The Puzzling Death of Susann Sills | Full Episode | Forensic Files

[Music] we all live two lives only the most intimate people that we know really know who we
are 911 do need police or paramedics uh paramedic it begins with a 911 call from
the house it was a Sunday morning November 13th year 2016 what's the address of the emergency
sir it's a TGA in San Clemente too is a new community it's kind of considered a sleepy little town
nice place to work nice place to live now What's happen we got a patient here who's Fallen upstairs and I don't have a
pulse and she's cold Eric Scott Sills is a fertility doctor you found her down at
the bottom of the stairs yeah partially on the stairs Suzanne Stills is his wife
looks like her shoe come off or something the mother of twins a boy and a girl so she's not
breathing no she's not breathing she was the one who was found that morning I'm going to give you
instructions for chest compressions okay they had it on a speaker phone so Scott
and Mary Kate the daughter were both heard on the on the 911 call what are you trying to do sir I can't see what's
going on what are you CPR I'm doing the CPR Dr SS was a infertility specialist keep going keep I'm going to do this way
they ran their Clinic as partners Suzanne took care of all the business side of things continue the compressions
until paramedics arrive and take over she's making noises out of her mouth she was his number one supporter in
everything that he did they really looked like they had it all okay hold on we're we're doing
it baby she was making some kind of noise just from the compressions but I think
she was already dead we get notified by our Sergeant to come out to a house and begin a death
investigation so when you went inside what stuck out to you well as soon as you go into the front door the stairwell
is right off to your left Suzanne was right there she had a blanket covering her body we could see
the other things laying around like this stainless steel Soup pot a purse an empty medication bottle and then the
scarf was a little bit further down away from her the deputy Corner during her preliminary body exam of Suzanne the
injuries weren't consistent with somebody falling down the stairs her neck had a pretty pronounced ligature
Mark the question is how was she strangled when she was found the scarf was around her
neck I think the first day there was mention of dogs maybe pulling on a scarf oh you're so good had a couple of dogs
rescues very K saw the dogs pulling on the scarf we didn't get the impression that it was any kind of violent pulling
do you think that the dogs could have pulled on her scarf hard enough to strangle her to death could they do it
yes when you came to the house it was a death investigation by the time you left
was it a murder investigation no it wasn't just as clearcut as that [Music] [Music]
[Music] do you have a spidey sense when you go into these scenes I'd like to think so
probably all of us would like to think so that we could just figure it out as soon as we walk in Sherlock Holmes
Style on that sun Monday morning in November 2016 Orange County Sheriff's homicide detectives Eric hatch and Dave
Holloway had more questions than Clues at that point in time that morning November 13th was Scott Sills a victim
or a suspect to us he was a victim we were going to a house where two kids and a husband just lost their wife and
mother Dr Scott Sills had made that 911 call and reported finding his wife and business partner Suzanne at the bottom
of the stairs is it a steep stairway yeah it's pretty high I believe it was 13 and 1 12 ft from the floor to the top
of the stairs did it seem plausible that a 45-year-old woman in pretty good shape
would have fallen down the stairs to her death at the time it sounded believable Suzanne had injuries to
pretty much her whole body her face was all bruised up her back was bruised up both arms and legs
were had bruising and abrasions and around her body was that odd collection of items they definitely stood out
especially that steel Puck it almost looked like it was place there it wasn't upside down or leaning against anything
we had to figure out why those things were there the detectives say Dr Sills didn't seem nervous that a homicide team
was in his home asking questions he was just kind of going with the flow how Cooperative was he oh very everything we
asked of him he he gave us he signed a consent form that gave us permission to search his house and when they
interviewed the Sill's children Mary Katherine and Eric the 12-year-old twins each told a similar story to their dad
that Suzanne had not been feeling well that night Suzanne had a history of migraines they were typically
debilitating requiring a dark room quiet and bed rest and she had been suffering
from a migraine that weekend the migraine seemed to explain that large pot sometimes she carried around a bowl
in order to have it near her bedside in case she threw up in the middle of the night and the empty pill bottle was for
a pain medication Dr SS said his wife took to treat her migraines so did that make it sound more possible that she
could have fallen down the stairs because she was suffering from a migraine maybe and there seemed to be
nothing in the couple's relationship to suggest another reason what did you learn about the Sill's marriage
according to Scott everything was fine they had a you know a good relationship both children attested that their
parents loved each other and said they rarely argued and were never violent detectives started piecing
together a timeline of the weekend Saturday night she was on the couch Eric came down to see her check on
her make sure she was okay it was around midnight when Eric said he and and his mom went back
upstairs after she put the dogs away in their crate Mary Katherine had gone to bed in her parents' bedroom Susanne was
going to spend the night in Mary Katherine's room which was the quietest it was Mary Katherine's idea for Suzanne
to spend the night in that room it was clean according to Mary Katherine and done up like a little hotel suite for
Suzanne to convalesce in there Mary Katherine had left a note on her door with what would be her last
words to her mom I know you were tired she said but you need to know that I love
[Music] you around 4:00 a.m. Eric said he woke to the sound of his parents arguing in
the Next Room the two windows that's Eric's room so Eric is right next to Mary Katherine's room where his mom was
and what did he tell you he heard well he heard loud voices arguing but he didn't describe hearing any physical
confrontation Eric told detectives that after about 5 minutes he decided to go sleep in the main bedroom with his
sister according to Mary Katherine's statement she thought he'd come in around 3:40 a.m. and told her their
parents were arguing about a work email how do you know she she got an email because Eric said they were talking
about that oh okay so Eric told you that there that she got an email and that she
was it was about some something something about work Dr Sills told detectives he had argued with Suzanne
because he found her working late on her laptop which made her migraines worse when you heard that they had an argument
shortly before she was found at the bottom of the stairs dead what was going through your mind well again that's one
more piece of data that we're going to collect it doesn't mean one way or the other that it was a murder but that's
definitely an Avenue that we would have to pursue neither Eric nor Mary Katherine heard their dad return to the
bedroom I woke up and my dad was just like on the covers just laying there like there wasn't enough room to get in
I guess we just was laying there on top of it yeah it was around 6:30 a.m. the next
morning when doctor Sills and the twins woke up he asked them if they wanted to go to
the pool and get some donuts Mary Catherine said when she left the bedroom and looked over the
banister she saw her mom's body at the bottom of the stairs that long red and white scarf around her
neck that was Mary Katherine's scarf it was found in the same room as Suzanne's body but the scarf wasn't on her body
when we arrived it was not Mary Catherine told us that she had to remove the scarf and she did that not to impede
mom's breathing adding to the mystery were the injuries to Suzanne's neck the deputy coroner had noticed during a
preliminary examination of the body earlier that morning especially with the ligature mark across her neck it just
didn't make sense is it possible that she could have fallen down the stairs and then somehow the scarf strangled her
could have caught on a banister sure I suppose so but we didn't have any evidence of that as detectives continued
their investigation the question did anybody in the house hear a fall down the stairs no nobody described
hearing a fall down the stairs or if suzan had been carrying that stainless steel pot no one heard that bounce down
the stairs or land on the tile floor there was no evidence on the stairs of someone going down like broken ballast
or anything like that and something else the detectives thought was strange it was a warm day
even though it was November but when we spoke with Scott and during the whole time we were in the house doing our
investigation he was wearing a beanie over his head and he said that he slept with it cuz it was cold did you ask him
to remove the beanie yes as it turned out Suzanne wasn't the only one with injuries that morning
[Music] we discovered that Scott had some injuries he had a cut up here on his forehead and on his arm he had a uh
bruise Dr Scott Sills said there was a simple explanation for the injuries he had hurt himself while working on his
car in the garage with his son Eric there was just one problem Eric told us dad didn't hurt himself did he say to
you I left the garage so maybe you hurt himself I was gone no he told us they came in the house together an
investigators said they found something Dr Sills couldn't explain on that day you found blood yes blood in Mary
Katherine's room where Suzanne had been staying on the curtains the wall and the
nightstand so that morning when you asked Scott about the blood what did he say he didn't know where it came from he
He was unaware of it Mary Catherine told investigators the room was quote perfect when she left it
she also said she'd turned down the bed but now it was made it didn't really make sense why would Suzanne take the
time to make the bed in the middle of the night so if you found blood in Mary Katherine's bedroom you know that there
are ligature marks on Suzanne why not take him down to the station at this point and question him
once you arrest somebody that starts processes that you can't stop besides the blood in the bedroom we didn't
really have enough evidence of a fight occurring so at the end of the day there wasn't enough probable cause legally to
arrest him suzan's autopsy 4 days later didn't provide any definitive answers the forensic pathologist noted
that Suzanne had injuries all over her body that could have resulted from a fall including a fractured C3 vertebra
near the base of her neck which can be fatal then there was that ligature mark across her neck and hemorrhaging of the
blood vessels in her eyes which pointed to strangulation it would take months to
make an official ruling it's not something they want to rush into it's not something they want
to make a rash judgment on the doctor wanted to examine the whole case more more
clearly in the meantime detectives requested DNA testing on evidence collected from the Sill's home and
forensic analysis on Suzanne's phone and laptop they also dug deeper into who the
Sills were none of their immediate neighbors knew anything about the family eventually we contacted whoever we could
out of their contact list to try and find out [Music] more in high school I thought this must be what genius
means his humor his his quick wit Sandy Roberts and Jamie aens have known Scott Sills since their high school days in
Herman Tennessee he was something we had never seen before in a small town in Tennessee at that age he was very
special he was hilarious how many people come to class in a three-piece suit and it's not dress
up day he's flamboyant he's bigger than life he was very very kind I grew up uh pretty poor I didn't
have a car in high school or anything like that and a lot of times no lunch money and uh he always pulled out his
wallet and paid for it it just wasn't a question his future seemed Limitless he was accepted to both law school and
medical school we were kind of all on the edge of our seat wondering what he was going to decide to
do and it was no surprise when the hometown boy became a renowned IVF specialist a profession that would lead
him to Suzanne Suzanne was going through fertility treatment trying to get pregnant with her first
husband Chris solamini met Suzanne AR swaga in business school where she earned an MBA she had confided in him
about her struggles to get pregnant having kids was everything to suzan she'd cry about it I mean it was so
important to her and Eric Scott Sills was her fertility doctor but soon Chris says they were
were a couple she started talking about Dr Sills after she had told me she was getting divorced and that she was now
dating him I just remember her saying he's a brilliant doctor Dr Sills who was also
coming out of a previous marriage seemed to have met his match Suzanna was smart
witty we love Mr St sarcastic but not in a mean way you know just to to dig at you you know
incredibly driven a loyal friend she was so classy so beautiful very engaging seemed like to me he he found one that
is a good it was a good fit Suzanne fit right in at Scott's 20th High School reunion she danced the whole time they
were lovely together he just seemed really happy the couple married and welcomed twins through IVF adding to Dr
Sills to older kids and eventually Suzanne's business Acumen would lead them to start their
own IVF practice in April 2015 she started the business and she built it Suzanne pretty much ran
everything with the exception of actually doing the procedures the practice soon took off we
actually have Dr Scott sils here in OBGYN who's also a fertility specialist so and Dr s was often featured on the TV
program The Doctors which was distributed by CBS we've decided to provide you that removal surgery at no
cost he was in many eyes a saint he was uh loved by his patients Dr Julio Novoa is an OBGYN who co-authored a book with
Dr Sills Dr Sills was a great doctor and and Susan was a a great advocate for women as well and there were a team not
just married but a team and working well together but about a month before her death Rick Leeds another of Suzanne's
friends says she left him a troubling message she sounded like she was whispering it was so different from the
happy jovial excited voicemails I got before this one was definitely things weren't good when they spoke Rick says
it sounded like there was tension over a photo she said it was a topless photo of
her that had appeared on a Blog this was some discussion she didn't want to [Music]
have when news of Suzanne's death reached her friends they were stunned it was devastating I couldn't believe it it
didn't seem plausible to me that she she just fell down the stairs with a migraine
headache it didn't sound like the vibrant Suzanne they knew Dr Sill's friends say they were
equally perplexed Scott would not discuss anything with us he quickly changed the
subject we never spoke again you don't know how tragedies affect people what were your impressions of
Scott Sills throughout the investigation I would describe him as emotionless he never acted as though Suzanne was even
his wife he talked about what a good manager she was and how she kept their business flowing but he never once
mentioned that she was a good mother or that he loved her all very businesslike yeah in fact the day after Suzanne's
death the doctor had gone to work I was shocked I who goes to the office the next morning when your wife
died Joanie Ricker's daughter was a nurse at the Sills IVF clinic and had called her in a panic she said her
patients are in cycle and they have to be treated Joanie volunteered to help manage the office something Suzanne did
and ended up working there for two years did Dr SS talk about his wife oh never did he ever say how she died or it was
never discussed pretty soon she says the doctor started changing his appearance he started Dr like a movie
star I mean he was very simple before and she says the once balding doctor now had a full head of hair we definitely
noticed um new hair they also noticed Dr Sill's flashier online Persona I said to one of my friends now
is SS a doctor or a model I personally don't know any doctors on social media that are taking selfies in the gym and
their their Blazers and their sunglasses and and their Porsches I it was a little
much all of a sudden there started to be another woman in photos and he was out on dates and they were going around
town the behavior raised eyebrows but it was hardly evidence then in November 2017 a year after Suzanne's death there
was finally news from the coroner's office Suzanne's cause of death was cited as ligature strangulation and the
manner a homicide Dr Sills was now the prime suspect DNA results on the blood in Mary
Katherine's room showed a mixture of his and suzan's DNA they were both there there was a fight there was a fight and
he killed his wife on August 8th 2018 nearly two years after Suzanne's death detectives
Holloway and hatch made a surprise house call at the doctor's home did you ask Dr Sills at this point
just flat out did you kill your wife yes and started stressing out and started sweating and he became more
defensive they say the doctor denied killing his wife and he now offered an explanation for his blood in Mary
Katherine's room he said he had injured himself replacing a window screen wouldn't Mary Katherine have seen the
blood that he left from replacing the screen for sure and she didn't mention it nope despite the death being ruled a
homicide detectives said they still had more investigating to do like finding a motive a search of Suzanne's phone
provided some Clues text messages hinted at problems in the marriage there was one in particular where she had some
pretty strong words towards Scott in text sent in late August Less Than 3 months before her death Suzanne wrote I
am trapped you are killing me I just want out and we just aren't right for each other and about a month before her death
Suzanne had confided in Rick Leeds she and Scott were in a really rocky place and she was thinking about leaving
him he said Suzanne was also upset about a photo photo she' posted online whatever was going on between her and
Scott and this picture was just a pivotal point for her Suzanne had posted a topless photo
after making a bet in a political chat room called patrick.net Suzanne apparently was one of the few women who
was involved in this forum she kind of threw out that if Donald Trump won the presidential nomination that she would
post a picture of her be breasts and on the day of her death detectives had found a print out in Dr Sill's home
office of an exchange between Suzanne and another patrick.net member from August 30th 2016 discussing the photo
the man who went by 10B bass wrote All I've got to say is you must have a super cool husband Suzanne AKA turtle dove
replied he's exhausted actually it isn't easy being married to a woman who is partially naked and posing alluringly
all the time Dr Sills denied that he had printed that chat but when investigators
later searched his phone they found a photo of the same exchange does this sound like this could
lead to motive yes if it's something that's building up in him some kind of anger or jealousy about what his wife's
doing online without him enough to kill her mhm detectives also learned that Dr Sills had tried to collect on a
$250,000 life insurance policy on Suzanne but he claimed the insurance company had called him he wasn't able to
collect that that certificate was ruled as a homicide do you think Scott sils thought he'd gotten away with it I think
so every day that went by he felt a little bit more at ease I think on April 25th 2019 nearly 2 and a half years
after Suzanne's death Dr Sills was arrested for her alleged murder on his way to surgery he quickly posted a
million dooll Bond but investigators were about to get an unexpected tip from a woman who said she had met Dr Sills
while Suzanne was still alive they met through Facebook he was infatuated with her she shared an email
Dr Sills had sent her about two weeks after Suzanne's death poor marer Marie yes so it's in
French this is probably the most important manuscript I have ever written I am asking you to seriously rethink our
suspended but once intense relationship when you first read that email what was your
reaction I thought me I was shocked this is a motive so could Dr SS have killed his wife to get her out of the way oh I
just don't see that at all Dr SS defense attorney Jack early denies that there was a romantic relationship and he says
that email was merely a devastated father's desperate attempt to find a new mother for his children did you feel in
your gut that you could win this case oh [Music] [Music] yes in November 2023 just over 7 years
after Suzanne Sill's death Scott Sills now stripped of his medical license went on trial for her murder the Orange
County District Attorney's Office declined our request for an interview but cameras were allowed in court for
portions of the trial where senior Deputy da Jennifer Walker laid out her case to the jury November 13th of
2016 this man killed his wife and hit it Walker argued that Scott Sills beat and then strangled Susan to
death before staging the scene to make it look like she'd fallen down the stairs this is a murder not an accident
the prosecution's case relied heavily on suzan's autopsy but Scott sail's defense
attorney Jack early came to court armed with a unique theory he suggested that Suzanne fell either going up or down the
stairs and that one or both of the family dogs then tugged on the scarf that was wrapped around her her neck do
you honestly think that the dogs pulled hard enough to strangle her to death no no I didn't that was not the main theory
that the dogs actually strangled her to death instead early focused on another injury identified in suzan's autopsy
that fractured C3 vertebra he says that injury is consistent with a fall and that it would have left Suzanne
incapacitated let's assume that someone trips and falls and fractures are C3 their breathing is compromised if
they're then choked it doesn't take much to kill them the defense had the scarf tested for dog DNA it came back positive
and there was testimony that the dogs were known to play tug-of-war as seen in this
video and when Suzanne and Scott's now 19-year-old daughter Mary Katherine took the stand for the prosecution her
testimony supported the defenses Theory investigator Dave Hollow was at the trial Mary Catherine testified that
she saw the dogs pulling at the scarf around her neck and none of that came up during the the day we interviewed her
the first time how did that strike you well um I know that she was still close with her father do you think she's
trying to protect her dad I would say so early denies that he says the reason Mary Katherine didn't tell investigators
is simple it wasn't asked why would she think the dogs are important she doesn't
even know that there's any question of being choked he says Scott Sills did tell First Responders and he argued that
suzan's toxicology tests point to an accidental fall she had a muscle relaxing and pain medication in her
system and early told the jury that Suzanne suffered from a fainting disorder and that vertigo would
accompany her migraines but the prosecution said the defense's theory just doesn't make sense strangulation is
a silent killer you know what's not a silent killer falling down multiple stairs you have to believe she bounced
her head neck back shoulders Insider arms legs and feet multiple ways against approximately six stairs like being in a
soundproof pinball machine then was strangled by her dogs not reasonable and why would
Suzanne have a scarf around her neck that early in the morning to begin with prosecutors suggested that Scott Sills
used it to strangle her and then left it around her neck to cover the marks but early told the jury it wasn't unusual
for Suzanne to wear a scarf especially when she wasn't feeling well because if she got sick that was something that she
would would would wear a scarf to wipe your mouth with it but the prosecution also pointed out
that Suzanne and Scott's son Eric told investigators he saw his mother put the dogs away in their crate in the hours
before she died Eric said that his mom put the dogs in the crate yes sometimes dogs when they're crate trained when
they go to bed will go lay in the crate even with the door open there was also no blood on the stairs or damage to them
there are all these injuries that you say come from the fall down the stairs all over her body but she leaves no
marks on the stairs but there's no marks anywhere in the house but there was that
blood in Mary Katherine's bedro room and the prosecution argued it was evidence that a fight occurred a forensic
scientist testified that the stains on the nightstand and drapes were consistent with Scott Sill's DNA early
did acknowledge that his client's blood was in the room but he told the jury about Scott's claim that he heard
himself there on an earlier date from Scott replacing a screen yeah from getting cut on a nail that was in the
back of the nightstand that was there that forensic scientist though testified that one of the stains on the wall was a
mixture of DNA and Scott and Suzanne were likely contributors early says that doesn't mean it was suzan's blood and
that it could have been her touch DNA that was picked up Susan had touched that area before at some point in time
and she lived there but the prosecution pointed out that there were also clumps of suzan's hair found in Mary
Katherine's room and there were blood stains on Suzanne's clothing that were found to be consistent with Scott Sill's
DNA too early had a rebuttal to it all starting with the hair she has hair extensions and you know what hair
extensions cause loss of hair and the blood on the clothes you don't know how old it
is the jury was also shown pictures of those injuries that were observed on Scott remember how he told investigators
that he hurt himself while working on his car with his son and how according to investigators Eric said that his
father didn't get injured well when Eric took the stand his testimony allowed for
the possibility what he testified is well I didn't stay there the whole time he fixed the car does that seem like a
discrepancy to you well it's not a discrepancy nobody's asking him that full story at at the age of 12 so he
didn't necessarily say at age 12 dad didn't get the injury from the car no he basically said I wasn't there when he
got the injury while Eric Sills did testify that a loud discussion between his parents had woken him up shortly
before his mother's death the defense told the jury that there was nothing to it and those texts between Scott and
Suzanne in the months before Suzanne's death if you have 40,000 texts and there's five of them with hard language
in it that's a perfect marriage the jury didn't hear about the life insurance policy that email Scott
sent to another woman or his his social media photos in the wake of his wife's death but they were told about the
patrick.net posts and the prosecution argued that topless photo that Suzanne posted on the site enraged Scott it
wasn't a big deal it's not striking to you that he had this photo in two places on his phone and then on the printer no
first of all I don't know really who printed this stuff up early maintains there is no motive for murder there was
never any physical violence they're working in and marriage relationship everybody looked at it as
loving Scott Sills chose not to take the stand the trial spanned 3 weeks and then
the case went to the jury my heart was just [Music] pounding what do you make of the defense
that the dogs may have played a role in her death chat now with the 48 Hours team on Facebook and X
jurors Aaron Ellis Jack Van Camp and Susan bleo say that when deliberations began they felt the pressure it's just
so intimidating that you got someone's life on the line it weighs on you oh yeah and the ripple effect the kids and
the yeah did you think about that that these kids didn't only lose their mom mom that if you convict him now they're
losing their dad of course yeah they say they also felt a clear motive was lacking I mean it's hard to imagine why
something like this somebody would do that yeah after about 3 hours they came to a
decision the FES are indicated that they breached verdict in much matter the clerk read the
verdict we the the jury in the above entitled action find the defendant Eric Scott Sills not guilty of the crime of
first-degree murder we the jury in the above entitled action find the defendant Eric Scott
Sills guilty of the crime of second degree murder guilty of second agree murder Scott Sills who gave the gift of
life to so many through his IVF practice now convicted of taking the life of his
wife the mother of his kids I just felt sad I mean I was tearing up on the way out this whole family had
been through so much you know now this is the next phase of it but he did that the jurors we spoke to say that no
one on the jury bought the defense's theory about the dogs the dogs would have to choke her on the stairs and my
dog was as big as hers and my dog can not get a grip on wooden stairs with their nails to do anything they just
slide the scarf had no puncture wounds either I would have expected holes and the fall down the stairs wouldn't create
that scenario in her [Music] body instead what they spent the most time grappling with was whether Scott
Sills was guilty of first deegree or second degree murder first-degree murder requires premeditation and
deliberation I just didn't think he planned it I don't and if he had planned it or done any kind of forethought it
wouldn't be a hot mess crime scene that it was it was kind of like a snap but investigator Dave Holloway says
while Scott Sills may not have planned his crime he certainly had the time to think about what he was doing he had
plenty of time from when he applied pressure to suzan's neck till she died to stop what he was doing he still did
it I was a little disappointed that it was a second degree on March 15th 2024 about 3 months
after the verdict court reconvened for sentencing Suzanne s's Mother Teresa newbower addressed the court and kept
the focus on her daughter she was a dynamic person she had hopes and dreams hopes and dreams new bow said
that one day Suzanne would see her daughter Mary Katherine walk down the stairs of the family's San Clemente home
on her wedding day it was a very painful uh thing for me to learn of the role the staircase
eventually played in real life Mary Katherine also addressed the court and spoke of all the loss she had
endured at such a young age she and her brother were taken in by a family friend
after their father's arrest and that family friend died suddenly of a health condition around the end of the trial
she asked the judge to show her father Mercy I want my father to walk me down the aisle at my wedding someday when I
have a family and children I want my father to be there to hold my baby I have been left orphaned and I feel so
lost without my parents we're here for s on the matter judge Patrick Donahue sentenced Scott
Sills to the mandatory sentence under California law 15 years to life in prison uh good luck
sir his fate was decided but for so many questions remain exactly what led up to
Suzanne Sill's death do you think we'll ever know exactly how it happened I don't think so yeah Scott Sills declined
our requests for an interview but in the end no explanation will suffice or ease
the profound sense of loss that lingers patients now without their doctor thousands of women felt him to be
a saint from the saint all the way down to the devil that's how it ended up being and children without their father
or their mother her kids were so important to her and everything she did revolved around
her her children she was an incredible human being you know I I miss [Music] her need more time with 48 Hours go deep
behind every True Crime episode with firsthand accounts from 48 Hours investigations were you at all prepared
for what happened in this case shock is the word that comes to mind get inside the twists and turns and get in on the
case listen to postmortem from 48 hours now available wherever you get your podcasts

The wife of a fertility doctor is found dead at the bottom of a staircase. Did her dogs play a role in her death or was the scene staged to cover a murder? "48 Hours" correspondent Tracy Smith reports. This episode aired on May 18, 2024. Watch more full episodes of "48 Hours" on Pluto TV.

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

Dr. Scott Sills was convicted of second-degree murder in the death of his wife Suzanne, raising questions about their troubled marriage and the circumstances of her death.

Key points

A Tragic 911 Call. A fertility doctor calls 911 after finding his wife unresponsive at the bottom of the stairs.
The Investigation Begins. Detectives arrive to investigate a suspicious death, uncovering inconsistencies in the scene.
The Aftermath of Death. Scott's behavior after Suzanne's death raises eyebrows among friends and colleagues.
A Shocking Discovery. DNA evidence links Scott to the scene, raising suspicions of foul play.
A Troubling Text. Suzanne's text to Scott reveals deep marital issues just months before her death.
Scott Sills Convicted. Scott Sills, once a respected doctor, is convicted of second-degree murder for his wife's death.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I woke up and my dad was just like on the covers.

Eric's description of the morning after Suzanne's death.

9:37WatchMay 24, 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.