Original subtitles

I open up Facebook and my best friend Amanda just got married.

[Vina Naugler] It was almost like a secret, hush-hush kind of thing.

You went off and got married without me?

And I said, "What in the hell is going on?"

He made us all feel like he was going to take care of her.

He made us all feel like he was going to take care of her.

It was literally picture-perfect,

to the outside world.

[Naugler] Somebody was lurking around her house.

[Carrie Tegeder] Something's really wrong.

The hairs on my arms are standing up.

The first thing that thing that came out of my mouth

was, like, "Pack your [bleep], and get out of that house."

[Tegeder] Why couldn't I put the pieces together?

Was I not intuitive enough?

[Naugler] I should have done something.

I live a nightmare from that day on.

A living, walking nightmare.

[interviewer speaking]

[Brae Perrault speaking]

Well, it goes to show you that you don't know

Well, it goes to show you that you don't know

what's going on behind those closed doors.

[Brae speaking]

Amanda is a Fourth of July when it came to personality.

Amanda is a Fourth of July when it came to personality.

When you think of Fourth of July, you think of fun, having fun.

Amanda has a warmth about her.

[Naugler] And that is Amanda Pardue, age 35.

And the reason why she's wearing scrubs is

'cause she's working at the Hamilton female clinic.

[Tegeder] She was the receptionist.

And she absolutely loved it.

[Naugler] She loves helping people, because that's how Amanda was.

[Naugler] She loves helping people, because that's how Amanda was.

Amanda was like a ball of sunshine.

And she would make you feel like you were the best person in the world.

She already had two children, she had a boy and a girl.

She had already been divorced for a couple of years before I met her.

[Tegeder] The children ended up going to live with the grandparents.

[Tegeder] The children ended up going to live with the grandparents.

But her kids were doing great and so she was still really happy and upbeat

and optimistic about the future.

[Naugler] Amanda was a single female.

She was a beautiful girl, so, yes, she dated.

At that time it was the big rave

to go on the internet to find somebody that you can connect with.

to go on the internet to find somebody that you can connect with.

So she was going on them sites.

[chuckles] She hit left.

And that's how she met Seth Perrault, through the internet.

[Tegeder] Well, he was very handsome, kind of dashing.

Had a little bit of money, so that they could do things and have fun.

[Naugler] He made her feel wonderful, beautiful.

Before you knew it, she was in love.

Before you knew it, she was in love.

They're in love.

We were, like, "Slow the roll, slow down."

But how can you tell somebody when they're in love to slow down?

Seth had this beautiful home.

The town was called Social Circle, here in Georgia.

But Amanda was looking for love, not a home.

It wouldn't have mattered if he lived in a mobile home, or if he had that home.

She was in love with him.

She was in love with him.

They moved in together.

A little bit fast.

[chuckles] A little bit fast.

But wonderful.

I was so happy for her, very happy.

[Naugler] I went, um, and visited Amanda to check out this guy,

'cause I wanna know more about him.

And I interrogate people and I interrogated him.

And that's how I found out a lot of things.

Well, he couldn't tell me how he made his money, 'cause he didn't have a job.

You got your beautiful home, you've got your cars, you got your motorcycles.

Without a job.

[laughing] How do you do that? 'Cause I would like to know, 'cause I wanna do that.

He didn't have no money, said it was all his father's money.

That's how they were living, that's how they were eating.

I mean, who's almost 40 and has their parents paying for everything?

I mean, who's almost 40 and has their parents paying for everything?

[Naugler] Six months after her and Seth had moved in together,

knock, knock, you have a little girl.

[Brae crying]

I get a phone call from Amanda... [chuckles softly]

It's funny now.

Um, saying he's got a kid!

And I'm thinking, "Where in the hell did this baby come from?"

[Tegeder] It was a surprise that Seth had a daughter.

Her name was Brae.

Seth had this ex-girlfriend and they ended up having a baby.

I know that Amanda was oddly cool about it, um... [laughing]

She's a better person than I am, I would have had questions.

She's a better person than I am, I would have had questions.

[Naugler] She opened her arms and took that child in.

Amanda fell in love with her.

No qualms, no nothing.

She took that child in and it was her own.

I open up my phone and I look on Facebook

and my best friend of 38 years just got married.

[Naugler] The only people who were at the wedding

was Seth, Amanda, her daughter, her son and Brae, that's it.

It was almost like a secret hush-hush kind of thing.

I said, "You went off and got married without me?"

I said, "You went off and got married without me?"

Oh, Vina, it was so rush, rush, rush.

He wouldn't let me get my hair done,

he wouldn't let me do this, he wouldn't allow me to do that.

I said, "What in the hell is going on?"

If you are so much in love with somebody,

would you not give them the wedding?

Would you not want her sisters there and her best friend

and her to be so happy?

That tells you, it was a business.

He wanted Amanda for a certain reason.

He wanted Amanda for a certain reason.

I told her it was a very bad idea to stop working.

You always have to have your own little money.

But what I got from Amanda is that Seth wanted her home to be a housewife.

That was his way of controlling her, financial control.

By telling her how much she can spend, what she can spend.

Why? He's got her life in his hands.

Why? He's got her life in his hands.

And he knows it.

[chuckles] One day, I get a phone call from Amanda,

saying that, "My husband's gonna join the police force."

I said, "What?"

You go from not having a job to becoming a police officer?

And in Georgia, that is a lot of weight.

You're a good old Southern boy that's a cop.

But she was so proud that he did it.

You have pictures of him getting his badge.

And she's standing right next to him

and they're all beaming with pride.

The idea of Seth becoming a police officer

was mind-boggling to me.

was mind-boggling to me.

I think that he specifically chose being a police officer

for his ego, so that he could have more control even more than he already had.

When Seth wants something, Seth gets it.

For him, that uniform meant, "I'm better than you and now I can prove it.

I am above the law, 'cause I am the law."

I am a real estate broker.

Amanda had reached out to me and asked me to help Seth's father

with selling the house at Social Circle.

So I had a friend, at the time,

and I said, "Let's make a road trip out of it.

and I said, "Let's make a road trip out of it.

Let's go visit my friend Amanda."

And Amanda was just so happy to see me.

We walked through the house and she's so proud of the decor.

But all of a sudden, Seth walks in

and I look over at Amanda and she's, like, ghost white.

Her entire demeanor changed.

Her entire demeanor changed.

Once we got into the car, my friend said,

"Carrie, something's really wrong."

And she said, "Look," she said, "The hairs on my arms are standing up."

She said, "Carrie, don't be surprised...

...if he kills her."

I was, like, "You are insane."

I was so confused, because Amanda had

what she'd always wanted.

She had the house, she had Brae to take care of.

She's living her best life.

I didn't want to hear what my friend was trying to articulate to me,

that Amanda was in danger.

I wasn't ready to hear it.

I wasn't ready to hear it.

[Naugler] They had lake access, they had golf carts.

Um, very safe neighborhood.

It's a perfect neighborhood to raise your family there.

When they first moved in there, everything was hunky-dory.

When they first moved in there, everything was hunky-dory.

And the neighbors thought Seth was a nice gentleman.

They felt a little bit more secure because he was a police officer.

He was the law.

Life looked perfect, it was literally picture-perfect.

Um, to the outside world.

Amanda always made it out to be that everything was fine.

Amanda always made it out to be that everything was fine.

Everything's great.

So I started feeling a little bit better, uh, a little bit more comfortable,

until the texts started coming.

Amanda finally started bringing me in a little bit

about some things that were going on with her.

Seth would call her fat.

And would just demean her and call her really ugly names.

And would just demean her and call her really ugly names.

That's, like, the beginning, but them little things escalate.

And before you know it, he's pushing you around, grabbing ahold of you.

For him, it's like a power trip.

They're trying to mentally break you down.

They began to fight.

So what Amanda did was went to the next door neighbor's bushes.

So what Amanda did was went to the next door neighbor's bushes.

She hid in their bushes, so he wouldn't see her.

And Seth automatically assumed that she went to the neighbor's house.

And he literally barges in the door of this neighbor

and he's going through their house

and they're just, like, in shock and they're, like, "What are you doing here?"

and they're just, like, in shock and they're, like, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm looking for my wife, where's she at? I know she's here."

And they're, like, "No, no, she's not here, get out of our house.

We're gonna call the police."

And he says, "I am the police."

To me, that shows me that he's not a real police officer,

he's more of a wolf in sheep's clothing.

These were strangers.

And if he could treat complete strangers like that,

I thought, "What must Amanda have been going through all alone?"

I stopped receiving phone calls.

I stopped getting messages.

All of that went away.

All of that went away.

[Naugler] She'd be calling me through the iPad or Messenger, Facebook Messenger thing.

Amanda did not have a cell phone.

I believe the reason why she did not have a cell phone

was that he could keep tabs on her all the time.

Seth had completely controlled the money,

because Amanda didn't have any.

[Tegeder] Amanda couldn't even buy feminine products.

[Tegeder] Amanda couldn't even buy feminine products.

Her basic needs were not even being met.

[Naugler] We successfully got her to leave a couple times.

She would leave and he'd be on the phone

trying to get her back before she could get out of the driveway.

[Tegeder] He finds her kryptonite and her kryptonite is,

"If you don't come back, who knows what's gonna happen to Brae?"

[Naugler] Seth would call, make that phone call, and she would go home.

That little girl is what kept her in that house.

Because she considered that little girl her own child

and she was not going to leave her.

My birthday's on June 6th, Amanda always would call me.

My birthday's on June 6th, Amanda always would call me.

I getting a little confused, because Amanda wasn't calling me

for my birthday like she always does and we Zoom.

So I would physically see her.

Well, she wouldn't Zoom me, she would just call me.

And I said, "No, I wanna Zoom, I wanna see your face, I wanna see you."

And she's, like, "No, no, no, no, no."

And I'm thinking to myself, "Mmm, something's not right."

I had my phone in my hand, so I quickly hit that button for a Zoom,

I had my phone in my hand, so I quickly hit that button for a Zoom,

to where we could be on camera.

And I took that picture within seconds.

Picture I took of Amanda, it scared me.

So I took the picture, um, I don't know, so I could show her one day.

So she could see it, you know.

Like, this is what he does to you.

You can see where her jaw is all swollen.

And I asked her, "What's going on here?"

Well, she told me really what happened.

He turned around and jacked her right in the jaw.

Just punched her like a man.

Just punched her like a man.

He almost broke her jaw, that's how hard he hit her.

Then another occurrence happened.

These are the pictures that she took of herself.

Looks like he punched her in the face.

Her eye's all swollen.

It just makes me angry.

Just anger.

[sighs] After that picture was taken, life got a hell of a lot worse.

[sighs] After that picture was taken, life got a hell of a lot worse.

Everything escalated.

[Tegeder] Some days later, I get this

really alarming, cryptic text from Amanda.

[Tegeder reading]

And then she says...

[Tegeder reading]

You know, she's scared, she can't do anything

without him seeing what she's doing.

And then Amanda says...

[Tegeder reading]

Amanda was leaving bread crumbs with me,

Amanda was leaving bread crumbs with me,

because she trusted that I would be able

to communicate if something ever happened to her.

I had the bread crumb, why couldn't I put the pieces together?

Was I not intuitive enough?

I feel guilty that I could have done more or should have done more.

[Naugler] One night, I get a phone call from Amanda.

This is probably, I don't know, 9:30, 10:00?

Saying that somebody was lurking around her house.

She saw somebody walking.

She didn't see who it was, it was a shadow.

She could tell that it was a man that walked by the window.

It scared the crap out of her.

I said, "Well, did you call 911?"

She goes, "No, I called Seth and Seth told me not to call the cops."

He said he's gonna take care of it when he gets home.

He told Amanda, "Do not call the police, don't get them involved."

The second time it happened, again I thought,

"It's gotta be one of these hoodlums

that are around the neighborhood trying

to break into people's cars or something."

[door handle wiggles]

[door handle wiggles]

[Naugler] And then, the basement door,

somebody was trying to get in it.

She's got a child at home, by herself, somebody's wiggling the door.

She's scared, she calls her husband.

He tells her, "Calm down, I'll take care of it."

That's when I knew something wasn't right.

He's a cop, somebody's trying to break into your house.

Where's your security? Where's your lights?

Where's your security? Where's your lights?

They only occurred when Seth was on night shift.

It never occurred any time when Seth was actually home.

[Tegeder] So we had the suspicion all of this burglary nonsense

was purely Seth playing games with Amanda,

terrorizing her and just control over her and making her feel fear.

[Naugler] On January 28th of 2020, I got a Zoom call from Amanda.

She was in the bedroom with Brae and she was crying hysterically.

I knew something was going on.

She's Zooming me.

So I'm getting an actual view of Amanda when it actually went down.

Seth grabbed ahold of her and pulled her out of the house.

And you can hear Brae in the background,

"Mommy, are you okay? Mommy, are you okay?"

First thing come out of my mouth is, "Hang the phone up, call 911."

Amanda finally gets help from someone outside.

Amanda finally gets help from someone outside.

The neighbors provided Amanda with a safe place and police are called.

[phone ringing]

[operator speaking]

[Amanda speaking]

[operator speaking]

[Amanda speaking]

[operator speaking]

[Amanda speaking]

[operator speaking]

[Amanda speaking]

[operator speaking]

[Amanda speaking]

[operator speaking]

[Amanda speaking]

[operator speaking]

[siren wails]

Seth Perrault's wife reported that she'd been assaulted by Seth.

The deputies responded.

The deputies responded.

She had some reddish marks around her neck area her chest area, right in here.

He'd basically battered her in that way and thrown her out of the home.

They, in turn, uh, talked to the daughter.

She ran and hid in the closet while this happened.

That wasn't the first time she hid in the closet,

that she tried to intervene to help Amanda.

that she tried to intervene to help Amanda.

[interviewer]

[Brae]

[interviewer]

[Brae]

And Brae says, you know,

"My daddy hit my mommy and pushed her out the door."

[interviewer]

[Brae]

[Naugler] The cops put him in handcuffs and take him out of the house.

[Sills] As they, um, were getting ready to put him

in the patrol car, uh, and take him to jail,

he said to her, "I got you now."

[Naugler] And Amanda's telling me,

"They're taking him to jail, they're taking him to jail."

The first thing that come out of my mouth was, like,

"Pack your [bleep] and get out of that house."

You don't get it, he's going to lose his job over this.

He's going to kill you, Amanda.

The next day, [sighs in exasperation] she goes to the court.

[Sills] The judge considered that Seth had to stay away from his wife

as a condition of bond while this matter was pending.

But Amanda actually said she did not want that to occur.

But Amanda actually said she did not want that to occur.

Now she was distraught, I could tell.

The judge was very adamant, asking her, "Was she sure?"

She didn't want a stay away order in place

and she answered that she was sure.

Her response was, "Well, he doesn't have anywhere else to go."

[Tegeder] Of course he had somewhere to go.

He has family, he had plenty of places to go.

He's sitting in that jail cell,

He's sitting in that jail cell,

his world is crumbling around him

and Seth used Amanda's love for Brae.

Amanda's worst fear was would he hurt Brae?

He verbalizes that to Amanda.

I can only imagine that she felt defeated.

So that was Amanda's attempt at trying to show Seth,

So that was Amanda's attempt at trying to show Seth,

"I can fix this. I can fix it."

And Amanda knows a restraining order won't stop Seth.

[Naugler] And Amanda went to that judge and told that judge he can come home.

I was sick to my stomach.

When she did that, that judge signed her death warrant.

[Naugler] In his eyes, Amanda had ruined his life and that was it.

[Sills] Not only was Seth getting ready to lose his job as a police officer,

he was looking at losing custody of his child too.

He sat there in that house with her for six days.

I remember being on the phone calls with her,

I remember being on the phone calls with her,

I'm talking to her, saying, "Are you okay, Amanda?"

How is the situation? How is he acting?

And he was acting so nice it was disgusting.

I was, like, "You need to get out of that house, Amanda.

You need to get out of that house."

That day in February, I pulled up to Long Island Drive

with my subpoena for Mr. Perrault.

When I got to his place, uh, he had, uh, one of those video doorbells.

And I pushed the button and waited.

And I heard heavy footfalls inside the house.

And I assumed that it was somebody running to the door.

And I assumed that it was somebody running to the door.

The footfalls moved from one side of the house

kind of toward the front door, but not to the front door.

And the footfalls retreated.

And I rang the doorbell again.

I was there for about seven minutes.

I was, like, "Come on, man, answer the door."

The man would have known what it was.

And finally, I gave up.

And finally, I gave up.

So I drive away from the Perrault's house

and I go on about my patrolling.

I make it three or four, five miles away.

And I get a call from my shift supervisor

And I get a call from my shift supervisor

requiring me to return to the Perrault house,

because of a reported incident.

[siren blaring]

[Abernathy] I go quickly.

Seth Perrault comes out the front door of the house.

He was holding his cell phone and he was blubbering.

He was inconsolable.

He said that Amanda was dead.

He said that Amanda was dead.

I get a personal call, uh, from the chief of police.

He's got Seth Perrault on the phone

and Seth has told him that his wife had committed suicide.

We drove as fast as we could, you know, lights and sirens on.

I arrive on the scene.

Seth was sitting on the steps, holding his hands over his eyes.

Seth was sitting on the steps, holding his hands over his eyes.

I, uh, walked in the house and I entered the bedroom.

And I saw the body of the deceased.

It was Amanda Perrault.

And I could see a gunshot wound to her head.

This is Amanda's body.

And the first thing you see in the bottom right hand corner there, below her feet,

And the first thing you see in the bottom right hand corner there, below her feet,

is the pistol itself.

You see her body with her legs together,

she's flat on her back, arms are pulled completely against her side.

And on her right side, maybe four or five inches from her right hand,

is the magazine to the pistol.

Well, you know, I'm a graduate of the FBI National Academy and I've got a college degree.

But you know what?

Anybody could tell that scene wasn't right.

[Abernathy] The sheriff had asked Perrault

if he would ride with me to the sheriff's office.

He was not under arrest.

I realized just how clean he was.

The man had no blood on him.

Law enforcement officers are trained first responders.

The first responders try to stop the blood from coming out.

You don't walk away from scenes like that clean.

He just kept talking and blubbering.

He reiterated that his wife had committed suicide.

But when we got closer to the sheriff's office,

he begged me to pull the car over and shoot him in the head.

It was unsettling.

It made the little short hairs come up on your neck.

Because it wasn't right.

Because it wasn't right.

Perhaps his wife hadn't killed herself.

And so we went back to my office

and I interviewed him about what had occurred that day.

[Seth speaking]

[Seth speaking]

[Sills] Of all the times I've ever questioned anybody,

I've never heard anyone use the term executed.

[Seth speaking]

That's not a usual, uh, term to use,

uh, when making reference to a suicide.

[Seth speaking]

[Sills speaking]

[Seth speaking]

The only thing he wanted to tell me was

that my deputies shouldn't have arrested him on January the 28th

and what a great police officer he was.

[Seth speaking]

[Sills speaking]

[Seth speaking]

[Sills speaking]

It was a very bizarre interview, uh, it really was.

It was a very bizarre interview, uh, it really was.

[Naugler] I kept on getting a Facebook phone call.

And I'm thinking, "Who in the hell is calling my phone

at 10:00 at night through Facebook?"

And it was Amanda's cousin.

And the first thing he said, "Did you speak to Amanda today?"

I knew it.

I said, "He killed her. He killed her."

And that's how I found out my best friend died.

[Sills] Well, I knew he was guilty, but what I wanted was

more evidence before I actually, uh, made an arrest.

So I let him go that day.

[Tegeder] We already knew that he killed her.

We knew it wasn't a suicide.

We knew it wasn't a suicide.

And knowing that he was let go

and back out on the streets was devastating.

And then I lived a nightmare from that day on.

A living, walking nightmare.

[Sills] I went back out to the scene.

I laid down on the bed myself to show the district attorney

the position the body had been in.

You mean to tell me that she shot herself

and then she laid supine and pulled her legs together, completely together,

pulled her arms against her body,

took the magazine out of the gun,

took the magazine out of the gun,

after she shot herself?

Dead people don't remove magazines out of guns.

You know, it was just evidence of guilt in my opinion.

[siren blaring]

[Sills] I decided to obtain an arrest warrant and go arrest him.

When I went to his sister's home, where I knew he was staying,

when I pulled up in the yard to get out of the car,

when I pulled up in the yard to get out of the car,

he's sitting on the porch, talking to his attorney.

During the trial, I testified in court.

It was absolutely obvious to me

that Amanda Perrault could not have shot herself.

And somebody absolutely had to have taken the magazine

from that pistol, moved that pistol to the location it was

and had to have moved that body.

Throughout the trial, at any time I looked at him,

I never saw Seth express any remorse or anything of that.

He was pretty much, uh, stoic and often looked at the table itself,

He was pretty much, uh, stoic and often looked at the table itself,

not even in the direction of the witnesses or anything.

One of the most damaging pieces of evidence against Seth

uh, was when his daughter said that Amanda had told her

that if, uh, Seth lost custody of Brae because of that arrest,

that, uh, Seth was going to shoot her dead is what the child said.

that, uh, Seth was going to shoot her dead is what the child said.

Well, he was convicted of murder.

And when the jury returned the guilty verdict,

Judge Trammell, our chief Superior Court judge,

promptly sentenced him to life without parole.

Well, it goes to show you that you don't know

what's going on behind those closed doors.

The facade of what you see on the outside

is not indicative of what's going on on the inside.

Very sad, sad situation.

[Tegeder] Right now what's important is that Amanda's story is out.

But it hurts a lot.

It's tremendous amount of guilt

It's tremendous amount of guilt

and pain and sadness.

She was my life, so, yeah, I'll go to my grave

thinking I should have done something.

I should have just got in my car, or got on a damn plane.

And just pulled her out of that house. [sniffs]

But I didn't.

I gotta look up to the sky to talk to my best friend,

because I did not take the initiative.

So, yeah.

Go find out what's going on, do something.

Just do something.

[Tegeder] I do take solace in that I kept the messages.

[Tegeder] I do take solace in that I kept the messages.

When I spoke with my friend, she'd say, "You will always have my back

and I love you so much for that."

My thoughts and prayers are with you in these days, months and years ahead.

That was Amanda.