- há 3 horas
Titulo Original: BEST DOCUMENTARY OF ALL TIME - GEORGE TREPAL, THE MURDER OF PEGGY CARR CRIME DOCUMENTARY
Canal Autor (Nome): moussa oualibou
Canal Autor (Link): https://www.youtube.com/@moussaoualibou
Fonte do Video (Link): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuPTyzP4IvM
Licenca: Este conteudo e reutilizado sob a Licenca Creative Commons Atribuicao 4.0 Internacional (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Note: The original content has not been modified. / O conteudo original foi mantido integralmente.
Canal Autor (Nome): moussa oualibou
Canal Autor (Link): https://www.youtube.com/@moussaoualibou
Fonte do Video (Link): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuPTyzP4IvM
Licenca: Este conteudo e reutilizado sob a Licenca Creative Commons Atribuicao 4.0 Internacional (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Note: The original content has not been modified. / O conteudo original foi mantido integralmente.
Categoria
📺
TVTranscrição
00:00The woman is killed with an extremely rare poison.
00:04She was killed, and we're going back to see Mom.
00:08Help, the evidence led to a brilliant, reclusive neighbor.
00:13George is not evil.
00:15He's a genius, but he's not evil.
00:17I don't believe that in a million years George Trepowel is guilty of a first-crime crime.
00:22It's beyond coincidence.
00:26The circumstantial evidence was damning.
00:40A Florida poisoning case from 1988
00:43seemed to have all the ingredients of a mystery novel.
00:46It was a terrible crime.
00:47and what appeared to be a twisted genius with something to prove.
00:51But this real life whodunit lacked a few elements.
00:55There was no smoking gun, confession, or even a fingerprint.
00:58The authorities had to make up for it,
01:01with what often carries the day in such cases,
01:03a back-breaking investigation.
01:06It was an investigation that began at a surprising point,
01:09before anyone had died.
01:25Alturas, a small community in central Florida.
01:29In June 1988, a mine worker named Pi Carr received an anonymous letter in the mail.
01:37It was typed on a post-it note.
01:40The 44-year-old Pi showed it to his stepson, Dwayne.
01:45Pi said, it's just a gag.
01:46And he handed it to me, and it said,
01:50you and all your so-called family have exactly two weeks to move out of the state of Florida,
01:55Or you will all die.
01:56The note ended with, this is no joke.
02:00Pi also showed the note to his friend then-minister, Robert Grant.
02:04I said, I just couldn't imagine anyone in the community that, you know, would want to hurt him.
02:09And I said, I think I'd just, you know, forget about it.
02:13So he did.
02:14After all, Alturas was a safe farming community,
02:18dotted by cattle ranches and orange groves.
02:21It was real nice and quiet, and you always smelled oranges.
02:26And it's a place that you might want to raise your child, you know, and start a family.
02:30You don't have to worry about locking your doors.
02:32It didn't seem like there was any threat at all out there.
02:36Besides, at the time, the Carr family had other worries.
02:41Pi and his 41-year-old wife, Peggy, had married just a few months earlier.
02:46Both had children from previous marriages.
02:49It was a quarrelsome household with four kids in their teens and early 20s who didn't get along.
02:56To be honest with you, we weren't very close.
02:58I mean, we weren't like the Brady Bunch at all.
03:00Everybody was always arguing.
03:02There was always turmoil around the house.
03:05Pi and his new wife were also feuding.
03:08Peggy suspected that her husband was having an affair.
03:13Peggy worked at a local restaurant as a waitress with her daughter, Sissy.
03:17On Sunday, October 23, 1988, she woke up early for her morning shift.
03:25When Sissy arrived that afternoon, Peggy told her she wasn't feeling well.
03:30She had chest pains and her legs were ached.
03:33Sissy sent her mother home to rest.
03:36Peggy's teenage son, Duane, found her lying on the couch.
03:41She was, like, out of it.
03:42She didn't know what was wrong with her.
03:44She had complaints about her chest.
03:47She had complaints about her feet hurting her really bad.
03:50And she couldn't walk at all.
03:52By evening, Peggy could barely speak and could not open her eyes.
03:57She was taken to the hospital.
03:59After several days of testing, they could not find out anything.
04:03And she said, Bob, the doctors have said maybe it's psychosomatic.
04:08And that I'm just imagining this pain.
04:12But she says it's so real.
04:14And she described the pain as it had worked its way up her legs and into her back.
04:20Peggy showed signs of improving after a few days and was sent home.
04:24But the mysterious symptoms quickly returned.
04:28She was incoherent.
04:29You couldn't even talk to her.
04:31She had to write stuff down because she was hurting so bad.
04:34And all she could say was, my feet are killing me.
04:38Peggy was rushed to Winterhaven Hospital.
04:41At the same time, Pi's 16-year-old son, Travis, and Peggy's 16-year-old son, Duane,
04:47started feeling burning sensations in their feet, just like Peggy.
04:52It's like when your feet go to sleep.
04:54And when they're about to wake up, it kind of hurts.
04:58You know, and you've got to move around.
04:59You've got to stomp your feet or whatever.
05:00It's that feeling.
05:02But it was like intensified 100 times over.
05:05I was just crying until they put me in the hospital and I got something for pain.
05:10Me and Travis were both just crying like two babies.
05:14Doctors speculated that the Carr family may have been poisoned with a heavy metal such as arsenic.
05:21Peggy, Travis, and Duane were all in excruciating pain.
05:26It wasn't until Peggy started losing her hair that one doctor came up with a more remote possibility.
05:33They may have been poisoned with a deadly chemical called thallium, an element once used in rat poison.
05:40It was so deadly, it was banned for that use in the early 70s and restricted to a few industries.
05:48Thallium is odorless, colorless, and undetectable through standard screening tests.
05:55The doctor's hunch was correct.
05:57Peggy, Travis, and Duane were all victims of thallium poisoning.
06:03And when they finally got the answer, then that didn't seem to help too much because who would do this
06:09to us?
06:12Peggy had ingested twice as much poison as the boys.
06:16She gradually lost all ability to communicate.
06:19At that point, nothing could be done.
06:22Peggy slipped into a coma.
06:25Travis and Duane also started losing their hair.
06:28Travis was soon on a respirator.
06:33Detective Ernie Mincy of the Polk County Sheriff's Office was assigned to the case.
06:37The type of poison used to poison the family was very exotic.
06:46It's not a poison that is found on anyone's supermarket shelf or in their kitchen cabinet.
06:56Authorities searched the car property.
06:58They tested the well water and examined hundreds of items in the house.
07:02Under the kitchen counter, they found an eight-pack of Coca-Cola in glass bottles.
07:08Four were empty.
07:10Tests revealed that the empty bottles contained traces of thallium.
07:15This discovery confirmed everyone's suspicions.
07:18It was no accident.
07:20At that point, it became not an environmental investigation, but a homicide investigation,
07:27because the doctors had told me that her chances of survival were none.
07:34The investigation would soon lead to a suspect, an eccentric next-door neighbor with an IQ in the genius range,
07:41who was well-versed in chemistry.
07:44American Justice will return in a moment.
07:50In October 1988, a mystery unfolded in the small central Florida town of Alturas.
07:5941-year-old waitress Peggy Carr, her son Dwayne, and stepson Travis,
08:05had all been poisoned with a soft drink laced with the deadly chemical thallium.
08:12Polk County investigators needed to find an answer quickly.
08:15There was still that realm of possibility that it was a product tampering case.
08:21Then I have more than this family at risk.
08:25I have basically thousands and thousands at risk.
08:32Product tampering is a federal crime, so the FBI joined the case.
08:36The FBI lab quickly determined that each Coca-Cola bottle had been individually opened,
08:43laced with the poison, and then resealed, nearly impossible to do on a large scale.
08:49It seemed there was no factory tampering, but that someone had targeted the Carr family alone.
08:56Investigators shifted their focus.
09:16It was just too coincidental for him to be gone the same exact weekend that all this took place.
09:25Everybody gets sick.
09:26But detectives decided it made no sense.
09:30We could establish no motive for him to, number one, poison Peggy Carr.
09:37Number two, poison his own son, who he dearly loved,
09:41and who was the most serious of the two teenagers, poison.
09:45Tests also show that Pi himself had ingested some of the thallium.
09:50I wouldn't hold thallium powder in my hand.
09:55Anybody who had enough knowledge to do this crime wouldn't ingest thallium and take that risk.
10:02They just wouldn't do it.
10:05Investigators decided to broaden their search.
10:09The Carr family was unsure who bought the eight-pack of Coca-Cola.
10:13So detectives looked for someone else who could have placed the poison bottles in the home.
10:19Anybody could have come in the house.
10:21The back door was never locked.
10:23If we go out by the pool and then we come back through the house and we leave,
10:27we never think about locking the doors.
10:28There wasn't really a lot of time to be able to get to the household
10:33where you could be guaranteed someone wouldn't be there,
10:35which required pretty much to either be someone in the household or next door.
10:42Investigators began to take a closer look at the only neighbors in the vicinity.
10:4739-year-old George Treetbell and his wife, Diana Carr.
10:51No relation to the Carr family.
10:54Recently, there had been squabbling between the neighbors.
10:58At times, Dwayne and his stepbrother got on George Treetbell's nerves.
11:03We were just kids.
11:05We'd always pop firecrackers.
11:07We'd always play loud music.
11:09And we used to go down to the lake and ride our three-wheelers
11:13and then come up his side, ride in his little grove,
11:17and just, we basically tormented him.
11:21Only days before Peggy Carr became sick,
11:24she and Treetbell's wife, Diana,
11:26had exchanged harsh words about the loud music.
11:30Diana comes out, and they just went at it.
11:33She started screaming and cussing and yelling
11:36and just didn't match what was going on.
11:40She was way too mad for the situation.
11:44But were the couple angry enough to want to poison their neighbors?
11:49If so, they were a most unusual pair of killers.
11:53Both George and Diana were members of Mensa,
11:57a social club for people with IQs in the top 2% of the population.
12:02Diana was a murder mystery buff
12:04with a busy career as an orthopedic surgeon.
12:08Friends described her as a workaholic who dominated her husband.
12:13Diana is a doctor.
12:15I have other friends who are female doctors,
12:17and it seems to be kind of universal
12:21that the men that they marry, they do overshadow.
12:24Sometimes it's better to have someone
12:26who's a little bit more submissive
12:27so that the two of you can get along.
12:30Detective Ernie Mincy interviewed Diana
12:32at her office in Bartow, Florida.
12:35She explained that the cars were not their type of people,
12:39but described the confrontation with Peggy
12:42as an ordinary disagreement.
12:45Mincy and his partner, FBI agent Brad Brecke,
12:49caught up with her husband, George, at home.
12:53According to the detectives,
12:55Treepal acted strangely
12:56and spoke with a nervous stammer.
12:59He talked openly about his animosity toward his neighbors.
13:03Detectives thought this could be a motive for murder.
13:06He went into multiple stories of trivial things
13:11that to him seemed to be very important things
13:13about loud music
13:15and problems with the teenage kids
13:18and so forth next door.
13:20Treepal also had a curious response
13:23to one of the detectives' routine questions.
13:26Why would someone want to poison your neighbors?
13:29The same question I'd ask too many other people,
13:33and the normal standard response was,
13:36I don't know.
13:37I have no idea.
13:38His response was,
13:41Someone wanted them to leave.
13:44Treepal's comment seemed to be a clue.
13:47It was strangely similar to the threatening note
13:49the Carr family had received,
13:51a note that had not been made public.
13:55George Treepal, unlike his wife,
13:58did fit the typical portrait of a poisoner.
14:01Early on,
14:03FBI profilers provided a description of the killer
14:06as an intelligent, passive person
14:08who avoids direct confrontation.
14:13There was no doubt as to Treepal's high intelligence.
14:17He was a self-taught chemist
14:19and a self-described computer programmer,
14:22though he did not hold a job.
14:24An old friend reported that Treepal
14:26had a long history of using drugs,
14:28such as LSD and speed.
14:30He had also reportedly experimented on others
14:34using homemade hallucinogens.
14:37At one point,
14:38he and another friend took a cross-country trip,
14:40and they took some cookies along
14:42that were laced with drugs,
14:43and they would pick up hitchhikers
14:45and offer them to the hitchhikers
14:48who would eat them,
14:49not knowing that they were taking drugs in their body
14:52when they ate the cookies.
14:54And they thought that was great fun.
14:58Treepal also had a criminal record.
15:00In 1975, he had been convicted
15:03for conspiracy to manufacture amphetamine
15:05for sale and distribution.
15:08He had been the chemist
15:10in a major, major methamphetamine laboratory
15:13in the southeast.
15:15George had told people in prison
15:17when he got out,
15:18He was going to get back.
15:19into the methamphetamine business.
15:21One element often used
15:23in the manufacture of methamphetamine
15:25is thallium.
15:27Treepal told investigators
15:29he had no knowledge
15:30of the poison.
15:31But the suspicions about Treepal
15:33were not confirmed
15:35by those who knew him best.
15:37His friends, Bill and Holly Horton,
15:39described George as a Buddhist
15:41with deep respect
15:43for all living things.
15:44I myself saw him catch bugs
15:47and put them outside,
15:48Those that I would stop.
15:49I mean, I know he was very, very caring
15:51about life
15:52and caring about his cats.
15:56And I just don't see
15:58George set out to try to murder someone.
16:01George is a very good friend.
16:03somebody I could always count on.
16:05If I needed a hand with something,
16:06Hey, George, boom.
16:08Even members of the Carr family
16:10I saw Treepal as harmless.
16:13I thought he was just a nerd.
16:15He always stayed cooped up in his house.
16:17He was always nice,
16:19and he would wear some of the most
16:22Outlandish outfits you've ever seen.
16:25Like come out to get his newspaper,
16:27He'd have on black socks.
16:29with some slippers on
16:31And shorts, you know.
16:32He was just, he was just weird.
16:35Whoever did poison the Carr family
16:37would soon be facing a murder charge.
16:40Dwayne Debralee and his stepbrother Travis
16:42would survive,
16:43but Peggy Carr
16:45She never came out of her coma.
16:50On March 3, 1989,
16:53her husband Pi signed the papers
16:55to shut off life support.
16:57For some reason,
16:59Why, I don't know now.
17:00but I watched
17:01They unplugged the machine.
17:02from my mom,
17:03and she slipped away,
17:05And it was terrible.
17:07I just lost the most important thing
17:09in my life.
17:11We left,
17:12And they closed the curtain.
17:13And that was it.
17:14She was gone.
17:20Peggy Carr's death
17:21raised the stakes for authorities.
17:23Had George Treepal's disputes
17:25with his neighbors
17:26What motivated him to poison them?
17:28Or was he an eccentric genius
17:30Who looked only guilty?
17:32Investigators had no evidence,
17:34and one exceptionally smart suspect.
17:36So the Polk County Sheriff's Office
17:38decided to send a detective
17:40undercover
17:41to gain Treepal's trust
17:42and hopefully answer the question,
17:44Who killed Peggy Carr?
18:00In the spring of 1989,
18:03authorities in Alturas, Florida
18:04were investigating the murder
18:06of Peggy Carr.
18:08She had been poisoned
18:09with the rare chemical
18:10thallium.
18:13The Polk County Sheriff's Office
18:15had a prime suspect,
18:17George Treepal,
18:18an eccentric neighbor
18:19with a criminal record.
18:21He had an open disdain
18:22for the Carr family
18:23and was thought to have
18:24a working knowledge
18:25of Thallium,
18:26but they had no evidence
18:28linking him to the crime.
18:30So the Sheriff's Office
18:32sent by Detective Susan Gorek
18:33undercover.
18:34Gorek was unassuming
18:36and easygoing,
18:37qualities that would encourage
18:38Treepal to open up.
18:41But before meeting her suspect,
18:43the detective did some research.
18:45One of the things
18:46that we did in this case
18:47was actually going through garbage
18:50and pulling every kind of record
18:52that we could find
18:53on Mr. Treepal.
18:54We had someone write up
18:56on the garbage truck
18:57and mark the bag
19:00that came from that house
19:02Both George and his wife,
19:03Diana,
19:04belonged to Mensa,
19:05a high IQ club
19:07and participated
19:08in the group's social events,
19:10which sometimes involved
19:12elaborate role-playing.
19:14My character name
19:15It was George Treepal.
19:16My role name
19:17was Juan Goh the Great.
19:18In April 1989,
19:20the couple organized
19:21the Mensa murder mystery weekend
19:23at a local hotel.
19:25Detective Gorek
19:26decided to attend
19:28under an assumed name
19:29and identity.
19:31She became Sherry Gwynn,
19:33a shy woman
19:34trying to separate
19:35from an abusive husband.
19:37FBI profilers thought
19:38Sherry was a person
19:40that the suspect
19:41could relate to.
19:42The detective arrived
19:44for the event
19:45and prepared to meet
19:46George Treepal.
19:48Working undercover
19:49is a lot
19:50like being an actress.
19:52You put on a face
19:53and you rehearse
19:55and you rehearse
19:55your lines
19:55and then you
19:56ad-lib a lot.
19:58That's the only way
19:59that you can deal
19:59with being friends
20:01with someone
20:01that you know
20:02is suspected
20:03of committing
20:03Such a horrible crime.
20:06Participants
20:06in the murder weekend
20:07were assigned characters.
20:09They dressed in costumes
20:10and followed a script
20:12enacting various murder plots.
20:16George Treepal wrote
20:17a used booklet
20:18at the event
20:19called Voodoo
20:20For Fun and Profit.
20:23One section read
20:24most items
20:25on the doorstep
20:26are just a neighbor's way
20:27of saying move
20:28or else.
20:29The wording
20:30reminded investigators
20:31of the anonymous threat
20:32sent to Pi Carr
20:34that warned
20:35move out
20:36Or else you all die.
20:40Treepal's pamphlet
20:41explained
20:41that people
20:42who receive such threats
20:43should know
20:44that their food
20:45or drink
20:45could be poisoned.
20:46During the event
20:47the undercover detective
20:49approached Treepal.
20:50She found him
20:51to be pleasant
20:52and engaging.
20:54He was very easy
20:55to talk to.
20:56He was a little bit
20:57like an encyclopedia.
20:59You could ask him
21:00anything
21:00and he could
21:01I just talk for hours
21:03on any subject.
21:04He was very intelligent
21:06a little egotistical.
21:10Detective Gorek
21:11heard Treepal
21:12they say he was planning
21:13to sell his house.
21:15She seized the chance
21:16to develop a relationship
21:17and told Treepal
21:19that she was in the market
21:20for a new place.
21:21They arranged to meet
21:23the following week.
21:24They were soon friends
21:26often talking
21:27on the phone.
21:28Gorek recorded
21:29the conversations.
21:31Hello?
21:32Hey, George.
21:33Yes.
21:33This is Sherry.
21:34Hi.
21:34At first
21:35the undercover operation
21:37yielded no incriminating facts.
21:40Treepal never brought up
21:41the poisoning.
21:41Their conversations
21:43were run-of-the-mill
21:44about his daily rituals
21:46or his cat.
21:48I'll have a new kitten
21:49If he's quite good.
21:50Do you?
21:51Diana found her
21:51in the orange group
21:52in front of the house.
21:53What have you named her?
21:54Tiger Lily.
21:56Little by little
21:57through phone conversations
21:58and picnics
21:59in the park
22:00Susan Gorek
22:01got to know
22:02George Treepal
22:03his moves
22:04how he thought
22:05of himself.
22:06During one meeting
22:07Treepal trusted
22:08that he felt
22:09like a divided person.
22:11It took me
22:22a long time
22:24for him
22:25to confide
22:26enough for me
22:27for me to understand
22:28just how much
22:29he hated people
22:30that had less
22:33intelligence than him.
22:34And
22:35he
22:36absolutely
22:37demanded
22:38certain things
22:39and certain control.
22:41And I believe
22:42when the family
22:43moved in next door
22:44he had no control
22:46over them.
22:48As time went on
22:49the detective
22:50came to believe
22:51that Treepal
22:52had poisoned
22:53his neighbors
22:53but she could find
22:54no proof.
22:56The undercover work
22:57was expected
22:58to take a few weeks
22:59but it stretched on
23:01for eight months
23:02without a breakthrough.
23:06Then
23:06George Treepal
23:07and his wife
23:08moved
23:09about 40 miles
23:10away
23:10to Sebring,
23:11Florida.
23:12In December
23:131989
23:13they allowed
23:14the detective
23:15whom they knew
23:16as Sherry
23:16to rent
23:17their house
23:18in Alturas.
23:19I actually
23:20paid
23:21for the home
23:22and moved
23:23into it
23:23and I
23:25brought
23:25our crime scene
23:26unit
23:26and some detectives
23:27with me
23:28went home
23:29and we looked
23:31just about
23:32every inch
23:32of it.
23:33They didn't
23:34I need a search
23:35warrant
23:35since Treepal
23:36had given
23:37and his tenant
23:37free rein
23:38of the property.
23:39Anything they found
23:41was sent off
23:41to the FBI lab
23:42for testing.
23:45Moving into Treepal's home
23:46finally allowed
23:47the detective
23:48to confront her suspect
23:50about the Carr family
23:51poisoning.
23:52A surveillance team
23:53I videotaped a meeting
23:54between Sherry
23:55and her new landlord.
23:57I think you neglected
23:58to tell me something.
24:00Oh, what's that?
24:01That something
24:02had happened
24:03in the neighborhood.
24:05I had a lot
24:06of well-meaning people
24:08tear me out
24:09of my wits.
24:12Oh, oh yeah,
24:12somebody got
24:13boys next door.
24:16That might not be
24:17a lot to you
24:17But it's a lot to me.
24:20Oh, well, sorry.
24:22You want to cry,
24:22Please?
24:23Node.
24:31No one knew that
24:34the crime
24:35had not been solved
24:37and for him
24:38to say that
24:39was very,
24:40very interesting
24:41to me.
24:41At that point,
24:43there was really
24:43no doubt
24:44left in my mind
24:45that he was the one
24:45that had done it.
24:47The detective
24:48sensed something
24:49unusual
24:50in Treepal's behavior.
24:52His whole demeanor
24:54during this meeting
24:56was totally different
24:57from any conversation
24:59we had ever had.
25:00He was rather sharp
25:02and abruptly with me.
25:05Gorek told Treepal
25:06that investigators
25:07had come looking
25:08for him
25:08at his old house.
25:10To the detective,
25:12Treepal seemed
25:13unusually distracted.
25:14He kept asking
25:15what the investigators
25:16wanted.
25:18The only reason
25:19they could be
25:20interested in me,
25:21of course,
25:22was...
25:22They didn't tell me
25:24what it was
25:24in reference to.
25:25Oh, of course.
25:27I hope I'm doing
25:28this work
25:28as a very possible
25:29if it's not working
25:30on you.
25:30Okay, okay.
25:31I'm sorry.
25:33The interest in me
25:34would be because
25:35of the...
25:36Probably for the next
25:37door,
25:38a few years ago,
25:39which...
25:48When they were
25:49done talking,
25:50Gorek thought
25:51her suspect
25:51appeared shaken.
25:53The time is
25:5411:30
25:56and he's leaving
25:57And he's very worried.
26:02Soon after the meeting,
26:04the test results
26:05came back
26:05on the items
26:06taken from Treepal's home.
26:09The FBI
26:10discovered
26:10that a bottle
26:11found in his garage
26:12contained small
26:13traces of thallium.
26:15That was enough
26:16to arrest
26:17George Treepal.
26:20Investigators
26:21knocked on the door
26:21of his new home
26:22in Sebring, Florida.
26:24His wife
26:24answered the door.
26:26George Treepal
26:27was standing
26:28in the top
26:28of the stairways
26:30in a blue pair
26:31bikini underwear.
26:34Nothing else.
26:35We explained to him
26:36that we have
26:37warrants
26:38for his arrest.
26:39And his only
26:40response to us
26:41was,
26:42okay,
26:42Is it okay?
26:43if I put
26:44Are some clothes on?
26:45When authorities
26:46searched the home,
26:47they discovered
26:48apparently
26:48incriminating material.
26:50We found
26:52many chemicals,
26:53and I'm talking
26:54bottles and bottles
26:56and bottles
26:56of chemicals
26:58in different containers.
27:00Some of them
27:01were exotic
27:02than others.
27:03Detectives
27:04also came across
27:05a binder
27:06of photocopied pages
27:07from a book
27:08called
27:08Poison Detection
27:10in Human Organs.
27:12They contained
27:13detailed information
27:14on the effects
27:14of various poisons,
27:16including thallium.
27:18The pages
27:19were covered
27:19with George's
27:20fingerprints.
27:22They also found
27:23a hidden basement room
27:25that contained
27:25a wooden table
27:26with stirrups.
27:28The windows
27:29had been sealed
27:29and the walls
27:31heavily insulated.
27:32Detectives thought
27:33it looked like
27:33a torture chamber.
27:35Although unrelated
27:36to the poisoning,
27:37it seemed to reveal
27:38a dark side
27:39to George Tripal.
27:41It was quite evident
27:43from what I'd seen
27:44it was used
27:45for S&M purposes
27:48or torture purposes.
27:50Also coupled
27:51with the fact
27:52that we'd found
27:53bondage items,
27:54gags and whips
27:56and writing crops
27:57and all types
27:59of bondage tools.
28:02When this discovery
28:03was later revealed
28:04in the press,
28:05Tripal's friends
28:06said there was
28:07a reasonable explanation.
28:09A torture chamber?
28:11I don't think so.
28:12I mean,
28:13I hate to tell you,
28:14I'd hate for you
28:14to look through my videos,
28:16but we have some
28:17X-rated videos as well.
28:19I'd hate for you
28:20to look through the drawer
28:21in my bedroom table.
28:22We have some devices,
28:24and I think that
28:25Most married people do.
28:27yet they consider
28:28these devices
28:29as being torture.
28:33On April 7, 1990,
28:36George Tripal
28:37was charged
28:38first-degree murder
28:39in the death
28:39of Peggy Carr
28:40and the attempted murder
28:42of the other Carr family members.
28:43He was ordered
28:44held without bail.
28:49The prosecution announced
28:50it would seek
28:51the death penalty
28:52for George Tripal,
28:53but questions
28:53still remained
28:55over whether
28:55of the circumstantial case
28:56would convince a jury.
28:58His trial is next.
29:05In April 1990,
29:06in the small town
29:07of Alturas, Florida,
29:10There was news.
29:10of a break
29:11in the poisoning murder
29:12of Peggy Carr.
29:13The arrest of neighbor
29:15George Tripal shocked
29:16the surviving members
29:17of Peggy Carr's family.
29:19Some thought Tripal
29:20could not be
29:21the perpetrator.
29:23I saw it on TV.
29:25them walking
29:25George Tripal
29:26in his orange outfit
29:29into the Polk County Jail.
29:31The same guy
29:33that I trusted
29:34and mowed his driveway
29:35and this guy
29:37I wouldn't do this.
29:38He's not like that.
29:38He's not a
29:40cold-blooded killer,
29:41You know.
29:42He might be a little weird.
29:44He might be a little nerdy,
29:45But he's not a killer.
29:49The trial began
29:50in January 1991
29:51in the Polk County Courthouse.
29:54Prosecutors sought
29:55the death penalty
29:56for what they described
29:57as an especially
29:59heinous crime
30:00that put many people
30:02at risk.
30:04From the beginning,
30:05defense attorneys
30:06suspected that the jury
30:07would have a hard time
30:08feeling sympathy
30:09for an eccentric individual
30:11such as George Tripal.
30:14Geniuses who hang out
30:15together
30:16and don't allow
30:17the regular folk
30:18to be part of their club
30:21probably would tend
30:22to have a little bit
30:23more difficult time
30:24gaining the trust of jurors.
30:25In court,
30:27Tripal showed
30:27little emotion,
30:29Occasionally smiling.
30:30Some jurors admit
30:31that they found
30:32his presence unsettling.
30:34Even though the defendant
30:36never spoke in the trial,
30:38his appearance
30:39and demenor
30:40and actions
30:40spoke for him
30:42In a lot of ways.
30:43When you looked
30:44in his eyes,
30:45which he didn't look
30:46at us a lot,
30:47but when you did,
30:48there was something
30:48peculiar about it,
30:49something eerie,
30:50like this was all
30:52going on around him
30:53and he was oblivious
30:54almost.
30:55In his opening statement,
30:57prosecutor John Aguero
30:58told the jury
30:59that they were going
31:00to hear the story
31:01of a brilliant man
31:02who was arrogant enough
31:03to believe he could
31:05get away with
31:06poisoning his neighbors.
31:07He said the evidence
31:09would show that
31:10only one person
31:11could have laced
31:12the eight-pack
31:13of Coca-Cola
31:14with Thallium.
31:16The strategy overall
31:17was to begin
31:19with the whole world
31:20as suspects
31:22and as time went through
31:24in the trial
31:25and the testimony
31:26to narrow that
31:27so that by the time
31:29We've reached the end.
31:30of the trial,
31:30the jury would believe
31:31that only one person
31:34in the entire world
31:35could have had the motive,
31:37the opportunity,
31:38and the knowledge
31:39to commit this crime.
31:41Key evidence
31:43presented by the state
31:44included the Thallium bottle
31:46found in Tripal's garage
31:49and the book found
31:50in his house
31:51describing Thallium poisoning
31:53in detail.
31:55Investigators testified
31:56about Tripal's
31:57deceptive behavior
31:58during his first interview
32:00with them
32:00and detective
32:01Susan Gorek
32:02recounted her
32:03Undercover work.
32:05George Tripal
32:06did not take the stand,
32:08but the surveillance video
32:09played in court
32:10allowed jurors
32:11to hear the defendant
32:12talking about
32:13the poisoning.
32:15Oh, yeah,
32:15somebody got poisoned
32:16next door.
32:18So, uh...
32:19That might not be
32:20a lot to you,
32:20But it's a lot to me.
32:23Oh, well, sorry.
32:25Prosecutors also
32:26presented the anonymous
32:27threats received
32:29by the Carr family
32:30together with the pamphlet
32:31from Tripal's
32:32Mensa Murder Mystery Weekend.
32:35It was striking
32:37that the language
32:39in the note
32:40matched almost
32:42word for word
32:43the language
32:43that was in that pamphlet
32:45that we knew
32:46for a fact
32:47George Tripal wrote.
32:48You try to get juries
32:51as much as you can
32:52to rely on their
32:53common sense
32:54and deciding
32:55what evidence
32:55to believe.
32:57Defense attorneys
32:58countered that
32:59Tripal became
33:00the focus
33:00of the investigation
33:02not because
33:03of the evidence,
33:04but because,
33:05quote,
33:06his greatest crime
33:07may have been
33:08his eccentricity.
33:10The defense
33:11maintained that
33:12detectives
33:13made a snap decision
33:14about his guilt
33:15during their first interview.
33:17They thought
33:18that he acted
33:18strangely.
33:19They testified
33:20that his mouth
33:21was dry
33:22and that he
33:23wouldn't look
33:23them in the eye.
33:24George was always
33:25Like that.
33:25They didn't know
33:25it at the time.
33:27But they believed
33:28that he was so strange
33:30that from that day
33:31forward
33:32they never
33:32investigated
33:33anybody else.
33:34Tripal's lawyers
33:35insisted that
33:36the state's evidence
33:37was unconvincing,
33:38that even the bottle
33:39with thallium traces
33:40in it
33:41proved nothing.
33:42Someone else
33:43could have put it there.
33:46It just simply
33:47doesn't make sense
33:48that this guy
33:50who's supposed
33:50to be a genius
33:51would leave
33:51a bottle of thallium
33:52in his garage
33:54next door
33:54to the pie car house.
33:55That doesn't
33:56Makes no sense.
33:57No fingerprints
33:58were found
33:59on the bottle.
34:00In an interview
34:00for a tabloid TV show,
34:02Tripal's wife
34:03defended her husband.
34:06The physical evidence
34:06It was not in our home.
34:08It was in an unlocked garage
34:09which as far as I know
34:10has never been locked
34:10in the last 20 years.
34:11They found it four months
34:13after we'd moved out.
34:16They didn't find
34:17any fingerprints on it
34:18or rather they forgot
34:20to keep the fingerprints
34:22on the bottle.
34:23So they really,
34:24anybody could have
34:25Put it there.
34:26The prosecution
34:27conceded that
34:28there was no way
34:29to link the bottle
34:30of thallium
34:31directly to the
34:32Carr family poisoning.
34:34While we couldn't
34:35prove that it was the bottle,
34:36we could prove he had
34:37in his possession
34:39thallium-1 nitrate.
34:40Thallium-1 nitrate
34:42was what was in
34:43The Coca-Colas.
34:45In their closing argument,
34:47the defense pleaded
34:48with jurors
34:49to pay close attention
34:50to the lack
34:51of direct evidence.
34:54In a surprising move,
34:56the defense pointed
34:56a finger at
34:57George's wife,
34:58Diana.
34:59In reference
35:00to the bottle
35:00containing thallium,
35:02they asked,
35:02How do you assume?
35:04that it was his
35:04and not hers?
35:07I believe now,
35:09and I think
35:10I will always believe,
35:11that she was as good
35:12of a suspect like George.
35:13George did not want us
35:15to point the finger
35:16at Diana,
35:18and we did not
35:19actively pursue
35:20that course
35:21throughout the main
35:22part of the trial.
35:24By the end of the trial,
35:25the defense decided
35:26that their client's
35:27best interests
35:28outweighed his request.
35:32In his closing argument,
35:34Prosecutor John Aguero
35:35argued that a striking
35:37amount of coincidences
35:38pointed to George
35:40Treatville as the culprit.
35:42It was just
35:43little things,
35:45as I explained,
35:47you know,
35:47in closing,
35:47that I called them
35:48coincidences.
35:49Little things
35:50that in and of
35:51themselves
35:52don't necessarily
35:53hold significance,
35:55but to think
35:56that all those
35:56could coexist
35:57in one set
35:58of circumstances,
35:59it begins
36:00to bog the mind
36:01that you can have
36:02that many coincidences.
36:05On February 5, 1991,
36:08the case went
36:09to the jury.
36:10Six hours later,
36:11they returned
36:12with a verdict.
36:14Guilty on all counts,
36:16including the
36:16first-degree murder
36:17of Peggy Carr.
36:21Outside the court,
36:22Peggy Carr's family
36:23reflected on her death.
36:25It's been a long time,
36:27Hard struggle.
36:28Peggy was
36:28In hell.
36:30She,
36:31you'd have to have
36:32seen her
36:32to know what
36:33She went through.
36:34And I'm glad
36:35It's over with.
36:38Of course,
36:39It wasn't over yet.
36:40Jurors still
36:41I had to recommend
36:41a sentence,
36:42life in prison
36:43or death.
36:50In February 1991,
36:53a jury in Bartow, Florida
36:54George Treepal found
36:55guilty in the
36:56poisoning murder
36:57of Peggy Carr
36:58and the attempted murder
36:59of the rest
37:00of the Carr family.
37:03The eccentric genius
37:05faced a possible
37:06death sentence.
37:08Some of Treepal's friends
37:09believe the jury
37:10convicted Treepal
37:11because they thought
37:12He was strange.
37:14But jurors
37:15Bob Wall
37:16and Jay Mertz
37:17say their decision
37:18was based solely
37:19based on the evidence.
37:21Each one of the jury
37:22I had the same impression.
37:25He was a very intelligent man,
37:27George Treepal.
37:27and he had the background
37:30where he'd do it.
37:32He had the knowledge
37:34working with Thallium.
37:35He was the only one
37:37in that vicinity
37:38that could do that.
37:40I think that's basically
37:41What put him away?
37:43It was damaging evidence.
37:45what the totality
37:47of all this
37:48circumstantial evidence.
37:50There was no doubt.
37:51No doubt.
37:53The court counterclaimed
37:54for Treepal's sentencing.
37:56His defense team
37:57declined to call
37:58any character witnesses
38:00because they feared
38:01counterattacks.
38:03There was a great deal
38:04of evidence
38:04that we had kept out
38:05about oddities
38:06about George
38:07that would have perhaps
38:08come into evidence
38:09had we attempted
38:10to go that route.
38:12But this decision
38:12also meant
38:13that the jury
38:14I wouldn't hear anyone
38:15speak on Treepal's behalf
38:17including friends
38:18like Holly Horton.
38:20In the trial
38:21people said
38:21They had seen him angry.
38:23All I can say
38:23I have never
38:24I saw him angry.
38:25I have never seen
38:26him be hurtful
38:27or spiteful
38:28to anyone
38:28or anything.
38:29I have seen him
38:30being extraordinarily
38:31kind.
38:35At the time
38:36Florida was
38:37one of a small
38:37number of states
38:38where judges
38:39were not bound
38:40by a jury's
38:41recommendation
38:41in capital cases
38:42and only a majority
38:44Voting was needed
38:45to recommend death.
38:48Juror Jay Martz
38:49says the deliberations
38:50provoked strong emotions.
38:52that was heavy
38:54and the lines
38:55were drawn
38:55amongst the jurors
38:57about what was appropriate.
39:00He will never
39:00poison anybody again
39:02and that's the only
39:04good for the death penalty
39:05but sometimes
39:06I think it's appropriate
39:07and in this case
39:09in particular.
39:10The jurors
39:11finally voted
39:12nine to three
39:13in favor of death.
39:15Robert Wall
39:16was one of the jurors
39:18who voted against
39:18the death penalty.
39:21This was all
39:21circumstantial evidence.
39:23Now don't get me wrong
39:24it all pointed
39:25to George Tripow
39:27but there was
39:29no concrete evidence
39:30that he'd done it.
39:32The evidence
39:32went all
39:33that he could do it
39:34and he was probably
39:35the only one
39:36and that probably
39:37was a big word
39:38that stood out
39:39for me.
39:42On March 6th
39:431991
39:44following the jury's
39:45recommendation
39:46Judge Dennis Maloney
39:48announced the sentence.
39:50The governor
39:51of the state of Florida
39:52by his warrant
39:53shall direct
39:54that the defendant
39:55George James Tripow
39:56be electrocuted
39:58until he is dead.
39:59When the
39:59The verdict was read.
40:01George Tripow
40:03had the same expression
40:04on his face
40:05as he did
40:05when he came in there
40:06just somber
40:08no expression
40:09whatsoever.
40:11Tripow
40:11is now an inmate
40:12at the Union
40:13Correctional Facility
40:14in Rayford, Florida.
40:16His case
40:16is under appeal.
40:19One issue
40:20arose in 1997
40:21when a whistleblower
40:23called attention
40:23to serious flaws
40:25in the FBI crime lab.
40:27Tripow's attorneys
40:28believe the evidence
40:29against Tripow
40:30was faulty.
40:32Tripow's appeal
40:34lawyers contend
40:35that Roger Marks
40:36the FBI expert
40:37was the only person
40:39who linked
40:40the Coca-Cola bottles
40:42to Tripow.
40:43The Justice Department's report
40:45said that some of
40:46Marks' work
40:47in the Tripow case
40:48was inaccurate.
40:50Roger Marks
40:50had concluded
40:51that a particular
40:52kind of thallium,
40:53thallium nitrate,
40:55was found in both
40:56the Coke bottles
40:57and the bottle
40:58in Tripow's garage.
40:59FBI experts later
41:01conceded that
41:02Marks' work
41:02was careless,
41:03but they remain
41:04convinced
41:05that thallium nitrate
41:06was in the bottles
41:07tested.
41:10That issue
41:11and others
41:11now on appeal
41:12is working its way
41:13through the courts.
41:17from death row,
41:19Tripow has kept up
41:20his involvement
41:21with Mensa,
41:22writing a monthly column
41:23for the group's
41:24Florida newsletter,
41:25The Flame.
41:27He fills it
41:28with humorous stories
41:29and brain teasers.
41:32If all his appeals
41:34fail,
41:35Tripow will face
41:36execution
41:36at the state prison
41:38in Stark, Florida.
41:40Under state law,
41:41he could choose
41:42between lethal injection
41:43and the electric chair.
41:46Many of his fellow
41:47Mensa members
41:48I still support him.
41:50It's a hard thing
41:52to think of having
41:53a friend
41:53with a death sentence
41:54hanging over him.
41:55It really is.
41:56Every time I hear
41:57about another execution,
42:00Think about it.
42:03Peggy Carr's son
42:04Dwayne says
42:05time has not
42:06softened
42:07the heartache
42:08of his mother's
42:08awful death
42:09by poisoning.
42:11Mother's Day
42:12comes around
42:13and you think,
42:14okay, this year
42:15I'm not going
42:16to be upset.
42:16You can't get around it.
42:18That's all you think
42:18about all day long.
42:21What's going to happen
42:22when my son asks me,
42:24you know,
42:27where's
42:27you know,
42:28Where's my grandma?
42:29Where's Mimi at?
42:30You know,
42:31I don't know, son.
42:32Somebody killed her.
42:33She's in heaven
42:34Waiting for you.
42:36George Trepal
42:37declined our
42:38repeated requests
42:39for an interview.
42:40He still maintains
42:41his innocence
42:42and his supporters
42:43point to the
42:44questionable work
42:45of the FBI crime lab
42:46as proof.
42:47But in March 2003,
42:49Trepal moved
42:49one step closer
42:51to execution.
42:52Despite the evidence
42:53that the FBI's
42:54chief toxicologist
42:55gave inaccurate testimony,
42:57the Florida Supreme Court
42:59ruled that Trepal
43:00was not entitled
43:01to a new trial.
43:02Trepal's appeals
43:03Continue.
43:04Continue.
43:04And that's a good
43:04contract.
43:04Thank you.
Comentários