catherine novak s body had been discovered among the blackened ruins over big red house. but the passage of time didn t make ruins it any ruins easier for her mother. you know it s a thing that never happens to you it always happens to someone else. it isn t happen to you. you don t lose a child like that. in such a horrible way, a fire. catherine s brother michael and his wife joanne had stopped asking questions. choosing instead to accept they might never know what really happened to her. to take catherine s perspective, she would look for the positive side. the good things. and she would want us to move on. and that s what we try to do. we made our peace with it. and we went on living. but as time went by, in the last little town of narrowsburg,
dubbed the big red house. but soon a fire would ravage the couples home. and when the flames subsided one of them would be dead, leaving investigators wondering if the blaze was a tragic accident or something more sinister. here is andrea canning with secrets and lies . on a frigid december morning in 2008, in a tiny, picturesque town along the banks of the delaware, a tragedy unfolded. 9-1-1. what is your emergency? the whole house is on fire. a deadly blaze burned a small country house to the ground. and left behind in the ashes were secrets. love gone wrong. illicit affairs. friends turning against each other. it would take years to unravel the mystery of that fire. haunting this town. and those who loved the couple who once lived in that house, paul and catherine novak.
prosecutors called scott sherwood, paul s partner from work to the stand. they told the jury he had been interrogated by police and showed them the take. let s go from the beginning. you meet paul where? i met paul at his house in glen cove. jurors heard him tell police his version of what happened the night of the murder. so he gets in your red blazer. who s driving? i was driving. we were driving up towards where his residence was, where s catherine lived. sherwood said paul told him to part about a mile away from catherine s house and weigh in the car. about how long was he gone from the car? over an hour. and what did you see when he got to your car? he said, it s done. he had said that the chloroform didn t work. i had to strangle her. something about hitting the gas line to ignite so you knew the house was on fire? yes. as scott sherwood s story
better financial situation at that point suit previously. because i ended up getting a second job at a hospital in queens, for which i was high-paid. then he had his most crucial witness, paul s landlord. the defense wanted to use him to undermine a key point in the prosecution s case. he and paul drove home to paul s house. you went straight to paul s house when you came back? yes. but on the stand, pulls landlord disputed that, he said he was setting photo shoot did not lay eyes on any of them. how could the man be out there and never see scott core sherwood paul. there s only one way, it did not happen! the lawyers testimony less proof that scott sherwood had made up the story. we beyond a reasonable doubt that
and said i would like to speak to a lawyer. paul had already been interviewed by police several times. he thought this was all behind him. you knew it had to be about catherine? well, yeah, off obviously had something to do with that. later that day, the police went back to paul s house. and i went outside in the driveway with emily said, for we re sorry to have to bring this to you but paul novak is under arrest. i said, for what? i said this is for his involvement in his wife s murder four years ago. what cat and paul didn t know that was that a witness had come forward telling police and evil tale. and in that story paul was the villain. they arrested you they put you in jail right there than? yes. the story the witness told was chilling. just have a seat there. revealing dark secrets. but was it true? coming up paul s alibi becomes his