she felt that the defendant s demeanor was oddly calm. that he bent down and petted the dog. she felt like his demeanor was misplaced. for the prosecution, this trial was a second chance to explain to the jury how fred s story didn t match up with the scene. this area was not vast. it was a huge. it was actually quite tight and actually quite small. it s making the defendants statement impossible. our primary goal in the second trial was to get that jury to the scene. the judge considered a visit to cottonwood creek, but ruled it was too expensive and impractical to bring the jury that far. not being able to do that, we did our best in the second trial to bring the scene to the jury. this second jury had a new 3d model of cottonwood creek to examine. and fresh testimony to consider. that apparent small skull fracture of leslie s that offense highlighted in the first trial, no way said the states new witness. who was an expert in reading
i said, mom! so she tricked you? [laughs] we had such a wonderful time. but the next day i was not moving. as for fred, he owned a multi million dollar company importing steel for construction. still, their dad wasn t all business all the time. in the traditional motherly rolls, he would definitely step up and wasn t afraid to be mr. mom. the mueller kids say their parents fit one another perfectly. he make a point of every night trying to do something nice for her. they talked all the time. anytime there was any type of disagreement about who the dishes weren t done or some honey-do chore. they would talk about it until they were completely resolved. the next second, they would be all over each other again and be perfectly happy. it was a happy weekend at the mueller s colorado cabin. may 3rd, 2008. now that leslie was no longer working, she was spending much more time up here. that saturday, the spring day was sunny. the high altitude air still chilled. morning began
just crumples. and then just slides like mush into the little channel. and i m screaming her name. i m hollering. i should ve just jumped in. fred says he lost sight of leslie in the waters, so he ran down to where he thought the current would take her. he said he got scratched up as he stumbled up and down this embankment, navigating rocks, and running through bushes. i must have tripped. a few times. quite a few times coming down. i m sure i hit, obviously hit something coming down a few times. he told how he had left the camera with those last images of his wife behind. i would imagine i would imagine i just dropped it while i was screaming. unable to locate leslie, he abandoned his search of the creek bed and made the decision to go for help. i hauled butt down to justin s house. and i m honking and i m screaming at him too, you know,
we were extremely hopeful that they could change their minds and decide not to go forward again. we were really hoping for that. more than just hoping. in fact, the family actually met with prosecutors and lobbied against another trial. did that weigh into whether to go to a second trial at all? the fact that this entire family, leslie s family included, did not want a trial? absolutely. we have to consider their position. we have to consider where they re coming from. then, one part of the decision was made for them. the judge threw out the most serious charge. first degree murder. why? the judge ruled prosecutors it did not have enough evidence to establish premeditation. we did manage to get an acquittal on the first degree murder charge. the prosecutors could still move ahead with second degree murder. but would they? that 11 to 1 vote surely made a retrial daunting.
no case. but there were differences from the first trial. to ensure an untainted jury pool, the case had been moved northeast to suburban denver. more than 250 miles away from cottonwood creek. the evidence in this case is that leslie mueller did not fall off a cliff. this time from the prosecution, jurors heard a streamlined up version of events. and how, according to the state, fred mueller told a story that defied logic. like most murders, this one is hard explain. does it make sense. it doesn t make sense how and why this could happen. the witnesses to that awful day again came forward. neighbor jennifer sparks again told how she thought fred was acting strangely when he pulled up to her house. and she added this new detail he was petting my dog. squatting down, petting that dog? yeah, the dog was right here and he was just putting the dog.