- Female narrator: They appeared to be the ideal couple,
living a picture-perfect life.
- M. William: White picket fence, two cars, a dog, kids,
and it's like, "wow, this is blissful."
- she was very focused on being a good mother, a good wife,
a good person.
- Narrator: But all is not as perfect as it seems.
- Even people with zero enemies, there's someone out there
who doesn't like you.
- Narrator: And the peace of a quiet community is shattered
when one of its most innocent residents is murdered.
- [gunshot]
[gunshots]
- a housewife, a mother, a librarian is executed.
- Who would want to kill her? Who?
There's nobody in this world that would want to see
anything happen to her.
- Narrator: As detectives peel back the layers of the case,
scandalous secrets are revealed.
- Lori: She is telling him that she's pregnant
with his child and that she has terminal cancer.
- Detectives noticed that a cat jumped on her stomach
and her stomach caved in.
- Lori: Because of this tawdry affair,
people were sort of mesmerized by it because it had
a soap opera quality to it.
- M. William: Once they start putting all these pieces
together, with all the dominos falling, there's one left.
- He brought this evil person into their family.
- ♪
- narrator: Just an hour north of detroit,
the quiet town of lake orion, michigan, couldn't be
further removed from the bustle of the motor city.
- The town of lake orion is this, um,
kind of bedroom community.
It's a peaceful little community,
everybody knows everybody else.
- Narrator: On the night of October 4, 1999,
shortly after 9 o'clock,
911 operators get a desperate call
from two of the town's librarians.
- M. William: It's kind of a frantic call.
They say, "our friend is dying, get here soon."
- narrator: The caller says their coworker,
48-year-old gail fulton, is lying in a pool of blood.
- M. William: Did she get hit by her own van?
Did she get hit by a car?
- Ralph: As a result of that 911 call,
officers were dispatched to the area.
- [sirens wailing]
- m. William: Law enforcement arrives,
and the first officer begins to try to administer
cpr on gail, but he quickly realizes that
this is no fainting spell or anything like that.
She's been shot.
- She was shot in the head, and twice in her stomach
and her chest area.
- M. William: They try to revive her,
but really there's no hope for gail. She's dead.
- Narrator: When homicide detectives arrive,
their first objective is to find out as much as possible
about the victim.
- There was two witnesses that knew the victim
and that was able to furnish information right away.
- Lori: When this woman, this librarian,
this mother of three is assassinated
in the township library parking lot,
it astonished everybody.
It was major news in metro detroit,
and it was a big story.
- Narrator: Martha gail garza was born in 1951
in corpus christi, texas.
- Sylvia: She was kind. She was very smart.
She was very, um, social.
We just hit it off. We used to have a lot of fun.
She had a great childhood.
Her parents were wonderful people known in the community.
They had a beautiful home that she grew up in.
Her family was very devoted to the catholic church.
- Narrator: The garza family
took their catholic faith seriously,
as did their friends within corpus christi's close-knit
hispanic community.
- Our parents belonged to a social group back in the day,
50 years ago, and all of the kids,
we were all about the same age.
It was simple, it was good times for everyone.
We were taken care of.
- Narrator: When it was time for high school,
gail enrolled at an all-girls catholic academy.
- You knew she was gonna be something, you knew that,
and whatever her goals-- whatever she wanted to do,
she accomplished it, and there was nothing that
she couldn't do, she was very smart.
- ♪
- narrator: In 1969,
at the start of gail's senior year,
she began dating 17-year-old george fulton.
- M. William: Gail and george met in a catholic youth group,
and they kinda seemed like the opposites.
You have gail, who's kind of a loner and quiet and shy,
george was an overachiever.
- Narrator: George was outgoing, athletic,
and the president of his class.
- Sylvia: He was very nice, you know,
and he was nice to her, and to me that was
all that was important.
She saw something in him
that made her eyes twinkle a little bit,
so she saw in him something that would be good for her.
- Narrator: After high school, george and gail went to college
over 1,500 miles apart.
George enrolled at west point in new york
to pursue a career in the military,
and gail stayed close to home in texas,
studying to become a speech pathologist.
- Sylvia: She went to del mar college,
junior college there in corpus,
and then, uh, after those two years she transferred up
to baylor, her dad's alma mater.
- Narrator: Despite the distance,
the romance thrived.
- M. William: Gail and george both graduated from college
in 1974, and they got married right away.
- Narrator: The life of the doting military wife
suited gail.
She and george raised two daughters and a son
over the course of the next two decades,
all while bouncing around the country from base to base.
- When she had three children, and she decided to stay home
and raise her children, so she was not working.
She was a stay-at-home mom for many years.
- Sylvia: Gail was very focused on her children,
wanting them to have as normal, uh, upbringing as possible
even though they traveled so much.
She liked to cook, she did arts and crafts.
She was very focused on being a good mother,
a good wife, a good person.
- Narrator: After two decades of service,
george was ready to part ways with the army in 1993.
- M. William: George retired from the military as a major,
and they moved back to corpus christi, texas,
near home.
The problem was he couldn't find work.
- Narrator: After a few years of testing the texas job market,
george landed a lucrative engineering gig
at a firm up north.
- They moved to michigan and...
It's like, "wow, this is blissful.
We live near the lake, this wonderful community."
- gail was very happy, she was working at the library,
and she was thrilled.
- Narrator: But the demands of george's new job
eventually caused difficulty in the marriage.
- George got a great job at an engineering firm,
and part of that job was flying to florida
many, many times a year.
- Sylvia: All that I knew is that george was traveling a lot
and spending a lot a time in florida, and I said,
"well, you know, it's not too much different than,
"you know, when he was in the military that he would travel
and be gone for a long time."
- lori: The outward appearance,
this looked like the perfect family
living the dream in orion township.
Her neighbors liked her,
there wasn't anybody that didn't like gail,
she was just a-- a pleasant person,
you know, going about her life.
- Narrator: But now, only three years after moving
to lake orion, gail is found dead
outside the library where she works,
and detectives are determined to figure out why.
- Lori: What was interesting to the police
right from the beginning is that nothing was taken from her.
Her--her purse was still there, there was cash,
she was wearing jewelry.
From the beginning, they ruled out a potential robbery.
- Law enforcement begins to question these coworkers
of gail fulton's, and they begin to describe a person
who is a devout catholic,
who goes to mass just about every day.
- Ralph: Why would somebody shoot her three times,
especially in the head?
We've ruled out robbery, so I think
it--it really goes back to, what was the motive
of this particular crime?
- They were just trying to sort out and figure out how
something like that could happen.
- From law enforcement's perspective,
when a wife is murdered,
the first person they look at is the husband.
- Narrator: Coming up, investigators go digging
close to home and turn up trouble.
- He didn't seem emotional, he wasn't crying.
He was calm. Calm as a falling leaf.
- They found out that her husband had an affair.
- Lori: I can't even begin to imagine what he's thinking,
to bring these two women together in a hotel room.
- Larry: She started to tell george,
"look, I've got cancer and I'm pregnant."
- ♪
- narrator: Detectives in lake orion, michigan,
are investigating the execution-style murder
of a mild-mannered librarian.
- M. William: Gail fulton, when you look at her,
she is the least likely murder victim
you could ever find, really.
This is a woman who had zero enemies, but even so,
law enforcement is smart enough to know that even people
with zero enemies, there's someone out there
who doesn't like you.
- Narrator: Detectives continue to question their only known
witnesses: Gail's coworkers, who found her body
at the scene of the crime.
- Speaking to her, uh, coworkers,
they found out that her husband, george fulton, he had an affair
with a businesswoman in florida.
- Narrator: The coworkers say the woman's name
is donna trapani.
- Larry: George met donna at a bar,
and the two of 'em just kind of hit it off,
and ultimately, uh, became lovers.
- Narrator: 43-year-old donna trapani
was the picture of success.
She was a registered nurse
with her own very lucrative business.
- M. William: Donna trapani was born in new orleans.
She was very smart, she graduated high school
with a 4.0 grade average,
immediately excelled in college,
and wound up getting her nursing degree.
And in 1989, donna moved to the panhandle in florida,
and that's where donna really started her medical career
as a nurse, and from there,
she decided to go into her own business.
- It was a home care business where she had people
working for her that she would send out for home care,
and at one point, she was doing a million-dollar business.
- She was trying to set up some sort of computer system
for medical billing or something along those lines,
and george knew a lot about that.
- Larry: Donna hired george to help with some of her--
her financial aspects of her business.
George ultimately decided that he was gonna leave his job
and work for donna.
- Narrator: In may of 1998,
george moved over a thousand miles away from his family
to florida.
He told gail it was a temporary move for work.
- There wasn't any indication of any trouble.
Nobody had filed for divorce.
They were living what appeared to be happy life.
It's just that george had this second life going on
in--in florida.
- Narrator: But this secret mix of business and pleasure
came with a cost.
In October of 1998,
after more than four months of george
working and living in florida,
gail finally realized her husband was doing
more than business with donna.
- Gail is at home wondering, "something's up with him,"
and she finds out.
- Narrator: When gail confronted him about the affair,
george came clean.
- He confirmed that he had an affair
with a woman in florida.
He spent several months with her.
- Narrator: Despite the heartbreak,
gail worked hard to keep the marriage together.
- Gail is not gonna get out of the marriage because
she's catholic and she wants to keep her marriage intact.
- Sylvia: Those are situations that a lot of people just
keep to themselves.
A lot of times you can kind of read in between the lines,
especially if you've known somebody for so long.
I just knew.
- I think that she thought that if she just hung on,
he would--uh, he would come to his senses.
- Gail would go to the church and say rosaries every day
for the sake of the marriage.
Those prayers were answered when george came back
to michigan and said, "I'm done. I'm sorry.
"please forgive me. The affair's over.
I want my family and I want you back, gail."
- narrator: Now, six months after george's return
from florida, his wife, gail fulton,
has been found murdered outside the local library.
Detectives immediately bring george in for questioning.
- Ralph: The, uh, sheriff's office went after george
right away; he was already notified by gayle's coworkers
that she was dead.
- Lori: The police were highly suspicious of george
just because, you know, we all know
when these things happen, that they usually happen
because of somebody close to you.
- Narrator: When asked about his whereabouts
the night of the murder,
george says he was at home with his son,
17-year-old andrew.
- Ralph: His son gave him an alibi that,
"my dad never left, he was with me all night long."
obviously, it still doesn't rule out that george
didn't have something to do with this.
- Narrator: And when police ask george if there were
any problems in his marriage,
he admits to the relationship with donna,
but claims that the affair is over.
- The police were asking really probing,
personal questions, and he was smart enough
not to lie to the police.
- Narrator: When asked about the last time
he talked to donna,
george is upfront about that too.
- When he got the call that gail was dead,
he was on the phone with donna talking about business.
- Narrator: If george insists he ended the relationship,
why was he on the phone with his one-time mistress
on the night of his wife's murder?
- Ralph: We're looking at motives.
She's a married woman,
and her husband had marital problems with her.
Left her for months for another woman in florida.
So maybe he's decided,
"I'm gonna get her out of the way."
- narrator: George swears the affair is over,
but he says a few months earlier,
after he returned to his marriage,
donna gave him some stunning news.
- Donna started to tell george,
"look, I've got cancer and I'm pregnant."
- narrator: According to george, upon hearing this news,
he made a decision few people could understand or explain.
- Lori: George gets the idea to bring these two women
together in a hotel room somewhere in the area,
to let them talk this out.
- M. William: That, to me, was the most remarkable part
of this case: That he put the lover and his wife together.
I don't know what he was thinking in doing that.
- Narrator: George says the meeting took place
at a local hotel on the July 4th weekend,
just three months before the murder.
The three of them talked for a while,
and then george left the room, leaving the two women alone.
- I'm sure that that was pretty strange for all of them, okay?
But george was gonna be responsible and help donna
take care of the baby.
He wasn't giving up his family.
He was married to gail for 25 years.
He thought explaining the situation that they were in,
it was a logical thing to do,
because she was gonna have this baby.
- Narrator: George says when gail learned
the details of the affair and the pregnancy,
she immediately became upset and stormed out.
- M. William: Gail just leaves there in tears.
And george does console her. And he drives her home.
But then he says, "I'm going back to the hotel tonight."
- george admitted that that night he went back to the hotel
after dropping his wife off
and had sexual relations with donna.
- Narrator: Now, three months later,
with gail murdered and george alibied,
investigators turn to donna,
the only other person who seems to have a motive to kill gail.
They call her at her home in pensacola.
- She admits to the affair but denies having had anything
to do with--with the killing.
- Narrator: Donna says she has proof in phone records
that she was nowhere near the crime scene.
- She gives them the times, the last time she on the phone
with george was right around the time of the murder.
She says, "check my phone records,
"I've had nothing to do with this.
I'm sorry that woman was murdered, but it's not me."
- narrator: Both gail's husband, george, and his lover, donna,
appear to be ruled out.
Less than 12 hours later,
news of the murder stuns the town of lake orion,
and has worried residents looking for answers.
- I'm getting in the car and my cell phone rings
and it's my aunt.
She said, "gail's been murdered."
I just...I lost it. I lost it.
I said, "that-- it can't be true.
Who would wanna kill her? Who?"
- m. William: The town is really living in fear.
I mean, a woman, a housewife, a mother, a librarian
is executed.
Was this a random act?
Is someone gonna start picking off people around town?
People closed their doors,
put the shades down in their windows.
I mean, this town was living in fear
because there were no answers.
- Narrator: Coming up, a surprised phone call
gives the investigation new life.
- Ralph: I'm listening to this guy; my ears are perking.
'cause he's giving me names.
- M. William: He says, "I believe my ex-girlfriend
and her new boyfriend, they killed gail."
- ♪
- narrator: Less than 24 hours into the investigation
of gail fulton's murder, detectives believe
there are only two people who might have a motive
in the crime: Her husband, george,
and his long-time lover, donna trapani.
However, both george and donna have rock-solid alibis.
- The police were running out of leads, to use a cliché,
that the case was growing cold.
- Narrator: There was no evidence left at the scene,
but the library security system offers a potential breakthrough.
- There were cameras at that library,
which is pretty important.
- M. William: The first law enforcement officer begins
to look at that video, and what does he see?
He sees gail fulton walk out of the library,
walk up to her vehicle. She gets in, she starts driving,
and it's clear she realizes, "I have a flat tire."
so she stops. She gets out to check the flat tire,
and that's when you see another car pull up near the van.
- Lori: You can see a sedan pull up.
A man gets out, he appears to be all dressed in black.
And he approaches her and very quickly murders her
right there in the parking lot.
- [gunshot]
- m. William: He shoots her directly in the head.
He walks over her execution style
and puts two more rounds in her.
- [muffled gunshots]
- m. William: Jumps back in that car and they take off.
- Narrator: The video is alarming.
Investigators watch the footage over and over again,
looking for some way to identify the shooter
or the getaway vehicle.
- They're able to see some forms or shapes in the sedan
that led them to believe there were--there was at least
one person and maybe two in the sedan when the man
got out and murdered gail.
- Narrator: It's impossible to read the vehicles license plate,
but grainy still-frames of the killers
are released to the public,
which results in a potential lead.
- Two people come forward right away and say,
"you know what? I was driving by the library
"right at that time, and I saw that car pull out
with three people in it."
and this person verifies that the person driving was a woman.
- Unfortunately, they were not able to make out age or race,
just a silhouette of an individual.
- Narrator: While detectives search for new leads,
friends and family lay gail to rest.
- Sylvia: We went to the vigil, um, she had a closed casket,
and then had a huge funeral-- huge, with lots of people.
That something this horrendous would happen to her,
it's a situation you'll never get past.
- Narrator: A month passes and there are no new leads.
Finally, on November 19, 1999,
detectives get an unexpected break.
- Lori: A man named brian miller calls from florida and says,
"I have some information about this murder in orion township."
- he says, "I believe my ex-girlfriend, sybil padgett,
and her new boyfriend, patrick, they killed gail fulton."
- narrator: Brian tells police that just a few days earlier,
sybil, his one-time girlfriend, told him she was involved
in a murder in michigan.
- In this case, when this tipster called in,
he came in with some, uh, credible information.
I'm up listening to this guy, my ears are perking.
'cause he's giving me names.
He's telling me a story that I can buy,
because there's a lot of information in that call.
When the detectives got off that call, man,
they were hitting the computers, bringing these names up fast.
- Narrator: The question now is, who is sybil padgett?
A quick background check reveals a stunning connection
to someone close to the case.
- Larry: Sybil was a certified nurse.
And she worked for donna for years.
She was one of the first employees she ever hired.
- M. William: Once they start putting all these pieces
together, with all the dominos falling, there's one left.
And that's donna trapani.
- Narrator: When detectives talk to donna's coworkers,
they learn that donna was as hard on her employees
as she was on herself.
- She had a lot of people working for her
and people were a bit afraid of her.
She was ambitious but a difficult person to deal with.
- M. William: Employees said when she walked in,
you never knew who was coming in that door.
She could just fly off the handle like that
at any little thing.
- Narrator: Donna's coworkers claim donna approached
all her relationships with the same intensity.
- Lori: The relationship between donna and george
was very strange to me,
because he had this lovely kind of classy wife at home,
and donna-- donna had some issues.
She had a pretty volatile temper.
- Narrator: And yet, george was spellbound
for over a year.
- Lori: There was a lot of back and forth, I think.
Both donna and george were pushing each other.
It seemed like donna was determined not to let him go.
- Narrator: Investigators must now determine
if donna's infatuation with george
led to his wife's murder.
- M. William: Detectives head down to pensacola, florida,
to interview donna.
And immediately, they notice a baby bump. She is pregnant.
- Narrator: Deputies grill donna,
but she doesn't flinch.
- Ralph: It was a very lengthy interview, seven hours.
She gave up some information.
She was pretty cagey about what she said and what she did.
- Narrator: Again and again, donna denies involvement
in any murder plot,
and insists that if sybil set out to kill gail,
she did it on her own.
- Larry: Donna tried to say, "sybil noticed this,
"knew how much I was in love and felt that george
was playing a game with me and not being completely honest,"
or loved her at one point but decided to go back
to his family, and sybil was upset with george over that.
So, that's donna's explanation why sybil would have gotten
involved and tried to do something that she thought
was helping donna.
- She was shifting blame, uh, left and right,
not taking any responsibility.
She denied--adamantly denied everything.
- Narrator: Over the course of their interview,
something unusual catches the detectives' attention.
- While this conversation is going on,
donna's cat enters the room.
- It jumped on her stomach and her stomach caved in.
That's called an investigative clue, I think it is,
that maybe you're not pregnant.
- Narrator: It looks as if there's no baby
in donna's baby bump.
- Lori: It's clearly a fake pregnancy.
A woman faking a pregnancy is an awful thing anyway.
But then to go to that extreme where you look like
you're seven months pregnant,
and you're not even very good at it, I mean,
she must have stuffed the pillow up when the cops came.
I mean, she wasn't wandering around with a pillow
under her shirt 24 hours a day.
- You have to ask yourself,
"why would donna go to these lengths?"
- narrator: Coming up, investigators believe
donna is lying about her pregnancy,
but what does she really know about the murder?
- Ralph: She shifted blame on to george.
She claimed that george was the mastermind of this crime.
- ♪
- narrator: Detectives investigating the murder
of gail fulton have narrowed in on donna trapani
as a possible suspect,
but they lack the evidence for an arrest.
So they track down donna's employee, sybil padgett,
and her boyfriend, 19-year-old patrick alexander.
- Lori: When sybil was interviewed,
the investigators said, "we haven't arrested you,
we just wanna ask you about the murder of gail fulton."
she initially said, "I just don't know
what you're talking about."
- narrator: Sybil continues to deny everything,
but patrick cracks right away.
- M. William: Patrick says the plan is---which donna
comes up with: "sybil, you guys need to drive up there,
"not fly, drive a car from here to michigan,
commit that murder, and then drive back."
- ♪
- narrator: According to patrick,
donna knew just how to motivate sybil.
- M. William: Sybil padgett was not a good employee.
And donna used that leverage to go to sybil and say,
"listen, I'm gonna fire you, but...If you can find me
"someone to get rid of this problem I have,
"I'll let you keep your job. And you know what?
"I'll even pay you $5,000,
and I'll pay whoever you get $5,000."
- donna had provided sybil and patrick with a map
of the--where the library was located,
where the fulton house was located,
and a picture of gail.
- Narrator: Patrick says on September 13,
he and sybil drove to michigan to kill gail fulton.
- Ralph: During the confession, patrick spoke about
their first trip to michigan.
They sat outside for several hours,
they observed her,
then they discussed what they wanted to do.
- M. William: But what happens is, they chicken out.
They don't have the guts to go through with this.
- Narrator: According to patrick,
donna wasn't ready to put the murder plot to rest,
and eventually, donna found someone who was willing
to pull the trigger: Her former roommate's fiance,
32-year-old long-haul trucker, kevin ouellette.
- They're looking for somebody to help them out, uh,
kill somebody,
and that's where kevin's name came in.
- Kevin says, you know, "I'm not doing this alone.
"if I'm doing this, you're gonna be there.
You're driving the car, and you're gonna be with me."
- narrator: Patrick says he, sybil, and kevin
drove to lake orion and set the murder plot in motion
on the night of October 4.
- M. William: I believe they were waiting
in the back of the parking lot.
And right before gail is supposed to get out of work--
because they know the exact time--
they drive up and they slash the tire,
and then they drive away.
They drive out of the parking lot,
around the block a little bit,
and then they come back when they know she's out.
- They, uh, drove up in a car
while she was tending to her car.
- M. William: Someone in the back seat gets out,
kind of clad in black,
and just walks up to gail fulton and executes her.
- [muffled gunshot]
- gets back in that car, takes off.
- Narrator: The killers head back to florida,
convinced they've pulled off the perfect murder.
But there was one problem.
- They didn't know there was surveillance video
of the library.
- Narrator: Patrick's story of the murder matches up
perfectly with what's on the surveillance video.
When investigators confront sybil
with patrick's version of events, she folds.
- Raymond: She was very distraught,
very emotional and, uh,
it seemed like she unburdened herself with her involvement
in this case-- or alleged involvement.
- Sybil, you know, she came up with her own story about, uh,
donna manipulated her, held everything over her head.
She worked with donna.
She was afraid that donna was going to, um,
have her child taken away.
- She said, "we did it. Kevin jumped out of the car
"and shot her, we did it for the money."
she was very remorseful, crying.
I don't know if she was remorseful because
she had gotten caught, or if she was remorseful
because she had been involved in first-degree murder.
- Narrator: Both sybil and patrick
are arrested and charged with murder.
Two days later, on December 2, the fbi gets a tip
that kevin oullette is in connecticut.
- Kevin ouellette was a long-haul truck driver so,
you know, I think he was making his way, uh, up 95.
We, uh, formed up a perimeter around the vehicle,
a big 18-wheel truck.
We called him out, uh, via a blow horn and he came out
in a compliant manner,
and we transported him, uh,
in a connecticut state police cruiser.
- It did go down by the numbers.
He was booked in the local jail.
- Rich: I think he knew that he was really caught,
and he knew why.
And that showed on his face and he proceeded to confess
to the crime, uh, of murder for hire of, uh,
martha gail fulton,
and that he was hired by donna trapani.
- Narrator: With identical accounts from each
of the three suspects in custody,
all signs point to donna as the mastermind.
But investigators need proof,
so they start by conducting a search of sybil's home.
- The police obtained a search warrant on sybil's house
and found a picture of gail,
the map of the pertinent locations in orion,
a handwritten schedule of gail's hours.
- The most incriminating piece of evidence that I thought
was there was a--was a map.
This was before gpss on cell phones,
so I think there was an actual paper map of the lake orion.
- Narrator: Both the fulton home and the library are circled.
Detectives also find what appears to be
a fake suicide note,
made to look like it's written from gail to george.
- After they compared the suicide note
for handwriting exemplars and fingerprints,
both of those analysis came back to donna.
- Lori: They were able to determine that donna
had written the notes about gail's schedule.
And then they also found, uh, donna's fingerprints
on a lot of the material.
- It's like she provided all the evidence you need, really,
to convict her.
- Narrator: With a mountain of evidence against her,
investigators have one last unanswered question:
Did donna plot alone?
- Lori: I think the police initially were trying
to make sure that george didn't plant this idea
in anybody's head, didn't pay anybody.
- Narrator: Coming up, a killer comes clean.
- He testified in court, and that was really chilling.
He said, "I did it for donna."
- she had this personality, almost like cult-like.
- ♪
- narrator: A mounting pile of evidence and the confessions
of three accomplices indicate that donna trapani
promised them $15,000 for the murder of gail fulton.
- M. William: Law enforcement moves in on donna trapani
and they put her in cuffs.
Her reaction to that is: "I had nothing to do with this!
Those people acted on their own!"
- when they patted her down and cuffed her up,
they found, like, three towels underneath her shirt.
- Donna was not pregnant. All lies, all manipulation.
- She was playing this pregnancy scenario,
I guess, to her grave, if you will.
- Narrator: After her arrest, investigators bring donna
to the station to question her again.
Donna admits faking the pregnancy,
but claims it has nothing to do with the murder.
- Larry: She's saying, "well, it's because I love george,
"and I was pregnant and lost the baby.
"and--and I wanted him to know that I cared about him
"and wanted him to still show the love
that he told me he had for me."
so that was her explanation on that stuff.
- Narrator: As for her claim about having terminal cancer,
medical records expose the truth.
- There was nothing, really, in the medical records
saying she had cancer.
- Narrator: As questioning continues,
donna attempts to use george as the scapegoat this time.
- Ralph: Donna shifted blame onto george.
She claimed that george was the mastermind of this crime.
- By the time the warrant had been authorized,
by the time you looked in the discovery, it was clear
that george didn't have involvement in it.
- She stuck to her guns. She, you know, right--
right down the line, she flat-out refused to confess
or to even acknowledge she had anything to do with it.
You know, these three people drive a thousand miles
to kill a l--a librarian because of this, you know,
tawdry affair this woman's having with george fulton.
People were sort of mesmerized by it because it had
a soap opera quality to it.
- Narrator: Before the trials begin,
patrick alexander accepts a plea deal.
He agrees to testify against donna
and his girlfriend, sybil padgett.
- In exchange for his testimony, patrick alexander was sentenced
to, uh, 22 to 40 years in prison.
- Narrator: Next up is kevin oullette.
- I flew all the way out there, and then maybe an hour
before I was set to testify, and he pled--uh, he pled out.
He pled guilty.
- Narrator: He also cuts a deal with prosecutors
to testify against sybil and donna
if he's allowed to serve his sentence at a federal prison
in maine, close to his family.
- M. William: Kevin ouellette is convicted of first-degree
felony murder.
He gets life without parole in prison.
- You don't often hear somebody testify to, uh, going up
and shooting somebody in the manner that he did,
upon donna trapani's will.
I think the jury thought that was pretty compelling.
- Narrator: With two guilty pleas,
prosecutors turn to their remaining suspects--
sybil and donna.
- Rich: Mr. Kaluzny and I tried trapani and padgett together.
And we had separate juries to decide the case.
In michigan--and most states have a similar statute--
even if you are aware that a crime is being committed,
if you are just there,
then you can't be found guilty of that crime.
And so that was my argument, was that even though there was
an acknowledgement that sybil knew
what was going to transpire,
that simply being in the car was not sufficient.
- Narrator: On December 11, 2000,
a jury reaches a verdict on sybil padgett.
- It was guilty as charged on both the conspiracy
and the first-degree murder.
But I can't say that I didn't see it coming.
I'm not sure that sybil was surprised by it either.
- Narrator: Sybil is sentenced to life without parole.
She has expressed remorse for her part in the crime,
but still blames donna.
- Sybil, she just felt like donna had this personality,
almost like cult-like where
she could just dominate her will, if you would.
- Narrator: Despite donna's claims of innocence,
prosecutors believe she displayed a clear motive.
- She wanted george back,
and she didn't want gail in the way.
- Narrator: For the jury, it's difficult to ignore
three conspirators with virtually identical stories
of what happened,
and a surveillance tape that verifies their claims.
- Raymond: The three of them all made
fairly consistent confessions.
All of those statements, they overall--there were some
deviation, but they overall matched.
- Narrator: Donna trapani is also found guilty
of first-degree murder, and gets life without parole.
- I think if you called donna trapani up on, you know,
the michigan department of corrections,
she would tell you she's innocent today.
- Larry: I was not surprised with the verdict in this case.
The evidence, if you step away and look at it,
was pretty overwhelming.
Everybody loses in a murder case.
- Narrator: George fulton was found to have no role
in his wife's murder, but even supporters agree:
His affair ultimately led to gail's death.
- You know, I never spoke to him about it.
I never, never-- even at the funeral.
He was there, I--I was too angry.
And I was angry at him.
And he brought this evil person into their family.
I'll never get over it.
- Lori: Donna's motive was to live happily after.
That george would never know what happened to gail
if everybody kept quiet.
She thought this was gonna be the best way
to get what she wanted.
- ♪
♪♪