Sign up to get updates from us
On November 10th, 2018, Amy Mullis was found in the red shed at her farm and she had been impaled by a corn rake. Her husband called 911 and said he believed she fell on the corn rake, but her injuries didn't make sense. Amy had 6 puncture wounds, but there were only 4 tines on the rake. Todd Mullis was found guilty of murdering his wife and he was sentenced to life in prison.
Website: https://www.drinkingthecoolaid.com/
Resources:
The trial began in September of 2019 and Todd’s attorney agreed that Amy was murdered, but he argued that it wasn’t Todd. There could have been other people on the farm that day and there were other people that had a motive. Jerry was not planning on leaving his wife or letting her find out about the affair. The day after Amy’s death, investigators got a search warrant and headed to the farm. They told Todd that this was now being investigated as a homicide and they spent more than 35 mintues explaining why it was a homicide and Agent Turbett accused Todd of killing Amy. Todd said, how? What did the police know? What evidence points to him? He didn’t seem surprised to find out that she had been murdered and this wasn’t an accident. He didn’t say that other people could have been on the farm, and he didn’t deny doing it. During the search of the farm, the investigators seized an iPad and Todd said he was the sole user of it when it came to business purposes, but it was also used by the whole family for personal use. When he was asked, he provided the password, and it was determined that his own personal Gmail account was connected to the iPad. Four days prior to Amy’s death, on November 6th, the Gmail account associated with Todd and his iPad searched the internet for:
Organs in the body and also visited the following sites: Wikipedia.com to view Organs-(anatomy) and sciencetrends.com to view maps and diagrams of body organs.
On May 10th, 2018, the same Gmail account associated with Todd and his iPad searched the internet for “what happens to cheaters in history”, “killing unfaithful women”, “Once a cheater always a cheater” and “what happened to cheating spouses in historic Aztec tribes.” On Jan 8th, 2018, the Gmail account associated with Todd and his iPad searched for “Once you hunt man you will always feel the thirst” ,“thrill of the kill”, “thrill of the hunt” and “Famous quote no thrill like that of hunting man.”
There were also Google searches for:
“Did ancient cultures kill adulterers”
“What to do with large open chest wounds”
“16 facts about cheating women”
“How to make sure your kids are yours” and biological father searches
“Punishment is 18 months for killing cheating wife
Todd said that he watched a show with his family, and they started looking things up about ancient cultures while they watched the show, so that could explain some of the searches, but he said he did not look up the rest and he doesn’t know who did.
The prosecutors said that Todd wasn’t going to let Amy get away with cheating again or taking away half of his farm, that was his motive. They believe that he made the google searches in the months leading up to her death, but his defense attorney said that doesn’t make sense because they were working to save their marriage, so they believed she was murdered, but not by Todd.
When the investigators got the search warrants and took Todd’s electronics, this included a camera system with two cameras covering the property. There was no video from a camera pointed at the red shed where Amy was found. Video pointed at the yard between the buildings spanned from September 11th through October 29th, then it started again on November 11th and went through the date that they took the camera system, but they couldn’t determine if the missing video had been deleted or not.
During the trial Todd said that he believed the cats accidentally knocked the antennas off the window ledge while they were looking for a warm spot to sit. There’s a heater there and the sun streams in, so he said they like that spot. There were no recordings for the two weeks leading up to Amy’s death. The day after her death, family members asked Todd if he had any camera footage to show what happened and that’s when he saw the system hanging off the ledge, so he picked it all back up and got it reconnected.
Todd maintained that Amy was sick of being cooped up after her procedure, so she wanted to help out in the barn with the chores, but an email from her, seems to paint a different picture. At 10:12 AM on the morning of her death, Amy emailed the man she had an affair with, Jerry Frasher and said, “Do you know what I’m doing today? Cleaning fucking light fixtures in the barn. WTF.”
She got dizzy while she was cleaning the lights and was sent to retrieve a pet carrier. Trysten and Todd continued to work, then Todd sent his son to check on Amy in the red shed an hour and a half later. Why would he think she was still in there 90 minutes later? He told her that if she couldn’t get the pet carrier, she could just leave it and he’d grab it later. Wouldn’t you assume that she gave up and went inside? Why didn’t he simply say, go look for mom? Does that mean that he needed Trysten to find Amy? Todd testified that Trysen asked Amy to get the pet carrier and go in the house, but Trysten said it was Todd that suggested this.
During an interview, Agent John Turbett flat accused Todd of killing Amy. He said they completed their investigation and the evidence all proved that he was responsible, and Todd said, “I’m responsible? How?” He also asked if Agent Turbett wanted him to admit to something he didn’t do. Agent Turbett felt like Todd wasn’t fighting back, he was making casual statements and he didn’t explicitly say that he didn’t do it.
The medical examiner, Kelly Kruse, found blunt force injuries to Amy’s face, hands and knees. This was possible evidence of a struggle, and she said that the injuries happened right before her death or around the time she was dying. There were six different puncture wounds, and they were going in two different directions, indicating that she was impaled at least twice, possibly three times. There was also a small abrasion on Amy’s upper lip. The puncture wounds are labeled with letters.
Puncture A: The first puncture entered the chest cavity through the ribs and exited through the chest cavity on the anterior surface and punctured the right breast and breast implant
Puncture B: Entered the soft tissue and the chest cavity in between the ribs and hit the right lung in two different spots and went through the diaphragm and punctured the liver
C and D hit the soft tissue
Puncture E: Entered the chest cavity on the left side of the chest and went in between the soft tissue between two ribs and was so close to the spine region that it injured the vertebral bone.
Puncture F: injured the soft tissue and entered the left chest cavity
The wounds were in 2 different directions. 4 of them were back to front, right to left and downward. The two most left wounds also went back to front, right to left, but they went upward. Indicating that she was impaled with the rake at least twice, possibly 3 times.
The four that entered her chest cavity, were the biggest contributors to her death.
When Todd removed the rake, her lungs filled with blood and air and the pressure led to her death. Dr. Kruze ruled her cause of death as sharp force injuries to her torso and her manner of death was homicide. She said that she did not look under Amy’s nails, but she did collect nail clippings. Agent Turbett admitted that they did not test the nail clippings because all the evidence already pointed to Todd. He said this wasn’t a who dunnit type case, so they felt that it was unnecessary to waste resources on that. He wasn’t going to hunt for someone else as a suspect when everything pointed to Todd.
Amy told a friend, Terry Stayner, that she was afraid of Todd and if she told him she wanted a divorce, he might kill her. Amy even told Terry where to search for her. She said if I ever come up missing, have them look in our new timber. Terry told her that she was putting herself in a very dangerous position and she agreed that Todd would kill her if she didn’t stop this.
Terry said that Amy liked golf, farming, hunting, fishing, being a mom and taking care of others. Her kids came first, and she coached their ball games. While Terry and Amy were golfing, she admitted that she was having an affair with a man at the hospital. Terry asked for advice on a good marriage counselor and passed the information along to her friend, just in case she wanted to make things work. They did go to counseling and Amy agreed to become a stay-at-home mom and leave the hospital since that’s where the affair started. Todd ended up building another hog barn so they could supplement their loss of income and they did more hunting and fishing. Even though they went to counseling and tried to make it work, Todd just couldn’t trust Amy and that was hard for her. She told her friends that she didn’t know how long she was going to have to pay for her mistake.
Terry said after Amy had the first affair, Todd felt that the other man hadn’t been punished enough, so he called the man’s wife, who was also a nurse and he told her about the affair while she was at work.
In the summer of 2018, Todd reached out to Amy’s friend Terry. This was strange because Terry didn’t even know Todd that well. He was always working on the farm and Amy did things socially on her own. He said that Amy was spending a lot of time alone, hiding in the bedroom with her phone and it was similar to the same behavior as before, when she was having an affair. He looked at the phone bill and noticed that just in 1 day, there were 128 texts to the same person. Terry did agree with Todd, that it was strange, but she told him to talk to Amy about this. As far as she knew, Amy was not having another affair.
Shortly after this, Amy sent a text to Terry saying she was in trouble and needed to talk. Amy went to Terry’s house and confided in her friend. She was having an affair with a man named Jerry who worked on their farm. She said it started as purely sexual at first, but things were progressing, and she didn’t know if she should stay with Todd or not.
Terry said she was so angry with Amy when she admitted she was having another affair. She told her this was a dangerous situation. She said that Todd is the type of person that you don’t mess with, and she told Amy that he would kill her over this.
Terry was getting both sides of the story because she was stuck in the middle, talking to both Amy and Todd about their marriage. Todd was telling Terry that Amy was depressed, crying and being mean to the kids, but Terry didn’t see this side of her. Amy told Terry that she was worried that if she left Todd, she would lose her son, Trysten, too.
Todd had always been really busy with the farm and never had time for anything else, but suddenly, he was acting like a super dad. He was hanging out with the kids, going on picnics, and fishing. Todd was spending a lot of time with Trysten and would even pull him out of school to work on the farm with him. Trysten quit band because Todd told him band was for pussies and he needed to play football instead. Trysten started walking and talking just like his dad and stopped wearing underwear because his dad didn’t wear them.
Todd continued to ask Terry if Amy was having an affair and at this point, she knew she was, but she was uncomfortable with being put in the middle of their marriage, so she kept telling him to talk to Amy and suggested counseling. She even told him he should try taking Amy out once in awhile, do something away from the farm, but she felt a bit conflicted about things. She wanted them to work things out, but she also believed it would be easier for Todd if she prepared him for a breakup, so she told Todd that he and Amy might not be meant for each other, and he said he worked for his farm since he was 11 and he was not going to give it up.
Terry heard the rumors about the affair, and she decided to warn Amy and that’s when Amy said she was going to get to Todd first and tell him about the rumors, so he didn’t hear it from someone else.
Amy was going to the state fair, and she was going to meet Jerry there and they would stay in a hotel together. Terry encouraged Todd to surprise Amy by showing up at the fair so they could have a night out together. She wanted Todd to find Amy and Jerry together in an area where Amy would be safe. If it was in a crowded hotel, maybe things wouldn’t escalate, but this is when Amy’s grandmother got sick and was in the hospital for a while before she passed away. So, this plan never worked out. Amy told Todd about the affair rumors in August and he said he thought about things for a day or two and decided to move on. He had already confronted Jerry and his wife and they both denied it. Then, in October of 2018, Amy began spending time with her uncle when he got sick. Her son Wyatt was sent to Todd’s mother, Elaine’s house.
Todd said that Amy was gone all the time when she was taking care of her grandma and uncle. At first, he didn’t mind, but later, it did start to bother him that she was never home, and he needed help with the kids because harvest was going to start soon.
After taking care of her uncle, Amy went to pick up Wyatt, and it didn’t go as expected. Elaine refused to let her take Wyatt and she said it was because everyone knows she’s crazy Amy and that’s what everyone in the neighborhood was calling her. She said it was harvest, a busy time for the family and she shouldn’t have been spending time with her uncle, she should be taking care of her family. Amy explained that she was helping her uncle because he was sick and kept falling out of bed and Elaine told her that she could just tie him down to the bed, then she could be home with her family.
Amy received a text from her husband Todd, and it said, do not go with Amy, she’s crazy. He meant to send this text to his son. Todd later claimed that he stood up for Amy when his mother tried to kick her out, but this text doesn’t sound that way to me.
The next day, Amy went to her friend, Terry’s house and she was crying, mascara running down her face and she said she didn’t understand why Todd would try to tell the kids she was crazy. She said she was going to talk to him to find out what was going on and she also told Terry that if she ever comes up missing, have them look in their new timber.
Jerry Frasher said that Amy told him that if Todd found out about the affair, she would disappear and according to Amy’s friend Terry, Todd did know about the affair. Todd confided in her and said Amy told him about it, she cried for hours, and she told him she would leave, and he was better off without her.
Amy’s brother, Jeff Fuller, said she came to him in August 2018, a few months before her death and she said she was planning to get a divorce later in the year, when the crops were out of the field and that’s when she asked him to store their grandmother’s furniture for her.
About 2 years after Amy’s first affair, Todd was alone with Amy’s stepmother, Eileen Fuller. Eileen mentioned that it looked like Todd and Amy were working things out and Todd said he had to because he wasn’t going to lose his farm and everything he worked for. A close friend of Amy’s said they had a conversation where Amy talked about leaving Todd and she said she would get two million dollars from the trust that was in place and half of the farm.
Debra used to work in the hospital with Amy and towards the end of August 2018, Amy called her, crying. She asked if she heard the rumors about her, and Debra said she hadn’t. She said there were untrue rumors about an affair and if she heard anything, please put a stop to it. Debra was confused because she hadn’t heard about the rumors and she also hadn’t heard from Amy in awhile, so this was out of the blue. She said if her husband found out, he would kill her and she also told her that her son Trysten said if dad finds out you're having an affair, he will kill you.
During the trial, the Prosecutors said that Todd had a motive to kill Amy. He had told many people that he didn’t want to lose the farm and Amy told several people that she was afraid of Todd and what he would do to her if he found out about the affair. She had to quit her job at the hospital, and she was isolated. The 911 call was played and the Prosecutors believe that after the chest compressions, Todd whispered cheating whore and go to hell cheating whore. The Defense says absolutely not, he was whispering, she’s cold. The Defense said that the doors to the shed were frozen open, and it’s located near a busy road. Could someone have been staying in there and Amy surprised them?
There was zero physical evidence linking Todd to Amy’s murder and the jury wished there was more forensic evidence. They were split when they went into deliberations. Everything was circumstantial and there were no witnesses to the crime. The jury deliberated for 7 hours, and Todd was found guilty of murder in the first degree. The jury said it was a big deal to them that Todd removed the rake before calling 911, but Todd said he was in reaction mode, he was trying to get her to the hospital. The jury felt that this single action proved that he was trying to get her away from the farm before calling for help. He seemed cold on the stand, and he wasn’t passionate or emotional about his family. They looked at the internet searches and felt that this did come from Todd and that meant it was premeditated.
Todd hired a new attorney to review the case and filed a motion for a new trial and the judge agreed to hear it, but his motion for a new trial was denied. Sentencing was delayed 4 times due to the Covid 19 Pandemic, and Todd getting his new lawyers. Before being sentenced by Judge Thomas Bitter, Todd said he was innocent. He said, “This is supposed to be America where you have a fair chance of proving your innocence. I thought it was innocent until proven guilty. I feel this was the other way around.” He said that he was a faithful and loving husband, and he did not murder Amy. In Iowa, if you’re guilty of first-degree murder, it’s a mandatory life sentence. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole and he was ordered to pay victim restitution in the amount of $150,000
Todd Mullis is currently appealing for a new trial and wants his conviction overturned. His request states that there “exists evidence of material facts, not previously presented and heard, that requires vacation of the conviction.” He also says that his trial counsel didn’t pursue the defense he wanted them to pursue. He wanted to argue that Amy’s death was an accident, and they didn’t do that. The Defense lawyer stated that this was a murder, but Todd felt like they should have left the possibility out there that this could have been an accident. He also says he didn’t know he could refuse to testify because his attorneys didn’t tell him that. He hired a new legal team, and a court judge will now determine if his appeal holds any weight.
Todd’s new attorneys say he is an innocent man who has been facing a justice system biased against him since day one. They say that his story has never changed, he didn’t kill his wife and neither did anyone else. His new attorneys say that he didn’t get a fair trial. John Bernau, the Delaware County Attorney that prosecuted the case admitted to KWWL during the trial that he was close friends with Amy, so they believe he was biased and ignored evidence in the case, including statements from the first paramedic on the scene and the oldest son who worked on the farm with Todd and Amy that day. His attorney said that his son gave a consistent statement that his dad was with him, and they worked together in the barn on the day of Amy’s death. It wasn’t until interview number 4 or 5, once he was sent to live with his grandparents, his story changed and that was after an attorney was hired for him by his mother’s parents.
Todd and Amy’s three children, Trysten, Talor and Wyatt are with Amy’s family. According to Amy’s obituary, she was a member of the Delaware County Pork Producer’s Board. She loved farming, hunting, fishing, and camping. She also enjoyed gardening and was an avid Iowa Hawkeyes fan. She liked designing and making T-shirts and she was always there for her family and friends. Above all else, Amy’s children were the most important part of her life.
Resources:
