what they said cast a new light on fred s story of that awful day. a little tickling at the back of their neck had sent up some red flags to them. reporter: they told sheriff bruce that, as they called 911 and set out to help in the search, fred was frantic one minute, then seemed calm the next. they said the vibes were all wrong from him. they became very uncomfortable. reporter: did they kind of, like, in hindsight think back? or was it right then? they were immediately concerned that something was amiss. reporter: it was the husband, justin, who found leslie s body in the creek, but he told the sheriff that initially fred had sent him off to search too far downstream. he drove up a short ways and said he was sure that his wife s body was somewhere in that area. justin thought that was odd. reporter: was it possible that fred was disoriented? it s kind of a tough area to navigate. it s possible. reporter: yet sheriff bruce
inconsistency in that story. after such a treacherous fall, leslie s body, when pulled from the creek, didn t look at all injured. he told me she fell 20 feet. where was the trauma? where were the injuries? why did i not see what i expected to see? reporter: one look at that dropoff, and sheriff bruce was wondering the same thing. and when the autopsy report came back, it only heightened his suspicions. there were no broken bones, any substantial abrasions or contusions. they simply weren t there. reporter: every accident is different. every fall is different. is it possible that she just fell in a certain way that just didn t produce those injuries you were looking for? no. if she landed head-first, as he told us she landed, she would have had head injuries, facial fractures, spinal trauma. none of that was present. reporter: so sheriff bruce made a quick conclusion. to him, no injuries meant no fall.
was a lie. they showed a video of those tests, pointing out in one how the female stand in wasn t swept down stream and in another the mannequin wasn t washed over the water fall and eventually sank to the bottom. are you seeing any sliding of the mannequin into the water? no. any bruising? no. the prosecution s drowning expert was blunt. to her fred s story was pure fiction. the water, there s nothing in that environment water wise a human being had physically put the body in that position. so what really happened? in court the prosecution could only hint at the dramatic story the sheriff told us. his theory of a struggle, a chase and a drowning. well, there were no witnesses for any of that, so it never actually was presented as evidence. but an investigator who searched the area where fred said leslie fell did testify about finding fred s broken glasses. this side was broken, the
leslie died, sheriff bruce stopped by the muellers cabin to get a more precise account of what happened during their hike. bruce s undersheriff and a state investigator talked to fred. you know, i shouldn t have even taken her up there. it s all my fault. reporter: the conversation at the muellers kitchen table was recorded. we started taking photos. she took a few of me. i took some of her. reporter: fred described in detail how that kodak moment went wrong. i suggested that she take a picture with her dog, and it s a border collie and it s a very it s just extremely skittish dog. she looks at me and i take her picture and we think everything s cool and i think a bird kind of flutters by. reporter: fred said the rambunctious border collie got startled. but the dog just jumps out as she s turning and it s like it s like her feet just went out from under her. it s like it s just happening in slow motion in front of me. she falls forward and i remember
fred had to be lying. what you see here, andrea, this is reporter: we went back to cottonwood creek with the sheriff in may, 2014, the same month leslie died. we got a late snowstorm this year. reporter: a spring storm had just blanketed the woods and rocks. i have to say, i m honestly nervous just standing here. it s reporter: this is very steep. that s a sheer drop-off. reporter: it was up here where they had posed for pictures, that sheriff bruce showed me what he thought were key pieces to their puzzle. the evidence here at the scene makes us believe that something entirely different happened. reporter: they found trampled bushes, what they thought looked like scuff marks, and a pair of broken glasses that turned out to be fred s. there was evidence of a struggle in there. and that s where fred s mangled glasses were found. reporter: sheriff bruce formed a theory that after snapping those photos, fred and leslie got into a physical fight. we think that