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on this episode of women behind bars
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one woman shot her husband after years
00:00:10
of alleged abuse
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mr johnson he was laying on his back
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he's saying to me
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i've been shot i can't breathe i'm going
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to die i just lost it
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i had the gun in the bedside table and
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i just i just took out the gun and shot
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then rebecca bivins tells her story
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she was convicted of fatally attacking
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her five-year-old step-daughter
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the extent of her injuries were
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equivalent to dropping danny out of a
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40-story building
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just the torture of knowing that you
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that that you took a life
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a five-year-old life
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and i have to live with that for the
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rest of my life two women
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two brutal crimes these are the stories
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of joel and johnson
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and rebecca bivens
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[Music]
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on february 25th 1991 in the wealthy
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seaside community of solana beach
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california
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sheriff's deputies responded to a 911
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call
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when they arrived on the scene they
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found 46 year old
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patricia joellen johnson armed with a 38
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revolver
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her husband peter johnson lay dying in
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their home
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a bullet lodged in his back she said i
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shot him
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because he's he deserved it all of the
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abuse that he had put onto this woman
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for the two years he had been with her
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erupted that night into this moment
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of rapid fire shooting it was pretty
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cold-blooded
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and deliver it was patricia joellen
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johnson guilty of premeditated murder
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or was this a crime of passion resulting
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from years of abuse
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patricia joellen johnson who goes by
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joellen grew up in the small idyllic
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community of matune illinois
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with her brother and parents she was a
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good
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good child she was very intelligent
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very active she's always been very
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athletic but when joellen was just six
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years old
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everything changed when her father left
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the family forever
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he was going to buy some cigarettes he
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never came back
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ever he just left us we didn't know
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where he was for nine years
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then we got word that he was in the
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heinz veterans hospital
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and he died there a week later
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life was very hard it was a struggle
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and and i think that
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i never really dealt with the fact that
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my father walked out like that
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i think it affected her in a lot of ways
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i think she was always afraid of being
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deserted
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again despite losing her father
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joellen was an excellent student and
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went on to eastern illinois university
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and majored in english
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there she met her first husband named
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craig when she
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and craig got married they were still in
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college
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they were married 21 years and had two
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sons tim and ryan
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the couple lived in houston where craig
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worked for nasa
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the marriage seemed idyllic on the
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outside but because her husband
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spent so much time traveling or on the
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golf course joellen felt abandoned
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and after 21 years of marriage the
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couple divorced
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months later joellen met and fell in
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love with her second husband
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named stan a navy officer who was
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stationed in san diego
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when i first met stan he
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had a really outgoing nice personality
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and i assumed that's the way he was
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but it wasn't long after they were
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married that joellen says stan's
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personality changed
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he had a horrible temper i felt it was
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pretty volatile
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she had some tough times with him
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and a lot of arguing over the telephone
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and coming in to work with bruises on
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her arm
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not only was he pushing pushing me
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shoving me and one day he kicked me in
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the thigh
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it was after that that she filed her
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divorce
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though she had two failed marriages
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joellen was not giving up on love
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in 1987 she answered a personal ad
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written by peter johnson
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a twice divorced biomedical executive
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who lived in solana beach california
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peter was amazing he was outgoing he was
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nice looking he was
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had a wonderful sense of humor he was
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fun
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peter johnson was a very friendly
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outgoing type of person
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usually very happy and jolly and easy to
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get along with
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but highly respected pete just swept
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joellen off her feet
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well i was very impressed when i first
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met him the first time at the christmas
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party
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when joellen brought him to the party he
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was dressed in a
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i'm sure a three thousand dollar suit or
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more
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he had a ski condo in utah and we skied
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in utah in the winter
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he had a corvette he had a boat they
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went on trips all the time
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pete was very taken with joella we would
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stay weekends on the boat
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it just sounded like the most wonderful
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life i could have imagined
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but some of peter's friends were
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hesitant about the new relationship
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pete had mentioned to my wife
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that he had met this lady but she was a
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little concerned about it
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in that this lady carried a loaded gun
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in her purse at all times
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i had a gun since 1972
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my first husband traveled a lot we lived
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in houston
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i had two little kids at the time
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joellen and peter moved in together
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but she claims the good times were
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short-lived
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when i moved in with him it just became
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so apparent that
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that he was seeing a lot of other women
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he traveled quite a bit every time he
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flew from the
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east coast back to california he would
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stop over in salt lake city
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and he wouldn't tell me why or anything
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and i wasn't supposed to ask
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he'd get cards in the mail from women
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he'd get
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phone calls from women he wouldn't come
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home at night she'd
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find women's underwear under the is
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under the seat in the car
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suspicious that peter was seeing other
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women the prosecution claims joellen
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also began to exhibit destructive
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behaviors
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she was paranoid she was also obsessive
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extremely extremely jealous and
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when those personalities met up against
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one another it
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ultimately provided a very volatile mix
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the prosecution also asserts based on
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testimony that despite
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peter's idiosyncrasies he was considered
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by people close to him to be quite
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decent
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witnesses that knew him that knew him
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well he said he was a kind compassionate
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man
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very intelligent man but there were very
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few people that were very close to him
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other than mrs johnson that had bad
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things to say about him
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still joellen was intent on proving her
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suspicions about peter's infidelities
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[Music]
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i hired a private detective in salt lake
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the detective followed him and
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he had a girlfriend in salt lake so when
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he came back we
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we argued about that and everything he
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would never admit it even though i had
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pictures
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so i was going to leave but i stayed
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after two years of trying to make the
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relationship work joellen left peter and
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went to florida
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but joellen says that peter then
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aggressively pursued her and a year
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later
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they got back together i thought he had
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changed so dramatically
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and i was deliriously happy i thought
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that he realized he loved me couldn't
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live without me
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he kept saying i'm the new 1990 pete
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johnson
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in 1990 three years into their turbulent
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relationship
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peter and joellen johnson were married
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but soon after
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joellen says that peter's behavior
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became increasingly controlling and
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bizarre
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we had a prenuptial agreement that we
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both worked on and both agreed to
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but he kept revising the prenuptial
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agreement and he kept asking me for a
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full financial disclosure
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i would read these things and i'd say i
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can't sign this
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i i don't have any money he was always
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demanding
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money from her even though he out earned
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her by like five to one he was
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controlling he had some obsessive
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tendencies
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he would keep lists and things like that
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and he would question
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people who questioned him in
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relationships they would go on trips
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according to testimony and he would
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charge her
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like three dollars for an aspirin this
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was a two-sided affair from the very
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beginning where both of these people
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went back and forth at each other
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and it was a relationship that was
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doomed from the start
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soon after getting married joellen
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claims peter started making lists of his
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wife's actions
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he got to the point that whenever i did
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something he didn't like he'd say you're
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making the list
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he established a system that if she
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violated she would be punished
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the ultimate punishment was his complete
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withdrawal
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of his love and affection for her and
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he would be allowed to spend eight hours
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four or eight hours
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doing whatever he wanted without having
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to explain to her
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what he was doing not only was he
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keeping lists i had rules i had to
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follow
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he was making behavior charts on graph
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paper
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things i did wrong she
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became engaged in this constant pattern
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of trying to
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make sure that she would please him and
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wouldn't violate
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the rules that he was establishing i
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really had no
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confidence in my own judgment anymore
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nine months after getting married
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joellen left her husband for the second
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time
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but she says peter convinced her to come
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back it would be a decision she would
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regret for the rest of her life
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when women behind bars continues i just
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lost
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i had the gun in the bedside table i
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just
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took out the gun and shot
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by 1991 joellen johnson says her
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marriage to her third husband peter was
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becoming
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increasingly volatile on february 25th
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joellen found a disturbing letter from
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her husband on their kitchen table
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it was this this final
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demand for money and it said that that i
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was in arrears over three thousand
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dollars and
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from that point on i had to pay all my
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own
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expenses and half of all the living
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expenses
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joellen says she did have a job as a
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medical secretary
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and was already paying a lot of her own
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expenses
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i called him at work i said i hope this
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is a joke and he said no
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it's not when peter got home that night
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joellen questioned him about the note
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we started you know arguing about this
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bill and he was telling me that i was
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thinking of the ultimate punishment
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the argument escalated and he decided to
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go to bed right in the middle of it
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according to joe ellen she couldn't
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sleep and went into the bedroom to talk
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to her husband
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i was totally distraught
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before he got home i had called an
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attorney in del mar
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and i was going to take her copies of
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all these documents he had produced
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to me and the behavior charts
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some of the other things i had i just
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wanted to get an outside assessment of
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all this craziness
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as joellen told her husband of her plan
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to go to the lawyer
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the argument escalated he said if i went
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then
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just filed for divorce because he wanted
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a divorce well
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i would i didn't want a divorce as
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stupid as it sounds now
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um i wanted the marriage to work i kept
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trying to get him to talk
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i said at least kiss me good night so i
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can go to sleep and then he finally
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turned over and
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mashed his mouth against mine and cut my
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lip and i just lost it i just picked up
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the phone called 9-1-1
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pete jumped up and pulled the phone out
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of the wall
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the dispatcher called the solana beach
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unit to check on
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a 9-1-1 hang-up dispatcher further
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stated that it was a woman that was on
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the phone dial 9-1-1
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she heard a male's voice in the
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background and then the phone went dead
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he was really really mad he was saying
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this is it it's over
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he was getting close to put on he was in
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the closet and i said don't leave
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and i just lost it
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[Music]
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i had the gun um in the bedside
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table and i just i took it out i was
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standing across a queen-sized bed from
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him and
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he was at a closet and i just
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took out the gun and shot
00:13:31
[Music]
00:13:32
he didn't indicate that he was hurt he
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was yelling and
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really really angry and and he was like
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pacing
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and so to get out of the door i had to
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go by him
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and so when i went by him i shot him in
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the arm
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the first shot that she fired with her
00:13:51
38 revolvers she pointed at him from
00:13:53
about a distance of four feet ripped
00:13:54
into his back
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ripped through his liver his lung his
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kidney
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and caused the the major damage to the
00:14:00
internal organs my
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heart was pounding i remember running
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down the hallway after i shot him in the
00:14:05
arm and i was looking back
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because i had the feeling that he was
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chasing me and i ran out the door
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upon arrival at the scene
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female came out of the condominium
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wearing her
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pink robe i noticed she had a weapon in
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her hand
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i was so confused and they told me i
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don't know how many times he yelled at
00:14:26
me to put my gun down
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i drew my weapon and i ordered her to
00:14:30
comply by dropping the weapon
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and i told her i threatened that i will
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have to shoot her
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joellen finally put down the gun and
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responded to deputy yerkes's orders
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after subduing her jurkus entered the
00:14:44
condominium looking for the victim
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at that point she blurted out a
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statement
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oh he's on the bed i shot him i hope he
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dies he deserves it
00:14:53
i immediately restrained her had my
00:14:56
partner come up
00:14:58
the stairs real quick we both had hurts
00:15:00
of groaning and moaning and
00:15:02
and as if someone was in pain
00:15:06
mr johnson's laying on his back there's
00:15:09
a pool of blood on the left-hand side of
00:15:11
him
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and later i saw a little bit around the
00:15:14
stomach area and that he's saying to me
00:15:17
i've been shot i can't breathe
00:15:21
i'm going to die she had said why don't
00:15:24
you close the door i don't want to hear
00:15:26
him whining about
00:15:27
dying while the deputy sheriff tried to
00:15:31
stop the bleeding paramedics showed up
00:15:33
to administer aid to mr johnson
00:15:35
but it would be too late peter johnson
00:15:38
died at the hospital
00:15:39
two hours after he was shot by his wife
00:15:41
i couldn't believe that
00:15:43
i had killed him and i couldn't i still
00:15:45
loved him
00:15:46
i couldn't believe that that pete could
00:15:49
be dead
00:15:50
joe ellen was arrested and charged with
00:15:52
first-degree murder
00:15:54
in the courtroom a jury heard about
00:15:55
peter's alleged taunting and sadistic
00:15:57
behavior
00:15:58
but at the time joellen's case went to
00:16:00
trial in 1991
00:16:02
a woman could not legally use her
00:16:03
husband's abuse as part of her defense
00:16:06
they didn't see how those facts played
00:16:09
into
00:16:09
why she would kill him that final night
00:16:13
[Music]
00:16:17
i had no defense basically my attorney
00:16:20
said that we couldn't put the victim on
00:16:21
trial
00:16:23
then the prosecution presented their
00:16:25
case
00:16:27
i argued and at the trial that that was
00:16:30
premeditation and deliberation
00:16:31
she had an opportunity to think about
00:16:33
life an opportunity to think about death
00:16:35
and she chose death
00:16:36
i could feel it being the henniest crime
00:16:38
as it was it was pretty cold-blooded
00:16:40
and deliberate and she's deserving of
00:16:44
what she was going to get
00:16:45
and as far as sentencing is concerned
00:16:53
i got the worst sentence i could have
00:16:54
gotten i believe that pat
00:16:57
johnson got off very lightly for the
00:16:59
murder
00:17:00
of pete johnson i just thought i was
00:17:02
going to die right there
00:17:04
in the in the courtroom
00:17:08
joellen was sent to the california
00:17:09
institution for women
00:17:11
but 12 years later in 2002 the law
00:17:14
changed to recognize battered women's
00:17:16
syndrome as a legitimate
00:17:18
defense joellen took up her own cause i
00:17:21
filed a writ
00:17:23
and my conviction was completely
00:17:27
overturned
00:17:28
so they retried me and the law changed
00:17:30
to allow for experts to testify
00:17:34
and that's what was lacking in joel and
00:17:36
johnson's first trial
00:17:37
was an expert who was trained to
00:17:40
understand
00:17:41
how does domestic violence result in
00:17:44
the death of someone and not be murder
00:17:47
the relationship between patricia
00:17:49
joellen johnson and
00:17:50
pete johnson really fit the criterion of
00:17:53
a classic
00:17:54
abusive relationship he was in the role
00:17:57
of what we call the coercive control
00:18:00
dominated offender abusing and
00:18:03
controlling
00:18:04
the victim he would grab her face he
00:18:07
would shake her
00:18:08
he threw he hit a racquetball at her he
00:18:09
forced a milkshake down her throat
00:18:12
he would blatantly cheat and then he
00:18:14
would blame her jealousy
00:18:16
for causing the problems in their
00:18:17
relationship this is classic crazy
00:18:19
making behavior
00:18:20
and it was this was a very calculated
00:18:23
systematic attempt to do this
00:18:29
in trial we tried to make it clear that
00:18:31
this wasn't just a situation where
00:18:33
peter johnson was the big bad villain
00:18:35
who was constantly abusing
00:18:37
this poor woman that she also would in
00:18:40
her own obsessive and jealous and
00:18:42
manipulative ways
00:18:43
abuse him i argued in 2006 that this was
00:18:49
first degree murder because
00:18:50
mrs johnson had a gun she knew where the
00:18:53
gun was she kept it in a nightstand
00:18:55
she kept it loaded she had to think
00:18:56
about where she was aiming the gun
00:18:58
she aimed it directly at his back hit
00:19:01
her target
00:19:02
then after hitting her target didn't
00:19:04
stop and say
00:19:05
you know oh my goodness what did i do to
00:19:07
the man i love calmly coolly walked
00:19:09
around the bed
00:19:10
fired another shot at him while he had
00:19:13
his arm up in a defensive posture
00:19:16
she walked around the bed pointed the
00:19:18
gun at him again and shot him in the arm
00:19:20
she took dead aim not once but twice and
00:19:22
he died from bleeding that
00:19:25
surgeons couldn't stop approximately 90
00:19:27
minutes after she shot him
00:19:28
here she was on the stand this
00:19:30
grandmotherly looking woman
00:19:32
who had had this country club life and
00:19:35
was college educated
00:19:37
and the victim is an executive these
00:19:40
aren't
00:19:40
people who who you would expect to be
00:19:44
in a murder trial it was our hope the
00:19:46
jury would understand that
00:19:47
all of the abuse that he had put
00:19:50
onto this woman for the two years he had
00:19:52
been with her the emotional and
00:19:54
psychological abuse erupted that night
00:19:57
into this moment of rapid fire
00:20:01
shooting that was done in the heat of
00:20:03
passion and she should be convicted of a
00:20:05
voluntary manslaughter
00:20:07
and not murder
00:20:10
we called a mental health expert who
00:20:13
clearly acknowledged that there was
00:20:15
abuse from mr johnson to mrs johnson
00:20:18
that there were it was serious abuse
00:20:20
but what we disagreed with that it was
00:20:21
one-sided abuse
00:20:23
joellen suspected that mr johnson was
00:20:25
cheating on her she would check up on
00:20:27
him all the time
00:20:29
several weeks into joellen's second
00:20:30
trial the case went to the jury
00:20:34
when women behind bars continues
00:20:36
second-degree murder
00:20:37
comes with intent so the jury clearly
00:20:40
felt that she
00:20:41
intended to do this and later in this
00:20:44
episode of women behind bars
00:20:46
a woman is accused of fatally attacking
00:20:48
her five-year-old step-daughter
00:20:50
all i could think to myself was oh my
00:20:51
gosh she's dead
00:21:01
in 2006 joellen johnson while still in
00:21:04
prison
00:21:04
was on trial for the second time for
00:21:06
murdering her wealthy husband peter
00:21:08
johnson
00:21:09
joellen claimed she shot him after years
00:21:11
of psychological and emotional abuse
00:21:14
but this jury also came back with a
00:21:16
verdict of guilty
00:21:17
convicting her of second-degree murder
00:21:19
she received a sentence of 15 years to
00:21:21
life
00:21:23
second-degree murder comes with intent
00:21:26
so the jury clearly felt that she
00:21:28
intended to do this they
00:21:32
clearly did not buy the argument that
00:21:33
she was driven to it
00:21:35
i was very disappointed when they came
00:21:37
back with second degree
00:21:39
by law any sentence with a life
00:21:42
on it in california
00:21:45
it's almost impossible to get out to get
00:21:47
out of prison
00:21:48
we were very pleased with the verdict
00:21:50
we've always felt that this was a murder
00:21:52
she was convicted of murder in 1991 that
00:21:54
was overturned
00:21:55
she was convicted again of murder in
00:21:57
2006 albeit second degree murder
00:22:00
and it was sad to see this woman
00:22:03
continue to be traumatized by being
00:22:07
convicted of murder when it really
00:22:08
wasn't murder i believe an appropriate
00:22:11
sentence
00:22:12
for pat johnson would have been capital
00:22:14
punishment
00:22:17
after the trial joellen was returned to
00:22:19
the california institution for women
00:22:21
located an hour outside los angeles
00:22:24
the hardest thing to get used to in
00:22:26
prison was just
00:22:27
of course not having any freedom i was
00:22:29
in group therapy
00:22:31
and the mental health department helped
00:22:33
me a lot it's hard for me to
00:22:34
accept that i did what i did that i shot
00:22:37
him i see
00:22:38
how things just spiraled out of control
00:22:40
and
00:22:42
it was as it was my fault too i feel bad
00:22:45
that so many
00:22:46
lives have been affected
00:22:49
it never should have happened and no one
00:22:50
deserves to die
00:22:53
over the years joellen has had a rough
00:22:55
adjustment to prison life
00:22:58
it's taken a long time to get used to
00:23:00
living in here
00:23:02
but finally i think i've mastered it
00:23:05
i've been a so-called model prisoner i
00:23:08
have no disciplinary write-ups
00:23:11
i've done everything i'm supposed to do
00:23:13
i've done volunteer work
00:23:15
joellen's volunteer work includes
00:23:17
helping to train dogs for the disabled
00:23:19
i'm in the dog program which i really
00:23:21
really like
00:23:23
and some of the changes i saw in women
00:23:25
lifers
00:23:26
when the dogs came in it was it was
00:23:29
really amazing
00:23:30
it's the greatest program i could
00:23:31
imagine in a prison i just love it
00:23:34
as she waits for yet another appeal
00:23:36
joellen stays in touch with her sons
00:23:37
from her first marriage through letters
00:23:40
she also talks to her mother weekly she
00:23:43
says she won't give up hope that someday
00:23:44
she will be free
00:23:46
joellen johnson's case is on appeal
00:23:49
right now
00:23:50
and that will take a number of years to
00:23:52
go through
00:23:54
she also has a parole hearing in three
00:23:57
years
00:23:58
it's not that i don't think i should be
00:24:00
punished and that i don't and
00:24:03
it's not that at all i just think
00:24:08
that i think i've served enough time
00:24:12
i still have some hope you know that
00:24:16
justice will prevail
00:24:20
[Music]
00:24:22
next up on women behind bars she was the
00:24:25
center of our life and
00:24:27
if she wasn't there it wasn't worth it
00:24:29
no more
00:24:30
for more information about women behind
00:24:32
bars go to www.wetv.com
00:24:45
on tuesday november 17 1998
00:24:48
31 year old rebecca bivens rushed her
00:24:51
stepdaughter danny bivens to the
00:24:52
emergency room
00:24:54
the five-year-old was unconscious and
00:24:56
clinging to life
00:24:57
the extent of her injuries which were
00:24:59
blunt force trauma
00:25:00
were equivalent to you know dropping
00:25:02
danny out of a 40-story building
00:25:05
rebecca soon confessed to the crime and
00:25:07
police discovered that throughout her
00:25:09
life
00:25:09
rebecca had a history of emotional
00:25:11
problems and violent outbursts
00:25:14
when you look at mental illness and
00:25:16
violence
00:25:17
and you add them together it's a formula
00:25:18
that dispels disaster
00:25:20
was rebecca guilty of killing her
00:25:22
stepdaughter in a vicious rage
00:25:24
or was her mental illness to blame for
00:25:26
the psychotic snap
00:25:27
[Music]
00:25:31
rebecca bivens was raised in the small
00:25:33
close-knit community
00:25:34
of streeter illinois i grew up in a good
00:25:37
home
00:25:39
my mom and dad were you know both there
00:25:41
they weren't divorced
00:25:42
her father worked for a glass
00:25:44
manufacturer and her mother was active
00:25:46
in the baptist church
00:25:48
their home was sort of the second home
00:25:50
of a lot of the kids
00:25:51
in the youth group they were the
00:25:53
surrogate parents of
00:25:55
a lot of those children who came from
00:25:56
dysfunctional homes i have a brother
00:26:00
so it was me and my brother he's younger
00:26:01
than me
00:26:03
from a young age there were signs that
00:26:05
she was a troubled girl
00:26:07
i think my mom and my dad knew something
00:26:09
was wrong but they just didn't know
00:26:13
exactly what was wrong becky
00:26:16
was rather emotionally oriented
00:26:20
as she'd respond rather sharply to many
00:26:24
emotional situations
00:26:26
conflicts with some of her friends
00:26:29
real bad mood swings and the mood swings
00:26:32
sometimes were
00:26:35
very angry sometimes i cried a lot
00:26:40
hopeless at age 14 rebecca was drawn
00:26:44
into a secret romance with a 19 year old
00:26:46
cousin who was visiting for the summer
00:26:49
i was looking for love and i was going
00:26:51
to find it whether it was good or bad
00:26:54
when summer ended rebecca's cousin moved
00:26:56
back home to another state
00:26:58
leaving the 14 year old pregnant i had
00:27:02
an abortion
00:27:03
because my mom made me it was very hard
00:27:05
for me and then it was even harder
00:27:06
because i was never allowed to talk
00:27:08
about it
00:27:09
rebecca describes the relationship with
00:27:11
her mother as strained
00:27:12
it was a constant battle
00:27:17
she wouldn't let me date because she was
00:27:19
afraid that i was going to get pregnant
00:27:21
again
00:27:21
my mom does she love me yeah she loves
00:27:25
me
00:27:26
but has she always loved me i don't
00:27:29
think so
00:27:30
by the time she was 18 rebecca was
00:27:32
married
00:27:33
her and her mother had a conflict of
00:27:35
some kind
00:27:36
becky left home
00:27:39
and went to the county courthouse and
00:27:41
married allen her first husband
00:27:43
that's why i married al i married al to
00:27:45
get out of the house rebecca soon gave
00:27:48
birth to a daughter and embraced
00:27:50
motherhood
00:27:51
i guess it's the unconditional love they
00:27:54
love you no matter what
00:27:55
um to have that little person depend on
00:27:58
you
00:27:59
and worship you and
00:28:04
it's just beyond words
00:28:07
but according to rebecca the marriage
00:28:09
was filled with constant fighting
00:28:11
after 21 months the couple divorced and
00:28:14
rebecca soon married larry muller
00:28:16
with whom she had three more children
00:28:19
larry was my soul mate
00:28:21
he loved me he worshipped me
00:28:26
um it just felt right
00:28:30
rebecca admits her mental instability
00:28:32
created friction with her second husband
00:28:35
i mean he tried i wasn't easy to live
00:28:37
with lord knows i wasn't easy to live
00:28:40
with
00:28:41
yeah becca had a history of uh being
00:28:44
aggressive
00:28:44
if somebody would say something that she
00:28:46
might just drum jump across the table
00:28:48
and grab them you know grab them by the
00:28:49
neck you know
00:28:50
whenever she would find a situation too
00:28:53
unbearable
00:28:54
emotionally and it usually involved
00:28:56
family situations
00:28:58
there would be violence rebecca
00:29:00
remembers going through extreme
00:29:01
emotional highs
00:29:03
being nothing three four o'clock in the
00:29:04
morning washing walls and and singing
00:29:07
and dancing
00:29:08
and then suffering debilitating lows
00:29:12
the depressive stage was horrible i
00:29:15
didn't want to live
00:29:17
i couldn't eat i couldn't sleep
00:29:20
life was just life was horrible people
00:29:23
didn't really
00:29:24
understand mental illness and they
00:29:26
probably thought hey that's what rebecca
00:29:28
is
00:29:29
her unchecked erratic behavior continued
00:29:31
until at age
00:29:32
25 she suddenly walked out on her
00:29:34
husband and children and disappeared
00:29:37
for months they say i had a psychotic
00:29:41
breakdown i don't remember
00:29:45
three four months of my life
00:29:50
it was like i woke up one day and i
00:29:52
didn't know where i was
00:29:54
or who i was with when rebecca's mother
00:29:56
and husband found her in a nearby town
00:29:59
they brought her home and checked her
00:30:00
into a local hospital for psychiatric
00:30:02
evaluation
00:30:03
doctors diagnosed her with bipolar
00:30:05
disorder and borderline personality
00:30:08
disorder
00:30:09
it was a relief i've been waiting for
00:30:11
those answers for 25 years
00:30:14
that's chemical that that i can't help
00:30:16
that i can't control
00:30:18
after rebecca was diagnosed she was
00:30:20
released from the hospital with
00:30:22
prescription drugs designed to control
00:30:24
her intense mood swings
00:30:26
they put me on a whole bunch of meds
00:30:30
prozac was one of them lithium was
00:30:32
another
00:30:35
court guard to control the anger
00:30:37
episodes
00:30:39
but rebecca claims the pills made her
00:30:41
feel lethargic and worn out
00:30:42
so she stopped taking her medication as
00:30:45
a result
00:30:45
she would sink into severe depressions
00:30:48
there were times when
00:30:50
at least two three maybe four different
00:30:53
times when she tried to commit suicide
00:30:55
taking an overdose of pills
00:30:58
rebecca was hospitalized four times over
00:31:00
the next two years
00:31:02
but each time she was released back home
00:31:04
she failed to continue her medication
00:31:06
she would then relapse into manic
00:31:08
depressive episodes
00:31:11
i was not a very nice person
00:31:15
i was drinking i was
00:31:18
having sex with whoever wanted to have
00:31:21
sex with me
00:31:23
[Music]
00:31:25
didn't too much take care of my kids
00:31:29
after six years of marriage her behavior
00:31:31
finally pushed her husband larry to the
00:31:33
brink
00:31:34
according to rebecca he pulled a shotgun
00:31:36
on her one night
00:31:37
when she was in bed with their baby
00:31:39
daughter it just so happened that he was
00:31:41
so drunk when he loaded the gun
00:31:43
he jammed the bullet and that's what
00:31:45
saved our life
00:31:50
in 1995 approximately two years after
00:31:53
the shotgun incident
00:31:54
the couple divorced and their four
00:31:56
children went to live with relatives
00:31:58
rebecca says she continued her
00:31:59
self-destructive path of sex
00:32:01
alcohol and drugs she met fellas in
00:32:05
taverns who had their own problems
00:32:07
and she more deeply involved herself in
00:32:09
that kind of life
00:32:11
violence was pretty much part of her
00:32:13
life numerous calls at the residence
00:32:15
you know for domestic issues with you
00:32:17
know rebecca's
00:32:18
husbands or living boyfriends at that
00:32:20
time after a third failed marriage that
00:32:23
lasted 11 months
00:32:24
rebecca met her fourth husband chad
00:32:26
bivens in 1996
00:32:28
she soon found herself in another
00:32:30
marriage she claims was abusive
00:32:33
he would get mad over the easiest
00:32:37
littlest things a 1997 police report
00:32:40
confirms that the police were
00:32:42
called to the bivins home for domestic
00:32:43
abuse he had
00:32:46
had this reputation for violence rebecca
00:32:49
says she again did not take her meds
00:32:51
because she felt she could deal better
00:32:53
with her husband's alleged temper
00:32:54
without them life was easier to handle
00:32:58
without the medicine
00:32:59
the beatings they didn't seem to hurt as
00:33:03
bad
00:33:03
the one bright spot in rebecca's life
00:33:05
she says was taking care of chad's
00:33:07
five-year-old daughter danny
00:33:09
she was a girly girl she liked her hair
00:33:12
done
00:33:13
you know curled she was just full of
00:33:15
life just bubbly
00:33:16
and happy-go-lucky chad and rebecca had
00:33:20
recently obtained full custody of danny
00:33:22
from his previous wife
00:33:24
rebecca seemed to really care for
00:33:27
danny she had her dressed really nice
00:33:30
and her hair was always done really nice
00:33:32
i love danny more than life itself but
00:33:35
without the stabilizing effects of
00:33:37
medication rebecca was a ticking time
00:33:39
bomb
00:33:40
she had the bipolar disorder also the
00:33:43
borderline personality disorder which
00:33:44
rage is a common
00:33:46
component of the vet so she had all
00:33:48
these things going on plus a violent
00:33:50
environment so
00:33:51
the amount of raids that she would have
00:33:53
would be substantial
00:33:58
rebecca says the morning started out
00:34:00
stressfully
00:34:01
me and chad had been fighting for days i
00:34:03
hadn't had no sleep
00:34:06
i was at my wit's ends with him chad
00:34:08
went to work at six o'clock
00:34:11
she was trying to get danny ready to go
00:34:13
to daycare and so she was
00:34:16
started drawing the water in the bathtub
00:34:19
she remembers
00:34:19
walking towards danny's bedroom
00:34:23
from her statement to the police she had
00:34:26
said
00:34:27
that she had told danny to stop jumping
00:34:29
on the bed and to make her bed
00:34:31
and that danny had said you can't make
00:34:33
me you're not my mommy
00:34:35
what happened next was a brutal attack
00:34:37
that shocked a community
00:34:40
next up on women behind bars just
00:34:43
knowing that you took a life
00:34:45
a five-year-old life and i have to live
00:34:47
with that for the rest of my life
00:34:53
in the late 1990s in a small town in
00:34:56
illinois
00:34:56
31 year old rebecca bivens was
00:34:58
struggling with mental illness
00:35:00
that included intense anger and manic
00:35:02
episodes
00:35:03
by 1998 she had been in and out of
00:35:05
psychiatric hospitals
00:35:07
and says she was trapped in an abusive
00:35:09
marriage and losing control
00:35:11
the morning of november 17th rebecca was
00:35:14
getting five-year-old step-daughter
00:35:15
danny bivens ready for school
00:35:18
police say what followed was an
00:35:19
unspeakable act of rage
00:35:23
the last thing i remember is running her
00:35:25
bathwater and that's it
00:35:28
so from 8 30 to about 10 30 i have no
00:35:30
recollection of what happened
00:35:33
rebecca claims her next memory is
00:35:35
finding the little girl injured and
00:35:37
unconscious on the floor
00:35:38
all i could think to myself was oh my
00:35:40
god she's dead
00:35:42
so i picked her up and i took her to the
00:35:43
emergency room i was crying
00:35:48
i was devastated danny was transported
00:35:51
by helicopter to the trauma center at
00:35:53
children's hospital of illinois in
00:35:55
peoria
00:35:56
they induced the coma to see if the
00:35:58
swelling would go down in her brain
00:36:01
in the late morning hours by a social
00:36:04
worker
00:36:05
from saint francis medical center in
00:36:07
peoria illinois
00:36:08
that they had a five-year-old girl there
00:36:10
with head trauma injuries
00:36:12
police questioned rebecca about her
00:36:13
actions that morning
00:36:15
rebecca stated that after she had got
00:36:17
danny up for school she went down to
00:36:18
wash some clothes
00:36:20
and she heard a loud bang so she come
00:36:21
running upstairs
00:36:23
and danny comes out of her bedroom
00:36:25
saying mommy i fell down
00:36:27
and she just collapsed on the floor
00:36:30
police didn't buy her story
00:36:32
investigators went to the house to piece
00:36:34
together what happened to danny
00:36:36
if she was bouncing on the bed she would
00:36:38
hit the ceiling tile which would have
00:36:39
caused no injuries at all
00:36:41
but right away we suspected other
00:36:43
objects in that household might have
00:36:45
been used to cause
00:36:46
the severity of the injuries to danny
00:36:50
despite the doctor's best efforts to
00:36:52
save her life danny bivens never
00:36:54
recovered
00:36:55
on november 18 24 hours after her
00:36:58
arrival in peoria
00:36:59
little danny was taken off life support
00:37:02
we pulled the plug wednesday afternoon
00:37:06
becky was devastated she was devastated
00:37:10
she was the center of our life and and
00:37:13
it wasn't worth living no more if she
00:37:15
wasn't there
00:37:16
it wasn't worth it no more the
00:37:18
pathologist you know informed us that
00:37:20
the extent of her injuries which were
00:37:22
blunt force trauma
00:37:23
were equivalent to you know dropping
00:37:25
danny out of a 40-story building
00:37:27
the next day after danny's death rebecca
00:37:30
came into police headquarters
00:37:32
she basically came in and confessed to
00:37:34
what happened
00:37:35
her and danny were having little
00:37:37
problems that morning far as
00:37:38
getting danny ready for school danny
00:37:41
comes out says you're not my mother
00:37:43
and right away rebecca gets all upset
00:37:45
about it
00:37:46
she grabs danny throws her against the
00:37:48
love seat which danny strikes wouldn't
00:37:50
handle she falls to the floor
00:37:52
she was in a state of manic rage
00:37:55
throwing destroying shouting unable to
00:37:59
stop
00:38:00
rebecca picks danny up again and throws
00:38:03
her across the room again
00:38:04
picks her up and starts banging her head
00:38:06
on i believe it was a wooden coffee
00:38:08
table
00:38:09
rebecca insists to this day she doesn't
00:38:12
remember any details about the beating
00:38:14
or giving a confession to police
00:38:16
i don't remember telling them that but i
00:38:19
must have told them something
00:38:22
police arrested bivens and she was
00:38:23
locked up at a local jail to await trial
00:38:27
danny's death was very shocking to the
00:38:30
community in general
00:38:32
there was outrage there was a lot of
00:38:34
anger it was the talk of the
00:38:36
beauty parlors and bar rooms people
00:38:40
thinking you know what an awful person
00:38:42
she doesn't deserve any mercy
00:38:44
the emotional stakes were so high
00:38:47
that they could not stand on both sides
00:38:51
to be
00:38:51
supportive of becky while lamenting
00:38:55
the death of danny initially i'd hope
00:38:57
for the death penalty
00:38:59
if anyone's deserving of the death
00:39:00
penalty it's someone who's capable of
00:39:02
throwing a five-year-old girl around a
00:39:04
room like a sack of potatoes
00:39:06
and killing her but prosecutors knew
00:39:08
rebecca's mental state would come into
00:39:10
play
00:39:10
and chose not to pursue the death
00:39:12
penalty rebecca had a very hard time
00:39:14
processing
00:39:15
what had happened rebecca's defense
00:39:18
attorney was concerned his client was
00:39:20
not fit to assist in her own defense
00:39:22
she didn't quite remember what happened
00:39:24
during the period
00:39:25
her rocking back and forth and maybe not
00:39:28
really focusing on what i was saying
00:39:30
but psychiatrists evaluated rebecca and
00:39:33
she was found
00:39:33
fit to stand trial
00:39:38
her best defense was to try and do an
00:39:40
insanity defense which is extremely
00:39:42
difficult to know and all
00:39:43
dr robert chapman after evaluating
00:39:45
rebecca on behalf of the defense
00:39:47
testified that she was legally insane
00:39:50
during the murder
00:39:51
thoughts were racing jumping she was
00:39:54
unable to think
00:39:55
as we know thinking
00:39:58
she could not appreciate the
00:40:00
wrongfulness of her act
00:40:01
it was like i woke up from a dream
00:40:06
and she wasn't moving i don't even
00:40:07
remember what i was doing physically i
00:40:09
just
00:40:10
remember seeing her people in an acute
00:40:13
manic state
00:40:14
have an amnesia many times for what what
00:40:16
happens at that time
00:40:18
their thoughts are so disorganized and
00:40:20
so scattered
00:40:21
so flight of ideas that they really
00:40:24
don't have a good memory
00:40:25
for it prosecutors didn't deny rebecca
00:40:28
had mental problems
00:40:29
what we were saying is yes she's
00:40:31
mentally ill
00:40:32
we know she's mentally ill but that
00:40:34
doesn't mean she doesn't know what she's
00:40:36
doing
00:40:36
the prosecution presented rebecca's
00:40:38
initial claim to doctors and police
00:40:40
that dany's injuries came from jumping
00:40:42
on the bed but she contradicted this
00:40:44
story when she later confessed to police
00:40:46
that she had killed danny
00:40:48
we thought gotcha the fact that she lied
00:40:51
about what had happened to danny was our
00:40:54
strongest suit
00:40:55
you don't lie unless you know you're
00:40:58
guilty
00:40:59
unless you're culpable of offense you
00:41:01
wouldn't bother to make up a lie
00:41:03
dr chapman testified that because of her
00:41:05
memory gaps rebecca made false
00:41:07
statements to bridge those gaps
00:41:09
she had a blank space and she just was
00:41:12
trying to fill it in
00:41:13
because she had no information
00:41:17
of what really happened because she
00:41:19
couldn't remember
00:41:26
the jury came back guilty but mentally
00:41:28
ill i was disappointed
00:41:30
i think the public in general doesn't
00:41:31
understand
00:41:33
that meant that she was going to prison
00:41:36
i think some crimes are just beyond the
00:41:38
pale and people say well i don't really
00:41:39
care she's mentally or not
00:41:42
you know that was such a horrific crime
00:41:45
i don't care
00:41:47
rebecca was sentenced to life in prison
00:41:49
but a later appeal reduced her time to
00:41:51
40 years
00:41:53
she is currently incarcerated at a
00:41:55
maximum security center in eastern
00:41:57
illinois
00:41:58
i think i've made a life for myself in
00:42:00
here i just
00:42:02
try to do positive things i take my
00:42:04
medication
00:42:06
i go to the beauty school prison saved
00:42:08
my life because if i would have stayed
00:42:10
out there
00:42:11
i don't think i would have made it
00:42:13
little danny bivens
00:42:14
has not been forgotten danny bivens
00:42:17
was buried in a cemetery actually across
00:42:20
the street from a preschool where she
00:42:22
was going
00:42:23
town still remembers the bivins case
00:42:26
and they remember danny that was a
00:42:30
tragedy that shocked our town
00:42:33
shortly after dany's death a child
00:42:35
advocacy center was named for her and
00:42:37
another child who was also a victim of
00:42:39
child abuse
00:42:40
it's called the danny brandon center by
00:42:43
having the center named for her
00:42:46
puts kids first and that's
00:42:49
what needs to happen
00:42:53
rebecca's oldest child is now an adult
00:42:55
the three younger children live with
00:42:57
their grandmother in another state
00:42:58
too far away to visit but rebecca writes
00:43:01
and calls to stay in contact with them
00:43:03
rebecca still struggles with the
00:43:05
terrible crime she committed that
00:43:06
november morning
00:43:08
i did what i did
00:43:11
um but being mentally ill
00:43:15
had a lot to do with it i believe
00:43:17
everybody deserves redemption
00:43:19
but what she did was serious and there
00:43:22
are serious consequences
00:43:24
some things i wish i would remember
00:43:26
because i would like to know exactly
00:43:27
what happened
00:43:29
and then some days i don't want to know
00:43:30
what happened but i think basically she
00:43:33
does know exactly what happened that
00:43:35
you know fatal morning with danny
00:43:37
billings
00:43:38
when you look at a picture you see a
00:43:40
life there you see
00:43:42
you see a potential there and then you
00:43:44
realize it's gone
00:43:46
i have done more to myself than anybody
00:43:49
could ever do to me
00:43:51
i have beat myself up i have
00:43:56
just the torture of knowing that you
00:43:58
that that you took a life
00:44:00
a five year old life and i have to live
00:44:02
with that for the rest of my life
00:44:14
you
