Save the Child

Imagine you’re a police detective. You’re called to the home of a 41-year-old deceased woman. The first thing you see is the deceased woman surrounded by rose petals. Your first thought is of a jilted lover, right? Wrong.

The woman had been going through a contentious divorce, battling for custody of her and her ex-husband’s nine-year-old daughter. She had moved on from the Ex and was engaged at the time of her death.

As is often the case, the ex-husband and the fiancé being the first suspected of having committed the crime. Both had alibis.

Shortly after the murder, at a press conference, the county sheriff said about the setting,

“It was a very brutal crime scene.”

Her 65-year-old ex-husband had a friend, who was a Juilliard-trained pianist who played Beethoven sonatas in concert halls.

Initially, no one knew the ex-husband talked nonstop with his young friend about his fear that his daughter was in danger living with the ex-wife. The ex-husband feared his daughter was being sexually abused at his ex-wife’s home. He asked his friend, the pianist, to kill his ex-wife and offered him $5,000 to do it. The friend felt insulted because the ex-husband considered him someone who would kill a person.

A few weeks later, the ex-husband offered his friend $10,000 to kill the ex-wife. The friend said no amount of money would tempt him to kill someone. But then, for weeks, he thought about the daughter and the claim of sexual abuse. He decided that killing her was the only way to save the child. So, he did. A bouquet of roses the ploy to get inside the ex-wife’s home. Upon entering, he began stabbing her and dropped the roses. Rose petals scattered around the room as she fought him.

He left DNA evidence behind. A neighbor’s camera caught him entering and exiting the house, and law enforcement identified his license plate at her home.

They arrested the 33-year-old pianist and charged him with the murder of his friend’s ex-wife, who he didn’t know. At first, like most criminals, he claimed not guilty. On the eighth day of his trial, he took the stand and admitted he had killed the woman to protect the daughter. During his testimony, he told the jury about his friend offering him money to kill the ex-wife. The judge warned him not to lay claim of sexual abuse. Disregarding the judge’s warning, he said he believed it was his duty to ‘save the child’ and that he was absolutely convinced she was being abused.

The jury found him guilty of murder. The judge sentenced him to life in prison.

The court did not allow the sharing of the evidence found during the search of the ex-wife’s home, which showed the woman and her fiancé were involved in child pornography. There were videos and photos found. The child porn included photos and videos of the daughter’s friend who’d stay at the ex-wife’s home with the daughter. The couple photographed and recorded the daughter’s friend in various stages of undress and nude. The evidence showed the ex-wife in the photos and videos, making it clear there was sexual abuse going on in the home.

The authorities arrested the ex-wife’s fiancé on child sexual abuse charges and the family of the girl in the photos and videos is suing the fiancé. At the time of this post, the court had not set his trial date.

Based on what was learned at the pianist's trial, the authorities arrested the ex-husband on charges relating to a murder-for-hire proposal. At the time of this post, the court has not yet set his trial date.

Source: People, Law & Crime, Independent, CBS affiliate 7 News-WSPA

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