The Widow on Solway Road | Full Episode | Forensic Files

foreign [Applause] State and show that on March 13 2003. David Lee was killed by a single gunshot
wound to his forehead the report on the 911 call was that he'd shot himself gentleman's laying in a bed guns laying
beside him it looked like I wasn't right here here's another hole he's fired more
than once look like we're above his head there there's also a shot into the bed which
is a little suspicious in itself there was more than one shot and while that's not unheard of well it didn't look like
a suicide scene in the statements show that the person who delivered that fatal blow
who's the defendant reynella Lee who shot almost in the middle of his forehead but right above
his his left eye there were no signs of forced entry there were no signs of a struggle and there was no one else at
the residence but the defendant can you connect raynella to that weapon fingerprints anyone see her pick up the
gun no to any of the bullets that were used in that gun no that's a problem isn't it in this case
foreign [Music] was twisted everything good about this woman was turned around to be evil
there's not any real evidence to suggest a homicide and if I were my work pull the trigger
I could strike myself the left eyebrow am I right yes you could there was only one person who wanted
harm David and at that point it was David he was acting suicidal and he makes his decision
and he takes aim he's a great lawyer he's super prepared fantastic lawyer fantastic he's a bad
actor [Music] I just tried to focus on the evidence and where that was leading me it was
hard for me to determine you'll tell me if that's approximately one foot where we were going with certain things and
trying to piece those things together inside each line is an individual stain but you're not making a decision just by
yourself you're making the decision as a group this is the decision never to be taken lightly and I assure you
that this court takes this responsibility very seriously [Music] as a senior judge most every case that I
try is somewhat controversial now in this case it's it's kind of simple if it was a homicide did the evidence show
that reynella Leith committed to homicide ladies and gentlemen of the jury I really could not believe what he
was saying as he said it you're not quite sure if this is really where this is going
personally have studied every shred of evidence or testimony just like you have oh I gotta breathe
no matter where we think we're going here that can't be How This Ends [Music] [Music]
48 Hours the Widow on Solway Road whatever foreign [Music] s are in the Box and uh
all parties are are present a real life drama is taking place that Rivals any Southern Gothic novel I'm Josh Hedrick
we haven't met yet before have we no we haven't it's pleasure this is not a story that would happen in a sleepy New
England town it's too Southern he would bring her a rose once a week and they would go out to dinner there is the
gentility with your permission I'll remove my coat because I had some difficulty with it previously and
underneath that very respectable surface it seems like everything's rotting to the core unless you really know what's
inside somebody's mind if I were to then place it here you don't really know why they do what
they do do you best-selling author Diane Fanning has written about this case and the players
this is something that a fiction writer would write about give us your name please ma'am reynella leaf
reynella Leith a 68 year old grandmother is at the center of this extraordinary tale have you decided whether or not you
wish to testify in your trial I do not wish to testify very well you've got an unbelievable character
there were people she knew in college who said well she was great she was a lot of fun as long as she didn't cross
her [Music] ever since 2003 the former nurse has been the prime suspect in the death of
her second husband David Leith help me help me it was raynella's 9-1-1 call on the
morning of March 13 2003 that sent police rushing to the Leith home let's just detective mortgage for the
Sheriff's Department we're out on a uh possible suicide gunshot wound these are audio and video recordings
made by police at the scene we'll signs of knows anything lying around anywhere listen to investigators as they begin
wondering about that death called in as a suicide the guns laying next to his left hand
which is curled Underneath Him we got three fired rounds I want to have a problem with is one is
for the round side and the way he's laying I'm not saying it it stinks I'm just saying it strong detectives wanted to
establish where raynella had been all morning and she agreed to talk the only time she spoken on the record
she remembers watching television with her husband David that morning before leaving his breakfast on the nightstand
excuse me Angry Birds if I'm not here when you get back I'll be at the Y and I said okay it was close
to 9 30 she says when she headed to the hospital to visit her mother-in-law okay
when she arrived home shortly after 11 she found her husband Lane in a bloody bed with a gunshot to his head
I don't know where that gun is from I've never seen that gun in my whole life the gum was believed to have belonged to
David's parents [Music] David's sudden death left reynella a grieving Widow for the second time
her first husband Ed Dawson had died 11 years earlier raynella and Ed met at East Tennessee State University where
she was on the rifle team and studying to be a nurse he planned to go to law school what Drew those two together
raynella was such a Confident Woman she had presence and I think that Ed was really drawn to that they married and
moved to Ed's 165-acre Family Farm in the tight-knit community of Solway just outside
Knoxville where they raised cattle and three children Maggie Eddie Jr and Katie reynella was extremely protective
of her children they became the power couple in town when ebb was elected Knox County District Attorney General
raynella was director of nursing at Park West Hospital but their lives took a tragic turn when
at the age of 43 Ed was diagnosed with terminal cancer nine months later he died not from his illness but in a freak
farming accident but raynella wasn't a widow for long six months later she shocked friends and
family when she remarried David Leith was a local barber and Ed does its best friend and neighbor she fix these food
and started his car in the morning and she just treated him like a King David's daughter Cindy Wilkerson and his cousin
Beth Roberts say the Whirlwind romance was all the talk and saw way what do you think he saw in raynella she's Charming
I said to my mother I thought he'd hit the jackpot with this girl because she was so pretty and so interesting I just
thought this is going to be a great fit but raynella's Newfound happiness was short-lived less than two years after
she remarried her 11 year old son was killed in a car crash she was very sad and very very
heartbroken Cindy says she began seeing changes in reynella and her father's relationship
that didn't seem as happy as they were when they first got married five years later more heartbreak David was
hospitalized he began seeing a neurologist for signs of dementia and depression in early 2003 reynella says David's
Behavior became more erratic concerned she began making notes in a private journal on January 19th she wrote Dave
hateful today I cried and cried three days later things hadn't improved Dave hateful controlling his way or no way I
cried seven weeks after writing those words David was dead what did you think it happened to your
dad somebody had shot him but I knew that he didn't do it [Music] foreign every day
every haircut every styling in the middle chair at this Knoxville Barber Shop reminds Cindy Wilkerson of her
father David Leith it's the same chair he used for 39 years my dad was fun loving caring
and it's a joy to use the same chair he did [Music] he inherited the chair in 2000 when her
father suddenly retired at the age of 54. what he kept secret were all those visits to the neurologist if he was
suicidal over dementia Cindy never saw it when reynella said your dad committed suicide did you initially think well
well maybe he did but it's just hard to believe no I never did think that my dad
was scared to death of guns and I knew that he couldn't have done that and Cindy questioned why her
right-handed father would have used his left hand to shoot himself above his left eye he was totally blonde but uh as
her delt soared so did her suspicions about her Stepmother's role and she wasn't alone within 24 hours Dr darinka
malusnik the Knox County Medical Examiner discounted reynella's claim of suicide and ruled David Lee's death a
homicide reynella became the focus of attention it was clear to David's family what
should happen next investigation indictment trial but it doesn't no not even close
remember reynella was the Widow of a district attorney general crime Rider in 48 hours consultant Diane Fanning says
that was the problem almost everybody working in that office either worked with Ed knew Ed or new renello there was
a conflict of interest finding an outside prosecutor to take the leaf case dragged on making things
more difficult no one could figure out the motive murder doesn't always make sense
Cindy was becoming more and more frustrated she wanted something to be done about her father's murder with the
criminal case stalled in March 2006 Cindy filed a civil suit against raynella to stop her from inheriting
David's estate prosecutors took notice three and a half years after David Lee's death reynella was charged with his
murder and that's when old suspicion surfaced about the death of her first husband
Ed dossett had been found in a field in July 1992 surrounded by his cattle he had apparently been trampled to death
did anyone anyone wonder about how Ed dossett died yes the reports were an agricultural
accident but some folks in the community had a problem with that scenario Ed grew up on a farm for him to have
been trampled by his own cattle that just didn't make sense what's more folks wondered how Ed week
with cancer and heavily medicated even managed to get all the way from his house to the cattle
he died in a way that almost sounded like something you'd hear on a soap opera Diane Fanning says there have been a
theory going around Solway that Dawson's death was actually about insurance raynella and the kids would get a bigger
payout if it was an accident instead of cancer it might have even been Ed Dawson's idea himself couldn't that have
been it could have been Ed dossett's idea and that's what stopped some of the other people from wanting to pursue it
because if Ed knew he was about to die but he wanted his family to be more secure financially he might have said
take me out there let the cows tromp on me nearly a year after reynella was charged
with David Lee's murder the same medical examiner who ruled that death a homicide
reviewed a dosset's file Dr malusinik determined it wasn't cattle that killed him it was a morphine overdose
it was a huge story The Widow of a district attorney general was now charged with murdering two husbands
reynello was now being described as a black widow even though she had never gone to trial on any death no it was
just suspicions were gathering around her which is why Diane Fanning called her book her deadly web is it possible
that reynello Leith is just a very unlucky woman yeah but coincidence makes me itchy
prosecutors decide to try her for David Lee's murder first in 2009 six years after his death reynella finally went on
trial but it turns out that was only the beginning the jury deadlocked 11-1 11-1 to convict the judge was forced to
declare a mistrial it was here in Knox County so it it wasn't shocking to me a year later reynella was back in court
for trial number two the case was the same but this time jurors were unanimous reynella was convicted of first-degree
murder and sentenced to life in prison I felt like justice had been served and I was happy
so were prosecutors with raynella Behind Bars they dropped the murder charges for the death of her
first husband Ed Dawson never expecting what came next I would describe her as lucky
very lucky after she served six years raynella's conviction was tossed out the reason the trial judge had been
seriously impaired with a drug addiction and was kicked off the bench what was your reaction when you heard
the verdict had been overturned I was devastated couldn't believe it 14 years after the death of David Leith
called the jury in place it's now trial number three state and showed it on March and prosecutor Steve crump's turn
to try reynella Leith is there a way to describe this case from snake bit Yeah because what can't go wrong will go
wrong foreign [Music] it's May 2017. everyone is ready the trial one of the last of senior
judge Paul Summer's career set to begin first to present District Attorney General Steve Crump in what all sides
hope will be the last trial in this case the person who delivered that fatal blow
was the defendant reynella Leaf he argues reynella's murderous plan unraveled the moment she
fired that first shot and missed once she missed it changed the whole dynamic she ended his life with that second shot
and then an attempt to cover up she fired that third shot to get gunshot residue on him you're describing a
pretty cold-blooded killer yes that's what I think she is we'll show you what's been marked previously as
exhibit 36 and ask if you can identify that for the prosecution the gun occult 38 police special revolver reveals some
of the most important Clues may I step down Don Carmen is a former Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agent I say it's
a very old simple Farm however very effective this picture of the cylinder was taken at the scene the three fired
rounds have small indentations or Hammer strikes in the center of the casing the
unfired rounds do not for each particular shot it goes to the next chamber as you look at it right now it's going
clockwise yes your honor prosecutors say that clockwise rotation of the cylinder tells the order of the
shots the first cartridge fired would be this one the second would be this one and the third would be this one
the first two cartridges are from Silver Remington bullets fragments of those were found in the wall and David Lee's
head but the third is different it's a gold Winchester found shot through the mattress if that gold bullet was fired
last as the prosecution believes that means it came after David Leith was already shot in the head severing his
brain stem Knox County Medical Examiner Dr darinka malusnik was David Lee in any way capable of any sort of
voluntary movement after that bullet transected his brain none whatsoever next prosecutors turned to the blood
spatter these round drops of Blood on the wall tell investigators that David's head had to be raised nearly a foot
above the mattress when the bullet was fired the only way that all of this works together is that if
standing at the side of the bed and she misses with that first shot and we know that the first shot was the one that
went into the headboard he raises up the second shot occurs and he falls straight back down to where he was found
on the wall blood doesn't turn corners but the defense insists that the same evidence
points to David Leith as the shooter multiple shock suicides are not impossible they have
[Music] Ray Noah's team consists of Knoxville criminal attorney Josh Hedrick along
with Rebecca Legrand a Washington D.C based lawyer with a background in science she was taking care of a sick husband
who she loved and for that to get twisted into what it did is it was upsetting she's got hope that the
justice system isn't so broken that it won't eventually realize the truth which is that she's an innocent woman
with no clear motive presented by the state the defense starts with those three shots each and every one of these
shots could have been accomplished by David Lee himself and then raises doubts to Don Carmen
about the order of those three shots you don't know for certain whether the gun was opened or the cartridges manipulated
prior to that photo being taken I do not and as a result you're unable to say with any degree of scientific certainty
what order the shots were fired in that's correct because in my discipline they would be not testable
but even if the prosecutions order of shots is correct Kentucky State medical examiner and defense consultant Dr Greg
Davis says David Leith still could have been the shooter I'll give it to you it's unusual but to
say because of that it has to be a homicide I just can't go that far there is a phenomenon called catevaric spasm where
a person can actually their hands can squeeze immediately upon death what would you have ruled this I would have
ruled this undetermined which is what he believes Dr malusnik should have done in
this case remember within 24 hours of David Lee's death Dr malusnik called it a homicide she had not yet seen records
from his neurologist or received a complete medical history didn't have toxicology didn't have ballistics didn't
have medical records it went from can we figure out what happened to can we prove this was a homicide in a
previous trial Dr malusic testified that medications found in David's system would have rendered him and I quote
incapacitated in other words he would have been unable to kill himself but in trial number three Dr malusnik did not
repeat that claim I'm glad that she reassessed and didn't try to make the same claims about toxicology at the
third trial but it six years too late for my client Dr malusnik declined 48 Hours request for
an interview but in reynella's third trial she stands firm that David Lee's death was a homicide I was very
confident and 14 years later I'm even more so confident yes Dr Davis can you say unequivocally that
she didn't kill her husband no I cannot but there's not enough evidence to say she did right as a forensic pathologist
at least on the evidence that I've been privy to there's no way on Earth I think
she's guilty but there is information Dr Davis was not privy to if anybody has any doubts as to whether
David was murdered by Renault maybe they need to talk to Steve Walker well I see
a killer because she tried to kill me [Music] thank you [Music] in a final and dramatic attempt to
convince a jury of suicide the defense brings the blood-stained bed to the courtroom still preserved if the record
could reflect on pointing to the hole in the middle of the headboard defense forensic expert Celia Hartnett
I've marked the portion shows jurors how David Leith could have fired all three shots
if I were to lie in bed and I were to aim at my head and pull the trigger and miss high
and create this yes and then frustrated that I've missed sat up and pull the trigger I went into my head
here yes and then if I fell and my hand squeezed again it would be consistent with this
direction not just with the direction but also with the distance we're not saying we know exactly what
happened we're just saying we know there are multiple ways that all of this makes
sense that don't have anything to do with a homicide there was only one person who wanted
to harm David and at that point it was David he was acting with his Physicians suicidal he's becoming useless
[Music] and a proud man doesn't want to be useless but for the prosecution the most
incriminating evidence isn't at the crime scene it's at the barber shop where raynella called Cindy Wilkerson on
the morning of the shooting raynella had already left David at home she made the call from Park West
Hospital where she was visiting David's mother she asked me if I had seen my dad
and that he had went to work out on an empty stomach was that normal no she never called me at work
that was the first indication on March 13 2003 that anything was unusual about David
Lee Russian says the call was part of raynella's elaborate Alibi to prove she wasn't at home with David but they say
she miscalculated remember raynella told police she put breakfast by the bed and left the house
around 9 30. she made the call to Cindy just 20 minutes later there would have been no reason to say
have you seen him there would have been no reason to ask if it worked out and there certainly would have been no
reason to say he didn't eat his breakfast because there's no way she could have known that unless she had
been there and unless the only reason she knew he hadn't eaten breakfast was because he was dead
have you seen your father today that's the question the prosecution once burned into jurors Minds as both sides make
their final case it's the only explanation reynella Lee is guilty of the first degree
premeditated homicide undatedly we can't say that the facts exclude the theory that David Leith shot himself as
I demonstrated for you be as diligent as you have been since we started and to return a verdict of not guilty murder
David Lee as all eyes turn to the jury there are things about raynella Leith they'll
never hear they don't know about Ed Dawson and they don't know about Steve Walker I'm a
crouton on a real big salad here and this is a big salad in this town Steve Walker's ex-wife was Ed dossett's
secretary their relationship as it turns out was more than just professional in 1995 three years after Ed's Death Steve
found out during divorce proceedings that the son he raised was actually Ed Dawson's biological child it came as a
terrible shock to Steve and raynella I mean in some ways you felt that you were on her side uh right now Alex yes I
thought we was on the same team he could not have been more wrong according to a police report filed by
raynella on the morning of May 26 of that year she found Steve quote acting psychotic near Ed's grave on the farm
she told police she began firing warning shots into the ground to chase him away
and that Steve then took the weapon and fled on foot but when Steve filed his own report he
told a very different story he says that same morning reynella picked him up at the auto shop where he
works and drove him to the farm to talk about the affair till I seen the gun we was as friendly
as me and you right now when they got to reynella's Barn Steve says she suddenly pulled out a revolver
in a police interview Steve told investigators reynella then said I'll kill you you son of a [ __ ] then I'll
raise the sun she had a towel around her hands and she comes up with it and starts shooting
but the former Marksman missed Steve started running but tripped and fell I'm defenseless she said I used to
be a better shot there but I can get you from here and she aimed that gun and I closed my
eyes she pulled the trigger I knew I was gone but the gun click was out of bullets
there was no doubt in my mind if she hadn't run out of bullets I'd be dead [Music]
the police believed Steve Walker's story and raynella was arrested and charged with attempted murder but she took a
deal and pled guilty to a lesser charge of assault after six years her record was cleared why would she plead guilty
it's the same thing I would have told her is this is a plea that will get expunged there is no jail time take this
deal and walk away raynell Elite did walk away and I thank you for your time and attention and Ms
Lee thanks you for your time and attention 22 years later she's hoping to walk away again
but as the jurors are ready to have their voices heard as jurors you are the ones that will decide the case
something happens that no one sees coming if you can picture like a cartoon you know of
someone's jaw hitting the floor like I really really tried to pay attention and and took notes so I was really
looking forward to deliberating with her daughter by her side reynella Leith arrives at court for the final
time electric record reflected all parties are present in the courtroom including the defendant before the
jurors can decide her fate there's just one more piece of business if it plays the court it's a defense
motion called a rule 29. pursuant to rule 29. a routine request made in nearly every trial to throw out the case
for lack of evidence in most cases the judge simply denies the motion and gives the jurors the case
only two words are required either motion granted or motion deny but then like so many times in the story of
raynello Leith something completely unexpected happens in short the state has failed to meet their burden the
defendant's motion for Judgment of acquittal is granted the defendant Ray Nella Leith is not guilty the case
against reynella Leith is dismissed not guilty the judge on his own acquits reynello
Leath of murder after 14 years of Suspicion six years behind bars and three hard-fought trials just like that
it's all over as the defense celebrates she's free she's done the end David Lee's daughter
Cindy sits stunned the prosecution does too I don't understand it I don't have an explanation and under Tennessee law
there's no appeal either because the judge made his extremely rare decision before the jury began deliberations put
your money these jurors initially shocked become angry we were just used I mean they just use this as set pieces
pretty much if judge Summers was so convinced that he was right about the evidence
why not let us deliberate it and how do you explain that you can't only judge Summers can
so we asked judge Summers now retired to make his case to 48 hours and he agreed
strictly based on the evidence that I heard on both sides but particularly on the state side if I'd have been the
district attorney general I would not have brought the case of trial did you choose to do this to end this case to
finally end this case yes you did I did when I realized evidence was legally insufficient I decided to
end this case by doing my job and granting the motion for Judgment of acquittal judge Summers believed that there was
enough evidence for the jury to decide a homicide may have occurred but he was convinced the prosecution didn't meet
its burden to prove that raynell Elite had the time or the opportunity to commit it there was no gunshot residue
found on her clothes or around her she had an alibi that the state could not prove the time of death the evidence was
clearly insufficient to show that she was the perpetrator of the crime and finally the the there was no evidence to
show that she was even the last person ever to see David Leith alive if you were so sure that there wasn't
enough evidence for the jury to convict or Beyond A Reasonable Doubt wouldn't the jury have come to the same
conclusion I was simply doing my job not trying to pass the book to the jury judges sometimes make these
extraordinary decisions when they fear jurors might be swayed by emotion and not evidence and that may have been a
factor in this case while we will never know for sure what the whole jury would have done we have a clue if you had
gotten to vote how would you have voted guilty how would you have voted guilty how would
you have voted guilty do you feel right now Elise got away with murder I absolutely feel she got away with murder
for William McMichael Jesse Capps and Michael persicano it was the gun that pointed to raynella as the killer
there's no way David Lee fired that third shot and you don't believe the defense witness who said well you can
have this spasm after death that pulled the trigger the third time that's fantasy what most convinced you Jesse
that this wasn't just a murder but that reynella leaf was the one who killed her
husband when Joshua Hedrick was sitting on that bed and he was twirling that cylinder on that gun
turns a burden to my family it was just so corny a proud man fake he was trying so hard after that I
was like all right it's just they're trying so hard that it's so obvious now it wasn't just these three they say
shortly after the judge's decision a majority of jurors gathered near the courthouse and came to the same
conclusion admittedly they did not deliberate but they would have found her guilty
um does that make it worse yeah I guess so in some ways but in another sense it tells me I did the right thing
and more importantly our work as trial attorneys was spot on for David Lee's family it's little
consolation he stole that verdict from the family from the prosecution from the jury
it was a theft some in this town will always call her a black widow but for raynella Leith none
of that matters because as she leaves courtroom number two how are you doing reynella you guys
weren't worried about her before so leave her alone now she walks away a free woman please leave my mom alone did
it cross your mind you might be letting a killer go free you know there's a difference between
being not guilty and being innocent if the state does not prove its case they are found not guilty
it doesn't say that they're innocent so you're not saying that raynell Elite is innocent you're saying
not guilty there are two entities of which I'm aware that know the answer to that question
one is the good Lord above and the other one is the defendant right Nella Lee [Music]
thank you

One woman, two husbands dead under strange circumstances - could she be that unlucky? "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty investigates. 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.

Brief Summary

Raynella Leith was acquitted of murdering her husband David after a controversial trial process and questions about her first husband's death.

Key points

The Mysterious Death of David Leith. David Leith's death was initially ruled a suicide, but evidence suggested otherwise.
Raynella's Troubling Past. Raynella Leith's history raises questions about her two husbands' deaths.
Trial After Trial. Reynella faced multiple trials for the murder of David Leith, with mixed outcomes.
Raynella Leith Acquitted. After 14 years of suspicion, Raynella Leith is found not guilty of murder.
Prosecution's Shock. The prosecution and David Lee's family are stunned by the judge's decision.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

There's not any real evidence to suggest a homicide.

A defense attorney's claim during the trial.

1:39WatchJun 20, 2023

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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