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00:00A husband does the unthinkable.
00:04And you say your wife is beyond help?
00:07Yes, ma'am.
00:09I was told your father shot your mother.
00:13I still don't know how to take that.
00:16There were glaring questions that we needed to get answers to.
00:20Was this death a fatal agreement?
00:23She started almost incessantly with,
00:25I'm gonna kill myself, I want you to kill me.
00:27In his mind, he's someone who gave his life in exchange for hers.
00:32Or is it cold-blooded murder disguised as a mercy killing?
00:36They feared for their lives.
00:37They thought he would come and hunt them down.
00:44He was overwhelmed.
00:46He was just gonna take matters into his own hands.
00:50In the end, you can't go around playing God.
00:579-1-1, what is your emergency?
01:02Um, I just shot my wife.
01:07You just shot your wife?
01:10Yes, ma'am.
01:12Okay.
01:13Is she awake?
01:14No, she's dead.
01:15On March 27, 2017, there was a call to 9-1-1 about a shooting outside of a memory care center.
01:33Do you still have the weapon?
01:34Yes, but I'm unloading it and setting it off to the side.
01:36The caller calmly reported what he had done and was relatively unemotional.
01:40What is your name?
01:41Steve Crusby.
01:42The caller is 62-year-old Steven Crusby.
01:57The victim was his wife, 61-year-old Pam Crusby.
02:03And you say your wife is beyond help?
02:07Yes, ma'am.
02:14Given the bizarre nature of the call, detectives approached the scene with a mix of curiosity and dread.
02:21When that call came out, my mindset was, you know, this is not possible.
02:26Someone's just not calling to say, I just did this.
02:28This could be a prank.
02:30As I'm driving along, the dispatchers were giving us additional details that made me realize,
02:35oh, this is actually real.
02:37This person's still on the phone.
02:39You okay, baby?
02:40I'm fine.
02:41Okay, who are you talking to, Steve?
02:43What's that?
02:45Who are you talking to?
02:46I was just talking to her.
02:48Okay, so she is breathing?
02:51No, ma'am.
02:53At one point, he's talking to her still as if she's still alive.
02:57It was almost like he was in some kind of disbelief.
03:02As we approached Parkside Inn.
03:04It's an assisted living facility.
03:06And it is pretty much the only physical building on that block.
03:09We're expecting some sort of chaos because we're responding to a shooting.
03:15When we approached, we saw nothing.
03:18The parking lot was empty, so that even added to our confusion.
03:22So we're communicating on the radio with our dispatchers asking, hey, have the person come out to the parking lot so we can see them.
03:30Can you walk out to the street, Steve, for me?
03:33But I want you to have your hands up so that they know that you don't have the gun on you.
03:37Okay?
03:38Yes.
03:39Officers were looking for him.
03:41And the dispatchers were still trying to get him to come out.
03:44But he was hesitant.
03:46Let me know when you're with them, Steve.
03:48Ma'am, I gotta go get with my wife.
03:50No, I need to make sure the officer gets you, Steve, because I don't want anything to happen to you, okay?
03:55All right.
03:57Once he actually listened, he came out to the parking lot.
04:01When we laid eyes on him, we didn't see a typical homicidal maniac.
04:06We just saw an older man who does not appear that he can hurt a fly just walking out.
04:13He was not agitated.
04:15You know, he looked a bit sad, but he was quite cooperative at the time.
04:20Once we put handcuffs on him, we asked him, okay, where's the gun and where's your wife?
04:24And he told us she's in the back of the building by the patio.
04:32Lo and behold, we found her on the ground in the grass, just a few feet away from the actual patio.
04:38We did not see a bloody murder scene.
04:44All we saw was a lady laying there on her back with a very small wound on her chest.
04:52She was shot.
04:55It was at close range.
04:57There were not multiple shots, and there was very little blood for someone who was shot to death in the heart.
05:04Looks like it was done by someone who really knew what he was doing and wanted to end her life right away.
05:10This was no ordinary perpetrator.
05:12This was a marksman.
05:13This was someone who knew where exactly to shoot.
05:17As we looked at the body, there was nothing about the body that suggested any kind of struggle.
05:22No scratch marks, no defensive wound.
05:26We did find the gun with five additional rounds in the magazine, and the gun was already made safe and placed on a half wall at the patio.
05:35It's clear to police Stephen Crespi isn't trying to hide.
05:41His straightforward and thoughtful cooperation is in stark contrast to the crime before them.
05:47But he is clear this wasn't a struggle or an accident.
05:51It was a request.
05:53He said, I just shot my wife.
05:55She asked me to do it.
05:57We're in disbelief, and she's not here to actually speak for herself.
06:01The way I looked at it, automatically, I'm like, this is a homicide.
06:06And we had a person who did it in custody.
06:09It may appear that, okay, yes, he was doing something to help her, but ultimately, he's a killer.
06:15You killed your wife, and it is, in fact, a crime.
06:22The night of the incident, I was 37.
06:24My sister called and said, you need to get down to Parkside.
06:28And I was like, why, what's going on?
06:30There's been an incident.
06:32I can't tell you.
06:33Get down there.
06:34You got to go.
06:36Okay.
06:39My mom was at Parkside assisted living facility for about two to three months at this point.
06:45I honestly thought, like, my mom had injured herself.
06:51She was diagnosed with frontal temporal lobe dementia a little more than a year before this happened.
06:58It's a very aggressive form of Alzheimer's.
07:01And at night, a lot of times, my mom would get aggressive.
07:05And so I figured this may have been one of those incidents, and they just needed somebody else down there to help control the situation.
07:13I get there, and there's cops everywhere.
07:19This is a little more than just my mom being aggressive.
07:26And I remember walking up the scene, and there was another police officer there, and he was like, who are you? Can I help you?
07:34My name is Matthew Crusby.
07:36My father and mother are here.
07:38And a detective came towards me.
07:41And he goes, I need to inform you that your mother is deceased.
07:46And he was like, your father shot your mother.
07:50I didn't, I, I, I, I, I still don't know how to take that.
08:03My mom was a huge influence in my life.
08:09She's honestly the strongest woman that I know.
08:13My initial reaction is like, you gotta be kidding me. Like, what happened?
08:18My mom and dad met at a Marine Corps ball in 1974.
08:25She was working as a civilian at a Navy contractor, and he was in the Marines guarding Arlington National Cemetery.
08:33He was willing to dance when none of the other guys were willing to dance, and they danced together.
08:38One of their favorite things to do was swing dance.
08:43And they could move. They could, they could really, really move.
08:47Pam and Steve complimented each other. They were two sides of each other's heart.
08:52They always were thoughtful and respectful about what each other thought and felt.
08:56And they didn't operate unless it was together.
09:02They got married in 1976, and they had three children in four years.
09:07Andrew was the oldest, and then Stephanie, and then Matthew was the youngest. He was born in 1980.
09:13The children were always respectful, happy, playful, fun, curious, and just delightful, delightful children.
09:22My parents were married for 47 years, but the first half of my childhood, my dad was always gone.
09:28You know, he was in the military. He was constantly deployed here, there, come home for a few months and leave.
09:33Stationed in North Carolina as part of Special Warfare Operations, Steve's mission was to train America's elite soldiers, Navy SEALs and Green Berets.
09:43A lot of the stuff he does, I don't know and probably never will know.
09:47But when he was deployed, my mother was God.
09:52She had to be the head of the household, she had to be the disciplinarian, but she also used my mom, so she had this loving, caring, nurtured side of that.
10:01In 1994, Steven retires from the Marines. After settling his family in Florida, he devotes his time to the classroom, training high school students through ROTC.
10:10But by 2001, retirement leads him to an unexpected new passion.
10:17When he retired from the military after 23 years, he became a lighthouse keeper.
10:22And Pam would go and help him there.
10:26My parents were married for 47 years, and they just gave me the best example of what it means to truly love someone else.
10:34You know, the selflessness, you know what I mean, the sacrifices for each other.
10:39And you could see that.
10:43And now I have a police officer telling me that my father shot my mother and I was pissed.
10:50I was angry.
10:51I was trying to push back that cop to go in the back to find out what was going on.
10:58And my wife is standing to my right, and she sees my dad being escorted in handcuffs.
11:07I didn't see him.
11:09Had I saw him that night, I would have probably been in jail myself.
11:13I would have went after my father. I was enraged, you know, because I was just told that he killed my mother.
11:21Come to find out, like we saw later, that just wasn't clear cut as it should be.
11:29No other family member said that Pam Crosby wanted to commit suicide.
11:35Pam wanting to die was perhaps a creation in Steven Crosby's mind.
11:45It got to the point where I couldn't take it anymore.
11:58I just want to look at him.
12:04Matthew Crosby and his two siblings are looking for answers after learning their father, Steven is responsible for the death of their mother, Pam.
12:11My sister she arrived at the facility.
12:13My brother didn't come until later.
12:16We were just kind of in shock.
12:18We didn't really understand what was going on.
12:23Within a couple of hours of the crime,
12:24Stephen Crespi is taken to the Boynton Beach Police Department
12:27where he's interrogated.
12:30Are you hurting anyway?
12:32When they asked Stephen Crespi if he was hurting,
12:37he said it was his heart.
12:39And that really will get you
12:42because here's a person who, by all accounts,
12:44loves his wife dearly.
12:46Police, meanwhile, who are sympathetic to him
12:48are still trying to drill down
12:50whether this was the crime out of compassion for his wife
12:53or a crime of convenience.
13:20And then she said she wanted to kill herself.
13:25She wanted to get suicide.
13:26Is that what she said today?
13:28She's been saying that for four months now.
13:33Stephen told the detective that Pam started forgetting things
13:36and getting agitated about four years earlier.
13:38The simplest tasks were just overwhelming to her.
13:41She noticed she was having issues at work with the numbers
13:58and I just thought that was kind of odd
14:00because numbers were always her thing.
14:03She said, life is just no fun anymore.
14:07They did a cerebral spinal fluid analysis
14:11and as the test came back,
14:14it was what she really didn't want it to be a diagnosis for.
14:18She had been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's
14:21at like age 59, which is really, really rare.
14:25A lot of the things rapidly that she loved to do,
14:29she could no longer do anymore.
14:31She could brush her own teeth, but I had to remind her.
14:38She could eat on her own, but I had to remind her.
14:45This is the strongest woman I know.
14:54And in this moment, she's, you know, reduced to a child.
15:01There were times when it became sometimes combative
15:06and even violent.
15:07It was like two o'clock in the morning
15:08and she sprung up out of bed again
15:11and she said to me, get the up.
15:13And she grabbed me by the shirt to,
15:16Pam, you got to stop, Pam, you got to stop.
15:18And then she started striking me.
15:21Sometimes she was very aware
15:23and she knew what was going on
15:25and then other times she completely had no control
15:27and I think that must have been terrifying.
15:30Despite moments of clarity,
15:32Pam's violent outbursts
15:34and refusal to come to terms with her condition
15:36leave her family struggling
15:38to get her the help she needs.
15:40She wouldn't go to the doctors
15:42like she was supposed to
15:43and she wouldn't let me help her.
15:45Every time I would do something
15:50to try to get her more help,
15:53she would get very, very agitated.
15:56This is not a Pam Crusby they all knew.
15:59This was someone in the body of Pam Crusby
16:01who mentally was someone entirely different.
16:06They got to a point in 2016
16:09where they made a decision as a family
16:11to go ahead and put her in a memory care facility.
16:13But she absolutely hated being in that facility.
16:18There were times she thought
16:19she was working at the assisted living,
16:21that she was there to help people
16:22because she just didn't understand
16:24she was one of the patients.
16:25Did you leave your house today saying
16:26this may be the day that this is going to happen?
16:28Yes.
16:29Okay, so you left your house today thinking
16:30if she asked me to do this, you're going to do it?
16:33Yes.
16:34Stephen walks investigators
16:36through the moments leading up to shooting his wife.
16:39I took her out for coffee
16:41after she ate dinner.
16:43It was early evening.
16:45They went at a coffee
16:47and then he drove her back
16:49to the facility in the parking lot.
16:52She goes, do we have to go back there?
16:54And I was like, well, yes, we do.
16:57The closer we got,
16:58the more unhappy she would get
16:59incessantly with,
17:01I'm going to kill myself.
17:02I want you to kill me.
17:03I mean, the anguish that she was going through
17:08just unbelievable.
17:11I mean, it was a horror story.
17:13Went out and started walking around with her.
17:16The whole time she's pretty much begging him,
17:18like, if you loved me, you would do this.
17:20Just was getting more and more and more desperate.
17:22She said, I feel like I'm trapped here.
17:25I'm never going to be able to get out.
17:27This is not how I want to live the rest of my life.
17:30She kept, you know, going on and on and on
17:32and just got to the point
17:35where I couldn't take it anymore.
17:37Stephen Crespi, a Marine,
17:39kept a gun in his car.
17:41He stood really close,
18:08almost close enough he could have kissed her
18:10and he held the gun against her chest.
18:12According to Stephen,
18:13she seemed to be encouraged by seeing the gun
18:16and wanted to die.
18:31In an interview room in Boynton Beach, Florida,
18:34Stephen Crespi gives a harrowing account
18:36of how he helped his wife Pam end her life.
18:39She just stood there and it was like,
18:42I want to die, I want you to kill me.
18:45And I couldn't take it anymore.
18:47She was so brokenhearted.
18:49And the gun went off.
18:54A bullet went through her heart.
18:55He explained that when he looked at her face,
19:16all he saw was relief.
19:18I was willing to sacrifice anything I had to sacrifice
19:21to get her where she wanted to be.
19:24He put the onus on her that this was a killing
19:28because the victim wanted it.
19:30He was adamant that it was an assisted suicide, not murder.
19:34He said he did it for compassionate reasons,
19:37but even though Stephen said that Pam wanted to die,
19:41in this situation, he said that he did it.
19:44He's the one who pulled the trigger.
19:46The state of Florida does not have mercy killing.
19:48If you take someone's life,
19:50regardless of the reason you give us,
19:51it is still murder.
19:52At the end of the interview, he's arrested,
19:56he's taken into custody, and charged with murder.
20:00As per normal practice, law enforcement did a DNA swab,
20:04not only of Crespi, but also of the gun.
20:08Stephen told law enforcement that he had thought
20:10about doing this before, so this showed premeditation,
20:14and that's first-degree murder.
20:16According to the state of Florida,
20:18that makes you not only eligible for life in prison,
20:21but the death penalty.
20:22Stephen Crespi made it clear from the outset
20:28that he was not guilty of murder,
20:31and that the reality was that Pam wanted to die.
20:36She had been asking Steve for a long time
20:39to help her with that.
20:41He was hoping that she would change her mind,
20:46but he also understood that by having the gun,
20:50that it made it possible for this to happen.
20:54His only objective and only wish was to see this charge reflect
20:59the truthfulness of what occurred.
21:02As Stephen remains in jail, insisting it was a mercy killing,
21:08detectives look to the three Crespi children,
21:10who struggle to comprehend their father's claims
21:12as they speak to police.
21:15All the kids were in shock.
21:16They were kind of in disbelief that this had happened,
21:19and they were disappointed that their dad hadn't talked to them
21:22or asked for help or let them know how bad it was.
21:25Andrew, Stephen's oldest son, and Stephanie, his daughter,
21:38also thought he was a murderer, basically,
21:41that he had taken the easy way and murdered their mom.
21:44They started telling the cops that he was overwhelmed
22:02by trying to take care of Pam, and he wasn't asking for help,
22:06and he could have asked for help.
22:07They said that he was one of these people
22:21who had such hubris about being able to take care of everything
22:25and fix it, that he was just going to take matters
22:28into his own hands.
22:30One key detail Stephen gave police
22:33is firmly rejected by his children.
22:35No other family member said that Pam Crosby
22:39wanted to commit suicide.
22:42I knew she was declining,
22:44but she had very lucid moments with us.
22:46She would never flat out say,
22:48I want to kill myself, I want to die.
22:52Also, Pam Crosby was very religious.
22:55She converted to Catholicism,
22:57and so suicide would be a real no-no.
23:00In the Catholic Church, if you take your own life,
23:02you're, you know, eternally damned.
23:04And that's why her family and others thought
23:09that the whole wanting to die
23:11was perhaps a creation in Stephen Crosby's mind.
23:17On April 10th, less than a month after Pam Crosby
23:20was shot and killed,
23:22her husband Stephen appears in court for his arraignment.
23:25We announced that we were seeking first-degree murder charges.
23:28We also said that we would not be seeking the death penalty.
23:33As prosecutors, we're human beings too,
23:36and we're sympathetic to the fact that he was a caregiver
23:39and he loved his wife.
23:41But in the end, you can't go around playing God.
23:44Stephen pled not guilty
23:47and said that this was not premeditated murder.
23:51Stephen and Pam's youngest son, Matthew,
23:54finds that as time passes following Pam's death,
23:58he begins to see more of his father's side.
24:01It took me about a month and a half
24:03after the incident took place.
24:06I had gotten over my anger.
24:09And I just started to process, you know,
24:11what was my mom going through?
24:12What was my dad going through?
24:13Do I agree with what he did?
24:16No, absolutely not.
24:19Of course I didn't agree with him,
24:21but I understood why.
24:26My dad's a fixer.
24:28If something's wrong, he's going to figure out why
24:32and fix it.
24:34The one thing he couldn't do
24:37and would have never been able to do
24:41is fix my mother.
24:46I didn't know a lot
24:50of what my dad was going through at this time.
24:57A little bit of me feels guilty.
25:00I was there for my mother,
25:03but I was not involved in a lot of her care.
25:06I could have been there maybe a little more.
25:10If my mom was truly aware
25:15of what was going on,
25:17and I believe she was,
25:19my mom didn't want to live like this.
25:22And I think they both had a hand in it.
25:27This change of heart is welcomed
25:28by Stephen's defense team,
25:30who are gearing up for an arduous battle.
25:32As we started defending the case,
25:36it was clear that the police felt
25:38it was an open and shut case.
25:40As a result of that,
25:42they didn't examine and evaluate
25:44everything that should have been.
25:46And there were glaring questions
25:47that we needed to get answers to.
25:50The big question was,
25:52was there reason to suspect
25:54that this was possibly a suicide
25:57as opposed to a homicide?
26:00And was there more investigation
26:03that needed to be done
26:04to uncover the truth?
26:07Accused of killing his wife, Pam,
26:21Stephen Crespi watches from jail
26:23as his case stalls
26:24for months,
26:26then years.
26:28Because it's a homicide,
26:30these court cases
26:31take a very long time.
26:33And the fact that COVID happened
26:35delayed the process even longer.
26:38So he was in jail, in prison,
26:40waiting trial
26:41for quite a bit of time.
26:43While both sides
26:44wait for their day in court,
26:45the Crespi siblings
26:46work on finding common ground
26:48despite their differences.
26:50Me and my brother and sister,
26:52for about two, three years
26:54after the incident,
26:55we still had a good standing,
26:56good relationship.
26:57I, at this point,
26:59supported my dad.
27:00They supported my mom's side.
27:02But we still talked
27:03because we made an agreement.
27:05We said, hey,
27:06let's not let this destroy us
27:08because it really doesn't involve us.
27:10So let's let the courts handle this
27:13and let's not let this ruin
27:16our relationship.
27:18Three years pass
27:20until, in 2020,
27:21the family prepares to meet
27:23in court again
27:24for a bond hearing.
27:25In Florida,
27:27the court has discretion
27:28to grant bond.
27:29We took a considerable
27:32amount of time
27:33to build a defense case
27:36to say that
27:37he should get a bond
27:38so that he can be at home
27:41and we can finish
27:42preparing the case.
27:44We had witnesses
27:46from all walks of life,
27:49military people
27:50that knew him
27:50in his personal life,
27:52and family,
27:53Matthew,
27:53who had prepared
27:54a bedroom for him
27:55and a place to stay.
27:58Everything was fine.
27:59A week or two
28:00before my dad's bond hearing,
28:03that was the moment
28:04things and people shifted.
28:07I get a call
28:08from my brother.
28:10What do you know
28:10about this bond hearing?
28:12What about the bond hearing?
28:13Did you know about it?
28:14Yes, I did.
28:15Why didn't you tell any of us?
28:17I thought we made an agreement
28:18to let the courts
28:19handle the courts.
28:21And he was like,
28:22yeah, but this is
28:22a little more serious.
28:23Are you thinking
28:24about taking them in?
28:25And I was like,
28:26yeah, if it goes down.
28:27And then we three
28:28waved my sister in
28:29and it just got
28:30more and more and more.
28:32And, you know,
28:32they said some things
28:33that can't believe
28:34you're, you know,
28:35you would take in a murderer.
28:38The tensions
28:39between the family
28:40come to a head
28:41on the day of the hearing.
28:43About six months
28:43after COVID
28:44shut everything down,
28:45he finally got a bond hearing
28:46in September of 2020.
28:48And everybody
28:49in the court were masked.
28:51All three siblings
28:52testify at the bond hearing.
28:54Matthew for the defense
28:55and Andrew and Stephanie
28:57on the side
28:58of the prosecution.
28:59This was a split family
29:02and this was something
29:03that really weighed
29:04on those who loved Pam Crosby.
29:08Tell the court
29:09how you're related
29:09to the defendant.
29:10Who's my father?
29:12Stephanie basically
29:13told the judge
29:14that she didn't trust her dad.
29:16The claim that this
29:16was an accident
29:17and it was absolutely false.
29:19There was no way
29:20after what he had done
29:21with the mom
29:22that she could believe in him.
29:23He had sacrificed their trust.
29:26When the going got tough,
29:27he chose to take things
29:28into his own hands
29:29and make it go away.
29:31My brother and sister,
29:33they called him narcissistic.
29:34They called him controlling,
29:36unstable, irrational.
29:39When murdering someone,
29:40it's his way of showing love
29:41that I would hate to know
29:42what he could do
29:43to other loved ones
29:44if he had let out
29:45into the real world.
29:46They feared for their lives.
29:48They thought my dad
29:48would come and hunt them down.
29:51That having to hold,
29:52for better or for worse,
29:54in sickness and in health
29:55is not demonstrated
29:57by a 45 to the chest.
30:00They both painted a view
30:01I never knew they had
30:02of my father,
30:03but two,
30:03one that doesn't exist
30:04of my father.
30:06Stephen's oldest son,
30:08Andrew,
30:08was on Zoom
30:09for the bond hearing as well.
30:10And he was vehement
30:11that he just stay in jail.
30:13My father should have sent
30:14me something to the effect of,
30:16I wish I could just put
30:17a round in her chest
30:18and then support
30:19and put her out in her misery.
30:20And I thought that
30:21he was exaggerating
30:23and speaking out of frustration
30:24regarding the situation
30:26until he wasn't.
30:28When Andrew appeared
30:30remotely at the bond hearing
30:33and said,
30:33I heard my dad say,
30:35that he wanted
30:36to put a round
30:37in her chest.
30:38It's really damning,
30:39not only because
30:40it shows premeditation,
30:41but it also shows
30:42that Stephen Crespi
30:43allegedly had this intention
30:46before things got even worse,
30:49that he was thinking about it
30:50at least a year in advance.
30:53My dad was hurt for a while
30:55because of my brother and sister
30:57and the things they said
30:58during that bond hearing.
31:00He still loves them.
31:01He still cares for them.
31:02Don't think that he doesn't,
31:04but he's hurt
31:04because the words
31:07don't line up
31:08with how we were raised,
31:10with what took place.
31:11He feels abandoned by them.
31:14When the judge announced
31:15her ruling,
31:16she denied bond,
31:18saying the evidence
31:19of premeditated murder
31:21was too strong
31:22to release him.
31:24He was being put on trial
31:25for murder.
31:26What's to say
31:27he wouldn't try
31:27to kill himself
31:28or others,
31:29especially because
31:30he seemingly had
31:31some sort of Messiah complex
31:32where he believed
31:33in killing other people
31:34for their own benefit.
31:36We were there
31:38to do justice for Pam.
31:40This was an unjustified killing,
31:43a homicide
31:44that needed
31:45to be punished appropriately,
31:47and we were not going to stop.
31:49after a contentious bond hearing,
32:06Stephen Crespi
32:06is denied bond
32:08and sent back to prison
32:09to await trial
32:10for the murder
32:11of his wife, Pam.
32:12Stephen went back to jail,
32:14and our focus turned
32:15on finding
32:16the best experts
32:18in crime scene reconstruction
32:20and DNA analysis,
32:23all with the objective
32:25to prove
32:26that this was
32:27an assisted suicide
32:28and not a murder.
32:30The defense enlists
32:32forensics expert
32:33Tiffany Roy
32:33to aid their case.
32:35They ask her
32:35to go back over
32:36the evidence collected
32:37at the time of the incident.
32:40First thing I do
32:41in every case
32:42when I get the case file notes
32:43is to check for human error
32:44because human people
32:46do this work
32:46and they make mistakes.
32:49As we're going
32:50through this process,
32:51we found out
32:52that Pamela's hands
32:54should have been tested
32:56for gunshot residue
32:57and were not.
32:59Back at the time,
33:00this was such
33:00an open and shut case
33:01that the medical examiner
33:03had no evidence
33:04of GSR gunshot residue.
33:07This is missing.
33:08This data
33:08would be important.
33:09The presence
33:10or absence
33:10of gunshot residue
33:12on someone's hands
33:13might be telling.
33:14If gunshot residue
33:15testing had been done
33:16as it should have been,
33:18it could have shown
33:19that Pam assisted
33:21in the suicide.
33:24Seeing this discrepancy,
33:25the defense strategy
33:26is to turn
33:27the state's evidence
33:28against them
33:29in an effort
33:30to show that
33:30not enough was done
33:31to rule out suicide
33:33as the cause
33:33of Pam's death,
33:35starting with the DNA.
33:37DNA was important
33:37in this case
33:38because they tested
33:39the murder weapon,
33:40which was a gun
33:40that was owned
33:41by Mr. Crespi
33:42and drew conclusions
33:43that Mr. Crespi's DNA
33:45was on his own firearm.
33:47But the tools
33:48that were being used
33:49at the crime lab
33:50can only examine
33:51certain parts
33:53and pieces
33:53of the profile.
33:55So there were things
33:56that were being missed.
33:57And so we needed
33:58a higher-powered tool
34:00to examine
34:00that information.
34:03Tiffany helped us
34:05do additional testing
34:07on samples
34:08that law enforcement have.
34:11There were several samples
34:13after they were examined
34:14that showed DNA traits
34:15that were similar
34:16to Mrs. Crespi
34:17on the firearm.
34:19The area where
34:20Mrs. Crespi's DNA
34:21was most present
34:23was the grip.
34:24And that made it
34:25a very real possibility
34:26that she could have
34:27handled that weapon.
34:29This was huge
34:30because her contact
34:31with the gun
34:32suggests that,
34:33in fact,
34:33she was involved
34:35in the discharging
34:36of the weapon.
34:39But can the presence
34:40of her DNA alone
34:41prove assisted suicide?
34:43We could argue
34:45as prosecutors
34:46that she did not
34:47want to die.
34:47She was trying
34:48to push the gun away.
34:49We knew the prosecutor
34:50would attempt to show
34:51a pushing away
34:52of the gun.
34:53So we hired
34:55an expert
34:56on firearms,
34:58forensic reconstruction
34:59of shootings.
35:01And he reconstructed
35:03the shooting
35:04to see whether
35:06or not
35:06the wound
35:08to the shirt
35:09and the DNA
35:11on the gun
35:12were consistent
35:13with showing
35:14that Pam embraced
35:16and pulled the gun
35:17toward her.
35:20This showed
35:21that Steve
35:22did not act alone
35:23and that Pam
35:24very likely
35:25assisted
35:26in her own death.
35:27This stunning evidence
35:29suggests Pamela
35:30may have assisted
35:31in the shooting
35:32that night.
35:32Stephen never
35:34mentioned this detail
35:35to anyone
35:35including his own
35:37defense attorney.
35:38I think the reason
35:39he didn't mention
35:40the specific act
35:42of pulling the gun
35:43toward her
35:44at the time
35:45was that
35:46the investigators
35:47never asked
35:48for the specifics
35:50in terms of
35:51how it happened.
35:52He said he shot
35:53his wife.
35:54That was uncontested.
35:56However,
35:56they never asked
35:58what Pam did
35:59or what role
36:00she may have played
36:01and so
36:02by not asking
36:03the questions
36:04the investigation
36:05never got into
36:06that part of the case.
36:08I also think
36:09that often
36:10under periods
36:11of stress
36:11people sometimes
36:13don't remember
36:15everything
36:16exactly as it happens
36:18and they oftentimes
36:19will fill in
36:21gaps or missing
36:23information
36:23with information
36:25that's most
36:26detrimental to themselves
36:28and because of her
36:30faith as a strong
36:32Catholic
36:32on some level
36:33he believed that
36:34by not talking
36:35about that
36:36he was protecting
36:38her in a sense.
36:39The defense
36:40informs Stephen's
36:41son Matthew
36:41of their findings
36:42which forces him
36:44to reconsider
36:44his mother's
36:45final moments.
36:46There's no other
36:47way that my mom's
36:48DNA could have
36:49got on there
36:49unless she was
36:50holding that gun.
36:52After the DNA
36:53evidence
36:54what I believe
36:55happened
36:55is
36:56yes my father
36:58went to the car
36:59and got the gun
37:00yes my father
37:02presented it
37:03to my mother
37:04at which point
37:07my mother
37:11I still
37:15I still
37:18battle
37:18with this
37:19like
37:19I believe
37:22my mom
37:22took her own life
37:23and my father
37:25did give her
37:26the gun
37:26and when
37:28when she
37:31shot herself
37:32just all
37:35the guilt
37:35of it
37:35came back
37:36to my father
37:37so I do
37:39believe my dad
37:39had a portion
37:40in it
37:40I don't think
37:41he solely
37:42pulled the trigger
37:42himself
37:43I think
37:44the ultimate
37:45decision
37:45to take
37:47my mother's
37:48life
37:48was my mother's
37:50Faced with
37:52the defense's
37:53new evidence
37:53of assisted suicide
37:54the state's
37:55attorney needs
37:56to rethink
37:57their approach
37:57This was a game
37:59changer
37:59because we were
38:00all set
38:01to pursue murder
38:02charges
38:02and when you're
38:03a prosecutor
38:04you have to
38:04prove cases
38:05beyond a reasonable
38:06doubt
38:06the fact that
38:07we now
38:08had some doubt
38:09meant that
38:09the jury
38:10certainly would
38:10what seemed
38:27like a
38:27straightforward
38:27murder case
38:28against Stephen
38:29Crespi
38:30takes a turn
38:30when forensic
38:31evidence
38:32gives the defense
38:33room to argue
38:34it was a mercy
38:35killing
38:35the defense
38:37paid a lot
38:38of money
38:38for an expert
38:39who then
38:40revealed that
38:41Pam's DNA
38:42was found
38:43on the grip
38:43of the gun
38:44and that's why
38:46we decided
38:47to enter into
38:48conversations
38:48about lowering
38:49the charge
38:49in Florida
38:52there's a rarely
38:53used statute
38:54a manslaughter
38:54by assisted
38:55suicide
38:56so we met
38:59the evidence
38:59where it was
39:00and told
39:01the defense
39:01that we'd
39:02be willing
39:02to enter
39:03into agreement
39:04where the
39:05defendant
39:06would plead
39:06guilty
39:07to manslaughter
39:08by assisted
39:08suicide
39:09and would
39:10leave it up
39:10to the judge
39:11to do the
39:12sentencing
39:12when Stephen
39:14learned of the
39:15offer
39:15he was relieved
39:18he felt
39:19that finally
39:20after six years
39:21we were getting
39:22an offer
39:23that was
39:24consistent
39:25with the truth
39:26and at that
39:27time
39:27he pledged
39:28guilty to
39:29manslaughter
39:30by assisted
39:31suicide
39:32in august
39:352023
39:36Stephen finally
39:37gets to go
39:37back to court
39:38for sentencing
39:39with no
39:41priors
39:42he was eligible
39:43for a sentence
39:45of between
39:4510 and 30
39:46years
39:46our case
39:48was reinforced
39:49by the fact
39:50that the family
39:51members
39:51at least
39:51almost all
39:52of them
39:53were on our
39:53side
39:54they were
39:54the ones
39:55who wanted
39:55Stephen Crespi
39:56to go to prison
39:57as long as
39:57possible
39:58they clearly
39:59did not like
39:59him
39:59they hated
40:00what he did
40:01they did not
40:01forgive him
40:02and they
40:03wanted the
40:03maximum penalty
40:04during sentencing
40:05my brother
40:06and sister
40:07gave victim
40:08impact
40:08statements
40:09a lot
40:12of the stuff
40:12they said
40:13to me
40:13was just
40:14vindictive
40:17if you
40:19viewed my
40:20father that
40:20way
40:21then why
40:21would you
40:21even be
40:22around him
40:22their words
40:24and their
40:24actions
40:25didn't line
40:26up to me
40:26and I
40:27didn't
40:27understand
40:28that
40:28what struck
40:30me
40:31was when
40:32Stephen Crespi
40:33voluntarily
40:33chose to
40:34give a
40:35statement
40:35at sentencing
40:36and I was
40:37a bit surprised
40:38at how
40:38defiant
40:39and angry
40:40he was
40:40if he finally
40:41gets to speak
40:42in court
40:42he basically
40:43says where
40:44was everybody
40:44helping me
40:45the judge
40:47she was not
40:48unsympathetic
40:49to Stephen Crespi
40:50she
40:50understood
40:51where he was
40:52coming from
40:53if the family
40:54wasn't so adamant
40:55if Stephanie
40:56and Andrew
40:56didn't feel
40:57the way they
40:57did
40:57then this
40:58would have
40:59been
40:59probably
41:00treated
41:00differently
41:00in the end
41:02she decided
41:03to go
41:04for 20
41:04years
41:04when they
41:10came back
41:10with 20
41:11I was just
41:13at a loss
41:13for words
41:13it's a life
41:15sentence
41:16from my
41:16father
41:16he's old
41:17in his mind
41:19he's someone
41:20who gave
41:20his life
41:21in exchange
41:23for hers
41:23he's not
41:25going to be
41:25able to be
41:25buried at
41:26Arlington
41:26National
41:27Cemetery
41:27his family
41:29is permanently
41:30divided
41:30my dad
41:32is currently
41:3372
41:34I still
41:36go visit
41:37him
41:37I talk to
41:38him at least
41:38once a week
41:39on the phone
41:39my dad has
41:40not spoken
41:41to anybody
41:42my brother
41:43or sister
41:43since the
41:44incident
41:44I have no
41:45plans
41:46to ever speak
41:47with my brother
41:48or sister
41:48again
41:49I miss my mom
41:55a lot
41:56she raised me
42:01she was my
42:02best friend
42:02no matter
42:07what I was
42:08going through
42:08whenever my
42:10mother smiled
42:11I knew
42:12it was okay
42:12or it would
42:15be alright
42:16I just want
42:21to see her
42:21smile
42:22one more time
42:23I don't
42:25like
42:25I don't
42:27know
42:28I don't
42:29know
42:30how to
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