Forensic Transmissions Episode 117: Corn Rake Murder Trial
This episode contains the testimony of Todd Mullis, 43, on the stand during his trial for the murder of his wife Amy, 39. Mullis, an Iowa hog farmer, testifies that he was doing chores with his wife in the hog barn when Amy, who’d recently had surgery, seemed dizzy and weak. She left the hog barn on an errand, and an hour later, noticing she hadn’t returned, Todd sent his 13-year-old son Trystan to find out if she was okay. Trystan discovered his mother crouched over on her hands and knees in the doorway of the barn with a corn rake sticking out of her back. It first it seemed like a freak accident–Amy appeared to have got dizzy and fallen on the rake while she was changing a light bulb. But an autopsy showed that Amy’s body had at least six stab wounds from the rake. Todd testifies that Amy had cheated on him in the past, but they had been to therapy and got over it. However, it seemed as though around the time of her death, Todd had discovered she his wife was having an affair with the Jerry Frasher, his field manager. The two would have sex during the day by the side of the road, or in hog pens. Frasher claimed that Amy was “scared to death” of Todd, and that the hog farmer would “kill her” if he discovered their secret relationship, rather than lose his children and the farm in a divorce.