suicide down in the city of coral gables, we heard that the husband was en route to a trauma center and in critical condition. keith morrison: en route with two bullet holes to his head. had sutton killed his wife then turned the gun on himself? no. that theory was quickly dismissed when the paramedic who took him to the hospital put out an update over the radio. he had wounds to his hands, which would make it clear like it was defense type wounds, that somebody else must have shot, because he put his hands up. so obviously, first clue, this is not a murder suicide. this is not a murder suicide. keith morrison: who or why would anyone want to harm john or susan sutton? the sutton s had lived exemplary lives, seemed to have it all, a beautiful house with a 31 foot boat out back in exclusive coral gables, the upscale enclave south of miami. his law practice susan worked as office manager
i mean, he s a like, 20-year-old kid. obviously there was a tie with christopher sutton and him. keith morrison: as for christopher himself, the detectives had no trouble finding people with an opinion about him. the cops should be looking at christopher sutton because of the lengthy family history of problems that john and susan had with their son christopher, who was a handful from a very early age. keith morrison: a very early age, actually, as john sutton recalled all too clearly. did he get into fights at school, or i can remember that happening early on in preschool. keith morrison: it got worse as christopher got older. did he get into trouble? absolutely. there was vandalism, not only of our own things, there were vandalism of other people s property. keith morrison: they sent him off to boarding schools then,
boat roaring down the canal behind john s boat over here and it turned out that that woman owned such a boat. she was interviewed down the line also, and she was not the person responsible. reporter: what about the phone call susan was on when she was shot to death. detectives found the bloodstained handset susan dropped when the gunman opened fire. who was she talking to? had that person heard something? detectives got their answer almost right away. john sutton s law partner, teddy montodo had shown up at the house even before the first reports of the shooting hit the news that night. he was also armed. he was talking to susan sutton on the telephone when he heard a loud bang or what he said maybe gunshots he didn t know. reporter: at least that s what he told the police. depending on the all. truth in his statement he could be a suspect. absolutely. reporter: that said melissa had to be impossible. teddy and susan worked together they talked often and frequently late at
not even close. i won t take no for an answer. reporter: some of the best hospitals in the country, sutton had been told there was simply nothing to be done. he would be blind for life. the bullets had permanently destroyed his optic nerve. john had heard about a landmark break through at harvard affiliated research institute in boston where a renowned researcher had regenerated the optic nerve in mice using stem cell therapy and drugs, human trials would be next. so in march 2008, almost three years to the day after his son was arrested, sutton and his girlfriend kathy were on the cold, rain swept streets of boston on the way to an appointment at the clinic. okay. there is a chin rest in front of you. a doctor evaluated, sutton s one intact eye and discovered though the nerve was destroyed, the rest of the eye, theoretically at least could work.
she interjected. she goes, i knew it was going to happen. i just didn t know when. keith morrison: that night, they put juliette who was living with christopher into protective custody. the next day, i prepared an arrest warrant for christopher sutton. keith morrison: and a female officer paid a visit to christopher s father, home alone. she says, well, i ve got good news and bad news. and the good news is that we have arrested the assailant. he s admitted it. the bad news is, he s inculpated your son and said your son set him up. i go, man, oh man. well, that was a bad night, a real bad night. what was it like to hear that? was it a shock, or did you have, at that point, some kind of an idea? it was 50 emotions all at the same time. one of which is, well, i finally know. two was, i can t believe this. keith morrison: john, ever the attorney, wanted to know what the evidence was, had the reports