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[Music]
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just after opening a vintage car
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restoration business phil rouse became
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seriously ill
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doctors had difficulty finding the cause
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but to forensic scientists it looked
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like foul play
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[Music]
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[Music]
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[Music]
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from the day he found an abandoned model
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a ford in an old cotton warehouse phil
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rouse knew that vintage automobiles
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would be his life
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for most of his career phil was a
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salesman
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in 1997 he quit to finally pursue his
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dream of starting an antique car
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restoration business
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he called it top quality and it was
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housed in a garage near his home in
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bartlett tennessee
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phil was real excited about going into
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business he had
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that was his dream to no one's surprise
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the shop was successful from the day it
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opened
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and with that success came the need to
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expand
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for capital phil turned to his best
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friend and next door neighbor steve
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white
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who was anxious to invest in the
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business in exchange for part ownership
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bill's good friend kimo coelho also
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joined the company as a matter of fact
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uh everybody was happy with the with the
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way things were going everybody was
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happy we got off to a good start
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it was phil's knowledge talent and
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experience that made the company so
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on them since i successful 15 years old
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i guess i bought my first antique car
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when i was i think i was 16.
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when phil rouse became ill just two
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months after the shop opened
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it was a serious blow
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i got to where i didn't have any energy
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and my stomach gave me a lot of trouble
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i had trouble with digestion
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i had severe chest pains
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my hands and feet began to get numb
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and to make matters worse
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medical tests couldn't find the cause
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i had an ultrasound done a cat scan and
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an ultra ultrasound
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and all those tests came up negative
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inexplicably
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bill's condition continued to get worse
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he lost 30 pounds and had difficulty
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walking and his cognitive abilities were
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also affected
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he came home and he says joe i think
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i've got alzheimer's
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i'm getting alzheimer's
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and i said why phil he said i've i
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forgot my way to the shop
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to protect his investment while phil was
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ill steve white ran the day-to-day
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operations of the business
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by december
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phil was convinced
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he was going to die
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i was so sick that night i was in such
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bad pain
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that i actually took my shirt off and
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laid on the kitchen floor on the
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linoleum i thought maybe that cold floor
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would take the pain and burning out of
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my stomach
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restoring automobiles sometimes involves
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chemicals and solvents that can cause
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illness if the workplace isn't properly
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ventilated
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phil wondered
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whether this had been his problem
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but his doctors were doubtful since no
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one else in the shop became ill
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[Music]
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then phil became convinced
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that someone was trying to kill him
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[Music]
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so he went to police headquarters with
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an unusual request
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he said if he died
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he wanted the police to perform an
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autopsy because
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he thought someone was poisoning him
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the police were skeptical
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i noticed that the other detectives were
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walking around and in fact one of them
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was kind of doing this
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and i got upset i got i got i got very
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aggravated with that
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phil's family thought he was
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exaggerating
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i wanted
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proof
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that something was being done to him
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and uh i always said you should have
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waited
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nothing in the world could have
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convinced me that i was wrong that night
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or i'd have never gone to the police
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station if you didn't think it took some
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cajones to go on the police station
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you're wrong
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phil was desperate
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he was afraid that nothing would be able
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to save his life
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just months after opening his vintage
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car restoration business
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phil rouse was so sick he could no
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longer run the business on a day-to-day
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basis
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his best friend next door neighbor and
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business partner steve white
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was now running the business
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my business partner told me not to worry
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about it he said if you're sick you stay
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home
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stay home and get well
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while sitting home phil rouse heard
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rumors that his company wasn't paying
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its bills
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we were taking money in
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but money was never
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distributed back to our suppliers to pay
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their bills
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rouse went to the bank and discovered
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the 10 company checks written by his
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partner had bounced because of
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insufficient funds
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and he also learned
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why the company had no money
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and when i got copies of the checks i
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can be honest with you i was not happy
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with what i saw
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he was paying for his personal cell
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phone bill
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70 80 a month
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he was paying for his own military
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insurance he was
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making checks to this local wine and
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spirits company somewhere close a store
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buying booze
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and phil noticed that steve white had
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written a check to a company called
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american national for
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twenty seven dollars
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when he didn't recognize the company
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rouse decided to call
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she said it's life insurance
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i says can you tell me more about it she
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said well it's for a hundred thousand
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dollars
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and uh the beneficiary and owner of the
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policy is steve allen white
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but the life insurance policy wasn't on
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steve white's life
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it was on phil rouses
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and there was no reciprocal policy on
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steve white's life naming rouse as the
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beneficiary
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leona white says her husband did nothing
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wrong that they were only trying to
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protect their investment in the event of
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phil's death steve wasn't into auto
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restoring his involvement in the
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business had been more from a business
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management standpoint
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we kept trying to have business meetings
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so we could see the checkbook
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which we have never seen
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and
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every time we go to have a meeting steve
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would get up and get angry and storm out
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of the house
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so we were getting a little bit
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suspicious
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the final straw came
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when steve white closed the company's
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bank accounts without telling phil
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who found out through the bank teller
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she said well mr white came in two days
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ago
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walked out of the bank with uh 2
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943 dollars and closed the account
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and she said the reason i mentioned to
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you mr rouse is because there were
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checks outstanding and he said he didn't
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care he just wanted the money rouse
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believed that as 50 owner of the
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business he had the power to halt all
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such transactions
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but he was wrong
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when phil's lawyer reviewed the
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partnership agreement he discovered that
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phil only owned two percent of the
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business steve white owned the remaining
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98
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well i signed a lot of things in 1997.
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if steve came over and said you need to
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sign this because this is whatever we
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signed it
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he was completely duped into signing
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this contract
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phil now began to suspect his partner
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and decided to visit dr kevin marigian
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one of the top forensic toxicologists in
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the united states
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he was one of the worst cases that i had
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seen
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so
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i mean it's very very sick
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and i said well i think i'm being
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murdered i don't know how
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i don't know how i don't know what's
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being used on me
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dr morigian analyzed phil's urine tests
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which had been done earlier and he also
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performed a physical examination
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but before the results were in
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phil had more bad news
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all of the business assets he brought
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with him to the company which included
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the building and real estate had been
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transferred to his partner steve white
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and put up for sale
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phil rouse was not only dying
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he was now
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penniless
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phil rouse began to suspect
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that the improprieties in his business
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and his suspicions of being poisoned
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might somehow be related mr rouse wasn't
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very functional if you would say
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cognitively he had a lot of the
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he had inability to concentrate focus
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he was very anxious
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define the cause of the illness phil's
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urine was sent for a heavy metals test
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the test revealed
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phil had arsenic in his system a level
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of 63 is in the high range but far from
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lethal
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normally there is no arsenic in one
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system unless the person has consumed
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large amounts of seafood which phil had
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not
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he said mr ass do you know of anybody
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that wants you that might want you dead
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i said what are you telling me
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dr morigian suspected phil
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was being poisoned
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the poisoned cells
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do not
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continue to exhibit arsenic in them
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arsenic does the damage and then it's
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excreted from the body
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or it's sequestered in the bone
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so
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by any measure you're not going to be
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able to identify the actual compound
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itself
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even though the damage is there
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phil tried to recall anything suspicious
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about the time he spent with his partner
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steve white
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and then he remembered
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every time he and steve had a meal or a
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drink together bill's health
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deteriorated
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i noticed that several times we ate
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together i'd get sick afterwards the
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next day or two
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and i just kept getting sick every time
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we eat together i'd get sick
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even more alarming
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steve white was a chemist by training
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and taught chemistry at the local high
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school
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as a final forensic test
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dr morigian gave bill rouse very
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specific instructions
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i told him don't cut your hair and then
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i would be able to clip it and send it
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to a laboratory
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for
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analysis
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when someone is exposed to poison
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it goes through the body and is usually
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excreted
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but it also gets deposited in the hair
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root at the time of exposure
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when the hair grows out the shaft
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becomes an historic record of when the
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exposure took place
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when phil's hair grew longer
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a strand was sent for an icp test which
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tests for 22 different metal components
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at the same time
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hair grows at a pretty regulated
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rate
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and someone could take
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the a shaft of hair divide it into
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segments
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and determine
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you know what was present a month ago
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what was present two months ago
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depending on that piece placement on the
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original shaft
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the hair was cut into quarter inch
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pieces
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marked then each piece was placed in a
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separate vial mixed with acidified water
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and boiled for seven hours
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this cocktail was then put through the
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icp
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the test results
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were startling
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[Music]
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when phil was in the hospital
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his hair showed no exposure to poison
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but prior to that when phil was living
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at home
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dr morigian found traces of another
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poison
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mercury
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i believe that he was ingesting it i
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didn't know who
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or why it would be delivered to him
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but i had no doubt that he was poisoned
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with heavy metals
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state law requires that police be
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notified when any poison is found in
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someone's system
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when the bartlett police department
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learned of the poisoning and the
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financial dispute between phil and his
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partner they took out a search warrant
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to search steve white's home
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i thought that at that time well now we
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have something to look into
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and we were going to investigate it as a
00:14:16
criminal matter
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[Music]
00:14:18
in white's backyard in a storage shed
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they found a laboratory
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it kind of looked like a little mini
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science lab like a chemistry lab
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makeshift lab you know
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there were
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several different jars of unusual
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looking powders
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strange looking
00:14:37
like burners and things like that that
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you would see in a science lab
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leona white says the reason her husband
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had the lab was for their children as a
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way to interest them in science
00:14:48
he would do things like
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mix
00:14:51
baking powder and vinegar to make a
00:14:53
volcano
00:14:55
but investigators soon discovered items
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in the shed that were anything but
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child's play
00:15:02
in a glass jar labeled baking powder
00:15:06
forensic scientists found traces of
00:15:08
mercury and arsenic
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the arsenic was a special formulation
00:15:13
which won't be identified here except to
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say it was odorless and tasteless
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detective bailey confronted white with
00:15:23
the lab results and he had told me that
00:15:25
was crazy absurd and ridiculous
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he said there's no way there's arsenic
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in that i tell you what bring it to me
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and i'll drink every bit of it
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a few minutes later he had said if i was
00:15:35
going to kill this guy i sure wouldn't
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use arsenic i'd do it with something
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much quicker and legal
00:15:40
everything in his statement that he gave
00:15:42
to the police a 21-page rambling
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statement
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was false
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and
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i'm not even sure if steve white is his
00:15:52
real name
00:15:56
a search of the car restoration office
00:15:58
produced an envelope found hidden behind
00:16:01
the electrical panel
00:16:03
analysis of the materials inside
00:16:05
revealed arsenic
00:16:07
antimony
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mercury and lead
00:16:10
each a highly toxic metal
00:16:15
a forensic document examiner compared
00:16:17
the handwriting on the envelope to known
00:16:20
samples of steve white's and concluded
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they were both similar
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steve white was arrested and charged
00:16:29
with the attempted murder of phil rouse
00:16:33
but important questions remained
00:16:36
how did the poisons get into phil
00:16:39
rouse's body
00:16:40
[Music]
00:16:45
forensic toxicology proved phil rouse
00:16:48
had been poisoned by heavy metals and
00:16:51
similar poisons were found in the home
00:16:54
of his business partner steve white
00:16:58
but prosecutors didn't have enough
00:17:01
evidence to show how
00:17:03
phil rouse was poisoned
00:17:05
we were never able to prove conclusively
00:17:07
how he got these compounds into
00:17:10
mr rouse's system
00:17:12
we were able to prove that he had ample
00:17:14
opportunity
00:17:16
phil rouse recalled a number of
00:17:18
incidents with steve white marked by
00:17:20
unusual behavior
00:17:24
prior to his illness phil and steve were
00:17:27
having dinner at a local restaurant
00:17:30
not long after placing their order white
00:17:32
complained about the poor service
00:17:36
he got up and went into the kitchen
00:17:38
and came back with phil's entree but not
00:17:41
his own
00:17:46
there was another incident involving a
00:17:48
bottle of wine
00:17:50
mr white made a bottle of wine brought
00:17:52
it to mr rouse insisting that he drink
00:17:54
all of it
00:17:55
and insisting that he get the the bottle
00:17:58
back because he wanted to give mr ralph
00:18:00
some more
00:18:02
and white would often visit phil at home
00:18:05
to share a cup of coffee and talk about
00:18:07
work
00:18:09
but phil says steve would frequently ask
00:18:12
phil to get something from another room
00:18:15
leaving steve alone with the coffee
00:18:21
phil and kimo coelho both recalled a
00:18:24
time when white offered to get them
00:18:26
hamburgers for lunch
00:18:28
after eating these they became they both
00:18:30
became very ill
00:18:33
and they actually made a joke about how
00:18:35
they're never going to send steve white
00:18:37
after food again because it's going to
00:18:38
make us sick again
00:18:40
when confronted with the evidence
00:18:43
steve white denied any involvement with
00:18:46
phil's illness
00:18:48
his lawyer claimed that the accusations
00:18:50
were circumstantial and that there was
00:18:52
no proof white was in any way involved
00:18:56
the defense also pointed out that the
00:18:58
lab results showed only trace amounts of
00:19:00
the various heavy metals in rousey's
00:19:02
body but never a lethal amount
00:19:06
the prosecution claimed this was
00:19:08
intentional that mr white wanted phil to
00:19:12
die slowly after a prolonged illness so
00:19:16
there would be no suspicions
00:19:19
i hate to say ideal but it actually is
00:19:22
the ideal way of trying to harm someone
00:19:25
because if you're not
00:19:27
focused or you're not suspicious of it
00:19:30
the physician won't see it
00:19:32
the fact that there were poisons found
00:19:37
the amount of these poisons that it
00:19:39
would take to kill mr rouse was
00:19:41
irrelevant
00:19:42
the mere fact that the defendant had
00:19:44
arsenic
00:19:46
antimony lead
00:19:48
mercury
00:19:49
at his disposal
00:19:51
was the relevant fact
00:19:53
the prosecution says
00:19:55
the motive was money that phil rouse's
00:19:58
death would have enabled white to get
00:20:00
out of debt
00:20:01
white had over 90 thousand dollars in
00:20:04
credit card debt a substantial amount
00:20:06
for a public school teacher
00:20:09
the prosecution subpoenaed several
00:20:12
waitresses from the bartlett area all
00:20:14
attractive women with the same story
00:20:17
they said steve white was a very
00:20:19
generous tipper
00:20:21
in one instance for a fifteen dollar
00:20:23
check white tipped the waitress
00:20:25
sixty dollars
00:20:28
a hundred thousand dollar life insurance
00:20:30
policy could pay his way out of debt
00:20:33
if mr rouse had died he would also had
00:20:36
inherited a hundred percent of a
00:20:39
of a small business
00:20:42
after a week-long trial
00:20:44
the jury found steve white guilty of
00:20:47
first degree attempted murder theft and
00:20:50
sales tax violations
00:20:52
he was sentenced to 31 years in prison
00:20:56
if it hadn't been for the heavy metals
00:20:58
test and dr morgan
00:21:01
running all the
00:21:03
tests on my husband he would have been
00:21:05
dead
00:21:07
his antique automobile restoration
00:21:10
business
00:21:11
is now closed
00:21:14
to this day white maintains his
00:21:17
innocence
00:21:19
these people were our friends for 14
00:21:21
years i mean we thought they were our
00:21:23
friends
00:21:25
i i couldn't believe that he had made
00:21:27
that that charge against steve
00:21:32
i know steve didn't do it
00:21:34
phil still has numbness in his
00:21:36
extremities and is unable to walk due to
00:21:39
nerve damage
00:21:41
this guy that i know he was my business
00:21:43
partner he's going to jail
00:21:46
i don't know for how long
00:21:48
i don't know i may be crippled the rest
00:21:50
of my life
00:21:51
i said two families are devastated
00:21:55
who won today
00:21:57
you tell me
00:21:59
tell me you won here today
00:22:04
[Music]
00:22:10
[Music]
00:22:27
[Music]
00:22:36
you
