1 00:00:02,413 --> 00:00:04,655 [dramatic music playing] 2 00:00:20,482 --> 00:00:22,344 [ticking] 3 00:00:24,206 --> 00:00:27,068 [plinking] 4 00:00:27,517 --> 00:00:28,965 [ticking continues] 5 00:00:32,689 --> 00:00:34,551 [phone ringing] 6 00:00:39,275 --> 00:00:40,862 [phone continues ringing] 7 00:00:50,103 --> 00:00:51,896 [ringing continues] 8 00:00:51,896 --> 00:00:53,965 -[plinking continues] -[ticking continues] 9 00:01:34,723 --> 00:01:37,172 [Christy Sanger] I moved to Rockford, Illinois 10 00:01:37,172 --> 00:01:42,482 in the beginning of October of 1994, 11 00:01:42,482 --> 00:01:45,275 and it was a wonderful place 12 00:01:45,275 --> 00:01:47,068 to live for a short period of time. 13 00:01:48,517 --> 00:01:50,103 I had a great job, 14 00:01:50,103 --> 00:01:52,000 I met great people, 15 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:54,689 and that was when I first met Barbara. 16 00:01:56,172 --> 00:01:58,723 [Corina Curry] Barbara Purcell was an occupational therapist, 17 00:01:58,723 --> 00:02:00,275 that was her profession, 18 00:02:00,275 --> 00:02:01,517 and that kind of carried over 19 00:02:01,517 --> 00:02:02,689 into her personality. 20 00:02:02,689 --> 00:02:03,689 She just had 21 00:02:03,689 --> 00:02:05,172 a very caring personality. 22 00:02:05,172 --> 00:02:07,482 She was a very kind person. 23 00:02:07,482 --> 00:02:09,655 [Sheldon Bird] Barbara is my younger sister. 24 00:02:10,068 --> 00:02:11,896 In our family, uh, 25 00:02:11,896 --> 00:02:13,862 Barbara was always called Lorrie. 26 00:02:14,689 --> 00:02:17,620 My first memory of Lorrie, 27 00:02:17,620 --> 00:02:21,275 I was looking at her in a crib, 28 00:02:21,275 --> 00:02:23,551 the sun was shining down on her, 29 00:02:24,103 --> 00:02:26,689 and she had this red curly hair, 30 00:02:26,689 --> 00:02:28,620 and, even at that age, 31 00:02:28,620 --> 00:02:30,793 I, I just looked at her and I thought, 32 00:02:30,793 --> 00:02:33,793 "My God, she looks like an angel!" [chuckles] 33 00:02:35,689 --> 00:02:37,482 She was just a smart girl. 34 00:02:37,482 --> 00:02:40,965 And she was also very strong. 35 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:43,517 We were very proud of her 36 00:02:43,517 --> 00:02:46,448 for what she had accomplished in her life. 37 00:02:53,896 --> 00:02:55,586 [Christy] Barbara and I worked together 38 00:02:55,586 --> 00:02:58,379 at Rockford Memorial Hospital. 39 00:02:58,379 --> 00:03:03,586 The thing that I remember most clearly about Barbara, 40 00:03:03,586 --> 00:03:06,896 before I had really became friendly with her, 41 00:03:06,896 --> 00:03:11,586 is her walking down the hospital hallways in her white coat. 42 00:03:12,482 --> 00:03:14,586 She had beautiful long red hair, 43 00:03:14,586 --> 00:03:16,275 and she was always looking down, 44 00:03:16,275 --> 00:03:19,000 she was always lost in her thoughts. 45 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:21,586 Uh, she was a very, very private person. 46 00:03:24,482 --> 00:03:27,793 She appeared to have an extremely hard 47 00:03:27,793 --> 00:03:30,551 protective shell covering her. 48 00:03:31,724 --> 00:03:34,793 But when I broke through that outer shell, 49 00:03:34,793 --> 00:03:37,000 I discovered that she was the most 50 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:40,379 loving, caring, sensitive person 51 00:03:40,379 --> 00:03:42,034 probably that I had ever met. 52 00:03:46,310 --> 00:03:48,758 [gentle music playing] 53 00:03:52,517 --> 00:03:55,896 Before she started her career as an occupational therapist, 54 00:03:55,896 --> 00:03:59,275 Barbara was a waitress in a restaurant 55 00:03:59,275 --> 00:04:02,896 in Oklahoma when she met Willard. 56 00:04:02,896 --> 00:04:07,724 My understanding was that Willard travelled around fixing printing presses. 57 00:04:07,724 --> 00:04:13,172 But he frequently visited the restaurant where Lorrie was a waitress 58 00:04:13,172 --> 00:04:16,481 and eventually they became a couple, 59 00:04:16,481 --> 00:04:20,620 got married and moved to Rockford. 60 00:04:20,620 --> 00:04:23,793 Willard and Barbara had been married for several years. 61 00:04:23,793 --> 00:04:28,000 He had a good job. Um, Willard worked for a long time 62 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:32,103 in another community for a manufacturing company. 63 00:04:32,103 --> 00:04:37,310 He was quiet. Willard was always very polite. 64 00:04:37,310 --> 00:04:39,620 And he would answer your question, 65 00:04:39,620 --> 00:04:41,896 but he was always on the outskirts, 66 00:04:41,896 --> 00:04:46,068 just in his own world, in his own thoughts, separate. 67 00:04:46,689 --> 00:04:49,000 But seeing them together, 68 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:52,724 there were things that I could understand 69 00:04:52,724 --> 00:04:54,620 that had brought them together. 70 00:04:54,620 --> 00:04:58,000 In many ways they were very similar. 71 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:02,206 They were both very private. They were both very protective. 72 00:05:02,206 --> 00:05:05,517 They both loved nature and their outdoor space 73 00:05:05,517 --> 00:05:09,965 and being in their home, away from other people. 74 00:05:13,517 --> 00:05:15,862 [suspenseful music playing] 75 00:05:17,206 --> 00:05:19,551 [medical equipment beeping] 76 00:05:22,206 --> 00:05:26,000 My memory of June 6th, 2001, 77 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:27,793 it was a very sad day. 78 00:05:27,793 --> 00:05:30,000 Barbara had not shown up for work, 79 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:33,000 which was not her personality at all. 80 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:35,793 If, for some reason, she could not fulfill an obligation, 81 00:05:35,793 --> 00:05:36,758 she let you know. 82 00:05:38,482 --> 00:05:41,172 At that point, I knew that there was 83 00:05:41,172 --> 00:05:42,241 something wrong. 84 00:05:53,103 --> 00:05:55,448 [phone ringing] 85 00:05:58,620 --> 00:06:01,379 -[car door closing] -[phone continues ringing] 86 00:06:01,379 --> 00:06:06,793 [indistinct radio chatter] 87 00:06:06,793 --> 00:06:09,448 -[doorbell rings] -[phone ringing] 88 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:13,758 [doorbell rings] 89 00:06:15,620 --> 00:06:17,068 [phone ringing] 90 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:21,793 [indistinct radio chatter continues] 91 00:06:23,275 --> 00:06:25,068 [phone ringing] 92 00:06:30,482 --> 00:06:32,068 I was a sergeant 93 00:06:32,068 --> 00:06:33,896 with the Winnebago County Sheriff's Office 94 00:06:33,896 --> 00:06:35,965 and Supervisor in the Detective Bureau. 95 00:06:37,310 --> 00:06:40,310 Initially our deputies were dispatched to the house 96 00:06:40,310 --> 00:06:42,586 for what we call a welfare check. 97 00:06:44,103 --> 00:06:46,896 It was in rural Winnebago County 98 00:06:46,896 --> 00:06:50,000 and it's a ranch-style home. 99 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:52,068 From the front, it looks like a single level, 100 00:06:52,068 --> 00:06:53,586 but as you go around to the back, 101 00:06:53,586 --> 00:06:55,000 it's an exposed basement, 102 00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:57,000 so it looks like a two-story home 103 00:06:57,000 --> 00:07:01,103 and in front of the house, it looked fairly normal. 104 00:07:01,103 --> 00:07:03,379 There was no telltale signs 105 00:07:03,379 --> 00:07:05,551 that there was any problems inside. 106 00:07:18,172 --> 00:07:20,275 There was a storm door on the outside. 107 00:07:20,275 --> 00:07:22,517 You could see that the inner door 108 00:07:22,517 --> 00:07:24,896 to the home wasn't shut completely. 109 00:07:24,896 --> 00:07:27,965 [indistinct radio chatter continues] 110 00:07:38,068 --> 00:07:40,344 [phone ringing] 111 00:07:52,379 --> 00:07:56,344 [Det. Kurt Ditzler] They discovered a white female who was deceased. 112 00:08:01,275 --> 00:08:05,068 Part of her body was in the landing area in the basement, 113 00:08:05,068 --> 00:08:08,103 and her legs were kinda up the stairway 114 00:08:08,103 --> 00:08:10,862 towards the main level of the home. 115 00:08:32,379 --> 00:08:34,068 Rocco Wagner, I was the lead detective 116 00:08:34,068 --> 00:08:35,586 assigned to the case. 117 00:08:40,724 --> 00:08:42,413 When I arrived, I could see that 118 00:08:42,413 --> 00:08:44,482 she had, uh, blood on the back of her head, 119 00:08:44,482 --> 00:08:47,517 so some type of, uh, blunt force trauma. 120 00:08:47,517 --> 00:08:51,689 And there was blood spatter on the walls and the stairs. 121 00:08:56,517 --> 00:08:58,275 My name is Margie O'Connor 122 00:08:58,275 --> 00:09:01,275 and I was the lead prosecutor on the case. 123 00:09:01,275 --> 00:09:05,000 Her injuries to her head were consistent 124 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:08,000 with an object such as a flashlight, 125 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:11,172 and then they found a flashlight in the home 126 00:09:11,172 --> 00:09:13,965 that actually had her DNA on it. 127 00:09:15,793 --> 00:09:18,620 [Det. Ditzler] It seemed to be a pretty violent scene. 128 00:09:18,620 --> 00:09:20,379 It was a finished basement, 129 00:09:20,379 --> 00:09:23,103 carpeted, the walls were finished. 130 00:09:23,103 --> 00:09:25,448 They had it set up as an office area. 131 00:09:26,310 --> 00:09:28,379 There was a broken window. 132 00:09:28,379 --> 00:09:31,379 And there was a display case 133 00:09:31,379 --> 00:09:35,793 coffee table with a glass top and some drawers in it, 134 00:09:35,793 --> 00:09:39,689 and the drawers were pulled out and they were empty, 135 00:09:39,689 --> 00:09:42,586 so it looked like maybe something had been taken. 136 00:09:44,172 --> 00:09:48,172 It also appeared that she could have been the victim of a sexual assault 137 00:09:48,172 --> 00:09:51,000 because her undergarments were removed 138 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:53,482 and her dress was pulled up. 139 00:09:55,379 --> 00:09:58,172 There appeared to have been a struggle. 140 00:10:00,103 --> 00:10:04,620 The type of force that was evident showed how violent it was 141 00:10:04,620 --> 00:10:06,551 and how she fought for her life. 142 00:10:09,689 --> 00:10:11,965 [radio chatter continues] 143 00:10:15,793 --> 00:10:19,448 Dad called me up and he said that Lorrie was murdered. 144 00:10:21,689 --> 00:10:23,758 And I just remember saying, 145 00:10:24,310 --> 00:10:25,586 "Why not me?" 146 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:30,413 And he said that he had said the same thing 147 00:10:30,413 --> 00:10:31,965 when he was told. 148 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:36,965 I think either one of us would have just traded places, 149 00:10:38,896 --> 00:10:40,034 no problem. 150 00:10:43,275 --> 00:10:46,000 [Christy] I received the call on that day 151 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:49,000 from another mutual friend, with details 152 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:51,344 that Barbara had been found 153 00:10:52,275 --> 00:10:54,275 dead at the bottom of the stairs 154 00:10:54,275 --> 00:10:55,793 in their basement. 155 00:10:58,896 --> 00:11:03,172 And words cannot describe... 156 00:11:04,724 --> 00:11:05,965 how I felt. 157 00:11:10,103 --> 00:11:11,655 I felt sadness, 158 00:11:12,413 --> 00:11:13,724 I felt anger. 159 00:11:13,724 --> 00:11:16,379 I felt a lot of anger. 160 00:11:16,379 --> 00:11:19,862 How could this happen to such a great person? 161 00:11:35,172 --> 00:11:38,724 So, at any homicide scene, you do a search of the house 162 00:11:38,724 --> 00:11:40,310 and then you do a grid search, 163 00:11:40,310 --> 00:11:43,896 meaning sections, so you cover everything 164 00:11:43,896 --> 00:11:46,275 on the property where the crime was committed, 165 00:11:46,275 --> 00:11:49,862 adjacent properties, possible escape routes. 166 00:11:51,275 --> 00:11:53,689 And during that grid search we found tire tracks... 167 00:11:56,896 --> 00:12:01,793 about 75 yards in a wooded area west of the house. 168 00:12:07,482 --> 00:12:10,586 [Det. Ditzler] When we found the tire tracks, they were able to do 169 00:12:10,586 --> 00:12:12,275 what's called the plaster cast, 170 00:12:12,275 --> 00:12:14,482 where plaster is put into the impression 171 00:12:14,482 --> 00:12:16,620 and then it's allowed to harden 172 00:12:16,620 --> 00:12:20,689 and then it's pulled up and sent to the crime lab. 173 00:12:20,689 --> 00:12:25,103 After that, we started doing a neighborhood check, neighborhood canvas, 174 00:12:25,103 --> 00:12:27,103 just to see if we could find out from neighbors 175 00:12:27,103 --> 00:12:29,896 if they knew anything, saw anything suspicious, 176 00:12:29,896 --> 00:12:32,965 or anything that might aid us in our investigation. 177 00:12:44,793 --> 00:12:50,206 So, of course, you look at the spouse first in something like this, 178 00:12:50,206 --> 00:12:53,068 and you wanna eliminate that person or put him into it. 179 00:12:55,482 --> 00:12:59,620 So we attempted to locate him at his brother's house, couldn't find him, 180 00:12:59,620 --> 00:13:01,620 at work, couldn't find him. 181 00:13:01,620 --> 00:13:04,862 We put an attempt-to-locate out on him to the squads. 182 00:13:06,482 --> 00:13:09,000 But we kept an open mind and checked other things. 183 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:13,000 We checked any sex offenders released recently in the area. 184 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:15,379 We checked area burglaries, 185 00:13:15,379 --> 00:13:19,172 suspicious vehicle stops, car stops, things like that. 186 00:13:21,517 --> 00:13:23,551 But something was off with it. 187 00:13:25,724 --> 00:13:28,793 As far as, uh, physical evidence at the scene, 188 00:13:28,793 --> 00:13:31,620 and the pieces there just didn't fit together. 189 00:13:31,620 --> 00:13:33,448 Something just didn't make sense. 190 00:13:45,482 --> 00:13:48,655 [eerie music playing] 191 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:03,965 [clock ticking] 192 00:14:11,310 --> 00:14:12,655 [keys jingling] 193 00:14:19,793 --> 00:14:21,137 [exhales] 194 00:14:24,482 --> 00:14:26,379 [phone ringing] 195 00:14:33,310 --> 00:14:36,068 We presume that Barbara was murdered 196 00:14:36,068 --> 00:14:37,482 after she got home from work 197 00:14:37,482 --> 00:14:40,103 the night before she was found dead. 198 00:14:40,103 --> 00:14:43,068 We think someone was in the house, in the kitchen, 199 00:14:43,068 --> 00:14:45,689 and when she walked in, he came up behind her 200 00:14:45,689 --> 00:14:49,068 and hit her the first time near the top of the stairs. 201 00:14:49,689 --> 00:14:51,310 [screaming] 202 00:14:51,310 --> 00:14:54,310 Then two more times as she was falling down the stairs. 203 00:14:54,310 --> 00:14:56,206 [Det. Ditzler] We had a blood-spatter expert 204 00:14:56,206 --> 00:14:58,793 on the Rockford Police Department. 205 00:14:58,793 --> 00:15:03,896 He could tell from looking at the different spatter patterns 206 00:15:03,896 --> 00:15:06,103 that, uh, it appeared to be a minimum of 207 00:15:06,103 --> 00:15:07,310 three different 208 00:15:07,310 --> 00:15:09,000 actions of striking. 209 00:15:11,103 --> 00:15:15,862 So we were pretty confident then that we had a pretty violent confrontation 210 00:15:15,862 --> 00:15:17,655 that took place in the stairway. 211 00:15:22,862 --> 00:15:26,482 We interviewed the housekeeper and she said that 212 00:15:26,482 --> 00:15:29,000 some of Barbara's jewelry was missing 213 00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:30,862 and the wedding ring was gone. 214 00:15:30,862 --> 00:15:33,862 There was also some coins missing from the basement den. 215 00:15:33,862 --> 00:15:37,793 They were in a glass coffee table, which was in disarray. 216 00:15:37,793 --> 00:15:41,000 So the way the, the homicide scene laid out, 217 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:43,275 it appeared that a burglary had occurred 218 00:15:43,275 --> 00:15:45,206 as well as a sexual assault 219 00:15:45,206 --> 00:15:47,000 but it-- Generally, you don't do both. 220 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:50,000 It's, it's, a burglar is in the house to steal things, 221 00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:51,862 somebody comes in, they run. 222 00:15:51,862 --> 00:15:55,068 They don't confront the person and then turn into a rapist. 223 00:15:55,068 --> 00:15:56,758 It just didn't make sense. 224 00:16:00,068 --> 00:16:02,482 She was on the bottom of the stairs, 225 00:16:02,965 --> 00:16:05,172 face down, head down, 226 00:16:05,172 --> 00:16:06,896 with her garments pulled down, 227 00:16:06,896 --> 00:16:10,137 that's not a position for a sexual assault to occur. 228 00:16:11,275 --> 00:16:13,482 And I could see the glass on the outer door 229 00:16:13,482 --> 00:16:17,000 wasn't broken in as a burglary would happen. 230 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:19,482 [Det. Ditzler] Broken glass was between the threshold 231 00:16:19,482 --> 00:16:23,310 of the storm door and the exterior door to the house. 232 00:16:23,310 --> 00:16:26,000 If it would have been somebody breaking in 233 00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:30,310 using something to break the window to get in the house, 234 00:16:30,310 --> 00:16:34,000 the glass would've gone to the inside of the house, 235 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:35,655 on the inside of the door. 236 00:16:36,689 --> 00:16:39,896 Where that vehicle was that left the tire tracks, 237 00:16:39,896 --> 00:16:43,206 it would be hidden from any neighbors and hidden from any traffic. 238 00:16:43,206 --> 00:16:47,310 A person hides their vehicle if it's premeditated and planned. 239 00:16:47,310 --> 00:16:50,448 So we had a homicide there and... 240 00:16:51,689 --> 00:16:54,862 it was staged to look like something else, I thought. 241 00:17:02,206 --> 00:17:04,310 We still had custody of the house, 242 00:17:04,310 --> 00:17:06,792 and we wanted to take the computer, 243 00:17:06,792 --> 00:17:09,792 and that was in the basement where she was found dead, 244 00:17:09,792 --> 00:17:12,103 and, in going to unhook the computer, 245 00:17:12,103 --> 00:17:15,378 there was a wire going up to the drop ceiling, 246 00:17:16,205 --> 00:17:18,378 so I got up, moved the drop ceiling... 247 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:29,310 And up in the drop ceiling, 248 00:17:29,310 --> 00:17:32,275 I found some pornographic magazines, 249 00:17:32,275 --> 00:17:35,896 pornographic, uh, tapes and her life insurance policy, 250 00:17:35,896 --> 00:17:38,103 hidden away with porn. 251 00:17:38,103 --> 00:17:41,586 I, I can't imagine anything odder than that. 252 00:17:41,586 --> 00:17:44,896 And in the insurance policy, her husband, Willard Purcell, 253 00:17:44,896 --> 00:17:46,551 was listed as the beneficiary of it. 254 00:17:56,586 --> 00:17:58,000 [indistinct radio chatter] 255 00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:00,586 [Det. Ditzler] We had a reason to at least speak 256 00:18:00,586 --> 00:18:02,793 with her husband, Willard, 257 00:18:02,793 --> 00:18:06,896 and a deputy had been driving on the east side of Rockford 258 00:18:06,896 --> 00:18:11,793 and just so happened to see Willard Purcell right in front of him 259 00:18:11,793 --> 00:18:15,103 and made a traffic stop, and when he did that, 260 00:18:15,103 --> 00:18:16,586 we asked him to detain him 261 00:18:16,586 --> 00:18:18,896 and bring him to the police station. 262 00:18:18,896 --> 00:18:22,000 He was kind of standoffish right from the beginning. 263 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:23,793 I think he made some comment about, 264 00:18:23,793 --> 00:18:27,896 "What is she saying about me now?" or something like that. 265 00:18:27,896 --> 00:18:31,896 [Det. Rocco Wagner] So myself and Detective Reno interviewed Mr. Purcell, 266 00:18:31,896 --> 00:18:36,482 and in the interview room, we first went over his activities, where he was, 267 00:18:36,482 --> 00:18:40,482 backtracking the days and particularly that day. 268 00:18:42,206 --> 00:18:45,000 Willard told our detectives that he had been working, 269 00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:48,482 uh, in Naperville, Illinois, which is a suburb of Chicago 270 00:18:48,482 --> 00:18:51,310 about 90 miles east of Rockford, 271 00:18:51,310 --> 00:18:54,586 and that he worked until later in the day that day, 272 00:18:54,586 --> 00:18:58,586 and when he came home, he went to his brother's house where he was staying. 273 00:18:58,586 --> 00:19:03,275 [Det. Wagner] He was very flippant, really didn't care 274 00:19:04,068 --> 00:19:06,068 what happened, what we were there for. 275 00:19:06,068 --> 00:19:07,896 And he said something like, 276 00:19:07,896 --> 00:19:10,965 "What did she say that I did this time?" 277 00:19:10,965 --> 00:19:13,689 And we finally told him his wife was dead 278 00:19:13,689 --> 00:19:16,482 and, uh, that we thought that he was involved. 279 00:19:16,482 --> 00:19:19,000 He became a little more, 280 00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:23,586 I think, concerned about maybe what kind of trouble he could be in 281 00:19:23,586 --> 00:19:25,689 and that he was gonna look like a suspect. 282 00:19:25,689 --> 00:19:28,068 And he kinda ended the interview 283 00:19:28,068 --> 00:19:31,068 with the detectives by asking for an attorney. 284 00:19:41,689 --> 00:19:45,862 So we talked to some of Barbara's coworkers 285 00:19:45,862 --> 00:19:49,379 and she had some close friends she confided in them that, 286 00:19:49,379 --> 00:19:51,482 that there were some marital problems. 287 00:19:52,482 --> 00:19:56,000 [Christy] I had never seen any signs from Willard 288 00:19:56,000 --> 00:19:58,482 to suggest that he was capable 289 00:19:58,482 --> 00:20:01,896 of something this awful. 290 00:20:01,896 --> 00:20:07,586 But I feel as if they had reached a point in their relationship 291 00:20:07,586 --> 00:20:11,379 that there is almost a block between the two of them. 292 00:20:11,379 --> 00:20:13,000 Some sort of barricade. 293 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:14,896 You knew that they were together, 294 00:20:14,896 --> 00:20:17,482 but there wasn't any emotion, 295 00:20:17,482 --> 00:20:19,965 there wasn't any hand holding, 296 00:20:19,965 --> 00:20:22,275 there wasn't any hugging, 297 00:20:22,275 --> 00:20:24,793 and there wasn't much eye contact. 298 00:20:24,793 --> 00:20:29,172 But I remember them being comfortable together 299 00:20:29,172 --> 00:20:31,379 with a barrier between the two. 300 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:38,034 And then Barbara started her additional hand therapy training, 301 00:20:38,413 --> 00:20:43,689 1999 into 2000. 302 00:20:43,689 --> 00:20:48,586 So she started travelling out of town to take her classes 303 00:20:48,586 --> 00:20:50,689 and having to stay overnight 304 00:20:50,689 --> 00:20:54,413 and she was spending more time than usual away from home. 305 00:20:54,413 --> 00:20:59,310 I think that was the beginning of the real downhill 306 00:20:59,310 --> 00:21:04,793 and Willard didn't trust her being away for so long. 307 00:21:04,793 --> 00:21:08,793 [Corina] Police had learned the relationship was very volatile 308 00:21:08,793 --> 00:21:11,137 in the months leading up to her death. 309 00:21:11,482 --> 00:21:12,689 They were fighting 310 00:21:12,689 --> 00:21:15,172 and they were splitting up, 311 00:21:15,172 --> 00:21:17,379 and we learned, 312 00:21:17,379 --> 00:21:21,586 in one of their fights, that they were fighting over 313 00:21:21,586 --> 00:21:23,586 Barbara getting her own cell phone 314 00:21:23,586 --> 00:21:27,000 and Willard just being very upset, 315 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:28,482 you know, demanding to know, 316 00:21:28,482 --> 00:21:30,482 "Why do you have a cell phone?" 317 00:21:34,586 --> 00:21:37,379 [Det. Ditzler] We found out that they were sleeping in separate bedrooms. 318 00:21:37,379 --> 00:21:40,000 Willard would get a phone call on his cell phone, 319 00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:41,965 he would go outside in the yard, 320 00:21:41,965 --> 00:21:44,482 talk on the phone and then come back in. 321 00:21:44,482 --> 00:21:46,413 But then she would get phone calls 322 00:21:46,413 --> 00:21:48,586 and she would leave the house and she'd be out in the yard 323 00:21:48,586 --> 00:21:50,172 talking on her phone. 324 00:21:50,172 --> 00:21:52,000 They were, I think, suspicious 325 00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:54,137 of one another of having affairs. 326 00:21:55,310 --> 00:21:58,172 [Det. Wagner] We did a phone study on her home phone 327 00:21:58,172 --> 00:22:01,862 and one thing was a number called to her house... 328 00:22:02,310 --> 00:22:04,689 [phone ringing] 329 00:22:04,689 --> 00:22:08,482 ...I think two times the night of the murder 330 00:22:08,482 --> 00:22:12,275 and then several times going back a couple of days, 331 00:22:12,275 --> 00:22:15,862 and that phone number was not registered to her husband, Willard. 332 00:22:15,862 --> 00:22:18,000 [phone ringing] 333 00:22:18,586 --> 00:22:20,689 We felt it could be 334 00:22:20,689 --> 00:22:24,000 a person trying to set her up, see if she was home or not. 335 00:22:25,206 --> 00:22:27,172 [phone ringing] 336 00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:30,586 [Det. Ditzler] It would be a strange coincidence 337 00:22:30,586 --> 00:22:32,586 that these phone calls were made 338 00:22:32,586 --> 00:22:35,655 at about the same time Barbara was being attacked. 339 00:22:43,103 --> 00:22:45,206 So that drew our suspicion. 340 00:22:45,206 --> 00:22:46,793 I don't believe in coincidences. 341 00:22:46,793 --> 00:22:48,655 [phone ringing] 342 00:22:51,896 --> 00:22:54,655 [continues ringing] 343 00:23:15,689 --> 00:23:17,862 [phone ringing] 344 00:23:28,379 --> 00:23:30,862 [phone ringing] 345 00:23:33,137 --> 00:23:34,862 [Det. Ditzler] The night the murder occurred 346 00:23:34,862 --> 00:23:37,689 there was a series of two or three phone calls 347 00:23:37,689 --> 00:23:39,689 made to Barbara Purcell, 348 00:23:39,689 --> 00:23:41,379 kind of a short period of time, 349 00:23:41,379 --> 00:23:42,896 but close to one another 350 00:23:42,896 --> 00:23:45,586 from the same origin phone, 351 00:23:45,586 --> 00:23:49,758 so we tracked that back to a guy named Willie Brown. 352 00:23:50,758 --> 00:23:52,793 [Det. Wagner] We did a background check on him. 353 00:23:52,793 --> 00:23:57,000 He had no arrests. He was not wanted on any warrants. 354 00:23:57,000 --> 00:23:59,965 And there was no connection to Barbara Purcell. 355 00:23:59,965 --> 00:24:02,482 We didn't know why he was calling her. 356 00:24:02,482 --> 00:24:04,586 But his phone is calling her phone 357 00:24:04,586 --> 00:24:06,793 several times, six, seven times, 358 00:24:06,793 --> 00:24:09,379 leading up to the time of the murder. 359 00:24:09,379 --> 00:24:12,344 We picked him up, brought him to the station for an interview. 360 00:24:13,275 --> 00:24:16,103 [dramatic music playing] 361 00:24:19,965 --> 00:24:22,137 And his phone is calling her phone 362 00:24:22,137 --> 00:24:24,034 several times, six, seven times, 363 00:24:24,034 --> 00:24:26,172 leading up to the time of the murder. 364 00:24:27,896 --> 00:24:29,275 But Willie Brown just, uh, said 365 00:24:29,275 --> 00:24:30,689 he didn't know Barbara, 366 00:24:30,689 --> 00:24:31,793 he never called her, 367 00:24:31,793 --> 00:24:33,000 had no reason to call her. 368 00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:36,379 And we showed him the records, 369 00:24:36,379 --> 00:24:38,172 he verified that was his phone, 370 00:24:38,172 --> 00:24:40,137 and he said if it's coming from his phone, 371 00:24:40,137 --> 00:24:42,896 it must be a wrong number. But it's hard to buy 372 00:24:42,896 --> 00:24:45,965 since he did it six, seven, eight times, 373 00:24:45,965 --> 00:24:47,758 kept calling the same number. 374 00:24:49,689 --> 00:24:52,448 [phone ringing] 375 00:24:54,655 --> 00:24:57,000 And this was going on and on, this interview, 376 00:24:57,000 --> 00:24:59,137 him saying he had no idea what it was, 377 00:24:59,137 --> 00:25:01,689 us saying, "It's here on paper. 378 00:25:01,689 --> 00:25:03,862 You have to explain this somehow." 379 00:25:06,379 --> 00:25:07,965 He was racking his brain. 380 00:25:07,965 --> 00:25:10,034 And it took a while, but then he finally remembered 381 00:25:10,034 --> 00:25:12,379 he was calling some type of ad in the paper. 382 00:25:12,379 --> 00:25:14,896 And we got the newspaper and we saw the number. 383 00:25:14,896 --> 00:25:17,137 He had inverted the last two numbers, 384 00:25:17,137 --> 00:25:18,896 which explained the whole thing. 385 00:25:18,896 --> 00:25:23,034 So that was a very unfortunate coincidence for Mr. Brown. 386 00:25:23,034 --> 00:25:26,000 We felt bad about it, but we had to get the answers. 387 00:25:28,862 --> 00:25:31,344 [Margie O'Connor] They were able to eliminate him as a suspect. 388 00:25:34,275 --> 00:25:36,172 Well, I guess, when I think about that, 389 00:25:36,172 --> 00:25:37,241 I think about, 390 00:25:37,241 --> 00:25:39,137 did one of his calls 391 00:25:39,137 --> 00:25:42,310 cause the person who murdered her to panic a little bit? 392 00:25:44,241 --> 00:25:46,896 Did it cause them to make mistakes? 393 00:25:46,896 --> 00:25:49,827 Because it was clear that someone had planned this. 394 00:25:52,137 --> 00:25:57,241 Willie Brown was the only person on our radar besides, uh, Willard. 395 00:25:57,241 --> 00:25:59,482 And then we found out that her husband, Willard, 396 00:25:59,482 --> 00:26:02,655 was arrested the week before of the murder. 397 00:26:03,793 --> 00:26:06,482 [Christy] Barbara was in the garage in their home. 398 00:26:06,482 --> 00:26:08,275 She was leaving her house 399 00:26:08,275 --> 00:26:09,758 early in the morning. 400 00:26:11,241 --> 00:26:13,965 Willard jumped out from a hidden location 401 00:26:13,965 --> 00:26:15,689 and tased her with a stun gun. 402 00:26:15,689 --> 00:26:17,034 There was no argument, 403 00:26:17,034 --> 00:26:20,655 it was a complete attack, a complete ambush. 404 00:26:32,655 --> 00:26:35,241 [suspenseful music playing] 405 00:26:40,965 --> 00:26:43,103 [door creaking] 406 00:27:08,793 --> 00:27:10,310 -[crackling] -[screams] 407 00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:14,551 [crackling] 408 00:27:24,482 --> 00:27:28,241 After the incident, she got in her car 409 00:27:28,241 --> 00:27:33,586 and drove to the hospital and saw a doctor to document 410 00:27:33,586 --> 00:27:38,000 that, in fact, she had stun gun wounds on her neck. 411 00:27:39,896 --> 00:27:42,482 Willard, as a result of that, was charged 412 00:27:42,482 --> 00:27:45,448 with a domestic battery and he was taken to jail. 413 00:27:46,896 --> 00:27:49,000 It probably took him a day or two to bond out, 414 00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:52,103 and she got an order of protection barring him from the house. 415 00:27:53,137 --> 00:27:55,379 I think, prior to stun gun incident, 416 00:27:55,379 --> 00:27:58,896 it was normal tension, arguments, suspicion, 417 00:27:58,896 --> 00:28:01,965 but afterwards, she was terrified of him. 418 00:28:01,965 --> 00:28:05,758 [Det. Ditzler] She had told coworkers that she was afraid of him. 419 00:28:06,793 --> 00:28:08,379 And then she confided in them 420 00:28:08,379 --> 00:28:10,689 that she thought he might have had something 421 00:28:10,689 --> 00:28:12,758 to do with his first wife's death. 422 00:28:17,896 --> 00:28:21,758 Willard was married before he married Barbara 423 00:28:21,758 --> 00:28:26,896 and I asked her about the first wife and what happened. 424 00:28:26,896 --> 00:28:28,586 Barbara had told me 425 00:28:28,586 --> 00:28:31,379 that Willard's first wife, Crystal, 426 00:28:31,379 --> 00:28:33,137 had had a tragic accident 427 00:28:33,137 --> 00:28:35,655 and, at the time, coming from Barbara, 428 00:28:35,655 --> 00:28:38,379 I accepted it as true. 429 00:28:38,379 --> 00:28:42,758 But I remember thinking, "Well, that's kinda strange. 430 00:28:42,758 --> 00:28:46,206 That's not a typical way to die." 431 00:28:56,551 --> 00:28:59,034 [eerie music playing] 432 00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:09,000 [Corina] Willard Purcell and his first wife Crystal, 433 00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:10,344 they used to live on, 434 00:29:10,344 --> 00:29:11,793 in a different neighborhood, 435 00:29:11,793 --> 00:29:14,344 in Rockford, on Rockford Avenue. 436 00:29:14,344 --> 00:29:19,965 And she was found dead in a very similar situation as Barbara was. 437 00:29:20,896 --> 00:29:23,758 The story was she was doing chores. 438 00:29:23,758 --> 00:29:25,862 She was doing laundry. 439 00:29:33,551 --> 00:29:36,344 [woman on TV speaking indistinctly] 440 00:29:50,551 --> 00:29:52,724 -[dryer buzzes] -[thumping] 441 00:29:55,862 --> 00:29:58,000 [Christy] Crystal was found dead 442 00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:00,551 at the bottom of stairs in the basement. 443 00:30:01,482 --> 00:30:02,758 It was ruled an accident. 444 00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:06,448 And by the way that Barbara 445 00:30:06,448 --> 00:30:10,103 explained the situation at the time, 446 00:30:10,103 --> 00:30:14,551 I feel she accepted what she had heard as being true. 447 00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:16,896 But after the incident 448 00:30:16,896 --> 00:30:20,655 where Willard used the stun gun on Barbara's neck, 449 00:30:20,655 --> 00:30:25,724 Barbara started to believe that he had killed Crystal. 450 00:30:26,103 --> 00:30:27,862 So, in reviewing 451 00:30:27,862 --> 00:30:29,551 the Rockford City report, 452 00:30:29,551 --> 00:30:31,241 talking to the city detectives, 453 00:30:31,241 --> 00:30:34,275 the similarities were just over the top. 454 00:30:34,275 --> 00:30:37,862 Coworker had called because Crystal hadn't come in to work 455 00:30:37,862 --> 00:30:40,862 and then they contacted the house. 456 00:30:40,862 --> 00:30:43,758 Nicole, their daughter, was at the house, 457 00:30:43,758 --> 00:30:47,172 had said she had left for work and work says she wasn't. 458 00:30:47,172 --> 00:30:48,689 She started looking around the house 459 00:30:48,689 --> 00:30:50,448 and she went downstairs and found 460 00:30:50,448 --> 00:30:53,068 Crystal at the bottom of the stairs 461 00:30:53,068 --> 00:30:56,137 laying face down just like Barbara was. 462 00:30:58,000 --> 00:31:00,896 It appeared that she probably tripped down the stairs, 463 00:31:00,896 --> 00:31:04,344 rolled, struck her head on a pipe that was on the floor. 464 00:31:05,793 --> 00:31:08,000 [Sheldon] This type of a circumstance 465 00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:09,862 simply doesn't happen twice. 466 00:31:09,862 --> 00:31:11,896 Almost statistically impossible 467 00:31:11,896 --> 00:31:13,896 for it to happen like that. 468 00:31:13,896 --> 00:31:16,103 Like, "Oops, another one," you know? 469 00:31:16,103 --> 00:31:18,517 [chuckles] Yeah, right, come on. 470 00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:31,586 [Det. Ditzler] During the autopsy, uh, we observed 471 00:31:31,586 --> 00:31:35,000 that she had three blunt force trauma wounds 472 00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:38,344 to the back of her head, to the back right side of her head. 473 00:31:39,344 --> 00:31:41,758 She also had some wounds 474 00:31:41,758 --> 00:31:44,482 on her hands, the back of her hands, 475 00:31:44,482 --> 00:31:48,172 that could be described, I guess, as defensive type wounds. 476 00:31:48,689 --> 00:31:49,758 We were fortunate 477 00:31:49,758 --> 00:31:51,448 during the autopsy that 478 00:31:51,448 --> 00:31:52,896 the pathologist realized 479 00:31:52,896 --> 00:31:55,689 this could be potential bite mark evidence 480 00:31:55,689 --> 00:31:59,000 and properly photographed Barbara's hands. 481 00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:03,068 The bleeding indicated that it happened contemporaneously 482 00:32:03,068 --> 00:32:05,448 the injuries to her head. 483 00:32:05,448 --> 00:32:09,103 And the bite mark also was indicative that 484 00:32:09,103 --> 00:32:11,172 she was trying to defend herself 485 00:32:11,172 --> 00:32:13,551 because it was on the back of her hand 486 00:32:13,551 --> 00:32:19,758 and somehow someone was able to bite her hand while trying to attack her. 487 00:32:19,758 --> 00:32:22,551 We consulted with an odontologist, 488 00:32:22,551 --> 00:32:26,758 who is a dentist who studies bite mark impressions. 489 00:32:26,758 --> 00:32:30,586 Ultimately, they wanted us to get impressions 490 00:32:30,586 --> 00:32:33,551 of Willard Purcell's teeth, 491 00:32:33,551 --> 00:32:37,965 and so we had to seek a court order to do that. 492 00:32:39,862 --> 00:32:42,172 [Det. Ditzler] Willard said he was at work, 493 00:32:42,172 --> 00:32:45,068 but we did a phone study on his cell phone 494 00:32:45,068 --> 00:32:48,068 and we found that, that was hitting a tower 495 00:32:48,068 --> 00:32:51,551 near Naperville where his work was earlier in the day, 496 00:32:51,551 --> 00:32:54,586 but later in the day, when he said he was still at work, 497 00:32:54,586 --> 00:32:57,965 his cell phone was hitting towers in the Rockford area. 498 00:33:00,241 --> 00:33:02,758 Once we knew he was in the Rockford area, 499 00:33:02,758 --> 00:33:04,758 we did a search warrant on his pickup truck, 500 00:33:04,758 --> 00:33:08,379 and we sent the plaster casts of the tire tracks to the crime lab, 501 00:33:08,379 --> 00:33:11,379 along with the tires from Willard's truck. 502 00:33:11,379 --> 00:33:15,344 And the technician at the crime lab was able to determine 503 00:33:15,344 --> 00:33:19,068 that a tire of the same make and model 504 00:33:19,068 --> 00:33:24,068 as those on Willard's truck made the tire impressions. 505 00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:27,379 [Margie] Her wedding ring was missing 506 00:33:27,379 --> 00:33:29,896 and there was a coin collection missing. 507 00:33:29,896 --> 00:33:33,482 So the police searched Willard Purcell's truck 508 00:33:33,482 --> 00:33:35,482 after they got a search warrant 509 00:33:35,482 --> 00:33:38,551 and they found in his truck a garbage bag 510 00:33:38,551 --> 00:33:42,379 that contained jewelry and the coin collection, 511 00:33:42,379 --> 00:33:45,620 and they literally found Barbara Purcell's wedding ring. 512 00:33:49,172 --> 00:33:52,000 We asked him about that during an interview 513 00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:55,172 and he said she'd packed a bunch of stuff for him 514 00:33:55,172 --> 00:33:57,172 when she got the order of protection, 515 00:33:57,172 --> 00:34:00,896 and that bag of stuff was amongst the items 516 00:34:00,896 --> 00:34:03,172 that she'd packed for him and gave to him. 517 00:34:03,172 --> 00:34:05,172 [Det. Wagner] We also obtained a search warrant 518 00:34:05,172 --> 00:34:07,172 for impressions of Willard's teeth, 519 00:34:07,172 --> 00:34:09,068 transported him to the dentist, 520 00:34:09,068 --> 00:34:11,482 and we got those impressions. 521 00:34:11,482 --> 00:34:16,482 When the impressions came back, the forensic odontologist 522 00:34:16,482 --> 00:34:22,655 confirmed that the bite marks on Barbara Purcell's hands 523 00:34:22,655 --> 00:34:25,965 were consistent with Willard Purcell's teeth. 524 00:34:37,379 --> 00:34:41,103 When this horrific crime first occurred, 525 00:34:41,103 --> 00:34:44,344 I was frightened. I was afraid. 526 00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:49,103 I felt that Willard was dangerous, 527 00:34:49,103 --> 00:34:52,931 and being around a dangerous person is scary. 528 00:34:54,172 --> 00:34:57,689 And then I remember when he had been arrested and charged 529 00:34:57,689 --> 00:35:00,137 that I was relieved in the moment. 530 00:35:01,586 --> 00:35:06,068 I think it probably gave people a lot of comfort that he was gonna be charged. 531 00:35:07,896 --> 00:35:10,758 And I think there was an element of 532 00:35:11,172 --> 00:35:13,793 people thinking that 533 00:35:13,793 --> 00:35:16,344 maybe he had gotten away with it 534 00:35:16,344 --> 00:35:18,000 the first time, 535 00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:20,655 and they wanted to make sure 536 00:35:20,655 --> 00:35:24,344 that he didn't get away with it the second time. 537 00:35:25,689 --> 00:35:30,241 [Det. Wagner] Crystal's death was very suspicious at that time, 538 00:35:30,241 --> 00:35:32,862 so we brought Willard down to Rockford City 539 00:35:32,862 --> 00:35:35,344 and they did another interview with him on that. 540 00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:38,448 But he wouldn't talk to them. 541 00:35:38,448 --> 00:35:42,551 [Margie] The situation with Crystal Purcell was too coincidental 542 00:35:42,551 --> 00:35:47,172 and under the circumstances, it had deserved another look 543 00:35:47,172 --> 00:35:51,655 to see if, after all the years that had passed, 544 00:35:51,655 --> 00:35:53,655 if there was anything that had been missed. 545 00:35:54,896 --> 00:35:59,034 So Attorney O'Connor got an order to exhume Crystal's body. 546 00:36:05,137 --> 00:36:07,241 [eerie music playing] 547 00:36:09,689 --> 00:36:11,344 You learn a lot about a case 548 00:36:11,344 --> 00:36:12,793 before it goes to trial 549 00:36:12,793 --> 00:36:15,172 and it seems like every day 550 00:36:15,172 --> 00:36:17,793 there was some big argument 551 00:36:17,793 --> 00:36:22,965 about whether or not key pieces of evidence could be entered or not. 552 00:36:22,965 --> 00:36:26,241 And I think one of the major undertones 553 00:36:26,241 --> 00:36:30,241 was that first wife's death. 554 00:36:30,241 --> 00:36:32,137 [reporter] County Coroner Sue Fiduccia says 555 00:36:32,137 --> 00:36:34,344 they pulled the file of Purcell's first wife 556 00:36:34,344 --> 00:36:36,586 to re-examine the evidence concerning her death. 557 00:36:36,586 --> 00:36:39,448 That was, what, 12, 13 years ago. 558 00:36:39,448 --> 00:36:40,862 Technology has changed. 559 00:36:42,068 --> 00:36:44,586 [Det. Wagner] Margie O'Connor got a order 560 00:36:44,586 --> 00:36:47,068 to exhume Crystal's body, 561 00:36:47,068 --> 00:36:49,482 and I was present for that autopsy. 562 00:36:49,482 --> 00:36:51,482 We were hoping to find two blows, 563 00:36:51,482 --> 00:36:53,758 which would rule out an accidental fall. 564 00:37:00,275 --> 00:37:04,448 It was disappointing. She, of course, died of blunt force trauma, 565 00:37:04,448 --> 00:37:07,482 just like Barbara, but it was one blow, 566 00:37:07,482 --> 00:37:11,482 and, at that point, it's hard to say, is that from the pipe on the floor? 567 00:37:11,482 --> 00:37:13,689 Is that from a pipe in your hand? 568 00:37:13,689 --> 00:37:16,379 We were not able to conclusively prove 569 00:37:16,379 --> 00:37:18,448 that Crystal Purcell died 570 00:37:18,448 --> 00:37:21,000 in any other manner than an accident. 571 00:37:26,241 --> 00:37:29,172 The judge ruled that we couldn't bring out evidence 572 00:37:29,172 --> 00:37:31,172 of the death of Crystal Purcell 573 00:37:31,172 --> 00:37:33,206 in the trial of Barbara Purcell. 574 00:37:34,344 --> 00:37:36,758 I do believe that Willard killed Crystal. 575 00:37:37,448 --> 00:37:41,689 And I only say that now 576 00:37:41,689 --> 00:37:43,517 because of what happened to Barbara. 577 00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:48,172 [Sheldon] In my mind, he just nearly got away with it once before. 578 00:37:48,172 --> 00:37:51,241 He never paid for it the first time, so 579 00:37:51,241 --> 00:37:53,586 there was nothing to deter him 580 00:37:53,586 --> 00:37:55,310 from doing it again. 581 00:38:06,896 --> 00:38:09,413 [Det. Ditzler] I think we had very good evidence, 582 00:38:12,896 --> 00:38:16,793 and I think the evidence clearly pointed to Willard Purcell, 583 00:38:16,793 --> 00:38:19,758 uh, being the person who committed the crime. 584 00:38:20,586 --> 00:38:25,241 During the entire trial he showed no remorse, 585 00:38:25,241 --> 00:38:28,448 showed no concern, he was sitting there 586 00:38:28,448 --> 00:38:30,482 very flippant and arrogant, actually. 587 00:38:30,482 --> 00:38:32,862 He thought he had the case beat the whole time. 588 00:38:34,068 --> 00:38:37,448 [Corina] When Willard Purcell testified at his own trial, 589 00:38:37,448 --> 00:38:40,344 it was kind of a surprise 590 00:38:40,344 --> 00:38:43,275 because defendants don't always take the stand 591 00:38:43,275 --> 00:38:45,241 during a trial like this. 592 00:38:45,793 --> 00:38:48,965 But then his story changed. 593 00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:52,379 [Det. Ditzler] On the stand, he said that 594 00:38:52,379 --> 00:38:56,586 he was at the house when Barbara came home from work 595 00:38:56,586 --> 00:38:58,586 and she was upset 596 00:38:58,586 --> 00:39:00,344 that he was at the house. 597 00:39:01,482 --> 00:39:04,000 They had a, a bit of an argument, 598 00:39:04,000 --> 00:39:06,689 but she became enraged, according to him, 599 00:39:06,689 --> 00:39:09,793 and she came at him with a flashlight, 600 00:39:09,793 --> 00:39:12,758 uh, and started swinging it at him. 601 00:39:13,344 --> 00:39:15,448 He took it from her 602 00:39:15,448 --> 00:39:18,586 and he struck her with the flashlight. 603 00:39:18,586 --> 00:39:20,896 He said he didn't believe that he hurt her, 604 00:39:20,896 --> 00:39:23,896 but he did say he thought she was in the stairway 605 00:39:23,896 --> 00:39:27,206 and she would wake up and call the police, so he left the house. 606 00:39:28,689 --> 00:39:33,034 Once you say one thing and then you totally recant and you say another thing, 607 00:39:33,034 --> 00:39:35,172 and then you ask people, "No, you should believe 608 00:39:35,172 --> 00:39:37,344 the second thing that I told you," 609 00:39:37,344 --> 00:39:41,793 it just leaves them wondering what really is the truth. 610 00:39:41,793 --> 00:39:44,000 When he changed it to self-defense, 611 00:39:44,000 --> 00:39:45,793 that puts him in the house. 612 00:39:45,793 --> 00:39:47,586 But with three blows to the back of the head, 613 00:39:47,586 --> 00:39:50,034 it's obviously not self-defense. 614 00:39:50,034 --> 00:39:52,241 He needed to make it look like a stranger 615 00:39:52,241 --> 00:39:54,241 had committed this crime, 616 00:39:54,241 --> 00:39:57,275 and so that's why I believe he did 617 00:39:57,275 --> 00:40:00,965 as much staging as he did at the crime scene. 618 00:40:00,965 --> 00:40:03,482 But we now could prove that 619 00:40:03,482 --> 00:40:06,689 he was involved in a struggle with her 620 00:40:06,689 --> 00:40:08,965 at the time of her death. 621 00:40:11,379 --> 00:40:13,517 [Corina] It didn't really leave a good impression 622 00:40:14,034 --> 00:40:16,172 on the jurors, 623 00:40:16,172 --> 00:40:19,586 his demeanor from the stand 624 00:40:19,586 --> 00:40:22,379 and also just the way that he told his story, 625 00:40:22,379 --> 00:40:26,586 they could kind of see that he was kind of carrying this attitude with him. 626 00:40:26,586 --> 00:40:30,344 It was pretty obvious that the jurors didn't, 627 00:40:30,344 --> 00:40:33,103 didn't believe what he was saying. 628 00:40:34,689 --> 00:40:37,896 In the end, the jury found him guilty of first degree murder 629 00:40:37,896 --> 00:40:40,206 and that he had killed Barbara Purcell. 630 00:40:41,344 --> 00:40:44,413 Willard was sentenced to prison for life. 631 00:40:45,034 --> 00:40:49,068 And he ended up having cancer 632 00:40:49,068 --> 00:40:51,482 when he was in prison 633 00:40:51,482 --> 00:40:54,103 and became terminally ill. 634 00:41:04,448 --> 00:41:07,965 When you grow up with, uh, brothers and sisters, 635 00:41:07,965 --> 00:41:09,793 especially if you're older than they, 636 00:41:09,793 --> 00:41:12,344 you, you expect them to be around your whole life. 637 00:41:12,344 --> 00:41:14,137 And then, if they're not... 638 00:41:15,172 --> 00:41:17,689 it's like there's a hole there 639 00:41:17,689 --> 00:41:19,862 that, that can never be filled. 640 00:41:21,379 --> 00:41:24,793 This was a good woman, living a good life, 641 00:41:24,793 --> 00:41:28,655 and it was all suddenly taken away from her. 642 00:41:33,344 --> 00:41:36,896 I believe that if Lorrie were sitting next to me right now, 643 00:41:36,896 --> 00:41:38,689 whispering in my ear, 644 00:41:38,689 --> 00:41:40,793 she would want people to know, 645 00:41:40,793 --> 00:41:45,896 who could potentially be in her situation, to ask for help. 646 00:41:45,896 --> 00:41:47,793 And to ask for help sooner 647 00:41:47,793 --> 00:41:51,965 and to know that you're not being weak. 648 00:41:55,000 --> 00:41:56,551 She truly... 649 00:41:57,482 --> 00:41:59,241 wanted to help people 650 00:42:00,689 --> 00:42:02,448 not suffer. 651 00:42:03,793 --> 00:42:05,000 Heal, so that they could live 652 00:42:05,000 --> 00:42:06,551 the life of their dreams. 653 00:42:07,965 --> 00:42:11,241 She was such a great friend.