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[Music]
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a car accident left one person dead and
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a family in mourning
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at first it looked like the driver's
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alcohol consumption was the cause
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but a closer look revealed a common weed
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found in an uncommon place
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leading investigators to wonders was it
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really an accident
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[Music]
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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[Music]
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peter and patty walassic lived in the
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small town of guilford in upstate new
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york
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guilford is a beautiful quiet community
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it's historic community just as a small
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hamlet they have the lake is their main
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attraction a beautiful lake has a lot of
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summer homes on it but we have a lot of
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hunting land for deer hunting
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the walasticks were well liked in
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guilford
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peter owned one of the local bars patty
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worked as a nurse at a local hospital
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she got a lot of joy from that gave her
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a great sense of
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worth
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the only trouble spot seemed to be
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several citations patty received for
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driving while intoxicated
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on a scale one to ten she would be a
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nine i mean her one downfall her one
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floor was alcoholism and
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that's it other than that she was
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perfect
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she did her fair share of partying and
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she did have her problems but she was
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big enough and a strong enough person to
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try to persevere from them by going to
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school and getting her you know degree
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on april 3rd 2002
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patty worked the hospital's 3 to 11
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shift
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when she came home peter was there but
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the children were not
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somehow that night my wife
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neglected or forgot to pick up our
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children at the babysitter
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he described it as being a
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mistake or miscommunication obviously
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when she got there she thought that mr
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wolasik was going to pick him up he
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thought she was
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they got into their truck and headed for
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the babysitter's house
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along the way patty tried to throw her
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cigarette out of the window the
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cigarette had come back into the cab of
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the truck
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both their attention was distracted
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towards the window where the cigarette
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should have went
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when they looked up there was a deer in
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the road paddy swerved lost control of
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the truck
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and plunged into the lake
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peter said he was unable to get his wife
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out of the truck
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i can't hold on to her
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a lot of days i wish i'd been a lot
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stronger i wish i could have got her up
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to the top
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peter ran to a nearby home for help
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[Music]
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divers pulled paddy's body from the
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bottom of the freezing cold lake and she
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was rushed by ambulance to the same
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hospital where she worked but doctors
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were unable to resuscitate her
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i didn't want to live anymore myself i
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couldn't picture going on anymore in
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life without her i couldn't and there's
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reasons you know that
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i like to think it was either her or god
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speaking to me that you know i didn't go
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further with what i was planning i'm
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joining her
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toxicology tests showed patty had a
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blood alcohol level of .05 which was
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under the legal limit
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she had imbibed some alcoholic beverages
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and for a woman of her size probably two
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or three drinks in the previous hour or
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two
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as with most fatal accidents local
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officials conducted an accident
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investigation which raised more
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questions than it answered
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dr james terzian performed the autopsy
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on thirty-five-year-old patti wolasik
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the day after the fatal accident
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she had a number of abrasions and
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contusions which are scrapes and bruises
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on the face
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on the under surface of the upper lip
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on the shoulder regions those were the
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superficial injuries
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she also had particular hemorrhages or
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micro hemorrhages on the surfaces of her
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lungs
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these hemorrhages can result from
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drowning
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but there was very little water in
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paddy's lungs
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one does not have to have water in the
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lungs to drown and it's possible to have
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water in the lungs after one has been
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deceased and placed in water
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lab tests confirmed that paddy had been
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drinking
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[Music]
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in his preliminary report dr terzian
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identified the cause of death as
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probable drowning
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i'm left with minor cutaneous injuries
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abrasions and
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contusions
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and
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a person pulled out of water so that's a
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drowning until proved otherwise
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there was one other finding
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for some unexplained reason
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there were seed pods in paddy's hair and
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on her clothing
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the pods were from a common weed called
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burdock
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they have these little hooks on them
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which stick to animals or people
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and they travel around and then usually
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get dumped somewhere and so the plant
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gets
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distributed around that way
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finds new waste places to grow
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at the accident scene
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investigators found the truck took an
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unusual route into the water
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most of the lake is covered by home
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fronts with garages and houses and then
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the area that doesn't have
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houses or garages or residents has has
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guide rails
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to prevent somebody going into the
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league
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the truck veered into the lake at one of
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the few places where there was an
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unobstructed path from the road to the
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lake
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and investigators found no traces of
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deer in the area
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it's not one where you would generally
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expect to find a deer and had they
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swerved for deer you would expect to see
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some sort of evidence of that breaking
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swerving skidding tires
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you know anything like that
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there were tire impressions from paddy's
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truck on the shoulder of the right-hand
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lane
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and tire impressions on the opposite
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side of the road in the grass
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accident investigator richard cobb
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connected these impressions plotted the
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angle of the turn and then estimated the
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speed of the vehicle using a
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standardized formula
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it's called the critical curve speed
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formula it takes into account the grade
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of the road the drag factor of the
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roadway surface and also the
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path of the vehicle meaning the arc that
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it turned
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where you can figure out a speed at
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which the vehicle either would have been
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able to make the turn or would have lost
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control making that turn
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v equals velocity g is for gravity which
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is a constant
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32.2
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r is for the radius of the r the curve
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and the greek letter mu is for the
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coefficient of friction or the drag
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factor of the road service
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this formula revealed that the speed of
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the relasix truck was less than 30 miles
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per hour considerably slower than what
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peter described had the truck been going
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faster
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the interior of the truck would have
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been damaged
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the interior you would expect to see
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maybe damage to the dash the knee panels
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from occupants knees steering wheel
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damage damage to either windshield or
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side windows
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quite often unrestrained passengers will
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hit the rear view mirror break that off
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the windshield
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or crack the mirror itself
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there wasn't any of that present in the
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vehicle either
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and the physical evidence revealed
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another contradiction
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peter said he exited the truck through
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the passenger side door
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but when it was brought up from the lake
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the passenger side door was locked
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he also said patty was driving and still
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in the truck when he exited
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but her body was found
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outside of the truck at the bottom of
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the lake
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inconsistent with his story the last one
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he saw her she was in the driver's side
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of the truck
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in the walassic's home
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investigators found patty's diary
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and it revealed that patty and peter
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were living what some would call an
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alternative sexual lifestyle
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i just want to push you to the limit
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sexually
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i wasn't able to do that by myself
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so i'd hope to bring in a different
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person
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[Music]
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according to the diary
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patty invited her friend the children's
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babysitter joyce worden into their
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bedroom
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my wife joyce and i were involved in a
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um three-way relationship there was
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actually no need for the whole world to
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know that my wife had this tendency that
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my wife had initiated this that you know
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it was our private life
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but patty's diary indicated there were
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problems
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i'm the one who shared my fantasy
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never knowing i would be the one to play
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the outsider
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never realizing you would like her
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personality better than mine
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i honestly never thought you would go
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elsewhere
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patty was concerned that peter and joyce
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were meeting behind her back
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peter denies it
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my wife had no reason to be jealous
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worried or whatever
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with patty dead
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the only way she could tell her story
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was through the autopsy and the forensic
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evidence
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there was one thing that troubled the
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medical examiner about patio lassic's
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autopsy
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why were their seed pods in her hair and
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on her clothing well i was thinking that
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maybe
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they attached themselves to her hair and
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her clothing as she was pulled out of
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the lake by the emergency personnel
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so i asked the police to please go back
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to the scene look at the bank where she
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was removed from the water and also look
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underneath the water to see if there was
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any evidence of this plant material
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these burdocks at the site
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but investigators found no such
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vegetation anywhere around the lake
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what lady goes out to pick up her kids
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at the babysitter with burdocks in her
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hair it just doesn't happen
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investigators asked biologist julian
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shepherd where burdock plants usually
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grow
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typically you find them growing in old
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barnyards around old buildings abandoned
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lots
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frequently along the edges where people
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haven't quite mowed but where there's
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some open space and they'll grow up like
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this
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dr shepard says
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the plant doesn't grow in water
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and there were no burdock plants in the
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well-tended yards along gilford lake but
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investigators found all sorts of wild
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specimens on the walassix property
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he has a has a yard that was mowed
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the yard i would classify as not being
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very well kept the officers who did the
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first room said you know there's a lot
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of burdocks around his property
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investigators found one burdock plant in
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the couple's backyard
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with a broken branch
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and there was something foreign on this
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plant
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strands of brown hair
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dna tests revealed the hair was patti
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walassics
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once we
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had the anatomical findings
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we had to go on and correlate them with
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the situation and the scene findings
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a closer look at the truck revealed
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another interesting discovery
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strands of paddy's hair were found in
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the back bed of the truck
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and so was her
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pager the truck also held several
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significant clues
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the front grill showed
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no damage whatsoever
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but tests conducted by the michigan
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state police showed that a motor vehicle
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plunging into lake water at 30 miles per
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hour caused significant damage to the
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grill
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and these studies showed something else
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[Music]
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a vehicle the size of a van or truck
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doesn't automatically sink
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it took this vehicle over a minute to
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sink
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others
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up to four minutes
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that said to us to me
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that
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the average person
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if they were conscious after hitting the
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water should be able to escape a vehicle
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prior to it being submerged and the more
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we pried into a story the more we found
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out his story didn't match the physical
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evidence
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[Music]
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the lake's temperature on the night of
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the accident was 40 degrees
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medical experts said that if peter had
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been fully submerged in the water he
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would have suffered from acute
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hypothermia
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april water in new york is not some
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place you want to be in and if you are
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in it for an amount of time you know
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you're gonna you're gonna have signs of
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it his body core body temperature from
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what i understand uh should have been a
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lot lower than it was when he when he
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finally received medical treatment
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peter's body temperature at the hospital
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was only slightly below normal
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when i saw him they didn't they weren't
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even running a thermometer in his mouth
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and on peter's shoes
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with the same burdocks as those in
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paddy's hair and on her coat
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all of this information combined with
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the cuts on the inside of paddy's lip
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and the peticule hemorrhages in her
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lungs led the coroner to conclude that
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the cause of death was
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suffocation
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not browning
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and when we put all of this together it
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became apparent that she was dead before
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she went into the lake
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peter wolasik denied killing his wife
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and said he had evidence to prove it
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it's all scientific and medical
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based on the forensic evidence
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prosecutors believe that patty wolasik
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was murdered by her husband peter who
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tried to make it look like an accident
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the life insurance on paddy's life was
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three hundred thousand dollars
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money was one of the strong motives for
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mr elastic murdering his wife especially
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evidenced by the fact that he was on the
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phone less than eight hours later trying
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to collect the insurance proceeds
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prosecutors believe that peter left the
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children with the babysitter so he could
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be alone with patti when she came home
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from work
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peter had been home from his job at the
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bar for an hour according to family
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members it would be normal for peter to
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pick the kids up and have them home at
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that time i'm sure that was part of his
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plan to make sure the kids weren't at
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the house
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when he knew that he was going to commit
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the homicide
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after paddy had an alcoholic beverage
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peter coaxed her outside then attacked
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her
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while suffocating her
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there was the cross transfer of paddy's
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hair onto the burdock plant and the seed
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pods into her hair
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[Applause]
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when dragging her body to the truck
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paddy's coat picked up more seed pods
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and they also attached to peter's shoes
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the forensic evidence suggests the body
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was placed in the truck bed
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tire impressions show that peter pulled
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over onto the right side of the road
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slowly steered the truck through the
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spot without a guard rail
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down into the lake
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but he left both doors locked
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[Music]
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and patty's body was discovered
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outside the truck
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[Music]
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prosecutors say peter got into the water
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briefly just enough to get himself wet
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before running to a nearby home for help
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i guess one of my impressions was just
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how
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in a way
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uh
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how stupid the case was i'm afraid i
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mean he made all sorts of blunders
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[Music]
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peter velasque was arrested and charged
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with murder
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at the trial wolasic took the stand in
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his own defense
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and he changed his story
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i'm here for telling a lie
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if i didn't lie back then i wouldn't be
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sitting here today
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he now admitted that his original story
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to investigators was a lie
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his new story was that patty was too
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intoxicated to drive and that he ordered
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her to pull over to the side of the road
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so that he could take the wheel
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told her turn around take the vehicle
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home
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turned around
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was still
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arguing arguing arguing and
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in a fit of rage she lost control over
00:17:49
it and put the vehicle in the lake it's
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like a road rage
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but there was no evidence that the truck
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ever turned around
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and why turn the truck around when your
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destination the babysitter's house was
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just down the road
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he was stuck with the evidence the way
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it was and his story had to match with
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the physical evidence that we had does
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it make sense absolutely not does it
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defy logic absolutely
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and there was no evidence the truck was
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traveling at a high speed
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any type of acceleration along the grass
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should have left torn up grass the grass
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pulled up by the roots
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burned grass had the rear wheels been on
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the blacktop or in the loose uh gravelly
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part between the blacktop and the grass
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you would expect to see
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skid marks or you know gravel thrown up
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that sort of thing and we weren't able
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to find any of that either
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between the reconstruction work and the
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forensic it's what really made the case
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because obviously his first version we
00:18:46
were able to punch
00:18:48
complete holes and there was nothing
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left of his first version and actually a
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second version wasn't much better
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walasik claims that the burdocks in
00:18:56
paddy's hair were not from his backyard
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but from the lake
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and that a scuba diver he hired found
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proof
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knowing what the scuba diver said what
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he found what is in his report my scuba
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diver
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i'm believing now that the burdocks were
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in the bottom of the lake
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and that's how they got on her
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the prosecution's expert said
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this was
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impossible if it ended up in the water
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would deteriorate and when it becomes
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wet the
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i guess you want to call it the
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stickiness to your clothing it doesn't
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stick like that once it's wet and
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deteriorating in water
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the idea that the burdocks had been got
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from the water was just
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[Music]
00:19:40
pretty preposterous
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prosecutors believe that peter wanted a
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new life with his girlfriend sole
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custody of his two children and the
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three hundred thousand dollars worth of
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life insurance
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[Music]
00:19:55
the jury deliberated for only three
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hours
00:20:03
guilty
00:20:05
peter wolasik was sentenced to 25 years
00:20:08
to life in prisons
00:20:10
he continues to maintain his innocence
00:20:14
they say you're innocent until proven
00:20:16
guilty no
00:20:17
you're guilty to prove an innocent and
00:20:19
that still hinges on how much money you
00:20:20
have
00:20:22
and everybody's expecting you to prove
00:20:25
that you didn't do it
00:20:27
the forensic evidence in this case
00:20:28
turned out to be uh confession every
00:20:31
time mr velasque opened up his mouth he
00:20:34
said something that contradicted what
00:20:35
the forensic evidence told us about the
00:20:37
state of the accident scene the state of
00:20:39
the truck and the state of patti
00:20:40
wallace's body of the entire
00:20:43
investigation the presence of the
00:20:44
burdocks made this case
00:20:47
because it
00:20:48
made us look further to see if in fact
00:20:51
she was dead before she went into the
00:20:53
water or not
00:20:54
it was critical in this case it's a
00:20:56
small piece of evidence and it's not
00:20:58
even actually part of the body but it's
00:21:00
what comes along with the body and that
00:21:01
was key in this case
00:21:04
[Music]
00:21:24
so
00:21:26
[Applause]
00:21:32
[Music]
00:21:44
you
