a month later, juanita s sister, jeannette, spoke for her family at the sentencing. two years ago, you chose to take her from us. not only did you take our daughter, our sister, and our aunt, but you also took the mother from your very own children. tom has filed an appeal. he remains defiant. the truth is the truth. and making me a villain doesn t change anything. we ve been through a trial. don t we know the truth? no. isn t the truth that you killed your wife? no, that is not the truth. because you didn t want a divorce and wanted to live debt free with kelli brophy. debt free living has nothing to do with it and neither does living with kelli brophy. there is no romantic relationship with kelli brophy, period, there never has been. you killed her. no, i did not kill my wife. you have no idea how offensive it is to hear somebody say that when you didn t do it.
that make sense? i don t know. jeannette and her parents both openly admit they never much cared for tom. juanita loved him and so they tried to, as well. but tom made that difficult. you never saw him be physically abusive to her? no, emotionally all the time. verbally abusive? yeah. like what? oh, get your head out your ass, you re so stupid. anything she did it was never right. and he would say get your head out of your, in your presence to your daughter? yes, yes. how did you keep from knocking him flat? well, it was a struggle. but tom and juanita s children say they never saw anything like the marriage their aunt and grandparents describe. you never saw any verbal abuse from your father to your mother? not that wasn t playful. they would have playful talk but nothing that was ever harsh or demeaning. it s been portrayed as a stormy marriage. when you hear that, what do you
that s what a friend would do, stand beside him no matter what. these two friends talked on the phone a lot but a single call may be the key to all of this. tom called kelli from pictured rocks on his cell phone on june 21st, 2006, the night before juanita s death. they spoke for 13 minutes. what did you guys talk about in that call? nothing, if i remember right, i was in bed sleeping, and i just listened. i don t know if he was plotting something. i don t know, i don t know anything. all i just know is that he told me what he wanted me to know. and i believed him. shortly after juanita died, tom showed up at kelli s house with another gift, a plant from juanita s memorial service. he didn t tell you why he was giving you the plant? no. but it meant something to you, didn t it. that plant. no, not really. juanita s sister jeannette
how i can remember it. was tom s mind literally playing tricks on him? blank began to think something more sinister had happened up on that cliff, but with no proof of foul play, tom was free to go home to a family that was already choosing sides. tom s kids knew he had done nothing wrong. juanita s parents, don and jeannie culver, knew otherwise. suicide is out of the question. she s not going to get close enough to the edge of a cliff. she didn t like heights. she s not going to fall off. there s only one thing left. and that s murder. that s murder. juanita s sister, jeannette, had the same suspicions. you hear your sister s dead and your first thought is? he did it. when i heard cliff, i could understand car accident or something. but i said, what happened? and mom told me. she fell from a cliff. her and tom were there. and just instantly. i knew.
since juanita richardson s mysterious fatal plunge from that wind-swept cliff at pictured rocks. two years of questions. did she fall? could she have committed suicide or did her husband, tom, somehow force her off that cliff 140 feet to the rocky shore below? what terrible thing happened at their honeymoon spot? all rise. now tom s trial would begin and each side in the courtroom thought they knew the answers. on one side, tom and juanita s three kids firmly convinced their dad didn t kill their mom. on the other side, juanita s parents and sister, equally certain of tom s guilt. with no eyewitnesses, prosecutor karen barhmann s case would have to focus on tom richardson himself. you ll learn that he wanted