actions. then, as they wrapped up their interview with reitz, the detectives got one more surprise. his parting question was, do i get to go home with mom and dad? they re here to pick me up. can i go home with them? i said, i don t think so. you re under arrest for a murder. reitz was flown back from catalina to los angeles later that same day. so was eva s body for the autopsy. the medical examiner confirmed steve reitz s gruesome confession regarding the cause of death, the deep slash to the spinal cord. i attended the autopsy. that s not standard protocol for a prosecutor. i attended it because i ve never seen a case like this. deputy d.a. chris frisco was initially assigned to look into the case. he had never encountered such an alibi. what i was concerned about was looking at the injuries and trying to determine if, in fact, the defendant is or was sleep walking
dr. alon avidan runs the ucla sleep center in los angeles. he was not involved in the case but has studied sleepwalking for years. it s one of many types of sleeping disorders. what happens is that patients are neither asleep nor awake. but when you look at their brain activity, terror sleep. yet they act out behaviors that are often as simple as talking to more complex episodes such as walking, as we see in sleepwalking. in the morning they wouldn t be aware of any of this? they have no recollection. if someone has a history of sleepwalking like stephen reitz was claiming, and who uses drugs or alcohol like those found at the crime scene, then the chances of an episode are even more likely. and there was one more risk factor that may have contributed to the violent nature of stephen reitz s alleged sleepwalking episode. he was bipolar, which made him more susceptible to violent
cause of the wounds. that s what i do to shark fishing. i said, why would you recognize that? he said, when i was a commercial fisherman, that s how we killed the sharks. we d sever their spinal and incapacitate the sharks. he must have done the same thing to eva but somehow thinking she was an intruder, must have, he told them. but it was really on a guess. reitz insisted he remembered virtually nothing of his violent attack on eva. i see bits and flashes of it, you know, but i don t but it s hard to believe. i really, i mean, it s hard to believe but i ve had other roommates that have watched me sleepwalk. sleep walk? now reitz made the most remarkable claim. this horrible violence grew out of a completely unconscious sleep walking episode. i told us that he has reoccurring sleep walking episodes and this time he must have been sleep walking when it happened. was this a clever ruse that
wives in bed. or perhaps even killing their girlfriends in catalina. diagnosis or no, ken parks was charged with first degree murder, just like stephen reitz was. parks spent a couple of years in jail before he went on trial here and his defense made the case that he should be found not guilty. because he was completely unconscious of what he had done. their argument was that he committed this crime being completely unaware of what he was doing. and would never have done it had he been conscious? would never have done it had he been conscious and aware. after a lengthy and well publicized trial, the case finally went to the jury. and they set him free, they let him go, said he was not guilty. not guilty. kenneth parks was allowed to walk because he was sleepwalking when the incident occurred. so what seemed like a clear case
hello. i m milissa rehberger. three days before the new hampshire primary, the gop presidential candidate is criss-crossing the granite state. they have two days within the next 24 hours. watch msn nbc starting at 9:00 a.m., in switzerland many villagers have been cut off as forecasters predict 19 feet of snow this weekend. now back to deadly dreams. unfortunately, the best witness in the case is dead. eva is gone. she was the best witness in this case. d.a. chris frisco had a problem, stephen reitz, under investigation for killing his girlfriend eva weinfurtner.