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This story originally aired on September 26, 2020.
It was a fall day in 2018 when Amy Mullis was found grievously injured on her family farm in Earlville, Iowa. She was face down with a corn rake sticking out of her back. The farm tool had four steel tines, but doctors who examined her found six puncture wounds.
Police started investigating Mullis’ husband, Todd Mullis, after learning she was considering leaving him. However, Todd Mullis had an alibi – their 13-year-old son.
The investigation revealed what had appeared to be a good marriage was actually one fractured by Amy’s affairs. A divorce could have split the family apart and might have meant the loss of the farm, which was worth millions.
“Everyone knew Amy Mullis,” says Dina Nesheiwat, a legal expert hired by “48 Hours” to look at the defense’s case. “You know, she was … very bubbly, outgoing. … All of a sudden one day she’s dead.”
So, what happened?
“This is not a long-distance gunshot,” says Matthew Troiano, a legal expert hired by “48 Hours” to look at the prosecution’s case. “This is up close and personal.”
Todd Mullis told investigators that he didn’t know what happened and that he assumed she fell on the corn rake. His son told police he was with his father working in the hog barn when Amy was injured. But the number of puncture wounds, combined with the couple’s marital problems, led investigators to think otherwise. Todd Mullis was arrested and charged with Amy’s murder.
At trial, would Trysten’s testimony save his father?
GRIEVING HUSBAND OR SUSPECT?
In September of 2019, almost a year after Amy’s murder, family and friends packed the Dubuque County courthouse as lead prosecutor Maureen Hughes described what she says happened to the woman they knew so well.
Amy’s husband, Todd Mullis — the hardworking farmer who many saw as a devoted father to Trysten, Taylor and Wyatt — was on trial for first-degree murder.
Amy was found in a red shed on the family’s hog farm by her 13-year-old son, Trysten; she was face down with a corn rake sticking out of her back.
From the start of the trial – covered by Court TV — Todd Mullis’ attorney Gerald Feuerhelm agreed with prosecutors that Amy had been murdered — but argued it wasn’t Todd who killed her.
Daniel Nesheiwat: There’s no way that Todd could have killed Amy. He did not have the opportunity to do this.
“48 Hours” hired legal experts Daniel and Dina Nesheiwat to look at the evidence from the defense point of view, and Matthew Troiano to look at the prosecution’s perspective.
Matthew Troiano: This is not a random third party. … This is not a long-distance gunshot. This is … close and personal. … as serious and brutal and violent as it comes.
Dr. Craig Thompson was on duty the day Amy was rushed to the hospital in Manchester, Iowa, where she once worked as a nurse.
The first thing Thompson, the medical director of emergency services, was told: Amy’s death was a freak accident.
Thompson is also a medical examiner, and he needed to make sure her injuries matched that story.
Jim Axelrod: Literally, the math doesn’t add up.
Matthew Troiano: Yeah. It’s — it’s basic math. … we have a problem here.
Thompson contacted Dr. Kelly Kruse, a forensic pathologist for the State Medical Examiner’s Office.
Kruse found blunt force injuries to Amy’s face, hands and knees — possible evidence of a struggle.
Which meant the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office now had a murder to solve.
It was dark by the time Deputy Travis Hemesath arrived at the farm.
Daniel Nesheiwat: He’d noticed the few drops of blood, and with his own eyes, couldn’t notice anything else, and had concluded the investigation at the red shed.
Daniel and Dina Nesheiwat wonder whether Amy’s death was even a murder.
Dina Nesheiwat: If this was a murder … and somebody is stabbing Amy … Not one, not two, but three times. … You’re gonna see blood drops on the chemical totes, on the shed walls, on a suspect, you’re gonna see it on Amy. And none of that was found.
The Delaware County Sheriff’s Office doesn’t investigate many homicides – Amy’s was only the fourth in the last 10 years, so they asked for help from Iowa’s Division of Criminal Investigation.
Deputies began digging into the Mullis’ marriage. They discovered Amy had cheated on Todd five years earlier.
Dina Nesheiwat: Amy crushed the foundation of their marriage, the trust of their marriage– by having an affair
Amy and Todd decided to try to work it out. They went to counseling. Amy quit her job at the hospital to work on the farm. Todd said she wanted to spend more time with her family. But Amy told friends she had no choice.
Jim Axelrod: The terms of the deal … is that Amy, you’re done in the hospital. … You’re back on the farm. I’m keeping my eye on you.
Matthew Troiano: Yeah. And Todd’s position is she signed up for that. Right? We agreed that this was gonna be the way it was gonna go.
In fact, she told Terri Staner she felt like a prisoner.
Matthew Troiano:There was a line that was used that she was a prisoner of Todd. … So, this is pretty intense stuff. It’s controlling behavior.
By 2018, Amy was confiding in friends like Patricia Christopherson that things were not going well.
But Todd told a very different story to Jon Turbett, a special agent assisting with the investigation.
It just wasn’t the whole truth. In July of 2018, five years after Amy’s affair, Todd had noticed a change in her.
Jim Axelrod: His radar is up.
Matthew Troiano: His radar’s up.
Jim Axelrod: Hey, wait a minute. I’ve seen this movie before.
Matthew Troiano: Yup. … and that raises a red flag.
Going over phone records, Todd discovered his wife had been communicating with another man, Jerry Frasher, a field manager for the Mullis farm. Todd couldn’t see their 128 texts, but Matt Troiano says when Todd confronted Frasher, he was told:
Matthew Troiano: Nothing going on. This is a business stuff. … We’re talking about kid’s activities. … nothing scandalous.
Jim Axelrod: All those texts … they were all about kids activities and the pig farm?
Matthew Troiano: Correct. That’s the story.
Todd even called Frasher’s wife.
Daniel Nesheiwat: Jerry’s wife convinces him everything is fine. … They have a happy marriage and she has no concerns about her husband. And that puts his mind to rest.
But as investigators quickly discovered — Amy and Jerry Frasher were having an affair. That provided what they needed: a motive for Todd to kill her.
Matthew Troiano: The obvious choice always is the husband.
But Todd also had an air-tight alibi: his son, Trysten. Which means as his father is tried for the murder of his mother, Trysten will be the most important witness for both the prosecution and the defense.
Dina Nesheiwat: Everyone was on the edge of their seats of, “What’s the son gonna say?
WHAT HAPPENED IN THE RED SHED?
One of the most anticipated witnesses at Todd Mullis’ murder trial was Todd and Amy’s now-14-year-old son Trysten. “48 Hours” has chosen not to show his face. He testified via closed-circuit TV.
Everyone knew the stakes. From the first moments of the investigation, Trysten had provided an alibi for his father. Legal expert Matthew Troiano says Trysten told police …
Matthew Troiano: “I’m with my dad.”… I didn’t lose sight of him. I’m with my dad the whole time” … he may not know it, but he’s alibiing his father. If they are together the whole time, then he can’t be … assaulting his wife and killing his wife.
With the monitor facing the jury, Trysten spoke of the close bond he shared with his dad.
The two often worked together on the farm. On the day Amy died, the two younger kids stayed in the house while Amy joined Todd and Trysten in one of their large hog barns.
Trysten described the division of labor: he was setting up portable heaters anticipating a delivery of piglets to the farm. Todd was setting up equipment that provided water to the pens. Amy was cleaning the lights.
Everything seemed fine until Trysten noticed something was off with his mom.
Trysten was worried. Four days earlier, Amy had undergone an outpatient medical procedure. This was her first time out of the house.
But a little while late Amy suffered another dizzy spell. According to Trysten, Todd became concerned.
Trysten testified Todd wanted Amy to go in the house and rest but asked if on her way she could grab a pet carrier out of the red shed some 30 yards away from the front of the barn. Todd told her he would need it later to round up a litter of kittens to protect them from some heavy machinery he planned to use.
Amy left. Trysten said he and his dad continued working together for about another hour-and-a-half in the barn, then headed to an office at the front. That’s when Todd looked out the window and saw the pet carrier wasn’t where he had asked Amy to put it.
When Trysten got to the red shed, he made the horrifying discovery.
Trysten screamed for his dad. Todd arrived, saw Amy, and told Trysten to go get the family truck.
MAUREEN HUGHES: And what was your dad doing then?
TRYSTEN MULLIS: He was helping mom out of the barn.
Because the opening inside the shed was so narrow, Todd would later tell police he had to remove the corn rake from Amy’s back in order to get her out. Todd then picked her up and carried her to the truck.
Matthew Troiano: Tristan gets into the passenger seat. Todd puts Amy essentially on top of Tristan [sighs] and drives.
Jim Axelrod: Can you imagine the trauma Tristan must be feeling? His mother on top of him as they’re driving away with these serious injuries.
Matthew Troiano: Yeah … massive bleeding. Yeah, it’s — it’s terrible, right? It’s terrible.
Trysten described to the jury that as they raced towards the hospital Todd dialed 911:
Dina Nesheiwat: He’s frantic. He’s … excited. …When he’s on the phone with 911, the dispatcher says, “Can you pull over?” And so, he pulls over on the side of the road.
First to arrive at the scene was Deputy Luke Thomsen.
Thomsen rushed to help Amy.
While Deputy Thomsen worked on Amy, he asked Todd what had happened. Todd told him he wasn’t sure. But that day Todd also said he suspected Amy had become dizzy and accidentally fell on the rake while trying to get the pet carrier. As for Trysten?
Jim Axelrod: Trysten tells the police what?
Dina Nesheiwat: His dad was with him the whole time. He was with his dad working in the hog farm the entire time.
So, if Todd didn’t kill Amy, who did?
Matthew Troiano: There was certainly somebody else who had access to that farm … And that person also had a relationship with the Mullis’s, and a relationship with Amy Mullis.
That man Amy was having an affair with — Jerry Frasher — may have had his own reasons for wanting Amy out of the picture.
Dina Nesheiwat: Jerry Frasher had motive to kill Amy. He had a wife, he had children. He didn’t want to leave his family.
A TROUBLED MARRIAGE
Dina Nesheiwat: Amy often complained that Todd works too much. … He preferred to stay home when she preferred to go out. You know? At some point those opposites didn’t attract anymore. And Amy sought attention elsewhere.
The attention came from Jerry Frasher. The married father of two managed the Mullis’ hog operation.
Matthew Troiano: … And it’s in that capacity, that he meets Amy.
Since she was the farm’s bookkeeper, Matthew Troiano says it was normal for them to be in contact.
Matthew Troiano: And then it morphs into a personal, romantic, sexual relationship.
Their affair began in late May of 2018.
They would meet in secret on the farm, on back roads, and occasionally motel rooms.
And Patricia Christopherson told jurors Amy envisioned a future with him.
But after Todd discovered those phone records and began asking questions, Frasher got nervous.
But they kept seeing each other. By late summer 2018, word was out about Amy’s latest infidelity. Her friend Terri Staner says Amy was worried.
Dina Nesheiwat says Jerry Frasher was also feeling pressure.
Dina Nesheiwat: He had a wife, he had children. … he didn’t wanna leave his family. … She is a threat to Jerry and his family.
So, when Amy was murdered just two months later, Jerry Frasher immediately became a person of interest.
Dina Nesheiwat: He had motive, he had means. He is on that farm all the time. … He would have had just as much motive as Todd did.
Special Agent Jon Turbett interviewed Frasher.
Jon Turbett: He sat next to me in my unmarked police vehicle and we talked for an hour-and-a-half.
Frasher readily admitted to the affair but insisted he couldn’t have killed Amy. He was home in Anamosa – 45 minutes away. And just like Todd Mullis, his son was his alibi.
Jon Turbett: His college-aged son–had excellent recall. … And, so, they had gotten up and spent all Saturday morning doing work and then they watched college football.
Investigators went through Frasher’s cell phone records at the time Amy was murdered.
Jon Turbett: We could see that Jerry Frasher’s cell phone had cell phone activity around 10:45, 11:45, 12:45, all of that down in the Anamosa.
But Daniel Nesheiwat says …
Daniel Nesheiwat: If someone wanted to commit murder … in today’s day and age know, don’t bring your cell phone. Leave it at home.
Jim Axelrod: The cell phone pinging only means that’s where the cell phone was.
Daniel Nesheiwat: Correct. Doesn’t mean where Jerry was.
Investigators concluded Jerry Frasher wasn’t involved, and they turned their attention back to Todd Mullis in spite of his alibi. Word was Amy wanted a divorce.
Matthew Troiano: That’s motivation.
Jim Axelrod: Because if she leaves and they get divorced, he loses the farm.
Matthew Troiano: Loses half at least. Pays her alimony, child support … Splits probably his life in half … So, he needs things to be together.
Investigators were especially interested in what Amy told her friends that Todd might do to her.
She even told Terri Staner where to search for her on the Mullis property.
Staner worried Amy’s affair would provoke Todd.
As they built their case, investigators began focusing on Todd’s actions the day Amy died; like sending Trysten to the red shed long after Amy had gone to get the pet carrier.
Matthew Troiano: Why would she still be in the red shed?
Jim Axelrod: So, an instruction would be wider than just the red shed.
Matthew Troiano: Absolutely.
Jim Axelrod: Go find mom. Search the farm… So why would Todd pick red shed of all the possibilities?
Matthew Troiano: The prosecution would want you to believe that he wants Trysten to find Mom. He needs Amy to be located by somebody other than him.
And then there was Todd’s police interview when Jon Turbett accused him of murdering his wife.
Matthew Troiano says Todd’s reaction was revealing.
Matthew Troiano: If you get put into an interrogation room, and you had nothing to do with the death of your wife, the death of anybody, but you are accused wrongly, you are gonna fight back. You’re gonna scream. You’re gonna yell.
Jim Axelrod: And none of that from Todd?
Matthew Troiano: No. Not enough.
But Dina Nesheiwat disagrees.
Jim Axelrod: How would you describe his reaction?
Dina Nesheiwat: Baffled. “What? Me? I’m responsible?”
Jim Axelrod: If somebody said, “You killed your spouse,” would you have an emotional reaction to that?
Dina Nesheiwat: Everybody reacts differently to everything. … He tried to deny it several times. … And Todd even said, “… you want me to confess to something I didn’t do.”
But what about Todd Mullis’ airtight alibi? It turns out there may be some cracks in Trysten’s story.
AN AIR-TIGHT ALIBI?
Todd Mullis was the prime suspect in the death of his wife Amy. But he’s always had a solid alibi from his teenage son, Trysten. Trysten told authorities he was with his father all morning.
Jim Axelrod: How important was that for Todd?
Dina Nesheiwat: Crucial. … That was his saving grace.
But everything changed just days before the trial when Trysten was re-interviewed and admitted he did not have eyes on his father the whole time. Trysten said he lost sight of Todd a couple of times when Trysten went to get some water in the office at the front of barn.
Matthew Troiano: This is not the situation that we had before where Trysten is saying I’m with him the whole time.
Jim Axelrod: I have eyes on my dad the entire time?
Matthew Troiano: Correct.
Jim Axelrod: And once you don’t have that?
Matthew Troiano: Game changer.
In that interview, Trysten estimated he was gone less than a minute each time. But when he was questioned by prosecutor Maureen Hughes at the trial …
And with Trysten’s revised statement, the prosecution insisted Todd had the opportunity to kill Amy.
Matthew Troiano: Every statement that he’s given has been worse and worse for his father because the first one was pretty airtight.
Jim Axelrod: What do you think’s goin’ on with Trysten?
Matthew Troiano: I think he’s like any other 13- or 14- or 15-year-old where … there’s probably, “I wanna try to do the right thing. I wanna try to maybe help my mom and help my dad” … And you know, that’s culminated in he has to testify against his father. It’s awful.
But there was still room for doubt. Trysten said he never saw blood on Todd. And that at no point while they were working together in the hog barn did his demeanor change. What’s more, Dina Nesheiwat maintains that no matter how long it took Trysten to get those drinks of water in the office. There was no way Todd had enough time to get from the hog barn to the red shed.
Dina Nesheiwat: To expect him to stab his wife with a corn rake, not once, not twice, possibly three times. Wait for her to make sure she’s dead and then come with no blood, no torn clothes, same composure as if nothing happened. It’s not possible.
Investigators didn’t have any physical evidence linking Todd to the scene. But they did have electronics from the Mullis farm, including a security camera system.
Matthew Troiano: There’s two vantage points for these cameras that look out over the property, one of which would’ve captured the area around the red shed. Not inside the red shed, but around the red shed.
And when investigators searched for any footage from the day Amy died …
Travis Hemesath: We were unable to find any video.
But strangely, one of the cameras had a recording from the next day.
Jim Axelrod: Well, now, that doesn’t seem to add up.
Jim Axelrod: Do you think he deleted the footage?
Matthew Troiano: I think that the reasonable explanation is that he deleted the footage.
To make matters worse for Todd, investigators found a series of disturbing internet searches on his iPad, including “what happens to cheaters in history,” “thrill of the kill” and “killing unfaithful women.”
Jim Axelrod: if I’m investigating a homicide and the guy I think committed the murder of his wife has been searching online about what happens to cheating wives, don’t I have an open-and-shut case? …
Matthew Troiano: It doesn’t look good.
With the prosecution’s case laid out, all eyes turned to Todd, who took the stand in his own defense.
Jim Axelrod: Were you surprised that Todd testified?
Matthew Troiano: You know, his reactions and — and his actions and what he does and doesn’t do are made such an important part of the case that the best person to explain that is Todd Mullis.
For about three hours, Todd calmly addressed the many questions swirling around him, including why he didn’t call 911 right away.
Todd also told the jury why there was no security camera footage from the day Amy died. He said he believed his cats had accidentally knocked the antennas off the window ledge while they were trying to find a warm spot to sit.
In fact, there were no recordings for nearly two weeks leading up to Amy’s death. And the reason one of the cameras suddenly started working the following day:
As for those internet searches about cheating spouses, when defense attorney Gerald Feuerhelm asked Todd if he had done them …
Todd said other family members used the iPad, including Amy.
Then came the question everyone wanted to know.
In closing statements, the prosecutor left the jury with a final thought about Todd’s motive.
As for the defense …
Dina Nesheiwat: There was zero physical evidence linking Todd to anything that happened.
With the weeklong trial complete, the jury was excused to deliberate and decide Todd Mullis’s fate.
A VERDICT REACHED
After a week of testimony, it was now up the jury to decide if Todd Mullis had murdered his wife Amy.
Matthew Troiano: I think the question is this. Not so much is Todd Mullis innocent of doing this … I think the more critical question is: Did the state prove that he did it?
An alternate juror, who asked that we not use her name, weighed all of the testimony and evidence as she watched the trial.
Jim Axelrod: From where you’re sitting, did the prosecution do a good job?
Alternate Juror: I personally just wish that they would have been able to provide more forensics evidence.
And some of the 12 jurors who went into the jury room to decide Todd Mullis’ fate felt much the same way. Another juror, who also did not want to use her name, said the jury was split going into deliberations.
Jim Axelrod: What was the initial feel?
Juror: There was probably half, at least, that said he was guilty. And then … the rest were undecided. … there were some that had difficulty saying he was guilty when there was no witnesses.
Jim Axelrod: This was a big deal that you were basically sifting through circumstantial evidence and there was no witness to the crime.
Juror: Yes. … it was a serious — a serious verdict to come up with.
After roughly seven hours of deliberation — a verdict.
Guilty. Amy Mullis’ family breathed a sigh of relief, and Todd Mullis subtly shook his head before being led out of the courtroom in chains. As the juror who spoke with “48 Hours” explained, the jury reached a consensus by going back through all the evidence.
Juror: … we talked about all the different scenarios it could have been and it was — we couldn’t come up with a plausible explanation. But then we went back to Todd and … all the points against him. … It was … a series of unfortunate events that … just didn’t add up.
Starting with Todd’s decision to take the corn rake out of Amy’s back and drive her away to get help before calling 911.
Juror: I didn’t understand why he didn’t call 911.
Jim Axelrod: And the fact that he chose not to, was that a big deal for you?
Juror: Yes, I think he wanted to get her away from the farm.
And, she says Todd did not do himself any favors by taking the stand.
Juror: To me he seemed cold. He was a cold fish. … you know, he was probably a man of few words, which a lot of farmers are. But, you know, when you talk about things that they’re passionate about, like their families or their farms, or … their wives, or — they usually can muster up some emotion.
Then, there were those internet searches.
Juror: We spent quite a bit of time going line by line down them … looking at the searches before, looking at the searches after. And … we concluded that they — it was him. … it wasn’t just a crime of passion … He had premeditation.
After being found guilty, Todd Mullis hired a new legal team. And submitted a motion for a new trial, as he awaited sentencing.
Matthew Troiano: So now, the issue is gonna become a legal issue of did he get a fair trial? Was anything done wrong that shouldn’t have happened?
Todd’s motion claimed that, among other things, Todd’s trial lawyers “blatantly disregarded” his guidance to argue that Amy died from an accident right from the start.
Dina Nesheiwat: When that happened, Todd wrote on a sheet of paper, “What the F was that?”
Jim Axelrod: The job of the defense lawyer is not to convince the jury that Todd is innocent, the job is to create reasonable doubt in the minds of the jury.
Dina Nesheiwat: He should never have closed that door. He should have left it open for — for the jurors to wonder, “Well, was it an accident or was it a murder?”
The judge ruled on the motion:
Before being sentenced, Todd Mullis took one last chance to address the court:
Now, as Todd Mullis is left to appeal his conviction from prison, the ripples of Amy’s death continue to be felt by all who loved her.
Dina Nesheiwat: This case is a tragedy all around. You have three beautiful children that not only lost their mother … they lost their father at the same time …
Matthew Troiano: What Todd Mullis did, if he did do this, is he acted selfishly in his own best interest to remove a potential problem in his life. … But he didn’t think, or think enough, about his three kids and all of the other layers of trauma that would result.
Jim Axelrod: Four victims, not one?
Matthew Troiano: Yeah, at least. At least.
Todd and Amy Mullis’ three children – Trysten, Taylor, and Wyatt – are now with Amy’s family.
Produced by Betsy Shuller, Lisa Freed and Lauren Clark. Marc Goldbaum is the development producer. Kat Teurfs is the field producer. Gary Winter, Greg Kaplan, Michael McHugh and Diana Modica are the editors. Peter Schweitzer is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the executive story editor. Judy Tygard is the executive producer.