00:00:13
[music] >> My parents had a very loving relationship. They were a team. They were always there for us whenever they
00:00:21
always supported us. I thought it was great. She was very outgoing and and very bubbly. I
00:00:33
loved Cathy. If you could describe Cathy in one word, it would be fun. She had this musical
00:00:40
laugh. Really enjoyed life. >> There's Mark. >> Mark Wangler is an anesthesiologist and
00:00:46
by all accounts an excellent doctor. >> On your way back, could you bring some of those donuts?
00:00:50
>> Mark's sweet, he's considerate, he's smart, he's funny. >> Thank you. Thank you very much.
00:00:55
>> He's a very spiritual man. >> [singing and music] >> Mark Wangler is a religious man. I'm
00:01:01
Greg Swinsky, I'm the crime reporter at the Lima News. I've been here for 16 years.
00:01:10
On September 4th, 2006, there was a strange incident at the Wangler home on Yorkshire Drive.
00:01:21
>> My dad said that he woke up in the middle of night. I remember having to go around and and
00:01:25
and figure out, [music] you know, is there a fire in the house? You know, what alarm is going off?
00:01:30
I figure out that it's the carbon monoxide detector and I then go up to to check on Cathy.
00:01:36
>> So, he ran upstairs to check on my mom and she wasn't responding, so then he started giving her CPR and called 911.
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>> People do die by accident, so it seemed like one of those things that we initially were going to write about and
00:01:49
probably never write about again. >> It's like one of these freak accidents that you hear from people of other
00:01:56
people's families that this happened and you never think it'll happen to yours. >> Nobody lists as a suspect. There really
00:02:01
didn't seem like a reason to list anybody as [music] a suspect. >> Carbon monoxide is a colorless,
00:02:07
odorless, and tasteless gas. >> There were several things that were red flags, suspicious [music] in nature.
00:02:15
>> 3 years later, you start hearing some whispers behind the scenes. You heard that they were in the house
00:02:21
removing duct work. They were continuing to check in the different angles. You think, "What's
00:02:27
happening here? Why are they doing all this investigation? Is this a murder case now?"
00:02:32
>> I had formulated a theory that carbon monoxide had been forced through the duct work at a very high rate of speed
00:02:40
over a short duration of time up the duct work and into the room that Kathy was in.
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>> There's a lot of mystery and intrigue surrounding this case. >> We felt we had enough evidence to make
00:02:51
an arrest. This was a murder. >> This whole case hinges on the theory that gas filled the garage, came down
00:03:01
here to the basement, was sucked into this furnace, went up two floors, and killed someone.
00:03:08
That's ridiculous. >> House of Secrets >> [music] [music] >> As police continue to investigate the
00:03:51
strange death of Kathy Wangler in her home. >> At first it was just lonely and and and
00:03:58
devastating. >> Her husband, Dr. Mark Wangler, found comfort in his church. He also found comfort [music] in an old
00:04:07
friend, Esther Urkman. >> The the thing is with Esther and I was we had known each other for a long
00:04:16
period of time, not romantically, you know, had just known each other. >> In fact, Esther and her husband had been
00:04:23
friends with Mark and Kathy for years. >> Yeah, so then many times they would go
00:04:28
out with us, with my husband and I, um, on many occasions. >> Esther, a psychologist with a PhD,
00:04:34
[music] had great respect for Mark, a top anesthesiologist in Lima, Ohio. >> He's a good [music] doctor.
00:04:42
He's a requested doctor. He practiced here, you know, 29, 30 years with, you know, never losing a patient, never
00:04:49
being sued for malpractice. >> They were brought together by an odd twist of fate. Esther had lost her
00:04:56
spouse as well, when he underwent a gender change operation and began living life as a woman.
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>> Some of my friends tell me that I should write a book, but then I challenge them
00:05:07
and I ask them, would it wind up in the autobiography or the fiction section? Because nobody would believe it.
00:05:14
>> The couple began seeing each other and soon fell in love. >> As people sail through life,
00:05:21
you know, uh, in in a sense he's the anchor that I need and I'm the wind in his sails.
00:05:27
>> But Mark was still haunted by what he has always said was a bizarre accident when Kathy was killed by carbon monoxide
00:05:35
poisoning that Labor Day weekend in 2006. >> Uh, that would be a Sunday, so Kathy and
00:05:42
I got up and uh, went to church uh, together. [music] >> On that night, the two were sleeping in
00:05:48
separate bedrooms. >> I would go to bed earlier because I had to get up earlier. Kathy was very much a
00:05:54
a night owl. >> [music] >> Mark was sleeping on the first floor, here in the master bedroom.
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>> The next thing that I remember is waking up or being woken up by an alarm. We had the carbon monoxide alarm down in
00:06:09
the in the basement. Um >> A piercing sound? >> Yeah. Yeah, exactly. >> Mark says his natural gas water heater
00:06:18
had malfunctioned, [music] sending poisonous carbon monoxide into the ductwork of the house.
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Kathy was sleeping here on the second floor. And horribly with this door closed, this room became
00:06:35
a gas chamber. Mark says he began staggering around, feeling strangely woozy and disoriented,
00:06:44
the classic signs of carbon monoxide poisoning. >> I was nauseated. I I I remember vomiting
00:06:50
somewhere along the line as I was going through the house. And I then go up to to check on Kathy.
00:06:57
She was sleeping on a one of those inflatable mattresses. >> Was she breathing? >> Um
00:07:05
I guess she was at that point. I couldn't I couldn't wake her up. >> [music] >> Mark quickly calls 911.
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>> My carbon monoxide detector is going off and my wife is having a seizure. I'm
00:07:16
going to start opening all the windows and [music] stuff. Please get here quickly.
00:07:20
>> I did do CPR on her. >> She's not coming around. >> Okay, just go Yes, they're on their way.
00:07:31
Just go ahead and continue CPR. >> The paramedics rushed in, but just 38 minutes later, Kathy was pronounced dead
00:07:38
at the hospital. Their youngest son, Aaron, away at received a call with the tragic news.
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>> I just cried the whole [music] time. It was very like I can't believe this is
00:07:51
real, you know, like you just can't believe that your mom's gone or like even one of
00:07:56
your parents and especially [music] I was 21 at the time you don't expect to lose a parent at so young.
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>> Aaron [music] and his older brother Nathan rushed to Lima to be with the family.
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>> Just devastating. My uh just [music] sobbed on each other's shoulders. We just
00:08:12
moaned and groaned. >> The only reason he survived, Mark says, [music] is blind luck. He says Kathy
00:08:19
caused the toilet in the master bathroom to overflow. Mark had opened a window [music] and turned on a fan to air the
00:08:26
room out. Mark was questioned by police but not charged. With Esther by his side, he slowly moved
00:08:37
on with his life and returned to work. >> [music] >> You know, just having somebody who's a
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you know, an anchor, a point of sanity in my life was was such a blessing. >> And 14 months after Kathy's death, they
00:08:50
were married. >> I take it you love [music] this man. >> I do. I love him very much.
00:08:57
>> They settled into a life focused on each other and their church, traveling to Zambia on aid missions.
00:09:08
>> We've been providing means to have uh water wells drilled in that country. Uh which just
00:09:15
has a a huge impact. >> But back in Lima, the newlyweds lived under a cloud of suspicion.
00:09:25
>> You've you've talked about insinuation and you know there's sort of a whisper
00:09:28
campaign out there >> Absolutely. >> suggests you and Mark were having an affair
00:09:35
prior to Kathy's death. Is that true? >> No, he didn't even hold my hand Peter until after my divorce was final.
00:09:45
That's the kind of man he is. >> While Mark believed the investigation was over, Allen [music] County
00:09:51
prosecutor Jurgen Waldick never closed the case always troubled by Mark's story.
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>> On the very night that your wife is killed by carbon monoxide, you happen to be sleeping in a bedroom with a window
00:10:03
open and a fan going. >> Okay, is she still conscious? I mean is she breathing? >> No, I think she's not breathing.
00:10:10
>> And Waldick was bothered by Dr. Wangler's behavior on the 911 call. >> At the insistence of the 911 operator
00:10:18
only that he goes back and checks to see whether she has a pulse whether or not she's breathing.
00:10:23
>> Sir, I need you to check for me. >> No, she's not breathing. >> Okay, does she have a heartbeat?
00:10:30
>> No, she doesn't. >> If things look so fishy, why wasn't Dr. Wangler charged with a
00:10:36
crime? >> We continued the investigation. We had our suspicions. >> Is there a part of you that wonders
00:10:43
could he have done this? >> never. That's never even crossed my mind. >> You've never doubted your father?
00:10:48
>> Never once. >> Did you murder your wife Kathy? >> Absolutely not. >> Kill her with carbon monoxide?
00:10:54
>> No. >> Are you living with a killer? >> No. You know, I I I if I was living with the
00:11:00
evil genius, I think I might be one of the first to know. >> In fact, you have a PhD [music]
00:11:05
in psychology. >> Yes, I do. >> And as part of that, you can read people pretty well, I take.
00:11:10
>> I'd like to think so. >> But Kathy's family is convinced Mark has everybody fooled. That the man trained
00:11:19
[music] to put people to sleep had come up with a textbook murder. >> [music] >> Kathy Wangler is dead today because of
00:11:25
money. >> You're sure of that? >> I know it. >> Before her bizarre and tragic death by
00:11:50
carbon monoxide poisoning, Kathy Wangler [music] touched many lives, says her friend Sherry Miller.
00:11:57
>> She looked right into your heart and if you were a good person, she was going to
00:11:59
pull you right into hers and she was going to love you with everything she had. >> Friend, Heidi Frederick.
00:12:05
>> There are people in this world that just naturally [music] glow with life and Kathy was one of
00:12:10
those people. >> Kathy was the oldest of five siblings in a tight-knit [music] Ohio family. Her
00:12:17
sister, JoAnn. >> She was always looking out for everybody and she was a good sister. Everybody was
00:12:24
really close. >> Kathy married Mark Wangler [music] when they were both in their 20s and she
00:12:30
worked to help put him through medical school. Each summer as a volunteer at the Allen
00:12:37
County Fair, Kathy raised thousands of dollars for the local school district. In her 30s, she went back to school here
00:12:45
at Ohio State University >> [music] >> to get a degree in business. Rodney Knoll was one of her professors.
00:12:52
>> She she honestly wanted to learn, grow, and do more things with her life. >> But most of all, Kathy was a dedicated
00:13:00
[music] mother. >> A very loving person, always there for my brother and I through thick and thin,
00:13:06
always pushed us to excel, supported us nonstop, supported my father. >> Her husband, Mark, says they were
00:13:14
opposites. >> She was very outgoing. I tend to be much more introverted. A lot of people say I'm I'm
00:13:21
I'm awkward around other people and and and and and that's a fair assessment. I I I I am rather awkward.
00:13:27
>> The early years with the children were happy ones, enjoying holidays, >> Oh, a bread box.
00:13:34
>> and traveling the world. >> And here's Kathy. >> But, the couple drifted apart after
00:13:41
their sons went to college. >> She would come home from Walmart and pop a bag down and I'd say, "Oh, what did
00:13:47
you get at Walmart?" And she would say like, "Why do you need to know?" And I'm like, "Well, I guess I didn't need to
00:13:53
know." I said, "I was just curious." So, little things like that. >> Did the two of you talk about
00:13:59
separation? >> No, we never did. >> Ever talk about divorce? >> No, no, we didn't.
00:14:05
>> But, by 2006, they were sleeping in separate bedrooms. >> Kathy had um gained quite a bit of
00:14:12
weight. And uh as as she gained a lot of weight, she [music] snored violently. >> Mark was also upset by her lack of
00:14:21
attention to housekeeping and the amount of money she was charging on credit cards. Tens of thousands of dollars
00:14:28
worth of jewelry. >> Uh I came to find that there was about uh another $60,000 worth of uh credit
00:14:35
card debt uh that I had not been uh aware of. >> He also discovered she had opened a
00:14:40
secret bank account with $16,000 from their joint account. >> The fact that Kathy had set up a
00:14:47
separate bank account, isn't that an indication, isn't that evidence that she was [music]
00:14:53
heading into a new and separate life away from you with her own finances? >> Um yeah, it was. And uh and we were in
00:15:01
counseling at the time. >> Would you say that the two of you were falling out of love?
00:15:07
>> No, I wouldn't say falling out of love. Um at least um you know, I I didn't consider that. Um um you know, I I I I
00:15:15
loved Kathy. >> But, Kathy's family became concerned after Joanne witnessed a disturbing
00:15:21
incident between them. >> They were literally having a wrestling match over a checkbook. When I turned
00:15:26
around, they kind of stopped, and he said to Kathy, "This is no way to run a marriage."
00:15:31
>> Did it upset you when you saw it? >> Yes, I was physically shaking. I don't know what
00:15:37
made me say it, but I looked at Kathy and I said, "Is it safe to leave you here?"
00:15:41
And she said, "Yes, I'll be fine." >> Soon after, the marriage hit rock bottom. >> She kind of got emotional and broke down
00:15:49
and told me, you know, things were bad. She said, "If I could imagine everything
00:15:55
awful that could have been done to her other than being beaten or raped, Mark had done it to her."
00:16:01
And she said, "When the time was right, she would sit down and explain everything to me."
00:16:06
But we never got that time. >> But Mark tried to blame Kathy, making a stunning comment to her mother, Sarah, a
00:16:14
year before Kathy's death. >> He said, "First place, he says, I want to tell you one thing. Your daughter's a
00:16:19
monster." I said, "Oh, really?" I said, "In what way is she a monster?" "Well, she doesn't do what I tell her to
00:16:25
do." I said, "That's a monster?" >> Kathy's mother suggested a divorce. >> So, he said, "I can't get a divorce."
00:16:32
Then he quoted a couple doctors that had gotten divorces and how much it cost them.
00:16:37
>> But Kathy told her sister, Joanne, she was reluctant to get a divorce, too. >> I said, "Why can't you?" And she said,
00:16:44
"He will cut off the boys." And I said, "Well, what's wrong with that? They're in their 20s, you know, they're out of
00:16:49
the house." And she goes, "I can't leave. He'll cut the money off to the boys." >> With tensions escalating in the summer
00:16:56
of 2006, Kathy told various friends about her fears. >> She had told me that um her husband was out to destroy her
00:17:07
financially, emotionally, psychologically, in the community, at her church, um that he was
00:17:13
in the process of working to destroy her. >> Rodney Knoll remembers his last conversation with Kathy.
00:17:20
>> I say to her said, "Well, [music] take care of yourself." The usual getting ready to say bye kind of
00:17:26
comment. She says, "Oh, I will. You have to when somebody's trying to destroy you." And
00:17:31
she says, "And I mean that literally." And 3 days later, she's dead. I got to tell you that that that leaves
00:17:40
a feeling in the pit of your stomach, your gut that something sinister something evil's
00:17:45
happened. >> It was almost like a Sherlock Holmes >> [music] >> kind of a a mystery because we we don't
00:17:54
have that smoking gun. >> [music] >> By early 2007, 4 months had passed since Kathy Wangler died from an apparent
00:18:12
accidental carbon monoxide poisoning. Somehow, while sleeping in the same house, Dr. Mark Wangler had escaped
00:18:21
death. >> Did you ever for a day believe this was an accident? >> No. >> Kathy's mother, Sarah, and her family
00:18:29
were convinced Mark was getting away with murder. >> I know we all felt Mark did it.
00:18:36
>> The police investigation seemed to be going nowhere, so Sarah and her daughters launched their own plan.
00:18:44
>> It was my strategy. >> They stayed close to Mark pretending they believed his story.
00:18:50
>> That's what we wanted him to think. >> Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer.
00:18:55
That was the philosophy. >> Mhm. >> All the while writing down his actions after Kathy died hoping to build a case
00:19:02
against him. >> The fake crying, getting rid of all her stuff right away. He kept giving different stories about
00:19:10
how she died. >> He didn't want to be buried beside her, and he didn't care where we buried her.
00:19:15
In the limo on the way to the grave site in Salina, Mark was kind of short with my mom.
00:19:20
He told a joke about how people were dying to get in the cemetery. >> Convinced Mark was responsible, Sarah
00:19:27
called the Allen County Sheriff's Department with an ultimatum. >> I said, "You people have never returned
00:19:33
our phone calls. We have now decided that we're going to the media." >> [music] >> Soon after, the Sheriff's Department
00:19:38
assigned veteran investigator Clyde Bridegan to the case. >> The family had some doubts, but the
00:19:45
family wanted answers. >> And Bridegan had questions. >> What did kill her? They were looking for
00:19:51
the answer. Was it the hot water tank? Was it something inside that home? And I conducted like 80 or 85 interviews with
00:19:58
different people. >> Bridegan quickly learned from Kathy's family that the Wangler marriage
00:20:04
had become a disaster. >> Mark and Kathy treated each other equally evil. And that they would do things to each
00:20:14
other just to get under each other's skin. >> And Mark's story of a faulty water
00:20:19
heater that emitted carbon monoxide wasn't quite adding up. Bridegan interviewed gas company workers who had
00:20:27
been at the Wangler house after Kathy's death. >> And they examined and tested the water
00:20:33
heater, the furnace, the vent-free fireplace. They could not find anything malfunctioning on [music] the morning of
00:20:42
the fourth. >> And Mark's behavior, his lack of anger, struck Bridegan as odd. >> From my point of view, if my wife had
00:20:51
died in our home, and there was any suspicion from an appliance, I would be yelling and
00:20:58
screaming, "Okay, who installed this and what did you do wrong?" None of that ever took place.
00:21:04
>> And there was that seemingly strange coincidence. An anesthesiologist whose wife dies from
00:21:12
being gassed. >> As an anesthesiologist, you know about carbon monoxide. >> Not really. Carbon monoxide isn't
00:21:19
something that comes into play as a as an anesthesiologist. >> But Brudigan learned from one of Mark's
00:21:25
medical partners that simply wasn't true. >> He had told me Dr. Wangler was a master with gases and that he had been
00:21:34
trained in the old style anesthesiologist techniques and knew all about gases, knew all about carbon monoxide.
00:21:45
>> But where exactly would the carbon monoxide have come from? Right in Dr. Wangler's own garage,
00:21:52
Brudigan figured, [music] which held two cars and a generator with a camper in the driveway.
00:22:00
>> I had formulated a theory, the mobile source of carbon monoxide, one of the cars, the generator, whatever, had
00:22:06
introduced carbon monoxide into the home. >> Police performed tests on the camper.
00:22:11
>> And either by use and and I can't prove or disprove this, by use of of a hose,
00:22:17
introduced the carbon monoxide into the furnace with the furnace motor running. >> The poisonous gas traveled through the
00:22:23
ductwork of the house into Cathy's bedroom two floors above killing her. >> Crazy, wrong, speculation.
00:22:34
>> Mark's defense attorney, Chris McDowell, says the hose theory is nonsense. >> The hoses that were in this house were
00:22:41
the hoses that are in anyone's home. A garden hose. Tests were performed on the garden hose and there's no residue of
00:22:47
any of this on this hose. The hose theory is totally debunked. >> In fact, McDowell [music] says any
00:22:55
theory involving gas from a motor is impossible because that hot gas would have had to travel downward from the
00:23:03
first floor garage into the basement. >> According to the prosecution, the gas then goes
00:23:09
down these steps and into the basement. It defies the laws of gravity, the laws of what gas
00:23:16
does. It Well, according to them, it goes into the furnace area here and then he somehow unscrews all of
00:23:23
these screws. It's absolutely bogus. It's science fiction. >> But Bradigan acted on his theory. The
00:23:32
detective [music] got a search warrant and removed sections of the duct work from the Wangler home. He had it tested
00:23:38
at a lab for the presence of microscopic exhaust residue. >> Their conclusions were that something
00:23:50
had been introduced into the duct work at a very high rate of speed over a short duration of time.
00:23:57
>> Which is crazy because had that really occurred, they would have found him dead
00:24:00
right here. >> What really happened, McDowell says, was a tragic accident caused by a defective
00:24:09
vent connected to the water heater. >> And gas from this water heater that ordinarily would go outside is now
00:24:16
trapped inside the home. And it eventually makes its way up to the bedroom where Mrs. Wangler is
00:24:22
sleeping. >> But police don't buy that. And 3 years after Kathy's death, they finally arrest Mark Wangler and charge
00:24:32
him with murder. >> Just in a nutshell, horrible. I just had a a viral sick feeling and and you just feel all
00:24:43
of that energy, you know, drain out of you. >> You've gone from being a valued member of this community to in
00:24:50
some people's eyes an evil genius who killed his wife. >> Yeah, I guess that would be a
00:24:57
correct assessment of the situation. >> While awaiting [music] trial, Dr. Wangler takes comfort in his
00:25:08
religion. And Kathy's loved ones hope that judgement day is near. >> If he has killed his wife, he's going
00:25:16
[music] to hell along with Satan. >> From the bottom of our heart, [music] we want to say thanks.
00:25:44
We prayed for a good jury and my lawyers tell me that they couldn't be more pleased.
00:25:52
>> Four and a half years after Kathy Wangler's poisoned lifeless body was discovered in her home, her husband goes
00:25:59
on trial for her murder. >> Did you hook up a hose? >> No, I did not. >> motor home?
00:26:06
>> Absolutely not. >> And gas your wife that night? >> Absolutely not. >> He needs to be found guilty.
00:26:15
For everybody's sake. >> Kathy's family arrives at the courthouse ready to absorb every detail.
00:26:21
>> How are ladies? >> The defendant was deeply obsessed with religion. >> [music]
00:26:29
>> In her opening statement, Assistant Prosecutor Jenna Emrick cuts to the heart of Mark Wangler's motive.
00:26:35
>> [music] >> And a divorce would cause him to lose his standing and reputation in the
00:26:40
church. And of course, a divorce after nearly 30 years of marriage would cost him a small fortune.
00:26:47
>> Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, Dr. Mark Wangler is innocent. >> In his opening, Wangler's attorney Chris
00:26:54
McDowell makes his strategy clear. >> This case has been brought as a result of a poor police investigation.
00:27:04
>> The prosecution begins [music] >> 911, what is your emergency? >> as jurors watch Mark listening to
00:27:09
himself on that 911 call. >> Is she breathing? >> No, I think she's not breathing.
00:27:16
>> Does she have a heartbeat? >> No, she doesn't. >> The courtroom is riveted. >> Did you open up her airway?
00:27:29
>> I did. >> Okay. >> I'm a allergist. I checked her airways and her airways. >> Well, first of all, he's an
00:27:33
anesthesiologist. >> Lead prosecutor Jürgen Waldick. >> And he shouldn't need prompting from a
00:27:39
911 operator to check to see whether his wife is breathing, to see whether she has a heartbeat.
00:27:46
>> And are you aware that carbon monoxide can affect different people in different
00:27:50
ways? >> But McDowell says any odd behavior is because Wangler himself was overcome by
00:27:57
carbon monoxide. >> Because your brain is starved of oxygen. You become very confused. You become
00:28:03
disoriented. >> He appeared to have no trouble walking, no trouble talking to you, no trouble
00:28:08
relaying information to you. >> But the prosecution argues that Mark's efforts to give Kathy CPR were all an
00:28:16
act anyway. >> Come on, Kathy. Come on. >> Because Kathy was most likely dead before he dialed 911.
00:28:25
>> She's not coming around. >> An emergency room doctor testifies Kathy's body was already cold.
00:28:34
>> What I can say is that it seemed to me from my experience of 22 years that she'd been
00:28:41
dead for much longer. >> The prosecution then introduces photos taken shortly after Kathy's death
00:28:49
showing soot marks above the vent in her room. They say it's telltale evidence that engine exhaust was used to kill
00:28:57
her. They believe Dr. Wangler closed all the vents in the house except the one in her room.
00:29:08
>> People will testify that those stains had been on the walls for years before.
00:29:13
>> Those marks were actually there before I moved for college. >> Aaron Wangler tells jurors he should
00:29:18
know because that used to be his room. >> So, that was back in '04. I never really cleaned my room that much
00:29:25
at all, to be honest. >> And older brother Nathan Wangler testifies the soot marks are just
00:29:32
residue from burning candles. >> We enjoyed candles. We burned a lot of candles.
00:29:38
Throughout the entire house, there's actually discoloration on the walls, on the ceiling.
00:29:44
>> [music] >> Investigators were never able to test those soot stains. Mark had painted the
00:29:49
wall in the months after Kathy's death. Yet, it's not soot marks, but secrets that prosecutors hope will sway the
00:30:00
jury. These journals written by Dr. Mark Wangler. Evidence Bridegan uncovered during a search of the Wangler home
00:30:09
after a tip from Kathy's mom. >> Then I said to him when when they got search warrant, I said, "Did you find
00:30:15
the journals?" And he said, "What journals?" I said, "There's journals >> [music]
00:30:19
>> cuz Kathy always told me about when every morning he'd get up and write something in his journal."
00:30:23
>> The entries are damning. >> Lord, Satan has found a weak area to attack me, my marriage and family.
00:30:32
>> For the first time, Mark Wangler's most private secret feelings about his wife
00:30:37
and marriage are publicly revealed as Bridegan reads them in court. >> Five things I have asked Kathy to
00:30:45
improve but has not. Number one, keep the house, cook, clean, make bed. Two, lose weight. She has
00:30:52
gained around 80 lb in the past 20 years. >> The entries are extremely personal.
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>> I feel judged and rejected by Kathy. Kathy thinks I am boring in bed. Kathy doesn't really listen to me. I do
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not trust Kathy. I feel picked on and put down. I just went home after reading them
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every night depressed. I felt [music] sorry for the guy. >> But Mark Wangler says the marriage
00:31:22
counselor had told him to write down his feelings and to be brutally honest. >> We were in counseling.
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I was trying to reconnect. >> [music] >> I I I loved Kathy. >> As time goes on, the entries get
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increasingly desperate. Sometimes I feel rage. I feel trapped with no escape. I pray that I can endure life.
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Please cast [music] Satan and his demons attacking me out from my life for a time.
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>> I think he thought Kathy [music] was evil and that was Satan was working through
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her. It says mine was twisted to the point that he thought that's what God wanted
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him to do. To rid the world of the evil one. >> I see that I am sensitive and that I
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tend to keep anger inside until I explode. >> Dr. Wangler even wrote about taking his
00:32:17
own life in a way that startled investigators. >> Thoughts of suicide are a little strong
00:32:24
again. Satan is attacking in new way this time using car exhaust. >> And then, on September 1st,
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>> [music] >> 3 days before Kathy's death an ominous plea to God. >> Dear Lord, I place our marriage on your
00:32:46
altar. Please act in a powerful way. >> Then in November, 2 months after her burial, Mark writes [music]
00:32:55
>> and I prayed for God to act in a powerful way that night. Little did I know that three nights later our
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marriage would be changed forever. >> He used God to justify his actions. >> I was thinking he was thanking God she
00:33:09
was dead. >> The diaries are powerful circumstantial evidence, but are they enough to convict
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the doctor of murder? Prosecutor Waldick still has one big hole in his case. He hasn't explained to
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the jury exactly how the carbon monoxide got [music] into the ductwork or what engine was used.
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>> But as we talk right now, you can't say definitively what the source of that carbon monoxide was, right?
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>> No. >> [clears throat] >> No. >> And that doesn't trouble you? >> No. >> And Chris McDowell is counting on those
00:33:45
missing facts to set Mark Wangler free. >> There is not a single theory the government has come up with that [music]
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makes any sense whatsoever. >> For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears, the Lord's ears are open
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to their prayer. But the faith of the Lord is against those who do evil. James 5:16 says, "Therefore, confess
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your sins to one another." >> As Dr. Mark Wangler's freedom hangs in the balance
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>> this may be my last Wednesday night prayer meeting. >> He and his wife Esther find strength in
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their faith. >> If the Lord calls me to serve him in prison, uh know, as an inmate. Um
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that's what it's going to have to be. >> We just pray for your guidance, strength.
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>> And we just have to be prepared for whatever happens and to accept whatever happens.
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>> This is the the day of days for you. Do you have some optimism? [music] >> Yeah. The way the evidence is is just
00:34:53
absolutely overwhelming. So, yeah, I've got a great deal of optimism. >> Problem with lying is that it's the
00:35:02
little details [music] that catch up to you. >> Final arguments begin with prosecutor
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Jenna Emrick zeroing in on Mark's suspicious behavior the morning Kathy died. >> The defendant started to head into his
00:35:15
own house because he wanted to take a shower. Now, if you really thought that a faulty hot water heater had just
00:35:23
killed someone in that potentially unsafe home, the last thing you're going to do is go in there and take a shower.
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>> 911, what is your emergency? >> Emrick dissects Mark's 911 call, saying it too points to his guilt.
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>> Is she breathing? >> No, I think she's not breathing. >> Consider the defendant's tone of voice
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and demeanor. Does it sound a little staged, a little phony to you? Red flag. >> But defense attorney McDowell has a
00:35:55
different take on that 911 call. >> When you listen to the tape, you can hear the panic in his voice.
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>> Okay, does she have a heartbeat? >> No, she doesn't. >> And he insists the prosecution never
00:36:10
offered a clear explanation of how Dr. Wangler might have murdered his wife with carbon monoxide.
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>> It's their theory it came from an internal combustion engine. If that's the case, there would be the strong
00:36:22
smell associated with that gas. The gas and the vehicle exhaust fumes are intertwined. If you have one, you have
00:36:32
the other. The lack of the exhaust smell is is strong evidence of accident. >> He thought he had a perfect crime.
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>> As the case goes to the jury, Kathy's mother and siblings [music] wait and pray for a verdict of guilty.
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>> We're going to put it in the hands of God. There will be justice with Kathy's
00:36:57
death. >> What is this wait like for you? >> Terrible. No words can describe it.
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>> But Kathy's son, Aaron, is praying for an acquittal. >> What if the verdict goes
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>> [music] >> against your father? >> I'll be devastated. I mean, I've already lost one parent and
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to lose another would be it'd be a lot. >> Who was that? >> That's my home phone. Excuse me.
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>> On the second day of deliberations, the call comes in. >> Okay, we'll be right there, Bill.
00:37:41
Uh that was Bill and they have a verdict. >> What are you thinking? >> Just praying that you know, for an
00:37:46
acquittal. That's all I can say, Peter. >> Would you give the verdict forms to the
00:37:54
[music] bailiff, please? >> Kathy's mother and siblings gather on one side of the courtroom, her two sons
00:38:01
on the other. >> We, the jury, being duly impaneled and sworn, find the defendant, Mark A.
00:38:08
Wangler, guilty of aggravated murder. >> Yes. >> Guilty of murder. Tears of relief
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and tears of sorrow. Mark Wangler appears stunned. Then, Judge Richard Warren has some
00:38:33
scathing words as he sentences him to life in prison. >> You violated the Ten Commandments. Thou
00:38:41
shall not kill. You also violated the Hippocratic Oath as a doctor, which is the first thing
00:38:49
you shall do no harm. >> This courtroom drama isn't over. Cathy's mother is about to have the last word.
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>> We know you have always been a very selfish person who really did not care about our beautiful daughter
00:39:06
only yourself. >> It's a moment Sarah Schlerfman has been waiting for for almost 5 years.
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>> Mark, you senselessly robbed Cathy of her many most precious moments, her two
00:39:18
sons, Nathan and Aaron. She worshipped them, did everything in the world for them.
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>> Then, the man once revered for saving lives is led away to prison for taking one.
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Esther Wangler vows to keep fighting to free her husband. >> He's innocent of these charges. He'll be
00:39:48
out on appeal. We will stop at nothing This is a cruel, cruel, biased investigation.
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>> But, it's clear this fight has taken its toll as she retreats to her home comforted [music] by her son.
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>> [sighs] >> It's just going to be shock for a long time just figuring out what to do day by
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day. >> For now, the case is closed. But for Detective Clyde Bridegam, there is no
00:40:22
celebrating. >> Thank you, sweetheart. >> Only thoughts of a family destroyed. >> Mommy, I love you.
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>> Thank you, guys. Thank you, guys. >> I feel sorry uh for everybody involved in this. Cathy's
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gone. Her family [music] lost Cathy. >> Happy birthday, dear Cathy. >> The two boys, Aaron and Nathan, lost
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their mother. >> [laughter] >> Nobody won in this case. Nobody won. It It's just sad.
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>> She loved life. >> [laughter] >> Was always happy. Loved family. >> I miss that laugh.
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>> [snorts] [music] [music] [music]