out, became catatonic, ended up in the hospital where they found nothing wrong with him and released him. rachel told james he faked the episode. but here at trial, a defense psychiatrist testified todd suffered from real mental issues, dissociative disorder, conversion disorder, which meant he could be violent if he felt he was under attack. and that awful morning? first he told the police she threatened to sic her well-armed boyfriend on him. and she said, no, you know, i m looking to have my boyfriend get rid of you. reporter: and then she was coming at me with a vee of scissors. reporter: rachel s dad, don, and self-described soulmate, james, watched as the defense argued that todd had no choice but to kill the woman they so loved. his state of mind is what you really need to pay careful attention to here. he knows she ll kill him. he knows if he doesn t end it, it could end him.
she s found burned to death down a steep embankment. reporter: just as the prosecutor was laying out her case against todd winkler in the killing of his wife, rachel, a sudden, inexplicable outburst from todd. you are not samurai. stop, stop, stop. stop, stop, stop. you do not speak truth. you only want to destroy. you have no bushido. you have no bushido. reporter: bushido? in japanese, the way of the warrior, the honor-based code of conduct of a samauri. why was todd winkler raving about it now? was this another psychotic episode? judge, off the bench. stop, stop, stop. reporter: of course, the trial came to a screeching halt. a mistrial loomed. may we have the courtroom cleared? once order was restored, the judge allowed the prosecutor to
be like? yeah, it was just hard. to be the guy who gets dumped is bad. it was bad. i quit painting a soon as i found out she married todd and i had no energy, i had no inspiration, i had given up. so, what does this broken hearted love story have to do with the fiery mountain crash? more than you could possibly imagine. in my mind this is not an accident. our friend was murdered, i truly believe that. coming up a married woman s complicated love life. one of rachel s lovers is gone, but not forgotten. i thought maybe later down the road we could get back together again and share life
was in trouble. and she leaned over from her chair, she grabbed my hand and says i have something i really have to tell you, and i said oh, your fired, she said no, i have fallen hopelessly in love with you and i don t know what to do about it. was it like to hear that? it was a huge relief. relief? yeah. because you were in love with her? i was in love with her at the time. i couldn t tell her. i didn t feel like i should tell her. i didn t know how she would react i thought of her as my friend. and i d rather have has that done nothing at all. so having left artist him to marry ex fighter pilot or todd, rachel now launched into an affair with ex marine james. this by the way wasn t one of those sneak off into a closet and steal a kiss kind of affair. with todd living and working in the san francisco bay area during the week, james and rachel were to gather almost
todd s here! so is don! he said all right, let s get this over with. and i grabbed the m for. caitlin is talking about the gun she had ready. the nine millimeter pistol, and an m4 rifle. and james? he had a pistol holstered in the day back, as he walked out to meet don. i had a on me. and i know how to use it extremely well. here is james s memory of a confrontation so tense, it sounds almost surreal. as the two men approached the house, he said. they hid, behind todd and rachel s children. he had aerial in his arms, using her as a human shield. and don, had alex in his arms on the other side of the car. afraid that you are gonna shoot them? perhaps. i can t remember whether todd went to the door with the