00:00:04
on this episode of women behind bars
00:00:07
one woman was found guilty of fatally
00:00:09
attacking her two and a half year old
00:00:11
daughter
00:00:11
i grabbed her by the neck and i choked
00:00:14
her and i hit her repeatedly i put her
00:00:16
in bed and i hit her
00:00:17
she had bruises on her face
00:00:21
she had a cut lip bruises on her
00:00:24
collarbone
00:00:25
neck chest her abdomen her legs
00:00:28
then susan d'aquilla tells her story she
00:00:31
was convicted of murder for pushing her
00:00:33
disabled husband
00:00:34
into a river all of a sudden it was like
00:00:37
splash
00:00:39
everything seemed like it went in slow
00:00:41
motion
00:00:42
tony went underwater and came up and
00:00:44
said help me please help me
00:00:47
two women two brutal crimes these are
00:00:50
the stories of peggy hilt
00:00:52
and susan d aquila
00:00:58
[Music]
00:01:11
on the morning of saturday july 2nd 2005
00:01:14
peggy hilt called 9-1-1 when her
00:01:16
two-and-a-half-year-old adopted daughter
00:01:18
nina
00:01:19
stopped breathing in her arms but
00:01:21
paramedics arrived to find the child was
00:01:23
no longer alive
00:01:25
cause of death blunt force trauma to the
00:01:28
abdomen
00:01:29
[Music]
00:01:32
she had bruises around her collarbone
00:01:36
her small intestine had ruptured this
00:01:39
all indicated a severe beating
00:01:41
did nina's injuries result from an
00:01:43
accident on the stairs as peggy claimed
00:01:46
or was she in fact a victim of her
00:01:48
mother's uncontrollable rage
00:01:57
peggy hilt was born in 1972 in
00:01:59
ogdensburg new york
00:02:02
i had five brothers and sisters it was a
00:02:04
relatively normal
00:02:06
family um
00:02:10
my father suffered with alcoholism my
00:02:12
father could get
00:02:14
verbally abusive at times when he was
00:02:16
drinking
00:02:17
but it really wasn't a traumatic
00:02:20
childhood
00:02:21
but peggy struggled throughout her
00:02:23
adolescence by the age of 12
00:02:25
peggy became a secret drinker i was
00:02:28
teased at school our family was
00:02:32
on the poor side you know we didn't have
00:02:34
the latest
00:02:35
clothes i was just not part of the
00:02:37
in-crowd
00:02:38
i suffered from depression in high
00:02:40
school at one time i tried to
00:02:42
commit suicide and the school
00:02:45
brought in a counselor to talk to me but
00:02:47
i refused
00:02:49
hilt's lifeline was caring for children
00:02:52
i loved children i spent all of my time
00:02:55
babysitting there were a couple families
00:02:57
that i had full-time jobs with
00:02:59
and always imagined myself getting
00:03:01
married and having a lot of children
00:03:03
peggy then went to college where she met
00:03:05
her husband chris
00:03:07
and the couple married in 1994. a year
00:03:10
later the hilts moved to fairfax
00:03:11
virginia
00:03:12
and tried to have a baby we went through
00:03:15
four years
00:03:16
of painful heartbreaking fertility tests
00:03:20
and treatments
00:03:22
after six years of unsuccessful attempts
00:03:24
29 year old peggy and 31 year old chris
00:03:27
hilt
00:03:27
adopted a baby girl named natalya from
00:03:30
an orphanage in the ukraine
00:03:32
natalia was a dream come true she uh
00:03:35
fulfilled me mommyhood was better than i
00:03:38
ever
00:03:40
imagined it was gonna be the hilts
00:03:43
effortlessly bonded with their new
00:03:44
daughter
00:03:45
three years later they decided to adopt
00:03:47
again
00:03:49
because the adoption process had changed
00:03:51
in the ukraine
00:03:52
the couple applied to russia on january
00:03:55
27
00:03:55
2004 peggy and chris adopted 16 month
00:03:59
old nina
00:04:00
from an orphanage in siberia the russian
00:04:02
system has
00:04:03
well over six seven hundred thousand
00:04:06
children that are in
00:04:07
orphanage care that they cannot care for
00:04:09
they're all
00:04:10
deprived they're all lacking in
00:04:12
appropriate care taking
00:04:14
food and nutrition is poor medical care
00:04:15
is poor but soon after they brought nina
00:04:18
home
00:04:18
peggy claims she realized right away
00:04:21
that something was wrong
00:04:22
it's to be expected that any child
00:04:24
coming out of an institutional setting
00:04:26
especially deprived eastern bloc
00:04:28
countries is going to have special needs
00:04:31
we get home with nina some of her
00:04:32
emotional difficulties
00:04:35
started to come about right away
00:04:38
when i tried to hold her love her she
00:04:41
was very defiant
00:04:42
unlike their first child peggy says she
00:04:45
struggled to bond with nina
00:04:47
the 32 year old mother soon became
00:04:49
overwhelmed by her daughter's alleged
00:04:51
emotional and behavioral problems
00:04:53
peggy claims she did her best to make it
00:04:55
work but never sought help from doctors
00:04:58
she would cry and push away i assumed it
00:05:01
was something i was doing
00:05:02
wrong or not doing right reactive
00:05:04
detachment disorder is
00:05:06
a condition that sometimes impacts
00:05:08
children who have been institutionalized
00:05:10
they often will have trouble with
00:05:11
attaching to others meaning they prefer
00:05:13
to be left alone
00:05:14
and isolated and they're difficult to
00:05:16
soothe and comfort
00:05:17
nina had sort of a shadowy quality to
00:05:19
her
00:05:21
where she was there but she wasn't
00:05:23
nearly as outgoing
00:05:24
or as rambunctious as natalya
00:05:27
and nina always hung back and
00:05:31
was quiet however nina did show another
00:05:34
side to some
00:05:36
she was always attached to me she always
00:05:38
wanted me to hold her and pick her up
00:05:40
carry her around i always wanted to give
00:05:43
hugs
00:05:44
she was a sweet little girl as the
00:05:46
primary caretaker
00:05:48
peggy continued to be frustrated with
00:05:50
her inability to bond with nina
00:05:52
and turn to her husband for help however
00:05:55
chris did not have the same negative
00:05:57
experience with their adopted daughter
00:05:59
he saw the difficulties
00:06:02
that she gave me that we had together
00:06:05
but she did not give him the same
00:06:06
difficulties i thought she hated me i
00:06:09
didn't know what to do
00:06:12
i thought whatever it was time and love
00:06:16
would fix it peggy probably thought she
00:06:18
could
00:06:19
develop a love for this child too over
00:06:22
time and bond
00:06:23
but that never occurred she never was
00:06:26
able to bond with this child
00:06:27
peggy claims nina became more difficult
00:06:30
to deal with
00:06:31
as a result her own problems began to
00:06:33
spiral out of control
00:06:35
i had started drinking more nina's
00:06:37
problems were becoming more evident
00:06:40
she would have rages
00:06:43
she left huge bruised
00:06:47
bite marks on natalya number of times
00:06:50
peggy says her husband thought a change
00:06:52
of scenery would help
00:06:53
in august 2004 the hilts moved to wake
00:06:57
forest north carolina
00:06:58
but the plan backfired we made a very
00:07:01
bad choice to move
00:07:03
to north carolina it only deepened my
00:07:05
depression cut us off further from our
00:07:07
friends and family i was severely
00:07:10
depressed and
00:07:11
i couldn't figure out why i couldn't
00:07:13
make this child love me
00:07:15
i was becoming more bitter towards her
00:07:18
too because
00:07:19
my days were spent was fix clean up
00:07:23
and undo what she had destroyed or done
00:07:26
peggy's resentment toward nina built and
00:07:29
their relationship worsened
00:07:31
peggy seemed somehow dismissive of nina
00:07:34
she didn't have the kind of
00:07:36
loving relationship that she seemed to
00:07:38
have with natalya it was sort of like
00:07:40
she considered natalia to be special
00:07:42
and nina just to be there in a twist of
00:07:45
fate peggy learned she was pregnant in
00:07:47
january 2005.
00:07:49
but three months later she suffered a
00:07:51
miscarriage
00:07:52
i did not seek counseling which i really
00:07:55
should have
00:07:56
it just reinforced everything i think
00:07:58
bad
00:07:59
i felt about myself
00:08:02
um i was not good that i was not worthy
00:08:05
that i was broken
00:08:06
you know um here i've you know i've
00:08:10
already got this child that i can't even
00:08:12
love me and
00:08:14
everything went downhill from there once
00:08:17
again
00:08:17
peggy admits she turned to drinking to
00:08:19
console her pain
00:08:21
i remember there was a couple days where
00:08:22
i actually had drank a case of beer
00:08:25
myself in a day i think chris wanted the
00:08:27
perfect family so bad that
00:08:30
he saw what he wanted to see i had my
00:08:33
drinking
00:08:33
he knew i was drinking but he had no
00:08:35
idea i was drinking as much as i was
00:08:37
the situation reached a crisis on july 1
00:08:40
2005.
00:08:42
while her husband was at work peggy was
00:08:44
at home with her daughters
00:08:45
preparing for a trip to visit relatives
00:08:48
nina was having a
00:08:49
very difficult day and i
00:08:52
was drinking and trying to get
00:08:55
everything ready
00:08:58
we had been taking toys up and down
00:09:00
stairs peggy says nina tumbled while
00:09:02
playing on the stairs
00:09:04
she had bruises on her face where she
00:09:06
had fallen it was just a very
00:09:08
rough day for her so i thought maybe she
00:09:09
was not feeling well
00:09:11
and just being worse than usual a couple
00:09:14
hours later
00:09:15
hilt says nina attacked her sister
00:09:17
natalia peggy became enraged
00:09:20
both girls are saying that the table and
00:09:22
something happened and nina grabbed a
00:09:24
fork and went after natalia
00:09:28
and i just saw red and i grabbed nina
00:09:30
and i took her upstairs
00:09:32
she was kicking and screaming and i just
00:09:34
i lost it
00:09:36
it happened so fast it was just um like
00:09:38
a tornado like a rage
00:09:40
you know just when women behind bars
00:09:44
continues
00:09:44
peggy calls 9-1-1 begging for help
00:09:51
[Music]
00:09:55
in january 2004 peggy and chris hilt
00:09:58
adopted a 16 month old girl named nina
00:10:01
from an orphanage in russia but peggy
00:10:04
failed to bond with her new daughter
00:10:05
the young mother claims that her
00:10:07
difficult relationship with nina
00:10:09
caused her to drink more heavily in july
00:10:12
of 2005
00:10:14
nina allegedly bit her older sister
00:10:16
natalia an incident which peggy says
00:10:18
made her lose control
00:10:20
she flew into a rage
00:10:25
she brought her up to nina's bedroom she
00:10:28
grabbed the child around the throat
00:10:30
she lifted her up off the floor she
00:10:33
shook the child
00:10:34
i grabbed her by the neck and i choked
00:10:36
her and i hit her repeatedly
00:10:38
i put her in bed and i hit her
00:10:43
peggy says she left the bruised two and
00:10:45
a half year old lying on the bed
00:10:47
walked out of the room and shut the door
00:10:48
behind her
00:10:50
nina stayed alone in her room for three
00:10:52
hours
00:10:53
i felt horrible i couldn't believe
00:11:00
that i had just lost it like that the
00:11:02
rest of the day i spent
00:11:05
sobering up finished getting ready for
00:11:07
the trip
00:11:08
taking care of natalia um and chris
00:11:12
called and said he was on his way home i
00:11:13
went up and got nina
00:11:15
at 5 30 p.m when her husband chris
00:11:18
returned
00:11:19
peggy lied about the cause of nina's
00:11:21
injuries
00:11:22
she had covered up a lot of her body
00:11:25
so christopher couldn't see he saw the
00:11:28
bruises on her face
00:11:30
and i told him that she had fallen on
00:11:32
the stairs but
00:11:34
he couldn't see the bruises on her back
00:11:36
they continued to prepare for their trip
00:11:39
to virginia and nina
00:11:42
was going to her father complaining of a
00:11:45
stomachache
00:11:46
and she was starting to have a fever
00:11:50
during the four-hour drive to manassas
00:11:52
virginia to visit relatives
00:11:54
nina began to show signs of physical
00:11:56
distress
00:11:58
a little while into the trip she had
00:11:59
vomited i did not realize
00:12:02
or could believe that i
00:12:05
hurt her that bad still the young mother
00:12:08
was intent on hiding
00:12:10
nina's injuries from her husband when i
00:12:13
changed her clothes the first time
00:12:15
i made sure that i took her outside of
00:12:17
the van and
00:12:18
changed her clothes so chris couldn't
00:12:19
see the marks on her back peggy hilt
00:12:22
went to great lengths not only
00:12:25
in route to virginia but once she
00:12:28
arrived in manassas
00:12:29
to hide the bruising and injuries that
00:12:32
she inflicted on nina
00:12:34
throughout the night nina's condition
00:12:36
worsened she seemed like she was a
00:12:39
little kid with a fever you know just
00:12:40
kind of lethargic and out of it
00:12:43
i didn't connect hitting her
00:12:46
and her being sick the next morning nina
00:12:49
couldn't keep anything down
00:12:51
obviously her body was not mending it
00:12:54
was starting to break down
00:12:56
by 9 a.m everyone left the house but
00:12:59
peggy
00:12:59
who stayed behind to be with nina she
00:13:02
still hadn't had anything to eat and i
00:13:04
was worried
00:13:05
i was sitting in the rocking chair with
00:13:06
her in the living room and she was
00:13:08
drinking her sippy cup
00:13:11
and she just kind of stopped
00:13:14
and kind of went limp that's when i got
00:13:17
scared
00:13:18
i um could tell she wasn't breathing so
00:13:21
i ran back inside and laid her on the
00:13:22
floor and called
00:13:33
i was 911 cpr on her and she had thrown
00:13:35
up oh my god
00:13:38
ma'am oh my god
00:13:41
okay ma'am i'm trying to tell you what
00:13:44
to do
00:13:46
the ambulance arrived 10 minutes after
00:13:48
peggy called 9-1-1
00:13:50
but when nina hilt's body arrived at the
00:13:52
local hospital
00:13:53
authorities summoned the police
00:13:58
and when we got there they took us into
00:13:59
a room and told me
00:14:02
told us that she had died
00:14:14
she had bruises on her face
00:14:17
she had a cut lip she had
00:14:20
bruises on her collarbone neck her
00:14:23
abdomen her legs
00:14:29
when questioned by the police peggy
00:14:31
stuck to her original story
00:14:33
she talked about what had happened at
00:14:36
their home
00:14:37
on friday afternoon in wake forest and
00:14:40
that
00:14:40
nina had been carrying toys up the
00:14:42
stairs and
00:14:44
that she had fallen backwards they let
00:14:47
us see nina's body
00:14:49
[Music]
00:14:55
christopher just looked down at his
00:14:57
daughter and looked at
00:14:59
peggy and he couldn't believe
00:15:02
what he saw and
00:15:05
peggy just looked at me and made eye
00:15:07
contact with me
00:15:10
on sunday july 3 an autopsy performed on
00:15:12
nina hilt
00:15:13
revealed that the cause of death was
00:15:15
blunt force trauma to the abdomen
00:15:18
the autopsy clarified the fact that it
00:15:21
was
00:15:21
definitely a homicide the police called
00:15:24
peggy in for more questioning
00:15:26
i don't remember much of anything except
00:15:28
the police did call us the next day and
00:15:30
wanted us
00:15:31
to come to the station and answer
00:15:33
questions
00:15:34
24 hours after her daughter died peggy
00:15:37
recalls having a sudden realization
00:15:39
that she had caused nina's death i woke
00:15:42
up and i sat up in bed and
00:15:44
said oh my god i did this
00:15:48
i did i hurt her bad
00:15:52
the next morning peggy finally told her
00:15:55
husband the truth
00:15:56
i told him what had happened
00:15:59
he just started crying and crying
00:16:03
both he was supportive and distant he
00:16:07
was
00:16:07
hurt in shock confused after consulting
00:16:11
with her lawyer
00:16:12
peggy confessed to the police she
00:16:14
started right away
00:16:15
with i hurt nina i was pretty sure that
00:16:18
i had
00:16:18
caused nino's death and
00:16:22
i needed to be held accountable
00:16:27
on wednesday july 6 2005 detective
00:16:31
kathleen olshlagel interviewed peggy
00:16:33
hilt
00:16:33
for three hours was anybody else in the
00:16:36
home
00:16:37
on friday around 2 30 when this was
00:16:40
happening
00:16:47
one thing in the interview that sort of
00:16:49
stood out
00:16:50
was when she speaks about the bonding
00:16:52
with nina
00:16:53
and how they just could never bond and
00:16:56
how she felt that this
00:16:57
child preferred anybody else in the
00:17:00
world to her
00:17:04
we never bonded the motive was
00:17:08
ultimately
00:17:09
the lack of bonding and resentment and
00:17:12
anger towards her child
00:17:14
authorities charged peggy with
00:17:16
second-degree murder and incarcerated
00:17:18
her in the county jail
00:17:25
peggy hilt appeared in circuit court and
00:17:28
pled guilty to second-degree murder
00:17:30
in the sentencing phase the defense
00:17:32
argued that peggy was a troubled woman
00:17:34
who should have sought help for her
00:17:36
problems
00:17:37
her attorney had mentioned that she had
00:17:40
been grappling with
00:17:41
alcoholism and apparently just not been
00:17:44
in
00:17:45
full control of her emotions at the time
00:17:48
prosecutor paul ebert argued for a stiff
00:17:51
sentence for peggy's role
00:17:52
in nina's lethal beating initially
00:17:56
paulie bert had asked for a harsh
00:17:59
sentence
00:18:00
and saying that there was no excuse for
00:18:03
what she had done when women behind bars
00:18:06
continues
00:18:07
the russians wanted to see me severely
00:18:09
punished nina held's death
00:18:11
marked the 14th death of a child adopted
00:18:14
from russia
00:18:15
in the u.s and later in this episode of
00:18:19
women behind bars
00:18:20
a woman is accused of killing her
00:18:22
husband for his pension money
00:18:23
by pushing him into a river tony went
00:18:27
underwater
00:18:28
and came up and said help me please help
00:18:30
me on my mother's
00:18:32
grave that never happened
00:18:42
on march 1 2006 peggy hilt pleaded
00:18:45
guilty to second-degree murder for the
00:18:47
fatal beating of her
00:18:48
two-and-a-half-year-old daughter nina
00:18:50
who was adopted from russia meanwhile
00:18:53
after nina's tragic death
00:18:54
russian authorities called for a hold on
00:18:56
adoptions to the united states
00:18:59
there was a lot of uproar just from
00:19:01
people in russia
00:19:02
being upset about the impression that
00:19:05
children were being
00:19:06
brought to the u.s adopted by families
00:19:08
here and then being abused
00:19:10
and killed one group that was
00:19:12
particularly upset
00:19:13
were those parents in the u.s that
00:19:17
wanted to adopt children from russia and
00:19:19
because of the
00:19:20
distrust between authorities there a lot
00:19:23
of these adoptions were put on hold
00:19:25
as the trial began an outraged public
00:19:28
cried out for a severe sentence for 34
00:19:30
year old peggy hilt
00:19:32
and so you had a lot of frustrated
00:19:34
parents here that
00:19:35
were waiting to bring their children
00:19:37
home from russia and they were upset
00:19:39
they wanted to see a harsh sentence in
00:19:42
this case
00:19:46
she was very quiet we didn't see many
00:19:49
emotions
00:19:50
when she did say i'm sorry it was
00:19:53
barely audible at that time judge hamlin
00:19:57
handed down a sentence of 35 years
00:20:00
with 10 suspended and peggy would serve
00:20:03
25 years
00:20:13
[Music]
00:20:14
three months later hilt's attorney
00:20:16
presented a motion to further reduce
00:20:18
peggy's prison term
00:20:19
he argued that the international media
00:20:21
attention may have had an impact on
00:20:23
hilt's original sentence
00:20:25
the judge granted the motion and
00:20:26
shortened peggy's prison term from 25
00:20:29
years to 19 years
00:20:30
the public was divided on the outcome i
00:20:33
know
00:20:34
that people in other countries
00:20:36
politicians
00:20:37
the russians wanted to see me severely
00:20:38
punished the fact that
00:20:40
peggy hill will serve minimum 19 years
00:20:43
in prison
00:20:44
is something that i think people felt
00:20:46
that justice was served in that sentence
00:20:49
personally i don't think that's a fair
00:20:50
sentence i think she should get more
00:20:53
time for what she did to nina
00:20:54
some of those people who are angry with
00:20:57
me
00:20:58
you know may have found themselves in
00:20:59
the same situation
00:21:01
i never in a million years would have
00:21:04
dreamed myself in that type of a
00:21:05
situation
00:21:06
and here i sit peggy hilt violated the
00:21:09
most sacred trust
00:21:11
a child has in a parent and that is to
00:21:13
keep them safe
00:21:14
and provide a loving environment 19
00:21:17
years
00:21:18
is not enough for peggy hilt the people
00:21:21
that hate me
00:21:22
um i can't even feel compassion for them
00:21:24
because i used to be
00:21:26
just like them anybody that could or
00:21:28
would hurt a child
00:21:30
i should be locked away i couldn't
00:21:33
fathom it now i can see things gonna
00:21:36
happen that you don't mean
00:21:38
addiction is a bad thing since her
00:21:40
incarceration
00:21:41
peggy has achieved sobriety and has
00:21:43
found comfort through spirituality
00:21:46
i am in some religious classes i
00:21:50
strongly believe that god
00:21:54
used this tragedy to save me
00:21:58
[Music]
00:22:01
because i'm supposed to help other
00:22:02
people
00:22:04
the death of nina has left a permanent
00:22:06
impact on the hilt family
00:22:07
peggy and chris hilt have divorced chris
00:22:10
retains custody of their other daughter
00:22:12
natalia who was adopted from the ukraine
00:22:15
this is not only a tragedy for the child
00:22:17
definitely for the child
00:22:19
and for the family that's left behind mr
00:22:21
hilt raising the other child
00:22:23
so he lost two people in his life and
00:22:26
that has got to be extremely devastating
00:22:28
according to peggy chris and their
00:22:30
daughter natalia have suspended their
00:22:32
visitations for now
00:22:34
chris visited me early on in jail
00:22:38
then they moved away from the area and
00:22:40
uh when natalia is strong enough and
00:22:42
ready and
00:22:43
ready to come to see me he'll bring her
00:22:46
peggy hopes that her case will raise
00:22:48
awareness for parents who are seeking to
00:22:50
adopt internationally
00:22:52
i would like to see many things changed
00:22:55
in the adoption world because those
00:22:57
children do need to get out of those
00:22:59
orphanages
00:23:00
but they need to be adopted into
00:23:03
prepared
00:23:05
therapeutic families peggy hilt is
00:23:08
responsible for the death of her child
00:23:09
i think she's accepted that
00:23:11
responsibility and admitted that but
00:23:13
there are a lot of what-ifs here what if
00:23:15
the hilt family had received
00:23:18
pre-adoptive education would have
00:23:19
changed their decision to adopt
00:23:21
what if they had been prepared for the
00:23:23
challenges of raising a child that may
00:23:25
have been impacted
00:23:26
by institutionalization you know we'll
00:23:28
never know and it may have made a
00:23:29
difference in the life of a child
00:23:33
i did something horrible that i wish i
00:23:35
could undo when i can't
00:23:37
but i hope i'll be able to help somebody
00:23:39
behind me because that's the only thing
00:23:40
i can do for nina at this point
00:23:42
[Music]
00:23:44
is to hopefully help somebody behind us
00:23:47
peggy will be 50 years old when she's
00:23:49
released from prison
00:23:51
i did not mean to hurt nina i
00:23:54
certainly did not mean for her to die
00:23:59
[Music]
00:24:01
but i need to be punished other people
00:24:02
need to see me punished
00:24:05
to let them know that it's not okay
00:24:10
never okay to hit a child um
00:24:14
if you need help get it no matter what
00:24:17
you have to do when women behind bars
00:24:19
continues
00:24:20
i mean trying to kill my daughter there
00:24:23
was
00:24:24
witness testimony that susan said we're
00:24:26
going to murder them
00:24:27
get the hell out of here for more
00:24:30
information about women behind bars
00:24:32
go to www.wetv.com
00:24:44
on may 31 1986 police pulled the body of
00:24:48
56 year old tony de aquila from the des
00:24:51
plaines river
00:24:52
an apparent accidental drowning his
00:24:54
shoes
00:24:55
shirt even his glasses were relatively
00:24:59
folded up nice and neatly on the top of
00:25:01
the wall here
00:25:03
but questions began to surface about the
00:25:05
victim's troubled marriage to his wife
00:25:07
susan
00:25:07
an openly gay woman who was 25 years his
00:25:10
junior
00:25:12
tony was a vulnerable type person and
00:25:15
she was just sort of
00:25:19
someone who would take advantage of him
00:25:21
susan d'aquillo was
00:25:22
was a con woman who orchestrated this
00:25:25
entire
00:25:27
set of circumstances to get his money
00:25:31
was this a tragic accident or did susan
00:25:34
d aquila commit a deliberate act of
00:25:39
[Music]
00:25:40
murder
00:25:43
susan d aquila grew up the second
00:25:45
youngest in a family with seven children
00:25:47
on chicago's south side
00:25:49
she was just eight years old when her
00:25:51
father died in 1963.
00:25:53
i went from being a child to i felt
00:25:57
like i was an adult trying to help out
00:26:01
my mom susie and i were
00:26:04
very very close susie was always trying
00:26:07
to do things for people
00:26:09
and she'd go to the dinner table and
00:26:11
grab food off the table and
00:26:13
i'll be right back she's supposed to be
00:26:14
eating dinner and she goes and
00:26:16
we found her on 19th in washington
00:26:18
feeding the homeless underneath the
00:26:20
sidewalks
00:26:22
she was just a given person loving
00:26:24
giving
00:26:25
caring as she got older susan knew that
00:26:28
she was different
00:26:29
i knew she was gay yeah she always had
00:26:32
girlfriends um
00:26:34
same-sex girlfriends kept it a secret
00:26:37
until i was about 15
00:26:42
one day my mom caught me with a woman
00:26:47
and she took me to every counselor
00:26:51
psychiatrist she finally said i give up
00:26:55
if this is what you are then fine one
00:26:58
brief relationship with a boy at age 15
00:27:01
left susan pregnant with a daughter
00:27:03
victoria
00:27:04
my mom was gay and my grandmother didn't
00:27:07
want me to live in that environment
00:27:09
so my grandparents raised me
00:27:12
susan let her mom take care of the baby
00:27:14
and moved out on her own to make a life
00:27:16
for herself
00:27:18
i did odd jobs you know working in cars
00:27:23
bartending for one of the bars
00:27:26
in the neighborhood susan was in her
00:27:30
mid-20s when she met tony de aquila
00:27:32
a longtime groundskeeper for the forest
00:27:34
preserve in a suburb of chicago
00:27:38
he was 50 years old
00:27:41
and then he became my best friend in the
00:27:45
whole world
00:27:46
tony was a man of shortened statue with
00:27:50
big and heart
00:27:51
he was a type of fellow that would go
00:27:55
out of his way for anybody
00:27:57
tony de aquila suffered physical
00:27:59
challenges that set him apart from
00:28:00
others
00:28:01
tony had scoliosis he had arthritic
00:28:05
hands he had clubbed feet
00:28:06
he wore special shoes they almost looked
00:28:08
like stilted boots but they definitely
00:28:10
had
00:28:12
compensating heels and soles on them so
00:28:14
that he could walk
00:28:16
and yet he worked every day for the cook
00:28:18
county forest preserve
00:28:20
and was a very good worker and a very
00:28:22
hard worker
00:28:23
he introduced me to susan and he just
00:28:26
sort of looked
00:28:27
up at her with like this sick puppy
00:28:31
love type of look i don't think that he
00:28:33
ever had a girlfriend until he met
00:28:36
susan after a five-year friendship
00:28:39
thirty-year-old susan and
00:28:41
fifty-six-year-old tony surprised
00:28:43
everyone by getting married in november
00:28:45
1985.
00:28:48
but tony's co-workers and friends
00:28:50
suspected that something was not quite
00:28:52
right about the new marriage
00:28:54
i was sort of uncomfortable with her
00:28:56
because i knew
00:28:58
that tony was a vulnerable type person
00:29:02
and she looked like she was just sort of
00:29:06
someone who would take advantage of him
00:29:09
we all knew that this woman was because
00:29:12
of her age and because of
00:29:14
his afflictions we knew that there was
00:29:16
something wrong
00:29:17
right from the start questions were
00:29:20
raised in terms of the relationship in
00:29:22
general
00:29:23
or what her motivation was originally to
00:29:26
marry tony
00:29:27
he didn't make a lot of money but he
00:29:29
worked his entire life
00:29:30
and he had his pension recently
00:29:33
increased
00:29:35
susan denies the marriage was for money
00:29:37
in fact
00:29:38
she says she and tony married to keep a
00:29:40
secret he hid from everyone
00:29:43
tony was gay too secretly yay you know
00:29:46
and he goes we can make this work out
00:29:50
i need to really get married
00:29:54
then they'll leave me alone so myself
00:29:57
why not tony's friends adamantly denied
00:30:01
that he was gay
00:30:02
i never got an indication that the tony
00:30:05
was gay
00:30:06
as a matter of fact i think he craved
00:30:09
affection from women
00:30:12
and that was why he ended up with susan
00:30:14
because she was probably
00:30:16
one of the few women that paid attention
00:30:19
to him
00:30:20
the newlyweds purchased a home in cicero
00:30:22
a chicago suburb
00:30:24
which soon became a boarding house for
00:30:26
susan's down and out friends
00:30:28
if you needed help my mom would give you
00:30:30
her last dollar
00:30:31
susan and the the cohorts that was
00:30:34
surrounding her
00:30:35
literally were in fact living at that
00:30:37
home they didn't have no jobs
00:30:40
they were just using both my mom and
00:30:42
tony it was a free ride to them
00:30:44
tony confided in co-workers about the
00:30:46
difficulties he was having at home
00:30:48
and that he was being mistreated by his
00:30:50
new wife and her friends
00:30:52
he used to come and tell us about how he
00:30:54
was beat up or you know you have
00:30:55
scars on him and we said why did you
00:30:57
call the police he'd say but i love her
00:30:59
i love the kid i love him i can't do
00:31:02
anything to hurt
00:31:03
susan denies any abuse and claims that
00:31:05
tony injured himself
00:31:07
in fights that broke out when they were
00:31:08
partying tony got into
00:31:10
a few bar brawls and
00:31:14
he ended up talking to this real big guy
00:31:18
one day and
00:31:19
this guy's gonna beat the hell out of
00:31:22
him and
00:31:22
it was me and tony fighting this big guy
00:31:27
by april 1986 tony moved out of the
00:31:30
house and took up residence
00:31:32
at the hotel eleanor although he
00:31:34
continued to visit susan at their home
00:31:36
he just didn't like the people
00:31:41
he didn't get along with this one man
00:31:43
james johnson
00:31:44
senior that's
00:31:47
they just started clashing
00:31:50
sixty-year-old james
00:31:51
johns rented a room in the attic and
00:31:54
susan remembers would sometimes pick
00:31:56
fights with tony
00:31:57
james john's i didn't like him i think
00:31:59
he was in love with my mom
00:32:01
and my mom didn't want nothing to do
00:32:03
with him she like tried to help him i
00:32:05
think
00:32:06
and he just got a little obsessed with
00:32:10
[Music]
00:32:12
her
00:32:16
on a thursday night at the end of may
00:32:18
tony came to the house where everyone
00:32:20
was hanging out
00:32:21
they were drinking during a good portion
00:32:23
of the day
00:32:24
and that they were trying to get tony
00:32:26
drunk susan and jimmy johns and the
00:32:28
three other individuals indicating we're
00:32:31
going to take you tony for swimming
00:32:32
lessons
00:32:34
and get you over this fear of water that
00:32:35
you have
00:32:37
susan remembers it was tony's idea to go
00:32:39
out to the river
00:32:40
well tony said let's go out to the falls
00:32:43
because it was beautiful outside
00:32:46
the group piled into one car and headed
00:32:48
out to hoffman dam
00:32:49
on the des plaines river along with
00:32:51
susan and tony were james johns and
00:32:54
three of susan's friends
00:32:56
they drove to riverside and were looking
00:32:59
for a place
00:33:00
to bring tony into the water they parked
00:33:03
their car
00:33:05
along fairbanks road the party of six
00:33:08
walked two blocks to the riverbank
00:33:10
according to one member of the group
00:33:12
susan and james johns helped tony take
00:33:14
off his pants and shoes
00:33:16
but susan claimed she was against the
00:33:18
idea all along
00:33:20
james johnson told me they went into the
00:33:23
water
00:33:23
and i said hey you know this is
00:33:27
you know not good tony get out of the
00:33:29
water
00:33:30
i had a bad feeling susan says she
00:33:33
witnessed james johns whispering to two
00:33:35
members of the group
00:33:36
who suddenly walked back to the car
00:33:40
they realized what was really going down
00:33:42
and they decided they should leave it
00:33:43
was wrong and they were going to go
00:33:46
there was witness testimony that susan
00:33:49
said we're going to murder him
00:33:50
get the hell out of here when women
00:33:52
behind bars continues
00:33:54
tony went underwater and came up and
00:33:57
said help me please help me
00:33:59
and they sat there the two of them sat
00:34:01
there and watched them drown
00:34:07
on the night of may 29 1986 susan d
00:34:11
aquila and her husband tony
00:34:13
drove with four friends to the des
00:34:14
plaines river
00:34:16
police believed it was a
00:34:17
well-orchestrated ploy by susan and
00:34:19
accomplices
00:34:20
to get physically handicapped tony near
00:34:23
deep water
00:34:24
where they could push him in and drown
00:34:25
him
00:34:28
tony had a fear of water he couldn't
00:34:30
swim tony
00:34:31
had scoliosis people who knew tony said
00:34:35
in addition to the deformed shape of his
00:34:36
spine due to the scoliosis
00:34:38
his gnarled hands made it impossible for
00:34:41
him to be a strong swimmer
00:34:43
i think he could have been coaxed to go
00:34:45
near the water
00:34:46
if that was what susan wanted him to do
00:34:49
he would do just about anything for her
00:34:52
susan recounts that tony took a brief
00:34:54
dip in a shallow portion of the river
00:34:56
then got out and sat next to her on a
00:34:58
stone embankment
00:34:59
so they could look at the waterfall
00:35:01
together and he goes wow
00:35:03
doesn't that look beautiful i turned and
00:35:06
looked
00:35:07
and then all of a sudden i heard splash
00:35:12
you know everything like seemed like you
00:35:15
went in slow motion
00:35:17
susan claims her recollection is cloudy
00:35:19
from alcohol and marijuana she used that
00:35:21
night
00:35:22
it took me even a second to realize
00:35:26
that tony's not sitting there no more
00:35:28
next to me
00:35:30
she saw that he was in trouble she
00:35:32
doesn't know how to swim
00:35:34
but she started to take off her shoes
00:35:37
then i think somebody pulled her away
00:35:40
and the next thing
00:35:41
she looked down she couldn't see him
00:35:43
anymore whether the current pulled him
00:35:44
away or he was
00:35:45
under water she didn't know
00:35:49
police paint a different picture of that
00:35:51
night they believe it had all gone
00:35:53
according to plan
00:35:54
susan's plan police say that susan's
00:35:57
border
00:35:57
james johns was smitten with susan and
00:36:00
agreed to help her kill her husband
00:36:03
that's what they're really trying to do
00:36:04
is to lure him down to that location
00:36:07
you know give him a good shove and off
00:36:09
he floats and not being able to save
00:36:10
himself but susan strongly denies
00:36:13
involvement in tony's drowning
00:36:15
she maintained she never saw who pushed
00:36:17
tony into the water
00:36:18
but she believes it was james johns who
00:36:20
acted without any prompting from her
00:36:23
james johns is laughing like some kind
00:36:25
of a lunatic
00:36:26
the first thing i thought was for get
00:36:28
help
00:36:29
and i remember screaming for somebody to
00:36:32
call the cops and banging on this lady's
00:36:34
door
00:36:36
in the chaos of the moment the group
00:36:38
split up susan and her friend
00:36:40
david hurd took off in one direction
00:36:42
david's telling me we got to get out of
00:36:44
here gym's going crazy
00:36:46
you know like jim's going to kill me
00:36:47
next meanwhile james drove away in the
00:36:50
car with susan's two other friends
00:36:53
i said david we got to go to the police
00:36:55
what about tony
00:36:57
david said he was going to take care of
00:36:59
everything just trust me
00:37:01
david hurd took susan to a local bar and
00:37:03
made a phone call
00:37:04
susan says she assumed he was calling
00:37:07
but when james and the others met them
00:37:09
at the bar
00:37:10
susan realized that david had called
00:37:12
them she says by this time
00:37:14
her fear of james johns kept her quiet
00:37:17
i was never afraid beginning of james
00:37:21
chan's but
00:37:22
after that i was terrified the five
00:37:25
housemates stayed at the bar and drank
00:37:27
until closing time
00:37:29
no one ever called the police
00:37:33
[Music]
00:37:35
about 1 45 in the afternoon we were
00:37:37
called to the scene of this
00:37:39
particular area by the des plaines river
00:37:41
authorities found tony de aquila
00:37:43
floating face down in the water
00:37:45
just above the hoffman dam he was only
00:37:48
dressed in
00:37:50
white dvds briefs and a t-shirt
00:37:53
the medical examiner determined that
00:37:55
tony de aquila had been dead for two
00:37:57
days
00:37:58
police located susan and informed her of
00:38:01
her husband's death
00:38:02
her reaction when she was first told
00:38:04
that her husband
00:38:05
was dead was i have a mirror certificate
00:38:08
i'm next of ken
00:38:10
and then jimmy john's somebody walks up
00:38:13
and says
00:38:14
did you find tony near some water
00:38:17
i was like well how do they know that
00:38:21
susan told police she was nowhere near
00:38:23
the des plaines river when tony drowned
00:38:25
but days later the investigation turned
00:38:27
up indisputable evidence
00:38:29
that susan's car was indeed at the river
00:38:31
that night
00:38:32
there was a parking ticket written for a
00:38:34
vehicle a little bit further down
00:38:36
from where the crime scene is actually
00:38:39
that's pretty
00:38:40
damning evidence in terms of at least
00:38:42
placing them on the scene
00:38:43
susan claims she didn't tell police the
00:38:45
truth because james johns had threatened
00:38:48
her daughter
00:38:48
he goes you do what i say or i will kill
00:38:52
victoria he goes you want vicky dead
00:38:56
i mean he tried to kill my daughter you
00:38:59
know that's
00:39:00
my world to confirm their suspicions
00:39:03
police needed someone from susan's
00:39:05
circle of friends to crack
00:39:07
we surmise that jimmy john's might be
00:39:10
the weakest link
00:39:11
we asked him to come down to the police
00:39:13
department and he was outside
00:39:14
pacing in front of the police department
00:39:16
very very nervous
00:39:18
james confessed to police that he and
00:39:20
susan together pushed tony into the
00:39:22
river
00:39:22
james johns was arrested on the spot
00:39:25
officers then rounded up susan d aquila
00:39:27
and her friends who were at the river
00:39:29
that night
00:39:30
the accomplices immediately pointed the
00:39:32
finger at susan
00:39:33
and james they were trying to save
00:39:36
themselves
00:39:37
a number of them were in trouble with
00:39:39
the police were they upstanding
00:39:41
individuals
00:39:42
certainly not but the the facts are the
00:39:45
facts
00:39:46
susan the aquila was culpable she was
00:39:48
the mastermind
00:39:49
she did this for no other reason than
00:39:52
the money
00:39:56
at susan's trial prosecutors called
00:39:59
several people who testified that susan
00:40:01
talked about killing tony for his money
00:40:04
i remember the pension was worth about
00:40:06
19 000
00:40:07
and the sad thing was that was worth it
00:40:10
to susan de aquila that was enough money
00:40:11
to justify doing this
00:40:13
in susan's eyes money didn't mean
00:40:16
anything
00:40:17
friends were more important than money
00:40:20
the state's key witness was david hurd
00:40:23
previously in trouble with the law
00:40:25
who claimed he saw everything he told
00:40:27
the jury how susan and james forced tony
00:40:30
into the river
00:40:32
tony went underwater and came up and
00:40:35
said help me please help me
00:40:38
and they sat there the two of them sat
00:40:40
there and watched them drown
00:40:43
david heard indicated right after
00:40:47
this incident happened she indicated
00:40:50
thank god it's over now i'm a rich [ __ ]
00:40:53
on my mother's grave that never happened
00:40:56
one eyewitness against her had written
00:40:59
her letters saying that he knew she
00:41:01
didn't do it
00:41:02
and the judge did not allow those
00:41:04
letters in
00:41:05
i had letters written from david he goes
00:41:09
god knows you're innocent and i will
00:41:11
stick by you in the truth
00:41:13
but according to the judge susan's
00:41:14
attorney had presented the letters too
00:41:16
late to be used in her defense
00:41:19
i mean if you're on a jury and you hear
00:41:21
somebody testify that the
00:41:23
defendant is guilty and then somebody
00:41:25
brings up letters that this person has
00:41:27
written
00:41:27
saying i know you didn't do it what are
00:41:29
you going to think as a juror
00:41:32
it's not likely you're going to give his
00:41:33
testimony much credibility
00:41:35
so i think it would have made a big
00:41:37
difference
00:41:43
the jury found her guilty of first
00:41:44
degree murder and
00:41:46
it was our position that these facts
00:41:48
were brutal and heinous
00:41:49
and warranted an extended sense
00:41:52
the judge agreed with some very harsh
00:41:55
words for susan d aquila
00:41:56
he sentenced her to 60 years in prison i
00:42:00
think there was a lot of
00:42:02
preconceptions and bias against susan
00:42:05
because of her lifestyle
00:42:07
susan believes that the court might have
00:42:09
been prejudiced against her
00:42:10
because she was gay nobody was looking
00:42:13
at that in terms of any motivation
00:42:15
or anything like that it was like okay
00:42:18
well
00:42:19
that was no big deal four months later
00:42:22
james johns pled guilty because he was
00:42:24
60 years old
00:42:26
the judge sentenced him to only 20 years
00:42:29
all justice was done and they i think
00:42:32
they should have given
00:42:33
both an electric chair she did not have
00:42:36
a fair trial
00:42:37
so many things were arrayed against
00:42:40
susan
00:42:41
in terms of witnesses lying
00:42:44
and in terms of not providing any kind
00:42:47
of defense by her attorney
00:42:50
certain murders rise to the level
00:42:54
of people just have their breath taken
00:42:58
away and people
00:42:59
stop and pause and think how could
00:43:02
someone do that
00:43:03
and that was this case susan was
00:43:06
incarcerated at lincoln correctional
00:43:07
center and has served 20 years
00:43:10
she utilized her time in prison to
00:43:12
research her case and write appeals
00:43:14
petitions
00:43:15
all have been denied but her current
00:43:18
attorney is hoping that david's letters
00:43:20
among other issues
00:43:21
will be instrumental in obtaining
00:43:23
clemency since she's been in there she's
00:43:26
helped so many other women it's time for
00:43:28
her to come home
00:43:30
susan's family maintains that she is
00:43:32
wrongly convicted
00:43:33
i can't see her hurting even an animal
00:43:36
you know how could she hurt a human
00:43:38
being i can't i'll go to my grave
00:43:41
believing she's innocent
00:43:43
she's missed out on her grandkids she's
00:43:45
missed everything
00:43:47
i'm not gonna quit i'll get the evidence
00:43:49
and we got the letters we
00:43:51
you know we'll get we'll get the truth
00:43:54
god knows the truth
00:44:15
you
