The Death of Todd Stermer | Full Episode | Forensic Files

[Music] This was all horse pasture over here and this was all our yard. At one time we owned 120 acres here. It
was our dream home. Todd designed every inch of that house himself. >> Did you love Todd? Oh,
I don't even think I ever didn't love Todd. I think I fell in love with him so quickly. And I know that he loved me.
[Music] Firefighters found him unresponsive outside the home on County Road 215. He
died of smoke inhilation and thermal injuries. Linda, had it occurred to you that you
would be a suspect in your husband's death? >> It didn't even occur to me that it could
even be ruled arson. All I'm thinking was, how did this happen? We are right now in our driveway facing
where our front door used to be. So, what was it like on that January 7th? >> It was in the low30s. It had rained and
drizzled all day. >> He's watching hunting shows upstairs. He's not doing much of anything. I'm
doing laundry. I heard a scream like no other scream I'd ever heard from him. And I just rushed upstairs to see what
in the world happened. And as soon as I got around the corner, I could see a fire across the living room. He looked
like he was fighting the fire. I just rushed out of the house. >> But the house is on fire. You didn't
think about calling 911. >> That wasn't my first thought. My first thought was to get out. Todd's going to
get out. As long as he knows I'm out, he's going to get out. I thought, I've got to get help.
I got in the van and I started to back up and then all of a sudden he's there and he's jumping around and he's patting
himself. He's his skin is burnt terribly and I lost sight of him. I don't know where he went to.
>> Did you know you had run over your husband? >> No. [Music] >> What do you believe happened? Our mother
murdered our father. She drugged him with horse tranquilizer and she set the house on fire, doused him in gasoline.
Then after the fact, when he managed to get out of the house, she uh ran him over with her van.
>> You must know, Linda, that it's very difficult for people to believe that your husband is burned in a fire. He
escapes. He's still alive, badly burned, and then you hit him with a car. You just happen to have that kind of bad
luck? Bad luck doesn't even describe it. [Music] [Music] On January 7th, 2007, the day her house
went up in flames, Linda Sturmer says she was doing laundry in the basement around 300 p.m. when she heard her
husband Todd let out a scream. She ran upstairs to find their living room engulfed in flames. I could not
have gotten over to Todd because there was fire between the two of us. >> She panicked, she says, and escaped
through the front door with no shoes or cell phone. When Todd didn't follow, she
jumped into this van to get help, knowing the keys were inside. But just as she was about to leave, Linda says
she suddenly saw Todd through the driver's side window. >> I'm screaming at him, "Get in the van.
Get in the van." then he won't get in the van. >> She says she jumped out of the van to
try and help him >> and I'm yelling at him to lay down to do anything. I can't touch him. And so I
get back in the van and I lost sight of him. I don't know where he went to, but it was so muddy and the tires were just
spinning. So I couldn't get any traction. So I just put it in gear and I'm trying to let it creep until it gets
some purchase. The van's tires were worn, says Linda, and the driveway too muddy. So, she drove around to this side
of the house where there was a sandy area, thinking that would give her traction.
>> I saw the neighbors. I saw them coming up the driveway at some point. >> Neighbors Mike Matheni and Connie
Calhoun had seen the fire and rushed over to help. >> Mike, he is yelling at me, "Where's the
kids? Where's Todd?" and I'm screaming at him. He said I was incoherent. Couldn't understand me because I'm
hysterical. And I'm trying to tell him the kids aren't here. Todd's up there. >> Linda says they looked for Todd at the
front of the house where she had last seen him, but he was gone. >> We found Todd laying right here by
closer to the house. Somehow Todd ended up on the side of the house, not far from where she stopped
the van. >> Somehow he went from over here to here. >> Yes. And he was laying on his back with
his head closest to the house. >> Linda says she has no idea how he got there, but investigators later found
Todd's blood on the van's front bumper and undercarriage. Todd was barely clothed when they found
him. So, Mike Matheni grabbed some of his own clothing from the backseat of his car and covered Todd with it.
>> He was so badly burnt and he was alive. He was looking at me, but he couldn't
talk. And I laid there just begging him not to leave me. When emergency medical technicians
arrived, they tried to save Todd >> and they said they couldn't hook up a defibrill.
He was too badly burned. When they stopped working on him, I was so so angry at them. Why did they get him
in the ambulance? Why did they waste so much time trying there? Can we take a break, please?
>> Of course. >> Anytime we would ask any details on the case or what happened that day, she
would start crying and look for sympathy from you and play the victim. The couple's sons, Trevor and Trenton
Sturmer, began to suspect there was more to the story when their mothers seemed reluctant to share certain details.
>> I asked her about the van and if she had run him over, and she said she didn't
want to talk about it and that I should just believe her, but her story just wasn't adding up. It didn't make sense
that our father, who was in great shape, it didn't make sense that he would die in a house fire and she wouldn't. They
say their parents' marriage had been rocky for some time. And it all seemed to come to a head on the eve of the fire
when Todd and Linda got into a shouting match. Was that the worst fight you'd ever seen your parents in?
>> Yeah, this was absolutely the worst. All of us knew that this was going to be the
one that ended their marriage. >> The fight, they say, was a familiar one over finances and infidelity.
>> It seems like he found out that she was having an affair essentially and had a
separate life. >> Were you ever unfaithful to Todd? >> No. Todd was an extremely
jealous and possessive person. Linda says she and Todd fought about money because they were near financial
ruin. She says thanks to Todd. >> Todd owned his own business. He sold gloves and occasionally sold hunting
suits, but he didn't like to work often. And I learned about him borrowing money
from his mother. And I said, "Why would you do that? Why aren't you just going to work?" I was working in a diialysis
facility. I had to be to work at 5:00 a.m. >> How much in debt was he at the time of
his death? $75,000. He hadn't paid our mortgage in several months. And he just blew money. Just
blew money. But Trenton and Trevor say the real drain on the family's finances was Linda's obsession with horses. They
claim their dad was upset to learn that Linda had a line of credit for $25,000 to support the 31 horses she had on
their property. >> The horses were always a topic of discussion between them of it was
running us dry. >> I don't know where they would have gotten that idea from. >> Linda claims she was actually making
money boarding those horses. The horses were self-sufficient. Todd always told me that if I didn't make enough money
with the horses that I couldn't have the horses. Whatever they were arguing about, 24
hours later, Todd was dead and investigators were suspicious. They started taking a long hard look at
Linda's actions on the day of the fire. For instance, she had gone to this gas station early that morning, and a clerk
would later say it looked like Linda was pumping fuel not into her vehicle, but into a gas can. And in fact, this can
was found by investigators in the Sturmer's front yard. [Music] Do you think Linda intentionally hit
Todd with the van? See more photos from the investigation on Facebook at 48 hours.
[Music] [Music] Linda Sturmer says her early morning trip to this gas station the day that
the house fire killed her husband Todd was perfectly innocent. We were out of milk.
>> She says she bought some groceries and topped off the gas in her SUV and that's
all she did. A receipt would later show she spent just over $11 at the pump. You
didn't fill up the tank. It didn't need a whole lot. She claimed she wanted to make sure there was plenty of gas for
her sons because when she got home, she woke them and told them to leave in her car. I told them that they could go to
the movies with her friends. I didn't want them hearing Todd and I argue. Linda and Todd had been fighting since
the previous day. She says their marriage was coming to an end, that she was getting ready to leave Todd that day
and wanted the boys out of the way. >> I just felt like being in the house with us.
Watching me move out was going to be too much for them. >> After 13 years of marriage, it was a
decision that had been a long time in the making. [Music] When Linda first met Todd in 1989,
she says there was an instant attraction. >> He was so beautiful, so charismatic. You
could just see the light in his eyes. >> They were both 25 when they started dating. Linda was separated at the time
with two young daughters, three-year-old Ashley and 2-year-old Brittany. It was clear Todd wanted the whole package.
>> I said, "I'm in the middle of a divorce." And I said, "I have two little girls." And he says, "Well, that's
perfect. I'll only make boys." I'm like, "What? Wait." By the time they got married in August
of 1993, Linda had given birth to their two sons, Trevor and Trenton. >> He did not have to marry me. We just
wanted to be a family. Todd was the epitome of family. >> He was a great man, great father,
coached all of us through as many sports as he could and definitely a family man.
He was such a devoted family man, says Linda. He even offered to take in her nephew Corey to save him from a broken
home. >> Todd sat me down one night and he said, "Do you want him to come and live here
with us? Maybe that would be good for him." >> Cory Pierce was 2 years old when they
took him in. >> You miss your dad? >> Yeah. He loved to play sports with us and hang out with us. He would go out in
the yard and play with us and he was really athletic. >> Did he ever treat any of these kids
differently? >> I don't know anybody who he had ever introduced his family to. These are my
sons. These are my daughters. >> It sounds at that point your relationship was pretty ideal.
>> Amazing. It was amazing. But that happiness, says Linda, didn't last very long. Turns out Todd had a
temper. Linda's daughters, Britney and Ashley. >> The first incident, I just remember
my stepdad like throwing a clothes basket of laundry at my mom. I remember him going out with friends at night and
my mom having to load all of us kids up in the car to go pick him up at a friend's house where he was drunk and
just belligerent and screaming at her. and it got like so bad, you know, scared us. We were young then.
>> Ashley says that when she was about 11 years old and started speaking up, she
became a target of that anger. >> What would he say to you, Ashley? >> You're a two-legged dog just like your
mom. You're going to be a [ __ ] just like she is. [Music] >> But he hit you. Oh yeah.
>> With what? >> His hands, belts, horse rings, a foam in the middle of the forehead.
>> Linda says Todd also hit her. >> It wasn't a regular thing. He would get extremely fired up and extremely
frustrated. And he hit me one time and it left a bruise on my cheek. But he sent me flowers. He told me how sorry he
was. And then you believe that it's never going to happen again until it does. >> But Trenton, Trevor, and Corey say they
never saw their father hit their sister Ashley or their mother. >> Did you see your dad ever be abusive to
your mom? >> No, I never seen him physically harm her. >> We never saw saw a black eye or or
bruises. Our father definitely had a temper and perhaps he grabbed her and squeezed her arm maybe a little too
hard, but never any hitting. >> Marty, Linda's mother, says she never really trusted Todd.
>> He could be charming. He could be the most charming man you've ever met, and he could turn and be the worst person in
the world. >> And Linda, she says, took the brunt of it. >> He was very controlling. If anything
went wrong, it was her fault. >> Linda says she later found out that Todd had an arrest record dating back to
before they were married. There were two convictions for misdemeanor drug charges, a DUI and a conviction for
misdemeanor assault and battery when he was 18 years old. I went out there one time and um I says
if anything ever happens to her, I know who to blame. >> Were you really worried he might hurt
Linda? >> Yes, I was. >> Linda says not long before the fire, she was ready to call it quits and started
talking to a divorce attorney. >> She told me that she had planned on leaving. It was getting, you know, to be
too much. On January 6th, 2007, the night before the fire, then 20-year-old Ashley says
she called the Sturmer home to speak to her mother. >> I've never gotten to talk to anybody
about this, so it's like really hard for me. >> Todd answered the phone >> and he said, "Your mom's not here." And
he's like, "But I had a conversation with God. I'm not decided yet, but one of us is leaving in a body bag." It's
either me or your mom. [Music] [Music] After Todd Sturmer's death, Van Buren County Sheriff's detectives spent two
years investigating, focusing on the troubled Sturmer marriage and the fact that Todd's wife, Linda, ran him over
when he escaped the fire. Then on June 5th, 2009, the prosecutor's office felt they had enough evidence to
arrest Linda Sturmer on charges of arson and murder. For so long, we had all held
the notion in our head that it was possible that she killed our father. But when all the details and the evidence
came out, it was just overwhelming. On January 5th, 2010, Linda went on trial. The evidence was mainly
circumstantial, focusing on Linda's actions before and after the fire. Her sons testified she pushed them to go to
the movies that Sunday morning, >> saying, "You need to get up. You need to go. You need to leave the house right
now." >> I went to go say goodbye to our father. >> She physically stopped us. She said,
"No, he's sleeping. Don't go over there." >> They now believe their dad had been
sedated. >> I believe that he was drugged. It's because he was clearly incapacitated in
the living room. Bolstering that theory was Kate Fox, a former friend and co-orker of Linda's.
Fox testified that Linda confided in her, saying she was afraid investigators would find a coffee cup she used to try
to drug Todd. Linda's trial attorney, Jeffrey Getting, says there was no evidence that Todd was
drugged. The evidence introduced at the trial was contained in the autopsy report which
didn't find any significant evidence of sedatives. >> But Kate Fox also testified that Linda
had discussed ways of getting rid of her husband, including running him over with
a car. >> Did you? >> No. Kate really hated me at that point. Linda says that by trial their
friendship had ended and that Fox lied on the witness stand because among other things she was angry at Linda for
changing her shift at work. My lawyer asked her why she was so angry at me. She says she lied to me. She lied to me.
She changed shifts without me. But Kate Fox also provided a motive for murder. telling jurors that at the time
of the fire, Linda was having an affair with a c-orker named Chris Williams. That testimony was backed up by Williams
himself, who claimed that he and Linda had a romantic relationship while she was a married woman.
>> Were you having an affair with Chris Williams? >> I started seeing Chris Williams
romantically, but it wasn't until after I lost my husband. Why would a man you went out with turn around and lie at
trial? >> Unless he was manipulated by someone I don't know. >> Linda says Kate Fox was so angry she
convinced Williams to lie about when the relationship began. The defense presented evidence that Fox had a
history of mental illness and her own brother took the stand and said her stories couldn't be trusted.
>> I do know my sister. She can manipulate the the truth to whatever she wants it to be. And yeah,
she will lie if it's to her benefit, >> but it may have been Linda's early morning trip to the gas station that was
most damaging to her case. Remember, she said she went out to buy milk and top off the gas tank in her car,
but a gas station clerk testified she thought she saw Linda at the back of her car, seemingly pumping gas not into her
vehicle, but into a gas can like the one found on the scene. It's something Linda
denies. It was frigid and I had winter gloves and a warmer coat back there. So, I got my gloves out to pump gas. As for
the gas can found at the house, Linda says they lived on a farm and there were gas cans everywhere.
A jail house informant testified that while in custody, Linda told her she started the fire while Todd was asleep.
Another informant said Linda hit Todd over the head with a blunt object. Getting tried to poke holes in their
testimony. >> They were inconsistent. They both had problems with mental illness.
The prosecutor argued that Linda started the fire by dousing Todd with gasoline and his sweatpants, underwear, and socks
did test positive, but defense attorney Getting never called his own fire expert
to refute any of that. >> I begged him numerous times for an expert, and he says, "We don't need an
expert, Linda. We will use their expert for our benefit." Getting says his plan was to agree the
fire was arson, but to convince jurors that it was Todd who started it. >> Todd is in the middle of the fire. The
best defense in this case is Todd set the fire and was accidentally killed in the fire that he set.
In fact, Todd had twice been suspected by police of arson in the past when two other properties he owned mysteriously
burned to the ground. Both times, Todd was reportedly in debt and needed money. But Todd was never charged. And in his
closing argument, the prosecutor called the claim nonsense and reminded the jury
that when Todd escaped the burning house, Linda ran him over. He also said Linda owned two cell phones and should
have been able to call 911. And he pointed his finger in my face just inches away from my face and he
says she's a liar, a manipulator, a diabolical murderer. That may have crossed the line, but Getting never
objected. Just hours after the case went to the jury, the judge read their verdict.
Count one, guilty as charged. Count two, guilty as charged. [Music] >> All I could think was,
I have to be strong because my mom's right behind me. Linda's sons say the jury got it right.
>> We knew it in our hearts that she was guilty and it felt like we could finally
breathe again. Linda's daughter Ashley has barely spoken to her brothers since that day.
>> I lost my brothers, my grandparents, my aunts and uncles because I believed in my mom.
>> Linda was sentenced to life without parole, but she was determined to fight her conviction and reunite her family.
I'm determined and hopeful that I will get back to my children someday. >> Determined to free her mother, Linda's
daughter, Britney, begged wellrespected fire investigator Robert Tranle to re-examine her mother's case. He said,
"If there's any doubt in your mind at all whatsoever that your mom did this, don't hire me
because if she did it, I will find out [Music] [Music] When you went to prison, did you think
this is it? >> No. My lawyer told me, he says, "Linda, we will not give up. We're going to fight
this." Over the next 5 years, Linda Sturmer filed appeal after appeal in state court
all the way to the Michigan Supreme Court. All of them denied. >> It was devastating. It was really
devastating. >> Then she turned to the federal court and took advantage of a prison resource, the
law library. >> I was in that law library almost every single day of the week and I learned as
much as I could. I had people on the outside who were mailing me information on wrongful arson convictions and giving
me an idea on where to go. Linda wrote her own petition to the federal court. In part, she blamed her conviction on
her own defense attorney who had chosen not to hire a fire expert, an expert like veteran fire investigator Robert
Tranle, who would have testified there wasn't enough evidence to prove the fire that killed Todd Sturmer was
deliberately set. >> How would you describe the investigation that was made into this case? Adequate?
>> No, absolutely not adequate. inadequate. Just the opposite. >> For example, Tranle says investigators
failed to sift through the remains of the house and took very few samples of debris.
>> If you think the fire started in the living room, it started in the center of
that living room. You're going to have to take that floor and move it out to the outside. Look at what kind of burn
patterns are on that floor to give you that reason to be able to believe that and then take a sample and see if you
have something. Tranlel says the evidence doesn't support the state's theory that Linda
dowsed Todd with gasoline and then set him on fire. >> I've asked probably 30 or 40 people who
are firefighters, investigators, and they all laughed when I told them about somebody getting out of a building after
they've had gasoline poured all over them. And when asked about the gasoline found on Todd's clothing, well, Tran
says it was likely a case of crosscontamination. Remember that neighbor who came to the
rescue that day? He recycled auto parts for a living. And a shirt he used to cover Todd also tested positive for gas.
And then there's the fact that no gasoline was found on Linda's clothing. If you get one little speck on your
finger, you try to wash it off and wash it off and wash it off, it's still there. So, it should have been smelled
on Miss Sturmer and it should certainly have been on something that she was wearing.
>> Tran says there simply isn't enough evidence to prove arson. But even if there was, the more likely suspect was
Todd Sturmer himself. >> And why do you believe that? because of his burn injuries. It
certainly shows that Mr. Sturmer was in the area of the fire. >> In 2016, an attorney filed Linda's
amended petition, which included Tranle's findings. Two years later, a judge responded,
granting her another day in court. In October 2018, federal judge Arthur J. Tarnau held an evidentiary hearing in
Linda's case. I knew that the science was the key. There's no evidence to support a theory of arson. What do you
believe started that fire then? >> I believe that something came out of that fireplace. a coal or a log or
something fell out, popped out, and started that floor on fire. The state's fire expert testified that he followed
proper investigative procedures and didn't take samples of the remains because he saw no evidentiary value in
them. When Jeff Getting took the stand to defend his work, the judge was quite stern with him.
>> He was critical of me. was critical of the entirety of uh of this trial. >> But Getting says he still believes he
presented the only case he could have, that it was Todd Sturmer who started the fire that ended his life.
>> This defense to the case was the one that I felt my client felt we together felt gave us the best likelihood of
success. Two months later, just before Christmas 2018, Judge Tarnau called a hearing and issued
his ruling. He found the prosecutor was wrong, telling jurors that Linda had two
cell phones when there was no evidence of that. And he also found fault with the defense, saying Getting failed his
client by not calling a fire expert. The judge also pointed out that although Kate Fox's trial testimony was
incriminating, she did suffer from mental health problems and that her brother testified,
she was known to be untruthful. The judge also agreed that if there was an arson, significant evidence pointed
the finger of suspicion at Mr. Sturmer. [Music] In December 2018, nearly 12 years after
the fire and after spending almost 9 years in prison, Linda Sturmer's conviction was overturned and Judge
Tarnau set her free. >> Oh my gosh. >> It was an amazing amazing day. >> It's incredibly surreal. walking out to
that parking lot and seeing a real vehicle that I could get into and knowing that I could sit in the back
seat without being handcuffed and shackled was the most amazing feeling. >> But is it over?
>> No, it's not over. >> Do you think Linda got a fair trial? Chat now with the 48 Hours team on
Facebook and Twitter. [Music] I noticed that you call her Linda. You don't call her mom.
>> She's not our mother now. >> I don't. She's not mom anymore. >> No. For nearly nine years, Trevor Sturmer
and his brothers went on with their lives, believing their father's killer was behind bars. And then in December
2018, a federal judge set their mother free. The fact that a judge took a look at the evidence and didn't feel she had
a fair trial, thought she might be innocent, that doesn't change the way you feel. No,
I know that she did what she did. >> But their sisters, who believe in their mother's innocence, are afraid they
could lose her again. >> I have no faith in the justice system right now, to be honest with you.
>> What's the worst thing that could happen? >> They'll send her back to prison.
>> That was a real possibility. Linda had been free since December 20th, 2018. But Michigan's attorney general appealed
the federal decision and asked for Linda's conviction to be reinstated. Linda Sturmer's new attorney, Wolf Gang
Mueller, said he would fight it. >> I think I have a pretty good BS meter and I believe her completely in terms of
her story and then how the science just doesn't add up to an arson. And I think she was truly uh one factually innocent
of this crime and two the whole system betrayed her. >> Linda's future now rested with the
federal court of appeals for the sixth circuit in Cincinnati, Ohio. Mueller would have 15 minutes to
convince a panel of judges that Linda didn't get a fair trial. The state would get the same amount of time to argue
that she did. Are you scared? >> I am. I'd be ignorant not to. I know what's at stake
now. I know what the prison system is like. >> On December 3rd, 2019, Linda Sturmer,
her daughters, and her mother were in Cincinnati, Ohio. >> This our entrance, I guess,
>> to attend the hearing that will decide her fate. Maybe this will finally end this nightmare.
>> She's hoping her sons will also attend even though they won't be in her corner.
You're thinking about going to the hearing? >> Yeah, potentially. So, I'd like to see
how she weasles her way out of this. >> But when the hearing began, no one from Todd Sturmer's side of the family
appeared. Cameras weren't allowed in federal court, but an audio recording was later
made public. >> Face 19-1075. >> When it was Wolf Gang Mueller's turn, he argued passionately on Linda's behalf,
saying she never had a chance at a fair murder trial without a fire expert. I felt the need to tell the judge that in
a case involving fire science, you have to have an expert to be able to defend yourself adequately.
>> Mueller also argued that the evidence against Linda was weak and circumstantial.
>> Two jail house witnesses and a co-mp employee, we didn't have any strong evidence in this case. But one of the
judges pushed back, troubled by what Linda did after the fire. >> Weak evidence. I find the case
astonishing. I mean, the car going back and forth, randomly hitting the guy. You're calling that weak evidence?
>> The judge's comments left Linda Sturmer worried and visibly shaken. When the judge concentrated on the fact that I
had driven over my husband, that's something that I've never been able to figure out how it happened.
>> Later, she was angry. >> He said that I ran over my husband over and over, back and forth.
That was absolutely not the case. Did your heart sink a bit when you heard him say that? just made me think he
doesn't have at that instant a complete grasp of all the facts, but I trust that his clerks have gone over and
will pour over every single page of the transcript, as will all the judges and their clerks and their staff.
>> While she awaited the court's decision, Linda Sturmer was just trying to enjoy
every moment she has as a free woman. She now lives with her daughter Ashley, is working and saving money, believing
one day she will buy her own home and be able to heal and reunite her family. >> There were times while I was in prison
that I wanted to give up. The only thing that kept me from doing it was that that
was such a selfish act and there would never be a possibility of putting my family back together or making anyone
feel whole again. Do you think at any point you'd have a relationship with her? >> Absolutely not. No.
>> It kills me that he can't be a part of my children's life anymore that they they don't have that privilege of having
a grandfather like him. It's uh it's devastating. >> What will you tell your daughter?
>> I'll just tell her what happened and that I think it was best to keep her out
of our life. Ashley and Britney are heartbroken and believe that by defending their mother,
they have forever lost their brothers. Do you plan on talking to them again? >> After this, I don't think they'll ever
talk to me again. >> That had to be a tough decision then to talk to us. Why did you decide to talk?
>> Cuz I love my mom and I don't think that she's guilty. [Music] In May 2020, the appellet court ruled
Linda Sturmer's conviction would not be reinstated, but prosecutors decided to try her a second time. Her new trial is
scheduled to begin March 9th, 2021. [Music] >> She killed her partner. >> I don't believe Christopher abused her.
>> She was a very good actress. murder or self-defense. >> There were many people who saw her with
black eyes, with bruises. >> She was afraid for her life. >> 48 hours next on CBS.
CBS News original reporting. [Music]

A woman accused of setting her house on fire and then intentionally running over her husband as he escaped the flames speaks out to "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty.

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.

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Brief Summary

Linda Sturmer was accused of murdering her husband Todd in a fire and running him over, but her conviction was later overturned.

Key points

The Dream Home. Linda recalls their 120-acre dream home designed by Todd.
The Tragic Fire. Todd dies from smoke inhalation and thermal injuries after a house fire.
A Shocking Accusation. Linda's sons suspect their mother of murdering their father after the fire.
The Fight Before the Fire. Linda and Todd had a major argument the night before the fire.
The Arrest. Linda is arrested on charges of arson and murder after a lengthy investigation.
Linda's Conviction Overturned. After nearly 12 years, Linda Sturmer's conviction was overturned, setting her free.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Bad luck doesn't even describe it.

Linda responds to the accusation of bad luck surrounding Todd's death.

3:17WatchSep 16, 2025

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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