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 against him. and the defense? dismissed the georgia case out of hand. irrelevant, said todd s attorney.
Todd-winkler
Someone
Wife
Lisette-suder
Trial
Manipulative
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One
Rachel-case
Life
Judge
California
she had to find out what really happened up here on this isolated mountain road in september, 1999. what is very important about the georgia case and our case is it goes to his intent in the rachel case. reporter: and before long she knew. this was going to be explosive. the georgia case could be her best evidence in the here and now in california to show that todd winkler was perfectly capable of spousal murder. because she soon believed he had done it before. the more we read, the more we realized that this was not an accident. reporter: todd s behavior up here on the mountain, said prosecutor suder, was deeply
Mountain-road
1999
September-1999
Reporter
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Rachel-case
North-georgia
Intent
Todd-alan-winkler
Murder
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the bug bite? he didn t know where the bug bite was. didn t know what bit him. reporter: didn t know where it was? no, sir. reporter: something serious enough to give him an allergic reaction that doesn t present anywhere is a bit odd. that was a big question in my mind. reporter: todd told the cops back then that he had a history of allergic reactions. always carried an epi-pen for emergencies. yet didn t take that to the wilderness that weekend. did that seem strange to you that he d go camping without an epipen if he was subject to this sort of thing? it seemed strange to me that we were spendin so much time talkin about bug bites. it was almost as if we were tryin to steer away from the real issue, which was a fatality crash involving his wife. reporter: it also seem strange he said that by the time the campers saw todd, he displayed no evidence of an allergic reaction. of course, lisette suder and her people interviewed mike and woody too. and they told her, as
Reporter
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Reaction
Odd
Sir
Mind
Didn-t
Anywhere
Didnt-know
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Bug-bite
on a shelf right above the computer. and three, prosecutor suder i believe he took a pair of scissors and he went in that room with the intent to kill her. he attacked her while she was sleeping, stabbed her repeatedly in the face and the neck area. and i believe, at that point, he thought he had killed her, and he left her for dead. reporter: then, said the prosecutor, as todd prepared to leave the house, he saw a light had been turned on in the baby s room. so that s when he then goes, gets his motorcycle jacket on for padding, for protection, bangs in the door, finds her in that corner. reporter: cowering? cowering. reporter: trying to save her own life? correct. reporter: they knew that rachel spent some time after the first attack holding her baby. from prosecution closings
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Computer
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