> 0:27:36.116 had a Carlton A long time. A minute. Things like 0:27:36.236 --> 0:27:40.076 that went on. So we went in and had a 0:27:40.156 --> 0:27:44.916 fairly still initial type of things. She's smoked and I 0:27:44.996 --> 0:27:47.916 don't smoke, and it's one of those things. And she 0:27:47.956 --> 0:27:50.356 seemed to be a little bit of loop and I 0:27:50.516 --> 0:27:55.996 was a little bit apathetic, and well, eating went on, 0:27:56.076 --> 0:27:58.836 and as the liquor we got quicker and more or less. 0:27:59.076 --> 0:28:01.356 Uh you know, we had wine to start with, and 0:28:01.516 --> 0:28:06.156 we had warm fuzzies, which is like a cappuccino type 0:28:06.156 --> 0:28:10.956 of the thing went cool in it and cream and everything. Yeah, 0:28:11.116 --> 0:28:14.596 they were wonderful and and we had a little bit 0:28:14.596 --> 0:28:21.956