children. and here began atoning for the sins of his youth by devoting his life to three little kids, eva, ariel and alex. that s the baby brother. it was after all that that they held the trial. prosecutor lisette suder intended to portray todd as a manipulative and devious man who murdered not one wife, but two. that is if she could persuade a california judge to allow an old georgia case to be dusted off and brought back to life. i felt confident that i had the law behind me on that. and i submitted my brief, and i submitted the legal arguments that supported that. and? she won. and so, in september of 2014, when todd winkler went on trial charged with first-degree murder of second wife rachel, lisette suder could use the georgia story about first wife cathy s death 15 years earlier
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part of california was the epicenter of the gold rush. back then, as legend has it, at least, there was no wait for justice. you committed a crime, the punishment was meted out then and there. but not now. for more than two years after the bloody confrontation in the winkler s nursery, todd waited in jail to be tried for her murder. and i just started just pacing around the house just saying, god, i just killed their mother. for those two years, todd maintained, as he had from the very beginning, that he killed rachel only to save his own life, to save himself and his children. from jail, he and his family fought a losing battle with rachel s father, don hatfield, who won custody of those children. and here began atoning for the sins of his youth by devoting his life to three little kids, eva, ariel and alex. that s the baby brother. it was after all that that
if was a kill or be killed situation. eventually todd got to his feet. he prepared a bottle for crying alex, he said. and he worried. and i just started just pacing around the house just saying, god, i just killed their mother. by-and-by, ariel and eva woke up. todd kept them out of the room where their mom lay dead. then, he said, he cleaned up the house as well as he could. and at 10:26 am, 7 hours after rachel died, he phoned a lawyer friend and asked him to inform the authorities. tell me exactly what you heard from your neighbor. what i m willing to tell you is that i m an attorney. i received a call notifying me of the situation. about the same time, 10:30 am, todd took his children to the neighbor s house. i said, there s been i didn t tell them rachel was dead. i said, we have a very serious situation across the street. can you please watch the kids. murder investigations are of course based on more than just witness statements. the csi team rushed ov
that s a little scary. yeah, it is scary. todd was holding ariel, and don was holding alex. and todd came up, he looks just a wreck. todd confronted me, he said, rachel and i aren t divorced yet, and i would appreciate it if you would stay away from her. and? nope. you said no? i said no. there was a pause. if something was going to happen, this would be the moment. and then he turns to me and he goes, hi katelynn. i was like, get off this property. and suddenly it was over. todd and don and the kids got back into the land cruiser and drove off. what was the feeling like as this was going on? the feeling for me was, god, i hope that this clears the air. i think you know, he he s asked him to stay away so maybe he ll stay away and maybe they can figure out what to do.