Untouchable | Death Comes Knocking | Forensic Files

[AUDIO LOGO] [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] HOWARD R. SILLS: The chief of police called me and told me that Seth Perrault, one of his police
officers, his wife, was dead. Amanda Perrault was lying on her back with her legs together.
Her arms were against her body, with her hands cupped like this. Six or eight inches from her right hand
was a magazine from a pistol. Another six inches on the bed, from her left foot,
was the pistol. Something's not right about this. REPORTER: This video provided by a neighbor,
shows a threatening man. He's seen walking past a home holding an ax. [MAN SCREAMING, DOG BARKING]
[DRAMATIC STINGS] HOWARD R. SILLS: This is Long Island Drive. This is the street where this occurred.
Other than the flowers and things, it looks exactly as it did that day. I got there, and Seth Perrault was
sitting right in the middle of those steps toward the front door. And he was sitting there on those steps.
He had on a pair of short pants with his face held in his hand. One of my officers was there.
- He was blubbering and not making very much sense, just uncontrollably crying. When he disconnected the call, he
just sat his cell phone down. I couldn't imagine what he was going through. And I felt bad for the guy.
HOWARD R. SILLS: Any unattended deaths in the state of Georgia have to be investigated by a law enforcement agency.
NARRATOR: It's early afternoon, and Sheriff Sills has sealed off the home of Seth and Amanda Perrault.
HOWARD R. SILLS: I look at the scene, and I shut out my emotions. OK? You have to.
You can't be objective. You can't concentrate if you don't. When I walked in the room, I saw her body first, the
bed, clothed. You've got the gun that's been partially unloaded, shall we say. At least the magazine's been removed.
I notice empty cigarettes, empty fireball, which is some sort of cinnamon-flavored whiskey
bottles, more in the trash can. You're trying to piece together what happened. And that's what you're looking for in every investigation.
NARRATOR: While the scene is being processed, Sheriff Sills talks to the last person to see 44-year-old
Amanda alive, her husband, Eatonton City police officer, Seth Perrault. HOWARD R. SILLS: I questioned Mr. Perrault.
And he was adamant that he didn't move the body or move the gun or anything. [TENSE MUSIC]
As a detective, you're a trained observer. You're looking at everything all the time.
And then you find out what they say happened, and then you go look some more. My priority was to get Seth Perrault
to tell me what happened here. Let's get this guy downtown and get him on the record.
Listen, Seth. I need to know what happened today. SETH PERRAULT: I don't know what to tell you.
HOWARD R. SILLS: Were you in the room? SETH PERRAULT: Yes, sir. HOWARD R. SILLS: OK, where were you in the room?
SETH PERRAULT: I was sitting right there. But we were arguing, sir. And I had a .380.
And I put it in my nightstand. And she never once ever said a word about it. I swear to God.
If I would have locked it up, my wife wouldn't be dead. HOWARD R. SILLS: So she gets it out of the nightstand
while you're laying in the bed? SETH PERRAULT: Sher-- Sheriff, she got it before I ever lay down.
You know what she did? She looked at me and said, I can't do it no more. And I was like, I couldn't even say a word.
I couldn't even say a word. HOWARD R. SILLS: What happened? SETH PERRAULT: She looked at me and said, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry I put you through this. Boom. HOWARD R. SILLS: The question, of course,
is, could this be a suicide? And the answer to that is yes. This could have been a suicide.
But a good detective needs to approach all death investigations as if it were a homicide.
[AMBIENT MUSIC] [CAMERA CLICKS] NARRATOR: Amanda is described by her family as a free spirit,
warm, strong and resilient. A mom of two, Amanda was separated from her first husband when she met Seth Perrault in fall 2011.
Seth was also father to a little girl. AMANDA PERRAULT: Hi, honey. Say hi, honey.
- Hi. - He doesn't want to say hi. NARRATOR: The relationship blossomed, and the couple married, celebrating the big day
with Amanda's children and Seth's daughter. - She cared for him, and she cared for his daughter.
She treated his daughter as if she was her own. NARRATOR: Two years after marrying Amanda,
Seth Perrault had qualified as a police officer. He frequently crossed paths with District
Attorney Wright Barksdale. WRIGHT BARKSDALE: He came to the Eatonton Police Department.
I was familiar with him. I could say, good morning, good afternoon. HOWARD R. SILLS: He applied for a job here,
and I could have met him in the lobby. That could have happened. If it did, I don't remember it.
NARRATOR: The couple moved into a family home on Lake Oconee. HOWARD R. SILLS: Lake Oconee area is a very affluent lake
community where people live. We hardly have any calls out here. It's not just a low crime area.
It's kind of a zero crime area. NARRATOR: But now, Amanda is dead. [TENSE MUSIC]
And police need to find out what happened. HOWARD R. SILLS: We saw a camera in the living room,
and then we saw that it had that type of doorbell camera. NARRATOR: The doorbell footage reveals something surprising.
One of Putnam County's own deputies was at the property shortly before Seth called in his wife's death.
TERRELL ABERNATHY: It was the middle of the day. I just was on routine patrol. Nothing seemed unusual.
Pulled up in the yard. There were no cars in the driveway. I wasn't expecting much of a response at the door.
I walk up to the front door, ring the doorbell. NARRATOR: Deputy Abernathy had gone
there to serve a fellow police officer with a subpoena. TERRELL ABERNATHY: I didn't know what the subpoena was for.
I assumed it was a ticket or some case that Perrault had prosecuted. People in law enforcement, they get subpoenas all the time.
There are numerous reasons an officer would be served a subpoena at his house. I heard footsteps, but they weren't coming to the door.
Eventually, these footfalls approached the door and stopped. And I thought to myself, why would
this guy not answer the door? You know that this is the worst part of the job. Just take the paper and let me get back on patrol.
And after about six minutes of waiting around, I got back in my police car and scribbled a little note
on the paper saying, nobody answered the door, and went back on patrol. [WIND RUMBLING]
I think it was 28 minutes after I left the Perrault house, my sergeant called me on the cell phone.
And he told me to get back to the house-- [TENSE MUSIC] --because Amanda Perrault was dead.
HOWARD R. SILLS: The question is, could this been a vendetta? Could there have been a third party?
Yes. [FRANTIC MUSIC] NARRATOR: Using the latest software, forensic video analysts can extract hidden information
caught on camera. NICK BARREIRO: At first glance, it seems like there's not a lot of action happening here.
It looks like a deputy ringing a doorbell and not receiving an answer. But since the deputy said that he heard shuffling and
breathing noises inside the house after he rang the doorbell, I want to see if we can hear any of that.
[CLACKS] [WHITE NOISE] The audio is just not great. We can't hear much of anything.
He rings the doorbell. We can hear the click. And then after that, there's some very faint sounds.
I want to be able to hear the audio as clearly as possible to see if there's anything happening
inside this house that's captured on this camera. There we go. [FAINT THUMPING SOUNDS]
So now I noticed that there's this rhythmic anomaly. [FAINT THUMPING SOUNDS] Sounds a bit odd.
So I'm gonna make a simple gain adjustment and bring the volume up to almost its maximum.
And now we'll listen again to see if we can hear anything else. [MOUSE CLICKS] [RHYTHMIC RUMBLING SOUNDS]
The sounds are very rhythmic, which could be footsteps, could be rapid breathing, or it could
be an artifact created by the camera itself in the way that it's recording the audio.
So we can't definitively say what this weird rhythmic sound actually is, but it's
possible that it's footsteps. It's possible that it's breathing. [AMBIENT MUSIC]
[CARS WHOOSHING] [TENSE MUSIC] NARRATOR: Detectives search for witnesses who can shed some light on the victim and her husband.
- I instructed deputies to go house to house, ask the neighbors what they knew about these people, this, that, and the other.
- All I knew is that the guy was a policeman, and that his wife was dead, and that he had a daughter.
I didn't know him. The neighbors knew him. It took 12 hours to interview these people.
And the stories that they told-- horrific tales. HOWARD R. SILLS: We found a long history
of them observing Perrault assault her, constant loud arguments and things of that nature.
WRIGHT BARKSDALE: Sheriff Sills talked with the sisters of Amanda Perrault. HOWARD R. SILLS: I asked them, have there
been any history of domestic quarreling of any kind or violence between the two?
And they said, my God, yes. He was very controlling person when it came to Amanda.
I mean, she had no way to even leave the house unless he took her and, according to her family,
kept constant tabs on her and things like that all the time. WRIGHT BARKSDALE: That demonstrated a history of abuse
and echoed the same type stories that the neighbors talked about. HOWARD R. SILLS: One of the neighbors
said they were reluctant to call because he was a police officer. - All of them were so afraid of him
that they never reported any of this. They were afraid that the cops would look after another cop.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] NARRATOR: The neighbors paint a disturbing picture. And yet Amanda gave everything to Seth.
TERRELL ABERNATHY: Amanda cared for Perrault. He had gone through some type of cancer treatment.
And she had spent her inheritance from her father in maintaining the household during his illness.
[CAMERA CLICKS] WRIGHT BARKSDALE: Seth Perrault was somebody that was never really on stable ground.
He came from a father of wealthy means or at least had some financial resources.
The house that he was living in was purchased by his dad. But Seth just was a guy that never
could really hold that steady job, from what I gathered. NARRATOR: According to family and neighbors,
heavy drinking helped fuel his anger. TERRELL ABERNATHY: I was just shocked by the things
that the neighbors were telling me-- screaming and yelling, and times when Perrault would grab Amanda by the hair,
yank her on the ground and kick her. They talked about how Amanda had cared for Perrault's daughter, how
she would shield the little girl from her father's abuse. When the neighbors had asked Amanda why she didn't leave,
she told them that she had stayed to defend the little girl from her dad. [CAMERA CLICKS]
The image of Amanda that I got was of a woman who had surrendered her independence, both
physically and financially, to Perrault. After hearing what a horrifically toxic environment was in that house,
I thought maybe this is something that you might try to escape by killing yourself.
[OMINOUS MUSIC] NARRATOR: A week before Amanda's death, things came to a head. She called 911.
DISPATCHER: How may I help you? AMANDA PERRAULT: Um, yes, can you please send an officer out?
DISPATCHER: What is your name? AMANDA PERRAULT: Amanda Perrault. DISPATCHER: OK, and what's going on today?
AMANDA PERRAULT: It's my husband. He's putting his hands on me-- DISPATCHER: Who is?
AMANDA PERRAULT: My husband. He works for Eatonton Police Department. DISPATCHER: What's his name?
AMANDA PERRAULT: Michael Seth Perrault. He has put his hands on me. He's putting his finger in my face,
and pushing me against the wall, and putting his hands on my neck. DISPATCHER: OK. All righty.
We'll get somebody out there, OK? AMANDA PERRAULT: Thank you very much. DISPATCHER: Yes, ma'am. Bye-bye.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] NARRATOR: Putnam County deputies arrested Perrault for domestic violence.
HOWARD R. SILLS: Obviously, when you arrest a police officer, that's not something
that happens very often. But you commit a crime, you will be arrested. NARRATOR: Perrault was released on bond.
At his bond hearing, the judge asked Amanda if she wanted protection from her husband?
- Typically, a lot of times with domestic violence cases, the court would make a condition of bond
that the person could not have any contact with the person thereafter until the case was disposed of.
Amanda was here. And the judge asked, did she want that to be a condition of bond?
And she said, no. - It's very typical of domestic violence victims to start blaming themselves.
It's very typical of them staying with the abuser. NARRATOR: Six days after Perrault's arrest,
Amanda was dead. Detectives want to know more about what went on behind closed doors.
- We were very, very interested in having a recorded interview with Seth's daughter, telling us whatever the child
knew about their relationship. NARRATOR: The eight-year-old lived with Seth, who had
custody, and stepmom Amanda. HOWARD R. SILLS: He was concerned about losing custody of his daughter.
And who told us that? The daughter. [DARK AMBIENT MUSIC] After Seth had been arrested for that incident
of domestic violence, the daughter slept that night in the room with Amanda, after Seth went to jail.
And she told us that Amanda told her, if he loses custody because of me calling the sheriff,
he's gonna kill me dead. Out of the mouth of babes. NARRATOR: This shocking revelation
strengthens detectives' suspicions about Seth Perrault. WRIGHT BARKSDALE: You ask yourself,
why would this full-of-life lady kill herself? Law enforcement continued their investigation
into the case, which involved going through Amanda Perrault's cell phone. Her cell phone contained some images and
videos that further supported the abuse that was taking place. We were able to get evidence from that phone that
went all the way back six months before, photos of Amanda where she had documented getting punched and
busted lips, black eyes. And we were able to recover a video of the defendant where he's just extremely angry, this back
and forth verbal lashing. - It's sad. It's sad. Because you know what? I married you.
And I'm not gonna-- I'm-- dude, you're done. AMANDA PERRAULT: I'm done? WRIGHT BARKSDALE: It just painted
this picture of a relationship that was fueled by violence and alcohol. AMANDA PERRAULT: I want to have a good weekend.
- You burned that up when you tried to put that phone in my face. AMANDA PERRAULT: What phone In your face?
- Oh, right there. Oh, your [MUTED] video taping. AMANDA PERRAULT: Yeah, because you're beating a [MUTED]
and I'm gonna show you tomorrow. - Oh, you didn't videotape all the [MUTED] when you hit me and smack me?
AMANDA PERRAULT: Hit you? You [MUTED] choked me eight [MUTED] times! NARRATOR: Evidence of abuse is not the only thing
that Amanda's phone reveals. WRIGHT BARKSDALE: What we did find in her cell phone
on that day, she was googling homes for sale. She was googling for how to gain access to a government
assistance card. Those are not typically searches of somebody that hours later shoots himself in the head.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] HOWARD R. SILLS: You're out on bond for domestic violence. SETH PERRAULT: Yes, sir. I know.
HOWARD R. SILLS: That's horrible. SETH PERRAULT: It does-- it looks horrible. I've got all these charges on me, and I'm a good officer.
And I've put my-- my whole life has been to serve the law. I've never done anything wrong.
And then I get arrested. And I'm so sorry this happened, man. Like, I mean, I lost a family.
And I lost my wife, you know? And I told my wife. I said, they can take me to jail.
They can prosecute me. They can put me through fire, man. But I'm not gonna let my wife-- she
hated to see my reputation destroyed on the news because she knows what a good police officer I am.
It was like, my whole name got destroyed, and she got-- every time she'd go click on Facebook,
like, there it is, there it is, there it is. I'm not a social media person. She is.
And she saw everything. And she saw my-- I'm a good police officer, sir. - There we go.
SETH PERRAULT: I'm not worried about that. - I'm a good police officer. SETH PERRAULT: I mean, look at me.
- Look at me. SETH PERRAULT: I'm a-- a good officer. - I'm a good officer. I'm a good officer.
How many times have we heard that already? If my wife's dead, I don't need to brag about myself.
We talked for almost an hour. But he was not interested in anything but telling me what a good police officer he was
and how we wrongfully arrested him, which is a bizarre attitude to take when your wife is dead.
[DARK AMBIENT MUSIC] It was about Seth. It was not about Amanda. SETH PERRAULT: She was like, your whole reputation
is destroyed. And I was-- I'm a good police officer, man. You know, she was going down here to give you a statement.
And I knew if she came down here. it was a false statement and a felony. And she got depressed.
I was like, don't go [MUTED] yourself up. Don't go in there and get in the newspaper.
I'm already in the newspaper. I said, please don't go down to the sheriff's department
and do that. They're gonna arrest you. And they're gonna sit there, and they're gonna [MUTED] take-- they're gonna charge
you for false statement. She was coming down to say I lied because she did. Sorry, Sheriff, she did.
I'm not gonna evade my wife now. I'm not gonna do that. - I'm not gonna do anythi--
I'm not gonna, you know, say anything bad about my wife. But she lied. OK? I just got through telling him, I want to know
about what happened today. And here we are right back again about him being arrested.
SETH PERRAULT: It's hard. I mean-- HOWARD R. SILLS: What killed her? SETH PERRAULT: --because I just sat there and watched
my wife execute herself. HOWARD R. SILLS: But tell me-- "Execute." That's a unusual term here.
Never in my career have I ever heard anyone use that term. My wife executed herself.
Never heard that before. So yes, from that point on, I was very suspicious of Perrault.
NARRATOR: Adding to Sheriff Sill's suspicion is the crime scene. HOWARD R. SILLS: You can't get over this body.
It's the 800-pound gorilla in the room. It doesn't take a PhD in forensics to know that this body did not get in this position
after the person had shot themselves in the head. This body has been positioned as if it had been
done by the funeral director. [CAMERA CLICKS] Her body could not have been in that position
after a press contact wound to the brain. When you shoot yourself, the gun's gonna drop wherever you are.
It's not gonna unload itself. [CAMERA CLICKS] There's no way to look at this picture
and tell how many people were in the room when this occurred. That's impossible.
Could've been no one. But that's ruled out. How? The positioning of the body, the gun, the magazine.
Somebody's manipulated this body. I want to know how this body got in this position.
How did this magazine end up where it is? And then I want to know, how did the gun end up over here?
How did that happen? The only person who I'm aware of that was there was Seth Perrault.
[DARK AMBIENT MUSIC] NARRATOR: Less than 30 minutes before Perrault told police of his wife's death,
Deputy Abernathy was ringing on their doorbell. - Then you look at the paper and little service sheet,
and you're just waiting and waiting. And then you can see on my face, I could hear the footsteps inside the house.
So I'm waiting on the person to come to the door. [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] It never happened.
NARRATOR: It's important to establish the precise timing of Deputy Abernathy's visit.
NICK BARREIRO: I noticed that there's no time stamp on the screen for this video.
So to get an accurate time that this video was actually recorded, I'm looking at the metadata.
This is tremendously valuable for an investigation because the metadata records an accurate
date and time that this doorbell was actually rang by the deputy. So if we look at the first one, it
shows that the file was created on February 3 of 2020 at 18:11. Oftentimes, the date and time that's stored in the metadata
is stored in UTC time or Universal Coordinated Time, military time. And since we know that this occurred in the Eastern Time
Zone, we know that the offset would place the true time at 1:11 PM in the afternoon.
[CLICKS] We know exactly when the deputy rang the doorbell. And this is the time that he said he heard sounds
coming from inside the house. And we know that the call came in at 1:36, which was just 25 minutes after the deputy
was ringing the doorbell. So then the question is, what happened in the meantime?
The nature of those sounds that he heard, in combination with the date and time that's recorded in this video,
allows investigators to paint a picture of what was happening at that time. [SCARE CHORD]
TERRELL ABERNATHY: I can't help but think about whether or not Amanda was already dead when I got there.
If the scene was being staged, if maybe the killer worried that the shot had been heard,
that's why the police were there. It's scary to think about this guy standing on the other side of the door.
Yeah, it's entirely likely that I interrupted something. - There's no doubt that Seth Perrault is in that house.
It raised a red flag to us. Why didn't you open the door? Why didn't you open the door?
You're law enforcement. He's law enforcement. Why wouldn't you open the door? I believe in my heart of hearts that Seth Perrault
was interrupted in staging his wife's murder by Deputy Terrell Abernathy. I think it spooked him.
It interrupted him. He panicked. You can feel through the investigation of this case,
maybe it's a suicide, but something's wrong, to maybe it's a murder. And it felt like, as the investigation just
kept moving forward, it was, this is a murder. [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] NARRATOR: The evidence against Perrault is mounting.
- This is a note we found written in Amanda Perrault's handwriting, where she basically says that she was not coherent
when she called the sheriff's office and reported the assault. She'd taken some medication, had alcohol, and that he never touched her.
Now, the note in itself is suspicious. OK? This thing is perfectly written. The script is perfect.
There's no smudges. There's no misspelled words. This is obviously scripted, in my opinion.
What did Perrault's main thing he was talking about? Not about the body, not about the suicide.
What did he talk about? He talked about how he had been wrongly arrested. And this is a document that he thought
was gonna be presented to the sheriff's office to get him out of the trouble he was in in that case.
It doesn't say, I'm gonna kill myself. It says, I'm willing to take the punishment
I deserve for what I've done. I don't know how the hell you call-- you get suicide out of that.
That's not what this is. This is a concocted note that he has convinced her to write.
(FACETIOUSLY) Because he's a good police officer, OK, and he shouldn't have been arrested.
[AMBIENT MUSIC] NARRATOR: Then Amanda's autopsy report is released. WRIGHT BARKSDALE: The Georgia Bureau of Investigation
issued a report, and that report indicated that she lost her life by being shot with a gun
and that the medical examiner's classified it as suicide. [DRAMATIC MUSIC] HOWARD R. SILLS: You're talking about a shock.
That was a shock. I mean, I was flabbergasted. Literally, I thought it was a typographical error
from some other case, you know what I'm saying, that got-- and the transcriptions got mixed up.
[FRANTIC MUSIC] NARRATOR: The medical examiner's conclusion is based on the evidence collected by the Georgia Bureau
of Investigation. Sheriff Sills called them in to document the crime scene. WRIGHT BARKSDALE: You have to understand
that to process a crime scene could take hours, or it could take days. And so Sheriff Sills wanted the Bureau
to process the scene, careful and diligent and really taking their time, while he was gonna conduct the interview
of Seth Perrault. HOWARD R. SILLS: When we use the term "process a crime scene," that means documenting what you see--
photographs, measurements, and things like that. But the crime scene technicians had this theory
that she shot herself. And therefore, if someone shot her and had been standing here,
there would literally be an outline of a man. There wouldn't be any blood splatter on that wall
because that would have been on the person. Now, I did not call them to investigate this case.
I called them as crime scene technicians to document the scene and collect evidence.
I didn't request them to come up with any theories. They didn't know anything at all about the investigation.
And that doctor said to me, I have to go by what they say. It doesn't matter about anything else.
Well, that's a hell of a note, isn't it? It didn't hinder my investigation, but it was an obstacle that we were gonna have
to prove incorrect to a jury. NARRATOR: With the autopsy report concluding the death as suicide, detectives
want to gather more evidence. SETH PERRAULT: We took my daughter to school. HOWARD R. SILLS: Who took her to school?
SETH PERRAULT: We both did. HOWARD R. SILLS: You drove? SETH PERRAULT: Yes, sir.
We got her there by 7:35. HOWARD R. SILLS: Then after that, what'd y'all do? SETH PERRAULT: We stopped, got gas, and we came home.
HOWARD R. SILLS: Never went back-- never left the house? SETH PERRAULT: We went-- we got cigarettes.
HOWARD R. SILLS: You left the house and went and cigarettes? SETH PERRAULT: Yes, sir.
HOWARD R. SILLS: Where was that at? SETH PERRAULT: Uh, Citgo. Right there on the--
HOWARD R. SILLS: ... SETH PERRAULT: Yes, sir. - And he's talking about a little store right
down the road from this house. About what time is that? SETH PERRAULT: Before 10 o'clock.
I mean, we didn't go-- Sheriff, we didn't go anywhere. We didn't go anywhere the entire day.
- We didn't go anywhere the entire day. SETH PERRAULT: I mean, you can sit there
and tell me all you want, man. HOWARD R. SILLS: You're talking way more than I am, so.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] NARRATOR: Deputies check Perrault's story. WRIGHT BARKSDALE: Law enforcement
went to this particular gas station to ask for the surveillance footage, and he wasn't there.
What we knew was that there was a gas station in close proximity to the Perrault home
that had a liquor store connected to it. That led law enforcement to ask for the surveillance
footage of that gas station. [TENSE MUSIC] And lo and behold, at roughly 10:30 that morning,
you see Seth Perrault walk in with a ball cap, some pants on, and a Pink Floyd shirt.
HOWARD R. SILLS: Seth Perrault goes into the store and buys some cigarettes or something.
The wife purchases the Fireball Cinnamon Whisky stuff, then circles back around.
And then Seth gets in the car, wearing totally different clothing than he is a couple hours later.
Where's the clothing that he's depicted wearing in the store? Where do we find it?
[CAMERA CLICKS] The washing machine. It proves that he's a liar. He went to a liquor store 8 miles away,
and he's changed clothes. That became crucial evidence, too. WRIGHT BARKSDALE: That gave us a timeline.
It helped poke a hole in his story. NARRATOR: And that's not all. A witness gives detectives an incredible piece of testimony.
TERRELL ABERNATHY: The next door neighbor told me that Amanda had, on more than one occasion,
told her that if she wound up dead, that Perrault's the one that did it. In fact, she had gone so far as to say that she
wouldn't commit suicide. And if her death was ruled as suicide, she wanted the neighbor to demand that it
be investigated as a homicide. [CAMERA CLICKS] WRIGHT BARKSDALE: With any murder,
you ask yourself, what is the motivating factor here? In this case, this was a law enforcement officer.
And what we were able to uncover was that he was extremely concerned about losing his job.
And that's demonstrated by his interview with Sheriff Sills. SETH PERRAULT: I'm a good police officer, sir.
- There we go. I'm a good police officer. - And then you go to the interview with his daughter.
And she tells the forensic interviewers that Amanda told her, if your daddy loses custody of you,
he's gonna shoot me dead. And the last reason is he came to the realization that he was about to lose control of Amanda.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] HOWARD R. SILLS: Do I have enough evidence to sustain probable cause?
And I thought I had more than that. I obtained the arrest warrant and went and personally arrested him myself up in Newton County.
He didn't resist. Brought him back here. Booked, fingerprinted, photographed, just like any other prisoner, and
then brought before a judge. And then he was transported on to the Jones County Jail.
NARRATOR: The medical examiner's finding of suicide hangs over the case. But while Perrault awaits trial,
prosecutors get a major break. - I'm sitting in my office, and I get a phone call from the sheriff of Jones County.
And he says, Howard-- [CHUCKLES] uh, his cellmates told us some stuff. You better come over here.
And he sat there and told me that Perrault had told him how he did it. And I said, well, explain it to me.
And he said, well, he had gotten her drunk and given her pills to the point where she was
just completely zonked out. And that he was in the bed and holding her up some way in the bed with her when he shot her.
OK. And that certainly answered any questions there might have been about blood spatter or things
like that. He knew details that he could not have known had Perrault not told him.
[CAMERA CLICKS] I didn't offer this man anything. He had someone close to him or a relative that
was a victim of continual domestic abuse, is what he said was his impetus for it.
There was no quid pro quo. NARRATOR: Two years after Amanda's death, Seth Perrault goes on trial.
He pleads not guilty to charges of malice murder, felony murder, and aggravated assault.
- In the opening statement of this trial, I wanted to hit head on the worst piece of evidence we had,
that being the autopsy report. [CAMERA CLICKS] HOWARD R. SILLS: The district attorney
mentioned that right off the bat in his opening argument. If you know that something's coming up
that may be contentious or cast some sort of doubt, then let the jury know that you know it,
and you're telling them that. - I flat out told the jury, this is what the autopsy report says.
But you're about to have enough evidence to fill a wheelbarrow up as to why Seth Perrault is
guilty of murder. We showed the door camera video because it showed us the timeline from 1:10 in the afternoon
to when he calls the police department and reports it. TERRELL ABERNATHY: I was asked to testify in the trial
because I bracketed the time frame. During my testimony, I recounted that I heard someone in the house
and that they refused to open the door. [DARK AMBIENT MUSIC] WRIGHT BARKSDALE: Seth Perrault was in that house,
and he didn't come to the door. Why didn't he come to the door? He didn't come to the door because his wife's
dead in his master bedroom. That Ring camera footage was critically important to our case in being able to establish that timeline
and leave the jury wondering, why didn't he answer the door? HOWARD R. SILLS: I think it was the totality of the evidence.
There were key things-- the impossibility of the body being in that position, the neighbor Amanda told, all the neighbors
knowing about the domestic violence against Amanda, the physical evidence. And may be the most profound thing
was what the little girl had said. And Perrault's interview, it's all about Perrault,
not about Amanda. SETH PERRAULT: She hated to see my reputation destroyed on the news because she knows what
a good police officer I am. - Not about anything but, hey, I'm a great police officer.
SETH PERRAULT: It was like, my whole name got destroyed. - Our evidence just was overwhelming.
NARRATOR: On day four of the trial, the jury decides Perrault's fate. - It took the jury roughly three hours,
give or take, to reach a verdict. They came back with a guilty verdict. - Perrault was convicted of malice murder, and
felony murder, aggravated assault, and simple battery, which is a family violence crime.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC] [CLACKS] NARRATOR: The doorbell footage proved crucial. HOWARD R. SILLS: Door camera footage
and surveillance videos in general continue to solve crime. It recorded the time when a deputy sheriff went
to a police officer's house. Who knows what Seth Perrault would have done if that hadn't occurred?
I don't believe it would have been reported in 15 minutes, do you? NARRATOR: Seth Perrault is sentenced to life in prison
without parole. - Seth Perrault got what he deserved in the eyes of the law, and it was
a great relief for her family. [FRANTIC MUSIC] Her sisters, I know, were very emotional about having
some sense of closure. These cases are always sad. Even when you get a great result in a courtroom,
these families are still left with a big hole in their life. TERRELL ABERNATHY: When I heard about the sentence,
I was relieved. Life without parole, that means nobody else has to be this man's victim.
WRIGHT BARKSDALE: Through the course of this investigation, what we realized was the motivating factor
here was twofold. His answer to saving his job was to eliminate the problem. His answer to making sure he maintained custody of his child
was to eliminate the problem. And the problem was Amanda Perrault. NARRATOR: Seth Perrault's daughter now lives
with her biological mother. WRIGHT BARKSDALE: My prayers are with her. This little girl, she's got to live with the fact that
somebody that she loved very much, in Amanda Perrault-- and she did love Amanda--
is gone. She's got to try to grapple with the idea that her daddy, who she loved, was responsible for that.
- I feel so sorry for that little girl. I felt sorry for her then, as soon as I found out
what that household was like. [DRAMATIC MUSIC] WRIGHT BARKSDALE: This case, from the very beginning to
the very end, was devastating. But the part that was just crippling to us was the person that murdered Amanda was her husband
and was somebody that was walking around with a badge. HOWARD R. SILLS: Does this cause
a mark on all of our badges? Yes, but it doesn't mean that law enforcement officers are bad because, who
caught this police officer? Other police officers. Who gets the bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.
- I do believe that this case can serve as a warning for everybody that no matter who you are, you can
be a victim of domestic violence, and you can be a perpetrator of domestic violence.
And if you see something, call 911. Call somebody. Ask for help. [CAMERA CLICKS]
HOWARD R. SILLS: He thought he'd be able to continue to be a police officer. Well, he picked the wrong damn county
for all of those thoughts. OK? I mean, that's the bottom line. He picked the wrong place.
[CAMERA CLICKS] [AMBIENT MUSIC] [THEME MUSIC] [AUDIO LOGO]

A police officer reports his wife has shot herself, but the doorbell camera records a sheriff's deputy calling at the house earlier, casting doubt on his testimony. A history of abuse is uncovered, and her husband is eventually convicted of murder.

This true crime series delves into cases where financial schemes spiral into betrayal, violence and murder, exposing the deadly cost of lies fueled by greed.

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Brief Summary

Seth Perrault was convicted of murdering his wife Amanda amid a history of domestic violence.

Key points

Amanda Perrault's Mysterious Death. Amanda Perrault was found dead under suspicious circumstances, prompting an investigation.
Domestic Violence History Revealed. Neighbors recount a history of abuse in the Perrault household, complicating the narrative.
Seth Perrault's Disturbing Claims. Seth claims Amanda took her own life, but his words raise eyebrows.
The Doorbell Footage. The doorbell footage recorded the exact time Deputy Abernathy arrived, raising questions about Perrault's actions.
A Shocking Autopsy Report. The autopsy report classified Amanda's death as a suicide, shocking investigators and raising doubts.
A Key Witness Testimony. A neighbor reveals Amanda had expressed fears about Perrault, indicating potential premeditation.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I couldn't even say a word.

Seth Perrault struggles to express his feelings after Amanda's death.

5:13WatchMar 12, 2026

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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