10x38 - High 'n Dry

[bunniefuu]

NARRATOR: In Land
O'Lakes, Wisconsin,

it's rare to hear the
siren of an ambulance.

So the death of an otherwise
healthy young woman

was particularly troubling.

To solve the mystery, a computer
expert, a suicidologist,

and a forensic plumber worked
together to find the answers.

[theme music]

NARRATOR: It was a crisp, clear
day in Land O'Lakes, Wisconsin,

when Ken Johnson got the news
that his 28-year-old daughter

was dead.

KEN JOHNSON: It's
a beautiful day.

People were out, walking
around, and enjoying this day.

How can they do that?

Our daughter has just died.
DISPATCHER: 911.

What is your emergency?
HUSBAND: I need an ambulance!

I think my wife is dead.

I found her in the toilet.

And she was-- she was
face first in the toilet.

DISPATCHER: OK.
HUSBAND: Oh my god!

Oh my god!

DISPATCHER: We've
got them coming, sir.

HUSBAND: Oh my god!

NARRATOR: When
paramedics arrived,

Genelle Plude was on
the bathroom floor.

Her husband, a trained
EMT, was performing CPR.

But it was too late.

She was declared dead
a short time later.

-I just remember at the point,
screaming and all, you know,

and just saying we're
going to be there in a bit.

NARRATOR: The death
appeared to be a su1c1de.


of Fioricet were

found in a bathroom
trash basket.

Fioricet is a barbiturate
that had been prescribed

for Genell's migraine headaches.

-What we had here were
levels of Fioricet

with Codeine in
Genell's, uh, system.

And we-- I think
they were calculated

to be about 20 times
the lethal level.

NARRATOR: Apparently,
Genell emptied the Fioricet

into a drink, so it would
enter her system faster.

But instead of k*lling her,
the drug irritated her stomach.

She vomited in the
toilet, then passed out

and drowned in the toilet bowl.

-The pathologist testified
it was death by overdose,

Fioricet-assisted, with some
potential drowning there.

NARRATOR: Genell's mother-in-law
was sleeping in the next room

and said she heard
nothing suspicious or out

of the ordinary.

-And that the next thing she
remembered after going to sleep

was Doug, waking her up, yelling
and screaming that Genell was

dead and she was
in the bathroom.

NARRATOR: Investigators
found evidence

that Genell had been
feeling despondent.

She and her husband,
Doug, were having

troubles making ends meet.

They both had low-paying
jobs and were deep in debt.

DAVID DOBBS: It was 9, 10 years,
and her life was going nowhere.

No children.

They're financially strapped.

They had poor motor vehicles,
living under his mother's roof.

She wanted out.

NARRATOR: And Genell started to
question her sexual preferences

and whether a traditional
marriage was for her.

-Her sexual preference was
something that would not

have been well-accepted
in that small town.

That coming out,
telling people about it

would have been more stressful
in that situation as opposed

to a major city.

-So for me to leave
from all-- she

was leading a heterosexual
life, and she just

discovered or, or
admitted that she's gay,

then the next step
means su1c1de?

I mean, that never--
that, that just

never crossed my mind at all.

That doesn't make sense.

NARRATOR: Genell's spirits
took another downturn

when she learned
that her college

roommate committed su1c1de.

And before she did,
left her this note.

WOMAN [VOICEOVER]:
"Sighing as I write

you this last words, my love.

Never will I be able
to say how very sorry

I am that this deed that
I'm about to commit,

there is no other way
than I am able to say

I never stopped my
deep love for you."

NARRATOR: And investigators
discovered this email

that Genell sent
to her friends just

a few days before her death.

WOMAN [VOICEOVER]: "Just
to let you all know,

I may be gone from
this day forward.

To all of you who
are Doug's friends,

please be there for him.

My love to all of you.

Will miss you all very much.

I never meant to cause this much
hurt, but I have to do this."

NARRATOR: But Genell's
family told investigators

to look a little
deeper because they

didn't believe the
su1c1de theory.

KEN JOHNSON: I said
this was not right.

And I only want to make
sure that it was not

going to be swept under the rug
and just called a su1c1de when,

very likely, it
may not have been.

NARRATOR: So investigators
did just that

and made some
startling discoveries.

Toxicology tests on Genell
Plude found lethal levels

of the barbiturate
Fioricet in her system.

And the medical examiner
found water in Genell's lungs,

consistent with drowning.

But her lower esophagus
was severely burned,

possibly the result
swallowing the Fioricet

without the protective capsules.

It was clear that Genell
Plude ingested a lethal dose

of a barbiturate, and then
got sick to her stomach

in the toilet.

But whether she passed out
and accidentally drowned

or whether there
was foul play was

impossible to tell
from the autopsy.

-People just wouldn't
k*ll themselves

with this kind of
caustic opening of pills

and swallowing them
with water as opposed

to taking the whole pill, which,
it would not burn your throat.

NARRATOR: In Genell's home,
investigators found tissues

in the trash can, along with
the empty Fioricet capsules.

And Genell's fingerprint was
on only one of the capsules.

AL MOUSTAKIS: None of that
made sense to the detectives.

It was unusual.

And capsules have ridges
built inside of them

to keep the capsule
halves together.

And to pull that apart
takes some force.

NARRATOR: There was no drug
residue around the sink.

And Genell's fingerprints were
not found on the toilet bowl.

-There should have been a
mess on top of that sink.

There should have been
powder all over the place.

-If someone was going
to be sick and they're

going to be vomiting
in the toilet bowl,

wouldn't you think they'd
have their hands around it

or their hands on it?

But there were-- there--
there was nothing.

And it-- like it had
been wiped clean.

NARRATOR: However,
Genell's palm prints

were found on the
floor, next to the bowl.

And her husband
Doug's left palm print

was found on the counter
next to the toilet.

DAVID DOBBS: There was not a lot
of talk about su1c1de at first.

Or the other way, homicide, for
that matter of fact, either.

There was a lot
of "I don't know."

But here we had a healthy
young female who exercised.

And she was in good shape.

She had no major
medical problems.

She shouldn't have been dead.

NARRATOR: Since Genell didn't
own a significant amount

of life insurance, money
didn't appear to be a motive.

Hoping to learn more about
Genell's state of mind,

investigators confiscated
the couple's computers

for a forensic analysis.

-First step is to create a copy
of that original hard drive.

And the reason behind doing
that is so that you don't alter

the original data on that drive.

And you want to keep the
evidence in a pristine state.

NARRATOR: They immediately
discovered all sorts

of information on
the hard drives.

-When you visit a web page
all that information is being

stored to your local hard
drive, but to an examiner,

it can be a treasure
trove of information.

You can find out where
they've been browsing

for the last 10, 15,


even beyond that.

NARRATOR: The analysis
revealed that the computer was

the couple's main
source of amusement.

-There was definitely
evidence that they spent

an enormous amount of
time on the internet

and using a program called ICQ.

NARRATOR: ICQ chat rooms
are similar to chat

rooms on other online services.

New forensic software,
developed in Australia,

enabled investigators
to decipher

the instant messages
stored on the hard drives.

There was evidence that
the couple occasionally

engaged in sexual relations
with online partners.

-And we were able
to decipher all

this information that
we couldn't before.

And this is what you have
which was, like, wow!

NARRATOR: The computer
messages suggested

that most of this
activity was Doug's idea.

And that he also had
an interest in bondage,

discipline, and sadomasochism.

DAVID DOBBS: It's real shocking.

And I don't think,
from what I could see

and what Genell
wrote that she was

happy with that
type of lifestyle.

WOMAN [VOICEOVER]:

'F' some chick that lives
somewhere around here.

Wants me to come.

But my heart lies elsewhere,
and not with a guy."

-He was pulling their
marriage in a direction

that she did not feel was
correct or morally right.

NARRATOR: Genell's
parents told investigators

Genell wanted a divorce.

-She valued her body, her life.

Just valued life in general.

So it was, like,
so it just, it-- it

did not make any sense
that she committed su1c1de.

NARRATOR: Genell's
computer also revealed

she was planning a visit
to a woman in Texas whom

she had met in an
online chat room.

This was inconsistent with
someone planning a su1c1de.

-She was becoming what
she wanted to be in life

and was planning a future.

All those are
signs that somebody

has something to
look forward to.

There is no evidence of clinical
depression, for instance.

Those are not signs that you
would associate with somebody

who wants to give up on life,
and wants to take their life.

NARRATOR: And the analysis of
the so-called "goodbye" email

to her friends, when
viewed in context

with other online messages,
revealed Genell was speaking

about leaving the marriage
and moving out of the house,

not about ending her life.

Investigators felt
it was now time

to look a little closer
at Doug Plude's story.

-Yeah, very weird.

Doug was a very weird guy.

NARRATOR: 35-year-old Doug
Plude was a factory worker

and part-time emergency
medical technician.

He and Genell had been
married for eight years.

Doug described his
marriage as a happy one.

But Genell's family said
that wasn't the case.

-He was stuck in a dead-end job.

And-- and he seemed to
be satisfied with that,

and she was not.

She wanted to move on.

She wanted to do better things.

She wanted to go
back to school again.

NARRATOR: And information
on Genell's computer

also disputed the happy
marriage scenario.

HEATHER SCHAEFER: They had
marital problems, off and on.

And they'd, from
my understanding,

tried the open marriage to
try to save the marriage.

And apparently, Genell
had informed him

that it wasn't working and
that she was sure that she was

a lesbian and wanted
to be with a woman.

KEN JOHNSON: She was going
to ask Doug for divorce.

She wanted to leave him.

She was definitely concerned
about getting on with her life,

going back to school.

And she mentioned
also that she didn't

like the person that
he was turning into.

NARRATOR: But Doug
Plude continued

to insist that he found his
wife unconscious with her head

in the toilet.

Investigators were skeptical.

So they took the
unusual step of calling

in a forensic plumbing
engineer, Julius Ballanco.

He says bathroom plumbing
fixtures are designed

specifically to prevent
accidental drownings,

even if a person has passed out.

-If a person dies or goes
unconscious, passes out,

they're going to fall
away from the toilet.

They're not going to
fall into the toilet.

Because if you look at
the weight of the body

and, you know, you study
the-- the movement of it,

it's going to be
away from the toilet.

It will never be
into the toilet.

And we have many instances
where that has occurred.

NARRATOR: Using a model
the same size as Genell,

Ballanco's tests showed that the
width of an adult's shoulders

prevents them from
submerging anything

more than a portion of
their head in the water.

-Well, you're head
can go in the toilet.

You can get nice and
wet up on the top.

You can actually
submerge your nose.

But you can't
submerge your mouth

and nose at the same time.

It's basically impossible
to do for an average adult.

NARRATOR: But it was this
autopsy photo taken a day

after Genell's death
that really caught

the attention of investigators.

-And I immediately noticed,
as soon as I looked at it,

there was a bruise on her neck.

And I said to myself, right
there, I said, oh my god.

That is the rim of
the toilet bowl.

-If you were sick and you
were vomiting into the toilet,

you wouldn't be getting
these bruises on your neck

unless some type of
pressure was applied.

NARRATOR: And inside the bruise
was a small laceration that

could not have
come from the bowl.

AL MOUSTAKIS: There are
no ridges on that surface.

And I learned that toilet
bowls and other pluming

fixtures are made
of vitreous china.

All the world supplies
of vitreous china

comes from the United States.

And it's very smooth
and a very hard surface.

NARRATOR: If the
toilet bowl could not

have caused these cuts,
where did they come from?

Genell's family knew
the answer immediately.

They said it looked like a
chain Genell usually wore.

But no one could find it
anywhere in the house.

So investigators took
a photograph of Genell

wearing the chain
and compared it

to an autopsy photo
of her neck injury.

AL MOUSTAKIS: Our crime
lab did an overlay

using transparencies.

It showed that those breaks
were consistent with the chain,

the chain links that she wore.

NARRATOR: There was only
one possible explanation

for the marks on Genell's neck.

[coughing]

NARRATOR: The
necklace got caught

between her neck
and the toilet bowl.

DAVID DOBBS: It shouldn't
have been there.

Those are ruptures of
capillaries under the skin,

indicating those occurred
when the human was alive.

And you don't get
that from passing

out on the toilet on your own.

No.

It just doesn't work that way.

NARRATOR: This discovery,
along with Genell's palm prints

on the bathroom floor, and
Doug's palm print on the sink

counter painted a clear picture
of Genell's last moments alive.

DAVID DOBBS: She was resisting.

That's why there's no prints on
the bowl or edges or anywhere.

They're down on the floor.

And I believe Doug would
be standing order her

because his one palm print was
on the edge of the lavatory,

just right next to the
toilet, where he could apply

pressure to the
back of the head.

NARRATOR: Doug
Plude was arrested

and charged with
first-degree m*rder.

He denied any involvement
in Genell's death

until an emergency
room nurse came

forward with a
most unusual story.

The investigation into
Genell Plude's death

eventually convinced prosecutors
to file a first-degree m*rder

charge against
her husband, Doug.

Based on the forensic computer
analysis, the plumbing expert,

and the autopsy
photos, prosecutors

believe Genell told her husband
that she was planning to move

out of their home and
that she wanted a divorce.

The computer messages
to friends show

that Doug tried to
talk her out of it.

-He had wild dreams
of exotic sex life.

And he needed his wife
to be a partner in this.

He needed this beautiful
woman to be at his side

to show that, you
know, she was his.

And in losing it,
he would be a loser.

NARRATOR: Doug may also have
known that Genell planned

to visit a woman
in Texas whom she

had met in an
internet chat room.

Prosecutors believe Doug
was angry and decided

to k*ll Genell and make her
death look like a su1c1de.

Doug used tissues to remove
the Fioricet from the capsules,

making sure he left no
fingerprints behind.

Then he put some
of the barbiturate

into Genell's drink.

Computer records
indicate Genell logged

off her computer around 2:00 AM.

Later, while she was asleep
and possibly unconscious,

investigators think Doug
used his training as an EMT

to force the remaining
Fioricet into her stomach

with an intubation tube.

Then all Doug had to do was to
clean up the evidence and wait.

But there was a problem.

The barbiturates
didn't k*ll Genell.

They made her sick
to her stomach.

When Doug realized Genell
wouldn't have the overdose

of barbiturates in her system,
he panicked and drowned her.

Genell's palm prints show
she fought for her life.

And Doug's palm print
showed, he was there.

Genell's necklace was between
her throat and the rim,

causing the tiny lacerations
found at the autopsy.

Doug removed the necklace before
calling for the ambulance.

Later in the hospital,
just before Genell's body

was taken to the morgue,
a nurse overheard Doug

as he stood next to her body.

NURSE [VOICEOVER]: I heard, um,
Mr. Plude saying to Genell--

and this is as exactly how
this guy , his tone was.

"I told you not to leave me!"

-The nurse had described
it as a very chilling

comment that she
would never forget.

And when you hear
something like that,

it made it sound like, yes,
this was a controlling person.

This was a domestic
v*olence situation.

And-- and, yes, he did k*ll her.

NARRATOR: The jury deliberated
for about eight hours.

JURY FOREMAN: We, the jury,
find the defendant, Douglas J.

Plude, guilty of first-degree
intentional homicide.

-You never think
that this is going

to happen to you,
that somebody you know

would hurt your children.

That's the most amazing thing
that always is in my head.

How could he?

NARRATOR: Doug Plude was
sentenced to life in prison.

The forensic evidence, along
with the forensic plumber,

proved his story was a lie.

AL MOUSTAKIS: The
injuries were there.

You couldn't turn that around.

It took control.

And it provided
all the information

that experts could look at,
and draw conclusions that, uh,

ultimately led to
his conviction.

-You know, you cross
the line and make

a mistake in a particular case.

Undoubtedly, law
enforcement is going

to catch up to
you at some point.

-I doubt the case
would have been

the same without
the toilet bowl.

I think they-- I
think the jury really

did have to see the toilet bowl
and see somebody act that out.

-I was convinced
this was m*rder.

I tried as hard as I could
to make this a su1c1de,

and I could not conclude that.