that raised a question for the jury. is it possible that this young woman who drowned had never been in the tub in the first place? the bottom line is there would have been water everywhere. if there wasn t, it was cleaned up. if there was a cleanup, then there was something to hide. that was her murder. an expert witness for the prosecution spoke to the issue of whether a person can actually fall asleep in a bathtub and drown in a bathtub. her testimony was no, that can t happen. it would be virtually impossible for somebody without the influence of drugs or alcohol or something external to fall asleep and not wake up. so first, the sensation of water on your face would wake you up. two would be the gag reflex, water entering your airway, just choking. three, if for some reason, that didn t, the drop in oxygen would cause you to stimulate you to wake up. but maybe sarah hadn t fallen asleep. perhaps she had suffered a catastrophic but perfectly natural event. something to her
the day after the attorney filed his motion, his fax machine started humming. it was a letter from a juror. he was having problems living with himself. he said it was a moral dilemma to let it go without bringing it to somebody s attention. the juror claimed there had been forbidden monkey business during deliberations, over nothing less than the biggest issue in the trial. damp head, dry body. he said that two or three of the female jurors had done home experiments where they had showered and air dried. they were testing out this theory of how quickly the body dries coming out of the tub or shower? yes. at home? at home. if the faxing juror was correct, the panel had directly
wet, waters on the floor. could this death be deliberate? i started crying because i just felts so bad for him. there s just no chance he had anything to do with it. three trials, three juries. we re scared that the truth may not come out. the bathtub mystery. hello and welcome to dateline extra. i m craig melvin. sarah and ryan were newly weds a young couple that appeared to be deeply in love. but less than four months after tying the knot sarah mysteriously drowned in her bathtub. ryan claimed it was an accident, but to investigators his story just did not add up. was this a tragic mishap or was something more sinister at play? it would take years of police work and three sen saegzal trials to uncover the stunning
they offered him a plea which they haven t done in two trials. and he turned it down? of course he turned it down, he says i m innocent, there s no way i would admit to a plea. why would i admit to something i would never have done that i did not do? ryan widmer was gambling that the next jury would acquit him. but his roll of the dice was taking its toll not just on him but on his family as well. ryan s mom made headlines when she was stopped for drunk driving. she had pleaded not guilty to the driving under the influence charge. but police say they found two open bottles of vodka in her car. she broke down, hospitalized. a terrible toll on her. i lived with it. many times all three of us are together and you could just feel her going deeper and deeper into this. but it seemed for every person that came out to support ryan widmer, there were those who believed just as strongly on the other side that he had deliberately drowned his wife. and one of those people would soon c
i started crying because i just felt so bad for him. there s just no chance he had anything to do with it. three trials, three juries. we re scared that the truth may not come out. reporter: sometimes the shades are drawn early in a marriage even for a young couple so in love like newlyweds sarah reporter: sometimes the everything in life was still fresh. at home on your average monday night. after his workday as a sports planner, ryan says he plopped down on the sofa, on an august night to chill with the bengals preseason opener against green bay. sarah, he says, went upstairs to draw a bath in the master. she liked her calming baths. the young dental hygienist had been tormented with more headaches that afternoon. the young couple in the suburban cincinnati home that evening had been married just under four