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[Music] we all live two lives only the most intimate people that we know really know who we
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are 911 do need police or paramedics uh paramedic it begins with a 911 call from
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the house it was a Sunday morning November 13th year 2016 what's the address of the emergency
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sir it's a TGA in San Clemente too is a new community it's kind of considered a sleepy little town
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nice place to work nice place to live now What's happen we got a patient here who's Fallen upstairs and I don't have a
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pulse and she's cold Eric Scott Sills is a fertility doctor you found her down at
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the bottom of the stairs yeah partially on the stairs Suzanne Stills is his wife
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looks like her shoe come off or something the mother of twins a boy and a girl so she's not
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breathing no she's not breathing she was the one who was found that morning I'm going to give you
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instructions for chest compressions okay they had it on a speaker phone so Scott
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and Mary Kate the daughter were both heard on the on the 911 call what are you trying to do sir I can't see what's
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going on what are you CPR I'm doing the CPR Dr SS was a infertility specialist keep going keep I'm going to do this way
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they ran their Clinic as partners Suzanne took care of all the business side of things continue the compressions
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until paramedics arrive and take over she's making noises out of her mouth she was his number one supporter in
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everything that he did they really looked like they had it all okay hold on we're we're doing
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it baby she was making some kind of noise just from the compressions but I think
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she was already dead we get notified by our Sergeant to come out to a house and begin a death
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investigation so when you went inside what stuck out to you well as soon as you go into the front door the stairwell
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is right off to your left Suzanne was right there she had a blanket covering her body we could see
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the other things laying around like this stainless steel Soup pot a purse an empty medication bottle and then the
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scarf was a little bit further down away from her the deputy Corner during her preliminary body exam of Suzanne the
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injuries weren't consistent with somebody falling down the stairs her neck had a pretty pronounced ligature
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Mark the question is how was she strangled when she was found the scarf was around her
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neck I think the first day there was mention of dogs maybe pulling on a scarf oh you're so good had a couple of dogs
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rescues very K saw the dogs pulling on the scarf we didn't get the impression that it was any kind of violent pulling
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do you think that the dogs could have pulled on her scarf hard enough to strangle her to death could they do it
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yes when you came to the house it was a death investigation by the time you left
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was it a murder investigation no it wasn't just as clearcut as that [Music] [Music]
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[Music] do you have a spidey sense when you go into these scenes I'd like to think so
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probably all of us would like to think so that we could just figure it out as soon as we walk in Sherlock Holmes
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Style on that sun Monday morning in November 2016 Orange County Sheriff's homicide detectives Eric hatch and Dave
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Holloway had more questions than Clues at that point in time that morning November 13th was Scott Sills a victim
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or a suspect to us he was a victim we were going to a house where two kids and a husband just lost their wife and
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mother Dr Scott Sills had made that 911 call and reported finding his wife and business partner Suzanne at the bottom
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of the stairs is it a steep stairway yeah it's pretty high I believe it was 13 and 1 12 ft from the floor to the top
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of the stairs did it seem plausible that a 45-year-old woman in pretty good shape
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would have fallen down the stairs to her death at the time it sounded believable Suzanne had injuries to
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pretty much her whole body her face was all bruised up her back was bruised up both arms and legs
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were had bruising and abrasions and around her body was that odd collection of items they definitely stood out
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especially that steel Puck it almost looked like it was place there it wasn't upside down or leaning against anything
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we had to figure out why those things were there the detectives say Dr Sills didn't seem nervous that a homicide team
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was in his home asking questions he was just kind of going with the flow how Cooperative was he oh very everything we
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asked of him he he gave us he signed a consent form that gave us permission to search his house and when they
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interviewed the Sill's children Mary Katherine and Eric the 12-year-old twins each told a similar story to their dad
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that Suzanne had not been feeling well that night Suzanne had a history of migraines they were typically
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debilitating requiring a dark room quiet and bed rest and she had been suffering
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from a migraine that weekend the migraine seemed to explain that large pot sometimes she carried around a bowl
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in order to have it near her bedside in case she threw up in the middle of the night and the empty pill bottle was for
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a pain medication Dr SS said his wife took to treat her migraines so did that make it sound more possible that she
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could have fallen down the stairs because she was suffering from a migraine maybe and there seemed to be
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nothing in the couple's relationship to suggest another reason what did you learn about the Sill's marriage
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according to Scott everything was fine they had a you know a good relationship both children attested that their
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parents loved each other and said they rarely argued and were never violent detectives started piecing
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together a timeline of the weekend Saturday night she was on the couch Eric came down to see her check on
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her make sure she was okay it was around midnight when Eric said he and and his mom went back
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upstairs after she put the dogs away in their crate Mary Katherine had gone to bed in her parents' bedroom Susanne was
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going to spend the night in Mary Katherine's room which was the quietest it was Mary Katherine's idea for Suzanne
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to spend the night in that room it was clean according to Mary Katherine and done up like a little hotel suite for
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Suzanne to convalesce in there Mary Katherine had left a note on her door with what would be her last
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words to her mom I know you were tired she said but you need to know that I love
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[Music] you around 4:00 a.m. Eric said he woke to the sound of his parents arguing in
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the Next Room the two windows that's Eric's room so Eric is right next to Mary Katherine's room where his mom was
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and what did he tell you he heard well he heard loud voices arguing but he didn't describe hearing any physical
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confrontation Eric told detectives that after about 5 minutes he decided to go sleep in the main bedroom with his
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sister according to Mary Katherine's statement she thought he'd come in around 3:40 a.m. and told her their
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parents were arguing about a work email how do you know she she got an email because Eric said they were talking
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about that oh okay so Eric told you that there that she got an email and that she
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was it was about some something something about work Dr Sills told detectives he had argued with Suzanne
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because he found her working late on her laptop which made her migraines worse when you heard that they had an argument
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shortly before she was found at the bottom of the stairs dead what was going through your mind well again that's one
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more piece of data that we're going to collect it doesn't mean one way or the other that it was a murder but that's
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definitely an Avenue that we would have to pursue neither Eric nor Mary Katherine heard their dad return to the
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bedroom I woke up and my dad was just like on the covers just laying there like there wasn't enough room to get in
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I guess we just was laying there on top of it yeah it was around 6:30 a.m. the next
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morning when doctor Sills and the twins woke up he asked them if they wanted to go to
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the pool and get some donuts Mary Catherine said when she left the bedroom and looked over the
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banister she saw her mom's body at the bottom of the stairs that long red and white scarf around her
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neck that was Mary Katherine's scarf it was found in the same room as Suzanne's body but the scarf wasn't on her body
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when we arrived it was not Mary Catherine told us that she had to remove the scarf and she did that not to impede
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mom's breathing adding to the mystery were the injuries to Suzanne's neck the deputy coroner had noticed during a
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preliminary examination of the body earlier that morning especially with the ligature mark across her neck it just
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didn't make sense is it possible that she could have fallen down the stairs and then somehow the scarf strangled her
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could have caught on a banister sure I suppose so but we didn't have any evidence of that as detectives continued
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their investigation the question did anybody in the house hear a fall down the stairs no nobody described
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hearing a fall down the stairs or if suzan had been carrying that stainless steel pot no one heard that bounce down
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the stairs or land on the tile floor there was no evidence on the stairs of someone going down like broken ballast
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or anything like that and something else the detectives thought was strange it was a warm day
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even though it was November but when we spoke with Scott and during the whole time we were in the house doing our
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investigation he was wearing a beanie over his head and he said that he slept with it cuz it was cold did you ask him
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to remove the beanie yes as it turned out Suzanne wasn't the only one with injuries that morning
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[Music] we discovered that Scott had some injuries he had a cut up here on his forehead and on his arm he had a uh
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bruise Dr Scott Sills said there was a simple explanation for the injuries he had hurt himself while working on his
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car in the garage with his son Eric there was just one problem Eric told us dad didn't hurt himself did he say to
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you I left the garage so maybe you hurt himself I was gone no he told us they came in the house together an
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investigators said they found something Dr Sills couldn't explain on that day you found blood yes blood in Mary
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Katherine's room where Suzanne had been staying on the curtains the wall and the
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nightstand so that morning when you asked Scott about the blood what did he say he didn't know where it came from he
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He was unaware of it Mary Catherine told investigators the room was quote perfect when she left it
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she also said she'd turned down the bed but now it was made it didn't really make sense why would Suzanne take the
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time to make the bed in the middle of the night so if you found blood in Mary Katherine's bedroom you know that there
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are ligature marks on Suzanne why not take him down to the station at this point and question him
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once you arrest somebody that starts processes that you can't stop besides the blood in the bedroom we didn't
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really have enough evidence of a fight occurring so at the end of the day there wasn't enough probable cause legally to
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arrest him suzan's autopsy 4 days later didn't provide any definitive answers the forensic pathologist noted
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that Suzanne had injuries all over her body that could have resulted from a fall including a fractured C3 vertebra
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near the base of her neck which can be fatal then there was that ligature mark across her neck and hemorrhaging of the
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blood vessels in her eyes which pointed to strangulation it would take months to
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make an official ruling it's not something they want to rush into it's not something they want
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to make a rash judgment on the doctor wanted to examine the whole case more more
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clearly in the meantime detectives requested DNA testing on evidence collected from the Sill's home and
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forensic analysis on Suzanne's phone and laptop they also dug deeper into who the
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Sills were none of their immediate neighbors knew anything about the family eventually we contacted whoever we could
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out of their contact list to try and find out [Music] more in high school I thought this must be what genius
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means his humor his his quick wit Sandy Roberts and Jamie aens have known Scott Sills since their high school days in
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Herman Tennessee he was something we had never seen before in a small town in Tennessee at that age he was very
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special he was hilarious how many people come to class in a three-piece suit and it's not dress
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up day he's flamboyant he's bigger than life he was very very kind I grew up uh pretty poor I didn't
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have a car in high school or anything like that and a lot of times no lunch money and uh he always pulled out his
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wallet and paid for it it just wasn't a question his future seemed Limitless he was accepted to both law school and
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medical school we were kind of all on the edge of our seat wondering what he was going to decide to
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do and it was no surprise when the hometown boy became a renowned IVF specialist a profession that would lead
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him to Suzanne Suzanne was going through fertility treatment trying to get pregnant with her first
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husband Chris solamini met Suzanne AR swaga in business school where she earned an MBA she had confided in him
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about her struggles to get pregnant having kids was everything to suzan she'd cry about it I mean it was so
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important to her and Eric Scott Sills was her fertility doctor but soon Chris says they were
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were a couple she started talking about Dr Sills after she had told me she was getting divorced and that she was now
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dating him I just remember her saying he's a brilliant doctor Dr Sills who was also
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coming out of a previous marriage seemed to have met his match Suzanna was smart
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witty we love Mr St sarcastic but not in a mean way you know just to to dig at you you know
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incredibly driven a loyal friend she was so classy so beautiful very engaging seemed like to me he he found one that
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is a good it was a good fit Suzanne fit right in at Scott's 20th High School reunion she danced the whole time they
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were lovely together he just seemed really happy the couple married and welcomed twins through IVF adding to Dr
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Sills to older kids and eventually Suzanne's business Acumen would lead them to start their
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own IVF practice in April 2015 she started the business and she built it Suzanne pretty much ran
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everything with the exception of actually doing the procedures the practice soon took off we
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actually have Dr Scott sils here in OBGYN who's also a fertility specialist so and Dr s was often featured on the TV
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program The Doctors which was distributed by CBS we've decided to provide you that removal surgery at no
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cost he was in many eyes a saint he was uh loved by his patients Dr Julio Novoa is an OBGYN who co-authored a book with
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Dr Sills Dr Sills was a great doctor and and Susan was a a great advocate for women as well and there were a team not
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just married but a team and working well together but about a month before her death Rick Leeds another of Suzanne's
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friends says she left him a troubling message she sounded like she was whispering it was so different from the
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happy jovial excited voicemails I got before this one was definitely things weren't good when they spoke Rick says
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it sounded like there was tension over a photo she said it was a topless photo of
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her that had appeared on a Blog this was some discussion she didn't want to [Music]
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have when news of Suzanne's death reached her friends they were stunned it was devastating I couldn't believe it it
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didn't seem plausible to me that she she just fell down the stairs with a migraine
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headache it didn't sound like the vibrant Suzanne they knew Dr Sill's friends say they were
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equally perplexed Scott would not discuss anything with us he quickly changed the
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subject we never spoke again you don't know how tragedies affect people what were your impressions of
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Scott Sills throughout the investigation I would describe him as emotionless he never acted as though Suzanne was even
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his wife he talked about what a good manager she was and how she kept their business flowing but he never once
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mentioned that she was a good mother or that he loved her all very businesslike yeah in fact the day after Suzanne's
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death the doctor had gone to work I was shocked I who goes to the office the next morning when your wife
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died Joanie Ricker's daughter was a nurse at the Sills IVF clinic and had called her in a panic she said her
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patients are in cycle and they have to be treated Joanie volunteered to help manage the office something Suzanne did
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and ended up working there for two years did Dr SS talk about his wife oh never did he ever say how she died or it was
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never discussed pretty soon she says the doctor started changing his appearance he started Dr like a movie
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star I mean he was very simple before and she says the once balding doctor now had a full head of hair we definitely
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noticed um new hair they also noticed Dr Sill's flashier online Persona I said to one of my friends now
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is SS a doctor or a model I personally don't know any doctors on social media that are taking selfies in the gym and
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their their Blazers and their sunglasses and and their Porsches I it was a little
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much all of a sudden there started to be another woman in photos and he was out on dates and they were going around
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town the behavior raised eyebrows but it was hardly evidence then in November 2017 a year after Suzanne's death there
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was finally news from the coroner's office Suzanne's cause of death was cited as ligature strangulation and the
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manner a homicide Dr Sills was now the prime suspect DNA results on the blood in Mary
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Katherine's room showed a mixture of his and suzan's DNA they were both there there was a fight there was a fight and
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he killed his wife on August 8th 2018 nearly two years after Suzanne's death detectives
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Holloway and hatch made a surprise house call at the doctor's home did you ask Dr Sills at this point
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just flat out did you kill your wife yes and started stressing out and started sweating and he became more
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defensive they say the doctor denied killing his wife and he now offered an explanation for his blood in Mary
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Katherine's room he said he had injured himself replacing a window screen wouldn't Mary Katherine have seen the
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blood that he left from replacing the screen for sure and she didn't mention it nope despite the death being ruled a
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homicide detectives said they still had more investigating to do like finding a motive a search of Suzanne's phone
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provided some Clues text messages hinted at problems in the marriage there was one in particular where she had some
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pretty strong words towards Scott in text sent in late August Less Than 3 months before her death Suzanne wrote I
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am trapped you are killing me I just want out and we just aren't right for each other and about a month before her death
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Suzanne had confided in Rick Leeds she and Scott were in a really rocky place and she was thinking about leaving
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him he said Suzanne was also upset about a photo photo she' posted online whatever was going on between her and
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Scott and this picture was just a pivotal point for her Suzanne had posted a topless photo
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after making a bet in a political chat room called patrick.net Suzanne apparently was one of the few women who
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was involved in this forum she kind of threw out that if Donald Trump won the presidential nomination that she would
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post a picture of her be breasts and on the day of her death detectives had found a print out in Dr Sill's home
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office of an exchange between Suzanne and another patrick.net member from August 30th 2016 discussing the photo
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the man who went by 10B bass wrote All I've got to say is you must have a super cool husband Suzanne AKA turtle dove
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replied he's exhausted actually it isn't easy being married to a woman who is partially naked and posing alluringly
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all the time Dr Sills denied that he had printed that chat but when investigators
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later searched his phone they found a photo of the same exchange does this sound like this could
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lead to motive yes if it's something that's building up in him some kind of anger or jealousy about what his wife's
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doing online without him enough to kill her mhm detectives also learned that Dr Sills had tried to collect on a
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$250,000 life insurance policy on Suzanne but he claimed the insurance company had called him he wasn't able to
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collect that that certificate was ruled as a homicide do you think Scott sils thought he'd gotten away with it I think
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so every day that went by he felt a little bit more at ease I think on April 25th 2019 nearly 2 and a half years
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after Suzanne's death Dr Sills was arrested for her alleged murder on his way to surgery he quickly posted a
00:26:01
million dooll Bond but investigators were about to get an unexpected tip from a woman who said she had met Dr Sills
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while Suzanne was still alive they met through Facebook he was infatuated with her she shared an email
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Dr Sills had sent her about two weeks after Suzanne's death poor marer Marie yes so it's in
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French this is probably the most important manuscript I have ever written I am asking you to seriously rethink our
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suspended but once intense relationship when you first read that email what was your
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reaction I thought me I was shocked this is a motive so could Dr SS have killed his wife to get her out of the way oh I
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just don't see that at all Dr SS defense attorney Jack early denies that there was a romantic relationship and he says
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that email was merely a devastated father's desperate attempt to find a new mother for his children did you feel in
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your gut that you could win this case oh [Music] [Music] yes in November 2023 just over 7 years
00:27:23
after Suzanne Sill's death Scott Sills now stripped of his medical license went on trial for her murder the Orange
00:27:31
County District Attorney's Office declined our request for an interview but cameras were allowed in court for
00:27:37
portions of the trial where senior Deputy da Jennifer Walker laid out her case to the jury November 13th of
00:27:47
2016 this man killed his wife and hit it Walker argued that Scott Sills beat and then strangled Susan to
00:27:58
death before staging the scene to make it look like she'd fallen down the stairs this is a murder not an accident
00:28:06
the prosecution's case relied heavily on suzan's autopsy but Scott sail's defense
00:28:12
attorney Jack early came to court armed with a unique theory he suggested that Suzanne fell either going up or down the
00:28:21
stairs and that one or both of the family dogs then tugged on the scarf that was wrapped around her her neck do
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you honestly think that the dogs pulled hard enough to strangle her to death no no I didn't that was not the main theory
00:28:37
that the dogs actually strangled her to death instead early focused on another injury identified in suzan's autopsy
00:28:46
that fractured C3 vertebra he says that injury is consistent with a fall and that it would have left Suzanne
00:28:55
incapacitated let's assume that someone trips and falls and fractures are C3 their breathing is compromised if
00:29:01
they're then choked it doesn't take much to kill them the defense had the scarf tested for dog DNA it came back positive
00:29:10
and there was testimony that the dogs were known to play tug-of-war as seen in this
00:29:15
video and when Suzanne and Scott's now 19-year-old daughter Mary Katherine took the stand for the prosecution her
00:29:22
testimony supported the defenses Theory investigator Dave Hollow was at the trial Mary Catherine testified that
00:29:31
she saw the dogs pulling at the scarf around her neck and none of that came up during the the day we interviewed her
00:29:38
the first time how did that strike you well um I know that she was still close with her father do you think she's
00:29:45
trying to protect her dad I would say so early denies that he says the reason Mary Katherine didn't tell investigators
00:29:54
is simple it wasn't asked why would she think the dogs are important she doesn't
00:29:59
even know that there's any question of being choked he says Scott Sills did tell First Responders and he argued that
00:30:07
suzan's toxicology tests point to an accidental fall she had a muscle relaxing and pain medication in her
00:30:14
system and early told the jury that Suzanne suffered from a fainting disorder and that vertigo would
00:30:20
accompany her migraines but the prosecution said the defense's theory just doesn't make sense strangulation is
00:30:28
a silent killer you know what's not a silent killer falling down multiple stairs you have to believe she bounced
00:30:34
her head neck back shoulders Insider arms legs and feet multiple ways against approximately six stairs like being in a
00:30:44
soundproof pinball machine then was strangled by her dogs not reasonable and why would
00:30:52
Suzanne have a scarf around her neck that early in the morning to begin with prosecutors suggested that Scott Sills
00:30:59
used it to strangle her and then left it around her neck to cover the marks but early told the jury it wasn't unusual
00:31:07
for Suzanne to wear a scarf especially when she wasn't feeling well because if she got sick that was something that she
00:31:14
would would would wear a scarf to wipe your mouth with it but the prosecution also pointed out
00:31:21
that Suzanne and Scott's son Eric told investigators he saw his mother put the dogs away in their crate in the hours
00:31:29
before she died Eric said that his mom put the dogs in the crate yes sometimes dogs when they're crate trained when
00:31:37
they go to bed will go lay in the crate even with the door open there was also no blood on the stairs or damage to them
00:31:46
there are all these injuries that you say come from the fall down the stairs all over her body but she leaves no
00:31:50
marks on the stairs but there's no marks anywhere in the house but there was that
00:31:56
blood in Mary Katherine's bedro room and the prosecution argued it was evidence that a fight occurred a forensic
00:32:03
scientist testified that the stains on the nightstand and drapes were consistent with Scott Sill's DNA early
00:32:10
did acknowledge that his client's blood was in the room but he told the jury about Scott's claim that he heard
00:32:16
himself there on an earlier date from Scott replacing a screen yeah from getting cut on a nail that was in the
00:32:23
back of the nightstand that was there that forensic scientist though testified that one of the stains on the wall was a
00:32:30
mixture of DNA and Scott and Suzanne were likely contributors early says that doesn't mean it was suzan's blood and
00:32:39
that it could have been her touch DNA that was picked up Susan had touched that area before at some point in time
00:32:46
and she lived there but the prosecution pointed out that there were also clumps of suzan's hair found in Mary
00:32:52
Katherine's room and there were blood stains on Suzanne's clothing that were found to be consistent with Scott Sill's
00:32:59
DNA too early had a rebuttal to it all starting with the hair she has hair extensions and you know what hair
00:33:07
extensions cause loss of hair and the blood on the clothes you don't know how old it
00:33:14
is the jury was also shown pictures of those injuries that were observed on Scott remember how he told investigators
00:33:21
that he hurt himself while working on his car with his son and how according to investigators Eric said that his
00:33:28
father didn't get injured well when Eric took the stand his testimony allowed for
00:33:34
the possibility what he testified is well I didn't stay there the whole time he fixed the car does that seem like a
00:33:41
discrepancy to you well it's not a discrepancy nobody's asking him that full story at at the age of 12 so he
00:33:49
didn't necessarily say at age 12 dad didn't get the injury from the car no he basically said I wasn't there when he
00:33:56
got the injury while Eric Sills did testify that a loud discussion between his parents had woken him up shortly
00:34:03
before his mother's death the defense told the jury that there was nothing to it and those texts between Scott and
00:34:10
Suzanne in the months before Suzanne's death if you have 40,000 texts and there's five of them with hard language
00:34:17
in it that's a perfect marriage the jury didn't hear about the life insurance policy that email Scott
00:34:25
sent to another woman or his his social media photos in the wake of his wife's death but they were told about the
00:34:32
patrick.net posts and the prosecution argued that topless photo that Suzanne posted on the site enraged Scott it
00:34:41
wasn't a big deal it's not striking to you that he had this photo in two places on his phone and then on the printer no
00:34:48
first of all I don't know really who printed this stuff up early maintains there is no motive for murder there was
00:34:55
never any physical violence they're working in and marriage relationship everybody looked at it as
00:35:02
loving Scott Sills chose not to take the stand the trial spanned 3 weeks and then
00:35:08
the case went to the jury my heart was just [Music] pounding what do you make of the defense
00:35:17
that the dogs may have played a role in her death chat now with the 48 Hours team on Facebook and X
00:35:33
jurors Aaron Ellis Jack Van Camp and Susan bleo say that when deliberations began they felt the pressure it's just
00:35:43
so intimidating that you got someone's life on the line it weighs on you oh yeah and the ripple effect the kids and
00:35:51
the yeah did you think about that that these kids didn't only lose their mom mom that if you convict him now they're
00:35:59
losing their dad of course yeah they say they also felt a clear motive was lacking I mean it's hard to imagine why
00:36:08
something like this somebody would do that yeah after about 3 hours they came to a
00:36:18
decision the FES are indicated that they breached verdict in much matter the clerk read the
00:36:26
verdict we the the jury in the above entitled action find the defendant Eric Scott Sills not guilty of the crime of
00:36:34
first-degree murder we the jury in the above entitled action find the defendant Eric Scott
00:36:40
Sills guilty of the crime of second degree murder guilty of second agree murder Scott Sills who gave the gift of
00:36:50
life to so many through his IVF practice now convicted of taking the life of his
00:36:55
wife the mother of his kids I just felt sad I mean I was tearing up on the way out this whole family had
00:37:04
been through so much you know now this is the next phase of it but he did that the jurors we spoke to say that no
00:37:15
one on the jury bought the defense's theory about the dogs the dogs would have to choke her on the stairs and my
00:37:24
dog was as big as hers and my dog can not get a grip on wooden stairs with their nails to do anything they just
00:37:33
slide the scarf had no puncture wounds either I would have expected holes and the fall down the stairs wouldn't create
00:37:42
that scenario in her [Music] body instead what they spent the most time grappling with was whether Scott
00:37:52
Sills was guilty of first deegree or second degree murder first-degree murder requires premeditation and
00:38:00
deliberation I just didn't think he planned it I don't and if he had planned it or done any kind of forethought it
00:38:08
wouldn't be a hot mess crime scene that it was it was kind of like a snap but investigator Dave Holloway says
00:38:17
while Scott Sills may not have planned his crime he certainly had the time to think about what he was doing he had
00:38:24
plenty of time from when he applied pressure to suzan's neck till she died to stop what he was doing he still did
00:38:30
it I was a little disappointed that it was a second degree on March 15th 2024 about 3 months
00:38:39
after the verdict court reconvened for sentencing Suzanne s's Mother Teresa newbower addressed the court and kept
00:38:47
the focus on her daughter she was a dynamic person she had hopes and dreams hopes and dreams new bow said
00:38:58
that one day Suzanne would see her daughter Mary Katherine walk down the stairs of the family's San Clemente home
00:39:05
on her wedding day it was a very painful uh thing for me to learn of the role the staircase
00:39:16
eventually played in real life Mary Katherine also addressed the court and spoke of all the loss she had
00:39:26
endured at such a young age she and her brother were taken in by a family friend
00:39:31
after their father's arrest and that family friend died suddenly of a health condition around the end of the trial
00:39:38
she asked the judge to show her father Mercy I want my father to walk me down the aisle at my wedding someday when I
00:39:45
have a family and children I want my father to be there to hold my baby I have been left orphaned and I feel so
00:39:52
lost without my parents we're here for s on the matter judge Patrick Donahue sentenced Scott
00:40:00
Sills to the mandatory sentence under California law 15 years to life in prison uh good luck
00:40:07
sir his fate was decided but for so many questions remain exactly what led up to
00:40:15
Suzanne Sill's death do you think we'll ever know exactly how it happened I don't think so yeah Scott Sills declined
00:40:23
our requests for an interview but in the end no explanation will suffice or ease
00:40:29
the profound sense of loss that lingers patients now without their doctor thousands of women felt him to be
00:40:37
a saint from the saint all the way down to the devil that's how it ended up being and children without their father
00:40:50
or their mother her kids were so important to her and everything she did revolved around
00:40:56
her her children she was an incredible human being you know I I miss [Music] her need more time with 48 Hours go deep
00:41:27
behind every True Crime episode with firsthand accounts from 48 Hours investigations were you at all prepared
00:41:33
for what happened in this case shock is the word that comes to mind get inside the twists and turns and get in on the
00:41:39
case listen to postmortem from 48 hours now available wherever you get your podcasts