i had the misfortune of having a heart attack and bypass surgery, that causing me to retire. if someone had asked me of the thousand deputy district attorneys in the d.a. s office, who would be your choice to try the case, i would have said ken lamb. ken lamb, a former l.a. police officer. he d never handled anything like this case before, but he picked it up fast. it s whether or not during this murder he was conscious or unconscious. if you re conscious, then he s guilty of murder. and based on what happened to eva that night, argued lamb, reitz had to have made a series of complex decisions, fully aware of exactly what he was doing. look at the beating. this is repeated over and over and over. that takes energy, that takes thought. that takes awareness. lamb proposed to the jury his theory of what must have happened that night in catalina. something, perhaps an argument, he said, must have prompted reitz to get out of bed and walk
the case should have been a cake walk for detectives ken gallitin and richard tomlin. the evidence was right here, in room 2 of this small catalina hotel. and their suspect had just confessed. i woke up and began consciousness of the situation and i realized it was eva on the ground and i looked around and i couldn t believe it was her. i think i might have killed eva in my sleep. or more specifically, while sleepwalking. stephen reitz claimed he was fending off an intruder and didn t remember killing his girlfriend, eva, during the deadly dream. but he did recognize his fatal handiwork. he told us i must have done it. and we asked him why. he said, well, i m a commercial fisherman and that s the way we kill the sharks. i must have done it. that s a curious way of being responsible without being responsible. absolutely. in situations like this, you don t want to press an individual too bad. you want to hear what they have to say.
the destruction, the mayhem in the room, you had to figure somebody had to hear something. and based on the chaos of the crime scene, detectives surmised the attack must have taken several minutes. this was not a quick, two-second stabbing and maybe a muffled scream or a cry for help. this took a little while to do. and all done according to stephen reitz completely unconsciously, while sleepwalking. there was no outward emotion, where there was any indication that he was remorseful for his 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
suddenly this confession was making what seemed like a clear-cut crime a lot more complicated. we knew who our suspect was, if you will. there s no doubt that this occurred and there s no doubt that he did it. now the only question is, was he in his right frame of mind? was he sleepwalking? if he truly was sleepwalking and not conscious of his actions, stephen reitz would also walk away from any and all charges. he could not and would not be held accountable for eva s death, a killing to which he had just confessed. coming up, could he really have killed while unconscious? science suggests it s entirely possible. they may be dreaming there was an intruder in the house and punch and kick and hurt their bed partner. when deadly dreams continues.
sought a first-degree murder conviction, which seemed a bit risky, given reitz s sleep walking history, the parks case in toronto and the medical experts backing up his story. second degree murder, even manslaughter would be easier to prove. and might ensure a conviction. i would rather try the case and lose it, let them present their defense, as skeptical as i am, and we don t prove it and the defendant walks. so be it. without some sort of motive, though, persuading a jury that reitz was fully conscious and in control might be difficult. so could anything else besides sleepwalking have triggered the attack? we have to look into everything, you know? we try to find a reason why. was there more to that secret love affair? perhaps there was another secret, something reitz kept to himself which just might explain