The Puzzling Death of Susann Sills | Full Episode + Post Mortem | 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 you CPR I'm doing the CPR Dr Sills was a infertility specialist you going keep up I'm going to do it
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 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 soon as you go into the front door the stairwells
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 hom
Style on that sun Sunday 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 placed 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 word 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 Catherine 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 so we just was laying there on top of it yeah it was around 6:30 a.m. the next
morning when Dr 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 suzan'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 lature 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 while I was gone no he told us they came in the house together and
investigators said they found something Dr Sills couldn't explain on that day you found blood yes blood in Mary
Catherine'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 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 Suzanne'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 vertebrae 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 it 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 SS 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 Susanna was smart witty we love Mr St sarcastic but not in a mean way you
know just enough 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 Sill's two 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 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 at 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 his appearance he started dress 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 in 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
manor 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 2 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 bare 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 a death 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 Sills 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 s'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 or 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 Catherine's bed 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 why 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 his
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
know 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 Jes have indicated that they breached a verdict in this matter the clerk read the
verdict we 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 deegree 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 canot 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 deegree 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 newbower 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 all 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 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 [Music]
podcasts hello and welcome to postmortem I'm your host San marie green and today
we're talking about the case of Suzanne Sills who was found dead at the bottom of a staircase in her Orange County
California home now her husband a renowned fertility doctor claims that she fell and her death was an accident
but later he's charged with her murder so joining me now to discuss the final episode of this season are 48 Hours
correspondent Tracy Smith and producer guyan kashishian Mendes Tracy guyan thanks so much for joining us thanks for
having us thank you all right everyone before we dive in a quick reminder for our listeners to go first and watch or
listen to this episode of the title is the puzzling death of Suzanne Sills uh you can find the full audio just below
this episode in your podcast feed so go listen if you haven't already and then come join us for our conversation all
right here we go so there's something really unusual about this case it's that suzan's husband is a doctor and you
would imagine uh that if you're going to have an accident at home and and fall down your
stairs this is the best case scenario the doctor is already there so we heard some portions of the 911 call that he
made on that morning Sunday November 13th 2016 we want to play some of it because there are a few points that
really jumped out at me right away okay and what's happened we got a patient here who's falling upstairs and I don't
have a pulse and she's cold and I don't know what time this happened oh okay so is so she's not
breathing no she's not breathing she's not breathing okay sir I've got help being sent while we're talking is there
anybody else there with you oh yes our whole family's here okay get her let's get her down on a hard flat surface on
her back okay we're going to give you instructions while paramedics are put you on speaker phone hang on a minute
okay can you hear me okay I can still hear you sir so you found her down at the bottom of the stairs yeah partially
on the stairs okay looks like her shoe come off or something so you want me to put her on her back right on her back
flat on her back why is he acting like he doesn't know CPR he's a doctor that's a really good point um and it's
something that was debated at the trial the 911 call was actually played several
times both by the prosecution and the defense and when the prosecution played it she really dissected Ed it from the
perspective of look at all these things that sound different than what you would
expect a person who's just found his wife dead and trying to save her life would do she argues that he's putting
off giving her CPR that he actually waits for the 911 operator to give him instructions on doing
CPR and he's kind of fiddling around trying to find something called a pulse oximeter which measures if you're
breathing if you have a heartbeat and so he waits about five minutes before he actually starts
administering the CPR and you know I think we all know that it's key to start doing CPR right away the prosecution
said that this 911 call is really just a setup for him to tell his story for the
first time and he knows that she's dead there's nothing he can do so he's just sort of biting his time and going
through the motions but then he also calls her the patient so Jack early the defense attorney for Dr Sills says yes
he calls her the patient but he's in doctor mode so he is maybe detaching himself a little bit but that's because
he's gone into doctor mode now he's getting the pul Sox because the 911 operator asked if she was alive so he's
that's his thought is I can get the pul Sox to find out if she's alive this is what Jack early is telling us um he also
was saying he's not doing CPR every day in his IVF practice so of course he's maybe a little rusty on CPR and he also
argues that Mary Katherine the daughter is sitting there would Mary Katherine be
in on this conspiracy this is what Jack early's asking me that she would see her
father not doing CPR and not say something okay those are all really really interesting points that I had not
considered so a year after Suzanne's death the coroner's office f finally cited her cause of death as ligature
strangulation and the manner a homicide out of curiosity why did it take a year to come to a conclusion or is that a
standard length of time it's something that um that was brought up at trial and something that Jack early the defense
attorney kind of went after the fact that it took a year to get this ruling for the cause of death and made the case
that the forensic pathologist was essentially on the prosecutions team you know working with the investigators
rather than being sort of an objective scientific mind looking at the cases and when the forensic pathologist who did
the autopsy was on the stand the defense attorney tried to say that she kind of arbitrarily picked the cause of death
and waited until there was more from the investigation so that she could figure out which one fit best and and and chose
that conclusion so but the investigators say look she she just wanted to be careful she wanted
to look at all the fact and the forensic pathologist does look at evidence in the
case they're not looking at just the body so in this case she saw early on that there was a C3 fracture and the
ligature Mark and she indicated all of the injuries um you know on a diagram right away but she didn't draw her
conclusions until she actually saw some crime scene photos and found out about the blood in the room a trial in
November of 2023 the defense made the argument that the ligature marks could have been made by Sill's two dogs
pulling at the scarf around suzan's neck after she'd already fallen down the stairs how did that argument stand up at
trial I know they showed pictures of the dogs playing tug-of warar I don't know if you guys are pet people I think
anyone who has had a dog knows they play tug-of warar but I don't know with the with your scarf around your
neck yeah I mean it's an interesting point Amar the forensic pathologist testified at trial that the ligature
Mark required a sustained even pull on both sides and the jurors discussed this when they went into deliberations the
dogs would have had to be pulling evenly at the same time and the other thing that the jurors brought up is that if
she was on the wooden staircase how could the dogs with their nails even get a grip to be able to pull on the scarf
uh so yeah it would have to be a very coordinated effort by the dogs according to how the jurors looked at this yeah
there was also the fact that you know there was no damage on the stairs from Suzanne falling you would think that
there would be some scuffs something how did the defense explain that he didn't necessarily try to explain it uh I think
and he was more trying to poke holes in the prosecutions theory and he countered
it with well you don't see marks anywhere else in the house you know like the prosecution's arguing there's this
big fight to the death in the bedroom and that he placed her at the bottom of the stairs but he's saying if that's
true where's the evidence of that why isn't there more blood why isn't there blood all over the floor damage to the
furniture you know he's saying there are no marks anywhere if you're going to make the argument that there are no
marks on the stairs so that was more his strategy was to kind of uh give you the
argument for the reverse and then you know Tracy when you spoke to Jack early he sort of gave a little more insight
into what he thought happened he kind of had two theories but and let me just explain this it it was tough to get the
full story out of Jack early because he says he can't tell it because it's Dr Sills story Dr Sills didn't testify so
he basically said we didn't get the whole story at trial there's more to tell and Scott Sills has to tell it now
having said that what he said to us was maybe she was killed by the C3 fracture so the fracture to her neck which would
have happened from a fall down the stairs or maybe she was incapacitated enough from this C3 fracture that then
she's at the bottom of the stairs and the dogs pull on the scarf enough to leave the mark not necessarily to kill
her he also theorized that maybe it was one dog because the scarf was tied around her neck and then you wouldn't
have to have the coordination of the two dogs then you just have the one dog pulling on the tide scarf and it could
have made that even mark this was his theory did they present any of that at trial I mean yes he did he even went so
far as to test the scarf for dog DNA and it came back positive with dog DNA cat DNA and pig DNA um which they explained
as uh the the dogs were eating pig ears as snacks and so that would leave Pig DNA on the scarf but yeah I mean he he
went with the dog theory yes so he was sort of asking the jury to disregard the coroner's report and to find a different
cause of death yes he poked holes in exactly in the ruling that it was ligature strangulation that caused that
was the cause of death yes all right so let us talk about the motive because it seems like the prosecution really didn't
have a clear explanation for why Dr SS would want to murder his wife yeah that's true I mean they said that they
didn't need to prove motive but they they gave a lot of options right guyan yeah I mean some of this we went into in
our hour but there were some angry texts that Suzanne had sent within three months of her death uh you know there
were finances that were that were kind of tight because they had started this business and so they had to put kind of
everything into it while it got off the ground and another issue that we heard not only in trial but also from one of
the friends of Suzanne that we interviewed was that Suzanne felt really disrespected by Scott's older children
at times his son and she was upset that you know her husband really didn't stick
up for her so that was something that the prosecutor also mentioned at trial that in these text messages was one of
the things that she was she was mad at him about I think the texts are really interesting because you know in talking
to Jack early he basically said if you pull out these things that we pulled out like I just want out and you're killing
me yes they sound very damning but these are all related to work this couple worked together that it's that working
relationship that caused all of the tension and you shouldn't read so much into it you know what I work with my
spouse I kind of get that argument it can get tense and it doesn't mean it's not a reflection on the whole
marriage it's just in that working situation and then of course there are those patrick.net posts and the photo
that was posted of Suzanne topless let us talk about this because I found the whole thing just really odd but let's
just start with because I never heard of patrick.net can you just sort of explain
what patrick.net is so it's basically this political chat room that's frequented by conser
conservatives uh kind of like Twitter or Reddit but they say much more freedom of
speech than either Twitter or Reddit Patrick actually testified Patrick from patrick.net
yes he was a witness and he said that there were about 13,000 members a few hundred of them were active so kind of a
small online community but suzan seemed pretty active and they were really friendly
exchanges she she seemed to feel really comfortable talking about her political views she even shared some personal
photos of herself her family her pets it it was kind of like her little space and
she seemed comfortable expressing herself is this something that she argued with her husband about her
participation on this site when Patrick testified he said that someone claiming to be Dr SS emailed him after Suzanne's
death he was being asked to remove Suzanne's information off of patrick.net and he said that that made him really
uncomfortable and he felt like it would be destroying evidence he said he left everything as is pertaining to Suzanne
and when Dr SS was arrested somebody one of the users actually posted something like you know why do I have a feeling
this is going to end up on 48 Hours mystery on CBS so yeah it was very interesting okay let's talk about that
patrick.net post that Suzanne made this photo this topless photo one of her friends that we interviewed Chris
solamini he said that you know she wasn't like an overly flirtatious person that wasn't the purpose uh with which
she would do this uh but he said she was somebody who would stick to her word so
if she made that promise she was not going to back down so in the photo though you notice both of Suzanne's
hands are partially visible it might have been taken using it self timer but do we have any idea who actually took
this photo well the the defense argued at one point that it was Mary Katherine who took the photo right and I'm not
sure how that helps them in saying that maybe that it was like a family activity
and so he wouldn't have been angry about this like I'm I'm just guessing like I'm
not sure where they were going with that but but Jack early made it very clear to
us that he did not think Scott was angered by this photo and by the chat the question is if it didn't bother him
so much then why did he have a screenshot of the patrick.net chat on his phone and then a print out of that
on his printer welcome back so another possible motive that investigators explored was a
one-time Rel relationship sils had with a woman named Marie Dalton now she was a
former nurse that he met online while he was still married to Suzanne I want to play a clip that we didn't get to put in
the hour of Marie's conversation with police after Suzanne died so did he mention like he was stuck in his you
know Loveless marriage and you know he was kind of kind of miserable he wasn't miserable but he would say that they um
oh he slept in a office a few times we text uh it seems like we had a big affair right and we met nothing I
promise you nothing like that we met once for like an hour one time one time this was all done email or text um and I
think I boosted the guy's ego that's that's what happened I think I came in and you know here he's been married what
10 12 years and uh and she was very beautiful you know very nice he said she was a good mother but um yeah he I think
he is miserable I I felt that and because when I would say something nice he would just like Feed me more you know
he's like a machine I don't know but you had to feed compliments too I mean it almost sounds a little
like she feels kind of sorry for him like she's just not that into him but he is in need of this ego boo yeah yeah I
also it how she starts out saying he wasn't miserable oh yeah I guess he was pretty miserable it's interesting how
she makes that turn she she kind of makes him sound like a little bit of a narcissist you know although later in
the interview I think she also admits to leading him on a little bit because she's got a thing for doctors two weeks
after Suzanne died Dr sils sent Marie a letter and I just want to read you a portion of that because it kind of
illuminates this a little more by the way he addresses her as Maser Marie whoever I find out there and I pray it
really is you I am confident she will be an exceptionally bright and vivacious woman and I will be envied by all other
men because I will have her but you need to understand that in my heart at the end of the day that relationship will
always be judged against your glow I'm not just saying this to jack up your ego for me you really have set an incredibly
high standard and you probably weren't even trying so I want the original and then capital letters you yeah he's he's
a he's a wee bit Rusty I guess in the wooing department but it almost sounds like something that was like written by
chat gbt there's something I don't know how to explain it like somewhat sort of oddly mechanical about it mhm that's an
interesting point he is a scientist once she heard about the arrest um Marie told
investigators she felt guilty and she thought that that he might have killed his wife basically to be with her but
you know we did ask Jack early about this flat out did he want to get Suzanne out of the way and he said no and then
he actually went on to say off camera that Dr Sills really was just looking for a essentially a replacement for
Suzanne motherwise that he wanted someone to help with the kids basically to be a mom to the kids does the letter
include anything about I think you would make such a good mother he's very complimentary to Marie and he actually
kind of numerically lists the things that he finds so intriguing about her and I don't remember if her maternal
skills are one of them but he he definitely talks about how great she looks in a bikini and says you know you
would really help me with my practice you know we would take it to another level and he's kind of like offering her
the position of business manager that Suzanne held and throughout this letter which is which is quite long or email
rather he kind of reminds himself that oh but I've been through this tragedy uh but now that I've had a chance to grieve
and I'm ready to get out there again I really want you in my life and we don't have to sneak around now um just remind
everyone this letter comes two weeks after his wife dies um so the jury deliberates and the big question is not
only if they're going to find him guilty but if they will find him guilty of first degree or second degree murder so
first off can we kind of explain what the difference is sure basically first degree murder is premeditated and second
degree murder is not premeditated so second degree you didn't plan plan it first agree you did plan it now in this
case the prosecution argues that no he perhaps he didn't think about this days or weeks ahead of time but it was
premeditated they say in the fact that when he strangled her he did it for a long period of time and so the amount of
time that it takes to strangle someone to death and not just incapacitate them is long enough for him to say what am I
doing and stop the prosecutor and also the medical experts testified that it takes 30s
to render someone unconscious and then depending on how old you are you know your health it could take you know 3 to
five minutes to actually strangle someone to death and the prosecutor actually looked at her watch and said
let's all just wait for 30 seconds just to see how long 30 seconds feels like and so during that time that he was
strangling her he could have stopped that was where the premeditation came in mhm after about 3 hours the jury came
back with a verdict and they find him not guilty of first-degree murder but guilty of second deegree murder were you
surprised by this decision you know it's interesting because we talked with the jurors quite a bit about motive and they
said that they they wanted to know the why but they also said that they didn't need the why to know that he did it and
they told us that they spent a lot of time going first degree second degree first degree second degree and the
reason that they couldn't do first degree is just that they felt like he snapped and that it was not something
that he planned out a split 30 second decision to you know the prosecution's argument the sentencing is about three
months after the verdict and we hear from a couple of members of Suzanne's family including her daughter Mary
Katherine who still believes in her father's innocence and you know this murder would have had to be occurring
while both of his children are just upstairs sleeping right it takes a certain type of person to do that Mary
Katherine does not believe that her father is that type of person here's some of what she had to say 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 my heart was breaking for her what I heard
was a young young woman just trying to hang on to anything a wisp of the life she had before this nightmare began and
if it's just a little bit of her father then she wants it yeah it's it's really unfathomable what she and her brother
Eric have been through um you know from the age of 12 losing their mom they've sort of lost their dad now even though
he's alive but he's not going to be around really and Mary Katherine's father foster mom passed away shortly
before the sentencing um and she apparently is the one who found her so just so much tragedy and it's just
heartbreaking yeah clearly we know where Mary Katherine stands on this but what about her brother her twin brother do we
know anything about you know how he feels about his dad and how he feels about what happened so he's out of state
whereas Mary Katherine still lives in Southern California but both Mary Catherine and Eric were called to
testify at the trial by the prosecution he would say things like I don't really remember but then he would be presented
with a statement that he made when he was 12 and when asked he would say yes you know that that was truthful so um
you know they're very much in their dad's Corner um Dr Sills received the mandatory sentence under California law
for second degree murder which is 15 years to life would his sent sence be different if it had been a first-degree
murder guilty bur yes that sentences 25 years to life in California and he's eligible for parole as we mentioned at
the end of the hour in 2033 which kind of seems like it's just around the corner yeah it's true 15
years doesn't seem like much um Suzanne's Mother Teresa also gave a statement at sentencing about the loss
of her daughter what was it like to listen to her talk about the kind kind of person her daughter was so I was at
the sentencing and they were sitting on separate sides of the courtroom where the grandmother Teresa and uh Suzanne's
stepbrother were on one side you know kind of on the prosecution side and then Mary Catherine and her other friends and
family were on the defense side of the aisle Teresa was very careful not to say anything really negative about Dr Sills
she really focused on her daughter Suzanne and this amazing woman that she was and the hopes that she had to see
her daughter grow up and get married and and all these wonderful things and then
once the sentencing was over Mary Katherine came over and talked to her grandmother and they remised a little
bit that was nice to see because we did know that that was something that was really important for Suzanne's mom was
to maintain the relationship at least with her grandchildren and she made a really poignant remark during her
statement oh yeah we mentioned this in the hour the staircase that you know here is this staircase that Suzanne
dreamed of seeing Mary Katherine walk down on her wedding day and I think as moms we all think about that like I
think about the staircase in my home and watching my daughter walked down for prom and that just was so poignant that
of course the staircase ended up playing an entirely different role try guyan this has been fantastic the final 48
hours for the season thank you thanks s maray all right and thank you to our listeners for tuning in to this season
of postmortem we have one more special episode coming up next week and then we'll be back for new season of 48 hours
in September but keep your eye on the 48 Hours podcast feed this summer for more
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Did a woman's dogs play a role in her death or was a scene staged to cover a murder?

Watch "The Puzzling Death of Susann Sills" and then catch up with "48 Hours" correspondent Tracy Smith and producer Gayane Keshishyan Mendez on "Post Mortem" as they discuss the case of Susann Sills, a mother of twins who was found dead at the bottom of a staircase in the home she shared with her husband, a renowned fertility doctor. The team discusses Dr. Sills' 911 call, the police interview with a woman investigators believed he was courting, and the defense’s unusual theory that the family dogs were involved in Susann's death.

00:00 The Puzzling Death of Susann Sills 41:44 Listen to a post-mortem on the episode

Listen to "Post Mortem" wherever you get your podcasts: https://apple.co/3OWgmsc

Crime. Social justice. Impact. "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

Dr. Scott Sills was convicted of second-degree murder in the death of his wife Suzanne, who was found at the bottom of their stairs.

Key points

A Tragic 911 Call. On November 13, 2016, a 911 call reveals a shocking discovery of a woman found at the bottom of the stairs.
The Investigation Begins. Detectives arrive at the scene, uncovering inconsistencies that raise questions about the woman's death.
A Troubling Message. Just weeks before her death, Suzanne leaves a concerning voicemail hinting at tension in her marriage.
A Shocking Cause of Death. Suzanne's death is ruled a homicide, with ligature strangulation as the cause, making Dr. Sills the prime suspect.
The Bet That Changed Everything. Suzanne posted a topless photo after a bet in a political chat, leading to controversy.
The Discovery of Motive. Detectives found evidence suggesting Dr. Sills had a motive tied to jealousy and anger.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

We all live two lives.

0:12WatchDec 27, 2024

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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