All language subtitles for Pushed.to.Death.S01E06.Death.in.a.Small.Town.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

A deadly fall
in rural Pennsylvania.

A small town left
shell-shocked by the death

of a loving wife and mother.

Carol's death
rocked the community.

It was just so unexpected
and so surprising.

I think both of us
felt sick in our stomachs

and emotional,
like, just a shock.

Was it simply
a tragic accident--

Perhaps Carol somehow fallen
in the bedroom and bled.

Gone outside for fresh air,
and stumbled down the stairs

and died.

- or was it murder?

Were
you at the house

on the day of Carol's death?

Yes-- no.

OK.

OK.

They knew at that
point that they had

a bigger case on their hands.

Carol Hickok was born

Carol Miller on June 30, 1945.

She was the second
oldest of 10 children.

Carol, to help her
family, took a job

delivering
newspapers, and that's

where she met Roger Hickok.

And Carol and Roger Hickok
married on May 9, 1964.

The couple went
on to have three children

and raised them
in rural Pennsylvania.

My name
is Betty Thoren,

and I first met Carol
in 1968 at church.

We were new when we moved
here to Canton, Pennsylvania,

and she was one of the first
gals that I met.

Canton is a very
small rural town.

I believe the population
when we came was about 3,000.

And you had 30 miles plus
to go either way north or south

to a larger city to shop.

And people often know what's
going on in your business

before you know it.

It's
a very tight knit community.

Everybody knows everybody.

And, you know, there's small
mom and pop kind of

businesses there.

And then you go
to the outer lands.

It's very rural
and it's very bucolic.

You know, it's dotted
with beautiful red barns.

And at one time, it was
a large dairy community.

There were a lot of farms here.

Roger had
a farm, and Roger became

a very successful veal farmer.

Carol also had her own
little veal business,

and she did very
well with that.

She was respected.

She was a businesswoman.

She ran the business for them.

She did a very good
job, and was a good mom

to her three children.

Life seemed pretty
good for Roger and Carol.

But in 1996, their relationship
changed forever.

By all accounts,
you know, Roger and

Carol were living a good life.

She was a good wife.

She was a devoted mother,
well revered in the community.

And for one reason or another,
Roger met Emily, and

they began a 15-year affair.

After Emily
Bellows-Schaffer and

Roger started
a relationship, he made

no secret of their affair.

Roger would
spend time with Emily,

and he would go
home with Carol.

And she would make these
wonderful meals and pies

and welcome him home.

And then he would be with
Emily the other times.

And there was a cabin
above their home

that Emily did stay
in from time to time.

Carol did know that
Emily was there.

She told me.

Not everyone could do
that, or would do that.

She did that, and she
chose to do it

because she thought it
was right, regardless

of what anyone said.

A mutual friend told
my husband that he

knew that Roger had a little
boy, a child with Emily.

It was never
difficult to believe,

but my husband assured
me that it was so,

and that they had a little boy.

The existence
of Roger and Emily's son,

Charlie, would
eventually be learned

by Bradford County District
Attorney Daniel Barrett.

After the son
was born, at one point,

Roger had started
a divorce from Carol.

But Emily, I guess, abandoned
Roger at that point,

and then Roger
and Carol reconciled.

She said, people
want to know why I'm still

here, basically, with Roger.

She said, I don't feel that the
Lord wants me to divorce Roger.

I know I'm to stay here, and
that's what I'm going to do.

And then when
Emily wasn't taking

very good care
of her child, Roger

got involved in seeking
custody of the child

because the child needed care.

Carol was a religious woman.

She enjoyed children.

And she willingly accepted
Charlie into her home.

And they built their life
around the child.

Carol,
Roger, and Charlie

were living together
as a family,

when, in the early hours
of September 15, 2010,

everything changed.

An occasional insomniac, Roger
was having trouble sleeping.

On the morning of the 15th,

Roger Hickok woke up.

And as he commonly did, he
headed to a nearby coffee shop

to get coffee and talk
with his friends.

After arriving
at the cafe in Canton,

Roger sat and drank
coffee for several hours.

And after a while,

it was getting near
school bus time,

so he called home
to make sure that his son

was on the school bus.

His wife didn't answer.

His son answered the phone.

And his son said
that he didn't know

where Mimi was, because Mimi is
what he called his stepmother.

A few minutes later, Charlie
calls his father and says,

mom is outside
at the bottom of the steps.

She's unresponsive.

She's not moving.

I need you here.

Roger then was stunned
and called for 911 help

because he knew something
horrible had to have happened.

Roger
raced home to find

Carol at the bottom
of some steps,

unresponsive
and covered in blood

from what looked like a severe
head wound after a tragic fall.

Carol was showing
no signs of life,

and Roger recognized
that she was dead.

He and his son
just said a prayer

and waited for the emergency
personnel to arrive.

At 8:16
AM, the coroner

arrived to find Carol Hickok's
body wrapped in a blanket.

And she was officially
pronounced dead at the scene.

News of Carol's
sudden, tragic death

spread quickly
to family and friends.

We received
a phone call about 20

after 8:00 from
a friend who told

us that Carol had passed away.

I think both of us felt
sick in our stomachs

and emotional,
like, just a shock.

My husband and I--

Larry and I just,
just sat down.

And how could this be?

Carol's
family were devastated

by her sudden death.

They struggled to comprehend
how they were going

to move on with their life.

They just said it was the most
heartbreaking thing that they'd

ever had to comprehend.

Carol's
death rocked the community.

It was just so unexpected
and so surprising

because she was
a vibrant, healthy woman.

And here, something so
seemingly simple took her out.

Carol's
death appeared

to be a tragic accident
from a fatal fall

down the rear
steps of her home.

But when first responders
entered the house,

they found there might
be more to the story

than they realized.

In the master bedroom,
it became very clear

that something big happened.

There was a lot of blood.

There was blood
on the corner of the dresser.

There was blood on the floor.

Investigators found
blood on the bed,

but the comforter had
been removed from the bed

and placed
in a washing machine,

still covered in blood.

The washing machine
had not been turned on.

That was a mystery.

And for the police,
there was an effort

to determine what can we see,
what might tell us something

that had happened here.

And the circumstances
were quite strange.

Despite the discovery
of a large amount of blood

in the bedroom and on the
comforter found in the washer,

investigators still
considered the possibility

that Carol's death
had been accidental.

They began to
theorize that perhaps Carol had

somehow fallen
in the bedroom and bled,

tried to pick up the clothing
and sheets that she bled on,

gone outside for fresh air,
and stumbled down the stairs

and died.

It made no sense
that this woman

would have been the victim
of some sort of violence

because there was no sign
that anybody had been there.

And there's also no
reason why anybody

would drag the woman out on the
porch or left her in the lawn.

But investigators also had

to follow protocol
for an unexplained death

and treat it like
a homicide investigation

until proven otherwise.

In cases where
there's a possible injury,

there's always the questions
that have to be asked--

who would want
to kill this person?

The question here would be
to look at the family, look

at the husband,
and anybody that

might have a grudge or a reason
to benefit from Carol's death.

With investigators
open to the possibility

that Carol may
have been murdered,

Roger became
suspect number one.

After Carol Hickok was
found dead at the bottom

of a flight of steps at her
home on September 15, 2010,

investigators went to speak
to her husband, Roger,

to see if he could
help them work out

if her death was the result
of an accidental fall

or something more sinister.

When
police arrived

at the house they were carrying
on their investigation,

Roger was sat smoking a cigar.

And this kind of jumped
out to the authorities

as quite strange behavior.

He was smoking a cigar
just yards away from where

his wife's dead body lay.

Police took
Roger to the local station

for an interview.

Roger
is being questioned

because he's the husband.

He's the last person to have
seen Carol alive that morning.

So, naturally, they
had questions for him.

Roger
explained to the police

that he routinely would wake up
early and want to do something,

and would go and get coffee.

They
immediately deployed officers

to the coffee shop to check the
CCTV and verify Roger's story.

Roger had arrived

at the coffee place sometime
in the range of 4:00 AM.

It was before
daylight, quite early.

And it was easy to check
whether he'd been there.

The records of the coffee
shop could confirm that.

When questioned
about the bloodied blanket that

had been left in the washer,
Roger said, I don't even do

the washing in our household.

I wouldn't even know
how to use the machine.

Police probed
further to ask Roger

what had happened
that night and

had there been
any disagreements

between the couple.

He said, no, and that
they'd gone to bed as normal

between 9:00 to 9:30 PM.

And it was at that
point of 4:00 AM that

he decided to leave the house.

And that was the last time
that he saw his wife alive.

Early indications
suggest that Carol Hickok died

sometime between
4:00 AM and 7:00 AM,

so Roger's timeline stacked up.

Officers then asked Roger to
take a polygraph test to verify

what he had told them.

The major
benefit of polygraph

is that it assists police
in eliminating suspects.

Roger's willingness
to take the polygraph

was, of course, a good sign.

The police
know that the impact

of their suggestion
of a polygraph test

can be significant
on a potential suspect.

So they often use the polygraph
as a tool to elicit a reaction,

to see what reaction they get.

Someone who readily agrees
to take a polygraph test,

usually, this indicates that
this is someone who wants

to prove their innocence.

Roger
Hickok was on hard

and blood pressure medication.

He was 65 years old.

And the medications
are well-known to mess

up polygraph results.

So his polygraph result
was inconclusive.

Despite
Roger's willingness

to take the polygraph test,
the inconclusive result

meant police continued
to treat him as a suspect.

The investigations

stayed with Roger
because he was

the other person in the home.

He was married to her.

So he remained somebody
that might have,

in one way or another, had
some benefit or some motive.

Police needed to consider
all possible suspects

at this stage, and that
included Roger's son, Charlie.

Even though he
was 11 years old,

he was the person who
discovered Carol's body.

So the police had to ask
him some questions

to rule him out as a suspect.

However, Charlie's
story that he was asleep

during Carol's death checked
out, so he was very quickly

ruled out as a suspect.

Diving deeper
into Carol and Roger's family

background, police then found
out about Roger's affair

with Emily--

a revelation that dramatically
changed the course

of their investigation.

They found out that Charlie
wasn't Carol's biological son,

and Charlie was Emily's son.

Carol Hickok's
family, of course,

had a fair amount
of resentment,

I guess, about Roger's
whole involvement with Emily

and the pain it
must have caused

Carol over the years and the
disruption to the family life.

Once the investigators
found out

about this complicated
situation, possibly a love

triangle, it then
gave them a bit

of a motive to question
whether Emily had anything

to do with Carol's death.

Roger, however, said that he
had no relationship with

Emily anymore.

They hadn't been in contact
for a long time, and

that she didn't have
anything to do with Charlie.

Meanwhile,
police eagerly

awaited the results
of Carol's autopsy,

hoping that it would
reveal whether she

had died from
an accidental fatal fall,

or if her injuries suggested
foul play and the possibility

that she was pushed
to her death.

When
the autopsy comes back,

it showed the blunt
force trauma to her head.

It showed bruising on her
torso and her body.

But at the end of the day,
the cause of death

was undetermined.

It is a huge disappointment
for investigators

because now they have no
idea how Carol really died.

Nine days after
Carol's death,

Trooper James Kerrick went
over to interview Emily

at her home, which is around
an hour away in Pennsylvania

from where Carol lived.

After this two-hour
long interview,

Kerrick said that
Emily was intelligent,

she was cooperative.

But he did notice
this resentment

that seemed to still be there
towards Roger and Carol,

especially because of her
lack of contact with Charlie.

When asked directly
if she had any involvement

in Carol's death, Emily
simply answered no.

Emily
told Trooper Kerrick

that she could not have
got to Canton to commit

murder because there
was no gas in her tank,

and she had no money.

When
he left that day,

Trooper Kerrick knew
that although Emily

could have had something
to do with Carol's death,

he had no evidence
at this point.

So with no clear leads,
all the authorities

could do was wait for the
forensic and lab results

to come in.

Three months
after Carol's death,

with investigators no closer to
determining how she had died,

the coroner decided
to revisit the case.

It's
not common for a coroner

to revisit a case,
but there was just

something about this
case that didn't

sit right with investigators.

The coroner is going
through the photos again,

and he notices that there are
scratches to Carol's neck,

and it almost looks
like defense wounds.

Suddenly,
investigators had

a potential cause of death.

If their suspicions were
right, then, at some point,

Carol had been
fighting for her life

while somebody had
their hands around her throat.

What had once seemed
like a mystery

was now a murder investigation.

After discovering
that they were now

dealing with a homicide,
police received

a phone call that revealed yet
another twist to the story.

Carol's brother
contacted the police

to say that Roger and Charlie
had now moved to Roger's home

in Crystal River in Florida,
and that Emily was

living with them there too.

When it became known

that Roger had gone to Florida
with Emily Bellows-Schaffer and

their son, it was something
of interest to the police.

This was very conflicting
to what the investigators

originally thought.

They had been told that Emily
had nothing to do with Charlie,

yet now she had
practically stepped

in to be another mom
to him, all living together

as a family under one roof.

And also, it seemed possible
that Emily and Roger all along

had been carrying
on their relationship,

and that actually
it had been Carol

who was getting in the way.

The news
of Rogers move

to Florida with
his ex-lover sent

shock waves through Carol's
family and the local community.

People who had reasons

to resent either
Roger's conduct or

Emily's conduct over the years
found a good opportunity

to use the trip to Florida as
a reason to justify suspicions

that Roger, or Roger
and Emily, or Emily had been

involved in Carol's death.

Just three
months after Carol Hickok

was found dead
at the foot of the steps

outside her home
in Canton, Pennsylvania,

her husband Roger had moved to
Florida with his former lover,

Emily, and their son.

But without enough
evidence, police

were unable to bring
them back to Pennsylvania

to be interviewed.

Seven months later,
on July 19, 2011,

police received
a call that would

turn the case on its head.

Police get a phone
call from Emily Schaffer.

And she says she has
something interesting to tell

them about Carol Hickok.

Emily had explained
to police that she

and Roger had a falling out.

She told officers
that following their argument,

Roger had taken Charlie
back to their home

in Canton, Pennsylvania.

That was kind

of the last straw for Emily.

She was very frustrated.

She was missing her child.

The reason that Emily
Schaffer was even in town

was because she had
a court hearing to go

over custody of young Charlie.

Eager to speak
to Emily about Carol's death,

police collected her
from the courthouse

for a voluntary
interview at the station.

Emily arrives
at the police station,

and they bring her
into an office rather

than an interrogation room.

So Emily was not under
arrest at this point.

This is just a conversation.

They have no idea what
she's about to tell them.

Trooper
Dave Pelachick

led the interview, with
Trooper Nathan Lewis

also in attendance.

We received
a phone call from you today.

Yes.

You wanted to
share some information with us.

Yes.

She
arrives with a backpack

full of paperwork,
and troopers want

to hear what she has to say.

Roger
Hickok and I have had--

we've known each
other over 15 years.

And it was a rocky 15 years.

As time progressed,
he became more

and more angry and violent.

Do you think
he's capable of something,

of causing harm to someone?

At first, I
thought, you know,

there's no way Roger
could have done this.

But the more I see that he
still has the hair trigger

temper and the split
personality,

I think anything is possible.

She's afraid of Roger,
all of a sudden.

After a 15-year
relationship where

they're loving each other
and they have a child,

suddenly she's afraid.

He's abusive, she's
scared of him.

She doesn't know
what's going to happen.

And it looks like she's trying
to protect herself from Roger.

He is a narcissist,
and he is a sociopath.

Emily then went on
to talk about Carol's history

with Charlie and Roger.

Prior
to Carol's death,

she was the primary
caretaker of Charlie.

After Carol's death,
I went to Florida

with him, primarily
to take care of Charlie

because he does not.

It
becomes very clear that Emily

is no longer Roger's ally.

When Roger
and Emily and their child

went to Florida,
the relationship with them

didn't develop.

It wasn't, at last, we
were together, at least

as far as Roger was concerned.

Emily had nothing
really to call a job.

She was living
from hand to mouth.

And eventually,
as the winter ended,

he headed back to Pennsylvania
and made it clear

that he wasn't bringing
Emily with him.

In the middle

of the interview,
as she's carrying

on about how awful Roger
is, her cell phone rings.

This is Roger
calling right now.

Roger had called
Emily to ask her out for lunch.

When the call comes in from
Roger inviting her to lunch,

he was calm
and reasonable and wasn't

yelling or complaining at her.

He just invited her.

So his calling her was
consistent with being

very reasonable.

Why do
you want to have lunch?

Because what
he says to me and

what he says
to other people are

opposite ends of the spectrum.

Suspicious
of Emily's description

of Roger as a violent
sociopath, troopers

continued to probe Emily
on their relationship.

We were supposed
to have shared custody,

but he refused every
opportunity, every request

that I had to see Charlie.

He refused to let me see him.

Roger does not want
Charlie talking to me.

Emily is spinning

this tale to investigators
about how awful Roger is.

And she's not really getting to
the point of why she's there.

And so investigators
are just letting

her talk because eventually
it's going to come out.

When's the last time,

before Carol's death, that you
had been intimate with Roger?

The last weekend in July.

I was so desperate for any
contact at all that I had--

with Charlie that if I had
to sleep with a son of a bitch,

I'd sleep with just
so I knew what was

going on in Charlie's life.

Investigators understand they

have something going on here.

And they realize if they
let her keep talking,

she's going to bring them back
to the date of Carol's death.

You talked to
Roger between the end of July.

And the day of Carol's
death, did you

have any contacts with him?

I probably talked to him,
but I didn't see him.

He made it a point to let me
know that he was not home.

The morning that Carol died, he
sent me a text message at 4:00

o'clock in the morning.

What
did the text say?

The text said--

September 15 at 4:07 AM, he
sent a text message, you up?

I texted back him at 7:02
AM saying, I'm up.

I said, favor
to ask, can I borrow

the Ford and the big trailer?

I was moving out
of my apartment.

He texted back, troubles.

That was around 2:21
in the afternoon.

I said, work, question mark.

I said, get earlier
messages, question mark.

He said, death.

And I said, never good.

Then he texted back at 3:02,
at state police Towanda.

I said, what's up?

And he said, troubles.

And then I texted
back, prayers.

Let me
just back up a little bit.

When he kept saying death,
you never asked who?

I never asked who.

He didn't say.

She's not asking about

anybody else in the house.

So to me, that's
a giant red flag.

You're not asking about your
son who lives in the house,

or the woman who's taking
care of your child,

or any of the other people
that are in that family.

You're not asking
about any of them.

I found that to be
very unusual.

Pelachick knew Emily had
a motive, that she was mad

at Roger, that she
didn't like Roger,

and she had things to say.

So his curiosity
was quite up there.

This was the time to see where
the case would take him and

keep the person talking.

Let her talk and ask
her questions.

What
was the only thing

standing in the way
between you and Charlie

prior to Carol's death?

Prior to Carol's death?

Roger.

I
would say Carol.

No.

She took care of--

No, not between--

OK.

The only
thing between you and Charlie

was Carol.

OK, because the minute
Carol was removed--

I moved right in.

You
certainly had motive to get

Carol out of the picture.

In Emily's mind,

it's obvious at that
point that she realized

that she was
becoming a suspect,

that they weren't accepting
everything she had to say.

Were
you at the house

on the day of Carol's death?

Yeah-- no.

OK.

OK.

When Emily stammers,
and, first, she says,

yes, then quickly
correct herself and

says no, they
knew at that point

that they had a bigger
case on their hands.

This
responding, and then

correcting herself
shows somebody trying

to strategically
manage the interview

situation to give interviewers
the response she thinks

is most appropriate.

And indeed, there are times
when these kind of verbal slips

are direct indicators
of deception,

of what the real answer
is to the question.

Investigators can
use that kind of slip

very directly and strategically
to pursue that line of inquiry.

And they can use it just
as a broad indicator

of somebody who is not
telling them the whole truth.

Are
you a violent person?

Because if this was not
an accidental death--

Yeah.

- this is
the first time this person

has caused harm to someone.

Can I
tell you a little bit?

He came into the house
one time and he said,

I'm going to take
Charlie and leave.

And I picked up the nearest
cast iron frying pan,

and I hit him square
in the back with it.

And he handed Charlie
back to me and left.

The fact that Emily struck
Roger with the frying pan

showed that she could let her
anger take her to the point

of senseless violence.

And real violence, too.

Not the slap across the face
or anything like that.

It was at this
point that police

decided to ask Emily
to take a lie detector test.

We would like you

to take a polygraph
at some point just

to say, hey, it's not me.

I didn't do anything to it.

Well, I was never at the house.

The two tubes-- one
goes in your chest,

one goes lower--
measures your breathing.

Some people breathe more
through their chest.

Some people breathe more
through their stomach.

The reason we measure these--

I've
waited for my chance

because I sing in the shower.

When
she's singing and starting

breathing exercises, I
think she was probably

trying to be cute
and try to endear herself

to the policemen, and make them
think that she's very relaxed

and confident and so forth.

It's an act.

Emily has gone into this
interview as a woman very

confident, very organized, very
used to handling authority,

not intimidated in any way.

And I feel that
the singing is part

of this attempt to continue
to charm the officers.

She believes she can sweet talk
her way out of the situation.

The test
is about to begin.

Please remain still.

Regarding that woman's death,
do you intend to answer

each question truthfully?

Yes.

They had been interviewing
Emily for four hours,

yet nobody had asked
her directly if she was

responsible for Carol's death.

Did you
cause that woman's death?

No.

Did you cause
that woman's death at her home?

No.

The test
is about to end.

Please remain still.

Did I fail or did
I pass or what?

You failed.

I failed?

Yes.

No.

The point at which

the suspect is told they
failed the polygraph, that's

when it's raised the level.

It's made it
a confrontational situation.

Were you in
that house that night with her?

No.
Absolutely not.

Absolutely not.

If that was the truth,

you would have
passed the polygraph.

Emily, what
happened that night?

Tell us the truth, please.

I wasn't there.

I wasn't there.

Is this the point
that you want to be truthful

and tell us what happened?

After failing
a polygraph test

about her movements
in the hours

before Carol Hickok was found
dead at the bottom of a flight

of steps at her home,
Emily Bellows-Schaffer

continued to deny
any responsibility

for Carol's death.

I don't have it
in me to hurt anybody.

Not intentionally.

You hit Roger
in the back with a skillet.

Listen, we know
you were there, OK?

I told you that.

Can you look at me, please?

Please?

We know you were there.

Did you go out
and kill her, or anything?

At that point, she

knows they're trying
to determine what happened

and that she had
responsibility there.

Did you
intend for her to die?

No.

What
happened that night?

What was your purpose
of being there?

You can do it.

Emily claimed
that, uninvited,

she had gone to the Hickok home
that morning to visit her son.

And when she encountered
Carol, a fight between the

two unfolded.

What
did she do to you?

Can you show me?

Was it like this?
Like, two of them together?

No, it was like this.

And were
you close to her?

I was close enough that
I pushed her backwards.

She fell backwards into the
bedroom, into the dresser.

We wrestled around
a little bit.

I think we rolled
over the bed once.

Was she saying
anything to you during this?

Yeah.

My husband, my husband.

I'm not here to see
your damned husband.

I'm here to see my son.

The last place I saw
her, she was on the floor

next to the dresser.

Was she conscious?

She was breathing.

OK.

Do you know if she was
bleeding at that time?

Well, there was
blood on the bedspread.

Did you do
something with the bedspread?

I
put the bedspread

in the washing machine.

But I don't know how
to run the washing machine,

so I just left the bedspread
in the washing machine.

She knew that
her blood was on those sheets.

And she knew that her blood
might be detected sooner

or later on those sheets.

So that's why she headed
to the washing machine.

She had some
finger marks on her neck.

Does that trigger anything?

Are you trying to get--

I tried
to get her off of me.

Did
you have blood on you?

I don't remember

blood on my hands or my face.

I don't remember--

I don't remember any
blood on my clothing.

Asked
if she had blood on her,

it's as if Emily forgets
herself and goes back in time

and she's there
at the moment of the murder.

And she holds up her hands,
and it's as if- she's--

she's looking
at the murder weapons.

For a moment, we get
this curious indication

of absolute guilt.

Did you ever
tell Roger what happened?

No.

Did
he ever ask you?

No.

Emily had
the opportunity here

to implicate Roger, that he
had somehow enabled or assisted

her in murdering Carol.

But she didn't take
that opportunity,

and so he was cleared.

How did she get
to the bottom of the stairs?

I
don't know how she got

to the bottom of the stairs.

She was quite alive
the last time I saw her.

After talking
to Emily for eight hours,

the troopers decided to end
the interview for the day.

Are you going to arrest
me and fingerprint

me and send me to jail?

You
are going to have

to face the music to this.

At this point, they
read Emily her rights.

They let her know
she is under arrest,

and they take her
to the county jail.

The following
day, investigators

visited Emily to confirm
her videotaped confession

in writing.

During
the videotaped interview,

Emily tried to claim
that Carol had

confronted her
in the hallway, and

it wound up that Carol died.

The next day, she did
not change that version.

The only part she
changed was instead

of saying Carol was alive
when she left the house, she

admitted that Carol
was dead, that she had

taken Carol out of the house.

And she acknowledged
at that point

that she had moved Carol's body
down to the foot of the stairs.

All police
needed now was

DNA evidence proving that Emily
was at the scene of the crime.

The sheets and
bedding and blood on the scene

was analyzed by the state
police laboratory.

And it was determined
that some of the blood

there was Emily's
blood, which, of course,

placed Emily at the scene.

Emily's
confession and DNA evidence

meant that she faced
a lengthy prison

sentence for Carol's death,
if found guilty of homicide.

But because Emily denied
the charge of murder,

the case went to court.

In August 2012,
nearly two years

after Carol Hickok's
death, Emily

stood trial for the murder
of her son's stepmom.

I'm tapped to be
there every day.

I show up at the courthouse
at least a half-hour

beforehand every day,
because it was more than just

a story at that point.

I had to let the community
know what was going on.

It
was very important

for me to be at this trial.

I felt that I needed to be
there for justice for Carol.

She was an innocent victim
that should be alive today.

I wanted to know
the truth because there

had been so many
stories going around,

this and that, and the other
thing that I know the truth

should come out in the trial.

And I needed to be
there for those reasons.

Something
I found incredibly remarkable

was that there was
no one for Emily.

She has no support in that
courtroom, whatsoever.

Emily was incredibly
stoic during the trial.

She showed very little emotion.

Any emotion she showed,
she would tip her head down

and she would talk
to her attorney.

And that was about it.

She was very silent
through that trial.

Well, the one thing I
remember clearly about Emily,

I did not see remorse.

I never saw a bit of remorse.

That, I could not fathom
and I could not get past.

During
the trial, the prosecution

played Emily's videotape
confession to the jury

before unveiling another
key piece of evidence.

The most interesting
part of that trial

was the introduction
of Emily's diary,

because you could really see
where she began to unravel.

One excerpt read, she's
referring to Roger here,

and you can get a sense of how
angry she is toward Roger.

"I wish I had a 2" by 4", I'd
hit you upside your head and

scream at your lifeless body.

Now, we're even.

Because I died a little.

Every single day you
have kept us apart."

And then she goes
on to say, "There

will be no I love yous until
this situation is resolved.

How/why on earth would/could
I love anyone who could

so carelessly, heartlessly
do this to me, who would

be so blind and selfish."

The things
that Emily put in her diary

showed that she
very much resented

that she didn't have much.

Carol was the reason
that Roger didn't need

her to help raise the boy.

Carol was the reason that
Roger didn't want to live

with her, and so forth.

So she wanted
to get rid of Carol.

Six days before
the murder, Emily wrote,

"I must do what I must do."

The information in the diaries

pulled everything together
and brought real context

to what it was
Emily was doing when

she went to the home of Roger
Hickok and Carol Hickok.

The prosecution
also highlighted

the evidence found
by the coroner

when he revisited
the autopsy photographs.

A very small,
but very significant

part of the evidence was little
marks, cuts on Carol's neck,

where she was
trying to pry away

Emily's fingers, trying to get
those fingers off her neck.

And it actually cut
into her own skin.

It showed, among other
things, that strangulation

was the cause of death.

The prosecution argued

that the only reason Emily
went to Carol's house

on the day of her death
was to commit murder.

The evidence was clear.

She had no need to go
to the house to see Charlie.

She could have
done that at lunch.

She had no reason to go
there to see Carol,

because Carol wouldn't
have wanted to talk to her.

That she went to the house,
went into the house

and killed Carol,
shows that that was

her objective from the start.

Emily's confession
took herself as far

as the offense of voluntary
manslaughter, that is causing

a death during a fight.

The overall
circumstances of the case

were such that
it was undeniable

that this was murder.

This wasn't-- this wasn't
a fight that went bad.

On August 10, 2012,
the jury retired to deliberate.

And at 4:00 PM, they
returned with their verdict.

The jury
found Emily guilty

of second degree murder,
the felony offense of burglary,

and other charges.

On September 27, 2012,
Emily Bellows-Schaffer

was sentenced to life in prison
without the possibility

of parole.

And she remains incarcerated.

This tragedy began when
Roger began a dalliance

with Emily Bellows-Schaffer
that wound up with Emily

involved in their lives.

But the murder itself is
all the fault and crime

of Emily Bellows-Schaffer.

And that's where
guilt was found.

And that's where the true
and complete blame lies.

Carol's death was truly tragic.

A horrible thing happened
to a very good person

because of someone
else's anger,

greed, selfish intentions.

Carol will always
be remembered

as a pillar in this community.

I never met Carol
Hickok, but I regard

her as a wonderful woman.

And almost a saint, because I
don't know how many women could

take in the child
of their husband's mistress

and carry on and love
that child as if the child

were her own.

I give her a lot
of respect for that.

Carol was strong.

What she did, she did 100%--

her business, her hunting,
her mothering, her cooking,

her marriage vows.

And the way she loved
Charlie spoke volumes--

Just spoke volumes.

She was faithful
in friendships.

She was kind.

Just 100% her girl.

That's all I can tell you.

She just was great.