00:00:03
[theme music] NARRATOR: A deadly fall
in rural Pennsylvania. NARRATOR: A small town left
shell-shocked by the death
00:00:24
of a loving wife and mother. - Carol's death
rocked the community. It was just so unexpected
and so surprising.
00:00:32
- I think both of us
felt sick in our stomachs and emotional,
like, just a shock.
00:00:39
NARRATOR: Was it simply
a tragic accident-- - Perhaps Carol somehow fallen
in the bedroom and bled.
00:00:45
Gone outside for fresh air,
and stumbled down the stairs and died. NARRATOR: --or was it murder?
00:00:53
INVESTIGATOR: Were
you at the house on the day of Carol's death? - Yes-- no. INVESTIGATOR: OK.
00:00:59
OK. - They knew at that
point that they had a bigger case on their hands. [theme music]
00:01:17
[stirring music] JENNIFER KINGSLEY:
Carol Hickok was born Carol Miller on June 30, 1945.
00:01:29
She was the second
oldest of 10 children. Carol, to help her
family, took a job delivering
newspapers, and that's
00:01:36
where she met Roger Hickok. And Carol and Roger Hickok
married on May 9, 1964. NARRATOR: The couple went
on to have three children
00:01:47
and raised them
in rural Pennsylvania. BETTY THOREN: My name
is Betty Thoren, and I first met Carol
in 1968 at church.
00:01:59
We were new when we moved
here to Canton, Pennsylvania, and she was one of the first
gals that I met.
00:02:08
Canton is a very
small rural town. I believe the population
when we came was about 3,000.
00:02:15
And you had 30 miles plus
to go either way north or south to a larger city to shop.
00:02:22
And people often know what's
going on in your business before you know it. JENNIFER KINGSLEY: It's
a very tight knit community.
00:02:28
Everybody knows everybody. And, you know, there's small
mom and pop kind of businesses there.
00:02:33
And then you go
to the outer lands. It's very rural
and it's very bucolic. You know, it's dotted
with beautiful red barns.
00:02:39
And at one time, it was
a large dairy community. There were a lot of farms here.
00:02:45
BETTY THOREN: Roger had
a farm, and Roger became a very successful veal farmer. Carol also had her own
little veal business,
00:02:55
and she did very
well with that. She was respected. She was a businesswoman. She ran the business for them.
00:03:02
She did a very good
job, and was a good mom to her three children. NARRATOR: Life seemed pretty
good for Roger and Carol.
00:03:14
But in 1996, their relationship
changed forever. - By all accounts,
you know, Roger and
00:03:22
Carol were living a good life. She was a good wife. She was a devoted mother,
well revered in the community.
00:03:29
And for one reason or another,
Roger met Emily, and they began a 15-year affair.
00:03:38
NARRATOR: After Emily
Bellows-Schaffer and Roger started
a relationship, he made
00:03:42
no secret of their affair. BETTY THOREN: Roger would
spend time with Emily, and he would go
home with Carol.
00:03:50
And she would make these
wonderful meals and pies and welcome him home. And then he would be with
Emily the other times.
00:03:59
And there was a cabin
above their home that Emily did stay
in from time to time.
00:04:05
Carol did know that
Emily was there. She told me. Not everyone could do
that, or would do that.
00:04:11
She did that, and she
chose to do it because she thought it
was right, regardless
00:04:15
of what anyone said. A mutual friend told
my husband that he knew that Roger had a little
boy, a child with Emily.
00:04:26
It was never
difficult to believe, but my husband assured
me that it was so, and that they had a little boy.
00:04:32
NARRATOR: The existence
of Roger and Emily's son, Charlie, would
eventually be learned
00:04:37
by Bradford County District
Attorney Daniel Barrett. DANIEL BARRETT: After the son
was born, at one point,
00:04:43
Roger had started
a divorce from Carol. But Emily, I guess, abandoned
Roger at that point,
00:04:50
and then Roger
and Carol reconciled. BETTY THOREN: She said, people
want to know why I'm still
00:04:55
here, basically, with Roger. She said, I don't feel that the
Lord wants me to divorce Roger.
00:05:02
I know I'm to stay here, and
that's what I'm going to do. - And then when
Emily wasn't taking
00:05:09
very good care
of her child, Roger got involved in seeking
custody of the child because the child needed care.
00:05:18
Carol was a religious woman. She enjoyed children. And she willingly accepted
Charlie into her home.
00:05:28
And they built their life
around the child. NARRATOR: Carol,
Roger, and Charlie were living together
as a family,
00:05:37
when, in the early hours
of September 15, 2010, everything changed. An occasional insomniac, Roger
was having trouble sleeping.
00:05:48
DANIEL BARRETT:
On the morning of the 15th, Roger Hickok woke up. And as he commonly did, he
headed to a nearby coffee shop
00:05:55
to get coffee and talk
with his friends. NARRATOR: After arriving
at the cafe in Canton,
00:06:02
Roger sat and drank
coffee for several hours. DANIEL BARRETT:
And after a while,
00:06:08
it was getting near
school bus time, so he called home
to make sure that his son
00:06:12
was on the school bus. His wife didn't answer. His son answered the phone. And his son said
that he didn't know
00:06:21
where Mimi was, because Mimi is
what he called his stepmother. - A few minutes later, Charlie
calls his father and says,
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mom is outside
at the bottom of the steps. She's unresponsive. She's not moving.
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I need you here. - Roger then was stunned
and called for 911 help because he knew something
horrible had to have happened.
00:07:12
NARRATOR: Roger
raced home to find Carol at the bottom
of some steps, unresponsive
and covered in blood
00:07:19
from what looked like a severe
head wound after a tragic fall. - Carol was showing
no signs of life,
00:07:25
and Roger recognized
that she was dead. He and his son
just said a prayer and waited for the emergency
personnel to arrive.
00:07:35
NARRATOR: At 8:16
AM, the coroner arrived to find Carol Hickok's
body wrapped in a blanket.
00:07:42
And she was officially
pronounced dead at the scene. [stirring music] News of Carol's
sudden, tragic death
00:07:54
spread quickly
to family and friends. BETTY THOREN: We received
a phone call about 20
00:08:01
after 8:00 from
a friend who told us that Carol had passed away. I think both of us felt
sick in our stomachs
00:08:09
and emotional,
like, just a shock. My husband and I-- Larry and I just,
just sat down.
00:08:17
And how could this be? AMBER HAQUE: Carol's
family were devastated by her sudden death.
00:08:23
They struggled to comprehend
how they were going to move on with their life. They just said it was the most
heartbreaking thing that they'd
00:08:29
ever had to comprehend. JENNIFER KINGSLEY: Carol's
death rocked the community. It was just so unexpected
and so surprising
00:08:36
because she was
a vibrant, healthy woman. And here, something so
seemingly simple took her out.
00:08:45
NARRATOR: Carol's
death appeared to be a tragic accident
from a fatal fall down the rear
steps of her home.
00:08:52
But when first responders
entered the house, they found there might
be more to the story
00:08:57
than they realized. - In the master bedroom,
it became very clear that something big happened.
00:09:06
There was a lot of blood. There was blood
on the corner of the dresser. There was blood on the floor.
00:09:14
Investigators found
blood on the bed, but the comforter had
been removed from the bed
00:09:19
and placed
in a washing machine, still covered in blood. The washing machine
had not been turned on.
00:09:27
DANIEL BARRETT:
That was a mystery. And for the police,
there was an effort to determine what can we see,
what might tell us something
00:09:34
that had happened here. And the circumstances
were quite strange. [stirring music]
00:09:44
NARRATOR: Despite the discovery
of a large amount of blood in the bedroom and on the
comforter found in the washer,
00:09:50
investigators still
considered the possibility that Carol's death
had been accidental.
00:09:57
DANIEL BARRETT: They began to
theorize that perhaps Carol had somehow fallen
in the bedroom and bled,
00:10:03
tried to pick up the clothing
and sheets that she bled on, gone outside for fresh air,
and stumbled down the stairs
00:10:12
and died. It made no sense
that this woman would have been the victim
of some sort of violence
00:10:20
because there was no sign
that anybody had been there. And there's also no
reason why anybody
00:10:26
would drag the woman out on the
porch or left her in the lawn. NARRATOR:
But investigators also had
00:10:33
to follow protocol
for an unexplained death and treat it like
a homicide investigation
00:10:39
until proven otherwise. DANIEL BARRETT: In cases where
there's a possible injury,
00:10:44
there's always the questions
that have to be asked-- who would want
to kill this person?
00:10:49
The question here would be
to look at the family, look at the husband,
and anybody that
00:10:55
might have a grudge or a reason
to benefit from Carol's death. NARRATOR: With investigators
open to the possibility
00:11:03
that Carol may
have been murdered, Roger became
suspect number one. [stirring music]
00:11:18
After Carol Hickok was
found dead at the bottom of a flight of steps at her
home on September 15, 2010,
00:11:26
investigators went to speak
to her husband, Roger, to see if he could
help them work out
00:11:31
if her death was the result
of an accidental fall or something more sinister. AMBER HAQUE: When
police arrived
00:11:40
at the house they were carrying
on their investigation, Roger was sat smoking a cigar.
00:11:44
And this kind of jumped
out to the authorities as quite strange behavior. He was smoking a cigar
just yards away from where
00:11:51
his wife's dead body lay. NARRATOR: Police took
Roger to the local station for an interview.
00:11:58
JENNIFER KINGSLEY: Roger
is being questioned because he's the husband. He's the last person to have
seen Carol alive that morning.
00:12:05
So, naturally, they
had questions for him. DANIEL BARRETT: Roger
explained to the police
00:12:11
that he routinely would wake up
early and want to do something, and would go and get coffee.
00:12:18
AMBER HAQUE: They
immediately deployed officers to the coffee shop to check the
CCTV and verify Roger's story.
00:12:26
DANIEL BARRETT:
Roger had arrived at the coffee place sometime
in the range of 4:00 AM.
00:12:30
It was before
daylight, quite early. And it was easy to check
whether he'd been there.
00:12:36
The records of the coffee
shop could confirm that. AMBER HAQUE: When questioned
about the bloodied blanket that
00:12:42
had been left in the washer,
Roger said, I don't even do the washing in our household.
00:12:47
I wouldn't even know
how to use the machine. Police probed
further to ask Roger what had happened
that night and
00:12:53
had there been
any disagreements between the couple. He said, no, and that
they'd gone to bed as normal
00:12:58
between 9:00 to 9:30 PM. And it was at that
point of 4:00 AM that he decided to leave the house.
00:13:04
And that was the last time
that he saw his wife alive. NARRATOR: Early indications
suggest that Carol Hickok died
00:13:12
sometime between
4:00 AM and 7:00 AM, so Roger's timeline stacked up. Officers then asked Roger to
take a polygraph test to verify
00:13:23
what he had told them. DANIEL BARRETT: The major
benefit of polygraph is that it assists police
in eliminating suspects.
00:13:33
Roger's willingness
to take the polygraph was, of course, a good sign. DONNA YOUNGS: The police
know that the impact
00:13:43
of their suggestion
of a polygraph test can be significant
on a potential suspect.
00:13:50
So they often use the polygraph
as a tool to elicit a reaction, to see what reaction they get.
00:13:58
Someone who readily agrees
to take a polygraph test, usually, this indicates that
this is someone who wants
00:14:06
to prove their innocence. DANIEL BARRETT: Roger
Hickok was on hard and blood pressure medication.
00:14:12
He was 65 years old. And the medications
are well-known to mess up polygraph results.
00:14:19
So his polygraph result
was inconclusive. NARRATOR: Despite
Roger's willingness to take the polygraph test,
the inconclusive result
00:14:29
meant police continued
to treat him as a suspect. DANIEL BARRETT:
The investigations
00:14:34
stayed with Roger
because he was the other person in the home. He was married to her.
00:14:40
So he remained somebody
that might have, in one way or another, had
some benefit or some motive.
00:14:47
- Police needed to consider
all possible suspects at this stage, and that
included Roger's son, Charlie.
00:14:53
Even though he
was 11 years old, he was the person who
discovered Carol's body. So the police had to ask
him some questions
00:14:59
to rule him out as a suspect. However, Charlie's
story that he was asleep during Carol's death checked
out, so he was very quickly
00:15:07
ruled out as a suspect. NARRATOR: Diving deeper
into Carol and Roger's family background, police then found
out about Roger's affair
00:15:17
with Emily-- a revelation that dramatically
changed the course of their investigation.
00:15:25
- They found out that Charlie
wasn't Carol's biological son, and Charlie was Emily's son.
00:15:32
Carol Hickok's
family, of course, had a fair amount
of resentment, I guess, about Roger's
whole involvement with Emily
00:15:42
and the pain it
must have caused Carol over the years and the
disruption to the family life.
00:15:48
- Once the investigators
found out about this complicated
situation, possibly a love
00:15:53
triangle, it then
gave them a bit of a motive to question
whether Emily had anything
00:15:58
to do with Carol's death. Roger, however, said that he
had no relationship with Emily anymore.
00:16:05
They hadn't been in contact
for a long time, and that she didn't have
anything to do with Charlie.
00:16:10
NARRATOR: Meanwhile,
police eagerly awaited the results
of Carol's autopsy, hoping that it would
reveal whether she
00:16:16
had died from
an accidental fatal fall, or if her injuries suggested
foul play and the possibility
00:16:23
that she was pushed
to her death. JENNIFER KINGSLEY: When
the autopsy comes back,
00:16:28
it showed the blunt
force trauma to her head. It showed bruising on her
torso and her body.
00:16:34
But at the end of the day,
the cause of death was undetermined. It is a huge disappointment
for investigators
00:16:41
because now they have no
idea how Carol really died. - Nine days after
Carol's death,
00:16:50
Trooper James Kerrick went
over to interview Emily at her home, which is around
an hour away in Pennsylvania
00:16:56
from where Carol lived. After this two-hour
long interview, Kerrick said that
Emily was intelligent,
00:17:04
she was cooperative. But he did notice
this resentment that seemed to still be there
towards Roger and Carol,
00:17:11
especially because of her
lack of contact with Charlie. When asked directly
if she had any involvement
00:17:18
in Carol's death, Emily
simply answered no. NARRATOR: Emily
told Trooper Kerrick
00:17:24
that she could not have
got to Canton to commit murder because there
was no gas in her tank,
00:17:29
and she had no money. AMBER HAQUE: When
he left that day, Trooper Kerrick knew
that although Emily
00:17:35
could have had something
to do with Carol's death, he had no evidence
at this point.
00:17:40
So with no clear leads,
all the authorities could do was wait for the
forensic and lab results
00:17:45
to come in. NARRATOR: Three months
after Carol's death, with investigators no closer to
determining how she had died,
00:17:53
the coroner decided
to revisit the case. JENNIFER KINGSLEY: It's
not common for a coroner
00:17:59
to revisit a case,
but there was just something about this
case that didn't sit right with investigators.
00:18:07
The coroner is going
through the photos again, and he notices that there are
scratches to Carol's neck,
00:18:14
and it almost looks
like defense wounds. NARRATOR: Suddenly,
investigators had a potential cause of death.
00:18:24
- If their suspicions were
right, then, at some point, Carol had been
fighting for her life
00:18:29
while somebody had
their hands around her throat. What had once seemed
like a mystery
00:18:37
was now a murder investigation. NARRATOR: After discovering
that they were now dealing with a homicide,
police received
00:18:46
a phone call that revealed yet
another twist to the story. - Carol's brother
contacted the police
00:18:53
to say that Roger and Charlie
had now moved to Roger's home in Crystal River in Florida,
and that Emily was
00:19:00
living with them there too. DANIEL BARRETT:
When it became known that Roger had gone to Florida
with Emily Bellows-Schaffer and
00:19:08
their son, it was something
of interest to the police. - This was very conflicting
to what the investigators
00:19:15
originally thought. They had been told that Emily
had nothing to do with Charlie,
00:19:20
yet now she had
practically stepped in to be another mom
to him, all living together
00:19:25
as a family under one roof. And also, it seemed possible
that Emily and Roger all along
00:19:31
had been carrying
on their relationship, and that actually
it had been Carol who was getting in the way.
00:19:39
NARRATOR: The news
of Rogers move to Florida with
his ex-lover sent shock waves through Carol's
family and the local community.
00:19:48
DANIEL BARRETT:
People who had reasons to resent either
Roger's conduct or Emily's conduct over the years
found a good opportunity
00:19:57
to use the trip to Florida as
a reason to justify suspicions that Roger, or Roger
and Emily, or Emily had been
00:20:06
involved in Carol's death. [stirring music] NARRATOR: Just three
months after Carol Hickok
00:20:21
was found dead
at the foot of the steps outside her home
in Canton, Pennsylvania,
00:20:26
her husband Roger had moved to
Florida with his former lover, Emily, and their son.
00:20:33
But without enough
evidence, police were unable to bring
them back to Pennsylvania
00:20:37
to be interviewed. - Seven months later,
on July 19, 2011, police received
a call that would
00:20:47
turn the case on its head. - Police get a phone
call from Emily Schaffer. And she says she has
something interesting to tell
00:20:55
them about Carol Hickok. Emily had explained
to police that she and Roger had a falling out.
00:21:03
NARRATOR: She told officers
that following their argument, Roger had taken Charlie
back to their home
00:21:08
in Canton, Pennsylvania. JENNIFER KINGSLEY:
That was kind of the last straw for Emily.
00:21:13
She was very frustrated. She was missing her child. The reason that Emily
Schaffer was even in town
00:21:20
was because she had
a court hearing to go over custody of young Charlie. [stirring music]
00:21:28
NARRATOR: Eager to speak
to Emily about Carol's death, police collected her
from the courthouse
00:21:33
for a voluntary
interview at the station. - Emily arrives
at the police station,
00:21:38
and they bring her
into an office rather than an interrogation room. So Emily was not under
arrest at this point.
00:21:46
This is just a conversation. They have no idea what
she's about to tell them. NARRATOR: Trooper
Dave Pelachick
00:21:55
led the interview, with
Trooper Nathan Lewis also in attendance. DAVE PELACHICK: We received
a phone call from you today.
00:22:02
- Yes. DAVE PELACHICK: You wanted to
share some information with us. - Yes. JENNIFER KINGSLEY: She
arrives with a backpack
00:22:09
full of paperwork,
and troopers want to hear what she has to say. EMILY SCHAFFER: Roger
Hickok and I have had--
00:22:17
we've known each
other over 15 years. And it was a rocky 15 years. As time progressed,
he became more
00:22:28
and more angry and violent. DAVE PELACHICK: Do you think
he's capable of something,
00:22:33
of causing harm to someone? - At first, I
thought, you know, there's no way Roger
could have done this.
00:22:40
But the more I see that he
still has the hair trigger temper and the split
personality,
00:22:48
I think anything is possible. - She's afraid of Roger,
all of a sudden. After a 15-year
relationship where
00:22:54
they're loving each other
and they have a child, suddenly she's afraid. He's abusive, she's
scared of him.
00:23:00
She doesn't know
what's going to happen. And it looks like she's trying
to protect herself from Roger.
00:23:07
- He is a narcissist,
and he is a sociopath. NARRATOR: Emily then went on
to talk about Carol's history
00:23:14
with Charlie and Roger. EMILY SCHAFFER: Prior
to Carol's death, she was the primary
caretaker of Charlie.
00:23:21
After Carol's death,
I went to Florida with him, primarily
to take care of Charlie
00:23:26
because he does not. JENNIFER KINGSLEY: It
becomes very clear that Emily is no longer Roger's ally.
00:23:35
DANIEL BARRETT: When Roger
and Emily and their child went to Florida,
the relationship with them
00:23:39
didn't develop. It wasn't, at last, we
were together, at least as far as Roger was concerned.
00:23:45
Emily had nothing
really to call a job. She was living
from hand to mouth. And eventually,
as the winter ended,
00:23:52
he headed back to Pennsylvania
and made it clear that he wasn't bringing
Emily with him.
00:23:59
JENNIFER KINGSLEY:
In the middle of the interview,
as she's carrying on about how awful Roger
is, her cell phone rings.
00:24:06
- This is Roger
calling right now. NARRATOR: Roger had called
Emily to ask her out for lunch.
00:24:12
- When the call comes in from
Roger inviting her to lunch, he was calm
and reasonable and wasn't
00:24:18
yelling or complaining at her. He just invited her. So his calling her was
consistent with being
00:24:25
very reasonable. DAVE PELACHICK: Why do
you want to have lunch? - Because what
he says to me and
00:24:34
what he says
to other people are opposite ends of the spectrum. NARRATOR: Suspicious
of Emily's description
00:24:43
of Roger as a violent
sociopath, troopers continued to probe Emily
on their relationship.
00:24:49
- We were supposed
to have shared custody, but he refused every
opportunity, every request
00:24:57
that I had to see Charlie. He refused to let me see him. Roger does not want
Charlie talking to me.
00:25:03
JENNIFER KINGSLEY:
Emily is spinning this tale to investigators
about how awful Roger is.
00:25:08
And she's not really getting to
the point of why she's there. And so investigators
are just letting
00:25:14
her talk because eventually
it's going to come out. DAVE PELACHICK:
When's the last time,
00:25:20
before Carol's death, that you
had been intimate with Roger? - The last weekend in July.
00:25:26
I was so desperate for any
contact at all that I had-- with Charlie that if I had
to sleep with a son of a bitch,
00:25:34
I'd sleep with just
so I knew what was going on in Charlie's life. JENNIFER KINGSLEY:
Investigators understand they
00:25:40
have something going on here. And they realize if they
let her keep talking, she's going to bring them back
to the date of Carol's death.
00:25:49
DAVE PELACHICK: You talked to
Roger between the end of July. And the day of Carol's
death, did you
00:25:53
have any contacts with him? - I probably talked to him,
but I didn't see him. He made it a point to let me
know that he was not home.
00:26:04
The morning that Carol died, he
sent me a text message at 4:00 o'clock in the morning.
00:26:09
NATHAN LEWIS: What
did the text say? [stirring music] EMILY SCHAFFER: The text said--
00:26:18
September 15 at 4:07 AM, he
sent a text message, you up? I texted back him at 7:02
AM saying, I'm up.
00:26:29
I said, favor
to ask, can I borrow the Ford and the big trailer? I was moving out
of my apartment.
00:26:35
He texted back, troubles. That was around 2:21
in the afternoon. I said, work, question mark.
00:26:44
I said, get earlier
messages, question mark. He said, death. And I said, never good.
00:26:51
Then he texted back at 3:02,
at state police Towanda. I said, what's up? And he said, troubles.
00:26:59
And then I texted
back, prayers. DAVE PELACHICK: Let me
just back up a little bit.
00:27:03
When he kept saying death,
you never asked who? - I never asked who. He didn't say.
00:27:12
JENNIFER KINGSLEY:
She's not asking about anybody else in the house. So to me, that's
a giant red flag.
00:27:17
You're not asking about your
son who lives in the house, or the woman who's taking
care of your child,
00:27:23
or any of the other people
that are in that family. You're not asking
about any of them.
00:27:28
I found that to be
very unusual. - Pelachick knew Emily had
a motive, that she was mad
00:27:33
at Roger, that she
didn't like Roger, and she had things to say. So his curiosity
was quite up there.
00:27:40
This was the time to see where
the case would take him and keep the person talking.
00:27:47
Let her talk and ask
her questions. DAVE PELACHICK: What
was the only thing standing in the way
between you and Charlie
00:27:54
prior to Carol's death? - Prior to Carol's death? Roger. DAVE PELACHICK: I
would say Carol.
00:27:59
- No. She took care of-- DAVE PELACHICK:
No, not between-- - OK. DAVE PELACHICK: The only
thing between you and Charlie
00:28:04
was Carol. OK, because the minute
Carol was removed-- - I moved right in. DAVE PELACHICK: You
certainly had motive to get
00:28:11
Carol out of the picture. DANIEL BARRETT:
In Emily's mind, it's obvious at that
point that she realized
00:28:17
that she was
becoming a suspect, that they weren't accepting
everything she had to say.
00:28:24
DAVE PELACHICK: Were
you at the house on the day of Carol's death? - Yeah-- no. DAVE PELACHICK: OK.
00:28:30
OK. - When Emily stammers,
and, first, she says, yes, then quickly
correct herself and
00:28:38
says no, they
knew at that point that they had a bigger
case on their hands. DONNA YOUNGS: This
responding, and then
00:28:48
correcting herself
shows somebody trying to strategically
manage the interview situation to give interviewers
the response she thinks
00:28:58
is most appropriate. And indeed, there are times
when these kind of verbal slips
00:29:03
are direct indicators
of deception, of what the real answer
is to the question. Investigators can
use that kind of slip
00:29:15
very directly and strategically
to pursue that line of inquiry. And they can use it just
as a broad indicator
00:29:22
of somebody who is not
telling them the whole truth. DAVE PELACHICK: Are
you a violent person?
00:29:27
Because if this was not
an accidental death-- - Yeah. DAVE PELACHICK: --this is
the first time this person
00:29:32
has caused harm to someone. EMILY SCHAFFER: Can I
tell you a little bit? He came into the house
one time and he said,
00:29:38
I'm going to take
Charlie and leave. And I picked up the nearest
cast iron frying pan,
00:29:44
and I hit him square
in the back with it. And he handed Charlie
back to me and left.
00:29:50
- The fact that Emily struck
Roger with the frying pan showed that she could let her
anger take her to the point
00:29:55
of senseless violence. And real violence, too. Not the slap across the face
or anything like that.
00:30:05
NARRATOR: It was at this
point that police decided to ask Emily
to take a lie detector test.
00:30:11
DAVE PELACHICK:
We would like you to take a polygraph
at some point just to say, hey, it's not me.
00:30:15
I didn't do anything to it. Well, I was never at the house. The two tubes-- one
goes in your chest,
00:30:22
one goes lower--
measures your breathing. Some people breathe more
through their chest.
00:30:25
Some people breathe more
through their stomach. The reason we measure these-- - (SINGING) I've
waited for my chance
00:30:32
because I sing in the shower. DANIEL BARRETT: When
she's singing and starting breathing exercises, I
think she was probably
00:30:42
trying to be cute
and try to endear herself to the policemen, and make them
think that she's very relaxed
00:30:50
and confident and so forth. It's an act. - Emily has gone into this
interview as a woman very
00:30:57
confident, very organized, very
used to handling authority, not intimidated in any way.
00:31:05
And I feel that
the singing is part of this attempt to continue
to charm the officers.
00:31:11
She believes she can sweet talk
her way out of the situation. DAVE PELACHICK: The test
is about to begin.
00:31:18
Please remain still. Regarding that woman's death,
do you intend to answer each question truthfully?
00:31:23
- Yes. - They had been interviewing
Emily for four hours, yet nobody had asked
her directly if she was
00:31:31
responsible for Carol's death. DAVE PELACHICK: Did you
cause that woman's death?
00:31:35
- No. DAVE PELACHICK: Did you cause
that woman's death at her home? EMILY SCHAFFER: No.
00:31:41
DAVE PELACHICK: The test
is about to end. Please remain still. - Did I fail or did
I pass or what?
00:31:49
DAVE PELACHICK: You failed. [stirring music] - I failed? DAVE PELACHICK: Yes. - No.
00:31:58
DANIEL BARRETT:
The point at which the suspect is told they
failed the polygraph, that's
00:32:01
when it's raised the level. It's made it
a confrontational situation. DAVE PELACHICK: Were you in
that house that night with her?
00:32:09
EMILY SCHAFFER: No.
Absolutely not. Absolutely not. DAVE PELACHICK:
If that was the truth,
00:32:14
you would have
passed the polygraph. Emily, what
happened that night? Tell us the truth, please.
00:32:21
- I wasn't there. I wasn't there. NATHAN LEWIS: Is this the point
that you want to be truthful
00:32:28
and tell us what happened? [stirring music] NARRATOR: After failing
a polygraph test
00:32:37
about her movements
in the hours before Carol Hickok was found
dead at the bottom of a flight
00:32:42
of steps at her home,
Emily Bellows-Schaffer continued to deny
any responsibility
00:32:49
for Carol's death. - I don't have it
in me to hurt anybody. Not intentionally. DAVE PELACHICK: You hit Roger
in the back with a skillet.
00:33:04
Listen, we know
you were there, OK? I told you that. Can you look at me, please?
00:33:09
Please? We know you were there. NATHAN LEWIS: Did you go out
and kill her, or anything?
00:33:15
DANIEL BARRETT:
At that point, she knows they're trying
to determine what happened
00:33:20
and that she had
responsibility there. DAVE PELACHICK: Did you
intend for her to die?
00:33:26
- No. DAVE PELACHICK: What
happened that night? What was your purpose
of being there?
00:33:32
You can do it. NARRATOR: Emily claimed
that, uninvited, she had gone to the Hickok home
that morning to visit her son.
00:33:41
And when she encountered
Carol, a fight between the two unfolded. DAVE PELACHICK: What
did she do to you?
00:33:58
DAVE PELACHICK:
Can you show me? Was it like this?
Like, two of them together? - No, it was like this.
00:34:05
DAVE PELACHICK: And were
you close to her? - I was close enough that
I pushed her backwards.
00:34:12
She fell backwards into the
bedroom, into the dresser. We wrestled around
a little bit.
00:34:21
I think we rolled
over the bed once. DAVE PELACHICK: Was she saying
anything to you during this?
00:34:28
EMILY SCHAFFER: Yeah. My husband, my husband. I'm not here to see
your damned husband.
00:34:36
I'm here to see my son. The last place I saw
her, she was on the floor next to the dresser.
00:34:43
DAVE PELACHICK:
Was she conscious? EMILY SCHAFFER:
She was breathing. DAVE PELACHICK: OK.
00:34:48
Do you know if she was
bleeding at that time? - Well, there was
blood on the bedspread.
00:34:54
DAVE PELACHICK: Did you do
something with the bedspread? EMILY SCHAFFER: I
put the bedspread
00:34:57
in the washing machine. But I don't know how
to run the washing machine, so I just left the bedspread
in the washing machine.
00:35:04
DANIEL BARRETT: She knew that
her blood was on those sheets. And she knew that her blood
might be detected sooner
00:35:10
or later on those sheets. So that's why she headed
to the washing machine. DAVE PELACHICK: She had some
finger marks on her neck.
00:35:16
Does that trigger anything? Are you trying to get-- EMILY SCHAFFER: I tried
to get her off of me.
00:35:22
DAVE PELACHICK: Did
you have blood on you? EMILY SCHAFFER:
I don't remember blood on my hands or my face.
00:35:27
I don't remember-- I don't remember any
blood on my clothing. DONNA YOUNGS: Asked
if she had blood on her,
00:35:38
it's as if Emily forgets
herself and goes back in time and she's there
at the moment of the murder.
00:35:44
And she holds up her hands,
and it's as if- she's-- she's looking
at the murder weapons.
00:35:50
For a moment, we get
this curious indication of absolute guilt. DAVE PELACHICK: Did you ever
tell Roger what happened?
00:35:57
- No. DAVE PELACHICK: Did
he ever ask you? EMILY SCHAFFER: No. AMBER HAQUE: Emily had
the opportunity here
00:36:02
to implicate Roger, that he
had somehow enabled or assisted her in murdering Carol.
00:36:08
But she didn't take
that opportunity, and so he was cleared. DAVE PELACHICK: How did she get
to the bottom of the stairs?
00:36:15
EMILY SCHAFFER: I
don't know how she got to the bottom of the stairs. She was quite alive
the last time I saw her.
00:36:23
NARRATOR: After talking
to Emily for eight hours, the troopers decided to end
the interview for the day.
00:36:30
- Are you going to arrest
me and fingerprint me and send me to jail? DAVE PELACHICK: You
are going to have
00:36:36
to face the music to this. - At this point, they
read Emily her rights. They let her know
she is under arrest,
00:36:44
and they take her
to the county jail. NARRATOR: The following
day, investigators
00:36:50
visited Emily to confirm
her videotaped confession in writing. DANIEL BARRETT: During
the videotaped interview,
00:36:57
Emily tried to claim
that Carol had confronted her
in the hallway, and it wound up that Carol died.
00:37:04
The next day, she did
not change that version. The only part she
changed was instead
00:37:09
of saying Carol was alive
when she left the house, she admitted that Carol
was dead, that she had
00:37:14
taken Carol out of the house. And she acknowledged
at that point that she had moved Carol's body
down to the foot of the stairs.
00:37:23
NARRATOR: All police
needed now was DNA evidence proving that Emily
was at the scene of the crime.
00:37:30
DANIEL BARRETT: The sheets and
bedding and blood on the scene was analyzed by the state
police laboratory.
00:37:37
And it was determined
that some of the blood there was Emily's
blood, which, of course,
00:37:41
placed Emily at the scene. NARRATOR: Emily's
confession and DNA evidence meant that she faced
a lengthy prison
00:37:49
sentence for Carol's death,
if found guilty of homicide. But because Emily denied
the charge of murder,
00:37:57
the case went to court. In August 2012,
nearly two years after Carol Hickok's
death, Emily
00:38:05
stood trial for the murder
of her son's stepmom. - I'm tapped to be
there every day.
00:38:13
I show up at the courthouse
at least a half-hour beforehand every day,
because it was more than just
00:38:18
a story at that point. I had to let the community
know what was going on. BETTY THOREN: It
was very important
00:38:24
for me to be at this trial. I felt that I needed to be
there for justice for Carol.
00:38:29
She was an innocent victim
that should be alive today. I wanted to know
the truth because there
00:38:36
had been so many
stories going around, this and that, and the other
thing that I know the truth
00:38:41
should come out in the trial. And I needed to be
there for those reasons. JENNIFER KINGSLEY: Something
I found incredibly remarkable
00:38:49
was that there was
no one for Emily. She has no support in that
courtroom, whatsoever.
00:38:56
Emily was incredibly
stoic during the trial. She showed very little emotion. Any emotion she showed,
she would tip her head down
00:39:04
and she would talk
to her attorney. And that was about it. She was very silent
through that trial.
00:39:10
- Well, the one thing I
remember clearly about Emily, I did not see remorse. I never saw a bit of remorse.
00:39:20
That, I could not fathom
and I could not get past. NARRATOR: During
the trial, the prosecution
00:39:28
played Emily's videotape
confession to the jury before unveiling another
key piece of evidence.
00:39:35
- The most interesting
part of that trial was the introduction
of Emily's diary,
00:39:40
because you could really see
where she began to unravel. One excerpt read, she's
referring to Roger here,
00:39:48
and you can get a sense of how
angry she is toward Roger. "I wish I had a 2" by 4", I'd
hit you upside your head and
00:39:55
scream at your lifeless body. Now, we're even. Because I died a little. Every single day you
have kept us apart."
00:40:03
And then she goes
on to say, "There will be no I love yous until
this situation is resolved.
00:40:08
How/why on earth would/could
I love anyone who could so carelessly, heartlessly
do this to me, who would
00:40:15
be so blind and selfish." DANIEL BARRETT: The things
that Emily put in her diary
00:40:22
showed that she
very much resented that she didn't have much. Carol was the reason
that Roger didn't need
00:40:30
her to help raise the boy. Carol was the reason that
Roger didn't want to live with her, and so forth.
00:40:36
So she wanted
to get rid of Carol. - Six days before
the murder, Emily wrote, "I must do what I must do."
00:40:44
DANIEL BARRETT:
The information in the diaries pulled everything together
and brought real context
00:40:49
to what it was
Emily was doing when she went to the home of Roger
Hickok and Carol Hickok.
00:40:56
NARRATOR: The prosecution
also highlighted the evidence found
by the coroner when he revisited
the autopsy photographs.
00:41:05
- A very small,
but very significant part of the evidence was little
marks, cuts on Carol's neck,
00:41:13
where she was
trying to pry away Emily's fingers, trying to get
those fingers off her neck.
00:41:19
And it actually cut
into her own skin. It showed, among other
things, that strangulation
00:41:24
was the cause of death. NARRATOR:
The prosecution argued that the only reason Emily
went to Carol's house
00:41:33
on the day of her death
was to commit murder. - The evidence was clear. She had no need to go
to the house to see Charlie.
00:41:41
She could have
done that at lunch. She had no reason to go
there to see Carol, because Carol wouldn't
have wanted to talk to her.
00:41:47
That she went to the house,
went into the house and killed Carol,
shows that that was
00:41:53
her objective from the start. Emily's confession
took herself as far as the offense of voluntary
manslaughter, that is causing
00:42:02
a death during a fight. The overall
circumstances of the case were such that
it was undeniable
00:42:10
that this was murder. This wasn't-- this wasn't
a fight that went bad. NARRATOR: On August 10, 2012,
the jury retired to deliberate.
00:42:24
And at 4:00 PM, they
returned with their verdict. DANIEL BARRETT: The jury
found Emily guilty
00:42:31
of second degree murder,
the felony offense of burglary, and other charges. On September 27, 2012,
Emily Bellows-Schaffer
00:42:42
was sentenced to life in prison
without the possibility of parole. And she remains incarcerated.
00:42:48
[stirring music] This tragedy began when
Roger began a dalliance with Emily Bellows-Schaffer
that wound up with Emily
00:43:01
involved in their lives. But the murder itself is
all the fault and crime of Emily Bellows-Schaffer.
00:43:11
And that's where
guilt was found. And that's where the true
and complete blame lies.
00:43:19
Carol's death was truly tragic. A horrible thing happened
to a very good person because of someone
else's anger,
00:43:27
greed, selfish intentions. - Carol will always
be remembered as a pillar in this community.
00:43:36
I never met Carol
Hickok, but I regard her as a wonderful woman. And almost a saint, because I
don't know how many women could
00:43:47
take in the child
of their husband's mistress and carry on and love
that child as if the child
00:43:53
were her own. I give her a lot
of respect for that. BETTY THOREN: Carol was strong.
00:44:02
What she did, she did 100%-- her business, her hunting,
her mothering, her cooking,
00:44:09
her marriage vows. And the way she loved
Charlie spoke volumes-- Just spoke volumes.
00:44:18
She was faithful
in friendships. She was kind. Just 100% her girl. That's all I can tell you.
00:44:26
She just was great. [dramatic music] [theme music]