00:00:00
[Music] This was all horse pasture over here and this was all our yard. At one time we owned 120 acres here. It
00:00:19
was our dream home. Todd designed every inch of that house himself. >> Did you love Todd? Oh,
00:00:28
I don't even think I ever didn't love Todd. I think I fell in love with him so quickly. And I know that he loved me.
00:00:38
[Music] Firefighters found him unresponsive outside the home on County Road 215. He
00:00:48
died of smoke inhilation and thermal injuries. Linda, had it occurred to you that you
00:00:58
would be a suspect in your husband's death? >> It didn't even occur to me that it could
00:01:03
even be ruled arson. All I'm thinking was, how did this happen? We are right now in our driveway facing
00:01:18
where our front door used to be. So, what was it like on that January 7th? >> It was in the low30s. It had rained and
00:01:25
drizzled all day. >> He's watching hunting shows upstairs. He's not doing much of anything. I'm
00:01:33
doing laundry. I heard a scream like no other scream I'd ever heard from him. And I just rushed upstairs to see what
00:01:44
in the world happened. And as soon as I got around the corner, I could see a fire across the living room. He looked
00:01:52
like he was fighting the fire. I just rushed out of the house. >> But the house is on fire. You didn't
00:01:59
think about calling 911. >> That wasn't my first thought. My first thought was to get out. Todd's going to
00:02:04
get out. As long as he knows I'm out, he's going to get out. I thought, I've got to get help.
00:02:11
I got in the van and I started to back up and then all of a sudden he's there and he's jumping around and he's patting
00:02:17
himself. He's his skin is burnt terribly and I lost sight of him. I don't know where he went to.
00:02:26
>> Did you know you had run over your husband? >> No. [Music] >> What do you believe happened? Our mother
00:02:39
murdered our father. She drugged him with horse tranquilizer and she set the house on fire, doused him in gasoline.
00:02:49
Then after the fact, when he managed to get out of the house, she uh ran him over with her van.
00:02:58
>> You must know, Linda, that it's very difficult for people to believe that your husband is burned in a fire. He
00:03:06
escapes. He's still alive, badly burned, and then you hit him with a car. You just happen to have that kind of bad
00:03:15
luck? Bad luck doesn't even describe it. [Music] [Music] On January 7th, 2007, the day her house
00:04:13
went up in flames, Linda Sturmer says she was doing laundry in the basement around 300 p.m. when she heard her
00:04:20
husband Todd let out a scream. She ran upstairs to find their living room engulfed in flames. I could not
00:04:29
have gotten over to Todd because there was fire between the two of us. >> She panicked, she says, and escaped
00:04:36
through the front door with no shoes or cell phone. When Todd didn't follow, she
00:04:42
jumped into this van to get help, knowing the keys were inside. But just as she was about to leave, Linda says
00:04:50
she suddenly saw Todd through the driver's side window. >> I'm screaming at him, "Get in the van.
00:04:56
Get in the van." then he won't get in the van. >> She says she jumped out of the van to
00:05:00
try and help him >> and I'm yelling at him to lay down to do anything. I can't touch him. And so I
00:05:09
get back in the van and I lost sight of him. I don't know where he went to, but it was so muddy and the tires were just
00:05:18
spinning. So I couldn't get any traction. So I just put it in gear and I'm trying to let it creep until it gets
00:05:24
some purchase. The van's tires were worn, says Linda, and the driveway too muddy. So, she drove around to this side
00:05:32
of the house where there was a sandy area, thinking that would give her traction.
00:05:38
>> I saw the neighbors. I saw them coming up the driveway at some point. >> Neighbors Mike Matheni and Connie
00:05:46
Calhoun had seen the fire and rushed over to help. >> Mike, he is yelling at me, "Where's the
00:05:52
kids? Where's Todd?" and I'm screaming at him. He said I was incoherent. Couldn't understand me because I'm
00:05:58
hysterical. And I'm trying to tell him the kids aren't here. Todd's up there. >> Linda says they looked for Todd at the
00:06:05
front of the house where she had last seen him, but he was gone. >> We found Todd laying right here by
00:06:14
closer to the house. Somehow Todd ended up on the side of the house, not far from where she stopped
00:06:22
the van. >> Somehow he went from over here to here. >> Yes. And he was laying on his back with
00:06:27
his head closest to the house. >> Linda says she has no idea how he got there, but investigators later found
00:06:35
Todd's blood on the van's front bumper and undercarriage. Todd was barely clothed when they found
00:06:45
him. So, Mike Matheni grabbed some of his own clothing from the backseat of his car and covered Todd with it.
00:06:52
>> He was so badly burnt and he was alive. He was looking at me, but he couldn't
00:07:00
talk. And I laid there just begging him not to leave me. When emergency medical technicians
00:07:12
arrived, they tried to save Todd >> and they said they couldn't hook up a defibrill.
00:07:20
He was too badly burned. When they stopped working on him, I was so so angry at them. Why did they get him
00:07:33
in the ambulance? Why did they waste so much time trying there? Can we take a break, please?
00:07:41
>> Of course. >> Anytime we would ask any details on the case or what happened that day, she
00:07:58
would start crying and look for sympathy from you and play the victim. The couple's sons, Trevor and Trenton
00:08:04
Sturmer, began to suspect there was more to the story when their mothers seemed reluctant to share certain details.
00:08:13
>> I asked her about the van and if she had run him over, and she said she didn't
00:08:18
want to talk about it and that I should just believe her, but her story just wasn't adding up. It didn't make sense
00:08:27
that our father, who was in great shape, it didn't make sense that he would die in a house fire and she wouldn't. They
00:08:35
say their parents' marriage had been rocky for some time. And it all seemed to come to a head on the eve of the fire
00:08:44
when Todd and Linda got into a shouting match. Was that the worst fight you'd ever seen your parents in?
00:08:50
>> Yeah, this was absolutely the worst. All of us knew that this was going to be the
00:08:54
one that ended their marriage. >> The fight, they say, was a familiar one over finances and infidelity.
00:09:03
>> It seems like he found out that she was having an affair essentially and had a
00:09:08
separate life. >> Were you ever unfaithful to Todd? >> No. Todd was an extremely
00:09:15
jealous and possessive person. Linda says she and Todd fought about money because they were near financial
00:09:22
ruin. She says thanks to Todd. >> Todd owned his own business. He sold gloves and occasionally sold hunting
00:09:31
suits, but he didn't like to work often. And I learned about him borrowing money
00:09:40
from his mother. And I said, "Why would you do that? Why aren't you just going to work?" I was working in a diialysis
00:09:47
facility. I had to be to work at 5:00 a.m. >> How much in debt was he at the time of
00:09:55
his death? $75,000. He hadn't paid our mortgage in several months. And he just blew money. Just
00:10:05
blew money. But Trenton and Trevor say the real drain on the family's finances was Linda's obsession with horses. They
00:10:15
claim their dad was upset to learn that Linda had a line of credit for $25,000 to support the 31 horses she had on
00:10:25
their property. >> The horses were always a topic of discussion between them of it was
00:10:32
running us dry. >> I don't know where they would have gotten that idea from. >> Linda claims she was actually making
00:10:39
money boarding those horses. The horses were self-sufficient. Todd always told me that if I didn't make enough money
00:10:48
with the horses that I couldn't have the horses. Whatever they were arguing about, 24
00:10:54
hours later, Todd was dead and investigators were suspicious. They started taking a long hard look at
00:11:02
Linda's actions on the day of the fire. For instance, she had gone to this gas station early that morning, and a clerk
00:11:10
would later say it looked like Linda was pumping fuel not into her vehicle, but into a gas can. And in fact, this can
00:11:20
was found by investigators in the Sturmer's front yard. [Music] Do you think Linda intentionally hit
00:11:32
Todd with the van? See more photos from the investigation on Facebook at 48 hours.
00:11:38
[Music] [Music] Linda Sturmer says her early morning trip to this gas station the day that
00:11:59
the house fire killed her husband Todd was perfectly innocent. We were out of milk.
00:12:05
>> She says she bought some groceries and topped off the gas in her SUV and that's
00:12:11
all she did. A receipt would later show she spent just over $11 at the pump. You
00:12:18
didn't fill up the tank. It didn't need a whole lot. She claimed she wanted to make sure there was plenty of gas for
00:12:24
her sons because when she got home, she woke them and told them to leave in her car. I told them that they could go to
00:12:33
the movies with her friends. I didn't want them hearing Todd and I argue. Linda and Todd had been fighting since
00:12:40
the previous day. She says their marriage was coming to an end, that she was getting ready to leave Todd that day
00:12:49
and wanted the boys out of the way. >> I just felt like being in the house with us.
00:12:55
Watching me move out was going to be too much for them. >> After 13 years of marriage, it was a
00:13:02
decision that had been a long time in the making. [Music] When Linda first met Todd in 1989,
00:13:18
she says there was an instant attraction. >> He was so beautiful, so charismatic. You
00:13:25
could just see the light in his eyes. >> They were both 25 when they started dating. Linda was separated at the time
00:13:34
with two young daughters, three-year-old Ashley and 2-year-old Brittany. It was clear Todd wanted the whole package.
00:13:43
>> I said, "I'm in the middle of a divorce." And I said, "I have two little girls." And he says, "Well, that's
00:13:49
perfect. I'll only make boys." I'm like, "What? Wait." By the time they got married in August
00:13:57
of 1993, Linda had given birth to their two sons, Trevor and Trenton. >> He did not have to marry me. We just
00:14:06
wanted to be a family. Todd was the epitome of family. >> He was a great man, great father,
00:14:14
coached all of us through as many sports as he could and definitely a family man.
00:14:21
He was such a devoted family man, says Linda. He even offered to take in her nephew Corey to save him from a broken
00:14:30
home. >> Todd sat me down one night and he said, "Do you want him to come and live here
00:14:35
with us? Maybe that would be good for him." >> Cory Pierce was 2 years old when they
00:14:41
took him in. >> You miss your dad? >> Yeah. He loved to play sports with us and hang out with us. He would go out in
00:14:49
the yard and play with us and he was really athletic. >> Did he ever treat any of these kids
00:14:57
differently? >> I don't know anybody who he had ever introduced his family to. These are my
00:15:03
sons. These are my daughters. >> It sounds at that point your relationship was pretty ideal.
00:15:10
>> Amazing. It was amazing. But that happiness, says Linda, didn't last very long. Turns out Todd had a
00:15:20
temper. Linda's daughters, Britney and Ashley. >> The first incident, I just remember
00:15:26
my stepdad like throwing a clothes basket of laundry at my mom. I remember him going out with friends at night and
00:15:34
my mom having to load all of us kids up in the car to go pick him up at a friend's house where he was drunk and
00:15:39
just belligerent and screaming at her. and it got like so bad, you know, scared us. We were young then.
00:15:46
>> Ashley says that when she was about 11 years old and started speaking up, she
00:15:52
became a target of that anger. >> What would he say to you, Ashley? >> You're a two-legged dog just like your
00:16:01
mom. You're going to be a [ __ ] just like she is. [Music] >> But he hit you. Oh yeah.
00:16:11
>> With what? >> His hands, belts, horse rings, a foam in the middle of the forehead.
00:16:23
>> Linda says Todd also hit her. >> It wasn't a regular thing. He would get extremely fired up and extremely
00:16:33
frustrated. And he hit me one time and it left a bruise on my cheek. But he sent me flowers. He told me how sorry he
00:16:43
was. And then you believe that it's never going to happen again until it does. >> But Trenton, Trevor, and Corey say they
00:16:52
never saw their father hit their sister Ashley or their mother. >> Did you see your dad ever be abusive to
00:17:00
your mom? >> No, I never seen him physically harm her. >> We never saw saw a black eye or or
00:17:07
bruises. Our father definitely had a temper and perhaps he grabbed her and squeezed her arm maybe a little too
00:17:14
hard, but never any hitting. >> Marty, Linda's mother, says she never really trusted Todd.
00:17:22
>> He could be charming. He could be the most charming man you've ever met, and he could turn and be the worst person in
00:17:30
the world. >> And Linda, she says, took the brunt of it. >> He was very controlling. If anything
00:17:37
went wrong, it was her fault. >> Linda says she later found out that Todd had an arrest record dating back to
00:17:44
before they were married. There were two convictions for misdemeanor drug charges, a DUI and a conviction for
00:17:53
misdemeanor assault and battery when he was 18 years old. I went out there one time and um I says
00:18:02
if anything ever happens to her, I know who to blame. >> Were you really worried he might hurt
00:18:09
Linda? >> Yes, I was. >> Linda says not long before the fire, she was ready to call it quits and started
00:18:17
talking to a divorce attorney. >> She told me that she had planned on leaving. It was getting, you know, to be
00:18:24
too much. On January 6th, 2007, the night before the fire, then 20-year-old Ashley says
00:18:33
she called the Sturmer home to speak to her mother. >> I've never gotten to talk to anybody
00:18:39
about this, so it's like really hard for me. >> Todd answered the phone >> and he said, "Your mom's not here." And
00:18:47
he's like, "But I had a conversation with God. I'm not decided yet, but one of us is leaving in a body bag." It's
00:18:54
either me or your mom. [Music] [Music] After Todd Sturmer's death, Van Buren County Sheriff's detectives spent two
00:19:25
years investigating, focusing on the troubled Sturmer marriage and the fact that Todd's wife, Linda, ran him over
00:19:33
when he escaped the fire. Then on June 5th, 2009, the prosecutor's office felt they had enough evidence to
00:19:43
arrest Linda Sturmer on charges of arson and murder. For so long, we had all held
00:19:49
the notion in our head that it was possible that she killed our father. But when all the details and the evidence
00:19:56
came out, it was just overwhelming. On January 5th, 2010, Linda went on trial. The evidence was mainly
00:20:07
circumstantial, focusing on Linda's actions before and after the fire. Her sons testified she pushed them to go to
00:20:16
the movies that Sunday morning, >> saying, "You need to get up. You need to go. You need to leave the house right
00:20:22
now." >> I went to go say goodbye to our father. >> She physically stopped us. She said,
00:20:28
"No, he's sleeping. Don't go over there." >> They now believe their dad had been
00:20:33
sedated. >> I believe that he was drugged. It's because he was clearly incapacitated in
00:20:39
the living room. Bolstering that theory was Kate Fox, a former friend and co-orker of Linda's.
00:20:48
Fox testified that Linda confided in her, saying she was afraid investigators would find a coffee cup she used to try
00:20:57
to drug Todd. Linda's trial attorney, Jeffrey Getting, says there was no evidence that Todd was
00:21:05
drugged. The evidence introduced at the trial was contained in the autopsy report which
00:21:12
didn't find any significant evidence of sedatives. >> But Kate Fox also testified that Linda
00:21:21
had discussed ways of getting rid of her husband, including running him over with
00:21:26
a car. >> Did you? >> No. Kate really hated me at that point. Linda says that by trial their
00:21:35
friendship had ended and that Fox lied on the witness stand because among other things she was angry at Linda for
00:21:43
changing her shift at work. My lawyer asked her why she was so angry at me. She says she lied to me. She lied to me.
00:21:53
She changed shifts without me. But Kate Fox also provided a motive for murder. telling jurors that at the time
00:22:04
of the fire, Linda was having an affair with a c-orker named Chris Williams. That testimony was backed up by Williams
00:22:12
himself, who claimed that he and Linda had a romantic relationship while she was a married woman.
00:22:20
>> Were you having an affair with Chris Williams? >> I started seeing Chris Williams
00:22:25
romantically, but it wasn't until after I lost my husband. Why would a man you went out with turn around and lie at
00:22:33
trial? >> Unless he was manipulated by someone I don't know. >> Linda says Kate Fox was so angry she
00:22:42
convinced Williams to lie about when the relationship began. The defense presented evidence that Fox had a
00:22:50
history of mental illness and her own brother took the stand and said her stories couldn't be trusted.
00:22:57
>> I do know my sister. She can manipulate the the truth to whatever she wants it to be. And yeah,
00:23:05
she will lie if it's to her benefit, >> but it may have been Linda's early morning trip to the gas station that was
00:23:15
most damaging to her case. Remember, she said she went out to buy milk and top off the gas tank in her car,
00:23:24
but a gas station clerk testified she thought she saw Linda at the back of her car, seemingly pumping gas not into her
00:23:34
vehicle, but into a gas can like the one found on the scene. It's something Linda
00:23:41
denies. It was frigid and I had winter gloves and a warmer coat back there. So, I got my gloves out to pump gas. As for
00:23:50
the gas can found at the house, Linda says they lived on a farm and there were gas cans everywhere.
00:23:57
A jail house informant testified that while in custody, Linda told her she started the fire while Todd was asleep.
00:24:06
Another informant said Linda hit Todd over the head with a blunt object. Getting tried to poke holes in their
00:24:14
testimony. >> They were inconsistent. They both had problems with mental illness.
00:24:20
The prosecutor argued that Linda started the fire by dousing Todd with gasoline and his sweatpants, underwear, and socks
00:24:29
did test positive, but defense attorney Getting never called his own fire expert
00:24:34
to refute any of that. >> I begged him numerous times for an expert, and he says, "We don't need an
00:24:40
expert, Linda. We will use their expert for our benefit." Getting says his plan was to agree the
00:24:47
fire was arson, but to convince jurors that it was Todd who started it. >> Todd is in the middle of the fire. The
00:24:57
best defense in this case is Todd set the fire and was accidentally killed in the fire that he set.
00:25:07
In fact, Todd had twice been suspected by police of arson in the past when two other properties he owned mysteriously
00:25:16
burned to the ground. Both times, Todd was reportedly in debt and needed money. But Todd was never charged. And in his
00:25:25
closing argument, the prosecutor called the claim nonsense and reminded the jury
00:25:31
that when Todd escaped the burning house, Linda ran him over. He also said Linda owned two cell phones and should
00:25:40
have been able to call 911. And he pointed his finger in my face just inches away from my face and he
00:25:47
says she's a liar, a manipulator, a diabolical murderer. That may have crossed the line, but Getting never
00:25:55
objected. Just hours after the case went to the jury, the judge read their verdict.
00:26:03
Count one, guilty as charged. Count two, guilty as charged. [Music] >> All I could think was,
00:26:16
I have to be strong because my mom's right behind me. Linda's sons say the jury got it right.
00:26:24
>> We knew it in our hearts that she was guilty and it felt like we could finally
00:26:29
breathe again. Linda's daughter Ashley has barely spoken to her brothers since that day.
00:26:36
>> I lost my brothers, my grandparents, my aunts and uncles because I believed in my mom.
00:26:44
>> Linda was sentenced to life without parole, but she was determined to fight her conviction and reunite her family.
00:26:53
I'm determined and hopeful that I will get back to my children someday. >> Determined to free her mother, Linda's
00:27:03
daughter, Britney, begged wellrespected fire investigator Robert Tranle to re-examine her mother's case. He said,
00:27:12
"If there's any doubt in your mind at all whatsoever that your mom did this, don't hire me
00:27:21
because if she did it, I will find out [Music] [Music] When you went to prison, did you think
00:27:50
this is it? >> No. My lawyer told me, he says, "Linda, we will not give up. We're going to fight
00:27:59
this." Over the next 5 years, Linda Sturmer filed appeal after appeal in state court
00:28:08
all the way to the Michigan Supreme Court. All of them denied. >> It was devastating. It was really
00:28:15
devastating. >> Then she turned to the federal court and took advantage of a prison resource, the
00:28:22
law library. >> I was in that law library almost every single day of the week and I learned as
00:28:28
much as I could. I had people on the outside who were mailing me information on wrongful arson convictions and giving
00:28:35
me an idea on where to go. Linda wrote her own petition to the federal court. In part, she blamed her conviction on
00:28:44
her own defense attorney who had chosen not to hire a fire expert, an expert like veteran fire investigator Robert
00:28:52
Tranle, who would have testified there wasn't enough evidence to prove the fire that killed Todd Sturmer was
00:29:00
deliberately set. >> How would you describe the investigation that was made into this case? Adequate?
00:29:08
>> No, absolutely not adequate. inadequate. Just the opposite. >> For example, Tranle says investigators
00:29:16
failed to sift through the remains of the house and took very few samples of debris.
00:29:23
>> If you think the fire started in the living room, it started in the center of
00:29:25
that living room. You're going to have to take that floor and move it out to the outside. Look at what kind of burn
00:29:31
patterns are on that floor to give you that reason to be able to believe that and then take a sample and see if you
00:29:36
have something. Tranlel says the evidence doesn't support the state's theory that Linda
00:29:43
dowsed Todd with gasoline and then set him on fire. >> I've asked probably 30 or 40 people who
00:29:50
are firefighters, investigators, and they all laughed when I told them about somebody getting out of a building after
00:29:57
they've had gasoline poured all over them. And when asked about the gasoline found on Todd's clothing, well, Tran
00:30:04
says it was likely a case of crosscontamination. Remember that neighbor who came to the
00:30:11
rescue that day? He recycled auto parts for a living. And a shirt he used to cover Todd also tested positive for gas.
00:30:22
And then there's the fact that no gasoline was found on Linda's clothing. If you get one little speck on your
00:30:29
finger, you try to wash it off and wash it off and wash it off, it's still there. So, it should have been smelled
00:30:35
on Miss Sturmer and it should certainly have been on something that she was wearing.
00:30:41
>> Tran says there simply isn't enough evidence to prove arson. But even if there was, the more likely suspect was
00:30:50
Todd Sturmer himself. >> And why do you believe that? because of his burn injuries. It
00:30:57
certainly shows that Mr. Sturmer was in the area of the fire. >> In 2016, an attorney filed Linda's
00:31:07
amended petition, which included Tranle's findings. Two years later, a judge responded,
00:31:16
granting her another day in court. In October 2018, federal judge Arthur J. Tarnau held an evidentiary hearing in
00:31:30
Linda's case. I knew that the science was the key. There's no evidence to support a theory of arson. What do you
00:31:39
believe started that fire then? >> I believe that something came out of that fireplace. a coal or a log or
00:31:47
something fell out, popped out, and started that floor on fire. The state's fire expert testified that he followed
00:31:55
proper investigative procedures and didn't take samples of the remains because he saw no evidentiary value in
00:32:03
them. When Jeff Getting took the stand to defend his work, the judge was quite stern with him.
00:32:11
>> He was critical of me. was critical of the entirety of uh of this trial. >> But Getting says he still believes he
00:32:19
presented the only case he could have, that it was Todd Sturmer who started the fire that ended his life.
00:32:27
>> This defense to the case was the one that I felt my client felt we together felt gave us the best likelihood of
00:32:35
success. Two months later, just before Christmas 2018, Judge Tarnau called a hearing and issued
00:32:46
his ruling. He found the prosecutor was wrong, telling jurors that Linda had two
00:32:52
cell phones when there was no evidence of that. And he also found fault with the defense, saying Getting failed his
00:33:01
client by not calling a fire expert. The judge also pointed out that although Kate Fox's trial testimony was
00:33:09
incriminating, she did suffer from mental health problems and that her brother testified,
00:33:16
she was known to be untruthful. The judge also agreed that if there was an arson, significant evidence pointed
00:33:24
the finger of suspicion at Mr. Sturmer. [Music] In December 2018, nearly 12 years after
00:33:38
the fire and after spending almost 9 years in prison, Linda Sturmer's conviction was overturned and Judge
00:33:47
Tarnau set her free. >> Oh my gosh. >> It was an amazing amazing day. >> It's incredibly surreal. walking out to
00:33:58
that parking lot and seeing a real vehicle that I could get into and knowing that I could sit in the back
00:34:04
seat without being handcuffed and shackled was the most amazing feeling. >> But is it over?
00:34:12
>> No, it's not over. >> Do you think Linda got a fair trial? Chat now with the 48 Hours team on
00:34:22
Facebook and Twitter. [Music] I noticed that you call her Linda. You don't call her mom.
00:34:41
>> She's not our mother now. >> I don't. She's not mom anymore. >> No. For nearly nine years, Trevor Sturmer
00:34:50
and his brothers went on with their lives, believing their father's killer was behind bars. And then in December
00:34:57
2018, a federal judge set their mother free. The fact that a judge took a look at the evidence and didn't feel she had
00:35:06
a fair trial, thought she might be innocent, that doesn't change the way you feel. No,
00:35:13
I know that she did what she did. >> But their sisters, who believe in their mother's innocence, are afraid they
00:35:22
could lose her again. >> I have no faith in the justice system right now, to be honest with you.
00:35:26
>> What's the worst thing that could happen? >> They'll send her back to prison.
00:35:33
>> That was a real possibility. Linda had been free since December 20th, 2018. But Michigan's attorney general appealed
00:35:43
the federal decision and asked for Linda's conviction to be reinstated. Linda Sturmer's new attorney, Wolf Gang
00:35:51
Mueller, said he would fight it. >> I think I have a pretty good BS meter and I believe her completely in terms of
00:36:00
her story and then how the science just doesn't add up to an arson. And I think she was truly uh one factually innocent
00:36:08
of this crime and two the whole system betrayed her. >> Linda's future now rested with the
00:36:16
federal court of appeals for the sixth circuit in Cincinnati, Ohio. Mueller would have 15 minutes to
00:36:23
convince a panel of judges that Linda didn't get a fair trial. The state would get the same amount of time to argue
00:36:31
that she did. Are you scared? >> I am. I'd be ignorant not to. I know what's at stake
00:36:41
now. I know what the prison system is like. >> On December 3rd, 2019, Linda Sturmer,
00:36:50
her daughters, and her mother were in Cincinnati, Ohio. >> This our entrance, I guess,
00:36:55
>> to attend the hearing that will decide her fate. Maybe this will finally end this nightmare.
00:37:04
>> She's hoping her sons will also attend even though they won't be in her corner.
00:37:10
You're thinking about going to the hearing? >> Yeah, potentially. So, I'd like to see
00:37:14
how she weasles her way out of this. >> But when the hearing began, no one from Todd Sturmer's side of the family
00:37:22
appeared. Cameras weren't allowed in federal court, but an audio recording was later
00:37:29
made public. >> Face 19-1075. >> When it was Wolf Gang Mueller's turn, he argued passionately on Linda's behalf,
00:37:40
saying she never had a chance at a fair murder trial without a fire expert. I felt the need to tell the judge that in
00:37:49
a case involving fire science, you have to have an expert to be able to defend yourself adequately.
00:37:58
>> Mueller also argued that the evidence against Linda was weak and circumstantial.
00:38:03
>> Two jail house witnesses and a co-mp employee, we didn't have any strong evidence in this case. But one of the
00:38:10
judges pushed back, troubled by what Linda did after the fire. >> Weak evidence. I find the case
00:38:17
astonishing. I mean, the car going back and forth, randomly hitting the guy. You're calling that weak evidence?
00:38:29
>> The judge's comments left Linda Sturmer worried and visibly shaken. When the judge concentrated on the fact that I
00:38:38
had driven over my husband, that's something that I've never been able to figure out how it happened.
00:38:48
>> Later, she was angry. >> He said that I ran over my husband over and over, back and forth.
00:38:56
That was absolutely not the case. Did your heart sink a bit when you heard him say that? just made me think he
00:39:04
doesn't have at that instant a complete grasp of all the facts, but I trust that his clerks have gone over and
00:39:13
will pour over every single page of the transcript, as will all the judges and their clerks and their staff.
00:39:20
>> While she awaited the court's decision, Linda Sturmer was just trying to enjoy
00:39:26
every moment she has as a free woman. She now lives with her daughter Ashley, is working and saving money, believing
00:39:36
one day she will buy her own home and be able to heal and reunite her family. >> There were times while I was in prison
00:39:45
that I wanted to give up. The only thing that kept me from doing it was that that
00:39:50
was such a selfish act and there would never be a possibility of putting my family back together or making anyone
00:39:57
feel whole again. Do you think at any point you'd have a relationship with her? >> Absolutely not. No.
00:40:07
>> It kills me that he can't be a part of my children's life anymore that they they don't have that privilege of having
00:40:12
a grandfather like him. It's uh it's devastating. >> What will you tell your daughter?
00:40:20
>> I'll just tell her what happened and that I think it was best to keep her out
00:40:24
of our life. Ashley and Britney are heartbroken and believe that by defending their mother,
00:40:31
they have forever lost their brothers. Do you plan on talking to them again? >> After this, I don't think they'll ever
00:40:41
talk to me again. >> That had to be a tough decision then to talk to us. Why did you decide to talk?
00:40:46
>> Cuz I love my mom and I don't think that she's guilty. [Music] In May 2020, the appellet court ruled
00:41:03
Linda Sturmer's conviction would not be reinstated, but prosecutors decided to try her a second time. Her new trial is
00:41:10
scheduled to begin March 9th, 2021. [Music] >> She killed her partner. >> I don't believe Christopher abused her.
00:41:21
>> She was a very good actress. murder or self-defense. >> There were many people who saw her with
00:41:26
black eyes, with bruises. >> She was afraid for her life. >> 48 hours next on CBS.
00:41:35
CBS News original reporting. [Music]