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[Music] I wake up every single day and I cry and I miss her it's so frustrating because you just
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you look back and you you wish you did more maybe my sister was scared to go to the law because her husband was a police
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officer Jones County District Attorney's office I believe Seth peralt was an individual that had a lot of people
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fooled say hi Honey hi he doesn't want to say hi I think he hid behind a badge and wore a mask every day nice house
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nice car law enforcement but behind that door to that house he was pretty abusive
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stop the Cera no let's not let's tell Tru stop the Cera no maybe she was scared to get
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out it's February 3rd 2020 set the scene for me what happened I'm sitting at my desk in my office that see you and the
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phone rings and it's the police chief he said I got Seth peralt on the phone he's
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told me his wife killed herself and I knew that we need to get there and get this matter investigated
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and do it right describe what you saw when you got to the scene Seth paral sitting on the
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front steps he's sitting there hands holding over his face I asked going to go inside
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search the house and he gave consent for that had you ever seen a suicide that looked like that I never seen anything
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like that her body is flat on the back her legs are almost together and her arms
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are tucked against her side with her hands cut this wasn't right he's worked a lot of cases he told me he said the
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scene is not right there's something not adding up and the more we investigated the otter it got obviously we have a
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death investigation here I asked him would he come downtown to talk to us further I don't know how this happened
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he said that they were in bed and they were arguing all I know is my wife was upset she put me and said I can't do no
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more he loved her she was his world he never done anything to harm her ever my wife looked at me and executed herself
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and if you look at the logistics of it you're going to see that I had nothing to do with
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it we all called Sheriff SS that night and said we know our sister didn't do this we know she didn't take her own
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life that he had something to do with this I'll look you in your face as as a long Force officer I did not do I had
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nothing to do with it 7 months later the medical examiner report comes out and what does it say
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suicide well I was astounded Dr derile is a renowned medical examiner so her certification of
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suicide we thought was basically open shot you have to remember she works for the state I'm Justin Kenny an attorney
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for Seth peralt it all came down to the forensics could the state actually prove
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that Seth had pulled the trigger and shot his wife in the head [Music] [Music] just an hour and a half after Seth
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peralt said his 44-year-old wife Amanda shot herself right in front of him he was struggling to tell his story I'm in
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shock my wife of 8 years that I love more than anything in this world I don't know any more to start sir I've lost
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everything in my life 44-year-old pero then a police officer for the city of Eatenton Georgia
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told the county sheriff Howard s that his wife Amanda had shot herself in the head what did he say happened he said
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that they were in bed and they were arguing and then all of a sudden she just produced the gun out of thin air
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and executed herself I just sat there watch my wife execute herself in all my years of questioning anybody for suicid
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I have never heard anybody use the term executed I knew she hadn't I knew that he was lying from the very beginning
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Angie and Alicia Johnson say they had questions about what happened to their sister Amanda we knew better we knew our
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sister Amanda love life she wouldn't put us through this about 8 years earlier in the fall
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of 2011 a recently divorced Amanda met Seth peral online I remember being kind of excited about it he treated her
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differently from some of the past relationship she had been in where you know she wasn't respected Seth battling
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cancer and unemployed at the time seemed to fall for Amanda fast and hard and they moved in fairly quick like he had
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her move in within 6 months of the meeting Seth was living an hour away with his mother who was caring for him
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but Angie says Amanda would quickly take over the role of Seth's caretaker when she moved out there he didn't want her
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to work they say Seth's parents were paying all of the couple's bills and helping with expenses for Seth's
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daughter from a previous relationship so Seth was basically dependent on his family very much very much and Amanda
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was dependent on Seth for the longest time like he wouldn't let her have any kind of phone cell phone or anything
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like that it would be his phone or a landline didn't even have a car to drive he monitored her
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constantly as time went on Alicia and Angie say they saw less and less of their sister he kept us from being able
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to see her so come to like any of our Christmas events or like any of our events because she had to host for his
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family and cook for all of them Amanda lived with Seth for 5 years then on June 23rd 200 17 the couple surprised
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everyone when they quietly went to the local courthouse and got married Angie and Alicia believed the
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only reason Seth married their sister was to help him get custody of his daughter that's why I feel like he asked
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her to marry him Seth's custody battle had been going on for almost exactly a year at that point do you think Seth
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Maring Amanda helped him gain custody absolutely absolutely set's attorney Justin Kenny if Amanda was going to be
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present in his daughter's life they had to get married I think that was one of the Paramount issues for him to gain
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custody Kenny says Seth did love Amanda and his daughter and was just trying to do what he thought was best for everyone
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this was a guy that doed on his daughter he was a family man he would do on his wife I I just thought he was a stand-up
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individual a few months after Amanda and Seth were married he was granted custody
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of his daughter a little over a year later he was hired by the Edenton police department and his father bought him
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this house near Lake a con she loved their new home this should have been everything she hoped for yeah it was you
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know except for the relationship Alicia and Angie say they didn't know just how bad things had
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gotten but were hearing more and more stories of fighting fueled my alcohol I've heard stories in interviews that
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you know when they were sober they were loving toward one another but it's when alcohol came into the mix that's when it
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became toxic a little over a year after joining the police force Seth fell down some
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stairs at the couple's home and had to go on medical leave now along with the alcohol there were pain pills and the
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sisters say the fighting seemed to be escalating you could hear it like on phone calls has tone and demeanor around
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her I would ask you want me to call 911 can I call 911 she would tell you no no don't call you know we' just been
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drinking we'll be everything will be okay later on maybe she knew her situation would become even worse you
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know then things did get worse on January 28th 2020 just days before her death Amanda called
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911 can sh office would you help please okay thank you she called me she had barricaded herself in a back bedroom
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it's my husband and he's putting his hands on me she ended up having to run next door he locked me out of the house
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and I'm just trying to get my things out of the house please she's got the neighbor's house right now another
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Sheriff's dispatcher was alerted and she said her husband is an officer with the
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eaten some Police Department that second dispatcher said he knew Seth foral and said he had a reputation I ain't
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supposed to know this but he's been out of work with his back and apparently he's over there whipping up on her
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ass Seth made local headlines when he was arrested on charges of simple battery and Family Violence she told me
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would I come get her the next morning and I told her yes to make sure to pack everything have it
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ready instead Amanda decided to attend Seth's bond hearing when the judge agreed to release Seth on bail he asked
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Amanda if she wanted a staya away order added Amanda said no and then let Seth come home cuz she was scared she knew he
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was mad she knew that it was public that he had been arrested he's a police officer you know I have to bring him
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home and make this right I talked to her the day he got out and I said how are things and she said he's been unusually
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nice Alicia says she doubted Seth's new attitude and felt that underneath he must be seething knowing that if he was
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convicted on abuse charges he was in danger of losing custody of his daughter and his job he knew he was going to
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embarrass his family and he had already put himself up here on this pedestal like he was King and then to be
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humiliated in front of people I think it made him very angry Alicia says Amanda was terrified
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and looking for a way out we were all on a chain message and we were telling her
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just get out divorce him tell his father that you don't want anything but a vehicle and she said I'm not trying to
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get killed just 5 days later Amanda was dead [Music] Sheriff Howard Sills says that from the
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very start of his investigation into the death of Amanda peralt he wasn't buying
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her husband's story I knew something was wrong the day I walked in the house for starters the position of
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Amanda's body depicted in this 48 Hours animation based on the crime scene photos left Sills certain that Amanda
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could not have shot herself okay this is the actual gun also of concern to SS was the way this Smith
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and Wesson 380 which belonged to Seth was found lying next to Amanda's body with its magazine ejected the magazine
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it was near her right side and the pistol itself was way down here below her left
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foot what made the ejected magazine even more Curious says Sills is the fact that
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there was a bullet found inside the gun's chamber it's a semi-automatic gun so when it fires the slide comes back
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the spent cartridge Cas is ejected and it picks up the next round because of that bullet in the chamber the magazine
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had to be ejected after the gun was fired says Sills and unless the gun is defective the only way
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to eject the magazine is to push this button now I don't do this at home but when you do this how you going to get
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your hand your second hand around there to do it there was also no blood on Amanda's hands or the long sleeves of
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her shirt and something else caught the sheriff's eye in the middle of the closet on the floor was a damp green
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towel as somebody had dried off with it no doubt about that one of the first deputies on the
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scene said Seth smelled like shampoo also alarming the bedroom was littered with 20 miniature bottles of Fireball
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whiskey all of them empty s says he didn't have the manpower to process the scene so we called in
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Agents from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation while they collected physical evidence and Amanda's body was
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transported to the State medical examiner Sills focused on Seth he came in and sat right in this blue leather
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chair Seth spoke to sills in his office for over an hour without an attorney present I'm not going to lie to you I'm
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I have no reason to lie to you I wanted to know what had happened that day how did the magazine get out of the gun how
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did the gun get where it was did you touch that guy today the 380 yeah I mean it's SP no today yes sir how
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does her body get into that position no answer cuz he never touched her no never
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touched her but s says that didn't make any sense so he kept pressing and then Seth changed his story how are
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you maybe I I don't know I probably did touch her I was probably out of her and I was like I'm so like
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honey what the hell's going on Sheriff Sills says Seth tried several times to deflect questions with his badge I take
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pride in being a good law enforcement agent and I can't how many times he looked me in the eye and said I'm a good
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police officer I'm I'm a good officer I'm a good police officer I'm a good police officer I'm a good officer I'm a
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good police officer a Amanda he said also knew what a good cop he was and how assault charges would ruin both their
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lives she hated to see my reputation destroyed on the news because she knows what a good police officer I am and she
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was so worried I lose my daughter she wanted to come down here and tell you that it was a liive Seth insisted
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that Amanda had lied the day she called 911 and felt so bad about it that she wanted to confess to perjury he said
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that she had written something that she intended to bring to me recanting what she had told the deputies and he told me
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where it was this handwritten letter was found in Amanda's nightstand it reads in
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part I Amanda pero would like to retract my statement my husband never put his hands on me ever I feel horrible for the
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humiliation I put my husband at my family through I am willing to take any punishment I may deserve for what I have
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done I don't deny she wrote it but look at the penmanship there's not the slightest era of any
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kind what we've got here is a inexperienced police officer dictating what's to be written like Sills Amanda's
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sisters are certain Seth was behind the letter she wrote it but she was coached I think what he was telling her I need
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you to write this to get me out of trouble but Seth told Sills he was not about to let Amanda confess to lying to
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authorities I knew if she came down here it was a false statement and a felony I
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knew it but according to Seth Amanda couldn't take the guilt anymore so she put his gun to her head and pulled the
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trigger she looked at me and said I'm sorry I'm sorry I put you through this boot I couldn't even say a word sheriff
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it was done Seth tried to convince SS that Amanda killed herself because her call to 911 had potentially ruined their
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lives but the sheriff didn't see that as a reason for suicide instead he saw a motive for
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murder believing that Amanda would never take her own life this made sense to her
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sisters as as well he had to make it look like she took her life so that he could be cleared of all this
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wrongdoing Sheriff Sil says he was convinced that Seth peral was somehow involved in his wife's death but that
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day he felt he didn't have enough to arrest him I wanted to see if I could get some more
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evidence and I did one of the clues that convinced Sheriff SS that Seth peralt wasn't telling the
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truth were his actions just 20 minutes before he reported his wife Amanda was dead that's when s's Deputy Terrell
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abery arrived at his front door trying to deliver paperwork on an upcoming in case they had one of those video
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doorbell things and I rang that the scene was captured in this video I expected him to answer the door
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and I expected to hand him his copy of the subpoena I mean you're a policeman you
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know how this works abery says he could tell someone was home and what did you hear I heard
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footsteps or footfalls heavy ones I'm announcing myself who who I am what it is I even turned my back to the door I
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don't care if you're in your underwear just answer the door and take the paper he waited 7 minutes and then left
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subpoena still in hand in my heart I believe that Amanda peralt had already been shot when aathy rang the doorbell I
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think he was concerned that somebody heard the gunshot and that's why he didn't go to the
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door district attorney Wright barkdale believed Seth was trying to figure out what to do next think about this he's in
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the process of staging this scene and he hears the doorbell ring can you imagine
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what was going through his mind but attorney Justin Kenny says that is not what happened why didn't they come to
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the door when Deputy abery rang that Bell fear of what he's bringing Seth is afraid that his ex is about to serve him
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with custody modification paperwork what does that say happened after that so believe it there is a heated discussion
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that takes place he lays down diffuse a situation he lays down to take a nap he awoke to Amanda mumbling
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something Whispering something and her pulling the trigger and and shooting herself Kenny points out that Amanda was
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impaired by alcohol three times the legal limit when tested by the medical examiner that and the escalating tension
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in her marriage became a deadly combination the nice house the daughter the Financial Security all of this was
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crumbling around Amanda and then you tack on a23 blood alcohol content she thought that that was the only way to to
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fix it to to end it she was really drunk absolutely maybe she accidentally shot the gun how'd she accidentally get the
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magazine out of it how'd she accidentally get posed as she was Sills was also very troubled because
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Seth didn't call 911 when his wife allegedly shot herself instead peral called his boss the Eatenton chief of
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police on his cell phone 48 Hours made several unsuccessful attempts to reach the former Chief for
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comment obviously we're not going to have a recording of that and they have at least a 20 minute conversation before
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I'm called hoping the peral's neighbors had heard something the day Amanda died sils
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had Deputy abery go back to the paroled house to question them what he learned made Sills even more suspicious about
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Seth's involvement in Amanda's death we found out that there had been a true pattern of domestic violence for years
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and years neighbors said the couple could be heard fighting nearly every day and in their
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eyes Seth was almost always the aggressor they told stories about a physical altercation between Seth and
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Amanda where he actually grabbed her by the back of the hair and pulled her down
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and pushed her into the driveway one neighbor told abery that he would often stand by in case things got really
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violent he talked about how at times he would just to stand in the yard and just
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wait to see if he needed to call 911 because it was so violent over there another neighbor said that Amanda had
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twice made this chilling comment that if she were to wind up dead that peral is the one that did it and
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she made this neighbor promise that she would insist that her death be investigated as homicide did anyone call
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the police no why not well one of the answers was that well we were scared to call because he was the
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police it's hurtful it's hurtful and this is why I wanted to do this show is to make sure that
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people know to speak up the day Amanda died the neighbor said they didn't hear a thing the only witness to what
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happened was Seth peral and Sills was sure he couldn't trust him after the interview in his office according to
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Seth they take the child to school they come back home and they go nowhere at all other than down the
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street to the convenient store well that didn't happen he lied s says the proof was on this
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surveillance camera footage of the couple found 12 mil away at this drive-thru liquor store where Amanda
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bought those 20 miniature bottles of Fireball whiskey she drives up the driveing window right there's the camera
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that catches the truck I see it simultaneously Seth was captured on a camera next door at this convenience
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store you see him walk and he actually comes down I believe it's this aisle and he walks and he gets something
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to drink this video says Barksdale would become a crucial piece of evidence not because of what was purchased but
00:26:00
because of what Seth was wearing this Pink Floyd t-shirt these black athletic pants
00:26:08
nearly 4 hours later when sheriff's deputies arrived at the peral home to investigate Amanda's death Seth was
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wearing something else when we get there he is dressed in shorts and a dark t-shirt and the clothing Seth was
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wearing in the video we found those in the washing machine the clothing was dry and had clearly not been
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laundered but there was that Deputy who had reported that Seth smelled freshly washed and there was that damp towel
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that was found on the closet floor Seth says he took a bath Seth's attorney Justin Kenny says Seth did wash up at
00:26:53
some point after you take a bath you're going to change clothes there was no evidence that the was washing machine
00:26:59
had actually been turned on it looked like the washing machine was being used as a a laundry
00:27:04
basket only a tiny Speck of blood was found on the backs side of peral's pants and a trace amount of gunpowder residue
00:27:13
was found on his left hand when tested they did it 3 hours later after potential contamination from being at
00:27:20
the police station Amanda's hands were never tested and the gun was never dusted for fingerprints
00:27:28
but Sills felt he now had enough evidence to make an arrest just two days after Amanda's shooting now former
00:27:36
Edenton police officer Seth peral was taken into custody Sheriff SS called me and let me know that they were going to
00:27:44
arrest him for her murder and I my whole family just was so relieved and and happy that she was getting Justice
00:27:55
yes but before a grand jury could hear the evidence and decide if there was enough to go to trial covid shut down
00:28:03
the courts Seth would sit in this jail for nearly 9 months until that autopsy report was released by the medical
00:28:13
examiner declaring Amanda's death a suicide her decision was based primarily on the lack of gunpowder around the
00:28:22
wound which meant the gun would have to have been right up against Amanda's head
00:28:28
when it went off and there were no signs of a struggle nobody is just going to allow somebody to put a gun to their
00:28:35
head and pull the trigger without putting up some sort of fight first thing I just called the da I said you're
00:28:41
not going believe this did you think maybe you made a mistake absolutely not we going to take every bit of the
00:28:47
evidence and try to piece this thing together but Justin Kenny did think the prosecution was making a mistake and
00:28:56
that the autopsy report was all the evidence needed to defend Seth peralt I mean it was it seemed pretty open shot
00:29:04
to [Music] me it was November 3rd 2020 and Seth FAL still un indicted had been in jail for
00:29:30
nearly 9 months when covid restrictions finally eased a grand jury was set to decide if there was enough evidence
00:29:38
against him to go to trial and you know the first thing I put up for that grand jury to see the crime scene pictures no
00:29:46
ma'am the autopsy report that said suicide ladies and gentlemen the State Crime Lab medical examiner says this was
00:29:55
a suicide now I'm going to show you the evidence I found members of the grand jury did see the crime scene photos and
00:30:04
heard evidence of domestic abuse and quickly decided that despite the medical examiner's report Seth peralt should
00:30:12
face a jury of his peers what were the charges malice murder felony murder and aggravated assault peral pled not guilty
00:30:22
to all charges at his trial in February of 2022 he decided not to testify leaving
00:30:31
defense attorney Justin Kenny to tell his story I think there was a complete absence of sufficient evidence that Seth
00:30:39
killed his wife the prosecution showed a jury of eight women and four men the crime scene photos including the way
00:30:47
Amanda's body and the gun were found they also heard testimony from that sheriff's deputy who thought Seth
00:30:54
smelled freshly showered they watched the footage of Deputy abery at the peral's front door and listen to all 60
00:31:03
Minutes of peral's interview with Sheriff Sills I don't know how this happened district attorney Barksdale
00:31:11
says that some of the most compelling evidence was found on Amanda's cell phone like this video she recorded 7
00:31:19
months prior to her death it's sad it's sad because you know what I married you and I'm not going to I'm dud you're done
00:31:27
I'm done Amanda's sisters were seeing the video for the first time it made me angry I
00:31:34
want to have a good weekend you burn that up when you try to put that phone in my face what phone in your face oh
00:31:39
right there oh you're you're videotaping yeah because you're being I'm going to show you tomorrow you didn't videotape
00:31:44
all the you when you hit me and smack hit you youing chok me eight times the video was problematic but it it doesn't
00:31:52
show everything that took place Seth also states that she had violently toward him as well he doesn't want to
00:32:00
say hi there was no evidence of Seth having been abused introduced at trial but Amanda's phone also contained photos
00:32:09
of her with bruises a black eye and a split lip along with texts like this one to her sisters Seth just choked me till
00:32:18
I nearly passed out busted my lip wide open I was scared that um one of them might get hurt this is Seth's then
00:32:29
8-year-old daughter being interviewed by a forensic child psychologist remember she was a witness to what happened the
00:32:37
day Amanda called 911 they were cussing at each other Miss Amanda was cussing too but she didn't touch Daddy at all
00:32:46
Daddy was like touching her nose like this like get out of my house right now the jury was shown most of the interview
00:32:54
she was on the floor like this yeah trying to get her stuff then all of a sudden Daddy just started grabbing her
00:33:01
arms and Daddy just pushed her over the laundry table and then um open the door and pushed her out the door while her
00:33:09
father spent the night in jail she said Amanda begged her not to tell anyone what happened or there could be deadly
00:33:17
consequences Amanda tells her that night if your daddy loses custody of you he's
00:33:24
going to shoot me dead your daddy would come shoot me dead but when Barksdale called the now
00:33:31
10-year-old to the witness stand she said she couldn't recall what happened that day or what she said in the
00:33:37
interview she I think felt really torn I seen her look at her dad a couple times
00:33:43
I felt like she was more careful about what she was saying like somebody had been coaching her in Cross examination
00:33:51
the defense asked if anyone had coached her on what to say she said no but but Justin Kenny says he believes another
00:34:00
prosecution witness may have been coached a jailhouse informant named Jack Faulk who had shared a dorm block with
00:34:08
Seth peral Jack Faulk has a criminal history I believe 28 pages long numerous contacts with the police and he had
00:34:15
every incentive to lie and make up a story folk had come forward three weeks before the medical examiner's report was
00:34:23
released claiming he had valuable information about Amanda's death he knew things that only Seth paral could have
00:34:30
told him in these two handwritten letters Faulk claimed that Seth told him the camera catching him with the clothes
00:34:38
on was his biggest concern he also claimed that Seth said he had been giving Amanda painkillers all day and
00:34:46
that she was passed out at the time of her death I think he was in the bed with her after she was passed out and held
00:34:53
the gun against her head thank he was behind her behind her or slight to the side the defense argued that Amanda shot
00:35:01
herself because her lies about Seth assaulting her had potentially ruined their lives furthermore only that tiny
00:35:10
trace of gunshot residue was found on paro's left hand and there was just that one Speck of blood found on his
00:35:19
clothing Justin Kenny says the hardest thing for the defense to explain was the way Amanda's body was found we knew that
00:35:28
it was going to be a problem the body had to be moved in some way had to be touched in some way Kenny says there is
00:35:34
one explanation that makes sense to him something peral said in his interview with Sheriff Sills I probably did touch
00:35:41
her I was probably hugging the out her and that would potentially account for her arms being by her sides as for the
00:35:49
way set's gun was found beside Amanda's body with the ejected magazine by her side the defense hired an expert who
00:35:58
testified he fired the gun six times and after one of those firings the magazine
00:36:04
spontaneously ejected it shows that that firearm can drop the magazine when it's fired Howard Sals
00:36:12
took that very gun out and shot it several times the gbi examined that gun didn't notate in their report any Mal
00:36:21
functions whatsoever Dr Laura L O R A darasa then there was the the medical examiner Laura
00:36:29
derasa Barksdale called her to the stand and asked her to explain how she came to
00:36:35
her conclusion of suicide as the manner of death what I wanted the jury and for her to see she did not consider all the
00:36:45
evidence she had not considered Seth daughter's interview she had not considered the cell phone data the prior
00:36:54
domestic abuse video but Dr darasa defended her conclusion and in this statement to 48 Hours the
00:37:04
Georgia Bureau of Investigation backed her up our agency stands behind the original expert opinion of Perot's
00:37:13
death were you worried at all about the verdict what I try to remind myself it is my job to pursue Justice and to
00:37:22
present a case for the jury to consider and if they were to walk came out the door I would be able to look to Amanda
00:37:31
peral's family and say we did everything we could go inside the case and see more of
00:37:39
the evidence at 48 [Music] hours.com when they called us all back in we all just held hands and dropped
00:37:55
our head it had been just under 2 and 1/2 hours when the jury in the murder trial
00:38:02
of Seth bral announced that they had reached a verdict I just remember praying saying God you
00:38:10
know just please you know please do this for our family let us have Justice for our
00:38:17
sister and Justice is what they feel they got the verdict guilty of murder it was better sweet
00:38:28
because we got justice but it didn't bring her back and didn't bring our best friend
00:38:39
back that same day peral was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole I want many years of him praying
00:38:48
to God and being on his knees that he would have took his own life instead of my
00:38:52
sisters Justin Kenny says he believes an innocent man is now behind bars for life
00:38:59
my heart sank I've known Seth for almost a decade now and I don't think he did [Music]
00:39:12
it every August on her birthday Amanda's sisters honor her memory by releasing love letters tied to purple
00:39:23
balloons I love you Amanda I hope you're having a beautiful birthday in heaven happy birthday dear
00:39:34
Amanda happy birthday to [Music] you in 2022 the notes also included the National Domestic Abuse Hotline number
00:39:50
and hopefully this will'll find somebody that really needs it we just want to create awareness around domestic abuse
00:39:56
and for people to don't sit back and just let it happen no matter what the the victim is telling
00:40:06
[Music] you fight for them you know help them help them any way you can there's so
00:40:13
many things I wish I could go back now and do different I wish I could go back and
00:40:19
save her you're going to save somebody with this I hope so [Music] taken from her friends and family too
00:40:57
soon she was artistic she was creative she was smart she was feisty a murderer roams free for too long there was that
00:41:04
constant fear is this going to happen again you will never forget Sarah Yaro 48 Hours next on CBS and streaming on
00:41:12
Paramount Plus [Music] [Music] I'm anarie green and welcome to postmortem and whether you're new to 48
00:41:40
hours or a longtime fan we're answering your biggest questions from our episode the death of an officer's wife this is a
00:41:47
special one to me because I was the correspondent on this case and I'm joined Now by producer Judy Ryback who
00:41:54
reported and produced on this episode so welcome Judy thank you it is really good
00:41:58
to be here for my first ever podcast so before we get to our postmortem let's listen to an overview of this week's
00:42:05
episode it was February 3rd 2020 when Seth peral then a police officer for the city of Edon Georgia reported his
00:42:15
44-year-old wife Amanda had shot and killed herself putham County Sheriff Howard sils was in charge of the
00:42:23
investigation he said that they were in bed and they were arguing and then all of a sudden she just produced the gun
00:42:30
out of thin air and executed herself but Sills says from the start he wasn't buying perold story for one thing the
00:42:41
crime scene didn't look like a suicide to the sheriff her body is flat on the back her legs are almost together and
00:42:51
her arms are tucked against her side with her hands cut this wasn't right also of concern to SS was the way this
00:43:00
Smith and Wesson 380 which belonged to Seth peral was found lying next to Amanda's body with its magazine ejected
00:43:09
the magazine it was near her right side and the pistol itself was way down here below her left foot there's
00:43:20
something not adding up district attorney Wright Barksdale points to the fact that just 6 days before before
00:43:27
Amanda peral's death she had called 911 and had her husband arrested on charges of simple battery and Family Violence
00:43:36
the next day he made bond I think he hid behind a badge and wore a mask every day
00:43:44
nice house law enforcement but behind that door to that house he was pretty abusive based in part on the crime scene
00:43:53
and allegations of abuse barkdale charged 44-year-old Perot with murder but 7 months later the medical examiner
00:44:03
in the case issued her report ruling Amanda peral's death a suicide when you're working with Judy
00:44:12
you get every transcript you get any piece of evidence that you know the investigators are willing to give every
00:44:20
phone call you've had with everyone we're about to interview you're really detailed and so when you said to me you
00:44:26
were struggling with this hour why did you find putting this together so challenging I think for me honestly it's
00:44:35
not the case itself because for me the evidence is so clear like it just speaks so loudly and it's and it's interesting
00:44:42
for me it was because it was a domestic violence case I think that's what was really bothering me you know like and
00:44:49
and the notion that um that Amanda was trying to get out and didn't get out in time you know and I know and we sort of
00:44:58
talked about this that yes it was a toxic relationship yes neither of these people were perfect um but you were
00:45:05
really cognizant of putting together the hour in a way that we would not be blaming Amanda for what happened to her
00:45:14
yeah well that's what we do at 48 hours we're very very sensitive to victims cuz
00:45:19
nobody deserves to be murdered you know no matter who you are or what you've done you know whatever um we don't blame
00:45:27
the victim at all and and we're really um you know we we're fair and balanced cuz we go bend over backwards to be
00:45:35
always fair and balanced but we but we honor the victims and their families yeah um I know for me this was sort of
00:45:44
classic red flags when it comes to a domestic violence situation very toxic relationship alienation um and you know
00:45:52
increasingly she had become dependent on Seth but I really do feel like there was
00:45:57
some manipulation oh yeah I feel like there was a lot of manipulation um from the start and remember she was always
00:46:03
dependent on him right from the very start he had her move in with him and reportedly wouldn't let her get a job
00:46:11
yeah so um she was completely dependent on him yeah the idea of being married to
00:46:16
a police officer like everything on the surface of this looked so perfect you have a young family police officer a
00:46:26
beautiful house a boat in the driveway I mean it was all an illusion of this kind
00:46:33
of per perfect Suburbia living you know what I mean yeah it wasn't it wasn't yeah so let's dig into the case and the
00:46:42
key question when it comes to this case is who pulled the trigger right was it a
00:46:48
suicide was it a murder and I'm going to throw something else in too was it an accidental
00:46:54
suicide um because that's something that lawyers sort of raised that maybe she had shot herself by accident because you
00:47:01
know she was inebriated they had been drinking a lot um so can you talk a little bit about the medical examiner
00:47:09
ruling CU that was the moment right that I heard gasps when I was sitting and watching the hour where people were like
00:47:17
how did the medical examiner rule this a suicide when everything about the case seems so odd right not only how but the
00:47:25
timing of it right like they were still in the middle of investigating the case and suddenly this report comes out and
00:47:31
everybody was stunned I mean everybody was stunned often when you have a gunshot directly to the temple Emmys
00:47:40
tend to rule suicide because who else is going to get that close to you and you know you have to kind of stand still to
00:47:48
to be shot this way right so I think their theory is it's not a it's not a struggle there's no struggle there is a
00:47:54
gunshot right to the temple and um I can't believe she looked at the crime scene photos and saw a suicide I don't I
00:48:02
don't see how and she didn't budge on the stand and you've done a lot of 48 hours so one of the things that you were
00:48:06
telling me was that you know often medical examiners do disagree with investigators but not like this it's
00:48:13
usually the other way around an investigator might say I think it's a suicide and the medical examiner says no
00:48:18
you should take a second look so this was a little odd very odd to me the other thing that shocked people too was
00:48:26
the same thing that shocked the sheriff the position of Amanda's body I don't know about you when you talk to some of
00:48:33
your friends but I know my friends that was the other thing that they kept on talking about where her hands were
00:48:38
positioned where the gun was positioned the way the gun broke apart like how does she end up like that you know like
00:48:45
straight out like a mummy with her hands cued by her side in fact let's play a little of what sarif SS has to say the
00:48:52
magazine it was near her right side and the pistol itself was way down here below her left
00:49:04
foot and there was a bullet in the gun so remember he explained to us that um you have to if the magazine falls out
00:49:12
how is there a bullet the the magazine has to eject another bullet into the gun and then it falls out it doesn't happen
00:49:20
that way right the gun was not tested for fingerprints and also not tested for the gunpowder residue right which you
00:49:26
know you go what are you talking about the gunpowder residue would let you know if she committed suicide cuz it'd be all
00:49:32
over her hands be all over her but there big butt with that right right I've been
00:49:37
told by a lot of Das and and detectives at this point they they don't really rely on it because again because when
00:49:43
you shoot off a gun yeah GSR gunshot residue goes all over the place and uh and and yeah so it might not have proven
00:49:52
anything whether she was holding the gun or not the gun was so close to her that
00:49:57
and anyone else would have gotten right what is interesting is that they found a
00:50:02
you know a bit of it on his hand right right and but it was his gun but it was his gun and he was a cop but he had been
00:50:09
off duty for a while right and he could have showered and there could have been just a little bit left oh the other
00:50:15
thing is you know there's no blood so how do you shoot yourself and not get blood on your hand and the sleeve of
00:50:23
your shirt it just doesn't make sense so yeah when sheriff sales sort of Acts this out it seems impossible and
00:50:31
certainly the way Amanda's body was um you know you wouldn't sort of shoot yourself and then wind up in that
00:50:39
position but on the flip side which Sheriff SS was suggesting was that Seth somehow got behind her was able to
00:50:49
crouch down behind her I mean what he's suggesting as the alternative reality I guess is also
00:50:56
still not very easy to do no it's not re real easy to wrap your brain around right there was no room for him to
00:51:03
crouch down I mean I just don't really get it I I I I could we could play homicide detective for
00:51:14
hours um so like I said Judy gives you everything that they've acquired about a case and one of the things that I
00:51:22
listened to was the tapes of sets interrogation by by Sheriff SS okay so that's where he's sort of explaining why
00:51:30
her body was in this strange position um and he initially says I didn't touch her
00:51:35
I didn't touch her I didn't touch her and it felt a lot to me it felt like someone who was lying it
00:51:43
felt like someone who was just trying to keep the conversational ball in the air
00:51:48
but not actually answering any of the questions I want to play a little bit maybe I I don't know I probably did tell
00:51:57
I was probably hugging out of her and I was probably like I'm so like honey what
00:52:02
the hell's going on then he says well maybe I hugged her and it was a lot of that wasn't it Judy in the conversation
00:52:09
a lot of kind of jumping around being un deflecting yeah yeah kept wanting to talk about what a great police officer
00:52:17
he was and how Amanda thought he was such a great police officer and how important it was to her and to him and
00:52:24
yeah yeah a good officer I'm a good police officer I'm a good police officer I'm a good
00:52:31
officer it really sounds a little bit like he's trying to manipulate the sheriff and then he uses the word my
00:52:38
wife executed herself he said that they were in bed and they were arguing and then all of a sudden she just produced
00:52:45
the gun out of thin air and executed her I just sat there watch my wife execute herself in all my years of questioning
00:52:57
anybody for suicid I have never heard anybody use the term executed during the interview with Sheriff SS that was a
00:53:08
word that jumped out at him and he was like I've never heard anyone speak like that yeah I've never heard that either
00:53:15
in my 13 years at uh 48 hours I have never heard anyone use the word execute you know people should know that um
00:53:27
you really worked hard to get somebody to speak on Seth's behalf yes it was very difficult yeah you you spent a lot
00:53:34
of time talking to his mother and his mother really felt like the sheriff had it out for Seth yeah yeah the defense
00:53:44
seemed to be that um Seth was a good guy and that um that he was uh the victim of
00:53:53
uh some sort of conspiracy you know the sheriff was out to get the local police chief and um and this and Seth got
00:54:01
caught in the middle of some battle between the sheriff and the local police chief and he was sort of like roadkill
00:54:08
you know right yeah now Sheriff's Hills is sort of like a fixture in putam County um he's been shareff for a really
00:54:15
for a really long time but the sort of line there is that he grew up in the courthouse because he had actually been
00:54:20
adopted by the district attorney of the county so he had always been around law law enforcement the courthouse and then
00:54:29
eventually grew up to become Sheriff that's part of the reason why she felt that you know the tentacles of sheriff
00:54:35
SS could be long and influential in the county yeah I mean he does have long influential tentacles in the county you
00:54:44
know but has he used them for evil I mean there's no evidence of that right so and and there was no evidence that
00:54:51
that he was going to cross the Thin Blue Line you know um or that he wasn't you know I should say that
00:54:58
that he was going after a police officer you know and and he in in his words he felt like that put more pressure on him
00:55:09
right because it was one of their own and they did have to be super careful and make sure that they got it right
00:55:16
because he was a police officer so I feel like almost every time that I spoke to you sort of leading up to our shoots
00:55:22
you would say I just got off the phone with Seth's mom you you really did spend a lot of time talking to her you had
00:55:28
lunch with her on your birthday yeah the life of a 48 Hours producer yeah we couldn't get her to go on camera no what
00:55:37
was her concern you know I don't know how to answer that question actually I mean
00:55:43
because we did spend so much time on the phone hours and hours and hours on the phone with this woman um and listening
00:55:51
to her story and really trying to understand her defense of her son um and I wanted her to come on camera and say
00:55:58
that I wanted her to come on camera and tell us what kind of man he was cuz she was painting him to be you know the good
00:56:05
guy yeah so we have a lot more to talk about we're going to get into the possible
00:56:10
motive for this murder set's daughter that incredible interview video and a possible jailhouse confession we'll be
00:56:19
right back [Music] [Music] welcome back so Seth's mom is you know characterizing she's telling you that
00:56:35
her son's a good guy that he loved Amanda but then on the flip side you have a guy who just became a police
00:56:41
officer he's got a bit of a reputation for roughing up his wife other officers know about it and we actually sort of
00:56:49
hear it in a 911 call when an officer is heading over to the house um after hearing about a disturb I want to play
00:56:56
that 911 call can sh would you help please thank you she called me she had barricaded
00:57:05
herself in a back bedroom it's my husband and he's putting his hands on me she ended up having to run next door he
00:57:12
locked me out of the house and I'm just trying to get my things out of the house
00:57:15
please she's at the neighbor's house right now another Sheriff's dispatcher was alerted and she said her husband is
00:57:23
an officer with the Eden Police Department that second dispatcher said he knew Seth
00:57:29
paral and said he had a reputation I ain't supposed to know this but he's been out of work with his back and
00:57:36
apparently he's over there whipping up on her ass Seth's arrested for um domestic assault even after that after
00:57:44
the arrest Amanda refuses a staya away order and so Seth is able to come back and she do she doesn't survive much
00:57:53
longer after that right right that call was her first call to the police ever right and uh just a few days before she
00:58:01
was shot yeah why do you think she let Seth come back he was totally in control right and and we've talked about this
00:58:09
she loved his daughter right so they had custody of of his daughter and um yeah like as I'm remembering it now she
00:58:18
didn't have a job she didn't have a car and I even feel like she didn't have a cell phone that she could use regularly
00:58:24
have at that point okay yeah yeah but there was she went a long time without her own cell phone right like she really
00:58:32
was restricted and had felt she had few options but she did have her sisters and
00:58:37
her sisters felt like there was another reason why she would not insist on Seth being kept away from her I want to play
00:58:46
Alicia's sound cuz she was scared she knew he was mad she knew that it was public that he had been arrested he's a
00:58:55
police officer you know I have to bring him home and make this right say that's potential motive the suggestion from the
00:59:02
sheriff from the prosecutor is that after he was arrested for domestic violence everything about his world was
00:59:11
going there's a risk of it all unraveling right um it was already sort of barely hanging together this facade
00:59:19
of suburban success and peace yes um and with the removal of One Piece which would have been his job everything else
00:59:28
could could have fallen apart yeah so I think he was panicking he was going to lose his job and potentially lose
00:59:34
custody of his daughter and uh he had Amanda write that note and he wanted her to take it down
00:59:42
to the sheriff's department and I think he forced her to write the note because that's sort of what it looks like right
00:59:49
and that's what the sheriff says and the da um the language is is not con you know it's it's just bizarre it's a
00:59:57
bizarre letter it's a really weird letter I want to play some of what Sheriff SS had to say that sort of stuck
01:00:03
out to him he said that she had written something that she intended to bring to me recanting what she had told the
01:00:10
deputies and he told me where it was this handwritten letter was found in Amanda's nightstand it reads in part I
01:00:19
Amanda per would like to retract my statement my husband never put his hands on me ever I feel horrible for the
01:00:27
humiliation I put my husband and my family through I am willing to take any punishment I may deserve for what I have
01:00:36
done so the odd word is punishment I mean who writes that if you if you say that you know I was wrong I was
01:00:45
dishonest it's never happened then that's all you're right you don't say punish me please I don't don't know it
01:00:52
was you know it was bizarre to me that's the one the biggest piece of evidence that motive right yeah and I think she
01:00:59
might have refused to take it down to the sheriff's department and um was planning on leaving him and if she left
01:01:07
him that was it right there there was no defense in the in the abuse the the child would have been taken away and and
01:01:15
for sh for Sheriff Sals because he's got a little bit of intuition it wasn't just
01:01:19
the wording it was The Way It Was Written you actually brought a copy of the letter here I mean when you look at
01:01:26
this and not only is the penmanship perfect and some people have perfect penmanship I am not one of those people
01:01:30
looks like a paper written for like a school class complely the margins are perfect it just looks like somebody who
01:01:37
had sort of written it over and over again until it was Perfection and those are the little things that when you have
01:01:43
a lot of experience um when you've seen notes like this before you know like the
01:01:49
sheriff has it just it just stands out all right we'll talk a little bit about the trial now but when you listen to his
01:01:55
daughter's interview oh my gosh cuz I listen to it again yeah um and she's describing the fight that they had when
01:02:04
officers were called they were cussing at each other Miss Amanda was cussing too but she didn't touch Daddy at all
01:02:12
Daddy was like touching our nose like this like get out of my house right now the jury was shown most of the interview
01:02:20
she was on the floor like this yeah trying to get her stuff then all of a sudden Daddy just started grabbing her
01:02:26
arms and Daddy just pushed her over the laundry table and then um opened the door and pushed her out the door while
01:02:35
her father spent the night in jail she said Amanda begged her not to tell anyone what happened or there could be
01:02:42
deadly consequences Amanda tells her that night if your daddy loses custody of you he's going to shoot me dead your
01:02:51
daddy would come shoot me dead can you imagine you know he is throwing her out of the house and this poor little child
01:03:01
is describing it in the way that she would have described a game that was being played
01:03:08
in the school yard you know so and so went after so and so and then so and so went after so and so your heart is
01:03:14
breaking for her yeah because this is not normal right and she I don't know if she knows it right and then there was
01:03:24
sort of some other video that was shown in the court from Amanda's cell phone that kind of it's kind of the only
01:03:31
Glimpse that we have of what might have been going on behind the scenes right um
01:03:36
let's play some of that I want to have a good weekend you burn that up when you try to put that phone in my face what
01:03:42
phone in your face oh right there oh your your videotape yeah because you're being I'm going to show you tomorrow you
01:03:47
didn't videotape all the you when you hit me and hit you youing chok me eight times so I've heard I I can't remember
01:03:56
who said it but someone said Amanda could give as good as she could get right and I don't know about that I
01:04:03
don't think that was equal but she was a fighter she would fight back victims can
01:04:08
also at times have the power try to defend them to try to fight back to try and create boundaries right but um but
01:04:18
at times they are overpowered and and what we saw was a power Dynamic here that even when she fought back she was
01:04:25
always in the weaker position a power struggle and she was always in the weaker position yeah totally um what was
01:04:31
your take on this jailhouse confession I I know that they kind of like included it but I didn't I didn't think they
01:04:39
actually needed it I didn't think they needed it either and I and I'm not I'll never really be fully sure um why they
01:04:47
brought it in and when we asked the da about it he said well you know it was just another piece of the puzzle mhm and
01:04:55
you know part of that confession was according to him Seth saying that his biggest concern was the clothing that
01:05:00
they would see that he had changed his clothes and and I didn't really understand that cuz there was no blood
01:05:06
on that clothing anyway right so what's the big deal and I really thought the defense attorney who didn't interview
01:05:11
with us um I thought that his explanation was was pretty solid like they had been out that morning he went
01:05:19
home he changed he took a shower changed his clothes and got into bed you know let's talk about the defense attorney
01:05:26
yeah please so 48 Hours tried and tried and tried to get someone to talk on Seth's behalf his mother had at times
01:05:32
promised to come she promis friends would come she had all this sort of stuff right so in the end we got this
01:05:39
defense attorney uh Justin Kenny Justin Kenny right who I thought was great he was terrific what people need to know
01:05:47
about Justin Kenny and the and the defense in general is he was not Seth's primary attorney right he wasn't the
01:05:56
lead attorney on the he wasn't the lead attorne can you sort of tell us how tell
01:06:00
us how his defense evolved so Seth initially had a very um well-known well-healed defense attorney
01:06:09
who they were paying a lot of money for and he passed away like a month before trial and then Justin Kenny comes in at
01:06:17
the last minute and has like you know just a few weeks or a few days or a month or so to read into the case which
01:06:23
isn't really a lot and and then he uh and then he gets stuck doing closing arguments yeah and the night before he
01:06:32
wrote the whole thing out himself like really sort of last minute crunch time so I really appreciated that he was
01:06:38
willing to talk to us about the case um and I got to tell you I mean he really believes that Seth should not be behind
01:06:48
bars yeah he was very passionate I thought he did a very good job given the evidence and what he had to work with
01:06:55
and uh but he really does believe that Seth is innocent yeah so kind of the most kind of
01:07:07
challenging part of the story for me was speaking to Amanda's sisters yeah and it
01:07:12
was challenging because they were incredibly emotional there were a lot of tears and I just felt the weight of
01:07:22
doing right by them yeah doing right by a Amanda um and making sure that they got their story out we just want to
01:07:31
create awareness around domestic abuse and for people to don't sit back and just let it happen
01:07:39
no matter what the the victim is telling you they were glad that they had spoken
01:07:46
for their sister right cuz that was was what it was all about like someone has to be the voice of Amanda and tell us
01:07:54
her side of the story and who she was and and and what you know what what they saw in that relationship I like to think
01:08:03
that when PE when viewers watch our show they either see themselves or families see their daughters or cousins or
01:08:12
sisters in Amanda and they see the red flags and they think oh are there any of those red flags in this relationship and
01:08:20
should I be a little more vocal about that fight for them you know help them help them any way you can there's so
01:08:27
many things I wish I could go back now and do different I wish I could go back and
01:08:32
save her you're going to save somebody with this I hope so be sure to join us next Tuesday for
01:08:43
another postmortem and if you're liking the show please rate and review 48 Hours
01:08:48
on Apple podcast and follow 48 Hours wherever you get your podcast you can also listen at free on Amazon music the
01:08:56
wry app or with a 48 Hours Plus subscription on Apple podcasts [Music]