Houses of Horror | "48 Hours" Full Episodes | Forensic Files

[Music] Aaron this is Florida nothing strange [Music] here the house was beautiful it was 4,000 square ft it had
a pool a garage apartment it was a great house the only problem was upstairs some of the rooms
were too small and just the functionality did not work for some families I could understand why they'd
want to renovate it when did you first meet Shanti and David Dave just called me on the phone
and asked if I'd come by and take a look at the project he said that they had done some work I wasn't at all prepared
for what I saw when I got there they had fully disassembled this house to a degree that I'd never seen
before it it was rather astonishing it was largely wide open like you're inside of a giant shoe
box this house became more than just a project to David tronis it was his life he obsessed on it this house is the
center point to the story and ultimately led to shanti's demise this case all started with a call
to 911 placed at approximately 3:51 p.m. M on April 24th 2018 by Dave tronis hello and Dav says that he came home and
found Shanti floating in the bathtub she's not feing did that story make sense absolutely not Shanti was extensively
beaten it makes me emotional I feel bad for her family and for her son It's upsetting that she won't get
that life with him clearly Dave tronis from the very beginning is a suspect absolutely Dave was asked to go to the
station thank you and voluntarily remain there for hours just have a seat there it'll be a little bit he did not request
councel he consented to swabs to clippings to a search of his person Dave went into that interview
with an agenda he had never been more in love was so happy and he just started getting confronted and confronted and
confronted I told you she was murdered murdered someone took her life from her and there's nothing you can't even fake
it that's how much you could give it and if it became a war of Wills in that room
I don't have any explanation for her the severity of her injuries and didn't David win that war of Wills he was not
broken well Dave didn't confess are we boring you it seems pretty clear these two detectives they
went into this room decided that David was a murderer and then went the extra mile to try to put a file together to
prove such did you guys get into an argument was she about the house is it possible that without this
house Shanti might still be alive I think that's completely true [Music] [Music]
Delaney Park is a well-established neighborhood it's been around for over a hundred years Tara Stevens knows Delaney
park inside and out she's a realtor who buys and sells homes there it's a great place to live to
raise a family a lot of outside activity great school system it's a it's a great
neighborhood so Delaney Park is a mile or so from downtown or Orlando Ryan vesio a former prosecutor with the
Orlando State Attorney's office got to know the area well when he led the investigation into the death of Shanti
Cooper in April 2018 did Shanti ever indicate to any friends or family that she was afraid of
anyone no so you guys knew each other approximately 5 years this month vesio and investigators dug in to
learn all they could about Shanti and her husband David trones the couple had been married for
more than a year everybody we spoke to about Dave and Dave's background said that he was highly intelligent it's what
made him successful when he worked in business how would you described Shanti Shanti Cooper was a hardworking
dedicated mom who cared deeply deeply about her son her son was her world shanti's son Jackson was then 8 years
old she shared custody with his father Jim Cooper whom Shanti had divorced in 2013 she launched a lucrative Financial
software business and worked out of her home office how did she meet Dave tronis
Dave was outside of Minneapolis Minnesota at the time they met over the internet and started exchanging messages
and profiles and that turned into emails investigators later found this document
on shanti's computer that shows just how smitten she was Dave I will have to say
I think this will be a delicious detour amazing magnificent lifechanging detour I've had a pep in my step since we
started this little email Affair in Minnesota David just ended a long marriage but within months of
meeting Shanti onine line he moved to Orlando Dave fell in love with Delaney Park and the house at 218 East Copeland
Drive a house that came complete with its own gargoyles we sold it to him for 67500 which was a really really good
deal how did he pay for it cash Dave put the house in trust for himself and his mother and soon introduce Shanti to Tara
they seemed very happy she was a beautiful very nice person I enjoyed meeting her Tara did not feel quite the
same about Dave Dave's personality changed a little bit after the contract was signed I just saw a
very different side of him he was like a a guy or a child who wants to get their
way and they don't stop until they do you were glad when the deal was over absolutely I was very
glad I didn't get a good feeling from him Cindy and Dan da are shanti's relatives by marriage they didn't like
Dave at first but it wasn't long before Cindy had a change of heart I love her so I grew to love him we absolutely
adored him the first time we had lunch he walked in and he said how lucky am I I get to have lunch with two of the most
beautiful women that I know I mean that's Charming in 2015 Dave and chanti moved
into their new home and attempted to remodel it with Shanti footing the bill what did Dave do all day it's a great
question if you ask Dave he says that he worked on the house and worked on the renovations and took care of the
property and clean the pool contractors came and went demolition went on and on but the
renovation was an expensive failure by 2018 the main part of the house was unlivable Shanti was reduced to working
and sleeping above the garage in a small apartment where did Dave sleep I think he slept downstairs with the dogs maybe
not all the time but I'm pretty sure he was down there desperate to resolve the housing
situation Dave turned to Keith ory a local house renovator who also appeared on a reality TV show called Zombie house
flipping neighborhoods are under attack from zombie houses what is zombie house flipping
zombie house flipping is a house flipping TV show where we take houses that are the worst of the
[Music] worst is anything broken I think we have a termite problem and what we do is
bring them back to life I looked at the house I realized that the structure was suspect and uh politely stepped outside
an engineer discovered the only thing holding up the house was 2 in of Stucco it was rather astonishing they took away
all the interior Dividing Walls and basically what was left was a twostory shell weren't you tempted to just run
for the hills yeah but at the same time you rarely come across a challenge that's
that uh that bold Keith was up for the challenge and began Shing up the interior and then he got the go-ahead to
use the house in the next season of zombie house flipping this is zombie house flipping it was mid April
2018 and filming was set to begin in early may but there was a problem getting Dave
and Shanti together to talk in FA in person was proving to be really difficult Keith went to the house to
meet with the couple one last time to be sure they were on board and they both said yes we understand and then she took
off immediately just and left I got a sense that she was ped off at him fesio said Shanti had been trying for years to
get her name on the trust that owned the house but Dave never followed through and it seemed like things just sort of
culminated to a boiling point it was only days before shanti's murder she desperately wanted stability
in her life but was living in a house that was anything but her name was not on the deed and she had already spent a
lot of money on what was essentially Dave's house Shanti was the bank roll the soul bank roll to almost A4 million
doll renovation what did she get for her $250,000 well a lot of headaches and [Music]
heartaches thank you shortly after Shanti was pronounced dead Dave tronis went to Orlando Police
Headquarters go get her as soon as I can where he remained without a lawyer for 14 hours we got to figure this out
together okay of course he didn't attempt to conceal anything Richard seski is Dave's attorney he gave the law
enforcement access to everything that they needed everything that they wanted and he laid himself out there for
examination by all we want to say how sorry we are for loss at the start detectives Teresa
sprag and Barb sharp seem sympathetic take a minute okay I know this is super tough they're very good at
building Rapport and have a tremendous amount of experience if you have a suspect who's willing to talk you just
hit play and sit back and let them go on and on and on and that's what Dave does
Dave sticks with his story he took the dog dogs to a park in the afternoon and after he
returned he found Shanti still wearing her pajamas floating in the tub so I could hear the water is running you see
her laying one of her legs is kind of sticking up and out a little bit and it's just
extremely awful are you can you tell me what your address is he tells the detectives that
he tried to perform CPR but couldn't get Shanti to breathe she was dead when First Responders arrived Dave has a lot
to say and a lot to say to try to convince the detectives that he wasn't involved in his wife's death I think
something went wrong either she slipped or she fell or she blacked out why did he agree to sit down and talk to these
detectives with without an attorney because he had nothing to hide and he didn't think that it would hurt him but
the veteran detectives began to pick at his story and question how shanti's Bloody cheek and bruised eye came from a
slip in the tub any exp what I found somebody who slips and Falls doesn't receive the amount of blunt force trauma
to focused areas in the head detectives also had spotted blood on shanti's bed and suspected that's where she had
been killed but Dave says the blood likely was from shanti's period it did get on the bed spread and it did get
almost through the B there was a lot of other evidence that would be inconsistent with this being blood
associated with a menstrual cycle detectives also suspected and shanti's autopsy later confirmed that she was
strangled but celeski says as frustrating as it may have been to authorities Dave can't explain shanti's
injuries not because he's lying but because he simply doesn't know he took his best guess based upon
what he come to find he doesn't know what happened is the point the detectives press on for hours
taking turns and peppering Dave with tougher and tougher questions did you two argue no absolutely not did you
fight absolutely not did you harm Shanti in any way absolutely not sharp and sprag also question his timeline Dave
says that he called 911 about 5 minutes after he found Shanti you've got to help
us understand but detectives insist that doesn't match what they found at the house there's no splashing of water any
anywhere in the bathroom the inside of the tub is dry completely dry and she's damp she's not even wet so you got to
help us can you do that I'm tell you everything they're drawing conclusions based upon observations and they're
moving forth based upon these assumptions they try to zero in on a possible motive did she catch you with
another woman did she have a boyfriend did was she about the house but given the sorry
state of the house detectives begin to wonder if that had something to do with shanti's murder I can't imagine how
stressful it must have been you know not living in the home you want to live in and it's taken two plus years three
years um I'm I'm sick to death about what happened but nothing happened today because of there was no animosity
between us whatsoever and he says shant wasn't upset that her name wasn't on the trust
that owned the house so we had kind of talked about it and debated it and we finally just said it doesn't really
matter let's just move forward Teresa and Barb are tenacious they don't stop they're well-versed in interrogation
techniques you know we saw the good cop bad cop we saw manipulation Barb sharp even moves her hand to Dave's knee and
adopts a more subtle tone will be okay we can't help you until you help us before Teresa sprag begins another
attack she treats you like a landscaper like the pool boy probably because she's
bringing in the money as the hours tick by what do you want your mom to think about you they try anything they can to
get him to confess are you religious want to pray this almost became a game of psychological warfare
in that interview room Dave began the interview by saying how happy he had been with Shanti but almost 8 hours into
the interrogation the detectives aren't buying it you claim to love that woman I would be under the table in a
ball if I was in love with that woman and she was dead I I would be inconsolable do you think that he was
penalized because he didn't act the way detectives wanted him to act oh time time and time again you know you fake
cried for about seven or 8 hours today not one tear came out of your eyes not one there's a lot of conclusions
being drawn off of what they consider to be an odd affect of Mr Tron and I think
that that's a dangerous thing to do because we all react to stress differently we all grieve differently
Dave even agrees to take a polygraph but by then it was the middle of the night an investigator couldn't find
anyone to administer [Music] it they had to let him go at the end of the interview how did they feel about
that you always want to make the arrest right up front you do with Dave Tron is free police would have to keep digging
for Clues but even they were surprised by what they found is it fair to say that
Dave tronis was living a double life at least two lives lives she didn't slip and fall it's not
a possibility even though detectives were outright accusing Dave trones of murdering Shanti you strangled her some
of her relatives like Cindy da believed him are you kidding my bet my last dollar that it wasn't him I thought he
was innocent you honestly did Cindy why I think it was just the growth of our relationship and how she adored him
absolutely adored him and it looked very mutual to everyone did she ever express
any concern or fear of Dave never never after being questioned by by detectives Dave headed straight to his
home in Delaney Park and that's where Cindy found him I stood him up and turned him around and looked at his arms
and there was not a scratch on him there was nothing Cindy did you ever ask him Point Blank did you have something to do
with the death of Shanti I did what did he say no I would not kill the love of my life
defense attorney Richard zeleski says the problem with this case is that detectives and prosecutors were
convinced from the start that Dave trones was shanti's killer soleski says the bias of the investigators is clear
from the police report they've already suggested that they have it figured out like bull in a china shop trying to just
make this work at all cost because they've done nothing to develop other suspects but vesio denies that he says
Detectives checked out every possible suspect and got lucky when an important lead fell into their laps a worker from
Club Orlando called and shared that they knew of Dave tronis because he was a patron at the club what is Club Orlando
Club Orlando is a same-sex bath house did Dave have a membership at Club Orlando several memberships every 6
months Dave renewed his membership detectives headed to the club to investigate and found a longtime Club
employee who in this police recorded interview says he witnessed Dave having sex at the club I was just walking
through and I saw David uh he was giving oral sex to this guy from what everybody
who knew Shanti has said she would absolutely have not tolerated it put up with it endorse it it just wouldn't have
happened there's a significant possibility that Shanti knew all about it and why do you
believe that because none of her family members seem to know anything about it and and her family members seem to
indicate that if Shanti did know she'd be upset and and I appreciate that but uh what you tell your mom and dad about
your sex life and what you do uh behind closed doors you know people are people adults or adults and life is
messy but vesio wonders if shant ultimately did discover Dave's duplicity on the night she was murdered had that
Revelation made Shanti threatened to turn off the money spigot once and for all but she would be killed because of a
house well what would somebody do when they were about to lose the most important thing in their
[Music] life because in April of 2018 the most important thing in Dave's life was that
house [Music] Dave told Cindy and others that he believed Shanti may have been murdered
by a burglar and the defense claimed that $5,000 in cash was missing from the house also missing shanti's diamond
engagement ring valued at approximately $155,000 that was highly highly suspicious the detectives wanted to get
to the bottom of it why could have been exactly as Dave said that he leaves and someone breaks into the house beats her
leaves her there and Dave comes home why doesn't that fit well the lack of forced
entry this scene did not have any sort of evidence of a struggle there's thousands of dollars of valuables that
are left in plain sight a private investigator hired by defense lawyers canvas Neighbors asking
them about a particular homeless man who reportedly had been seen around Delaney
park it was said he resembled the actor Woody harelson what about the transient that everyone describes who looks a lot
like Woody harelson I mean when you got nothing better you throw everything against the
wall and see if something sticks this home is at 218 East Copeland Drive detective Teresa sprag tracked
Woody down and recorded this interview and you see there's a large Blue dumpster in the driveway have you ever
been there no nothing placed Woody inside DAV and shanti's home but vesio says his interview shows police chase
down every lead including checking out her ex-husband Shanti had had a bad divorce this was not an easy end of the
marriage did you look at Jim Cooper yes Mr Cooper was interviewed and Jim Cooper was eliminated as a suspect very
early on he had an alibi on August 29th 2018 4 months after shant's murder Dave tronis was arrested on a charge of
first-degree murder and held without bail and how did the two of you react when you heard that I wasn't believing
it whatsoever I thought were just trying to solve a murder easily I always had the suspicion Dave's
arrest gave prosecutors another piece of the puzzle shanti's missing engagement ring the ring is probably one of the
most powerful and damning pieces of evidence in this case as long as that expensive ring was missing Dave tronis
could argue that a burgler had murdered Shanti but the day he was arrested police found it among his
possessions we searched the room at his mother's house where he was living and lo and behold we found the Rings in his
suitcase in his bedroom still Dave's arrest was not the end of the investigation it led to a cascading
series of New Revelations that surprised even a veteran prosecutor like Ryan vesio this was a case that had so many
twists and turns I would no longer make assumptions of anything you don't learn this stuff in law
[Music] school after the arrest of Dave tronz investigators received a tip that took
them completely by surprise it led them to Minnesota and back in time to win a much younger Dave was married to a woman
named Carol former close friends of Carol told detectives that they beli Dave may have been poisoning her as soon
as Carol got married to Dave she started suffering a bunch of unknown health issues that made prosecutor rhyme vesia
wonder if Shanti could have been poisoned in shanti's case she had appendicitis and had to have an
appendectomy Shanti had had that emergency appendectomy 8 weeks before her death appendicitis and poisoning
have similar symptoms and Dave told detectives that Shanti had digestion problems right up to the day she died
she hasn't found since the abct a diet that she can be great regly and feel good vesio needed more information so he
and detective Teresa sprag went to Minnesota in November of 2018 to meet Carol face to face and
recorded this interview I have issues with chronic pain and immune system issues that are not necessarily
definitive Carol told vesio she also struggled with gut issues and that Dave cooked most of their meals has it ever
come into your frame of thought that your marriage to David tronis or him cooking or making you
drinks was making you sick no have you ever thought that any of your issues related to your health problems was him
poisoning you no Carol said her health issues continued even after her divorce from
Dave yet vesio says he remains suspicious it very well could have been a scenario to where Dave was providing
both of them with items that caused them to be ill we just could never have real concrete proof of
it fesio wondered if there was another reason Carol seemed to be protecting her former husband and whether it had
anything to do with Dave's finances we saw thousand pages of bank records belonging
to Dave tronis one thing that we noticed was that Dave and Carol still had a joint bank account
together that account at times contained hundreds of thousands of dollars but Carol said she simply had forgotten to
take her name off that account people who are divorcing each other don't leave assets on the table and they sure as
heck don't leave them together it's unclear where that money came from vesio believes that car who
was not charged with any crime could be helping Dave manage his money while he's
in jail I think that Carol is involved in David's finances and has some level of
control the surprises in the case kept coming soon after shanti's death detectives have placed a surveillance
camera pointed toward the outside of Dave's house detective sprag was interested to see who was coming and
going out of the house and that camera camera ended up actually turning into a pretty valuable piece of evidence that
camera captured images of private investigators hired by Dave's original Law Firm coming and going detectives
believe that when one of those lawyers Robert Mandel realized that the pis were on camera he placed a called aesio I
never ever expected that he was going to tell me that he in fact had an item of physical e evidence that he had been
holding on to for 11 months never would have expected it in a thousand years and
what was that evidence they were a set of purported bloody sheets and it literally literally took
my breath away that defense attorney Robert Mandel told vesio that the defense team had acquired the bloody
sheets from the garage apartment where Shanti was found dead but had never turned them over to the
prosecution but Ryan as shocking as that is that wasn't the only evidence that later turned out was it no I ended that
call with the defense attorney and said listen if you have anything else now is the time to tell
me and about 10 12 hours later the next morning I got another call from him and that's when he said I have one other
item that I think we have to turn over that item turned out to be a green cord Mandel told vesio that a private
investigator removed it from the house and preserved it in an Evidence bag because Dave was threatening to kill
himself does that make sense to you no makes zero sense to me why go get the item and then treat it
as if it were a piece of evidence remember the autopsy revealed that Shanti had been strangled and vesio
believed there was a real possibility that the green cord could be the murder weapon with the prosecution now in
possession of that green cord tests were conducted to see if indeed it was the murder weapon used to strangle Shanti is
there any evidence to indicate that in fact that cord was used to kill Shanti no that cord did not have any DNA on
[Music] it but the cord wasn't picked up until weeks after shanti's death and authorities believe Dave had plenty of
time to clean it investigators had spent months examining all the evidence leading vesio to craft his own theory
about when Shanti was killed we found one single earring was placed on the nightstand the other
earring was in shanti's ear and what does that say to you that tells me that Shanti was most likely sitting on the
side of her bed preparing for bed taking those earrings out and that's when the attack happened the sheets and bed frame
did have shanti's blood on them and Shanti didn't use her phone after 11:30 p.m. the scene was consistent with this
attack happening somewhere in the midnight to 23 a.m. time period but David called 911 late in the afternoon
saying he had just found Shanti floating in the tub ceski says investigators are
jumping to unfair conclusions a few hours of time off the grid doesn't allowed them to shift the
timeline prosecutors continued to build their case even as Dave sat behind bars listening to anyone who had information
about shanti's death no matter how surprising the source I met David Chis in three
whiskey three whiskey is a housing unit in the Orlando jail where Edward gizi shareed a cell with Dave tronz he slept
next to me and I slept next to him after getting out of jail giz Mandi met with vesio and sprag he says that he and Dave
began talking and bonded over a shared interests in obscure hallucinogenics including sapo a poison
derived from a South American frog he said that you could use sapo to put in people's salsa and kill them
quietly killer salsa might sound ridiculous but not so far-fetched when you consider that authorities suspected
that Dave had poisoned both his wives gizi supplied even more information that if true was truly damning he says Dave
admitted that he and chanti had a fight before she died he just said there there
was an app on his phone that there was messages on that she had found apparently that suggested he was having
sex with men and she was going to show everybody and what did Dave say he did he snapped he said he fre freaked out
and did what he didn't specifically say that what he did but that he had killed his
wife investigators were unable to corroborate giz mandi's story about the app we didn't have any purchase records
of apps and we did not see it on Dave's phone I've read your statement and at no
point do I see anywhere where you had told them that David actually said I killed my wife wife but sitting here now
you said Dave told you I killed my wife yes ma'am in jail he said I killed my wife word for word is what he told me
but why wouldn't you tell the State's Attorney's office that I did I told him that he had snapped that's the word that
I used I don't remember if she had asked me did he admit to murdering her like word for word like
that one of the few things both the prosecution and the defense do agree on is that neither is sure they can believe
gizi he plad guilty to one count of LW or lascivious behavior and is now a registered sex offender and still on
probation this individual certainly has credibility issues zeleski took over Dave's defense
in early 2020 after the original attorneys withdrew from the case raising doubt isn't going to be ult
here but shanti's family has no doubt about what should happen to Dave he has to be found guilty he is
guilty Cindy da who once found Dave so Charming feels very differently about him now he should be sentenced to
death I want him to remember when he looks at me I want him to remember remember every lie Every
Lie when Cindy remembers Shanti her heart still breaks she was happy giving kind
fun loving person who had a mission in this life and she didn't get to fulfill it
[Music] there's a sing here in Minnesota Minnesota nice and that Minnesota knce ni only goes so far and
Heidi ferus she went all way she was genuine and she loved deep she definitely lived a life of love that was
the mark that she left and that's hard to let go you know this is a a terrible terrible incident you know we're hoping
to find other physical evidence that might help us lead us in a direction toward a suspect the morning of April
25th 2010 at 6:30 a.m. Heidi Fergus calls 911 someone's tring to break into my house
she tells the state patrol dispatcher that someone is trying to break into her house and she's trying to give her
address 1794 while she's on the phone you can hear a loud noise and the phone goes dead well I
don't know where she went there 6 approximately a minute later Nicholas Fergus calls 911 says that he and his
wife have both been shot brok okay are you in St Paul sir St Paul fire paramedics took Nick out to the
ambulance and transported him to Regent's hospital he had been shot in the leg Heidi was struck in the back as
she was trying to flee towards the kitchen it was a shotgun blast that killed her right away the shotgun was
laying inside the front door area there's a little foyer Nick gave a brief story he heard
somebody fiddling around with the door and that he then armed himself with a shotgun and that Nick and the Intruder
struggled over the shotgun the responding officers uh went up and down the block try to talk to
neighbors I was next door house sitting when the crime happened really all I heard was kind of this agonizing yell
of you shot her you shot me it never felt right the story never made sense to me he
tells investigators that he grabbed a shotgun loaded it with two shells and then proceeded to have Heidi go down the
stairs in front of him towards the very door that this alleged burglar was at why you would send the unarmed person
down in front of you is beyond me to me there were only two people in that house
when Heidi was killed and they were Nick and Heidi in order to believe believe that
Nick killed Heidi you have to believe that a good man with no History of Violence killed the woman that he loved
more than anything in life for no reason that's what you have to believe we can't
get there [Music] [Music] while this area of St Paul where Heidi and Nick fcus lived I would characterize as generally
a quiet neighborhood back in 2010 9 years before she took charge of the fcus case
detective Nicole cyes of the St Paul police department was a patrol cop who worked this neighborhood do you remember
first hearing about the fcus case I do some is broken me okay it was early on a Sunday morning
the 911 call was at 6:30 Nick fergus's Story of a burglar didn't make sense to cypes most people are home at 6:30 on a
Sunday morning especially in a family neighborhood like that the last thing that most burglars want to encounter are
people did police ever have any luck tracking down the Intruder that Nick described
no you know I'm looking I didn't see anybody come out of that house Brandon ' Conor was house sitting next door to the
fasses and taking care of kittens I was woken up by the kittens kind of walking around some noise caught my attention so
stuck my head out the window kind of listen Brandon says he recalls hearing a muffled argument coming from the
fergus's house listening through an open window that's when I ended up hearing what sounded like gunshots around this
time said he also heard that voice crying out kind of this agonizing yell of you shot her you shot me uh please
please no something along those lines and then then it was done First Responders rushed to the
scene there was nothing they could do for Heidi she was pronounced dead Nick was rushed to the hospital and treated
for a gry gunshot wound to his leg he seemed not to be sure whether or not Heidi had been killed like I said we'll
do our best to find out how how do pleas hours later Nick was transported to the St Paul police department then
Nick and I started to have our conversation in the conference room Sergeant Jim Gray took Nick's statement
you know I know this is a very traumatic situation okay and I'm just going to try
and ease into it okay so couple ordered in food the night before and watched the
movie Avatar they went upstairs to their bedroom around 11:00 p.m. the next morning Nick got up around 6:00 a.m. to
get a drink of water from the bathroom go back to sleep I just kind of fitfully sleep for 10 or 15 minutes and then I
heard the screen door open trying to let it go for a little while but then I started hearing fing with her door knob
and is Heidi still sleeping then yeah okay like a rock Nick said he retrieved his shotgun from the closet I keep two
shells for it just in case things go weird so when I heard things this morning I did load it and then I wake up
Heidi okay according to Nick he told Heidi someone was trying to break in and to call
911 as she spoke with the dispatcher someone tring to break into my house they headed downstairs so they could get
out of the house what address are you at all right so you going first down the stairs or is she is she behind you or is
she in front of you or what um she's in front cuz I'm kind of trying to move her
along quickly Nick said as they passed by the front door it burst open guy that was there I think he he grabbed the
barrel I don't remember exactly what happened but the gun went off so my finger slipped onto the trigger Nick
told Sergeant gray during the struggle over the weapon the gun fired striking Heidi who he said was in
the kitchen okay so the Govern guns guns here chest High yep you and I are like this yeah and then the gun goes off mhm
I I mean I know it hit Heidi I just I had no idea she was running away so I definitely hit her in the back it hit
her in the back yeah I couldn't believe it I I didn't want to believe it it can't be true
that's there's no way ktina and Marcus sarzen mentored Heidi at Calvary Church I think she's one of those uh people
that you can't not like everyone liked Heidi she genuinely loved people she was the life of the party always finding fun
ways to engage people and U she was very loyal the couple met at the church and in 2005 Heidi 20 and Nick 22 got married
Nick ferus had a very warm and engaging personality always smiling he carried himself with confidence and he had High
character high integrity in the church that was the reputation he' built for himself but just a few hours after
Heidi's death Sergeant Jim Gray found himself questioning Nick fergus's account he couldn't figure out why the
couple would leave the safety of their bedroom you come upstairs you know I hate to tell you this but my house you
know I'm justified in killing you if you can come break it in my house yeah and I
guess Nick explained that the couple had a plan in place comp if they were ever in a precarious situation they would
avoid a confrontation and escape to their car in the garage and get away if we can save ourselves let's let's do
that instead of getting into a situation where his story didn't make a lot of sense to me Sergeant gray started
probing into their marriage you guys uh have any problems or anything like that just the normal stuff like uh you know
stresses about finances and quality time vacations and all that stuff yeah but you guys aren't behind in the bills or
we are behind in the bills um which is a little stressful in fact we were planning on moving tomorrow um moving
where well we hadn't figured that out yet we were in and this is a a hard it's a hard place for us we were
foreclosing on WE foreclosed on our house Nick revealed they were behind on their mortgage payments and just 24
hours away from being evicted from their home well that's kind of I mean kind of
close notice it is and I think the reason is cuz we're both kind of dealing with the shape of the whole thing gray
says his suspicions were raised and minutes later he was struck by the way Nick asked about Heidi well I just want
to know the final answer the final answer on he she had make it I figured that I mean is that typically
how someone asks if their loved one or spouse has been killed not only is that not typical that that's how they'd ask
it but they wouldn't wait an hour and 40 minutes into this conversation to ask that question I've watched the interview
obviously numerous times and I understand people react to trauma differently but this was different than
what I'd seen anybody that's watched that interview cannot help but be struck by Nick's demeanor during it and that
demeanor was this was just another day this was something he had to get through skeptical of Nick's story Sergeant gray
confronted Nick about what happened that day Nick you know part of me wants to ask you this question did you have
anything to do with this no absolutely not okay absolutely not all right why is there a party that
wants to ask that well Nick I'm I'm a police off okay I got to ask I got to ask the tough questions all
right after the interview Nick left the police station that day investigators returned to the fcus home with a search
warrant gray says it did not look like anyone was planning to move out the next day nothing was packaged up at all the
closet was still full of clothes we noticed that there was still food in the refrigerator and there was something
else that inv investigators questioned we didn't see any signs of forced entry into the house based off of the physical
evidence at the scene his version of the incident couldn't be plausible what do you think of Nick's
story about the Intruder chat now with the 48 Hours team on Facebook and x 48 hours after Nick Fus said an
intruder shot and killed his wife Heidi police went back to the crime scene to check out his story he told us that
there was a life and death struggle inside the house but Sergeant gray says the evidence at the crime scene didn't
match Nick's account there was a vase uh some receipts a beer bottle and none of
that was knocked over so that kind of raised suspicion to us that if there was such a struggle why wasn't any of this
stuff knocked over Sergeant gray says he examined the front door for signs of a Breakin and did notice some markings but
it wasn't anything new that would lead us to believe that uh the door had been forced open the day of the murder in his
interview Nick said he heard someone fiddling with the front door from upstairs and like what are they doing
they just going like this yeah kind of like that yeah just shaking the knob and shutting the door that day sergeant gray
and his colleagues did a reenactment April 27th 2010 to determine if they could hear the front door
shaking from the bedroom we're in the bedroom looking Sergeant shackle and Sergeant Wright were upstairs in the
bedroom I'm at the front door so let me know when you guys are ready I'll I'll try to KN for 15 seconds then we are
ready they could not hear me filling with the door sorry Sergeant gray says he also
doubted Nick's story about the coup's eviction and a scheduled move the day after Heidi was shot there didn't appear
to be anything boxed up or packaged up to go there were a few empty boxes in the
dining room area there was not a grand stack of boxes or anything for that matter that would lead us to believe
that they were going to pack up all in one day meanwhile heidy's mentors from Calvary Church Marcus and CA were
learning the details about her death and the eviction it it just didn't add up it
just something wasn't right with that story it seemed so out of the ordinary that she would be moving and not have
notified anyone not have anything prepared for that because she planned things out and she liked things to be
orderly on April 30th 2010 5 days after her passing Marcus and CA attended Heidi's funeral
yeah the atmosphere at the funeral was there was a lot of emotion at the funeral Marcus and CA say they were
struck by Nick's demeanor I remember going through the receiving line and shaking his hand there was no grief
showing it just felt like he lacked emotion Marcus says he went as far as asking some of the coup's friends if
Nick could have shot his wife and the answer I got was no there's no way that Nick killed Heidi he loved her there
there's just no way he could have done that and I just wasn't so sure about that from what we gathered during our
investigation Nick and Heidi were in a loving relationship there was no problems or issues that anybody saw your
first impression upon meeting Nick ferus is no way in the world could he have committed a violent act the day after
the shooting Nick's Family hired attorney Joe fre ber who advised Nick to stop talking to the police it didn't
take long to realize that he was being looked at as a suspect when investigators asked Nick to sit down
with their artists to draw a sketch of the Intruder fredberg advised him not to they were going to use it as an
opportunity to further interview him instead Nick and his attorney hired their own sketch artist
it was quite odd that Nick would work with a private sketch artist and brought that drawing to police
original and at that point we were basically told that Nick would not be answering any more questions with
regards to our investigation investigators released Nick sketch to the public but it didn't
generate any leads they kept working the case Nick moved out of their home a few
weeks after Heidi's death two months later he began a friendship with the sister of one of Heidi's best
friends Rachel Sanchez who is going through a divorce at the time I thought because we shared something traumatic
there was a deep connection there because I had come out of something traumatic myself in a
relationship I think Nick seemed to be handling things well it felt like he was very grounded he was with his friend
friends a lot and they were processing together so I think just his his steadiness was an attractive quality
Rachel says the two bonded over their faith they began dating in the spring of 2011 at the time God played a big part
in my life and I think that's another quality that I saw in him that he he loved God like I
did one year into their relationship Nick proposed I knew it was coming we had looked at ring
beforeand so it wasn't really a huge surprise and a few months later the couple married they started a family we
did have kids pretty quickly and soon were the parents of three children he absolutely loves his kids so much Andrew
and Emily Ericson are friends of Nick they say for a long time Nick didn't talk much about Heidi's murder yeah it
just didn't seem like there was a lot of room for his grief during that time but
they say when he did talk about it his story was always the same what did he tell you same thing he's always told
everyone from the first day same thing he'd tell you today that someone was breaking into the
house and they were going to try to get out and there was an altercation and tragically Heidi was
killed investigators still did not believe that story but 5 years after Heidi's death
with little movement in the case they finally got a break someone called in a tip there was somebody that looked
exactly like the sketch and put a name to Nick's sketch somebody called said I have an experience with this guy I think
I know who it [Music] is after 5 years without a break in Heidi fergus's murder case out of the
blue a tipster called police with a name after seeing this sketch of the suspect but there was a problem says
investigator cypes he was already in prison on the date of Heidi's death Nick's second wife Rachel says her
husband rarely talked about the case being solved I had asked him are going to put effort into seeing if you can
find the person that did this he didn't reach out to anyone as far as I know I know that from his lawyers he was told
to just stay silent police found it odd Nick never checked in through four investigators in this case he never
contacted one of us to ask the status was this case ever considered a cold case it wasn't ever considered a cold
case because prosecutors Rachel Crocker and Elizabeth Lawman joined the investigation in 2015 there just was not
a lot of new information coming in Heidi's family would check in on her birthday is there anything new
development and there would be new developments when detective cypes took over Heidi's case in 2019 seems her
fresh set of eyes really made a huge difference it was absolutely critical I think cypes definitely restarted
something cypes dug deep reviewing the entire case file including an examination of a financial timeline she
compiled with the help of the FBI I had the luxury of looking back on all of these things several years
later cypes learned Nick worked at his family's carpet installation business they were contractors for Home
Depot Heidi was a clerk at a financial services company in St Paul their combined income was about $70,000 a
year they seem like they were on top of all the bills before they bought the house but Lawman says the home purchase
in 2007 strained the couple's finances and that home was just too much for them by the time Heidi died in April
of 2010 the couple was deeply in debt he had not paid the mortgage in 22 months in fact the couple had lost their home
to foreclosure and would be forced to move out but Cy discovered Heidi apparently had no
idea after reviewing the couple's texts and emails cyp saw no evidence Nick ever
told Heidi they were in financial trouble there was no communication between the two of them to indicate that
she had any idea the depth of their financial issues I was able to determine through
the foreclosure and eviction attorneys that there was no paperwork Heidi had signed that nobody had ever talked to
Heidi nobody met Heidi Heidi didn't go to the eviction hearing on March 8th 2010 Cy says Nick and Heidi's family and
friends didn't know the couple had to relocate and if she was serious about moving she would have gotten the day off
so she was planning to go to work yes why do you think he kept her in the dark so long shame I believe he was
concerned about the shame of what he had done how it would look that he couldn't
come clean with her you know it had gotten too big at that point and when cypes talked to the
couple's friends she learned why Nick wanted to hide their financial situation he was described by his
friends as being wise and being the person that they would go to for advice Nick ferus really presented as
somebody who had some of those bigger tougher life questions figured out what kind of person do you want to be what
kind of relationship do you want to have with God what does that tell you as you're
investigating the case and you see someone in that type of Personality it just became easier to see that this was
someone who did not want his friends his family to know the extent to which he had
failed Cy says she discovered more of Nick's Lies when she learned about a conversation Heidi had with a friend
just the day before she died Heidi had talked to us about how Nick had told her that they were victims of identity theft
it was somewhere around $180 to $200,000 worth of identity theft wasn't true they weren't the
victims this was all untrue but as cypes tried to figure out if there was a connection between Nick's
lies and Heidi's death she learned Nick and Rachel had divorced I remember very well when Nikki CES came to my door and
that Nick had also kept secrets from her did Rachel ever say anything about why their marriage dissolved she did there
were Financial issues between the two of them Nick was lying about a lot of things this is a story that's happened
before and it didn't end well that terrified me [Music] could there actually have been an
intruder after spending 19 months digging deep into the fcus case File reviewing crime scene
photos 911 calls do you remember what he was wearing and Nick's video interview she was running away so definitely hit
her in the back investigator Nicole cypes had come to one conclusion what really matters is what happened in that
fire and there was no third person you never found anyone else's DNA no no DNA evidence no physical evidence no sign of
a struggle to me there were only two people in that house when Heidi was killed and they were Nick and
Heidi as part of the new investigation cypes reached out to Nick's second wife Rachel what did she know
in 2020 she came to my door and I was like why are you here and she was like to talk about hiy ferus at first Rachel
then divorced from Nick says she was reluctant to talk you're asking for a lot when you get involved in something
like this and I didn't want to but I also knew that it was the right thing to do and it was for truth Rachel told syes
Nick had lied about their finances during their marriage I found a letter saying that we hadn't paid our property
taxes and that we were going to get evicted in 2020 if we didn't pay them and when I saw that I was like oh no
like he was definitely repeating the same things as he did with Heidi with me during that time Rachel says Nick's
dishonesty started to make her question whether he had also lied about Heidi's death and I said we got to sit down and
talk Rachel secretly recorded the conversation on her phone your actions have caused me to just distrust you
completely if there was going to be a confession I was going to make sure that I could prove that he said it and the
fact that you're lying was so easy for you to do in front of me over and over and over makes me
think that I should murder my wife that you could lie about something that I could murder my wife yes
when I listen I think this silence kills me he's angry at me how dare I think those
things why aren't you saying you didn't tell me I'm not right Rachel later shared the recordings
with investigator SES the behavior that he exhibited in his marriage with Rachel
was almost duplicative of how he hid things from Heidi we cannot let this man be out on
the street any longer for prosecutor Elizabeth lman the time had come to ACT I told Sergeant cyes we're charging him
let's do it 11 years after Heidi was shot to death on May 19th 2021 a St Paul Police SWAT team arrested
Nick Fergus at his house and charged him with second deegree murder a grand jury ultimately indicted ferus
on first and second degree murder charges our minds were absolutely blown Heidi's friends Marcus and Katina were
relieved it's hard to to say I don't know what emotion you even put to it it's hard to say excited I felt grateful
we don't understand Nick's friends Emily and Andrew you have to believe that a good man with no History of Violence
killed the woman that he loved more than anything in life for no reason that's what you have to believe we can't get
there after remaining free on bail for almost 2 years on January 27th 2023 Nick ferus went on
trial prosecutors would not be allowed to call Nick's second wife Rachel to testify or use her taped conversation
with Nick the judge ruled her testimony and the recording had no bearing on the case
I went into it with an open mind Natalie Michael served on the jury did he appear
like a man who would kill his wife no he did not a lot through the trial he was putting his head down when they showed
the photos of the two of them together you know he seemed like he really was in love with her I think Nick was someone
who lived two lives prosecutors presented an unusual motive they told the jurors Nick ferus staged a burglary
because he was desperate and ashamed his secrets were about to be revealed to Heidi and everyone else all of his kind
of cards of lies are about to crumble he would have been exposed as a complete failure a liar um to his friends and
community and instead he's a victim he walks away from this supported by his friends supported by his family Nick had
no reason Nick's lawyers Joe Friedberg and Robert Richmond say that simply makes no sense as a motive there was
nothing about murdering the woman who everyone agreed he loved that would help his situation and they say the state's
contention that Heidi didn't know about the couple's finances simply was not true Nick said she was in on all of the
major decisions he would say to us that they're making Heidi out to be an imbecile at first I was wondering how
she couldn't know about the finances or some of the Foreclosure or some of the things happening but Natalie Michael
says the prosecution's case did not hinge on motive the prosecution said it really is was there an intruder in the
house or was there not an intruder it was our position that there had been an intruder exactly the way Nick described
to the police on the 911 call brok at the scene the information that Nick gave at the scene is that this
Intruder came into the house at the hospital he just came in and to Sergeant gray guy that was there I think he he
grabbed the barrel Nick's lawyers say police didn't find the Intruder fingerprints or DNA at the scene because
as Nick told investigators in his interview at the hospital what else can you describe from him the Intruder was
wearing gloves gloves he's wearing gloves you don't always leave DNA and especially when your hands are covered
so what am I looking at here but prosecutors say there was something else missing from the scene besides
fingerprints this is a physical model to scale that was created by the FBI they use this model to show the jurors there
was no evidence of a struggle I felt that it was very important for us to be able to recreate how small that entryway
is let's say the Intruder gets in they have this struggle and they have this life and death struggle right in this
area with nothing Disturbed on the table exactly and then Heidi gets shot Square
in the back in a very clear shot this animation created by the FBI shows that the bullet that killed Heidi was most
likely shot from shoulder level the height at which Heidi is shot fits exactly on Nick's shoulder to aim and to
fire Nick's attorneys say there was direct evidence that showed there was an intruder in fact there were tool marks
in the door which would be consistent with someone wedging a screwdriver between the frame and the door attorney
Joe Friedberg says fergus's nextdoor neighbor Brandon OK Conor testified he heard a voice
you shot her you shot me uh please please no something along those lines that means there must have been another
person in that house Nick was talking to a third person when he said that but prosecutors say Brandon may have
misheard Nick while he was on the phone with the 911 dispatcher is broken me he is screaming about being
shot and he did that over almost s minutes stay on the phone with me okay Nick ferus did not take the stand
after an 11-day trial the case went to the jury if there's anything in this case there's Reasonable Doubt
[Music] yeah see more evidence from the case at 48 hours.com [Music] it was a hard fought litigated trial as
the state and Nick fergus's defense team presented their closing arguments on February 10th 2023 we had great we
thought circumstantial evidence that what Nick said happened did not happen attorneys on both sides were hopeful the
jury would make the right decision it's not enough if you have a hunch there was
no direct evidence that Nick murdered his wife in her closing argument prosecutor
Crocker said ferus shot Heidi while she was on the phone with the 911 operator someone's trying
West so that call does end with a very very loud noise and the call goes dead and we believe that that's the gunshot
according to phone records 65 seconds passed from that moment until ferus made his 911
call somebody is broken Crocker reenacted for jurors what she believed Nick ferus did before he
made that call I walked over in the courtroom to roughly as far as Heidi would have been on the ground crouched
down turned her over um to check for a pulse to be sure that she was in fact deceased walked back over picked up the
firearm and demonstrated how he could shoot himself and call him1 where is the guy that shot you at 65 seconds there
was more than enough time for all of that to happen to prove their Theory FK has shot himself in the thigh they point
to marks left by shotgun pellets at the bottom of the front door when he shot himself we believe that
Nick was about um here just how you would brace yourself probably against the door if you're doing it to yourself
of his Reasonable Suspicion but fergus's attorneys challenged the 65c time frame
attorney Robert Richmond says phone records also show fcus misdialed two numbers before getting through to 911
making it impossible to shoot himself what the they reenacted was 65 seconds which was ignoring the two mises which
happened at 38 seconds the fact that we cannot find the Intruder is not evidence
that there was no Intruder and if anything because of the next door neighbor because of the tool marks
because of the 38 seconds we feel that the evidence supports that there was an intruder
this isn't blind belief Nick's friends Emily and Andrew were convinced the prosecution failed to prove ferus was
the shooter we were open to hearing inconsistency of what Nick said but that didn't happen on February 10th 2023 the
jurors got the case and in 5 hours returned with a verdict my last text to Nick was it has to be innocent there's
no way that they got to guilty this quick we rushed to the courthouse and we were so wrong Nick
ferus was found guilty on two counts of murder premeditated and intentional I believe Justice was served
Marcus and ktina were in the courtroom when the verdict was read Justice may have been slow but fortunately the jury
got it right it feels like this is the beginning of healing it's the beginning of a of a new chapter Heidi's mom
actually said that for so many years they had to live with Nick fergus's narrative and they knew it was wrong but
they just didn't have another narrative and to finally be able to have him finally held accountable it it meant a
lot to us for sergeant cypes there is still the mystery of what led to the couple's
financial problems we weren't able to definitively say what the money was spent on is that
frust treat you greatly I think it would help complete the picture for some people on April 13th 2023 Nick ferus was
back in court for a sentencing hearing and to hear Victim Impact statements growing up Heidi was the quintessential
little sister to me Heidi's brother Peter Ericson because of the lies we were told as early as the day after her
murder it's been virtually impossible to find closure to our grief ferus refused
to admit guilt I do maintain and will maintain to my dying breath my innocence of this crime my body stands condemned
to serve another man's sentence but my soul my soul remains free judge Leonardo Castro imposed the
maximum sentence it is the sentence of Law and Judgment of this court that you be committed to the commission of
Corrections for the remainder of your life without the possibility of release good luck to you sir God
speak my kids are always what I think of first fergus's second wife Rachel they lost in this too because one day they
had a dad that they thought was somebody and the next day he's not that person anymore she often thinks about Heidi too
I like to think I have a connection with Heidi she didn't get to have the voice that I have now and so I can only hope
that my voice is something she would be proud of Heidi was a genuine loving sincere young woman who wanted to
live life to the fullest she wouldn't want people to become bitter or angry because of what she had to experience I
think that Heidi would want people to choose to love regardless of circumstances
[Music] a millionaire entrepreneur goes missing Without a Trace and is not the person to
go take off somewhere no one knows where she is until disturbing Clues begin to surface I remember like a panic set in
when success becomes a curse 48 hours Saturday on CBS and streaming on on Paramount
[Music] plus he was brilliant phenomenally handsome he was everything that to me
symbolized a future with a capital f it just clicked and from that first day there was never any doubt that we
were meant to [Music] meet I saw the outline of the gun he was going to die that night no
matter what this is a story about two people John and Anne Bender Who from the outside
world seemed perfect John Bender was a Wall Street genius and very quickly made upwards of a half a billion dollars by
the time he was in his early 30s their whole worlds were each other and when they found each other they really didn't
need anything else we built the house with the idea of it being our home to our taste they said let's Retreat to Costa
Rica to the deepest part of the rainforest and set up a nature preserve not many people are willing or
want to live in a house that has no walls our Architects said we were nuts you were happy I loved it and John was
happy yes as happy as John could be what you think is Paradise isn't necessarily paradise John and an had
problems that money just couldn't fix they were living a very inward life they had cut off the world he had decided
that the world would be better off without it there were no lights on no all I knew
is he had a gun and I tried to get it away from him and I couldn't and it went off it comes down to basically two
people in a room with a gun I tried to stop him it sure looked like this guy was shot in the back of his head while
he was sleeping I was framed I was set up to be accused of the death of my [Music]
husband I refuse to give up I'm I'm just not going [Music] [Music] [Music] to 48 Hours Paradise Lost
[Music] I had accepted the fact that I would have to live the rest of my life with
somewhat of a question mark over my head Anne Bender has lived under a cloud of Suspicion since 2010 when her husband
John was shot to death in the Costa Rican rainforest in 2015 she went to prison for murder but now says total
Vindication is so close she can taste it I've been waiting a long time for [Music]
this it was in 2001 that the Benders moved to this remote corner of Central America to live an extravagant idilic
dream in a way this trip is like going home it is going home home home was this that's the house oh my Lord called
boracayan rising from the middle of the Costa Rican rainforest it was once an and John
Bender's vision of paradise the phrase over the toop doesn't begin to do this house Justice
it's like some bizarre combination of Disneyland an art museum and something you'd really only see in a James Bond
[Applause] [Music] movie does this strike you as astonishing every time you're here or
are you just totally used to it I'm used to it by now it's home you can see four
floors there he oh my goodness I just saw a bird nearly 50,000 Square ft this is your kitchen tons of gleaming Granite
kitchen how's the dining room and the living room is on the other side and no windows or walls at all I think
that's one of the things I miss the most is the sounds of the birds where is the bathroom right
here we built the house to our taste which is crazy John and Anne always had been a bit eccentric from the moment a
friend introduced them in Virginia in 1998 it was love at first sight for both of us the daughter of an international
Banker she'd grown up all over the world and he was smitten he proposed after just two weeks they married the next
year we both found in each other a future they shared many interests and one unfortunate problem both struggled
with depression specifically in an's case with bipolar mood disorder I had just been diagnosed with
bipolarity he could go from being extremely happy to extremely sad very quick his friend Pete delisi says John
hated doctors and dealt with his problems mostly in private he was absolutely a genius John Bender had been
a math and science whiz in high school then studied physics at the University of
Pennsylvania his looks got him work as a male model and his smarts helped him beat the odds of the local casinos he
had an unusual talent for making money a talent that blossomed at the Philadelphia Stock Exchange in just
about 5 minutes he developed a way of trading options that had never been done before and within just a few years he
was one of the top Traders by the time he was 25 I think he had amassed about 80 million by the time he was in his
early 30s uh he set up a hedge fund that was worth 5 to 600 million Ned Zan is a reporter and CBS
News consultant he says that by 1998 Bender was looking for both a safe haven for his money and
a purpose for his life and that for all his Brilliance and his bank balance he never really fit in with the Wall Street
crowd he just walks away from it just walked [Music] away but not without a plan he and an
both animal lovers decided to use their Fortune to start a refuge for wildlife in the dense rainforest of Costa Rica
they found the ideal location 5,000 pristine acers they named it boracayan after a native plant I mean
this is as out there as you can get setting up a sanctuary for wildlife gave the Benders a sanctuary too an escape to
an extravagant private Universe of exotic flowers animals and waterfalls here nothing was ordinary not
even the lights in the house many were custom made of stained glass how many lamps are we talking about here
approximately 400 you just said 400 yeah she says John thought the lamps would brighten her outlook on the
world Depression was an immense bond between them it's a very isolating disease then people tend to pull away
from society although construction of the house brought in running water reliable
electricity and dozens of jobs to the area the project and the vendors got a chilly reception there was definitely a
degree of who are these rich ringos and who the hell do they think they are coming down and doing all of
this then came April 2001 it happened on this Mountain Road an says armed men in an unmarked car
forc them onto the shoulder the men claimed to be police but wore no uniforms I thought it was a
kidnapping one pulled Jon from his car and when he protested this guy had fired the gun between Jon's legs and held up
the gun to Jon's head I was terrified that's when our entire lives changed she says an attempted Breakin at
the house months later only made things worse the couple bought guns hired guards and turned the Refuge into a
virtual Fortress they lived in fear it makes me very sad to think back on how painful
life could be for him in 2005 perhaps trying to write the ship Bender set up a $70 million trust to manage The Refuge
and provide for an's living expenses he named this man attorney Juan Alvarez to run it Alvarez was then a trusted
advisor later Anne would point to him as a key figure in the events surrounding Jon's
death but neither the trust nor the guards nor the guns stopped the couple's continuing slide into depression an says
John saw a psychiatrist but refused anti-depressants she however was taking an enormous
amount of medication and by the fall of 2009 says she had all but stopped eating I was 40
lbs lighter than I am now by the next year they had become prisoners in their own Paradise the
natural beauty that brought them here lost in irrational despair an says John became convinced
that every problem her illness even the death of a pet bird was his fault he became suicidally
depressed the stage was set he wanted to die [Music] I'm sure this seems as real to you today
as it did that night so what happened John brought a gun to bed it was January 7th 2010 I opened my eyes
and I saw the outline of the trigger of the gun and he he had it pointed at his head at
his at himself horrified Anne Bender says she recognized their 9 mm Ruger pistol from what I could tell he was
holding it with both hands and what' you do I got up on my knees and reared towards him and I tried to grab the gun
were you able to get it no I was able to get my hands around his and the gun slipped
and it went off just minutes later their security guard Oswaldo agular was first on the
scene she said to me I tried to stop him and I couldn't do it he told us was there a long Struggle No was it just
instant almost instantaneous I remember it as being instantaneous it couldn't have been any more than two
seconds when it went off who was holding it I don't think anyone was holding it how does a gun go off when no one's
holding it I think that it fell he dropped it I never touched the gun an told roughly the same story to
the First Responders who arrived here at boracayan some two hours later but reporter Ned Zeman says that their
examination of the scene actually raised more questions than it answered why does
somebody who suicid shoot himself back here they said first of all that John was
left-handed and how does a left-handed person lying in bed shoot himself here prosecutor Edgar Ramirez has a simple
answer he doesn't if somebody wanted to commit suicide he says the way they do it is
here here or here but if a left-handed person did fatally shoot himself behind the right
ear the gun presumably would end up on the same side as The Bullet Hole just to be clear the gun is on the opposite side
from the wound yes the the the wound is on this side of Jon's head he's laying on his back the gun is over there on
this side of his bed near his arm so you know that doesn't look good there were no lights on all I knew is he had a gun
and I tried to get it away from him and I couldn't and it went off but investigators puzzled over the
bullets path entering just below the right ear and ending up behind the left eye odd too was the location of a spent
cartridge found some 13 ft behind the bed all they thought inconsistent with an's story of a struggle did you move
anything touch anything change anything in that room the only thing I remember doing is using the
radio unlocking the elevator and touching John but as far as the gun shell casings
pillow remember I don't remember anything a pillow near Jon's head had a tear with gunpowder in it which means
the pillow was positioned over his head and the gun was fired the prosecutor told
us within hours investigators began to think John Bender may have been shot in his sleep and died where he lay there
were pools of blood on both sides of his body the earplugs he always wore still in
place starting from the fourth floor down we started looking says inspector Lis aular who led a sweep of the house
and quickly discovered something that stopped him cold we found a great amount of jewels
precious stones gems thousands of them diamonds rubies Opals some on display others in suitcases worth roughly 20
million when you talk about the jewelry collection you know I have jewelry I don't think that's what you're talking
about no no no in no way shape or form investigators didn't see it as a jewelry collection either to them it looked a
lot more like a smuggling operation do you think that the fact that when the police got here they find all these
amazing Jewels do you think that it it prejudiced them um you know so what strange doesn't mean that you're a
criminal an says the gems were merely a hobby and an investment and says she did
her best to cooperate that night I was falling to pieces within hours of J's death after calling her family and
Juan Alvarez the trustee of borak Kayan I went into some sort of shock mode she was rushed to the hospital
emaciated and covered with sores my understanding is they were giving me a 40% chance of survival for the first two
weeks what was her condition then terrible in what way dehydrated extremely thin her
psychiatrist Carlos Lano who an authorized to speak with us met her in intensive care just hours later was she
with reality in and doubt do you think she was even physically capable of doing what the prosecution alleged
no an could not even hold a fork when she was here Anne Bender would remain hospitalized for seven months
under Dr lano's care and under a growing cloud of Suspicion they were beginning to say
this doesn't look look like an accident this doesn't look like suicide this looks like a lot like a murder and they
began looking at her as a suspect did you for one second until it actually happened think that you were going to be
charged [Music] no she was Skin and Bones I mean she looked horrid the Bender's friend Paul Meyer
visited Anne in the hospital just days after her arrival she weighed 84 lbs she literally looked like someone who had
just walked out of a concentration camp sick or not she already was investigator's number one murder suspect
police confiscated her clothes and her computer but it's unclear if they examined Jon's messages or ever saw
these chilling excerpts dated just weeks before he died I wish I were effing dead
it reads I feel so effing horrible I want to kill everyone and then myself a window an says on a tormented soul John
was the most tortured person I've ever met he had been wanting to kill himself for weeks she thinks the lawyers Bender
trustee Juan Alvarez hired for her should have used Jon's messages in her defense they wouldn't comment on
strategy they never manifested that I was innocent so their position was oh yeah she did do this by not doing
anything they were making it inevitable that I would be charged 19 months after Bender died an was officially charged
with murder convinced the jams have been smuggled into the country authorities later also charged her with possessing
Contraband all she is sure just what one Alvarez wanted why to hide the fact she claims that he
had siphoned money from the $70 million Bender trust I'm the only person that can stop him or bring scrutiny into what
he's done in July 2012 with murder charges hanging over her head Anne Bender took
Juan Alvarez to court for fraud the suit claimed Alvarez used the Bender truck as
his personal piggy bank buying horses for his horse farm and paying his credit card bills authorities raided his office
and confiscated 135 boxes of documents the court then removed Alvarez as trustee this investigation will go
nowhere because the accusations are bogus he told us but whatever Juan Alvarez did or did not do
[Music] he did not shoot John Bender and prosecutors see an's lawsuit as an attempt to distract them from their firm
belief that she did they just didn't see how that gunshot could have been in that
part of his head by Suicide was this suicide or an accident or murder the forensic evidence is so
vital in this case is incredible we brought in outside experts to Bor Kion and ask them to take a look at it this
was the bedroom this is where John Bender died in the rarified world of forensic science you can see there's a
lot of blood on the crime scene Selma and Richard eelen bom are internationally recognized but sometimes
controversial experts known for stirring debate in high-profile cases once thought open and shot like this and this
one from the start they say some Costa Rican authorities had a pre conceived idea that this was murder the pathology
report is very straight from the beginning this is a homicide and let's prove it's a homicide he does look like
he's sleeping a lot of people who die with their eyes closed look like they sleeping and they might have been wide
awake when it happened the prosecutor said if you're going to shoot yourself everyone knows it's here or it's here or
it's here well that's completely unscientific if that's an example of the logic that they used in this case then
I'm really very worried they cite other Monumental mistakes not immediately testing for gunpowder residue not
fingerprinting the gun not testing the sheets for blood spatter what is the most vital thing that they missed I
think the trajectory then you can place the shooter on the scene in relation to the victim it's like this they told us
the trajectory the path the bullet followed was CR iCal to understanding where the gun was when it was fired and
if an or John fired it looking at this investigation how would you grade it um very
[Music] poor in January 2013 a three-judge panel acquitted Anne Bender of Murder She was
safe but not for long [Music] after her acquittal Anne Bender hoped for a new start hey uh-uh but never
thought of leaving Costa Rica moving instead to a small apartment when the trust stopped paying her bills friends
and family helped she began dating a new boy boyfriend another American Greg fiser she has never not done what his
court system has asked her to do never not done what his government has asked her to do so she says she was shocked in
May 2014 when the Costa Rican government put her on trial for murder a second time it may seem odd to Americans but in
Costa Rica there is no Double Jeopardy rule so if a prosecutor doesn't like a verdict he can appeal and if he wins try
the defendant all over again with the same charges the same evidence and the same
Witnesses this time there are new judges but prosecutors repeat their case arguing that the evidence from the body
the bullet casing the entry wound blood stains and pillow case prove this was murder defense attorney fa okon Trio is
just as insistent it was suicide in all homicide there's a reason in this case there's no
reason and in a risky move he decides there is nobody better able to make that point than Anne Bender herself I want to
make a statement and make a statement she certainly does I was so happy here when we moved here she stays on the
stand the entire day he was talking about suicide every day for at least 4 weeks it was an issue of getting through
every day you you seem to be saying that there was no way to prevent him from attempting
suicide I tried my hardest not saying just no way for you there was no Avenue open No period this was this was
destined to be he wanted to die is in his testimony security guard and first responder Oswaldo agular describes
the scene but he also raises questions about one of the prosecutor's key assumptions the main point of evidence
for the prosecution was John was left-handed the bullet wound is behind the right side of his head you're lying
in bed how does a suicidal man possibly end up shooting himself like this agular
has an answer pointing out that though a lefty John Bender carried his gun on the
right side but testifying for the prosecution forensic pathologist Gretchen Flores
doesn't care if John Bender was right or left-handed she insists suicide is inconceivable another person she says
would have to fire the weapon her conclusion from the blood evidence and the position of the body
John Bender never saw the shot coming it's 6 cm from the midline at boracayan our independent forensics experts
Richard and Selma ikan bom tested that idea that Jon's body never moved it would explain the blood we find over
here but it doesn't explain the blood over there in their view it had to have moved for the blood to have pulled as it
did on both sides of his body so his head was completely different this was the position of his head when was shot
the blood pattern analysis uh support the hypothesis that there was some sort of fight they showed us how a struggle
could have happened how an's efforts to get the gun could make it fire vle goes like this and he start
bleeding oing how John's body then might have moved and he slowly falls back in this position which accounts for the
blood on this side this side I lunged forward towards him with my hands I fell towards the center of the
bed and the gun went off the hypothesis that he was shot in the position he was found is not
supported by this evidence also unlikely the iand bom say is the prosecutor's theory that Anne shot her husband from
behind the bed this trajectory is not very likely it doesn't make any sense no I mean just look at me if if I would
shoot him through the head I would go like this and they showed us why they think the odd location of the spent
cartridge such damning proof according to the prosecution really proves nothing at all
the casing can end up in that position if the gun is Twisted far enough around correct there is no chance she murdered
her husband an's family and friends want to make sure the judges think so too if
I thought an had anything to do with this in any way shape or form I wouldn't be here
but for Ned Zan the case is no longer clear so you can see a scenario where it's an accident yes where it's suicide
and where it might be murder you can see all these yes I absolutely can and I think anybody who sat in that courtroom
would probably say the same thing except for maybe an and her attorney um because
it's any of those make sense in his closing prosecutor Ramirez insists there is only one plausible
scenario an Bender shot her husband defense attorney okono Trio pleads for reason saying an is not an
assassin facing a possible 25 years in prison an herself has the last word I did not kill
John but even after four years and two trials she is unprepared for this verdict translation guilty of
[Music] murder her friends and family sit stunned she is sentenced immediately to
22 years in prison and she is Led away I really don't remember much after that except the police officers
surrounding me her boyfriend Greg fer is devastated I don't think she's going to
live I don't think she's going to survive the reality that I could be here for 22 years have I accepted that I
don't think there's any way that I can la [Music] immediately after being senten to 22
years for murder Anne Bender appealed her conviction there's no evidence that proves Beyond a reasonable doubt that I
killed John the evidence doesn't exist we met with her 6 weeks later in prison I'm still surviving and I refuse to give
up I'm I'm just not going to and and giving up in this place would be tempting there are about 50 women per
room three toilets no hot water no privacy none zero n and no guarantee she won't spend the rest of her life Behind
Bars how did you fight back from something like that when in those surroundings you survive you do what you
got to do then in the winter of 20 15 after 9 months in prison a development almost as stunning as an's conviction
she wins her appeal the court annuls the verdict she will have to face yet another trial but she is released for
now she learns all this from a friendly guard I said you're kidding I can leave and she said yeah you're free I fell to
the ground complet I just lost it but in this story bad news always seems to follow the good and an soon learns she
is not off the hook prosecutors have decided to try her for a third time her third trial begins about 6
months later and not only is an physically more fragile than ever she has suffered a major personal setback
her boyfriend Greg fiser died of an asthma attack while she was in prison but at this trial there is no shortage
of people to lean on an's parents her best friend Seline she's the best human being that I've ever met a lot of people
that are close to me are very invested in my my getting out of this John Bender's old friend Pete delisi has
called in legal reinforcements too two lawyers from the UK and two from the US paid by Anne they'll advise her local
attorney and closely monitor the trial making sure the judges know they're watching Ann's biggest challenge may be
just holding herself together in court in contrast to her dayong testimony in previous trials she is on
the stand for only 2 hours and this time she tries to appeal to the judges by testifying in
Spanish once again telling her story is an emotional [Music] [Music] ordeal prosecutor Edgar Ramirez's
approach to this trial is much the same but he appears to be minus several key Witnesses including his star medical
examiner Gretchen Flores she has mysteriously gone missing and supporters call it an
obvious delaying tactic it's part of their strategy they drag this out as long as they can so that everyone
leaves but this time team Bender has some star Witnesses of its own so he's lying like this and and put a gun like
that's what they said we've come here to uh participate in the truth finding Selma and Richard Eland Bol high
powerered and controversial they investigated the clothing and there was no blood an's lawyers hired the Dutch
forensic experts after the icland bombs completed their independent analysis for
48 hours but for the icland boms to testify the Costa Rican judges must agree to make an exception and
allow new Witnesses we don't know if we can testify or or not the prosecution strenuously
objects the judges decide that Selma can testify here you see the bullet Richard
cannot you would say okay it was this gun but the defense still can use him he will be allowed to cross-examine the
state's medical examiner Gretchen Flores finally has resurfaced after two weeks Richard eand bom's chance to question
this witness is an opportunity but also a big challenge Flores is as certain as ever that Anne Bender killed
[Music] John we're not lawyers so it's it's a new role here you have photo Costa Rican
law prohibits American style cross-examination in which lawyers use questions suggesting the answers they
want so an's legal team quickly has to train this Dutch scientist to think like a Costa Rican attorney we have
absolutely a lot of work to do to help an he'll have to pointedly ask medical examiner Flores about her experiments
without seeming to have an opinion either way it seems to me what we can do is explore what experiments the crme
have so the prosecution have not done when did you do this you didn't do this you didn't do this but that's that is
providing information and we're not allow it's providing information yes indirectly how do you get information
after working all weekend the team is ready now we have to play lawyer games do you know know um if this gun was
tested for the distance of a Missle flame no I don't know am I allowed to show a
picture yes go ahead Richard iand bom has to tread carefully and the constraints limit what
he can accomplish but next it's Selma's turn she is a witness I remember her walking
in and the reaction of the judges you know just seeing her cuz she has such an amazing presence in the courtroom and as
a witness she can go much further I see no support for the scenario of a homicide her testimony was amazing in my
opinion as an expert all the evidence that is available points clearly in the direction of a suicide
they the prosecutor makes a last ditch effort to strike Selma's testimony from the
record but for now the judges decide it can stay you can't unring the Bell they heard what she
said it's been three long weeks at last they are ready to vote on a verdict after three trials and nearly 10
years the judges are looking at me and I hear the words not guilty ab and that translates
absolved absolve [Music] yeah the world believes me finally this time an takes no
chances as soon as Costa Rican authorities return her passport she flies home to the US with no intention
of ever going back to Costa Rica regardless of what zealous prosecutors do we caught up with her in Washington I
don't see you flying down to Costa Rica for a fourth trial I don't see it either
not a chance no not so fast in a jaw-dropping decision months later a Costa Rican Court announces yes it
intends to try and Bender a fourth time her stunned lawyers immediately appeal but win or lose it's doubtful
prosecutors actually could try her again trials in obena are not allowed in Costa
Rica while there is an extradition treaty in place legal experts say that after three trials they would be shocked
to see the US extradite Anne Bender for a fourth in fact an seems finally to have put
this one-time Paradise behind her her past there as haunted as the abandoned overgrown jungle compound she
left behind I'll never get back everything that was taken from me obviously I'll
never get back my husband now it's time to go after what can be recovered and find life again
[Music] he [Music]

48 Hours" reports on cases that changed families' lives forever in this YouTube marathon, featuring "Home Renovation Homicide," "Death at the Front Door: Who Shot Heidi Firkus?" and "Paradise Lost."

00:00 Home Renovation Homicide 40:14 Death at the Front Door: Who Shot Heidi Firkus? 1:22:04 Paradise Lost

True crime. Real justice. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

For video licensing inquiries, contact: licensing@veritone.com

Brief Summary

Shanti Cooper's murder investigation reveals David Tronis as a prime suspect amid financial troubles and a troubled marriage.

Key points

The Call to 911. Dave Tronis calls 911 after finding Shanti in the bathtub, leading to a shocking investigation.
Detectives' Doubts. Detectives question Dave's story and the circumstances surrounding Shanti's death.
The Missing Ring. Shanti's missing engagement ring becomes a key piece of evidence in the murder case.
Bloody Evidence. A set of bloody sheets is discovered, raising more questions about the murder.
Conflicting Accounts. Nick's story about the night of Heidi's death raises suspicions among investigators.
Nick's Inconsistent Story. Investigators find evidence contradicting Nick's account of the night Heidi was killed.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I told you she was murdered!

2:50WatchApr 13, 2024

Tension

75/ 100High tension

More from 48 Hours

Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.