00:00:00
[AUDIO LOGO] [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] HOWARD R. SILLS:
The chief of police called me and told me that Seth
Perrault, one of his police
00:00:19
officers, his wife, was dead. Amanda Perrault was lying
on her back with her legs together.
00:00:30
Her arms were against
her body, with her hands cupped like this. Six or eight inches
from her right hand
00:00:41
was a magazine from a pistol. Another six inches on the bed,
from her left foot,
00:00:48
was the pistol. Something's not
right about this. REPORTER: This video
provided by a neighbor,
00:01:00
shows a threatening man. He's seen walking past
a home holding an ax. [MAN SCREAMING, DOG BARKING]
00:01:11
[DRAMATIC STINGS] HOWARD R. SILLS: This
is Long Island Drive. This is the street
where this occurred.
00:01:39
Other than the flowers
and things, it looks exactly
as it did that day. I got there,
and Seth Perrault was
00:01:51
sitting right in the middle
of those steps toward the front door. And he was sitting
there on those steps.
00:01:59
He had on a pair of short pants
with his face held in his hand. One of my officers was there.
00:02:06
- He was blubbering and not
making very much sense, just uncontrollably crying. When he disconnected
the call, he
00:02:18
just sat his cell phone down. I couldn't imagine what
he was going through. And I felt bad for the guy.
00:02:27
HOWARD R. SILLS: Any unattended
deaths in the state of Georgia have to be investigated
by a law enforcement agency.
00:02:44
NARRATOR: It's
early afternoon, and Sheriff Sills has
sealed off the home of Seth and Amanda Perrault.
00:02:57
HOWARD R. SILLS: I
look at the scene, and I shut out my emotions. OK? You have to.
00:03:04
You can't be objective. You can't concentrate
if you don't. When I walked in the room, I
saw her body first, the
00:03:15
bed, clothed. You've got the gun that's
been partially unloaded, shall we say. At least the magazine's
been removed.
00:03:25
I notice empty cigarettes,
empty fireball, which is some sort
of cinnamon-flavored whiskey
00:03:33
bottles, more in the trash can. You're trying to piece
together what happened. And that's what you're looking
for in every investigation.
00:03:44
NARRATOR: While the scene
is being processed, Sheriff Sills talks to the last
person to see 44-year-old
00:03:50
Amanda alive, her husband,
Eatonton City police officer, Seth Perrault. HOWARD R. SILLS: I
questioned Mr. Perrault.
00:03:59
And he was adamant that
he didn't move the body or move the gun or anything. [TENSE MUSIC]
00:04:16
As a detective, you're
a trained observer. You're looking
at everything all the time.
00:04:21
And then you find out
what they say happened, and then you go look some more. My priority was
to get Seth Perrault
00:04:30
to tell me what happened here. Let's get this guy downtown
and get him on the record.
00:04:39
Listen, Seth. I need to know what
happened today. SETH PERRAULT: I don't
know what to tell you.
00:04:44
HOWARD R. SILLS:
Were you in the room? SETH PERRAULT: Yes, sir. HOWARD R. SILLS: OK, where
were you in the room?
00:04:48
SETH PERRAULT: I was
sitting right there. But we were arguing, sir. And I had a .380.
00:04:52
And I put it in my nightstand. And she never once ever
said a word about it. I swear to God.
00:05:00
If I would have locked it
up, my wife wouldn't be dead. HOWARD R. SILLS: So she gets
it out of the nightstand
00:05:05
while you're laying in the bed? SETH PERRAULT:
Sher-- Sheriff, she got it before I ever lay down.
00:05:09
You know what she did? She looked at me and said,
I can't do it no more. And I was like, I
couldn't even say a word.
00:05:16
I couldn't even say a word. HOWARD R. SILLS: What happened? SETH PERRAULT: She looked
at me and said, I'm sorry.
00:05:24
I'm sorry I put
you through this. Boom. HOWARD R. SILLS:
The question, of course,
00:05:32
is, could this be a suicide? And the answer to that is yes. This could have been a suicide.
00:05:38
But a good detective
needs to approach all death investigations
as if it were a homicide.
00:05:50
[AMBIENT MUSIC] [CAMERA CLICKS] NARRATOR: Amanda is described
by her family as a free spirit,
00:06:00
warm, strong and resilient. A mom of two,
Amanda was separated from her first husband when she
met Seth Perrault in fall 2011.
00:06:14
Seth was also father
to a little girl. AMANDA PERRAULT: Hi, honey. Say hi, honey.
00:06:23
- Hi. - He doesn't want to say hi. NARRATOR: The relationship
blossomed, and the couple married,
celebrating the big day
00:06:35
with Amanda's children
and Seth's daughter. - She cared for him, and she
cared for his daughter.
00:06:47
She treated his daughter
as if she was her own. NARRATOR: Two years
after marrying Amanda,
00:06:53
Seth Perrault had qualified
as a police officer. He frequently crossed
paths with District
00:07:00
Attorney Wright Barksdale. WRIGHT BARKSDALE: He came to
the Eatonton Police Department.
00:07:07
I was familiar with him. I could say, good
morning, good afternoon. HOWARD R. SILLS: He
applied for a job here,
00:07:16
and I could have met
him in the lobby. That could have happened. If it did, I don't remember it.
00:07:26
NARRATOR: The couple moved into
a family home on Lake Oconee. HOWARD R. SILLS: Lake Oconee
area is a very affluent lake
00:07:36
community where people live. We hardly have any
calls out here. It's not just a low crime area.
00:07:42
It's kind of a zero crime area. NARRATOR: But now,
Amanda is dead. [TENSE MUSIC]
00:07:54
And police need to find
out what happened. HOWARD R. SILLS: We saw
a camera in the living room,
00:08:01
and then we saw that it had
that type of doorbell camera. NARRATOR: The doorbell footage
reveals something surprising.
00:08:10
One of Putnam County's own
deputies was at the property shortly before Seth called
in his wife's death.
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TERRELL ABERNATHY: It was
the middle of the day. I just was on routine patrol. Nothing seemed unusual.
00:08:31
Pulled up in the yard. There were no cars
in the driveway. I wasn't expecting much
of a response at the door.
00:08:40
I walk up to the front
door, ring the doorbell. NARRATOR: Deputy
Abernathy had gone
00:08:49
there to serve a fellow police
officer with a subpoena. TERRELL ABERNATHY: I didn't
know what the subpoena was for.
00:08:57
I assumed it was
a ticket or some case that Perrault had prosecuted. People in law enforcement, they
get subpoenas all the time.
00:09:09
There are numerous reasons
an officer would be served a subpoena at his house. I heard footsteps, but they
weren't coming to the door.
00:09:22
Eventually, these footfalls
approached the door and stopped. And I thought
to myself, why would
00:09:28
this guy not answer the door? You know that this is
the worst part of the job. Just take the paper and let
me get back on patrol.
00:09:38
And after about six
minutes of waiting around, I got back in my police car
and scribbled a little note
00:09:45
on the paper saying,
nobody answered the door, and went back on patrol. [WIND RUMBLING]
00:09:55
I think it was 28 minutes after
I left the Perrault house, my sergeant called
me on the cell phone.
00:10:02
And he told me to get
back to the house-- [TENSE MUSIC] --because Amanda
Perrault was dead.
00:10:11
HOWARD R. SILLS: The question
is, could this been a vendetta? Could there have
been a third party?
00:10:17
Yes. [FRANTIC MUSIC] NARRATOR: Using
the latest software, forensic video analysts can
extract hidden information
00:10:26
caught on camera. NICK BARREIRO:
At first glance, it seems like there's not a lot
of action happening here.
00:10:36
It looks like a deputy
ringing a doorbell and not receiving an answer. But since the deputy said
that he heard shuffling and
00:10:43
breathing noises
inside the house after he rang
the doorbell, I want to see if we can hear any of that.
00:10:49
[CLACKS] [WHITE NOISE] The audio is just not great. We can't hear much of anything.
00:11:00
He rings the doorbell. We can hear the click. And then after that, there's
some very faint sounds.
00:11:06
I want to be able to hear the
audio as clearly as possible to see if there's
anything happening
00:11:11
inside this house that's
captured on this camera. There we go. [FAINT THUMPING SOUNDS]
00:11:24
So now I noticed that there's
this rhythmic anomaly. [FAINT THUMPING SOUNDS] Sounds a bit odd.
00:11:33
So I'm gonna make
a simple gain adjustment and bring the volume up
to almost its maximum.
00:11:39
And now we'll
listen again to see if we can hear anything else. [MOUSE CLICKS] [RHYTHMIC RUMBLING SOUNDS]
00:11:51
The sounds are very rhythmic,
which could be footsteps, could be rapid
breathing, or it could
00:11:57
be an artifact created
by the camera itself in the way that it's recording the audio.
00:12:02
So we can't
definitively say what this weird rhythmic sound
actually is, but it's
00:12:08
possible that it's footsteps. It's possible that
it's breathing. [AMBIENT MUSIC]
00:12:17
[CARS WHOOSHING] [TENSE MUSIC] NARRATOR: Detectives
search for witnesses who can shed some light
on the victim and her husband.
00:12:32
- I instructed
deputies to go house to house, ask
the neighbors what they knew about these people,
this, that, and the other.
00:12:41
- All I knew is that
the guy was a policeman, and that his wife was dead,
and that he had a daughter.
00:12:48
I didn't know him. The neighbors knew him. It took 12 hours
to interview these people.
00:12:57
And the stories that they
told-- horrific tales. HOWARD R. SILLS: We
found a long history
00:13:04
of them observing
Perrault assault her, constant loud arguments
and things of that nature.
00:13:17
WRIGHT BARKSDALE: Sheriff
Sills talked with the sisters of Amanda Perrault. HOWARD R. SILLS: I
asked them, have there
00:13:23
been any history of domestic
quarreling of any kind or violence between the two?
00:13:29
And they said, my God, yes. He was very controlling
person when it came to Amanda.
00:13:36
I mean, she had no way
to even leave the house unless he took her and,
according to her family,
00:13:42
kept constant tabs on her and
things like that all the time. WRIGHT BARKSDALE: That
demonstrated a history of abuse
00:13:51
and echoed the same type
stories that the neighbors talked about. HOWARD R. SILLS:
One of the neighbors
00:13:59
said they were reluctant
to call because he was a police officer. - All of them were
so afraid of him
00:14:07
that they never
reported any of this. They were afraid that the cops
would look after another cop.
00:14:15
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] NARRATOR: The neighbors
paint a disturbing picture. And yet Amanda gave
everything to Seth.
00:14:24
TERRELL ABERNATHY: Amanda
cared for Perrault. He had gone through some
type of cancer treatment.
00:14:30
And she had spent her
inheritance from her father in maintaining the household
during his illness.
00:14:37
[CAMERA CLICKS] WRIGHT BARKSDALE: Seth
Perrault was somebody that was never really on stable ground.
00:14:44
He came from a father
of wealthy means or at least had some
financial resources.
00:14:52
The house that he was living
in was purchased by his dad. But Seth just was
a guy that never
00:14:59
could really hold that steady
job, from what I gathered. NARRATOR: According
to family and neighbors,
00:15:04
heavy drinking helped
fuel his anger. TERRELL ABERNATHY: I was
just shocked by the things
00:15:10
that the neighbors
were telling me-- screaming
and yelling, and times when Perrault would
grab Amanda by the hair,
00:15:18
yank her on the ground
and kick her. They talked about
how Amanda had cared for Perrault's
daughter, how
00:15:25
she would shield the little
girl from her father's abuse. When the neighbors had asked
Amanda why she didn't leave,
00:15:36
she told them that she
had stayed to defend the little girl from her dad. [CAMERA CLICKS]
00:15:43
The image of Amanda
that I got was of a woman who had surrendered
her independence, both
00:15:50
physically and financially,
to Perrault. After hearing what a horrifically toxic
environment was in that house,
00:16:02
I thought maybe this is
something that you might try to escape by killing yourself.
00:16:09
[OMINOUS MUSIC] NARRATOR: A week
before Amanda's death, things came to a head. She called 911.
00:16:28
DISPATCHER: How may I help you? AMANDA PERRAULT: Um, yes, can
you please send an officer out?
00:16:32
DISPATCHER: What is your name? AMANDA PERRAULT:
Amanda Perrault. DISPATCHER: OK,
and what's going on today?
00:16:37
AMANDA PERRAULT:
It's my husband. He's putting his hands on me-- DISPATCHER: Who is?
00:16:40
AMANDA PERRAULT: My husband. He works for Eatonton
Police Department. DISPATCHER: What's his name?
00:16:45
AMANDA PERRAULT:
Michael Seth Perrault. He has put his hands on me. He's putting his
finger in my face,
00:16:52
and pushing me
against the wall, and putting his
hands on my neck. DISPATCHER: OK.
All righty.
00:16:57
We'll get somebody
out there, OK? AMANDA PERRAULT:
Thank you very much. DISPATCHER: Yes, ma'am.
Bye-bye.
00:17:01
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] NARRATOR: Putnam County
deputies arrested Perrault for domestic violence.
00:17:10
HOWARD R. SILLS:
Obviously, when you arrest a police officer,
that's not something
00:17:14
that happens very often. But you commit a crime,
you will be arrested. NARRATOR: Perrault
was released on bond.
00:17:22
At his bond hearing, the judge
asked Amanda if she wanted protection from her husband?
00:17:28
- Typically, a lot of times
with domestic violence cases, the court would
make a condition of bond
00:17:34
that the person could not have
any contact with the person thereafter until
the case was disposed of.
00:17:39
Amanda was here. And the judge asked,
did she want that to be a condition of bond?
00:17:45
And she said, no. - It's very typical
of domestic violence victims to start blaming themselves.
00:17:53
It's very typical of them
staying with the abuser. NARRATOR: Six days
after Perrault's arrest,
00:18:03
Amanda was dead. Detectives want
to know more about what went on behind closed doors.
00:18:10
- We were very, very interested
in having a recorded interview with Seth's daughter,
telling us whatever the child
00:18:20
knew about their relationship. NARRATOR: The eight-year-old
lived with Seth, who had
00:18:24
custody, and stepmom Amanda. HOWARD R. SILLS: He was
concerned about losing custody of his daughter.
00:18:30
And who told us that? The daughter. [DARK AMBIENT MUSIC] After Seth had been
arrested for that incident
00:18:39
of domestic violence,
the daughter slept that night
in the room with Amanda, after Seth went to jail.
00:18:48
And she told us that
Amanda told her, if he loses custody because
of me calling the sheriff,
00:18:59
he's gonna kill me dead. Out of the mouth of babes. NARRATOR: This
shocking revelation
00:19:10
strengthens detectives'
suspicions about Seth Perrault. WRIGHT BARKSDALE:
You ask yourself,
00:19:17
why would this full-of-life
lady kill herself? Law enforcement continued
their investigation
00:19:26
into the case,
which involved going through Amanda
Perrault's cell phone. Her cell phone contained
some images and
00:19:36
videos that further
supported the abuse that was taking place. We were able to get evidence
from that phone that
00:19:45
went all the way back
six months before, photos of Amanda where she had
documented getting punched and
00:19:51
busted lips, black eyes. And we were able to recover
a video of the defendant where he's just extremely
angry, this back
00:20:02
and forth verbal lashing. - It's sad.
It's sad. Because you know what? I married you.
00:20:08
And I'm not gonna-- I'm-- dude, you're done.
AMANDA PERRAULT: I'm done? WRIGHT BARKSDALE:
It just painted
00:20:12
this picture of a relationship
that was fueled by violence and alcohol. AMANDA PERRAULT: I want
to have a good weekend.
00:20:18
- You burned that
up when you tried to put that phone in my face. AMANDA PERRAULT: What
phone In your face?
00:20:22
- Oh, right there.
Oh, your [MUTED] video taping. AMANDA PERRAULT: Yeah, because
you're beating a [MUTED]
00:20:25
and I'm gonna
show you tomorrow. - Oh, you didn't
videotape all the [MUTED] when you hit me and smack me?
00:20:29
AMANDA PERRAULT: Hit you? You [MUTED] choked me
eight [MUTED] times! NARRATOR: Evidence of abuse
is not the only thing
00:20:35
that Amanda's phone reveals. WRIGHT BARKSDALE: What we
did find in her cell phone
00:20:41
on that day, she was
googling homes for sale. She was googling for how
to gain access to a government
00:20:51
assistance card. Those are not typically
searches of somebody that hours later shoots
himself in the head.
00:21:00
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] HOWARD R. SILLS: You're out
on bond for domestic violence. SETH PERRAULT: Yes, sir.
I know.
00:21:12
HOWARD R. SILLS:
That's horrible. SETH PERRAULT: It does--
it looks horrible. I've got all these charges
on me, and I'm a good officer.
00:21:19
And I've put my-- my whole
life has been to serve the law. I've never done anything wrong.
00:21:26
And then I get arrested. And I'm so sorry
this happened, man. Like, I mean, I lost a family.
00:21:36
And I lost my wife, you know? And I told my wife. I said, they can
take me to jail.
00:21:43
They can prosecute me. They can put me
through fire, man. But I'm not gonna
let my wife-- she
00:21:49
hated to see my reputation
destroyed on the news because she knows what
a good police officer I am.
00:21:55
It was like, my whole
name got destroyed, and she got-- every time
she'd go click on Facebook,
00:22:02
like, there it is, there
it is, there it is. I'm not a social media person. She is.
00:22:07
And she saw everything. And she saw my-- I'm a good police officer, sir.
- There we go.
00:22:13
SETH PERRAULT: I'm not
worried about that. - I'm a good police officer. SETH PERRAULT: I
mean, look at me.
00:22:18
- Look at me. SETH PERRAULT: I'm
a-- a good officer. - I'm a good officer. I'm a good officer.
00:22:29
How many times have
we heard that already? If my wife's dead, I don't
need to brag about myself.
00:22:40
We talked for almost an hour. But he was not
interested in anything but telling me what a good
police officer he was
00:22:49
and how we wrongfully
arrested him, which is a bizarre attitude
to take when your wife is dead.
00:22:59
[DARK AMBIENT MUSIC] It was about Seth. It was not about Amanda. SETH PERRAULT: She was
like, your whole reputation
00:23:11
is destroyed. And I was-- I'm a good
police officer, man. You know, she was going down
here to give you a statement.
00:23:17
And I knew if she
came down here. it was a false
statement and a felony. And she got depressed.
00:23:24
I was like, don't go
[MUTED] yourself up. Don't go in there
and get in the newspaper.
00:23:29
I'm already in the newspaper. I said, please don't go down
to the sheriff's department
00:23:33
and do that.
They're gonna arrest you. And they're gonna
sit there, and they're gonna [MUTED]
take-- they're gonna charge
00:23:38
you for false statement. She was coming down to say
I lied because she did. Sorry, Sheriff, she did.
00:23:45
I'm not gonna
evade my wife now. I'm not gonna do that. - I'm not gonna do anythi--
00:23:50
I'm not gonna, you know, say
anything bad about my wife. But she lied. OK? I just got through telling
him, I want to know
00:23:57
about what happened today. And here we are right back
again about him being arrested.
00:24:03
SETH PERRAULT: It's hard.
I mean-- HOWARD R. SILLS:
What killed her? SETH PERRAULT: --because I
just sat there and watched
00:24:08
my wife execute herself.
HOWARD R. SILLS: But tell me-- "Execute." That's a unusual term here.
00:24:12
Never in my career have I ever
heard anyone use that term. My wife executed herself.
00:24:23
Never heard that before. So yes, from that
point on, I was very suspicious of Perrault.
00:24:37
NARRATOR: Adding
to Sheriff Sill's suspicion is the crime scene. HOWARD R. SILLS: You
can't get over this body.
00:24:44
It's the 800-pound
gorilla in the room. It doesn't take
a PhD in forensics to know that this body did
not get in this position
00:25:01
after the person had shot
themselves in the head. This body has been
positioned as if it had been
00:25:11
done by the funeral director. [CAMERA CLICKS] Her body could not have
been in that position
00:25:19
after a press contact
wound to the brain. When you shoot
yourself, the gun's gonna drop wherever you are.
00:25:27
It's not gonna unload itself. [CAMERA CLICKS] There's no way to look
at this picture
00:25:33
and tell how many people were
in the room when this occurred. That's impossible.
00:25:37
Could've been no one. But that's ruled out. How? The positioning of the body,
the gun, the magazine.
00:25:44
Somebody's
manipulated this body. I want to know how this
body got in this position.
00:25:52
How did this magazine
end up where it is? And then I want to know, how
did the gun end up over here?
00:25:59
How did that happen? The only person who I'm
aware of that was there was Seth Perrault.
00:26:09
[DARK AMBIENT MUSIC] NARRATOR: Less than 30
minutes before Perrault told police of his
wife's death,
00:26:15
Deputy Abernathy was
ringing on their doorbell. - Then you look at the paper
and little service sheet,
00:26:23
and you're just
waiting and waiting. And then you can
see on my face, I could hear the footsteps
inside the house.
00:26:35
So I'm waiting on the person
to come to the door. [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] It never happened.
00:26:45
NARRATOR: It's important
to establish the precise timing of Deputy Abernathy's visit.
00:26:51
NICK BARREIRO: I noticed
that there's no time stamp on the screen for this video.
00:26:56
So to get an accurate
time that this video was actually recorded, I'm
looking at the metadata.
00:27:01
This is tremendously
valuable for an investigation because the metadata
records an accurate
00:27:09
date and time that
this doorbell was actually rang by the deputy. So if we look
at the first one, it
00:27:15
shows that the file was created
on February 3 of 2020 at 18:11. Oftentimes, the date and time
that's stored in the metadata
00:27:25
is stored in UTC time
or Universal Coordinated Time, military time. And since we know that this
occurred in the Eastern Time
00:27:34
Zone, we know that the offset
would place the true time at 1:11 PM in the afternoon.
00:27:41
[CLICKS] We know exactly when
the deputy rang the doorbell. And this is the time that
he said he heard sounds
00:27:49
coming from inside the house. And we know that
the call came in at 1:36, which was just 25
minutes after the deputy
00:27:57
was ringing the doorbell. So then the question is, what
happened in the meantime?
00:28:02
The nature of those
sounds that he heard, in combination
with the date and time that's recorded
in this video,
00:28:11
allows investigators
to paint a picture of what was happening at that time. [SCARE CHORD]
00:28:18
TERRELL ABERNATHY:
I can't help but think about whether
or not Amanda was already dead when I got there.
00:28:25
If the scene was being
staged, if maybe the killer worried that the shot
had been heard,
00:28:34
that's why the police
were there. It's scary to think
about this guy standing on the other side of the door.
00:28:41
Yeah, it's entirely likely
that I interrupted something. - There's no doubt that Seth
Perrault is in that house.
00:28:51
It raised a red flag to us. Why didn't you open the door? Why didn't you open the door?
00:28:57
You're law enforcement. He's law enforcement. Why wouldn't you open the door? I believe in my heart
of hearts that Seth Perrault
00:29:09
was interrupted in staging
his wife's murder by Deputy Terrell Abernathy. I think it spooked him.
00:29:17
It interrupted him. He panicked. You can feel through
the investigation of this case,
00:29:24
maybe it's a suicide,
but something's wrong, to maybe it's a murder. And it felt like,
as the investigation just
00:29:31
kept moving forward, it
was, this is a murder. [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] NARRATOR: The evidence
against Perrault is mounting.
00:29:49
- This is a note
we found written in Amanda Perrault's
handwriting, where she basically says that
she was not coherent
00:29:58
when she called
the sheriff's office and reported
the assault. She'd taken some medication, had alcohol,
and that he never touched her.
00:30:08
Now, the note in itself
is suspicious. OK? This thing is
perfectly written. The script is perfect.
00:30:17
There's no smudges. There's no misspelled words. This is obviously
scripted, in my opinion.
00:30:27
What did Perrault's main
thing he was talking about? Not about the body,
not about the suicide.
00:30:32
What did he talk about? He talked about how he
had been wrongly arrested. And this is a document
that he thought
00:30:41
was gonna be presented
to the sheriff's office to get him out of the
trouble he was in in that case.
00:30:47
It doesn't say, I'm
gonna kill myself. It says, I'm willing
to take the punishment
00:30:51
I deserve for what I've done. I don't know how
the hell you call-- you get suicide out of that.
00:30:57
That's not what this is. This is a concocted note that
he has convinced her to write.
00:31:03
(FACETIOUSLY) Because he's
a good police officer, OK, and he shouldn't
have been arrested.
00:31:09
[AMBIENT MUSIC] NARRATOR: Then Amanda's
autopsy report is released. WRIGHT BARKSDALE: The Georgia
Bureau of Investigation
00:31:32
issued a report,
and that report indicated that she lost her
life by being shot with a gun
00:31:42
and that the medical examiner's
classified it as suicide. [DRAMATIC MUSIC] HOWARD R. SILLS: You're
talking about a shock.
00:31:51
That was a shock. I mean, I was flabbergasted. Literally, I thought it
was a typographical error
00:31:58
from some other case, you know
what I'm saying, that got-- and the transcriptions
got mixed up.
00:32:09
[FRANTIC MUSIC] NARRATOR: The medical
examiner's conclusion is based on the evidence
collected by the Georgia Bureau
00:32:18
of Investigation. Sheriff Sills called them
in to document the crime scene. WRIGHT BARKSDALE: You
have to understand
00:32:27
that to process a crime
scene could take hours, or it could take days. And so Sheriff Sills
wanted the Bureau
00:32:35
to process the scene, careful
and diligent and really taking their time, while he was
gonna conduct the interview
00:32:42
of Seth Perrault. HOWARD R. SILLS: When we use
the term "process a crime scene," that means
documenting what you see--
00:32:50
photographs, measurements,
and things like that. But the crime scene
technicians had this theory
00:32:57
that she shot herself. And therefore, if someone shot
her and had been standing here,
00:33:05
there would literally
be an outline of a man. There wouldn't be any
blood splatter on that wall
00:33:12
because that would have
been on the person. Now, I did not call them
to investigate this case.
00:33:20
I called them as crime
scene technicians to document the scene
and collect evidence.
00:33:28
I didn't request them
to come up with any theories. They didn't know anything
at all about the investigation.
00:33:37
And that doctor said to me, I
have to go by what they say. It doesn't matter
about anything else.
00:33:43
Well, that's a hell
of a note, isn't it? It didn't hinder
my investigation, but it was an obstacle
that we were gonna have
00:33:51
to prove incorrect to a jury. NARRATOR: With the autopsy
report concluding the death as suicide,
detectives
00:34:11
want to gather more evidence. SETH PERRAULT: We took
my daughter to school. HOWARD R. SILLS: Who
took her to school?
00:34:21
SETH PERRAULT: We both did.
HOWARD R. SILLS: You drove? SETH PERRAULT: Yes, sir.
00:34:23
We got her there by 7:35. HOWARD R. SILLS: Then after
that, what'd y'all do? SETH PERRAULT: We stopped,
got gas, and we came home.
00:34:29
HOWARD R. SILLS: Never went
back-- never left the house? SETH PERRAULT: We went--
we got cigarettes.
00:34:34
HOWARD R. SILLS: You left the
house and went and cigarettes? SETH PERRAULT: Yes, sir.
00:34:36
HOWARD R. SILLS:
Where was that at? SETH PERRAULT: Uh, Citgo.
Right there on the--
00:34:39
HOWARD R. SILLS: ...
SETH PERRAULT: Yes, sir. - And he's talking about
a little store right
00:34:42
down the road from this house. About what time is that? SETH PERRAULT:
Before 10 o'clock.
00:34:46
I mean, we didn't go--
Sheriff, we didn't go anywhere. We didn't go anywhere
the entire day.
00:34:50
- We didn't go anywhere
the entire day. SETH PERRAULT: I mean,
you can sit there
00:34:53
and tell me all you want, man. HOWARD R. SILLS: You're
talking way more than I am, so.
00:34:57
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] NARRATOR: Deputies
check Perrault's story. WRIGHT BARKSDALE:
Law enforcement
00:35:02
went to this
particular gas station to ask for the surveillance
footage, and he wasn't there.
00:35:10
What we knew was that
there was a gas station in close proximity
to the Perrault home
00:35:16
that had a liquor
store connected to it. That led law enforcement
to ask for the surveillance
00:35:26
footage of that gas station. [TENSE MUSIC] And lo and behold, at roughly
10:30 that morning,
00:35:36
you see Seth Perrault walk
in with a ball cap, some pants on, and a Pink Floyd shirt.
00:35:45
HOWARD R. SILLS: Seth
Perrault goes into the store and buys some
cigarettes or something.
00:35:50
The wife purchases the Fireball
Cinnamon Whisky stuff, then circles back around.
00:35:57
And then Seth gets
in the car, wearing totally different clothing than
he is a couple hours later.
00:36:06
Where's the clothing that he's
depicted wearing in the store? Where do we find it?
00:36:10
[CAMERA CLICKS] The washing machine. It proves that he's a liar. He went to a liquor
store 8 miles away,
00:36:20
and he's changed clothes. That became crucial
evidence, too. WRIGHT BARKSDALE: That
gave us a timeline.
00:36:27
It helped poke
a hole in his story. NARRATOR: And that's not all. A witness gives detectives an
incredible piece of testimony.
00:36:38
TERRELL ABERNATHY:
The next door neighbor told me that Amanda had,
on more than one occasion,
00:36:42
told her that if she wound
up dead, that Perrault's the one that did it. In fact, she had gone
so far as to say that she
00:36:52
wouldn't commit suicide. And if her death was
ruled as suicide, she wanted the neighbor
to demand that it
00:37:00
be investigated as a homicide. [CAMERA CLICKS] WRIGHT BARKSDALE:
With any murder,
00:37:05
you ask yourself, what is
the motivating factor here? In this case, this was
a law enforcement officer.
00:37:13
And what we were
able to uncover was that he was extremely
concerned about losing his job.
00:37:22
And that's demonstrated by his
interview with Sheriff Sills. SETH PERRAULT: I'm a good
police officer, sir.
00:37:28
- There we go. I'm a good police officer. - And then you go to the
interview with his daughter.
00:37:36
And she tells
the forensic interviewers that Amanda told her, if your
daddy loses custody of you,
00:37:45
he's gonna shoot me dead. And the last reason is he
came to the realization that he was about to lose
control of Amanda.
00:37:56
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] HOWARD R. SILLS: Do I
have enough evidence to sustain probable cause?
00:38:00
And I thought I
had more than that. I obtained the arrest
warrant and went and personally arrested him
myself up in Newton County.
00:38:09
He didn't resist. Brought him back here. Booked, fingerprinted,
photographed, just like any
other prisoner, and
00:38:16
then brought before a judge. And then he was transported
on to the Jones County Jail.
00:38:25
NARRATOR: The medical
examiner's finding of suicide hangs over the case. But while Perrault
awaits trial,
00:38:33
prosecutors get a major break. - I'm sitting
in my office, and I get a phone call from
the sheriff of Jones County.
00:38:42
And he says, Howard-- [CHUCKLES] uh, his cellmates
told us some stuff. You better come over here.
00:38:50
And he sat there
and told me that Perrault had told him how he did it. And I said, well,
explain it to me.
00:38:58
And he said, well, he
had gotten her drunk and given her pills
to the point where she was
00:39:07
just completely zonked out. And that he was
in the bed and holding her up some way in the bed
with her when he shot her.
00:39:16
OK. And that certainly
answered any questions there might have been about
blood spatter or things
00:39:23
like that. He knew details that
he could not have known had Perrault not told him.
00:39:30
[CAMERA CLICKS] I didn't offer
this man anything. He had someone close
to him or a relative that
00:39:37
was a victim of continual
domestic abuse, is what he said was
his impetus for it.
00:39:45
There was no quid pro quo. NARRATOR: Two years
after Amanda's death, Seth Perrault goes on trial.
00:39:57
He pleads not guilty
to charges of malice murder, felony murder,
and aggravated assault.
00:40:03
- In the opening
statement of this trial, I wanted to hit head on the
worst piece of evidence we had,
00:40:09
that being the autopsy report. [CAMERA CLICKS] HOWARD R. SILLS:
The district attorney
00:40:14
mentioned that right off the
bat in his opening argument. If you know that
something's coming up
00:40:18
that may be contentious
or cast some sort of doubt, then let the jury
know that you know it,
00:40:25
and you're telling them that. - I flat out told
the jury, this is what the autopsy report says.
00:40:32
But you're about
to have enough evidence to fill a wheelbarrow up
as to why Seth Perrault is
00:40:39
guilty of murder. We showed the door camera
video because it showed us the timeline from
1:10 in the afternoon
00:40:49
to when he calls the police
department and reports it. TERRELL ABERNATHY: I was
asked to testify in the trial
00:40:56
because I bracketed
the time frame. During my testimony,
I recounted that I heard
someone in the house
00:41:04
and that they refused
to open the door. [DARK AMBIENT MUSIC] WRIGHT BARKSDALE: Seth
Perrault was in that house,
00:41:09
and he didn't come to the door. Why didn't he come to the door? He didn't come to the door
because his wife's
00:41:16
dead in his master bedroom. That Ring camera
footage was critically important to our case in being
able to establish that timeline
00:41:31
and leave the jury wondering,
why didn't he answer the door? HOWARD R. SILLS: I think it was
the totality of the evidence.
00:41:42
There were key things-- the impossibility of the body
being in that position, the neighbor Amanda
told, all the neighbors
00:41:51
knowing about the domestic
violence against Amanda, the physical evidence. And may be the most
profound thing
00:42:00
was what the little
girl had said. And Perrault's interview,
it's all about Perrault,
00:42:08
not about Amanda. SETH PERRAULT: She hated
to see my reputation destroyed on the news
because she knows what
00:42:14
a good police officer I am. - Not about anything but, hey,
I'm a great police officer.
00:42:23
SETH PERRAULT: It was like,
my whole name got destroyed. - Our evidence just
was overwhelming.
00:42:30
NARRATOR: On day
four of the trial, the jury decides
Perrault's fate. - It took the jury
roughly three hours,
00:42:38
give or take,
to reach a verdict. They came back with
a guilty verdict. - Perrault was convicted
of malice murder, and
00:42:47
felony murder,
aggravated assault, and simple battery, which
is a family violence crime.
00:42:53
[DRAMATIC MUSIC] [CLACKS] NARRATOR: The doorbell
footage proved crucial. HOWARD R. SILLS:
Door camera footage
00:43:00
and surveillance
videos in general continue to solve crime. It recorded the time when
a deputy sheriff went
00:43:09
to a police officer's house. Who knows what Seth
Perrault would have done if that hadn't occurred?
00:43:17
I don't believe it would have
been reported in 15 minutes, do you? NARRATOR: Seth Perrault is
sentenced to life in prison
00:43:25
without parole. - Seth Perrault got
what he deserved in the eyes
of the law, and it was
00:43:32
a great relief for her family. [FRANTIC MUSIC] Her sisters, I know, were
very emotional about having
00:43:43
some sense of closure. These cases are always sad. Even when you get a great
result in a courtroom,
00:43:51
these families are still left
with a big hole in their life. TERRELL ABERNATHY: When I
heard about the sentence,
00:43:59
I was relieved. Life without parole,
that means nobody else has to be this man's victim.
00:44:08
WRIGHT BARKSDALE: Through the
course of this investigation, what we realized was
the motivating factor
00:44:14
here was twofold. His answer to saving his job
was to eliminate the problem. His answer to making sure he
maintained custody of his child
00:44:24
was to eliminate the problem. And the problem was
Amanda Perrault. NARRATOR: Seth Perrault's
daughter now lives
00:44:34
with her biological mother. WRIGHT BARKSDALE:
My prayers are with her. This little girl, she's got
to live with the fact that
00:44:43
somebody that she loved very
much, in Amanda Perrault-- and she did love Amanda--
00:44:47
is gone. She's got to try
to grapple with the idea that her daddy, who she loved,
was responsible for that.
00:44:56
- I feel so sorry
for that little girl. I felt sorry for her then,
as soon as I found out
00:45:02
what that household was like. [DRAMATIC MUSIC] WRIGHT BARKSDALE: This case,
from the very beginning to
00:45:12
the very end, was devastating. But the part that was
just crippling to us was the person that murdered
Amanda was her husband
00:45:25
and was somebody that was
walking around with a badge. HOWARD R. SILLS:
Does this cause
00:45:30
a mark on all of our badges? Yes, but it doesn't
mean that law enforcement officers
are bad because, who
00:45:39
caught this police officer? Other police officers. Who gets the bad guy with
a gun is a good guy with a gun.
00:45:50
- I do believe
that this case can serve as a warning
for everybody that no matter who
you are, you can
00:45:58
be a victim
of domestic violence, and you can be a perpetrator
of domestic violence.
00:46:04
And if you see
something, call 911. Call somebody. Ask for help. [CAMERA CLICKS]
00:46:12
HOWARD R. SILLS: He thought
he'd be able to continue to be a police officer. Well, he picked
the wrong damn county
00:46:17
for all of those thoughts. OK? I mean, that's the bottom line. He picked the wrong place.
00:46:22
[CAMERA CLICKS] [AMBIENT MUSIC] [THEME MUSIC] [AUDIO LOGO]