Sunday, May 20, 2012

Ryan and Sarah Widmer, what the Prosecution doesn't want you to know.

Ryan and Sarah Widmer Ryan Widmer, a 27 year old man, was charged with murder just 2 days after he found his wife unresponsive in their bathtub, on August 11, 2008. Ryan was downstairs watching TV, when his wife of only 114 days kissed him goodnight and told him she was going upstairs to take a bath. This was part of Sarah Widmer’s regular routine as she loved to take long baths. Ryan went upstairs about ½ hour to 45 minutes later to walk into their bathroom and find Sarah unresponsive in the tub. Ryan tried as best he could to perform CPR. The 911 operator didn’t provide any help whatsoever.

Ryan and Sarah Widmer Wedding Dance

 

After 45 minutes to 1 hour of rigorous CPR and 5 intubation attempts they transported Sarah to the hospital and she was pronounced dead. There were no signs of struggle, no prior history of relationship issues, etc. However, Sarah had not been feeling well the entire day and had a bad headache. She was also known by family and friends to easily fall asleep and had actually fallen asleep in the tub numerous times, even before she met Ryan (as stated by Sarah’s brother). An expert at the trial spoke that in the U.S. every year about 300,000 people under the age of 35 die and that these people’s autopsies do not show any sign of what they died from - a staggering statistic.
Continue Reading Ryan and Sarah's Story

Different Testimony in 3 Trials...

Prosecution

Defense

1. Prosecutors claim Ryan held Sarah by the neck and forcibly drowned her during an altercation and cleaned up the scene before calling 911.

1. Neither Ryan nor Sarah had any marks or wounds on their bodies and there were no signs of a struggle. A search of the house showed no evidence of a cleanup. Sarah's French Manicure and Pedicure were still perfect.

2. Because of the two blood spots on the carpet, prosecutors said Ryan moved Sarah's body before calling 911.

2. Officer Bishop testified he might have helped Ryan move Sarah's body from the bathroom doorway into the bedroom. (1st Trial) He couldn't remember if he helped move Sarah. (2nd Trial) He "absolutely did not" help Ryan move her body. (3rd Trial).

3. Ryan allegedly confessed to Jennifer Crew that he punched Sarah in the chest during an argument and then blacked out. When he came to, she was laying dead on the bathroom floor. He said he forgot to clean up the spilled waste basket in the bathroom.

3. Jennifer Crew has a criminal record and is a recovering drug addict now on methadone, who saw Ryan's story on Dateline. Most of her testimony, word for word, was from the Dateline program. Officer Bishop dumped the bathroom trash can looking for illegal drugs. (1st & 2nd trial) He didn’t remember dumping it, but agreed that he's been blamed for it. (3rd Trial).

4. The lead detective (Braley) and the coroner's investigator were present during the autopsy and discussed with the coroner what the manner of death might be. Det. Braley gathered evidence and dusted the tub for fingerprints claiming streaks on the tub showed signs of Sarah trying to save herself.

4. The coroner was criticized in another trial for allowing investigating officers to name the manner of death. Braley was not a trained evidence technician and criminalist Wm. Hilliard said none of the fingerprints were of any value. He couldn't tell who they belonged to or when they were put on the tub. Braley was forced to resign when it was verified that he lied on his employment application and didn't have the training or experience that he claimed.

5. First responders testified that Sarah's body, the tub, towels, clothing, magazines, floor, etc. were all dry.

5. Officers and EMTs wore gloves when feeling for wetness. Signs of water in the tub included droplets on the drain and a small area of water pooled near the middle of the tub. Some officers admitted they didn't touch anything to feel for wetness. Magazines were crinkled, indicating they had been wet. Two EMTs testified that Sarah's body was moist or not overly wet. Officer Bishop noticed an Ionic Breeze fan knocked over near where Sarah was lying. (1st Trial) The dryer was cold, indicating that it had not been used.

6. Coroner Uptegrove declared Sarah's death a homicide before reading the EMT and ER reports, and without talking to Ryan or Sarah's mother about any health issues.

6. The coroner spoke briefly with Sarah's mother after Ryan had already been charged, arrested and arraigned. He never did speak to Ryan and was not told that she frequently fell asleep in the tub. Her mother and brother knew she fell asleep in the tub. There were numerous mistakes on the run report, as well as three different copies.

7. The coroner made his decision based on the bruising on the side and back of her neck. He said there was no evidence of any heart problem or seizure.

7. EMTs tried to intubate Sarah twice in the house, once while the ambulance was in the driveway and two more times while en route to the hospital. An EMT assisted twice by performing the Sellick maneuver. He held Sarah's head and neck firmly while applying pressure at the thyroid cartilage. EMTs worked on Sarah for almost 45 minutes before leaving for the hospital. Doctors testified that 5 intubations would cause neck bruising and in a drowning, the blood is thinner and bruising would spread farther. Forensic pathologist Dr. Balko testified coroner Uptegrove didn't take enough heart or brain tissue samples to verify there was no heart problem or seizure and didn't test for narcolepsy. Coroner Uptegrove has been criticized for taking short cuts and having a coroner's job in three counties.

8. Sarah's mother said Sarah was always healthy, had no history of heart problems and there was no history of heart problems or seizures in the family. She didn't recall Sarah ever falling asleep anywhere.

8. In the 3rd trial, she admitted that Sarah had surgery for a cleft palate and had a heart murmur as an infant. She took Sarah to a pediatric cardiologist but never followed up over the years.

9. In the 2nd trial Sarah's mother said, they're part of a younger generation and talk differently to each other. She said, "They would argue on certain things. They got in an argument on how to hang pictures so they called Sarah's brother to come and hang all the pictures in their house. In the 3rd trial she said they called each other "nasty names".

9. In previous trials she testified that Ryan and Sarah got along well together and they were very happy. They bought a house and moved in together and Ryan became part of their family even before they married. When asked what the "nasty names" were, she couldn't say.

Dreama Epperson, the juror that was using Social Media on Anti Ryan Widmer pages and vidoes, during the trial - still at it.

RWDI-Dreama

The News about the situation: WCPO.com

Defense Witness: Patty Kroger
Written by Mike Mayleben   
Friday, 06 May 2011 18:34

Direct Exam: Jay Clark

She said she has worked as Dr. Becker's dental assistant for 19 years and she lives in Alexandria, Ky.

Sarah was hired as a dental hygienist in July 2006 and Dana Parker-Kist worked there at that time too. Sarah had a very bubbly personality and was very nice. "She always seemed happy", she said.   Dana and Sarah became very good friends. They went to each other’s houses, ate lunch together, went to each other’s bridal and baby showers, and Dana was in Sarah's wedding. She never noticed if her father's illness and death took a physical or emotional toll on her; if it did, she didn't let it show.

She said when she got to the office in the morning, sometimes she found Sarah sleeping in her car. Sarah would set the alarm on her phone, or someone would beep or knock on the window to wake her up. After her last appointment of the morning she went to her car and slept during lunch "fairly often." Kroger said Sarah's sleeping through lunch "made it hard on everybody. We didn't all get a nap; it was aggravating", she said. When she slept through lunch it made extra work for everyone else. She only knew of one time that Sarah went to lunch with Dana before the wedding. They went to Taco Bell to talk about dresses.

Sarah complained of headaches and stomachaches and said she remembers 3 or 4 times when Sarah got blurred vision and one time she couldn't see her hands when she held them up to her face. "She complained a lot about headaches," Patty said. Sarah would take Tylenol sometimes but She told her she didn't take any medicine except a teaspoon of honey to help with her allergies. The week before Sarah died, she walked in the room and Sarah was holding her stomach and said, "Patty, I just don't feel good." Dr. Becker was concerned about her vision problems so he called an eye doctor friend, but she didn't know if anything came of it. Sometimes she would go to the computer room and turn off the lights to deal with her headaches, but she never fainted or lost consciousness.

She said she first met Ryan at an office Christmas party. She said he was always very nice. He had a few drinks at the party, but "we all had a few," she said. Ryan wasn't drunk or out of control. She never saw them talking to each other in a "hateful" way and Sarah never complained that he did. She saw Sarah talk to Ryan on a cell phone once, and they talked nice to each other.

Clark put a photo on the screen of Sarah and Ryan doing their first dance at their wedding. She knew they took lessons for the dance and when she went to the wedding she said, "They just looked like a happy couple."

Kroger worked with Dana for about four years. They were friends, and she went to Dana's baby shower. There were about 35 people there and she recalled the game where name tags were used to identify the guests. The name tags were baby items, and Sarah's tag was "sleeper". Clark put the photo on the screen, of Dana and Sarah at the shower. She said Sarah was sleepy at the baby shower, but didn't fall asleep

She never had conversations with Sarah about her relationship with Ryan, but Sarah never complained about Ryan being controlling about their finances and she never complained about his drinking. Dana was Sarah's closest friend at work. As far as she knew they were just a happy couple.

"Sarah was very clean and her room was always tidy and she wore gloves when she worked on patients", Kroger said.   She added that Sarah's nails were well-manicured and maintained on a regular basis. Sarah told her that she liked to take a bath every day and she would wipe the tub down with an anti-bacterial wipe".

She said she had occasion to look at Sarah's medical file during the second trial and Clark handed her a document, which she identified as Sarah's official patient record and the one she filled out on the computer during software training. On May 21, 2010, she provided four pages of Sarah's questionnaire form to Ryan's attorneys. Dr. Becker didn't know about it or give her permission to make copies.No further questions.

Cross Exam: John Arnold

When asked if Sarah shared one particular concern regarding Ryan's drinking, she replied, "She said something about drinking and smoking" but they would drink together.   He then asked if she told Dr. Becker that Sarah didn't like to have sex with Ryan when he was drinking because it got "too rough", and she said she didn't remember saying anything about sex.

Arnold asked if she took Sarah's records without permission and she replied, "Yes". "They weren't yours to take?" he asked, and she said, "No". Arnold then asked if she told investigators in August 2008 that Sarah didn't complain much and Kroger said she didn't remember saying that, but she would have told investigators about Sarah's medical issues if they had asked.  

"When her father died, it "took no toll on her?", Arnold asked. Kroger replied that Sarah didn't talk about it in the office. Kroger agreed that she was aggravated at Sarah's sleeping habits because she worked long hours too and didn't get a nap.

he didn't know if Dr. Becker ever made arrangements for Sarah to see the eye doctor, but for a young girl, she thought Sarah complained a lot about not feeling well. When Arnold asked if she was aware that when Sarah had her last check-up she didn't complain about her headaches, stomach or sinus problems, and Kroger replied, "No". She also didn't know that Sarah was on medicine for sinuses. Nothing further.
 

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