happened. and she said, tanya, cathy s dead. she s not alive anymore. she died. i remember falling to the ground and i said, what do you mean she s dead? reporter: cathy s friend julie-lynn felt not just for herself but for todd, too. and i wanted to console him and just let him know that we were there for him, supporting him, anything we could do for him. and he never returned any of my calls. reporter: tanya tanya tried to call him, too. for a different reason. it just didn t add up. my phone call was strictly to figure out and to pick his brain and ask questions. reporter: because, by then, tanya was a cop herself, who knew a little something about suspicious behavior. did i think he was going to answer that phone? no, and let me tell you, i tried that phone number numerous times. and after about a month of calling it repeatedly, the phone number was disconnected. reporter: she didn t get
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? reporter: instead, the judge came down hard on todd. if you want to play the game,
we got all those police reports. reporter: out in california, 15 years later, prosecutor lisette suder was convinced. for the sake of her own case, 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
cathy s death, said the defense, had nothing whatever to do with the event for which todd was on trial, the death of rachel winkler, and he wasn t guilty in this case either. this is not a murder case, ladies and gentlemen. it s a self-defense case, or at most it s a voluntary manslaughter case. reporter: there were two good reasons to believe that, said the defense. reason one, self defense. as todd told the police that very first day it was probably a kill or be killed kind of situation. reporter: he was a good guy in a bad situation, said his attorney. he worked hard and long hours to support rachel. he wanted to make her happy, and he was a good dad. and for that she cheated on him, threatened him and then attacked with those scissors. of course, by that point, todd told the police, she was a very unstable woman. started drinking, started binge drinking. i was afraid for the children.
killed. and learned how there had been a crash, and he had no injuries and she had died. rachel was upset by this and said, well, is this how i m going to turn out? and this defendant s reply was, well, you re not going to get in my way, are you? reporter: rachel knew she was in danger, said prosecutor suder, as a doomed young woman had already told her closest friends and family. and rachel explained that this defendant said to rachel, if you divorce me, you will end up like my last wife. she did. reporter: after 13 days of testimony the jury got the case. they were out one day. we, the jury in the above entitled action, find the defendant todd alan winkler guilty of the crime of first-degree murder. reporter: no outburst this time. no breakdown. the former fighter pilot sat quietly and listened. he got 26 years to life. it was over for todd. but not for anyone else.