[ominous music]
‐ It is incredibly rare
for criminal defendants to take the stand.
It's a risk very few take.
At stake, one's freedom or even their life.
This is Todd Mullis, a farmer, and father of three
charged with killing his wife.
[dramatic music]
‐ I just pulled the fork out.
I picked her head up a little bit
and there was‐‐ there was just nothing.
There was just no response.
‐ He's decided to take that gamble.
Could it helped him convince the jury he's not guilty?
‐ She must've fell on a‐‐ fell on a corn fork.
‐ Or will it come back to haunt him?
‐ You want me to confess to something I did not do.
‐ Take a court‐side seat
with the medical examiner,
the reporter who covered the case,
the family's attorney,
and the lead investigator.
I'm Dan Abrams, and this is "Under Oath".
‐ Raise your right hand‐‐ ‐ Do you solemnly swear?
‐ I'm being honest with everything I've told you.
‐ Do you solemnly swear?
‐ The whole truth and nothing but the truth‐‐
‐ I would like to testify.
‐ The testimony you are about to give‐‐
‐ The whole truth and nothing but the truth.
‐ So help you, God.
[dramatic music]
[tense music]
‐ I believe one of the witnesses
described you as being excited?
‐ Yeah, I was very excited.
I think I had adrenaline pouring out of my ears.
I was just‐‐I was in reaction mode.
I wanted to get her to the hospital.
Come on. Let's go.
♪ ♪
‐ Todd Mullis, an Iowa born and raised pig farmer
stands accused of the brutal killing of Amy Mullis,
his wife of 14 years.
The couple's 13‐year‐old son found Amy unresponsive
in a shed on the family farm,
impaled with a corn rake.
Despite his pleas of innocence,
Todd Mullis is charged
with first‐degree premeditated murder
and faces life in prison.
Todd Mullis has decided to testify
in hopes of explaining
how he got caught up in this horrific death.
♪ ♪
‐ Todd, did you ambush your wife, Amy,
in that shed that day
and brutally beat her with that corn fork?
‐ No, I did not.
[tense music]
♪ ♪
‐ Amy had so much life left to live,
but that life was viciously taken from her
on November 10, 2018,
in a town called Earlville.
‐ I farm crops.
We've got a hog operation, a custom feeding operation
where we raise our pigs for a company.
‐ The Mullises were very successful.
They ran a huge pig farm operation.
‐ Everybody talked about Amy Mullis like
she was a very nice person, very outgoing,
and they had three kids,
Taylor, Wyatt, and Trysten.
‐ They were kind of a model
Midwestern American family.
‐ Mr. Mullis, I'm going to move ahead now,
specifically to November 10, 2018.
And unfortunately, that was the day
of Amy's death, correct?
‐ Yes.
♪ ♪
‐ The day started out as any other.
Trysten and Todd were in the barn.
They were getting ready for a litter of piglets.
And then Amy came out, and she was also helping them.
Todd had asked her if she could get the pet carrier.
So Amy had gone off to the red shed
and she'd been gone for like an hour, I believe or so.
Then he asked Trysten if he could go check on her.
And so Trysten went over to the red shed,
and that's when he found his mother kneeling forward
and she had the corn rake in her back.
And, of course, he screamed for his dad.
She must've fell on a corn fork.
I really don't know what happened.
‐ From Todd's perspective, it was an accident.
‐ When they got to the hospital,
Amy was already dead.
So they were waiting for the medical examiner.
‐ Upon examination of the body,
I noted that there were a total of six wounds
that were arranged, not in a row,
but more so scattered across her back.
And further examination of the corn rake
showed the corn rake had a total of four tines.
Indicating that she would have to be impaled by the rake
at least twice.
And that indicated to me
that the manner of her death was not accident,
but it was a homicide.
Of the six wounds,
a number of them entered the chest cavity,
and one that was actually on the right side of the back
went through the entire chest cavity
and into the right breast
and punctured her breast implant.
‐ Mrs. Mullis sustained other injuries
to her face, to her hands, a gash to her chin.
Those are all indicative
of some type of struggle or assault attack
prior to those fatal injuries.
[intense music]
‐ But there was more that Todd Mullis
would have to explain.
♪ ♪
‐ Amy Mullis met Jerry Frasier
through the Delaware County Pork Producers.
Amy had started an affair with Jerry Frasier
about five years before,
and then their relationship kind of cooled down
and then it, you know, started again.
Todd Mullis was really possessive,
so it was kind of dangerous for her
to actually start that again.
So at this point in the investigation,
they're starting to kind of put together
the pieces of the puzzle.
‐ You want me to confess to something I did not do.
I did not do that.
‐ Were you able to get Amy out the door
with the fork stuck in her back?
‐ There was no way.
So I just pulled the fork out.
I tossed it.
And I got underneath of her, and I told Trysten,
"Go get the truck. We got to go."
‐ This is a circumstantial evidence case.
There's not a lot of physical evidence in this case.
Even the crime scene was devoid of blood
and other things that you typically would see
when someone's viciously attacked.
[ominous piano music]
‐ Todd Mullis was seemingly living
an American dream with his family on their farm.
He insisted he's innocent and that he did not‐‐could not
have impaled his wife
and mother of his children with a corn rake.
He's willing to take the stand and risk being sentenced
to life without parole.
So will Mullis' account convince the jury,
or at least establish reasonable doubt?
‐ If you're going to be one of those few people
who testify in your own defense,
oh, you better be ready to hit one out of the park.
Because your fate hangs on your every word
that you speak to that jury.
‐ Todd Mullis needs to persuade the jury that
while his wife's renewed affair
with their pig distributor was devastating,
he had no motive or even ability to kill her.
♪ ♪
‐ How did you meet Amy?
‐ I met Amy at the Delaware County Fair in Manchester.
I just met her at the beer tent or something like that.
‐ How long did the two of you date before marrying?
‐ I'd say, well, it went about 14 months.
♪ ♪
‐ We've heard a lot of testimony
about Amy having an affair.
What did you and Amy do about it?
‐ We decided immediately that
she wanted to quit her affair,
go to counseling,
and then wholeheartedly work it out.
‐ Was there any direction given to you by this counselor
as to how to work on your marriage?
‐ Just to be open, and it really helped.
It really, really progressed well.
‐ Were you satisfied that she wanted to stay married
and would be faithful?
‐ Yes.
‐ Up until the time of Amy's death,
did you have any suspicions at all
that she was having an affair?
‐ No.
‐ So Amy had, in fact, left her job as a nurse
to recommit herself to, you know,
the farm work and to the family life.
‐ Was there any reaction from Amy when you announced
this plan to go out and work
in the hog barn to get things ready?
‐ I think she just asked, "Hey, you need some help?
Mind if I come out?"
‐ How did this thing with the pet carrier come about?
‐ Trysten actually suggested it.
He goes, "Hey, Dad, we need to get that pet carrier out."
And I go, "Yeah.
"Amy, why don't you go get
that pet carrier out of the shed?"
‐ What did you and Trysten do after she left the hog barn?
‐ We just continued working.
‐ At any point, did you become aware
that Trysten had stepped out
of the main part of the hog barn?
‐ Yeah, I think I‐‐I seen him take‐‐I seen him go down
towards the end to get a drink.
Yeah.
That's what he said he was going to do.
"I'm gonna grab a drink quick, Dad."
‐ The big question, I think, developed
with regard to the timeline.
I think it perhaps became something
that was difficult for the jury to accept.
‐ Trysten told authorities
he was with his dad all morning
except when he stepped outside the barn
to get a drink of water.
The defense argues that would only give Todd
a matter of minutes to run
from the far end of the hog barn,
across roughly 100 yards to the red shed,
attack and kill Amy, and run back without being caught
or showing physical signs of distress.
‐ So the question was, was he out of Trysten's sight
long enough to have committed this crime
and get back to the area
where he would have been with Trysten?
♪ ♪
‐ Was he gone very long? ‐ No.
‐ While he was doing that, did you ever leave the barn?
‐ No, I did not.
‐ The argument that it's
virtually impossible for Todd
to carry out this murder is an effective argument.
Here, you know, we have a great distance being covered.
We have the brutality of this murder,
and then he returns to his son as though nothing happened.
Those are the kinds of issues
that can make a jury pause.
And if you're a defense attorney,
what you want a jury to do is you want them to pause,
and you want them to reflect,
and you want them to say, "Hey, is this possible?"
‐ Todd, did you ambush your wife, Amy,
in that shed that day
and brutally beat her with that corn fork?
‐ No, I did not.
‐ Maybe everything else we heard
doesn't sound good for Todd Mullis,
but could he have done it?
And if it's not possible
that he could have done it in that short window.
then we have to find him not guilty.
‐ Up until the time of Amy's death,
did you have any suspicions at all
that she was having an affair?
[tense music]
‐ No.
‐ Todd Mullis is accused of impaling his wife,
Amy, with a corn rake.
Mullis has now taken the stand in his own defense,
telling the story of a happy all‐American family
and arguing that he never had the time
or even a reason to murder his wife.
But now his account has to stand up
to the prosecutor's cross‐examination.
♪ ♪
‐ At that point, that agent Turbett says to you,
"Hey, do you have a Jerry Frasier
that works on your farm?" And you say, "Yeah."
‐ Damn.
‐ Agent Turbett goes on to ask you,
"Anything else I need to know about Jerry Frasier?"
And you say, "No."
Which was not the truth
because you didn't tell him at that point
about the fact that you confronted Amy and Jerry
about the affair.
You didn't bring it...
‐ I‐I didn't bring it up that time.
‐ You didn't bring it up then.
‐ Amy was not happy.
She was having an affair,
and she was planning on leaving the defendant.
The defendant knew she was having another affair.
And the defendant had to do something.
‐ Todd Mullis said that Amy had changed.
And so I think that's when he was concerned,
and so he started looking at her phone
and found, you know, that she'd been calling
Jerry Frasier and found text messages.
‐ Back in 2018, did you work on the Mullis farm?
‐ Yes. ‐ And in what capacity
did you do work at the Mullis farm?
‐ Just overseeing their hog operation.
‐ At some point, did your relationship
with Amy change from a business relationship
to some other type of relationship?
‐ Yes. ‐ And this was
a sexual relationship, correct? ‐ Yes
‐ Generally, where would you and Amy meet?
‐ Usually just on a gravel road somewhere.
‐ And in fact, you talked to the police
shortly after Amy's death?
‐ Yes. ‐ And you indicated to them
that you believe the last time you saw her,
that you did have some type of sexual relations?
‐ It wasn't. Yeah, it was not sex,
It was oral.
[ominous music]
‐ Did you and Amy ever have
any conversations about what Todd would do
if he found out she was having an affair?
‐ One time, she did say that
if he ever found out, she would disappear.
‐ Amy Mullis had told friends that she was afraid
of her husband and even went as far as to say, you know,
"If something happens to me,
look at Todd Mullis, my husband."
‐ All of Amy's friends were aware that Todd
was a very controlling personality,
and they even referred to Amy as "PoT", Prisoner of Todd.
‐ What, if anything, happened in July 2018?
‐ Todd confronted me about a bunch of text messages,
and then I denied it.
‐ She said [bleep] was going to hit the fan
because Todd had called Jerry's wife.
‐ The prosecution paints Todd Mullis
as a scorned lover, betrayed by his wife's
extramarital affairs and seeking revenge.
He spent years building their life together
and had everything to lose if Amy left him.
‐ The way that we know that the defendant planned this was
after the police executed a search warrant on his house.
They collected the defendant's iPad that is connected
to his personal Gmail account,
and they were able to see searches in the months
before Amy's death.
January 5th, 2018.
There's a search for
"Characteristics of cheating women."
Did you do that search? ‐ No.
‐ And right around that time,
"Did ancient cultures kill adulterers?"
Did you do that one?
‐ No.
‐ All the internet searches
are indicative of premeditation,
planning, determining how he's going
to accomplish his wife's murder.
‐ And right after that "Killing unfaithful women."
Did you do that search? ‐ No.
‐ And the last one of that bunch
is a visited site,
"Punishment is 18 months for killing cheating wife."
Did you do that one? ‐ No.
‐ What's more on point
is the fact that he searched for the penalty
for someone who kills an adultering spouse.
He was looking forward,
"If I do get caught, what penalty will I suffer?"
‐ You called 911 on November 10, 2018,
and you pull over because they want you
to be able to do CPR. You remember that?
‐ Yeah. Yep. ‐ Because eventually,
you do some CPR on her. Is that right?
‐ Yes. ‐ Now, Todd, here I'm gonna‐‐
I'm gonna play you the part
where you're doing the chest compressions.
And I'm just going to ask that you listen
in between the chest compressions, okay?
‐ [breathing heavily over phone]
Cheating whore.
‐ Todd, do you whisper, "Cheating whore" right there?
‐ No.
‐ Okay, I am going to play another clip for you.
Just try to listen really closely.
I just want to know if you remember what you said.
‐ Cheating whore.
[breathing heavily over phone]
[indistinct]
Go to hell, cheating whore.
‐ Right there, do you say, "Go to hell cheating whore?"
‐ Go to hell, cheating whore.
‐ No. ‐ So you don't hear that?
After you hear a ping, you don't hear
"Go to hell, cheating whore"?
‐ No.
‐ The allegation was that
Todd was making remarks
about his wife while he was giving her CPR
that indicated he wanted her to die.
Not only had he denied it earlier,
and he said it was an accident,
but now we have this kind of anger and venom
still pouring out at the point
when he's trying to resuscitate her.
So in terms of whether or not this was devastating
to his defense?
Absolutely.
‐ The image of Todd Mullis insulting his wife
while administering CPR
could leave a lasting impression on any jury.
But did he even have the time to do it?
Has the prosecution done enough to convince
12 jurors of his guilt?
‐ So the physical evidence is absent here,
but the circumstantial evidence
continues to pile up.
But anybody who's tried cases knows
that there's no predicting what a jury will do.
[tense music]
‐ I was a faithful and loving husband,
and I never did this.
[dramatic music]
‐ You saw photographs of how big that barn is
and where the entrances and exits are.
So what the state would want you to believe apparently
is that Todd went
to the other end of the bar and out a door
and ran up the length of a football field,
then onto the red shed,
committed a murder,
got back before Trysten finished a drink of water.
Now, feasible?
That's what you have to decide.
♪ ♪
‐ Amy Mullis will never get to see her kids graduate
from high school.
She won't be there when they go off to college,
and she won't be there when they get married
because her life ended
when she was brutally
and viciously attacked
with a corn rake on November 10, 2018.
Amy Mullis would still be alive today
if it weren't for the actions of her husband.
[dramatic music]
‐ Todd Mullis maintains he did not kill
his wife of 14 years over her extramarital affairs.
But did he come across as credible?
Would it be enough for at least one juror,
if not all of them, to have reasonable doubt?
♪ ♪
‐ So when the jury left to deliberate,
you don't know which way it's going to go.
‐ Any case can have quirks on it.
This was a case that I was not convinced
would go either way.
‐ We, the jury, find the defendant,
Todd Michael Mullis,
guilty of the crime of murder in the first‐degree.
[dramatic music]
‐ Taking the stand was a gamble that in this case
did not help Todd Mullis.
He tried to tell a story of a happy family,
but much of the evidence told a different story.
The confrontation over his wife's renewed affair
and nearly a year of internet searches
about killing unfaithful women
may have sealed Todd Mullis' fate.
Todd Mullis was sentenced to mandatory life in prison
without the possibility of parole.
‐ This was, by outward appearances,
your sort of all‐American family
but internally, it was a very troubled family
in a very troubled relationship between Amy and Todd.
Really, kind of, sums up
the tragedy of this whole case.
Amy Mullis is gone.
The mother of three children.
Todd Mullis will now spend
the rest of his life in prison.
You have three children who don't have a mother
or a father, you know,
he left his children essentially orphans
as a result of this tragedy.
‐ Without a mother or father to raise them,
the Mullis children have fallen into a custody battle
between the surviving grandparents.
A once‐happy family is now left in shambles.
‐ The destruction of the family is what I see
as the final coup de grace
so to speak, in these circumstances.
‐ Defendants are never forced to take the stand,
but that decision is likely the biggest one
they'll ever make.
For "Under Oath," I am Dan Abrams.
[dramatic music]