House of Secrets | Full Episode | Forensic Files

[music] >> My parents had a very loving relationship. They were a team. They were always there for us whenever they
always supported us. I thought it was great. She was very outgoing and and very bubbly. I
loved Cathy. If you could describe Cathy in one word, it would be fun. She had this musical
laugh. Really enjoyed life. >> There's Mark. >> Mark Wangler is an anesthesiologist and
by all accounts an excellent doctor. >> On your way back, could you bring some of those donuts?
>> Mark's sweet, he's considerate, he's smart, he's funny. >> Thank you. Thank you very much.
>> He's a very spiritual man. >> [singing and music] >> Mark Wangler is a religious man. I'm
Greg Swinsky, I'm the crime reporter at the Lima News. I've been here for 16 years.
On September 4th, 2006, there was a strange incident at the Wangler home on Yorkshire Drive.
>> My dad said that he woke up in the middle of night. I remember having to go around and and
and figure out, [music] you know, is there a fire in the house? You know, what alarm is going off?
I figure out that it's the carbon monoxide detector and I then go up to to check on Cathy.
>> So, he ran upstairs to check on my mom and she wasn't responding, so then he started giving her CPR and called 911.
>> People do die by accident, so it seemed like one of those things that we initially were going to write about and
probably never write about again. >> It's like one of these freak accidents that you hear from people of other
people's families that this happened and you never think it'll happen to yours. >> Nobody lists as a suspect. There really
didn't seem like a reason to list anybody as [music] a suspect. >> Carbon monoxide is a colorless,
odorless, and tasteless gas. >> There were several things that were red flags, suspicious [music] in nature.
>> 3 years later, you start hearing some whispers behind the scenes. You heard that they were in the house
removing duct work. They were continuing to check in the different angles. You think, "What's
happening here? Why are they doing all this investigation? Is this a murder case now?"
>> I had formulated a theory that carbon monoxide had been forced through the duct work at a very high rate of speed
over a short duration of time up the duct work and into the room that Kathy was in.
>> There's a lot of mystery and intrigue surrounding this case. >> We felt we had enough evidence to make
an arrest. This was a murder. >> This whole case hinges on the theory that gas filled the garage, came down
here to the basement, was sucked into this furnace, went up two floors, and killed someone.
That's ridiculous. >> House of Secrets >> [music] [music] >> As police continue to investigate the
strange death of Kathy Wangler in her home. >> At first it was just lonely and and and
devastating. >> Her husband, Dr. Mark Wangler, found comfort in his church. He also found comfort [music] in an old
friend, Esther Urkman. >> The the thing is with Esther and I was we had known each other for a long
period of time, not romantically, you know, had just known each other. >> In fact, Esther and her husband had been
friends with Mark and Kathy for years. >> Yeah, so then many times they would go
out with us, with my husband and I, um, on many occasions. >> Esther, a psychologist with a PhD,
[music] had great respect for Mark, a top anesthesiologist in Lima, Ohio. >> He's a good [music] doctor.
He's a requested doctor. He practiced here, you know, 29, 30 years with, you know, never losing a patient, never
being sued for malpractice. >> They were brought together by an odd twist of fate. Esther had lost her
spouse as well, when he underwent a gender change operation and began living life as a woman.
>> Some of my friends tell me that I should write a book, but then I challenge them
and I ask them, would it wind up in the autobiography or the fiction section? Because nobody would believe it.
>> The couple began seeing each other and soon fell in love. >> As people sail through life,
you know, uh, in in a sense he's the anchor that I need and I'm the wind in his sails.
>> But Mark was still haunted by what he has always said was a bizarre accident when Kathy was killed by carbon monoxide
poisoning that Labor Day weekend in 2006. >> Uh, that would be a Sunday, so Kathy and
I got up and uh, went to church uh, together. [music] >> On that night, the two were sleeping in
separate bedrooms. >> I would go to bed earlier because I had to get up earlier. Kathy was very much a
a night owl. >> [music] >> Mark was sleeping on the first floor, here in the master bedroom.
>> The next thing that I remember is waking up or being woken up by an alarm. We had the carbon monoxide alarm down in
the in the basement. Um >> A piercing sound? >> Yeah. Yeah, exactly. >> Mark says his natural gas water heater
had malfunctioned, [music] sending poisonous carbon monoxide into the ductwork of the house.
Kathy was sleeping here on the second floor. And horribly with this door closed, this room became
a gas chamber. Mark says he began staggering around, feeling strangely woozy and disoriented,
the classic signs of carbon monoxide poisoning. >> I was nauseated. I I I remember vomiting
somewhere along the line as I was going through the house. And I then go up to to check on Kathy.
She was sleeping on a one of those inflatable mattresses. >> Was she breathing? >> Um
I guess she was at that point. I couldn't I couldn't wake her up. >> [music] >> Mark quickly calls 911.
>> My carbon monoxide detector is going off and my wife is having a seizure. I'm
going to start opening all the windows and [music] stuff. Please get here quickly.
>> I did do CPR on her. >> She's not coming around. >> Okay, just go Yes, they're on their way.
Just go ahead and continue CPR. >> The paramedics rushed in, but just 38 minutes later, Kathy was pronounced dead
at the hospital. Their youngest son, Aaron, away at received a call with the tragic news.
>> I just cried the whole [music] time. It was very like I can't believe this is
real, you know, like you just can't believe that your mom's gone or like even one of
your parents and especially [music] I was 21 at the time you don't expect to lose a parent at so young.
>> Aaron [music] and his older brother Nathan rushed to Lima to be with the family.
>> Just devastating. My uh just [music] sobbed on each other's shoulders. We just
moaned and groaned. >> The only reason he survived, Mark says, [music] is blind luck. He says Kathy
caused the toilet in the master bathroom to overflow. Mark had opened a window [music] and turned on a fan to air the
room out. Mark was questioned by police but not charged. With Esther by his side, he slowly moved
on with his life and returned to work. >> [music] >> You know, just having somebody who's a
you know, an anchor, a point of sanity in my life was was such a blessing. >> And 14 months after Kathy's death, they
were married. >> I take it you love [music] this man. >> I do. I love him very much.
>> They settled into a life focused on each other and their church, traveling to Zambia on aid missions.
>> We've been providing means to have uh water wells drilled in that country. Uh which just
has a a huge impact. >> But back in Lima, the newlyweds lived under a cloud of suspicion.
>> You've you've talked about insinuation and you know there's sort of a whisper
campaign out there >> Absolutely. >> suggests you and Mark were having an affair
prior to Kathy's death. Is that true? >> No, he didn't even hold my hand Peter until after my divorce was final.
That's the kind of man he is. >> While Mark believed the investigation was over, Allen [music] County
prosecutor Jurgen Waldick never closed the case always troubled by Mark's story.
>> On the very night that your wife is killed by carbon monoxide, you happen to be sleeping in a bedroom with a window
open and a fan going. >> Okay, is she still conscious? I mean is she breathing? >> No, I think she's not breathing.
>> And Waldick was bothered by Dr. Wangler's behavior on the 911 call. >> At the insistence of the 911 operator
only that he goes back and checks to see whether she has a pulse whether or not she's breathing.
>> Sir, I need you to check for me. >> No, she's not breathing. >> Okay, does she have a heartbeat?
>> No, she doesn't. >> If things look so fishy, why wasn't Dr. Wangler charged with a
crime? >> We continued the investigation. We had our suspicions. >> Is there a part of you that wonders
could he have done this? >> never. That's never even crossed my mind. >> You've never doubted your father?
>> Never once. >> Did you murder your wife Kathy? >> Absolutely not. >> Kill her with carbon monoxide?
>> No. >> Are you living with a killer? >> No. You know, I I I if I was living with the
evil genius, I think I might be one of the first to know. >> In fact, you have a PhD [music]
in psychology. >> Yes, I do. >> And as part of that, you can read people pretty well, I take.
>> I'd like to think so. >> But Kathy's family is convinced Mark has everybody fooled. That the man trained
[music] to put people to sleep had come up with a textbook murder. >> [music] >> Kathy Wangler is dead today because of
money. >> You're sure of that? >> I know it. >> Before her bizarre and tragic death by
carbon monoxide poisoning, Kathy Wangler [music] touched many lives, says her friend Sherry Miller.
>> She looked right into your heart and if you were a good person, she was going to
pull you right into hers and she was going to love you with everything she had. >> Friend, Heidi Frederick.
>> There are people in this world that just naturally [music] glow with life and Kathy was one of
those people. >> Kathy was the oldest of five siblings in a tight-knit [music] Ohio family. Her
sister, JoAnn. >> She was always looking out for everybody and she was a good sister. Everybody was
really close. >> Kathy married Mark Wangler [music] when they were both in their 20s and she
worked to help put him through medical school. Each summer as a volunteer at the Allen
County Fair, Kathy raised thousands of dollars for the local school district. In her 30s, she went back to school here
at Ohio State University >> [music] >> to get a degree in business. Rodney Knoll was one of her professors.
>> She she honestly wanted to learn, grow, and do more things with her life. >> But most of all, Kathy was a dedicated
[music] mother. >> A very loving person, always there for my brother and I through thick and thin,
always pushed us to excel, supported us nonstop, supported my father. >> Her husband, Mark, says they were
opposites. >> She was very outgoing. I tend to be much more introverted. A lot of people say I'm I'm
I'm awkward around other people and and and and and that's a fair assessment. I I I I am rather awkward.
>> The early years with the children were happy ones, enjoying holidays, >> Oh, a bread box.
>> and traveling the world. >> And here's Kathy. >> But, the couple drifted apart after
their sons went to college. >> She would come home from Walmart and pop a bag down and I'd say, "Oh, what did
you get at Walmart?" And she would say like, "Why do you need to know?" And I'm like, "Well, I guess I didn't need to
know." I said, "I was just curious." So, little things like that. >> Did the two of you talk about
separation? >> No, we never did. >> Ever talk about divorce? >> No, no, we didn't.
>> But, by 2006, they were sleeping in separate bedrooms. >> Kathy had um gained quite a bit of
weight. And uh as as she gained a lot of weight, she [music] snored violently. >> Mark was also upset by her lack of
attention to housekeeping and the amount of money she was charging on credit cards. Tens of thousands of dollars
worth of jewelry. >> Uh I came to find that there was about uh another $60,000 worth of uh credit
card debt uh that I had not been uh aware of. >> He also discovered she had opened a
secret bank account with $16,000 from their joint account. >> The fact that Kathy had set up a
separate bank account, isn't that an indication, isn't that evidence that she was [music]
heading into a new and separate life away from you with her own finances? >> Um yeah, it was. And uh and we were in
counseling at the time. >> Would you say that the two of you were falling out of love?
>> No, I wouldn't say falling out of love. Um at least um you know, I I didn't consider that. Um um you know, I I I I
loved Kathy. >> But, Kathy's family became concerned after Joanne witnessed a disturbing
incident between them. >> They were literally having a wrestling match over a checkbook. When I turned
around, they kind of stopped, and he said to Kathy, "This is no way to run a marriage."
>> Did it upset you when you saw it? >> Yes, I was physically shaking. I don't know what
made me say it, but I looked at Kathy and I said, "Is it safe to leave you here?"
And she said, "Yes, I'll be fine." >> Soon after, the marriage hit rock bottom. >> She kind of got emotional and broke down
and told me, you know, things were bad. She said, "If I could imagine everything
awful that could have been done to her other than being beaten or raped, Mark had done it to her."
And she said, "When the time was right, she would sit down and explain everything to me."
But we never got that time. >> But Mark tried to blame Kathy, making a stunning comment to her mother, Sarah, a
year before Kathy's death. >> He said, "First place, he says, I want to tell you one thing. Your daughter's a
monster." I said, "Oh, really?" I said, "In what way is she a monster?" "Well, she doesn't do what I tell her to
do." I said, "That's a monster?" >> Kathy's mother suggested a divorce. >> So, he said, "I can't get a divorce."
Then he quoted a couple doctors that had gotten divorces and how much it cost them.
>> But Kathy told her sister, Joanne, she was reluctant to get a divorce, too. >> I said, "Why can't you?" And she said,
"He will cut off the boys." And I said, "Well, what's wrong with that? They're in their 20s, you know, they're out of
the house." And she goes, "I can't leave. He'll cut the money off to the boys." >> With tensions escalating in the summer
of 2006, Kathy told various friends about her fears. >> She had told me that um her husband was out to destroy her
financially, emotionally, psychologically, in the community, at her church, um that he was
in the process of working to destroy her. >> Rodney Knoll remembers his last conversation with Kathy.
>> I say to her said, "Well, [music] take care of yourself." The usual getting ready to say bye kind of
comment. She says, "Oh, I will. You have to when somebody's trying to destroy you." And
she says, "And I mean that literally." And 3 days later, she's dead. I got to tell you that that that leaves
a feeling in the pit of your stomach, your gut that something sinister something evil's
happened. >> It was almost like a Sherlock Holmes >> [music] >> kind of a a mystery because we we don't
have that smoking gun. >> [music] >> By early 2007, 4 months had passed since Kathy Wangler died from an apparent
accidental carbon monoxide poisoning. Somehow, while sleeping in the same house, Dr. Mark Wangler had escaped
death. >> Did you ever for a day believe this was an accident? >> No. >> Kathy's mother, Sarah, and her family
were convinced Mark was getting away with murder. >> I know we all felt Mark did it.
>> The police investigation seemed to be going nowhere, so Sarah and her daughters launched their own plan.
>> It was my strategy. >> They stayed close to Mark pretending they believed his story.
>> That's what we wanted him to think. >> Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer.
That was the philosophy. >> Mhm. >> All the while writing down his actions after Kathy died hoping to build a case
against him. >> The fake crying, getting rid of all her stuff right away. He kept giving different stories about
how she died. >> He didn't want to be buried beside her, and he didn't care where we buried her.
In the limo on the way to the grave site in Salina, Mark was kind of short with my mom.
He told a joke about how people were dying to get in the cemetery. >> Convinced Mark was responsible, Sarah
called the Allen County Sheriff's Department with an ultimatum. >> I said, "You people have never returned
our phone calls. We have now decided that we're going to the media." >> [music] >> Soon after, the Sheriff's Department
assigned veteran investigator Clyde Bridegan to the case. >> The family had some doubts, but the
family wanted answers. >> And Bridegan had questions. >> What did kill her? They were looking for
the answer. Was it the hot water tank? Was it something inside that home? And I conducted like 80 or 85 interviews with
different people. >> Bridegan quickly learned from Kathy's family that the Wangler marriage
had become a disaster. >> Mark and Kathy treated each other equally evil. And that they would do things to each
other just to get under each other's skin. >> And Mark's story of a faulty water
heater that emitted carbon monoxide wasn't quite adding up. Bridegan interviewed gas company workers who had
been at the Wangler house after Kathy's death. >> And they examined and tested the water
heater, the furnace, the vent-free fireplace. They could not find anything malfunctioning on [music] the morning of
the fourth. >> And Mark's behavior, his lack of anger, struck Bridegan as odd. >> From my point of view, if my wife had
died in our home, and there was any suspicion from an appliance, I would be yelling and
screaming, "Okay, who installed this and what did you do wrong?" None of that ever took place.
>> And there was that seemingly strange coincidence. An anesthesiologist whose wife dies from
being gassed. >> As an anesthesiologist, you know about carbon monoxide. >> Not really. Carbon monoxide isn't
something that comes into play as a as an anesthesiologist. >> But Brudigan learned from one of Mark's
medical partners that simply wasn't true. >> He had told me Dr. Wangler was a master with gases and that he had been
trained in the old style anesthesiologist techniques and knew all about gases, knew all about carbon monoxide.
>> But where exactly would the carbon monoxide have come from? Right in Dr. Wangler's own garage,
Brudigan figured, [music] which held two cars and a generator with a camper in the driveway.
>> I had formulated a theory, the mobile source of carbon monoxide, one of the cars, the generator, whatever, had
introduced carbon monoxide into the home. >> Police performed tests on the camper.
>> And either by use and and I can't prove or disprove this, by use of of a hose,
introduced the carbon monoxide into the furnace with the furnace motor running. >> The poisonous gas traveled through the
ductwork of the house into Cathy's bedroom two floors above killing her. >> Crazy, wrong, speculation.
>> Mark's defense attorney, Chris McDowell, says the hose theory is nonsense. >> The hoses that were in this house were
the hoses that are in anyone's home. A garden hose. Tests were performed on the garden hose and there's no residue of
any of this on this hose. The hose theory is totally debunked. >> In fact, McDowell [music] says any
theory involving gas from a motor is impossible because that hot gas would have had to travel downward from the
first floor garage into the basement. >> According to the prosecution, the gas then goes
down these steps and into the basement. It defies the laws of gravity, the laws of what gas
does. It Well, according to them, it goes into the furnace area here and then he somehow unscrews all of
these screws. It's absolutely bogus. It's science fiction. >> But Bradigan acted on his theory. The
detective [music] got a search warrant and removed sections of the duct work from the Wangler home. He had it tested
at a lab for the presence of microscopic exhaust residue. >> Their conclusions were that something
had been introduced into the duct work at a very high rate of speed over a short duration of time.
>> Which is crazy because had that really occurred, they would have found him dead
right here. >> What really happened, McDowell says, was a tragic accident caused by a defective
vent connected to the water heater. >> And gas from this water heater that ordinarily would go outside is now
trapped inside the home. And it eventually makes its way up to the bedroom where Mrs. Wangler is
sleeping. >> But police don't buy that. And 3 years after Kathy's death, they finally arrest Mark Wangler and charge
him with murder. >> Just in a nutshell, horrible. I just had a a viral sick feeling and and you just feel all
of that energy, you know, drain out of you. >> You've gone from being a valued member of this community to in
some people's eyes an evil genius who killed his wife. >> Yeah, I guess that would be a
correct assessment of the situation. >> While awaiting [music] trial, Dr. Wangler takes comfort in his
religion. And Kathy's loved ones hope that judgement day is near. >> If he has killed his wife, he's going
[music] to hell along with Satan. >> From the bottom of our heart, [music] we want to say thanks.
We prayed for a good jury and my lawyers tell me that they couldn't be more pleased.
>> Four and a half years after Kathy Wangler's poisoned lifeless body was discovered in her home, her husband goes
on trial for her murder. >> Did you hook up a hose? >> No, I did not. >> motor home?
>> Absolutely not. >> And gas your wife that night? >> Absolutely not. >> He needs to be found guilty.
For everybody's sake. >> Kathy's family arrives at the courthouse ready to absorb every detail.
>> How are ladies? >> The defendant was deeply obsessed with religion. >> [music]
>> In her opening statement, Assistant Prosecutor Jenna Emrick cuts to the heart of Mark Wangler's motive.
>> [music] >> And a divorce would cause him to lose his standing and reputation in the
church. And of course, a divorce after nearly 30 years of marriage would cost him a small fortune.
>> Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, Dr. Mark Wangler is innocent. >> In his opening, Wangler's attorney Chris
McDowell makes his strategy clear. >> This case has been brought as a result of a poor police investigation.
>> The prosecution begins [music] >> 911, what is your emergency? >> as jurors watch Mark listening to
himself on that 911 call. >> Is she breathing? >> No, I think she's not breathing.
>> Does she have a heartbeat? >> No, she doesn't. >> The courtroom is riveted. >> Did you open up her airway?
>> I did. >> Okay. >> I'm a allergist. I checked her airways and her airways. >> Well, first of all, he's an
anesthesiologist. >> Lead prosecutor Jürgen Waldick. >> And he shouldn't need prompting from a
911 operator to check to see whether his wife is breathing, to see whether she has a heartbeat.
>> And are you aware that carbon monoxide can affect different people in different
ways? >> But McDowell says any odd behavior is because Wangler himself was overcome by
carbon monoxide. >> Because your brain is starved of oxygen. You become very confused. You become
disoriented. >> He appeared to have no trouble walking, no trouble talking to you, no trouble
relaying information to you. >> But the prosecution argues that Mark's efforts to give Kathy CPR were all an
act anyway. >> Come on, Kathy. Come on. >> Because Kathy was most likely dead before he dialed 911.
>> She's not coming around. >> An emergency room doctor testifies Kathy's body was already cold.
>> What I can say is that it seemed to me from my experience of 22 years that she'd been
dead for much longer. >> The prosecution then introduces photos taken shortly after Kathy's death
showing soot marks above the vent in her room. They say it's telltale evidence that engine exhaust was used to kill
her. They believe Dr. Wangler closed all the vents in the house except the one in her room.
>> People will testify that those stains had been on the walls for years before.
>> Those marks were actually there before I moved for college. >> Aaron Wangler tells jurors he should
know because that used to be his room. >> So, that was back in '04. I never really cleaned my room that much
at all, to be honest. >> And older brother Nathan Wangler testifies the soot marks are just
residue from burning candles. >> We enjoyed candles. We burned a lot of candles.
Throughout the entire house, there's actually discoloration on the walls, on the ceiling.
>> [music] >> Investigators were never able to test those soot stains. Mark had painted the
wall in the months after Kathy's death. Yet, it's not soot marks, but secrets that prosecutors hope will sway the
jury. These journals written by Dr. Mark Wangler. Evidence Bridegan uncovered during a search of the Wangler home
after a tip from Kathy's mom. >> Then I said to him when when they got search warrant, I said, "Did you find
the journals?" And he said, "What journals?" I said, "There's journals >> [music]
>> cuz Kathy always told me about when every morning he'd get up and write something in his journal."
>> The entries are damning. >> Lord, Satan has found a weak area to attack me, my marriage and family.
>> For the first time, Mark Wangler's most private secret feelings about his wife
and marriage are publicly revealed as Bridegan reads them in court. >> Five things I have asked Kathy to
improve but has not. Number one, keep the house, cook, clean, make bed. Two, lose weight. She has
gained around 80 lb in the past 20 years. >> The entries are extremely personal.
>> I feel judged and rejected by Kathy. Kathy thinks I am boring in bed. Kathy doesn't really listen to me. I do
not trust Kathy. I feel picked on and put down. I just went home after reading them
every night depressed. I felt [music] sorry for the guy. >> But Mark Wangler says the marriage
counselor had told him to write down his feelings and to be brutally honest. >> We were in counseling.
I was trying to reconnect. >> [music] >> I I I loved Kathy. >> As time goes on, the entries get
increasingly desperate. Sometimes I feel rage. I feel trapped with no escape. I pray that I can endure life.
Please cast [music] Satan and his demons attacking me out from my life for a time.
>> I think he thought Kathy [music] was evil and that was Satan was working through
her. It says mine was twisted to the point that he thought that's what God wanted
him to do. To rid the world of the evil one. >> I see that I am sensitive and that I
tend to keep anger inside until I explode. >> Dr. Wangler even wrote about taking his
own life in a way that startled investigators. >> Thoughts of suicide are a little strong
again. Satan is attacking in new way this time using car exhaust. >> And then, on September 1st,
>> [music] >> 3 days before Kathy's death an ominous plea to God. >> Dear Lord, I place our marriage on your
altar. Please act in a powerful way. >> Then in November, 2 months after her burial, Mark writes [music]
>> and I prayed for God to act in a powerful way that night. Little did I know that three nights later our
marriage would be changed forever. >> He used God to justify his actions. >> I was thinking he was thanking God she
was dead. >> The diaries are powerful circumstantial evidence, but are they enough to convict
the doctor of murder? Prosecutor Waldick still has one big hole in his case. He hasn't explained to
the jury exactly how the carbon monoxide got [music] into the ductwork or what engine was used.
>> But as we talk right now, you can't say definitively what the source of that carbon monoxide was, right?
>> No. >> [clears throat] >> No. >> And that doesn't trouble you? >> No. >> And Chris McDowell is counting on those
missing facts to set Mark Wangler free. >> There is not a single theory the government has come up with that [music]
makes any sense whatsoever. >> For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears, the Lord's ears are open
to their prayer. But the faith of the Lord is against those who do evil. James 5:16 says, "Therefore, confess
your sins to one another." >> As Dr. Mark Wangler's freedom hangs in the balance
>> this may be my last Wednesday night prayer meeting. >> He and his wife Esther find strength in
their faith. >> If the Lord calls me to serve him in prison, uh know, as an inmate. Um
that's what it's going to have to be. >> We just pray for your guidance, strength.
>> And we just have to be prepared for whatever happens and to accept whatever happens.
>> This is the the day of days for you. Do you have some optimism? [music] >> Yeah. The way the evidence is is just
absolutely overwhelming. So, yeah, I've got a great deal of optimism. >> Problem with lying is that it's the
little details [music] that catch up to you. >> Final arguments begin with prosecutor
Jenna Emrick zeroing in on Mark's suspicious behavior the morning Kathy died. >> The defendant started to head into his
own house because he wanted to take a shower. Now, if you really thought that a faulty hot water heater had just
killed someone in that potentially unsafe home, the last thing you're going to do is go in there and take a shower.
>> 911, what is your emergency? >> Emrick dissects Mark's 911 call, saying it too points to his guilt.
>> Is she breathing? >> No, I think she's not breathing. >> Consider the defendant's tone of voice
and demeanor. Does it sound a little staged, a little phony to you? Red flag. >> But defense attorney McDowell has a
different take on that 911 call. >> When you listen to the tape, you can hear the panic in his voice.
>> Okay, does she have a heartbeat? >> No, she doesn't. >> And he insists the prosecution never
offered a clear explanation of how Dr. Wangler might have murdered his wife with carbon monoxide.
>> It's their theory it came from an internal combustion engine. If that's the case, there would be the strong
smell associated with that gas. The gas and the vehicle exhaust fumes are intertwined. If you have one, you have
the other. The lack of the exhaust smell is is strong evidence of accident. >> He thought he had a perfect crime.
>> As the case goes to the jury, Kathy's mother and siblings [music] wait and pray for a verdict of guilty.
>> We're going to put it in the hands of God. There will be justice with Kathy's
death. >> What is this wait like for you? >> Terrible. No words can describe it.
>> But Kathy's son, Aaron, is praying for an acquittal. >> What if the verdict goes
>> [music] >> against your father? >> I'll be devastated. I mean, I've already lost one parent and
to lose another would be it'd be a lot. >> Who was that? >> That's my home phone. Excuse me.
>> On the second day of deliberations, the call comes in. >> Okay, we'll be right there, Bill.
Uh that was Bill and they have a verdict. >> What are you thinking? >> Just praying that you know, for an
acquittal. That's all I can say, Peter. >> Would you give the verdict forms to the
[music] bailiff, please? >> Kathy's mother and siblings gather on one side of the courtroom, her two sons
on the other. >> We, the jury, being duly impaneled and sworn, find the defendant, Mark A.
Wangler, guilty of aggravated murder. >> Yes. >> Guilty of murder. Tears of relief
and tears of sorrow. Mark Wangler appears stunned. Then, Judge Richard Warren has some
scathing words as he sentences him to life in prison. >> You violated the Ten Commandments. Thou
shall not kill. You also violated the Hippocratic Oath as a doctor, which is the first thing
you shall do no harm. >> This courtroom drama isn't over. Cathy's mother is about to have the last word.
>> We know you have always been a very selfish person who really did not care about our beautiful daughter
only yourself. >> It's a moment Sarah Schlerfman has been waiting for for almost 5 years.
>> Mark, you senselessly robbed Cathy of her many most precious moments, her two
sons, Nathan and Aaron. She worshipped them, did everything in the world for them.
>> Then, the man once revered for saving lives is led away to prison for taking one.
Esther Wangler vows to keep fighting to free her husband. >> He's innocent of these charges. He'll be
out on appeal. We will stop at nothing This is a cruel, cruel, biased investigation.
>> But, it's clear this fight has taken its toll as she retreats to her home comforted [music] by her son.
>> [sighs] >> It's just going to be shock for a long time just figuring out what to do day by
day. >> For now, the case is closed. But for Detective Clyde Bridegam, there is no
celebrating. >> Thank you, sweetheart. >> Only thoughts of a family destroyed. >> Mommy, I love you.
>> Thank you, guys. Thank you, guys. >> I feel sorry uh for everybody involved in this. Cathy's
gone. Her family [music] lost Cathy. >> Happy birthday, dear Cathy. >> The two boys, Aaron and Nathan, lost
their mother. >> [laughter] >> Nobody won in this case. Nobody won. It It's just sad.
>> She loved life. >> [laughter] >> Was always happy. Loved family. >> I miss that laugh.
>> [snorts] [music] [music] [music]

Did an anesthesiologist gas his wife to death? "48 Hours" correspondent Peter Van Sant reports in this episode from June 2012. Watch more full episodes of "48 Hours" on Pluto TV.

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Brief Summary

Mark Wangler is convicted of murdering his wife Kathy through carbon monoxide poisoning, despite claims of an accident.

Key points

The Loving Family. Mark and Kathy Wangler had a seemingly loving relationship, but things were not as they appeared.
A Tragic Incident. On September 4th, 2006, a strange incident at the Wangler home led to Kathy's death.
Suspicion Grows. Three years after Kathy's death, whispers of foul play began to surface.
The Aftermath. Mark found comfort in his church and an old friend after Kathy's death.
A Mother's Fear. Kathy expressed fears about her husband destroying her financially and emotionally.
Mark Wangler's Trial Begins. Four and a half years after Kathy's death, her husband faces murder charges.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It's like one of these freak accidents that you hear from other people's families.

Reflecting on the unexpected nature of Kathy's death

1:54WatchApr 21, 2026

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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