saw it that way. the head and chest injuries are not consistent with someone that tumbles down the cliff face. doctor marianne clayton was the bergen county medical examiner who first ruled the circumstances of jody s death could not be determined. now on second look, she said, the victims wounds, or lack of them told her something different. something vital. if jody had tumbled innocently down the palisades, she would have had broken bones everywhere. she did not. there were no visible injuries on the back of mrs. scharf s body. but why would stephen have killed his wife? the biggest reason, the prosecutor argued, was that stephen did not want to divorce. he did not want to custody fight. and he didn t want to split assets with jody. and there was yet another motive for stephen, said the prosecutor. a potential payout. usa a life insurance company. an insurance representative
they would have abandoned this place forever. stephen and jody met in the late seventies in georgia. he was in the army, a bookworm who loved the civil war. she taught history. there is was a meeting first of minds. then hearts. how would you sort of describe those early years? with a loving? where they exciting? yes. they were. you know, we were in love. we were just ecstatic. from there, marriage. a house.
that night? well, there was the hammer in the picnic bag. but there was also testimony from this woman, one of stephen s old girlfriends. i even magenta by girlfriend that it was a perfect relationship. terry scofield have been dating stephen months before jody scharf s death. did mr. scharf tell you whether or not he was married? actually, he said he was not married. and she remembered something strange that stephen said to her on the beach over that labor day weekend. he was under a lot of stress. and the stress would be resolved by the end of september. two weeks later, jody scharf was dead. terry now sees that cryptic statement in a dreadful light. i was like, oh no the end of september. and then the light buff bulb went off immediately.
jonathan. i remember her showing me her bruises. he had painted his father as a brute and possibly a killer. i never hit jody. it made me sick to my stomach. the young man wasn t to be believed, said the lawyer. for one thing, when police interviewed jonathan back in 2008, the young man described his dad as a good guy. he was, you know, fairly decent, you know, fairly decent parent. it was only after detectives told him his dad had just been arrested that the sun turned on his father. she got coffee thrown at her a lot. before you found out that your dad was arrested, did you lie? yes. and did you lie more than once? yes. why would jonathan turn on his father and lie?
underway. officer walter surrey, was surprised even was willing to leave, the look out, as researchers were still looking for jody. did he give any indication i don t want to leave. my wife could be down there. now. none at all. siri says he couldn t believe how willing the stephen scharf got into his control car. i tell you if it was my wife, or girlfriend, whoever they would have had to pry me away from that scene, if it was still at the top of the cliff. he was willingly got into his patrol car. without a word. stranger still is how calm the husband seemed. when the officer heard stephen describe how his wife had fallen, he made a mental note. there was no emotion in it. none at all. it was like he was reading a script. did it occur to you that, maybe he s in shock? no. i ve seen people who have lost loved ones, i ve never seen anybody act that way. but it was a particular moment later inside the station house, that really caught his attention. he asked if he could get a dri