for that baby. she wanted to be a mom. this wasn t somebody thinking about suicide. exactly. it made me wonder was he a murderer? you are trying to prove a murderer with pretty much no evidence. correct. is he kind of gloating he got away with it? he is thinking, well, catch me if you can. we are going to do her and her family justice. we are going to solve this murder. hello, and welcome to dateline . meg purk was a young mom to be, over the moon to be having her first child. then, just days before her due date, she died of an apparent suicide. her family struggled to understand why, but in a strange twist, a house fire set decades later would point to a possible answer and put investigators on a trail towards the truth. here is josh mankiewicz with secrets from the grave . wander through any graveyard, and you will find them, mysteries etched in stone. lives cut tragically short by war, disease, misfortune, and sometimes murder. many who arrested in
Who would want to murder you . And i just kind of looked at him like, what . I couldnt believe it. Was he watching me . That fire was set. Very calculating. Years before his wife killed herself. Yes. He claimed she committed suicide days before she was due to give birth to her first child. She was extremely excited for that baby. She wanted to be a mom. This wasnt somebody thinking about suicide. Exactly. It made me wonder was he a murderer . You are trying to prove a very old murder with pretty much no evidence. Correct. Is he kind of gloating he got away with it . He is thinking, well, catch me if you can. We are going to do her and her family justice. We are going to solve this murder. Hello, and welcome to dateline. Meg purk was a young mom to be, over the moon to be having her first child. Then, just days before her due date, she died of an apparent suicide. Her family struggled to understand why, but in a strange twist, a house fire set decades later would point to a possible ans
his wife and child back in the eighties had been hit by a drunken driver. remember, purk told the detective his first wife took her own life. now, it seems he told at least one of his former lovers an entirely different story. he had told my girlfriend that he went over there and killed the guy, cut him up, and buried him. and she s like, oh , you know? they had sex, you know what i mean? and then he s confessing. the detective, of course, knew better. scott purk s first wife meg and their son died in akron, in 1985. her death was suicide by hanging, according to the coroner s report. 35 years later, meg s memory is still fresh for dawn kracker. dawn and meg were best buds in high school. she was quiet. people say she d remind them of janice joplin, in her hippie kind of bohemian attitude, but she was very much more reserved. she d come into a room or
Whether or not digging her up again was the right thing to do. exactly. it was a tough conversation to have with i went and spoke with mixed mom. she believed with the rest of the family it wasn t a suicide. exactly. and they were very supportive of all of us to do an examination. with meg s family on board, the prosecutor asked a court to order her examination. we definitely needed the body of meg purk to be exhumed for the medical examiner. if the body is not in good shape, could this go forward? if it had been too decomposed, it s unlikely this case would ever have been prosecuted. while the detective pressed forward, that summer, lidl report up the murder investigations in august 2011 scott purk was indicted for two arson s. the fire in his home, and the one at amy salvage eo s duplex. can we show you of photo of scott purk i d ask if you ever knew him?
i m craig melvin and this is dateline . i got a call saying the house was on fire. the first thing they asked me was who would want to kill you? who would want to murder you? and i just kind of looked at him like, what? i couldn t believe it. was he watching me? that fire was set. very calculating. years before his wife killed herself. yes. he claimed she committed suicide days before she was due to give birth to her first child. she was extremely excited