[inhales, exhales deeply]
The detective called me to tell me
that they went ahead and arrested Christian.
Later that night, I had all
the local media wanting to come in and interview me.
I just didn't believe it.
WOMAN: Ammie Turos is Fuhr's girlfriend.
She believes this isn't the Christian
she knows -- her Christian wouldn't hurt anyone.
AIMEE: He came over a couple of times during the day
today to check on me and get me something to drink,
turning the channel on the TV.
Just a perfect gentlemen.
[scoffs]
I don't even remember that interview.
[sniffles]
I honestly don't know what is making me emotional about it.
♪♪
[sniffles]
Maybe because I've never seen it,
and...
I'm sitting there defending a guilty person.
I was very convinced that he was innocent.
I wouldn't have gone on TV
and tried to just hope he was innocent.
I really believed he was innocent.
[ominous music playing]
From the beginning to
a few years ago, I loved Christian.
It wasn't like he was the perfect boyfriend
and then became a monster
or was a monster and then became
a perfect boyfriend.
He was both at the same time.
But I never saw the dark side, and to this day,
sitting here in this chair,
he's never treated me badly.
I held my story, and because people instantly
say, "He was bad.
Why are you hurting over somebody that's so bad?"
It's different when you're the one that loves a murderer.
It's so hard to know what I know, knowing...
the things that I've never told anybody that I lived with.
I don't know if I can ever forgive myself or free myself
from the guilt of trusting and believing him.
[The Paper Chase's "What's So Amazing About Grace?" plays]
[strings continue playing sinister tune]
[static crackling]
[knock at door] [creaking]
[banging on door]
[creaking]
[water dripping]
[banging on door] [creaking]
[sinister chord strikes]
My friend worked at the tavern at
the corner of my house -- And I was in there,
he was sitting beside me, and she introduced me,
and we instantly clicked and just started a conversation.
- Christian. - Ammie.
Nice to meet you.
AMMIE: What attracted me to Christian right off the bat
was his smile, his laughter, and his rugged look.
So what do you do?
AMMIE: Christian cut down trees for a living.
He loved the adrenaline, because it was dangerous.
We talked for hours.
Christian was recently divorced, he had a son that was
almost two that he really loved.
When I looked into his eyes,
Christian made me feel like I was the only one in the room.
It was like an instant bond where the next day we were
together, and the next day, and then it just went on
from there -- at the time,
I didn't recognize any signs.
He promised he would always treat me right.
He would always tell me the truth.
Promises that obviously were broken.
Looking back now,
there's a few things that
I should have questioned but didn't know to question.
Christian lived right down the street,
about a five-minute walk.
I would go home after work,
and he would come over and cook dinner.
But it wasn't like any other relationship I've ever been in.
He didn't rush me or pressure me -- the first few
times we spent the night together, we didn't
sleep together.
But when I was ready, there were certain
things he did not want me to do.
We were in the heat of the moment, and he stopped me
and said, "No."
Wait -- you don't have to do that.
AIMEE: Certain sexual positions were dirty.
I was too good for that.
And then I thought, "Well, that's odd."
It really surprised me when, uh, there were
certain things he did not want me to do.
Only a whore would do that.
- Oh. - No.
AIMEE: The way he worded it was, "No you're better than that."
I just wanna be close to you.
But it really made me feel that he
appreciated me, and it was more intimate than sexual.
It was a compliment, in a way, that he was
thinking about me and not just a sexual act.
He felt I was better than that.
But looking back, I think he...
thought, you know, those sexual positions
and types were for more of people he felt were
beneath him,
maybe that he had a bitterness towards.
[ominous music playing]
There were times after work, Christian would be dropped off
at the bars on the South Side of Columbus and call
and say that his co-workers dropped him off and for me to
come there and pick him up after work.
Each side of town has its own feel.
The South Side was a bit rougher.
That side of town is not a place I would just go to.
When I would walk in,
part of me would look around and think,
what is he doing here?
It was definitely a different crowd of people.
Hey, babe.
Hey!
I wanted to order something to drink and socialize,
meet his friends.
Let's get out of here.
Wait, um, no, let's have a drink.
AIMEE: But instantly, he'd like, "Let's go.
I'm ready to go home."
I would ask him, like, "Why can't we just stay and have
"a beer and, you know, say hi?
"I just got off work," but I would never get to stay
and talk to anybody or meet anybody.
I'm just really, really tired.
Do you mind if we just go home?
AIMEE: And I would be rushed out.
I didn't know it at the time, but later, I found out that
those were places that prostitutes,
um, but hang out, and his victims were prostitutes.
[distant sirens wailing]
Most of the time I can account for his whereabouts --
Most of the time, but there were a few times
when I couldn't.
Christian?
The nights that he didn't stay at my house, I would get up
a little bit earlier -- he only
lived like a block away from me.
I would go to his house, and I never knocked.
I just walked right in.
- [alarm blaring] - Christian!
AIMEE: Most of the time,
he would be home, but there were some mornings, not many,
but some that I would hear his -[alarm blaring]
alarm blaring, and he wouldn't be there.
[alarm blaring]
First, I think,
oh, he's in the shower and doesn't hear the alarm, and then
I'd go in and realized he wasn't
in the shower, he wasn't home.
I first turned off the alarm, and I felt
the bed to see if it was warm and it was cold.
So I thought, oh, he hasn't been here.
♪♪
The first time or two,
I think I was like, where is he?
I left, and I went to work and I --
I thought about it all day long, like where could he be?
But when I'd see him that evening, he always had
a good answer.
One of his co-workers picked him up early, because they had
to get stuff together
before a job, and he forgot to turn the alarm off
before he left.
So there was always
something that was believable.
I never felt there was a reason to question or worry.
It never crossed my mind that he could
have been out committing crimes or hurting anybody.
I never had that gut feeling like something isn't right.
AIMEE: When I learned about Christian,
it all raced through my head.
Did I miss signs? Did I miss flags?
But Christian was so good at having
me believe he was honest and genuine.
One night, we were going to go get something to eat.
Christian greeted me at the door, and I went in
and sat down while he jumped in the shower real quick.
When I was sitting on the couch and on
the coffee table was a paper plate with a bunch of matches.
It was more than just a handful.
There were tons of them.
I asked, "What is this?"
And he said the night before, he was just bored and just
lighting matches, watching them burn, and tossin' them.
He didn't have TV, didn't have cable.
So I figured besides reading a book, he was bored to death.
- You ready? - What's all this?
I couldn't sleep last night. Just killing time.
I never doubted anything
he said -- I didn't have a reason to.
I'll clean it up later. Come on, let's go.
AIMEE: Looking back now,
I believe he was sitting there on
the couch, smoking crack with his victims.
And the girls were easy to lure in.
A lot of the girls were called strawberries.
I later learned that a strawberry is
a woman that will trade sexual acts for drugs.
Christian would pick up strawberries,
and then he hurt them.
[ominous music playing]
When Christian came over one night, I was in the kitchen.
AS CHRISTIAN: Hey.
AIMEE: He walked in just like any other night,
smiled and said he got me a gift.
I got you a surprise.
Christian never bought me a present,
maybe a rose or two from the gas station counter,
but an actual gift -- no.
It was a jacket,
and it wasn't gift-wrapped.
I knew it wasn't brand-new.
Try it on.
He was really happy to give me this jacket.
I tried the jacket on...
Wow.
...and he smiled.
I could tell it made him feel good to see me put it on.
What do you think?
It was black leather fringed -- The jacket wasn't my style,
but it was very sweet, and it made me feel good
that he thought of me and gave me the gift.
I didn't want to disappoint him and act like I didn't
like it.
I love it. Thank you.
AIMEE: I gave him a hug and a kiss and thanked him.
And then I went and hung it up.
After I put the jacket up in the closet,
I didn't think about it again until the detectives were
there and asked me if Christian had ever gotten
me any gifts.
That jacket was one of the girl's he had murdered.
After learning about the jacket,
so many thoughts and questions went through my head.
Did he just commit that crime before and came straight to my
house and handed me the jacket?
Was the jacket
hidden for a couple days?
Like I don't know, and...
I don't have any answers.
And when you don't have answers, it makes it even worse.
[ominous music playing]
Christian and I met up at the bar after work, and I had
a little bit too much to drink and was ready to go.
So we got in my car, and he drove me home.
I remember we were sitting in the living room
for a while, and then he wanted to go get his truck
from the bar.
Wait, where are you going?
I left my tools in the truck,
and I have to work in the morning.
AIMEE: He said he would be back and to
lock the door and don't let anybody in,
which struck me odd.
And he walked up to the bar.
I was on the couch, and I was dozing in and out.
I don't know exactly how long he was gone.
It didn't seem like it was hours,
but it was a lot longer than going up and getting
his vehicle and coming back.
I know it was still dark when he came back.
There was no signs of nervousness or anything.
When he came back, he put a cold wash rag on my forehead,
and he stroked my hair until I felt well enough to go to bed.
This should feel better.
And right before that, he killed somebody
with those same hands.
The detective said that he did it with his hands.
Thinking back to all the times,
you know, Christian held my hand or
rubbed my forehead or played with my hair
or had his hand on my leg...
I always felt secure and safe.
Looking back, where were his hands before?
[suspenseful chord strike]
It was the first part of November when I saw the first
news clipping of bodies being found on the South Side
of Columbus.
WOMAN: Last Sunday, 30-year-old Shawna Sowers was found
at this construction site off Grove Port Road.
Two weeks ago,
29-year-old Kimberly Rodgers was discovered in
this corn field near the same construction site.
At that time, I believe it was only just the first two women.
We were at the corner bar, and the TV was on.
Oh, my God -- Are you seeing this?
When it came on the news, Christian never seemed
nervous, never.
He just seemed normal.
So it wasn't something that I really paid attention to.
Had I have known, I probably would have
definitely paid more attention.
[ominous music playing]
Christian and I had planned
to spend Thanksgiving night and day with my father.
The night before Thanksgiving, he borrowed
his boss's truck, and he was supposed to go
do an errand or two and then come to my dad's house, but I
was prepping some stuff to cook, and he didn't show up.
And then I started calling him,
and he didn't answer.
Hey, it's me.
Is everything okay? I'm worried.
I called and called,
- I left messages. - [phone ringing]
He didn't answer.
Call me, please.
So my mind started racing, and I
just started thinking he was with another girl.
About 10 till 6:00 in the morning, he calls...
[phone ringing]
And asked me to come get him,
and I was very mad.
Christian.
AMMIE: He said, "I just got a flat tire."
"Will you come get me?"
A flat tire.
And I said, "No, stay with the girl you're with."
And I hung up.
Later, I found out, when he called me to come get him,
it was only because he needed somebody to pick him up
from a murder scene.
WOMAN: For the third time in two weeks,
another woman is found dead.
She was lying next to this dumpster when the owner of this
Ohio wire building stumbled across her body.
AMMIE: When he showed up,
he said, "I was with my ex-wife and spent Thanksgiving with
my son," and I said, "Okay."
I believed him.
WOMAN: Detectives are still trying to
get to the bottom of the murder mysteries
and whether or not all three are linked.
The first time they questioned me
was the day after Thanksgiving.
It was a Friday -- While Christian was gone,
there was a knock at the door.
There were two men that said
they were with the police department.
I don't know if you heard what happened the other night.
No.
The detective stated that my boyfriend
was a suspect in murder.
[scoffs]
That's insane. There's no way.
In my mind, there was absolutely no way
Christian was a murderer.
I really believed they had the wrong person.
I thought that they would realize
they were investigating the wrong person.
But the detectives wanted to know
if Christian had given me any gifts.
He gave me a jacket once.
- Could we see it, please? - Sure.
I went to go get the jacket
out of the closet for the detectives.
I went back and looked at my bedroom closet where I put it
with all the other coats, and it wasn't there, and I told them,
I don't know where it went -- It was gone.
It was there. I hung it up,
it was there, and then it was gone.
I'm sorry. I can't find it.
They were concerned.
The one detective gave me his card and said, "Give me a call."
If you remember anything, let us know.
Of course.
And then they left -- At the time that
the detective asked about the jacket,
and I didn't have it any longer,
I didn't realize it was a crucial piece of evidence,
but it directly connected him
to that crime,
to that poor girl.
[suspenseful chord strike]
[somber music playing]
When I confronted Christian about what I had learned from
the detectives, about him being a suspect,
he was not worried.
I don't understand -- why are they investigating you?
They're probably looking at a bunch of people right now.
And reassured me,
you know, what I was already thinking and feeling, that they
have the wrong person, and this will go away.
They don't just question random people for murder.
Look, they're going to find the right guy soon enough.
Okay, I wouldn't worry about this.
He was very convincing and calm and didn't seem
nervous, but when I confronted
Christian on where the jacket was,
I think it caught him off guard, because at first he was
like, "What jacket?"
Christian, they asked me about the jacket,
and I couldn't find it.
What jacket? What are you talking about?
I was like, "What do you mean, what jacket?"
It's not in the closet where I put it.
AIMEE: The answer was he didn't know.
Well I don't know, you --
It's obviously where you put it last.
I don't even see you wear it.
AIMEE: There was nobody else that could have taken that jacket.
He knew I knew that he did something with that jacket.
You want to investigate me?
You wanna waste your time with that? Knock yourself out.
But I never once doubted Christian's innocence.
I honestly wanted to protect him, fix it, make it right,
do everything possible for them to see they were
investigating the wrong person.
From the beginning, we were under surveillance.
My cul-de-sac is really small -- Leaving my house,
I could see somebody sitting there.
It was an unmarked car parked in my cul-de-sac,
watching my house for Christian,
but he would laugh about it
and just act like it was no big deal.
There was one evening, I went out with my girlfriends,
and Christian came to my house
and waited for me to come home.
The next day, he told me what he had done.
After he got tired of waiting,
he walked by the detective and knocked on the window.
[knocking noises]
Hi. Comfy?
And he, like, laughed about it.
Like it was funny to him, like,
ha ha ha, I'm just sitting here doing nothing,
so you just wasted your time watching me sit on her porch.
Can I get you anything? Beer? Cigarette?
Looking back, he was very arrogant
and... conceited
and really thought he was gonna get away with.
You can follow me around all you want.
You're never gonna see anything interesting.
And I thought Christian had nothing to hide, either.
I really thought
it was a mistake.
[somber piano music]
After the homicide detectives came the first time
and gave me their card,
I, um, went back and started thinking of things,
any little odd bits and pieces can I think of.
Christian, the line of work he did,
he always had dirty hands and cuticles, and under his
fingernails were always dirty,
and one day, his hands were, like, sparkling clean.
The only reason why it stood out is because it was something
that I'd never seen before -- From the time I met him,
his hands were always dirty -- jokingly,
I said, "Wow, you know, did you scrub your hands with bleach?"
They were super clean.
And it's really weird, because when I garden, like, it takes
a lot to scrub just a little bit of dirt from the garden
off my hands.
I've never seen your hands this clean before.
Oh, ha ha. Very funny.
His comment was he just
wanted to look clean and look nice.
- Really? - You know, I actually
do wash up on occasion.
AMMIE: It didn't dawn on me that it could be
something very serious.
A normal person doesn't look at
clean hands and think of murder.
Come on, let's go. I'm starving.
But I was really trying to be honest
and come up with anything,
and it stood out, and I did call the detectives,
and I told them.
Coming home with clean hands doesn't say he's a murderer
or out on a killing spree.
But it was true.
He had scrubbed his hands,
and I'm guessing bleach, because he...
violently beat
a girl to death.
I think it was the one where he took
the rock and crushed her head in.
I think that's the one when he scrubbed his hands.
[ominous music playing]
It was probably around two in the afternoon
when the detective called me on my house phone
to tell me that they went ahead and arrested Christian.
He wanted to let me know before I saw it
on breaking news.
WOMAN: Three women were found murdered in two weeks,
and police think this man
is responsible for at least two of them.
And my heart stopped.
I remember, like, hanging up the phone and just
screaming and crying, like, this can't be real.
WOMAN: 36-year-old Lisa Crow was found next
to this dumpster off High Street on Thanksgiving Day,
just four days before 30-year-old
Shawna Sowers was discovered
at this construction site near Grove Port Road.
And I didn't know what to do,
and I remember, I paced the floors,
and I just sat there, and I was glued to the TV.
MAN: Police got the break
they needed where they found the last victim's body --
A white line, a trail, leading to this abandoned pickup truck,
a truck with a flat tire that Fuhr had borrowed
from his boss.
When I saw the news...
he had the same clothes on that he had
on that afternoon when he left my house for lunch,
and they had him in handcuffs
and was walking him down the hallway,
and I thought, "I got to fix this.
"I gotta make it right.
They got the wrong person."
MAN: His killing spree began last November with the murder of
Kimberly Rodgers -- By Thanksgiving Day,
two more prostitutes,
Shawna Sowers and Lisa Crow, were also murdered,
their bodies dumped in the same area.
They went ahead and arrested Christian.
I couldn't... accept it.
[phone ringing]
Later that night, Christian called me.
[phone ringing]
Hello.
AMMIE: He told me he was innocent,
this was a big mistake, and not to worry.
Well, are you okay?
When I heard his voice, I was just a mess.
Yeah.
AMMIE: He's like, "They got the wrong guy.
"This is a mistake.
"They just got to do more investigating.
"I'm innocent. I'm gonna get out of here.
Don't worry."
Okay, bye.
That night, I had all the local media
wanting to come in and interview me.
I just didn't believe it.
WOMAN: Ammie Turos is Fuhr's girlfriend.
She believes this isn't the Christian
she knows -- her Christian wouldn't hurt anyone.
He came over a couple of times during the day today to
check on me, get me something to drink,
turn the channel on the TV. Just perfect gentlemen.
At that moment, I believed with everything inside
of me, they still had the wrong guy.
[ominous music]
He was planning on going to trial, but we never made it,
and, um,
they went to him with a plea offer,
and he accepted.
WOMAN: Fuhr showed no emotion, no remorse,
as he accepted a plea bargain in the murders of
Kimberly Rodgers, Shawna Sowers,
and Lisa Crow.
I wondered why he admitted to something that he didn't do.
I wanted to prove him innocent.
MAN: Christian Fuhr avoided the death penalty by
agreeing to a plea bargain, but the serial killer could not
escape justice.
The judge sentenced Fuhr to three
consecutive life terms without the chance of parole.
I went to visit him.
I was really excited that I would be
able to sit beside him and hold his hand.
Why would you take the deal?
Because we have time to fight it now.
AMMIE: The story he told me, he pleaded guilty
so he didn't have to put me through the trial.
- We can fight it together. - Okay.
That and because if he took a lesser charge
and did life, he could
appeal it and then it would start the appeal process,
so he would get out.
I thought, okay, that makes sense.
Now we're just gonna fight and appeal the life
in prison instead of the death penalty.
I can't do this alone.
I love you.
[laughs shortly]
[sniffles]
I wish I was educated in the way it worked,
because I would have known that was a lie.
Hang on.
Hang on, I need to get some --
Can I go get some air real quick?
[footsteps receding]
[somber music playing]
WOMAN: Serving three life sentences
with no chance of parole,
Christian Fuhr will never walk the streets again.
But the danger still lurks out there.
Someone may have already picked up where he left off.
While Christian was already arrested,
um, he was in jail,
a fourth victim
had been murdered.
So it made it look like it wasn't him.
WOMAN: Since December, three more prostitutes
have been murdered with striking similarities.
With one serial killer off the streets for good, police can
only hope they don't have another one on their hands.
That also made me believe Christian was
innocent, because he was in the county jail.
There was no possible way,
so for him to say, see, you know,
it's not me, it's still continuing.
I believed it.
They do have the wrong person, because
it's still continuing with him being arrested.
I was very faithful.
I didn't date, I didn't even go anywhere.
I would sit at home and wait for
his phone calls and write him almost daily.
I actually ended up losing my job.
Like, I couldn't put it together.
Those are just a handful of letters from Christian.
For the last 18 years,
I've had well over a thousand plus letters.
I only have a few left -- I go
through stages where I need to get rid of them.
I had a good visit with you the other day.
Do me a favor, and when the time comes to say goodbye,
just don't leave.
I know it'll come one day, one month or even one year.
When the time comes,
say goodbye -- I will miss you,
but I will be happy for you,
because you'll be happy and hopefully content.
I think he knew eventually I would
cut things off and say goodbye,
but I would
wait for letters to come in the mail.
I would be so excited.
I wouldn't plan to go anywhere, because
I didn't want to miss the mailman coming.
Nobody but my dad knew about it.
I had to keep it all secret, because so many people judge.
In so many ways, they're right.
Why would I stay in contact with a convicted serial murder?
For many years,
my life revolved around him.
It wasn't something easy.
People that judge couldn't understand unless
they had walked in my shoes.
[ominous music playing]
Christian told me he was going to send
me a box of his belongings for safekeepings.
When the package arrived, I was really
excited to see what was in the box.
And I went in my room and got on my bed and opened it up,
and thinking it was going to be some of his clothes
or things like that,
and it was, uh, paperwork and photos
of his case.
When I started to sift through the papers,
it didn't take me long to realize this
was the whole case file for three murders.
Every police report,
the actual photos
of the bodies as they are found.
I didn't know
they had that much evidence.
Looking through the case file,
it hit me hard.
He is guilty.
Like, there is just a flood of emotions.
I had it in my hands.
When I accepted he was guilty,
every little thing
actually became clear.
The jacket.
The night he went to pick his truck up.
Those clean hands, because he brutally beat a woman to death.
I had to accept that this person that would
look me in the eyes,
and I believed was telling the truth,
was a monster.
I didn't want to turn to the next page.
You can blink your eyes a million times.
You can flip through a million pages,
but those photos never go away.
What I saw, most people don't see.
[somber piano music]
These are the women Christian murdered.
I saw the photographs of them alive.
Then I saw the...
raw,
real pictures of their death.
Each one of these women were somebody's daughter,
maybe somebody's sister, maybe somebody's mother.
They did not deserve to lose their life.
♪♪
I carry a lot of guilt,
and the guilt is because
I believed somebody that was
so cruel.
♪♪
If I could say something to each one of them,
I would tell them I am truly sorry that
I defended a guilty man
and didn't fight then to get justice.
I have fought for Christian and not for these women.
And that's something very hard to live with.
What would give me closure, I believe, is for him
to actually admit to me he did it.
But I have never gotten
the truth from Christian, to this day.
He's never admitted it directly to me.
He has lied to me for two decades,
and I always wonder, did he really love me,
or was I just somebody to be there that he could count on
and depend on?
I have moved on with my life.
I do not still love him,
but it changed me as a person.
He got into my soul.
I question everything, not just my relationships,
it's my friendships,
it's any -- anybody -- I can be talking to somebody in
a grocery store, and it's, what are you hiding?
What's the other side to you?
I didn't know the other side of Christian.
He is evil. He took lives.
And I thought over the years, like, what if there were other
victims, because he wasn't from Ohio, he was from New York.
I want to believe there's not,
but anything is possible.