heidy wagner and conrad truman had a powerful connection. a deep love envied by others. then one fateful night, the young couple was jolted by unforeseen tragedy when heidy was killed by a single john gunshot to the head. in the aftermath, fingers were pointed. but where the aimed at an innocent man? here s josh mankiewicz with as night fell . they seem so in congress. the soaring majesty of utah s wasatch mountains and the story of a beautiful woman, struck down in her youth. it was a lot of things. tragic. crushing. stunning. but was it an accident? or a suicide? or a murder? police felt they knew. but as most cops who will tell you, both the evidence and the jury have their own stories to tell. and the answers are not always so clear. certainly, that is true for this story. and quite possibly for the woman at its heart. her name? heidy wagner. as a baby, she was favored. everybody loved her. she could do no wrong. autumn was one of heidy s four sisters. she was ju
you just wonder how this could happen. it seems very surreal. a quiet night at home shattered by a gunshot. she came out of the shower and i heard a pop. and there s blood. a young life dying on the floor. she wasn t talking at all. i m asking, what happened here? i was utterly confuse. so many different stories about what might have happened. he said many things that night. maybe someone shot something at the house. at one point he said it was 80% suicide. police had their own theory. i thought, oh, man, there s something going on here. we don t see a lot of women commit suicide naked. his stories weren t adding up. but something else was it adding up either. a key piece of evidence. we went to the house and we walked in and we think, ha. would in the stake in measurement send an innocent man to prison? or free a guilty one? we thought it was over. we thought this was settled. one suspect, so many stories, only one of them could be true.
he said she was in the bathroom, i don t know what happened. everything was just different answers and different theories. different little things. right away, sgt. crook went to check one of those theories. a stray bullet. perhaps coming through the bathroom window. the window is closed. there is no bullet hole. nothing to indicate anybody but he fired a shot? that s. correct he returned to the kitchen and that s when he discovered a gun. lying on the kitchen floor. what did you think had happened? honestly, i didn t know. was this an accident? and attempted suicide? or something far more sinister? at least for now those answers would have to wait. heidy with clinging to life. my focus at that time was honestly to help heidy. paramedics took heidy to a nearby hospital. conrad followed in a police cruiser. a dash cam recorded the absolute desperation in his voice. this is not happening. this is really not happening. i really don t understand any of this. this is so
because why would things work out if they didn t work out the first time. you know what i mean? could the council please stand. eight hours later, the verdict. hold up your hands. you re not wearing handcuffs. no cuffs. you re not in custody? i m free. that s right. this time, conrad truman got the verdict he wanted. not guilty. conrad just kept saying, did they say not? yeah he just grabbed my arm and said, are you sure? in the courtroom, conrad s family sheared tears of joy. i was giggling and crying at the same time. it was weird. [laughs] on the other side of the courtroom aisle, were tears of a different kind. i don t know. my heart sank and i just was in shock. you fainted? i did. i couldn t believe there was this it was a situation where that long shot happened. where he would be freed. juror brian christiansen said he and his filler jurors had no choice but to set conrad
gonna (bleep) die. it could be the way this guy reacts to trump. but i m telling you, it was a red flag at those times. also red flag, was conrad drunk. he admitted he and heidy had been drinking earlier that night. i can see in his eyes, the redness. red flag number three, conrad told crook he and heidy had been arguing. a minor dustup, he said. no big deal. but enough for heidy to draw a bath and asked to be left alone. she went and locked herself in the bathroom and then he details how he picked the lock and went in the bathroom. and then she kicked him out. to me, that s another it s just more proof of there was an argument. a bigger argument. as for the location of the gun itself, that too was suspicious. that gun is how far from heidi? i would say eight feet, ten feet, maybe. it s far enough away that it was at a normal, if she shoots herself and fall to the ground type of thing.