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Caalaroga Shark Media.
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Good morning, I'm Garrett Fisher.
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Friday, March twentieth, twenty twenty six, first day of spring. Officially,
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here's how we are celebrating. Four cases, four defendants, all
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of them accused of trying to kill the one person
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who was closest to them. In Salem, Massachusetts, a sixty
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seven year old woman is on trial right now for
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allegedly poisoning her living boyfriend with anti freeze. She had
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already taken out a life insurance policy on him, of
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course she did. In Gastonia, North Carolina, a former paramedic,
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a man who spent his career showing up when people
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were dying and knowing exactly what to do, was just
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indicted this month for allegedly killing his wife with eye drops.
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Then six years later, he allegedly used the same chemical
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on his own eleven year old child. Let me walk
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you through through that again, his wife, then his child,
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same poison, same method, different victims. In Honolulu, Hawaii, an
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anesthesiologist is on trial for allegedly asking his wife to
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take a selfie at the edge of a cliff, pushing
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her when she said no, then picking up a rock
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and beating her head with it approximately ten times. And
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then and this is the part that should keep you
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up at night, reaching into his bag for syringes. He
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is a doctor. He brought syringes on a hike. And
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in Hendersonville, North Carolina, a mother allegedly poisoned the wine
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at her own twelve person Thanksgiving dinner. Her daughter drank
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from the bottle. Her daughter died three weeks later. The
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investigation into that death apparently cracked open a cold case
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going back to two thousand and seven. Additional deaths are
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still under investigation, four different methods, four different states, one
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shared thread. Every single one of these defendants was someone
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their victim loved. Someone their victim opened the door for
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someone their victim ate with someone their victim trusted. The
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most dangerous place in America is not a dark alley.
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It is your own kitchen table. I'm Garrett Fisher. This
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is daily crime and justice. Let's start in Salem, Massachusetts,
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fitting given the history. Judy Church, sixty seven years old,
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on trial this week in Essex County for the murder
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of her living boyfriend, Leroy Fowler. Leroy was fifty five
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years old. He had been in a relationship with Judy
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for years. They shared a home. He trusted her, He
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sat at her table, slept under her roof, and counted
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on her.
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He was not safe.
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November eleventh, twenty twenty two, Judy Church dialed nine one one,
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said Leroy must have ingested something. He was pulling the
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bedroom apart, bloody nose, altered mental status, in medical distress.
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Paramedics arrived and rushed him to the hospital. Leroy Fowler
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was removed from life support two days later November thirteenth,
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twenty twenty two. He was fifty five years old. When
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doctors told Fowler's family that they believed his kidney failure
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was the result of anti freeze poisoning, they did not hesitate.
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They called the police immediately. Here is what anti freeze
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does to a human body. Ethylene glycol, the active compound,
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is sweet to the taste, clear, odorless, easy to mix
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into a drink without detection. The body metabolizes it into
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oxalic acid, which attacks the kidneys. Death from antifreeze poisoning
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can look at first like unexplained organ failure. It has
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been used as a domestic murder weapon for decades, precisely
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because of that. A former Asheville area woman in a
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different case used a different chemical this year, but antifreeze
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remains one of the most notorious. The person closest to
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the victim can administer it without any visible sign of force,
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and by the time anyone realizes what happened, the damage
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is done. When detectives went to Church's home to interview her,
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she refused to let them inside. She stepped outside to
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speak with them at the door, said Leroy had not
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eaten or drunk anything before he became ill. Her adult son, Douglas,
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helpfully suggested the victim had suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning.
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Neither of those.
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Explanations was consistent with what LeRoy's blood showed. Investigators began
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talking to Fowler's family, and the picture they described was
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one of escalating control and fear. Leroy Fowler had a
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second girlfriend. He had been trying in his own way
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to maintain a separate life. His steps untold investigators that
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Fowler had already told him directly that he thought Judy
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Church was poisoning him. His words, every time I leave
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Judy's place, I feel better, he knew. He told his
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stepson he was afraid, and he kept going back. Here
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is where it gets worse. Investigators found that Judy Church
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had approached Fowler's step son with a proposal. She allegedly
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offered him ten thousand dollars to kidnap Leroy from his
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second girlfriend's house, to tie him up and bring him
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back to her. That is not the behavior of someone
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in a troubled relationship. That is the behavior of someone
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who sees another human being as property, someone who will
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not let go, someone who has decided that if she
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cannot have him alive on her own terms, she will
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find another way. And there is one more detail. Approximately
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one year before Leroy Fowler's death, Judy Church had taken
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out a life insurance policy on him. She purchased coverage
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on the life of a man she had not married,
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a man she did not legally own, a man she
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allegedly decided to poison. Judy Church has pleaded not guilty.
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Her defense will have its opportunity to explain all of
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this to a jury. The kidnapping offer, the insurance policy,
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the refusal to let police inside, the fact that Leroy
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Fowler himself suspected what was happening. That jury is sitting
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in Salem right now, Someone should have believed Leroy when
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he said he felt better every time he left her house.
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Someone should have looked more carefully at the insurance policy.
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Someone should have stopped this before a fifty five year
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old man ended up in a hospital on life support.
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Leroy Fowler was fifty five years old. He should be here.
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He deserved better from everyone around him and from every
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system that let this unfold. Remember Leroy Fowler. Joshua Hunsucker
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was a paramedic. Let that settle for a moment. A paramedic,
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a man trained to respond to emergencies, a man whose
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job was to show up when someone's body was failing
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and know exactly what to do. A man whose professional
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identity was built entirely around saving human lives. On March
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eleventh of this year, Agaston County, North Carolina grand jury
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indicted him on charges of first degree murder, insurance fraud,
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and obtaining property by false pretense. The victim was his wife,
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Stacy Robinson Hunsucker. Stacy died on September twenty third, twenty eighteen.
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Joshua Hunsucker told friends and family that she had died
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of a heart attack.
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She had not.
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Investigators determined that Stacy Robinson Hunsucker had been poisoned with
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tetra hydrosylen, a compound found in common over the counter
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eye drops, the kind of bottle sitting in medicine cabinets
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across the country, the kind of thing you probably have
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in your bathroom right now. What most people do not
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know about tetrahydrosyln is what it does. When it is
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ingested in any quantity. It causes a dramatic drop in
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blood pressure, a dangerous slowing of the heart rate, constricted
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blood vessels, sedation, seizures. In sufficient doses, it causes death,
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and that death to someone not specifically looking for it,
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can resemble cardiac failure a heart attack.
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Perhaps a paramedic would know.
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That charges were not filed immediately after Stacy's death in
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twenty eighteen. It took investigators more than a year before
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charges were first brought, and now, in March of twenty
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twenty six, the grand jury has formally indicted Hunsucker on
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first degree murder. The insurance fraud and property charges indicate
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investigators believe he stood to gain financially from Stacy's death.
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The indictment alone is devastating, but it is not the
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whole story.
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In twenty twenty.
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Four, six years after Stacey died, Joshua Hunsucker was accused
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of poisoning his own eleven year old child. The child
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was brought to the hospital with low blood pressure, a
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dangerously slow heart rate, extreme exhaustion, and constricted blood vessels.
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The child's blood tested positive for tetrahydrosylene, the same compound
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the same method. Investigators also found a second substance in
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the child's blood, a prescription antidepressant not approved for use
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in children. They found that specific drug inside Joshua Hunsucker's truck.
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He allegedly poisoned his wife, then he allegedly poisoned his
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own child with the same poison he allegedly used on
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her mother, And while all of this was being investigated,
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Joshua Hunsucker allegedly staged his own kidnapping and assault, fabricated
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an attack on himself, made a show of being a victim.
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Police found no evidence that any legitimate attack had occurred.
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What they found instead were charges of stalking and harassing
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his in laws Stacy's family. The theory is that he
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manufactured the kidnapping scheme to draw attention away from himself
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and point fingers at Stacy's relatives before his arrest. Someone
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who stages a fake kidnapping to frame his dead wife's
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family is not someone who is grieving. That is someone
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who is managing. That is someone running a strategy. Huntsucker
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is due back in court for arraignment in April. Stacy
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Robinson Hunsucker trusted the man she married to take care
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of her. He had the training to know exactly how
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to hurt her without leaving obvious marks. He had the
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knowledge to make her death look like something else, and
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by prosecutor's account, he used every bit of that training
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against her.
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Someone should have looked harder.
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In twenty eighteen, someone should have asked more questions when
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a paramedic's wife died of what he called a heart attack.
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Someone should have said something. Remember Stacy Robinson Hunsucker. March
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twenty fourth, twenty twenty five. The Polly Lookout, Oahu, Hawaii.
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If you have never been, the Nuanu poly Lookout is
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one of the most striking vistas in the United States.
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It sits high above the windward coast of Oahu, overlooking
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the Coolau Mountains and the Pacific Ocean beyond. Tourists fly
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from all over the world to stand at that edge
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and take a photograph. Ariel Konig went there with her husband.
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She did not make it home. The same person who arrived,
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Gerhart Konig, is an anesthesiologist. At the time of the incident,
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he was employed at Maui Health. He is currently on
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trial in Honolulu charged with second degree attempted murder for
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what prosecutors say happened on that trail. According to Ariel,
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the couple was walking when Gerhart suggested she pose for
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a selfie near the edge along a steep cliff drop.
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She said she did not feel comfortable. She turned and
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walked away. Gerhart allegedly yelled at her to come back.
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She did not.
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He allegedly pushed her into the bushes. She managed to
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break free and move away again, and then, according to prosecutors,
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Gerhardt Koenig picked up a rock and used it to
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strike his wife in the head approximately ten times, while
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grabbing her hair with his other hand while smashing her
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face into the ground while she screamed for help. Two
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women heard the screaming they ran toward it. When they
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reached the scene, they found Ariel Koenig on her back,
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her husband on top of her, still hitting her. They intervened,
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They stopped it. But here's the detail about this case
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that I keep coming back to. After Ariel broke free
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the second time, after the push, but before the rock,
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she says she watched her husband reach into his bag
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and take out two syringes. He is an anesthesiologist. He
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knows exactly what syringes do. He chose to carry them
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on a hiking trail, and when his initial attempt to
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push her over the edge did not work, and when
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grabbing her did not work, he reached for them. This
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was not a moment of rage. Rage does not require
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a packed bag. Rage does not require syringes. This was
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a plan. Two strangers intervened before those syringes were used.
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Ariel Koenig is alive today because of them. Following the
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alleged attack, Gerhart Koenig was arrested and suspended from Maui Health.
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Ariel Konig filed for divorce and obtained a restraining order.
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In her divorce petition, she stated that Gerhart had accused
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her of having an affair and that he had sexually
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abused and assaulted her during the marriage. The restraining order
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was later dropped, not because of anything she did, but
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because gerhart Konick was already being held in custody without bail.
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Ariel Koenig has made clear that she intends to testify
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at trial. Gerhart Koenig has pleaded not guilty. His defense
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will have its opportunity to explain the rock, the syringes,
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and the hiking trail to the jury. Ariel Koenig survived.
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She she went to that lookout with her husband, and
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she survived only because she screamed loudly enough for two
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strangers to run toward the sound. She deserved better than
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that trail. She deserved better than that marriage, and she
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is going to walk into that courtroom and say so
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out loud. Thanksgiving is supposed to be saved. That is
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the entire cultural promise of the holiday. You gather with
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your family, you sit at a table someone you love
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set for.
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You, You eat food they prepared with.
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Their hands, and you go home full and warm because
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the people who share your blood are the people who
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would never hurt you. In November of twenty twenty five,
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Gudran Casper Leinenkogle hosted a twelve person Thanksgiving dinner at
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her home in Hendersonville, North Carolina. Leela Livis was there.
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She was thirty two years old. She was Gudrin's daughter.
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She came to her mother's table. She accepted a glass
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of wine. She drank it, so did another daughter and