01x05 - Evil Deception

[bunniefuu]

- Female narrator: In a peaceful
ohio cemetery,

A young woman lays at rest.

For over two decades, the secret
of how she died

Has been buried with her...

Until now.

- ♪

- I just didn't believe it.

- How could this have happened?

- Narrator: Investigators never
give up

Their quest for the truth.

- There's something very wrong.

- Ken: This is not a suicide.

This was definitely a homicide.

- Narrator: There's only
one way to find out

What really happened.

- It was critical
that we exhume the body.

- It breaks your heart
to see it, it really does.

- Narrator: Will her body
speak justice from the grave?

- There might not
be anything left,

And this case
could be done with.

- ♪

♪♪

- ♪

- Narrator:
In a quiet neighborhood

On the outskirts
of akron, ohio,

Crime is usually the last thing
on residents' minds.

But on the morning
of March 18, 1985,

The police get a phone call

Unlike anything
they've ever heard.

Detective sergeant ken mifflin
is one of the detectives

Who later worked on the case.

- We received a call from
a male saying that he needed

Ems assistance for his wife.

- [sirens wail]

- Narrator: First responders
race to an apartment building

And find a young woman
sprawled out on the floor.

- She was lying
at the base of the stairwell.

She had a portion of rope
attached to her neck.

- She was in full cardiac
arrest.

- Ken: There was no heartbeat,
she had no pulse.

She was literally
in the throes of death.

- Ems immediately
began working on her.

- Narrator: Their urgency is
compounded by

One horrifying fact.

- She was nine months pregnant.

- It's horrible
to even think about.

Ems did every life-saving
thing that they could.

- They were able
to get a pulse.

- Narrator: The woman,
identified as 24-year-old

Meg purk,
is rushed to the hospital,

While her husband, scott, stays
behind to speak to police.

- "meg was doing great
throughout her entire pregnancy

For the first seven--
seven or eight months."

- Narrator: But lately, he says,
meg wasn't herself.

She was becoming
increasingly depressed.

- Scott tells the police that
meg wasn't feeling real well

That morning, they were gonna
be going to see the doctor.

- Ken: While scott was
taking a bath,

He had seen meg walk by,
and he had called out asking her

If, "you were
getting dressed yet?"

And got no response.

- Narrator: According to scott,
a short time later,

He got out of the bath
to check on meg.

- ♪

- Meg was hanging from a rope
in the first floor area,

In the stairwell.

- Sherri:
He got a steak knife.

He cut her down.

- When meg
dropped to the ground,

She still had a portion of
the rope around her neck.

The rope was really tight,
and he couldn't pull it loose,

So he stuck the steak knife
between the rope

And her neck
and cut the rope.

- Narrator: He tried frantically
to revive her.

- Ken: I'm sure a lot
goes through your mind.

"I need to perform cpr.

I need to do this.
I need to do that."

- And then he called 911.

- [siren wails]

- Narrator: At the hospital,
meg is fighting for her life.

- [machine beeping]

- Dawn:
I get a call from scott.

And he told me meg tried
to k*ll herself,

And they didn't know
if she was gonna make it.

By the time
I got to the hospital,

The doctors were optimistic.

She's gonna be okay,
she's gonna be okay,

She's gonna be okay.

- Narrator: But sadly,
a few hours later,

Meg and her unborn child
pass away.

- ♪

- It was very hard,
emotionally.

- I just didn't believe it.

I-I--it's like,
"no, no, no, no."

- It was like disbelief
and maybe shock.

- Narrator: Meg's loved ones
can't understand

How this could happen.

- Meg was basically nesting.

She was ready
to have this baby.

None of it made any sense.

- Narrator: Could someone have
broken in and m*rder*d meg?

When law enforcement responds to
the scene of

An unexplained death, they
always launch an investigation.

- Police want to make sure that
it is a suicide

And not a homicide.

Investigators
walked through every room.

- There was no forced entry
into the house

To show that anybody else
had been involved.

- Narrator: But there are
some disturbing details

That don't add up.

- They saw the rope hanging down
in the stairwell.

- The rope was cut in two
places, which seemed unusual.

- Narrator: Then, they uncover
a note in meg's handwriting.

- Sherri: The detectives
discovered a letter

That meg had written
to her grandma

Within a day or so of her death.

- Ken: The letter indicated
that she was very happy.

How could someone who seemed
to be so happy,

All of a sudden, try to take
their own life?

That was very strange.

- That really was contrary
to a theory

That she committed suicide.

- Narrator: They hope
the autopsy can help

Clear up any contradictions.

- They did conduct
a full autopsy.

There was
some mark on the neck.

They saw some petechiae
around the eyes.

- Narrator: Petechiae are
tiny spots caused by

Ruptured blood vessels
under the skin.

- Meaning that the blood
is not flowing,

The vessels are popping,
which is suggestive of asphyxia.

- There was a line above
her breast that was

Kind of unexplained.

- Narrator: Investigators
at the scene thought

The line might have been
from her bra.

- In addition though to doing
the autopsy, the coroner

Reviews the reports
of the detectives.

- Narrator: The coroner takes
into account their conversation

With scott
that meg was depressed.

Then, they issue their ruling.

- The cause of death was
determined to be

Due to hanging by the neck.

Manner of death
was suicide.

- Narrator: In many cases,
the me's ruling

Would put
an end to the investigation.

But detectives
just aren't convinced.

- Most individuals who,
in a suicide, don't want to be

Found right away,

They're not gonna do it
while you're there.

Investigators still thought,
you know, "there's just

Something about this case
that just doesn't seem right."

- Narrator: Not quite ready
to put the case to rest,

They start asking around
about meg's life.

- Nobody in this investigation
had spoken badly of meg.

- Meg had that real kind of
artistic kind of free spirit

Thing going.

- Mike: She wrote poetry,
she would write stories.

She did write
some lyrics to songs.

- Narrator: She's especially
close with her little brother,

Mike.

- There was little brother
things that I would do that

Could really set her off.

And I was smart enough
to run when--when I did that.

- Dawn: Michael.
[chuckles]

Michael was an annoying
little brother, we both had one.

He was hilarious,
he was so funny.

She adored that boy.

- Narrator: But when
investigators ask around

About meg's husband, scott,

Most of her friends saw him
as kind of eccentric.

- Dawn: When meg started dating
him, it was a shock.

"you're dating who? Like why?"

He's a skinny guy, and he got
dark hair, kind of almost

Like a tom selleck
big ole mustache.

- My mom and dad referred to it
as his porn 'stache.

- Narrator: When scott was
younger, he'd gotten into

A few minor scrapes
with the law.

But after he met meg,

He seemed committed
to his newfound role as husband.

Meg's family, however,
just isn't sure about him.

- Meg's family didn't really
like scott--

Her brother, especially.

- Mike: I absolutely thought
meg was too good for scotty.

My impression of scott was that
he was a constant liar,

That he was just bad news,

And was going to be nothing
but problems and trouble

For as long
as meg was with him.

- Narrator: Now meg was dead,

And scott was in the house
when it happened.

- Something's not right.

- So in their minds, you know,
this was a homicide.

- Narrator: Police can't tell
where the truth lies.

Is it homicide?

Or is meg's family just
in denial about her suicide?

- It's hard for many families
to believe that their loved one

Would hurt themselves
to the extent of--

Of k*lling themselves.

I found it very hard to believe
that someone who was

Nine months pregnant
would k*ll themselves

And their unborn child.

- Narrator: Police know
they need to dig deeper

To unravel the mystery.

And discover the answer could
lie in meg's past.

- You know, scott said she's
tried to k*ll herself before.

- ♪

- Narrator: Coming up--

- Did she really
hang herself,

Or did he do something to her?

- We were trying to get
all of the pieces

Of the puzzle in place.

- We got a warrant to exhume
the body.

- Is there gonna be
enough evidence?

- ♪

- ♪
- narrator: The medical
examiner has ruled

24-year-old meg purk's death
a suicide.

But investigators
aren't quite sure

And have suspicions that
her husband, scott,

Might have had something
to do with her death.

- Did she really hang herself
or did he do something to her?

- Narrator: They ask around
about the couple's relationship,

But her friends say the marriage
seemed to be a happy one.

- In the three months and
three years that scott and meg

Were married, things seemed
to be going really well.

- When she found out she was
pregnant, she went nuts.

It was kinda like
the fulfillment

Of a lot of what she wanted
in her life.

- Narrator: In fact, police
don't find any of the typical

Red flags they often see
in domestic homicides.

- We found no evidence that
scott purk

Had been violent with meg.

- Ken:
She had no life insurance,

So there was no money to be
made from, you know, her death.

We were unable
to figure out a motive.

- Narrator:
When police question scott,

He denies hurting meg,

And he says he's found proof
that she took her own life.

- Sherri: Scott said he
found her suicide letter.

It--it's very different than
what you would

Normally think of
for a suicide letter.

- It was a poem about a young
lady, probably in her 20's,

Who went through
some hardships in life.

- At the very end of it,
you know,

There's a line that says,
"and then she k*lled herself."

That raised a red flag, because
they thought, "well, okay,

She's ending her life just like
the way she ended the poem."

- Narrator: But meg's family
quickly dispels the idea

That the poem
is a suicide note.

- It had been
written years earlier.

- This was an old poem that her
family members had seen before.

- Narrator: Then, when
investigators talk

To meg's best friend, dawn,

They learn about some past
troubles.

- Dawn: She did have a history
of trying to k*ll herself.

Meg told me,
before I'd met her,

That she took some pills
her mother had at the house.

- Narrator: When meg
was around 18,

She tried to hurt herself
after a bad breakup.

- Dawn: One day I came by,
I found a note

On the kitchen table saying that
she had tried to k*ll herself

Using the mini blinds
in the apartment.

- This made investigators
really think that,

"okay, maybe this really is
a suicide."

The case was closed
and labeled a suicide.

Meg's family was not happy.

They believed in their hearts

That this was definitely
not a suicide.

- ♪

- Narrator:
On March 25, 1985,

Meg is laid to rest.

- My mom was--she was torn up,
my dad was torn up.

I didn't know what to feel,
I just felt empty.

- Dawn: I did not go to
the cemetery, I couldn't.

Gonna make me cry.

- Narrator: What no one
realizes is that this won't be

The last gathering
at meg's graveside.

Her story is far from over.

In the months after meg's death,

Her friends and family adjust to
their heartbreaking new normal.

- The first few weeks were
rough, right after meg died.

- Narrator: Time passes,
and the family tries to heal,

Never imagining that
meg's story is about to get

Stranger than anyone
ever imagined.

Just five months
after meg's death,

In August of 1985,

A rash of bizarre burglaries
shakes summit county, ohio.

- A man would break
into people's apartments.

He would dress all in black.

- Sherri: He was referred to
as the "ninja burglar."

He was pretty brazen about it.

- Narrator: Everyone
in the community is rattled,

Including meg purk's
best friend, dawn.

- I was afraid for myself.
I was afraid for my family.

I was afraid for my child.

- Narrator: She notices
something, though,

That grabs her attention.

I saw a little write-up
in the newspaper

About these burglaries.

And they described the guy
as being, you know,

Roughly six-foot tall,
dark hair, thin.

Something clicked, and I went
down to the police station,

And I'm like, "I think I know
who you're looking for."

I was like, "that's scott."

- Narrator:
In September of 1985,

Scott purk is brought in
for questioning.

He quickly admits to being
the ninja burglar...

Telling police that without meg,

He found himself
going off the rails,

Falling into the bad behavior
of his younger days.

- ♪

- Sherri: Scott purk
was thrill seeking.

It was a thrill to know that,

"I'm breaking in here
and I'm getting away with it."

I don't even know
that it was for money.

I don't think that was
the case at all with scott purk.

It was more of thrill-seeking,

And "how much can I get away
with?"

- ♪

- Narrator: It's disturbing.

But does it mean scott's also
responsible for meg's death?

There's still no clear evidence
to solve that mystery.

So detectives charge him
only for the burglaries.

- ♪

- Ken: Scott was convicted
of ten burglaries.

And he went to prison for
at least six years

For being the ninja burglar.

- Narrator:
Meg's family is relieved.

- It really wasn't shocking
when we found out that

Scott had been arrested.

We know what the truth is.

We know
she didn't k*ll herself.

There was a bit of
a sense of relief that

Now he's going to prison.

We never have to deal
with scott purk again.

Or so we thought.

- ♪

- Narrator: In 2009, more than
20 years after meg's death,

Another tragedy strikes that
will ultimately bring

Meg's case back into the open.

- Jim: It was a Saturday of
spring break

At 3:20 in the morning,
our dispatch center--

- Woman: 911,
what's your emergency?

- --For the city of stowe
received a 911 call

Reporting a fire.
- [siren wailing]

- Narrator: The fire department
races to the scene.

- I was fire marshal for
the city of stowe at the time.

They found a fully-engulfed home
with fire on three sides.

And it was--it was just
going full blast.

- ♪

- Narrator: Luckily, the family
who lived there--

A mother, father
and two teenage children--

Scrambled to safety.

- I was one of
the on-call detectives,

Uh, that morning
so I responded.

- Narrator: Several things
immediately raise

Detective mifflin's suspicions.

- Investigators found a gas can

That did not belong
to the homeowner.

You could smell gasoline

All around
the outside of the home.

- Narrator: When they check
the gas meter,

It raises a huge red flag.

- Insulation wrapped around
the meter had been cut away,

Gasoline had been poured
on the meter area.

- Which is where you pour
the gas from that spot

To another location
to start another fire.

- ♪

- All those were indications
that this is an arson.

- Narrator: Detective mifflin
wants answers.

He approaches the homeowner,
who introduces himself.

His name is scott purk.

- ♪

♪
- - narrator: In March of 2009,
detective mifflin investigates

A possible arson at the home
of scott purk,

Whose wife, meg, died
suspiciously 24 years earlier.

- Ken: All the family members
had gotten out safely.

But what caused the fire
was the big question.

- Narrator:
Looking for any leads,

Detective mifflin invites scott
to talk in his police car.

- I had asked scott to basically
walk me through his day.

- Scott purk is now remarried
and has two kids.

- Narrator: Scott says the
children were asleep upstairs,

And he and his wife
were in bed downstairs

When he heard an expl*si*n.

- Jim: He saw the fire outside,
and then started

Alerting the family to get
them out of the house.

- I had asked scott,
did he have any enemies?

Was there anybody that wanted
to hurt him and his family?

Scott had said, no, there was
nobody that he could think of.

- Narrator:
Then, out of the blue,

The conversation
takes a bizarre turn.

- He brought up the fact
that his first wife,

Back in 1985,
had hung herself.

I wondered, "why are you
telling me this?

"we're sitting here watching
your house burn down.

"we have every reason to believe
right now that it's an arson.

"we should be talking about who
wanted to hurt

Your family so bad
that would do this."

- Sherri: It was just
such a random statement.

It didn't even make sense
that he said that,

But detective mifflin
did not forget that.

- Narrator:
At the police station,

Scott talks more about
what happened that day

Before the fire.

- Scott had told us that
he and his wife

Had a very open relationship.

She was out the night
of the fire with her boyfriend.

And then after she was done
with their date,

She and scott eventually
went to bed,

And then the fire broke out
about an hour after that.

- Jim: It does always
raise the question as to

Just how far
that relationship has gone.

Whether it's gone beyond
just the open marriage to,

"well, now I'd rather
be with her."

That person has to be looked at
very seriously.

- ♪

- Narrator: Scott also tells
detective mifflin that

There were suspicious cars
in the area that night.

- He suspects it may be somebody
selling drugs

In the neighborhood.

- He had also provided us
with a list of

License plate numbers
he thought were suspicious.

All of those were
diligently followed up on.

And they led nowhere.

We really believed that
he gave us that information,

As investigators,
to throw us off his track.

Everybody was cleared,
which was not good for scott.

- Narrator: Investigators start
looking at whether

There is proof that scott
might have set the fire himself.

- We find out that scott purk
has a huge debt,

Well over $200,000.

- Jim: Their monthly payments
were almost three times

Their income, they were
just way upside down.

- Narrator:
What's more, scott,

During his interviews
with police,

Had made
an incriminating slip.

- Ken: Scott told me that
he had videotaped his belongings

Inside the house in case
there was ever a fire,

Those would be documented
for insurance purposes.

This is screaming,
this is an arson case,

And he is the prime suspect.

- All we were trying to do now
is get

All of the pieces of the puzzle
in place.

- Narrator: The sheer audacity
and methodical planning

Of the arson plot leaves
detective mifflin thinking.

- Ken:
I'm dealing with a schemer.

It made me wonder what else
about him

Might not be at face value.

Maybe there needs to be
some digging.

- Narrator: Scott purk has both
the bizarre ninja burglary

Crimes under his belt,
as well as arson.

Could he also
be guilty of m*rder?

- ♪

- Ken: I believe scott
is a planner.

So any of the burglaries
that he committed

While dressed as a ninja
were all, you know, planned.

And also, if this guy is capable
of burning down his house

With his family sleeping,
was there something more

Involving the
death of his first wife?

- Narrator: Detective mifflin
wasn't on the force

Back in '85,

So he looks for everything
that exists on the case.

- Ken: I contacted
the police department

Where this incident happened,
and I got their case file.

And I contacted
the coroner's office,

And I got their case file
from the original autopsy.

- Narrator: He starts poring
over every piece of information

The original investigators
collected 24 years earlier.

- Ken: There were problems
with this case.

That he had been
in the apartment

When she k*lled herself,
that was very strange.

- Narrator: When he looks
at the autopsy photos,

Alarm bells go off.

- The photographs to me
clearly show that there was

A belt mark on her neck
and not a rope mark.

A second thing that
stood out in my mind was,

There was a mark across
her upper chest

That appeared to be
a rope mark.

My gut is telling me, after
having read both reports,

This is not a suicide.

This is a homicide.

- ♪

- Narrator: Coming up--

- Woman: You don't forget
when somebody is that crazy.

- Cases like this,
they're gonna be worked hard.

- It was critical
that we exhume the body.

- It gave us
a lot of concern.

- After 24 years, will there
be anything to really examine?

- ♪

- Narrator: While investigating
scott purk for arson,

Detective mifflin also reopens
the case into the death

Of scott's first wife, meg,
and their unborn child

24 years earlier.

- ♪

- To think that somebody
could possibly do something

So heinous
to another human being,

That just nags at you.

Cases like this,
they're gonna be worked hard.

We start turning over stones.

- Narrator: Detective mifflin
gets to work,

Interviewing anyone
connected with the case.

- Oh my god.
Ken mifflin, let's see.

He's a pit bull. [laughs]

- Ken got a hold of this case,
and he did not let go.

I was home one day and got
a knock on the door,

And there's detective mifflin.

He let me know he didn't
think that meg k*lled herself.

It's almost like you see
in the movies or a cartoon

Where, you know, the clouds
part and the sun comes out.

And it's like, "wow,
is this really happening?"

It brought up...

A lot of the old emotions
from when she died.

- Ken: Family members,
they all believed

That scott literally got away
with m*rder back in 1985.

- When mifflin told me that
he had his eyes on scott,

That wasn't a surprise.

There was always that part of me
that suspected scott.

- Narrator: As detective mifflin
digs deeper,

He discovers what may be
a possible motive.

- After meg died, within
probably a matter of weeks,

Scott moved in
with another woman.

So, girlfriend in the picture,

The baby was making it
inconvenient.

- Narrator: Now, 24 years later,
detective mifflin calls

The woman scott had quickly
moved in with.

They'd broken up,
but she remembers scott well.

- Ken: This is about somebody
that you knew in your past.

- Woman:
His name is scott purk.

Crazy, crazy, horrible
scott purk.

You don't forget when somebody
is that crazy.

That's the craziest person
I ever knew in my life.

- Ken: What did he tell you?

- Woman:
That he k*lled his wife.

- Narrator:
Now, detective mifflin knows

He's on the right track, but
he needs solid proof

If he's going to arrest
scott for m*rder.

- ♪

- Narrator: And then, another
suspicious fire breaks out.

- It was relatively close
to where scott's home was.

- Jim: Gasoline was poured
around the perimeter,

The gas meter
had been disconnected.

I called detective mifflin up,
I said,

"we have another fire
just like purk's."

- Ken: Knowing this fire that
I'm now looking at in 2010

Has the same characters
as scott purk's fire,

I need to find scott purk,
like, right now.

- ♪

- Well, we went over to
the apartment complex

Where he was living.

- Narrator: Scott claims he
never left the house that night.

But they spot some things
that tell another story.

- ♪

- As soon as you entered
the door was a five-gallon,

Red scepter gas can and
a pair of black brahma boots

That were relatively new that
were covered in wet mud.

- So, that was a huge red flag.

- Narrator: They're sure scott
set both fires.

The first for insurance money,

And the second as a diversion.

- Scott purk is a thief, he's
dishonest, and thrill-seeking.

He thought, "I'm going to set
another house on fire

"to make it look like there's
a serial arsonist

"in my neighborhood to try to
throw the police off track,

So they stop looking at me."

- Narrator: In August 2011,
scott purk is arrested

And charged
with two counts of arson.

- It was a great moment
two and a half years later

To arrest the person responsible
for,

You know,
both of the arson fires.

- Narrator: But detective
mifflin isn't done with scott.

- There needs
to be justice for meg.

- Narrator: Detective mifflin
knows there's only one way to

Get the evidence that will solve
the mystery of meg's death.

- The best way to get
more answers is to actually

Exhume meg's body
and do a re-autopsy.

- ♪

- Sherri: The fact remained
that the coroner

Back in 1985 ruled it
a suicide.

No matter how much we believe
that he k*lled her,

Without medical findings
to support that,

We were never gonna
get a conviction.

So, it was critical
that we exhume the body.

- Narrator: A new autopsy
could prove once and for all

Whether meg was m*rder*d.

- Ken:
I spoke with meg's mom.

She said, whatever it takes
to solve this,

You have her blessing.

She said, "I buried my daughter
one time.

"I can't bear to see it again,

But I want you to do
what you can."

That was a tough moment.

- ♪

- Narrator: Detective mifflin
only has

One more person left to tell.

He pays a visit to scott,
who's in custody for the arsons.

- Detective mifflin told him,
"oh by the way, scott,

I wanna let you know we got
a warrant to exhume

Your first wife's body."

- ♪

- And scott purk went
from this arrogant, nonchalant,

"we have everything all wrong"
type attitude

To turning white as a sheet.

- ♪

- And his head went down and
just started shaking his head

No from side to side.

- ♪

- ♪

- Narrator:
On September 21, 2011,

26 years after meg purk
was buried,

Investigators solemnly stand
at the edge of her gravesite.

They hope to uncover evidence
that will either prove

What meg's family and friends
have long believed--

She was m*rder*d--

Or confirm that
she k*lled herself.

- Uh, the day of the exhumation,
it was just very--

A very serious,
a lot a reverence.

- We all did feel bad that
she had to be disturbed.

- It was kind of
a wet time of year.

The area of the cemetery
where her grave was,

Was a low point,
so it was pretty soggy.

They had to lay plywood to get
the backhoe over to the grave.

- It was early morning, there's
nothing else going on

In the cemetery except for
the sound of a backhoe

Digging the hole.

- We were able
to get down to the vault.

- Ken: And we're just watching
this casket being lifted

That's been in the ground
for 26 years, knowing that

She's probably
a victim of a homicide.

It's a very, very somber moment.

- Narrator: The vault is
pulled from the ground,

Along with the first sign
of potential trouble.

- Jim: Water just kept
running out of the vault,

Which gave us a lot of concern,

'cause bodies usually don't
hold up real well

When they're underwater
for any length of time.

- Ken: We thought there might
not be anything left

To re-autopsy, unfortunately,

And this case could be done
with.

- ♪

- Narrator: Will investigators
find the evidence

To prove meg was m*rder*d?

The pathologist unlocks
the casket.

- ♪

- It was a very quiet moment
for everybody.

- It was, ah,
somewhat emotional.

- Narrator: Even though
the casket is full of water,

They're in luck:

Meg purk's body is
miraculously well-preserved.

- Now it's up to the me's office
to see if there's anything

That they can do to find
the evidence

To help the investigation.

- In a hanging, a forensic
pathologist looking for what

The ligature mark looks like
on the neck.

- Typically, the rope will
gather around your neck,

And it creates like a u-shape
pattern going upwards.

There's usually abrasions
on the neck that are caused by,

Uh, the rope tightening up
and pulling the skin.

- That wasn't there.

These marks were straight back.

- They're also looking for if
there's any pattern

Off the ligature.

- Jim:
A half-inch nylon braided rope

Was supposedly used.

That mark was not at all

Of the appearance
of a braided nylon rope.

- ♪

- Narrator: As it turns out,
the braided rope is key

To solving a different mystery.

- The markings above her chest
that the original coroner

Speculated might have been
from a bra, were determined

To be consistent with the rope.

- ♪

- It is believed that he did put
the rope around her

And used it to drag her body.

- ♪

- Narrator:
Turning the body over,

They make another
startling discovery.

- In the center of her back
was a bruise that was about

That big around where someone
would have put their knee

Or their foot to get leverage

To pull straight back
on that ligature.

It breaks your heart to see it,
it really does.

- Narrator: The examination of
the hyoid, or neck bone,

Produces an even bigger shock.

- The original autopsy
mentioned that the hyoid bone

Had been fractured.

- And that it showed that
she had hung herself.

- Narrator: Now the me
re-examines meg's neck.

- They did find some hemorrhage
in the underlying muscles

Around the hyoid bone.

This then became consistent
with the ligature.

So, it was not a hanging
anymore,

It was looking more like
a strangulation.

- ♪

- We thought she was probably
m*rder*d

In some part of the apartment,

And a belt
was used to strangle her,

Then scott purk had to drag her
with a rope

To where the ems found her
at the bottom of the stairs.

But we needed definitive
evidence to charge him.

- ♪

- Narrator: Determined to prove
this theory,

Investigators conduct a series
of reenactments

To recreate the m*rder.

- We went to an apartment close
by to the original crime scene.

We strung a rope

The way the police report
originally indicated in 1985,

And we took a dummy,

And we hung the dummy
from the stairwell.

The rope, you know, climbed up
the back of the neck,

Creating a u-shaped pattern
and caused abrasions

On the actual mannequin's neck.

- Narrator: During the autopsy,

No such markings
were found on meg's neck.

- Narrator: Investigators
test scott's claim that

After cutting meg down, the rope
was so tight on her throat,

He cut it off with a knife.

The recreation shows

That the rope would have been
slack and easy to remove.

It's proof that scott purk
lied about how meg died.

Then the team performs
a second set of reenactments.

- We believed that meg had been
strangled with a belt.

Now we needed to prove it.

- We got some cans, and
we molded clay around the cans.

And then we did impression
marks.

- Ken: Then we literally took
different belts

And cinched them
around the paint can.

The belt marks actually
embedded themselves in the clay

And left marks.

- Those markings were consistent
with the markings on meg's neck.

- Ken: And we were able to
compare that

To the autopsy photos, that was
golden right there.

- She was strangled from behind
with a belt.

- ♪

- This was definitely
a homicide.

This was not a suicide.

- Narrator: And the only person
who could have done it

Was the person on the scene--
scott purk.

- ♪

- Narrator: But all
the evidence is circumstantial.

Detective mifflin
needs a confession.

- ♪

- Narrator: But all the evidence
pointing to scott

Is circumstantial.

Detective mifflin
needs a confession.

- Ken: So you doing alright?
All things considered?

- I went to talk to scott,
because he was already in prison

And I wanted to let him know
where things stood.

I'm here to share
some information with you.

I remember advising you that
we were looking into

The death of your first wife.

- ♪

- ♪

- Narrator: Hoping to get
a confession,

Detective mifflin questions
scott purk in prison

About the death
of his first wife, meg.

- Ken: We had done
an exhumation

Of your wife's body.

The summit county
medical examiner's office

Is changing the manner of death
from suicide to homicide.

Now that it's gonna be
labeled a homicide,

You're actually gonna be
looked at now

For the death of your first wife
and your unborn son.

Do you have anything to say
about that?

- He didn't wanna talk about it.

- Narrator: It's a setback.

They'll have to rely
on the results of the exhumation

To convince a grand jury
to bring charges.

- Ultimately, the grand jury
brought down an indictment

Against scott purk
for the m*rder of meg.

- ♪

- It was just...

Thank god.

- Narrator: But they'll still
need to convince a jury

Scott is to blame.

- ♪

- Mike: There was always, you
know, in the back of my mind:

Is there gonna be
enough evidence?

- ♪

- Narrator: 30 years
after meg purk's death,

Her husband, scott, stands trial
for one count of m*rder.

- The letter meg wrote
to her grandmother

Was very powerful.

You could
just feel the excitement

To deliver her baby.

- Narrator: The cornerstone of
the prosecution's case

Is the forensic evidence
uncovered after the exhumation.

- If we had not exhumed
meg purk's body,

We would have never been able
to prove

That this was a strangulation
and not a hanging.

Thankfully, meg purk's body
was well preserved.

No matter that 30 years
had passed, we were still able

To see evidence of
strangulation.

- Narrator: The recreations
confirm

The exhumation's findings.

- The jurors could see
with their own eyes

That scott's story
didn't make sense.

- Narrator:
As the evidence piles up,

Scott's demeanor
never changes.

- Sherri: Mostly, he just
sat there looking smug.

I mean, frankly, he got away
with it for 30 years,

So probably running through
his mind was,

"I'm still gonna get away with
it, because I'm so smart,

And I'm so much more clever
than the rest of you."

- Narrator: The jury doesn't
take long

To come back with a verdict:

Guilty.

- And it was like, finally...

It's actually,
really happening.

- It takes a special type
of coward to m*rder

Your pregnant wife and then
make everybody believe

That it was really a suicide.

That's horrible.

- It was just this overall
kind of sense of peace...

You know?

- Narrator: Scott is sentenced
to 15 years to life for m*rder,

On top of the 28 years
for the 2 arsons,

Means he'll most likely
never be released.

- ♪

- Sherri: In addition to
being,

Frankly, a cold-blooded k*ller,

He's a thief, he's dishonest.

Clearly, there's something
very wrong with scott purk.

I believe that
he had the mindset

That he can do
whatever he wanted,

And he could get away with it,
he wouldn't get caught.

Those types of criminals
are really scary,

And he belongs in prison.

- Narrator: Investigators know
they've put away a robber,

An arsonist, and a k*ller.

One who got away with m*rder
for 30 years,

But not any longer.

- Ken: The exhumation
in this case was crucial.


us from the grave,

"hey, I didn't k*ll myself."

You know, "I didn't k*ll
myself, scott did it."

- Finally, meg had got her say
and people had listened.

- Narrator: Now her loved ones
are left to imagine

"what could have been."

- Meg would be--she'd be
a writer.

She'd have books
on the bestseller list.

- Mike: Meg probably would of
been a very hands-on mom.

Very coddling.

- Dawn:
She'd be living the life.

And I'd be like, "I know her.

[laughs]
I know her."

- ♪