Hey Headliners - Next week we will be taking a short break, but will return to our usual schedule on May 5th!
This week get's very fancy - Matt covers S04 E05 of Law and Order titled Black Tie, so we hope you're dressed for the occasion. We are talking about some serious money in this episode, and surprisingly the true story that inspired the show does more than triple the amount from the episode! Stay tuned as Enn tells us the story of heiress and socialite Sunny von Bülow - It's still debated whether the events that led to her highly publicized coma were intentional or not; Tell us what you think!
Hey Headliners - Next week we will be taking a short break, but will return to our usual schedule on May 5th!
This week get's very fancy - Matt covers S04 E05 of Law and Order titled Black Tie, so we hope you're dressed for the occasion. We are talking about some serious money in this episode, and surprisingly the true story that inspired the show does more than triple the amount from the episode! Stay tuned as Enn tells us the story of heiress and socialite Sunny von Bülow - It's still debated whether the events that led to her highly publicized coma were intentional or not; Tell us what you think!
Hey listeners, just checking in to give you a quick update next week, and I will be taking a short break. We'll be taking one week off, so there'll be no new episode premiering on April 28. But don't be alarmed. We'll be back with a brand new episode for you on May 5, and we'll be back to our normal recording schedule. Thank you so much for listening and we can't wait to connect again. In this true crime law and order podcast,
Voiceover:the episodes are presented by two separate yet equally ridiculous individuals, one who researches the actual crime and the other who recaps the episode. These are their stories.
Matt Molinaro:We did it did me
Enn Burke:Well, I mean, sure we're here. So that's why I'm doing it.
Unknown:That's gone on. Thanks. Gosh.
Enn Burke:Oh, you know what's so funny is I all the time when I said Jinx as a kid, I knew that like NPB was a part of it like Jinx NPB bottle of Coke or bottle of milk. And, and I never knew what it meant until I realized as an adult, I think probably maybe even just now that it's no pass backs.
Matt Molinaro:I've never heard NPB with Jay really?
Enn Burke:I always said Jinx MPV bottle of whatever.
Matt Molinaro:Oh, we always said like Jinx. You owe me a coke or drinks. You owe me a soda.
Enn Burke:Well, I don't know. Maybe it was a regional thing.
Matt Molinaro:I used to know somebody who said Pepsi tanks. What? Yeah,
Enn Burke:it's like, first they would say Pepsi and then Jinx. It
Matt Molinaro:was just that would Yeah, I think for it to be like Pepsi drinks. I don't know. Maybe there were people who really were really against coke. But in the great scope. Pepsi debate, they felt firmly with Pepsi. Maybe they wanted to make sure nobody thought they meant they wanted to cook.
Enn Burke:I literally just googled Jinx and PB bottle of Coke and nothing. There are literally no Google search results.
Matt Molinaro:NPB that might Yeah, that may be original. That's so
Enn Burke:weird. Okay. Strange. Yeah. If you know the origins of NPB as part of the jinx rule or game, whatever it is,
Unknown:let me know. Jenks monsoon.
Enn Burke:Well, that was one of the things that did come up when I just Googled Jinx and beat NPB. But then once I put in Jinx NPB bottle of Coke, it was not an option. So get
Matt Molinaro:them part of the cultural zeitgeist. Now I know. We're huge expansion fan.
Enn Burke:I was not a jinx monsoon fan during the season. I was a really big Alaska fan during the season. And I also really like to detox during the season. And now I like Jinx a lot.
Matt Molinaro:Yeah, I liked her during the season. But I think I never thought during the season that she was going to win. No, me either. And when she did, I was pleasantly surprised. And I'm excited to see her in the next all stars.
Enn Burke:I was just gonna say Did you see the announcement for the new season?
Matt Molinaro:I did. I haven't answered. So we haven't seen the whole last season of drag race still. So we're going to just bust season one day season 14. Yeah, I haven't not seen a single episode. Oh my gosh, it's a really good season. Is it on paramount?
Enn Burke:I watch it live on VH. One. Maybe we
Matt Molinaro:could do an MPH one then. Okay. Yeah, figure out where to find it. That's yeah, one of the issues. And then someone told me that it's a good season, but it goes on for
Enn Burke:ever. There are a total of six episodes where no one goes home. Oh, come
Matt Molinaro:on. Yeah, it's wild yawn. Well, anyway.
Enn Burke:Well, I have just a couple of things to mention. The first is, I have been just kind of discovering some new music recently. And I came across a the bill themselves as the first gay trap artist, and they're from Puerto Rico, and their name is Kevin fret. And as I was, I like stumbled across one of their songs and was like, Oh, this is fun. But then I was like, Oh, they've only released two songs. And then when I searched for them, I read that they were murdered. And that the case is still unsolved. And so I may end up covering their case if there's enough information on it in one of our future episodes.
Matt Molinaro:Wow. Yeah, sad. That's really sad.
Enn Burke:The other thing that I have to mention is my miles and my our friend Nina have and I have been watching Miami. The new season of Miami. Yay. Okay. What
Unknown:do you think?
Enn Burke:I think it's great. Like I think it's top tier seasons.
Matt Molinaro:Totally. I think it's be like someone put on the internet before Miami premiered that they were hoping that it was going to follow in the footsteps of being like a fresh start for the housewives franchise like the girls trips were Yes, and I got it too. And like Potomac, I think it's so good.
Enn Burke:It's fantastic. Yeah.
Matt Molinaro:Okay, I have one thing. Okay, that your I didn't write it down, but you reminded me of it just now when you said the music thing. Oh, yeah. I've been listening to a new artist for me at least I'm sure they're not new in the world. But they're called Daisy the great. I don't know them. I didn't either. But now, they came up on one of the, you know, recommended for you playlists on Spotify or something. Okay. And I cannot stop listening to them now. They're so good. It's it's two girls from Brooklyn, I think or something. But they're really really fun. They're good. They're, they've got to, from what I hear so far, they have a pretty good span of different types of music. It's like indie, indie. Really fun, really good. I really enjoy the record player, song and glitter.
Enn Burke:Say the name again.
Matt Molinaro:Daisy, the great.
Enn Burke:Daisy, the great. I'm literally pulling them up on my google play right now to check them out.
Matt Molinaro:Yeah, let me know what you think. Um, I play the record player song over and over again, because it just has a really fun, easy to like, listen to beat when I'm at work. Yeah. Like it brings my mood up whenever I'm having a particularly hard time.
Enn Burke:I was. I recently rediscovered a band called Pamplemousse, which is yes. Do you know you know about them? I love Pomplamoose. So I was in my new favorite coffee shop in town the other day. And for anybody who lives in Santa Barbara, go get coffee at Dean not doon Dean. That was our best favorite coffee place before we moved. It is the best coffee in town, I think,
Matt Molinaro:oh my god, the coffee is really good. The people are super nice, so nice as toasts that they
Enn Burke:made pastries, and all of those things are so good. So if you live in Santa Barbara, definitely go go go there. Or if you're passing through Santa Barbara, make a point to stop at dean. And so they were playing music the other day, and it was Daft Punk, Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger. But it was a woman singing and I was like, Oh, this is fun. And so I just looked up like covers of it. And I was like, Oh my gosh, it's problem is who I really liked their music generally, and didn't realize they had covered that song. And then kind of was like, Oh, I'm gonna add this to my playlist. So shout out to Pomplamoose as well.
Matt Molinaro:I love Pomplamoose we, that was one of the artists that I liked before me and Davey got together because they've been around for a minute now. Yeah. And I remember, like one of their songs came up on one of our Spotify earlier in our relationship. Uh huh. And we both looked at each other like, oh my god, you know, Papa Louis.
Unknown:That's cute. Cute.
Enn Burke:I actually do have one more thing, which is, as we know, from a recent episode that I am currently listening to or not listening to you. I am currently watching Keeping Up With The Kardashians. And I guess actually listening to is a probably a more accurate description because I just put it on and like do other things. And so they say, of course, they do ridiculous things, but they also say the most ridiculous things. And so I thought maybe I would bring you a Kardashian quote of the week for every episode while I'm watching them. Oh, great. So this week's quote, actually, I have to, but I the this week's quote is Kim, Stop taking pictures of yourself, your sister's going to jail. They are so like, because Chloe got a DUI and she's supposed to serve like 30 days in jail or whatever. And they're like on the way to the courthouse or whatever. And Kim is just like taking selfies the whole time. They are just absolutely absurd. So thank you. Anyway,
Unknown:I'm excited for this new segment.
Enn Burke:Let's see if I remember for next week. I'll have to keep an ear out for the next one. Yes. All right.
Matt Molinaro:You ready to do it? I am. All right. This is episode five of season four. And the title is black tie. Hmm. Fancy. I hope everyone is dressed for the occasion. Yeah.
Enn Burke:Put on your your finest formal wear right now.
Matt Molinaro:And I forgot to look up guest stars. So I just literally have the IMDB be open just in case anyone pops up because I felt like some of the people looked really familiar.
Enn Burke:Yeah, there was one actress who actually looked a lot like Cynthia from Real Housewives to me, like very similar face shape.
Matt Molinaro:Yes. She was one of the ones I was like to I never found anything else. And do you?
Unknown:Oh my god. Wait to find out what she was saying. Okay, we'll get there.
Enn Burke:Is it charmed? No. Is it Sabrina? The teenage witch? No. Okay.
Matt Molinaro:But it's in your in the right world. Great. Okay, so the episode starts and we're in a bedroom overlooking the city that it looks like it could be Eva Gabor's from Green Acres. It's like the inside of a bottle, yeah, lots of muted expensive linens everywhere. And random marble busts for no reason in the bedroom. And I just thought this would be like the place where they would do a 90s Barbara Walters interview with frosted lens. Like kind of camera work. It's very all one color.
Enn Burke:It kind of almost looks like the inside of it looks like a set on like dynasty or something. Oh,
Matt Molinaro:yes, exact. Perfect. That's exactly it.
Enn Burke:Also, you should you'll be proud. I forgot to watch the episode until about an hour ago. And it was like, Oh, I have to watch it. Even though I got it in there before but I almost forgot again.
Matt Molinaro:You know, it's even better. It's fresh in your mind. It is. And we have a wealthy white woman laying in her bed. And she's talking to the elderly like French housekeeper house manager type character. And then the woman. The house manager goes downstairs to another room. And it's like all disheveled when she goes inside, it's another bedroom. And no one answers when she knocks so she goes inside and then she opens the bathroom within this room. And Mr. Keyes, who will find out his name is is in his underwear lying on the floor, face down and he is deceased.
Enn Burke:We were both bed naked lying on the bathroom floor.
Unknown:Got the idea for the song.
Matt Molinaro:So then we cut to the station where we get some tasteless gay joke from Logan. No big surprise there. Oh, I missed that. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And then Briscoe gets an anonymous call from someone saying that Jonathan keys was murdered in the penthouse of keys towers. So we've learned that they are well to do people they owe Richie. Richie Rich to the extreme. The pair of detectives show up and they're greeted by a butler named Felix and he tells them that the family attorney Gary Darby will see them. That turn it.
Unknown:A turret says Hey, turn it. You did a tourniquet. Yeah.
Matt Molinaro:So the family attorney, Garrett Darby emerges. And he says that, oh, I don't know why you're here. Mr. Keyes did die. But he died of natural causes. And the body is in the guest suite if you want to come see it. Pretty suspicious. Yeah. Then the elderly member of the staff who we saw earlier tells them this is how she found the potty. And she called the family doctor right away. Who is also in the room. A lot of people are here before they got here. Yeah. And he says that this problem is just heart failure. Looks pretty cut and try to him. And when we see the body he's no longer naked. Like we saw him before. He is in a soup lying in bed face up. Yeah. Like it was very strange. Yes. Not trying to make this look natural at all. No. And then they say, oh, yeah, he was just dressed like this because he was at some ballet or something. And then we cut to the opening credits. You
Enn Burke:always fall apart. You always fall asleep in your tuxedo. When you get home from the ballet.
Matt Molinaro:Yeah, you just lay right down in your most comfortable clothes that you're in the right or three piece tuxedo, and you just lie down like a corpse on your back. On top of the blankets. Yeah. So the opening credits began and I had some time. Not as much as usual, but I was able to schedule myself a colonoscopy. I went down to the facility. I got it done. I got home felt great. And we're back.
Enn Burke:Great. Oh, God. Nevermind, I was about to ask you a question. Okay, but I would. It's, uh, it's the procedure is not bad. And the sedatives that they give you for the procedure, like they fully I think they use the drugs that I think Michael Jackson overdosed on or was like, using a lot of in the last period of his life, and I think and they are amazing feeling drugs. So I fully understood why people would become addicted to it. But the prep work is so not worth it.
Matt Molinaro:Oh god. I just scheduled a lot of colonoscopies for my job. Yeah, and I let me tell you just the the amount of work that goes into just like figuring out the benefits for people for the colonoscopy makes me never want to get one. Yeah. So we come back to the episode and the victim's wife says that she came home early from the event that they were out together. And she went to bed at 4pm. What anyway, and she has no idea when her husband had gotten home her husband is the deceased man.
Enn Burke:So they were they were at an early afternoon event that
Matt Molinaro:form aware right. And then he kept he came home who knows when she forgot because she fell asleep at four Yeah, yeah. So then, she explains that the reason that the two of them have separate rooms but because she has some sort of sleep disorder, she's very light sleeper. And she suspects that the reason the cops were called at all was for tabloid fodder. They're soon flabbergasted that they're taking the body to be examined. The victim's wife and all of the representatives
Enn Burke:in the assembly.
Matt Molinaro:And she's so upset, she goes upstairs to get changed. And when she comes downstairs from getting changed, she's in what looks like slightly fancier pajamas that when she was wearing, but it's actually like a pantsuit made out of the same fabric as everything else in the house.
Enn Burke:Also, I like I'm so upset, I have to go change my clothes.
Matt Molinaro:She brushed her hair and changed her clothes. It came back down the stairs of the penthouse. Yeah. Lieutenant Van Buren arrives on the scene. And she's just in time to hear the widow and the attorney continually call this an outrage. I think the word outrageous had six times. And now it's just a bid for who's going to get the body basically, in the time it took her to get changed. There are now two gentlemen from the funeral home in the house with a gurney just waiting. And the police are there with some you know, other people who are saying that they're going to take the body because they have to do an autopsy. But she says absolutely not. You know, you're not cutting my husband up. But then, in talking with Lieutenant Van Buren, she agrees to let the funeral guys like take the body. But you know, they only are allowed to do a non invasive autopsy with the Emmy from the police station though. So you know, it seems like a compromise. And she's like, just as long as he's not cut up. Everything she's asked for the first parts of the episode is like breathy like she's She can't even get it out. Then outside, the two detectives are acting like babies, particularly Logan, because they're upset that Van Buren came in and sort of took the lead. And Logan's like, You acted like we couldn't handle it. And she says, What you can't handle is my rank and a skirt. Okay, and that she tells them basically, you got to just do your jobs and deal with it. And so they're like, be grudgingly going down to meet with the me to find out, you know, what they can get from the non abusive autopsy. When they get there, the me tells them there's really nothing obvious. There's some indication of water immersion, but that's about it. And she couldn't get any clean blood samples, because the blood is so polluted from formaldehyde. And they're like, What the hell? And she says, Oh, yeah, didn't you know that the body was embalmed at the funeral home immediately at the family's orders? Suspicious, suspicious, suspicious, suspicious, everything in this episode, so suspicious. Briscoe picks up the paper from like a nearby newsstand and then the front page. He sees the you know, the headline about this society man who passed away. And I guess the photograph on the front is meant to be from the day he died. But they noticed that the outfit he's wearing in the photograph is different because he's wearing a cumberbund. And in bed, he was wearing a vest. cumberbund people recover bones anymore.
Enn Burke:I mean, I when I was a ring bearer in my aunt's wedding in 1987 Maybe I remember wearing a T or cumberbund
Matt Molinaro:Oh, I think the only time I could ever remember wearing a collarbone also was being a ring bearer and a wedding.
Enn Burke:How funny. I mean, what else honestly, what other bands when we're you and I are not the at the ballet people wearing cover bands. We're just not that kind of person.
Matt Molinaro:That's true. But I am at the ballet fan of that song from the musical but I know you're non musical person. Now I don't even get the reference A Chorus Line. Oh, no. A family favorite song from Chorus Line. Great. Anyway, they detectives follow up with the woman who he's pictured with in this front page article. And her name is Marta Marcela de portato. This is the woman who thought look like CYNTHIA Right?
Enn Burke:Yes,
Matt Molinaro:she is actress. Let's see what her name is Beverly, She is an actress. She is the actress Beverly Johnson. And she was in Martin and the movie crossroads.
Enn Burke:Oh my god.
Unknown:Other things as well but cross
Enn Burke:is that is that on our list of movies to cover on the Patreon I added
Matt Molinaro:a few recently and I think I added it but if it's not it's going to be up there. Okay, I'll go check.
Unknown:I think I added it when I added Coyote Ugly
Matt Molinaro:Okay, so my salah Deepa TAGO she works at some store that does accessories and Think she owns it. And she says that you know her and the victim always flirted. And his widow Danielle, never really minded. She approved of it. It was good for their image. And Jonathan was a playboy basically. And it was understood in their relationship. It wasn't a big deal. So then they go to talk to his driver a next and he is not a fan of the widow. He says that she's like, terrible, and he's going to miss the victim even though he was a philanderer. And, you know, he says that Danielle's a piece of work. So he leads them to talk to a Cover Girl and Kathy Rogers, who is the victim's girlfriend at the time. And Mrs. Keys was too self involved to care that he was dating someone else, according to him. So they go to show up at a photo shoot to meet the Cover Girl. And the photographer is wearing a printed vest that matches any Trapper Keeper you've seen in the 90s. There's like five prints on it. But I tell him that Cathy's here, but she's hiding. And she's literally just behind them sitting on a chair. And she's in plainclothes and she says, As soon as they walk over to her, she killed him. Before they asked him her a single question. Right? They could have been there for a parking ticket. Right? She killed him. And they're like, Okay, well, he needs to talk to us about that. And she says that she's willing to help them, but she's, you know, kind of holding out for a TV movie deal she might get from her story. Yeah. So that's gonna, that's gonna fly. Well, yeah, she's had that the night, or the day of his death slash murder. They had showered together in his bathroom. And then she left. And when she left, he was in bed watching CNN. And she called him when she got home. And he had to go because his wife was coming into the room. So that leads her to believe that that's the last person who saw him alive. Yeah. Then danielda widow is interviewed again, and she says that she did not see him that day. And she confirms that the two did lead separate lives romantically. And that, again, all of this is just tabloid fodder. And, you know, she was okay with their arrangement, basically. Right. While speaking, the family lawyer arrives with an Emmy report showing that keys died of natural causes, according to it, so the interview ends pretty abruptly. Back at the station, Van Buren tells the detectives that basically all they have is hearsay. And it's slightly odd behavior, but not the most uncommon, so they don't have a case. And the detectives that I think you usually describe this guy as the detective that comes in with information. Yes, the guy who walks in from off camera. Yeah, he walks in from off camera with some information.
Enn Burke:We should name him What should he be named?
Unknown:I'm
Enn Burke:currently in tow guy
Unknown:info guy.
Enn Burke:Oh my god. Let's call him Jeeves. Because he's like asked Jeeves, perfect to
Unknown:ask. Jeeves walks in.
Matt Molinaro:And he hands you know Briscoe a message that Lance Keyes, who is the deceased man's son has called and wants to talk to him. And he wants them to go meet him and his lawyer at a like Country Club. So they go down to the country club. And Lance says that my father did not die of natural causes. He was like a spry guy. And this makes no sense. And he says that his father was planning a divorce from his stepmother and the lawyer and he tells the detectives that with Mr. Keys dead, Danielle stands to inherit $36 million and an estate in Southampton. $36 million. That's a lot. That's a lot of money. I mean, please, for me, $3,600 is a lot of money. So
Enn Burke:Well, I was gonna say and especially back in, you know, the early days before coming on.
Matt Molinaro:So the detectors go back to the keys home. And this is a very strange scene to me. So every time they've gone to the key is home so far, Danielle is there and security is high. And they don't want them to go anywhere without them knowing. As we've seen in the first scene, there were like 26 staff members in the room when they got there. Yeah, but now they go back to the house and they are like apprehensively let in by the butler. Yeah. And he's just like, I don't think the woman of the house would like this. And they they're not like, you know, pushing past him like he just let them in and just feels bad about it's very strange that all of a sudden, the house is unmanned. Yeah. And then they go in and they have gloves on doing a like completely impromptu to search of the bedroom. And Logan finds conveniently on the ground a cotton ball and they find like a medicine wrapper of some sort, and then a confiscate it for evidence and in the Next scene, we find out that the lab has proven that the cotton ball had blood on it from the victim with traces of insulin. And Van Buren is like, Have you ever heard of a warrant? And she says, Listen, you can keep running this lead, but this is probably not going to hold up in court. So she allows them to go on and talk to the housekeeper at her personal home, the house manager from before, and she says that nobody in the house had diabetes, she would have known that because she does all of their doctor's appointments. Right. She also admits that she's the one who made the anonymous call in so many words, which I have to say if she was the one that made the anonymous call. It cannot possibly be anonymous, because she has the most voice French accent I've ever heard in my life. Yeah. And at the precinct, she says that Mrs. Keys did not want him found undressed, and it was like an undignified way to be found. So she cleaned up the room at her request, and she dressed him in those suit or whatever. And she did it personally because she wanted to see for herself if there was any indication of murder, because she suspected Danielle right away. She's not a fan of her. But she's worked for Mr. Keys for decades. And so that's why she stayed at the house. Then last shows up the sun. And he says that he had a private investigator come in and look what we found. And they have a like, cloth bag that they confiscated. And they have this like, other little baggie that looked like it had like a card in it or something. Yeah, but somehow it was like a needle. It's supposedly insulin coated. And it's a syringe and it was in Danielle's room and they find payment records where she bought insulin. It's all very, like, laid out for them. Yeah. And also her fingerprints on the syringe. So Right. Van Baron has like, this is kind of suspicious that all of this was just kind of right there and that you had a private I go in, but she says okay, well, I, I'm convinced that something could have happened. So she wants to have the body exhumed. So, Van Buren talks to the DHS team and next scene, and she was talking to Schiff and stone about it. And shift tells her that he's had 16 calls from high powered folks against this exclamation, so it's going to be hard to get done. Then in chambers, the DS team with Kincaid, meet with Danielle and her lawyer with a new lawyer, I think this time, and they kind of spar a bit about, you know whether this exclamation is going to happen and who's going to order it and the judge is going to throw it out and yada da then Lance's lawyer says that Danielle only married Jonathan the victim for his money. And when they got married, she was just like all the other girls that he kind of like fools around with these days. She was a model. She didn't have the same pedigree as him. And it was no different. She's just changed over the years. Yeah. Then we find out that Danielle also had a relationship on the side. And who wasn't with Lulu shocking twist. It was with Marcela de Puerto algo the Crossroads lady from before they have Kincaid, go talk to her and they're kind of like walking down the street having a conversation and Marcellus has to Kincaid Haven't you ever heard it chic to be gay? I thought, amen, honey. Oh, man. So she says that it was really nothing though. Danielle was just experimenting at the time and probably just using her because as she said, it was chic to be gay. And Mr. Keyes was very much in love with Danielle despite his philandering ways, and this is the weird motive. The reason he was cheating on her was to excite her. Yeah. But it never worked. Because Danielle is such an ice queen cat very strange. Like Yeah. Oh, I didn't really feel when I heard that like, Oh, poor guy. Right. Anyway, she says that. The reason insulin might be a thing was because they used it recreationally, which I've never heard of before, and that Danielle would get her insulin from this random writer. Kincaid meets with this writer in the most unnecessary strange scene in the whole episode, there's no reason they couldn't have just had she got it from some random pharmacy. Right. But Kincaid meets with this writer at this like fancy restaurant type place and he recites some really corny lines like Lucky's Big Daddy from Golden Girls.
Unknown:Am schizophrenic I'm myopic. I moved
Matt Molinaro:here. You might as well ski said everything about schizo phonic. Yeah. And he tries to charm Kincaid, but she's like, let's get to the insulin. And he tells her that, okay, fine, I was supplying the insulin. I just told my pharmacist that she can come get it anytime she wanted. And we learned that the reason they were using insulin recreationally was for weight loss purposes. I also didn't know that was the thing. I mean, either. So evidently, Danielle would inject herself with insulin for weight loss, and she would inject Mr. Keyes for the same reason because he was a chronic over eater, and he couldn't stand to do the needle himself. So Danielle, and her defense team, along with the DHS team meet in chambers with a judge who is sort of leaning towards the prosecution's prosecution prosecution side to exhume the body, but they're kind of arguing back and forth. And then Danielle has a chance to give her own passionate statement. And she says that she loved her husband, and that the needle was not hers, and she hasn't used insulin in months. In fact, she didn't want her husband to use it anymore. Either. Stone said that they have proof that she bought insulin like two weeks prior to the murder. And she says that she did, but it was for Jonathan. And he had begun injecting himself because she refused to do it. And he was so vain that he just kept doing it. Yeah, the judges aren't interested and he agrees to let the body be exhumed. Oh, my God exhumed cheese. Okay, so next, some guy in toxicology, presses a few random keys rapidly on a computer without looking. Oh my god, Microsoft Paint opens. Oh, I mean, a fancy computer program.
Enn Burke:I think it was Microsoft Word. To be honest,
Matt Molinaro:it was. So this was the most silly fake computer program I've seen yet. And we've seen many, for sure this was the most ridiculous there's like a random, it's just a white page. And there's a random anatomy textbook image of like, the nervous system of the head. Yeah. And all of a sudden half of it with a straight line down just starts moving over as if someone's just pressing the spacebar. And then a random number on the page starts to go up as the guy like click lacks his fingers at nothing. And he says, this is his brain. This is his brain on drugs.
Enn Burke:Can we make no sense?
Unknown:Can we pause Do you remember that commercial?
Enn Burke:Oh, of course. That was like the commercial when I was a child. Do you remember? This is the one where she goes ballistic with a frying pan. This is your family.
Unknown:That's exactly what I was gonna ask you. Oh God, chili cook. Regionally cook.
Matt Molinaro:It was Rachael Leigh Cook. This is your family. Oh my god is the best. If you haven't seen that commercial folks look up that this is your brain on drugs commercial. Especially the reboot with Rachael Leigh Cook. Yeah. Anyway, he says that the guy was swimming in essence insulin. So with this, they go down to Danielle's little yacht and they arrest her. And then we're over to the order side and trial begins and the private eye who they couldn't have picked a better person to be like a shady Private Eye. He testifies about finding the syringe and on cross examination. He admits that the Son Lance had led them had basically led him exactly to the location of the gym bag, where the needle was ultimately found. He also was paid $20,000 for his his time. Yeah, I mean, I would love $20,000 Oh, my God, then the housekeeper, who is now dressed like a peddler in lameness. She talks about how she found the body and that she was asked and instructed to clean it up and make him look the way she ultimately made him look. And she admits that she was the one who called and said that he'd been murdered because she suspected Mrs. Keys had murdered him. And then there's a random sudden switch and the defense attorney. So the defense attorney stands up and says that my colleague is going to take over and it's this like younger guy who he basically asked the housekeeper, you know, what was the guy's menu that night? Because he is accusing her of fattening him up.
Enn Burke:Right. Also very strange. I wasn't paying the very best of attention because law and order, but did they ever explain why that was a thing? Like why switched?
Matt Molinaro:Yeah, yeah. It's kind of an unnecessary thing. Okay. They basically you're trying to say in the next scene stone is like what's going on? I don't know why this happened. And he's talking to the the original defense attorney about the strategy. And in so many words, he figures out that the reason the switch happened is so that the main attorney He could spend the rest of the time drafting up documents to appeal the case while it was happening. Right, essentially expecting to lose the case. And so he was kind of just letting his colleague get practice in court while he sat there and drafted up an appeal.
Enn Burke:Right, right. Okay, that makes sense. Yeah. So
Matt Molinaro:then they have the victim's girlfriend on the stand the cover girl. And she says the same thing she's had before. And then on cross, they talked about the movie deal she might have so kind of just credits her. And then finally Danielle gets on the stand. And she says that she has no idea where any of the items that the private private I came up with came from, because they're usually kept at her Southampton house. And he's like, huh, isn't that where Lance was when he called a private eye. And so they're trying to cast reasonable doubt. And she's like, I loved him. And I loved Lance. And he was the first person I called when I found the body. And then we find out that Lance was never given permission to enter the home. So this is what's going to be grounds for the appeal that the needle was found in an illegal, like search, which, right? I mean, it kind of was, but so was the
Enn Burke:Cotton Bowl. Yeah. Oh, the whole thing, honestly.
Matt Molinaro:So on cross examination, stone doesn't really get much out of her other than they had a arrangement in their marriage, but they liked each other. So stone figures out, as the jury is out that the appeal will be on the grounds of this illegal search of the apartment. And when the jury comes back, it's correct. Like they find her guilty of murder to and the defense already has a Notice of Appeal already. And then we go to appellate court, and the scene was kind of cool, actually, to see this other side of the law side.
Enn Burke:I was gonna say, I think we've only seen this like once before, and I think it was the case where they were debating extraditing the guy to serve for the demyan Yuck, inspired episode.
Matt Molinaro:Yes, yes. I actually didn't remember that. We've seen it before. But you're absolutely right. It's kind of cool, though. Because sometimes the orders hide can get a little bit laborious and like the back and forth. Yes. So this was kind of cool. So we have the they both make their arguments and appellate court. So the defense goes first. And then stone goes next. And they both have compelling arguments to why, you know, the appeal should happen. Redstone loses. And in the next scene, Schiff is telling his team that, you know, it's really pointless to appeal or try to get this case on something else, because all that's going to happen is he's just going to keep appealing because she has an endless amount of money. And basically, it's just going to be circular over and over again. So why, like waste all the taxpayers dollars, right, then next up, we find out that the widow is throwing around money on like a home in France or something. And contagious, like stone, how long you going to be upset about this? Or something like that. And he's like, forever. And that's the end of the episode.
Enn Burke:Oh, a great, well, great job.
Matt Molinaro:Thank you. I enjoyed this episode,
Enn Burke:but we'll get there. Yeah. Are you ready to hear the case that this was based on?
Matt Molinaro:I'm really curious. Okay.
Enn Burke:Well, I'm gonna say a name that I think you probably will recognize. Okay, this episode was based on the case of Sonny von Bulow. Sony von Bulow. No, no. Connection.
Matt Molinaro:Not immediately, no.
Enn Burke:Okay. All right. So this, I will say in researching this case, well, I'll get to it, and I'll kind of explain along the way. All right. So Martha sharp Crawford was born September 1 1932. Her parents were named Annie, Laurie Warmack and George Crawford. And George was a very prominent businessman. He was one of the founders of Columbia Gas and Electric and Lone Star gas company. A few of the articles referenced him as a business magnate. Not like the magnetic kind of magnet.
Unknown:You're not, you don't say he wasn't a Megaman character.
Enn Burke:He was not Magneto turns out. But he did have a fortune. He was very, very wealthy. He made his fortune in natural oil and gas. And his wife, Annie Laurie, also came from money and she was the daughter of the founder of the International Shoe Company, which when I Googled it, like was acquired and became other things and I just didn't care enough to research it. But there was money on both sides.
Unknown:Shoes, shoes. Oh my god shoes.
Enn Burke:So George was 71 years old when Martha sharp sharp Crawford called Sonny as a nickname was born and he died when she was three years old. too, and left his super giant estate to his wife and Hillary and their daughter, Sonny,
Matt Molinaro:sonny, and that's her birth name is Marsha. Martha. Martha. Okay, there. Yeah. Okay, thank you.
Enn Burke:So she was actually born on George's personal railway carriage on enroute to New York. And so her nickname when she was born was actually to to, but then she was she was apparently had a very pleasant disposition as a child and was nicknamed Sonny. And that kind of stuck for the rest of her life.
Matt Molinaro:That's better than to chew it. It is.
Enn Burke:So when he died in 1935, his estate was valued at more than $100 million, which in today's money would be over $2 trillion.
Matt Molinaro:Oh, my God, do I have that?
Enn Burke:Right. Let me just do that again. Just to make sure. Oh, sorry. $2 billion. Okay,
Matt Molinaro:I thought you were gonna say billion. And that was going to be shocking to me. So I'm still shocked.
Enn Burke:Yeah, I guess I added a couple couple zeros when I read it initially. But yeah, $2 billion. So they were rich, rich. They were the kind of rich literally, where their properties that they owned had names like their like they had they were named different things like there was a pump? Yes. Very much that. Yes, Villa Rosa. So she grew up in and attended school in Manhattan, and also a school called St. Timothy in Maryland. And what's what I will say about researching this case, is that kind of like when there's not a lot of information about a case, you'll start to see the same articles like seeing the same phrases over and over. Yeah, this story focused on very specific moments and incidents and so like the kind of in between things were far less covered. It felt like to me, so kind of skipping ahead a little bit in 1957, Sunni married Prince Alfred. praise yourself. Prince Alfred Edward Friedrich Vincenz, Martin Maria von osburgh. This man has 3456789 Different parts of his name. Oh my gosh, so he was Austrian nobility. But when the Austrian Empire collapsed in 1915, his family pretty much lost everything. And so they actually met when he was working as a tennis instructor in a resort in Switzerland. Can you imagine being introduced to your tennis instructor and then being like, Hi, I'm Prince Alfred Edward Friedrich Vincenz. Martin Maria von osburgh.
Unknown:I feel like Sia, yeah,
Enn Burke:he went by Prince Alfie, by the way. Okay. So they got married and they lived in Munich for a while. They also lived in a town called Kids Buhl. I'm going to say Austria. The other thing I'll say about when I was doing my research on this was I was having for this past week or two, I've been having some pretty bad carpal tunnel pain. And so I was writing all of my notes using dictation. And let me just tell you with with a lot of these names, the dictation was quite a,
Unknown:I could imagine.
Enn Burke:So, a woman named Andrea Reynolds, who will kind of come into the story later would kind of reflect on the time that she first met Sonny, and she talks about how she met her at the Palace Hotel in St. Moritz, Switzerland, which is apparently like ultra wealth. Okay. And her article says, as we were enjoying one evening with friends, the table next to ours exploded in shouts and screams. It was littered with champagne bottles and its occupants were obviously inebriated, a very tall, handsome blonde man jumped up, grabbed a bottle of champagne and smashed it over the head of a spectacularly beautiful blonde woman. She fell off the chair and I saw that there was blood trickling down her forehead, jumping up, I got the woman to stand and with difficulty walked her to the ladies room. So that woman was sunny, and the man who hit her over the head with a champagne bottle was her husband, Prince healthy. I know. And what's weird is I could not find more information about that incident other than this article. Wow. So very strange. But their marriage didn't end up lasting terribly long. So they got married in 57. And they divorced in 65. Okay, and the kind of explanation was, Sonny said they had very little in common. He was kind of a flirt with other women, but out of the marriage because remember, she had money money, he got a settlement of a million dollars and a couple of properties should Should I sign a prenup? Again, there's like a little bit of a gap in explanation here. But she then met a man named Klaus von Bulow in London. And he was born Klaus Cecil Warburg. And he was born in 1920. August 11 1920. Sorry, maybe it's 1926. So I think the dictation did something strange there in Copenhagen, Denmark. He was the son of a Danish playwright and named spend Warburg and his wife was named. I'm going to say Jana van Bulow. Plouffe scow. Fun fact, his father was convicted of collaborating with the Nazis and was sentenced to four years in prison, but he ended up being exonerated and only served 18 months, but he died shortly after he was released. Okay, so Klaus was raised primarily by his mother, and her father, Fritz Bulow, who is a who was a minister of justice in Denmark and was also a very successful businessman. So Klaus, even though he was born, a boy Warburg would later adopt the Bulow family name, and he just apparently at some point, added the Vaughn to it for fun, I guess a little seasoning, okay. He graduated from Trinity College and practice law before working as a personal assistant to Jay Paul Getty, who you might recognize as like the Getty Museum getting Oh, okay. Also like money, money money. Getty was actually named the richest living American in 1957. And in 1966, was listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's richest private citizen, worth 1.2 billion in 1966. Wow, which is more than seven and a half billion today, Jesus, but then, by the time he died, he was worth 6 billion, which was then worth now $22 billion as of today. So I'm saying this just to give a sense of like the amount of money and the sort of social circles that these people ran in nobody gates, this amount of money, no billionaire should not exist. I don't know who said it. I can't remember. But somebody said there should just be like a rule that once you get a billion dollars, you'd get a certificate that says, I won capitalism, and then everything you earn after that goes to like the public.
Matt Molinaro:I'm in I'm in.
Enn Burke:So on June 6 1966, Sonny and Klaus got married and as I said, they met in London, but the kind of meeting of their relationship wasn't nearly as well covered as some of the other things that I'm going to talk about. Okay. So together they had one daughter, Cosima, von Bulow, I guess I moved my notes around so for from her first marriage with Prince Alfie. She also had two children. And so then when she remarried Klaus, she had another child named Cosima von Bulow, and articles would describe the van von Bulow family as charming, flamboyant socialites at the very top of American high society. However, by 1979, it sounded like things were not great between Sonny and Klaus, as some of the articles say that they slept in separate bedrooms, and that they had spoken to various people about that kind of like wanting a divorce. And it also seems like Klaus over the years had a number of affairs and mistresses as well. Okay, so, on December 26 1979, Sonny was found in the family home unresponsive and was rushed to the hospital, where she temporarily slipped into a coma but was brought back and the doctors who assessed her determined that it was due to low blood sugar and she was diagnosed as hypoglycemic and was warned about like, you know, really following a specific diet, not drinking too much, not having too many sweets, and kind of like eating at a, at regular intervals to maintain an appropriate blood sugar level.
Matt Molinaro:And how, how old are they? And they're like 50s.
Enn Burke:So this is 1979. And she was born in 32. So, Twenge, she was about 2747 47. Yeah, okay, so I'm good at math. So the night prior to that incident, because it was right around the holidays, the family had been celebrating and had been kind of like eating holiday food and apparently sunny liked to make eggnog around the holidays. And it was made with like eggs and heavy cream. I love economic. I hate eggnog. I think that's disgusting. But eggnog is very rich in sugar and alcohol. So that that's kind of explained the incident that she had. And then in April of 1980, so about four months later She was again taken to the hospital because she was really disoriented and kind of incoherent. But again was that was kind of attributed to her hypoglycemia. So then on December 21 of 1980, so just under a year after that first incident, Sonny and her family were celebrating the holidays at the family men mansion, which was called Clarendon court, and it sat on a 10 acre estate in Newport, Rhode Island. That that area apparently of Newport Rhode Island was referred to as Millionaire's row must be nice. According to the events of the night, Sonny had consumed a dessert of ice cream and butterscotch syrup. And Klaus said that he went to the he went to bed, the children were still awake downstairs, or he was going to bed. And Sonny and her kids were kind of like hanging out in one of the downstairs, I'm sure at 5000 parlors, but before he went up to bat he says that he asked Sonny if she needed anything, and she said that she wanted some chicken soup. And so Klaus reportedly went and warmed her up some chicken soup and brought it to her. And at this point, Sonny became reportedly disoriented and incoherent. And so the family put her to bed. But before he left her room, Klaus left on her nightstand, a scotch and soda. And again, she was conscious at this point, but just kind of a little out of it. So in the morning, Sonny was found unconscious on the floor of her bathroom, so very like the episode. She was rushed to the hospital, but Doctors determined that she had suffered significant brain injury and was in quote, a persistent vegetative state. Wow. And she was 49 years old at this point. The rest of her bloodwork are sorry, the results of her blood work indicated that she had entered a coma as a result of her hypoglycemia. And there were a lot of claims that Sonny or sorry that Klaus talked to the family attorney about having her life support removed, but this ended up not being true, he did not want her life support terminated. But because of that, like public talk of divorce, Sonny's children from her first marriage, suspected that Klaus had deliberately put her into a coma and tried to kill her. So her children from her first marriage met with the New York County District Attorney, Richard BJU, and asked him to investigate whether Klaus had attempted murder. And they were successful in doing so. And the district attorney investigated the case and determined that they had enough evidence to bring him to court. And he was charged with two counts of attempted murder. One for the 1979 incident and one for the 1980 where she ended up going into a coma. Wow, for both. Yeah. So his trial began in February of 1982. And again, because these people were rich, rich, this case got a lot of press. But again, it really all of the press really focused on like the drama of it. And it was kind of referred to as one of the most sensational cases of the 20th century. It was televised, and the press kind of referred to it as the quote case of the sleeping heiress. So the drama was also in part due to the fact that Sonny's children from the previous marriage were like firmly in the camp of Klaus tried to kill our mom. Whereas Klaus and Sonny's daughter Cosima sided with Klaus and was like, my dad did not try to kill my mom. So it was like this, not only like the attempted murder, or super rich people, but like the family split and against each other kind of drama, like the staircase, kind of actually. Yeah, so the prosecution based their case on Klaus having financial motive to kill Sonny because he would have inherited her multimillion dollar estate. And they also base their case on a lot of different circumstantial evidence. Now, I think I've said this on a previous episode, but a lot of people mistake circumstantial evidence as something like poor evidence are like kind of vague, but it just means that it's evidence that is not direct evidence. So like, if someone sees somebody shoot someone that has direct evidence, if they find fingerprints and gunpowder, that is circumstantial evidence, because the crime was not like seen happening. Yeah. And so most criminal cases are actually based on circumstantial evidence, because it's less common to see somebody get murdered.
Matt Molinaro:Yeah. And people always try to say like, oh, yeah, it was all circumstantial.
Enn Burke:circumstantial. Well, yeah. That's how a lot of this works. So the evidence presented at trial against Klaus included testimony by family maids including a maid who had been with Sonny for like more than 23 years, they also brought in chauffeurs and doctors and personal trainers. And they also brought in a lot what was called a lot of times as like the little black bag, which in that bag, they found some insulin and other drugs as well as a syringe that was found to have insulin on the needle. And I say on because that is specific. Okay, so again, kind of like the episode they they had that little black bag. Yeah. So Klaus, this character was also really called into question by the prosecution because they really played up the fact that he had an affair ongoing with an actress named Alexandra Isles. And she actually ended up testifying and providing evidence against Klaus or evidence that like, was seen to be against Klaus because she had testified that she had told Klaus that he needed to end his relationship with Sonny or she was done with him. So the that was kind of presented as further motive for him to kill Sonny. One of the primary pieces of evidence that was used against Klaus was that, despite Sonny having low blood sugar, when she was found in the coma, and at the hospital, they performed a blood test that showed that she had really high levels of insulin. However, that test was only performed once and it was never like performed again to validate those results. And there were a couple of articles that like said something about like, we couldn't tell which test like which vial of blood was which. So that evidence was used really strongly, but it was very questionably collected, if that makes sense. Yeah. So testifying for the prosecution was Sonny's longtime maid, Maria shell hammer, who testified that there had been that that morning that she felt there had been another incident where Klaus had failed to pursue prompt medical attention for Sunny. She said that one morning, she had found sunny unconscious in the library, and was really concerned about her. She said that, like when she touched her, her body was cold. And she was really worried that she could be dying. And so she went and got Klaus and told him like, we need to call the police and call the paramedics and have them come out and get her. And Klaus was like, No, she's fine. She's just sleeping. And so for a few hours, nothing was done. But then later in the day, Klaus apparently called a doctor to come to the home, and the doctor and he told the doctor at that point, that he had seen Sonny, like get up at one point during the day and go to the bathroom. But the maid said on the stand that this was a lie, and that Sonny's body had not changed position all day. And she on the stand said, I got really scared that she would die. So the prosecution also called Sonny's son and daughter from her first marriage, Prince Alexander von osburgh. He testified that prior to her persistent coma in 1980, her mother had told him that she wanted a divorce from Klaus. And when asked why she or her mother had said, or their mother had said it was something so horrible. She didn't want to tell me. So interesting. Yeah, the sister Annie Laurie, Princess Annie Laurie testified that the night prior to her lapse into the coma, they had had dinner together and she testified that her mother had eaten a dessert of vanilla ice cream with butterscotch sauce or syrup. And Klaus is defense attorney would kind of turn that around on the prosecution. So the prosecution also drew parallels between Sonny von Bulow his case and a case of murder by insulin that had happened in 1957. In Britain, which occurred when Klaus was living in Britain. And at the time he was practicing law. So they the prosecution really, like tried to drill into the jury that Klaus would have been intimately aware of that case, and so had like knowledge of how to make this happen. So the defense his defense attorney who was named Harold Prince fer injure, he painted sunny as an unhappy woman, and provided evidence of sunny having used excessive use of sedatives and other drugs. and presented testimony from various folks that she had alcohol and substance abuse issues. And he claimed that the reason she was in this coma was not because she had been injected with insulin, but because she hadn't followed her doctor's diet orders, and that the dessert and the scotch and soda had put her into a coma.
Matt Molinaro:But I mean, wouldn't everybody who's around her know her dietary restrictions also,
Enn Burke:you would think it sounds like honestly that Sonny didn't do the greatest job of heeding the doctor's orders about her diet. The defense also presented evidence of a time that Sonny had attempted suicide in the past, she had taken 73 aspirin tablets. And the defense was like this, that amount of aspirin could have only been self administered like nobody could force you to swallow 73 aspirin tablets. Yeah. So they use this to kind of like speak to Sonny state of mind. Again, going back to she was this unhappy woman. And they had several medical experts that testified that Sonny's coma had not been caused by insulin, but was a combination of ingested drugs, alcohol and her chronic health condition of hypoglycemia. The defense also presented a cert, a witness who was a hospital technician who had met Sonny during the stay when she had taken the 73 aspirin tablets. And he told a story of how he walked into Sonny's room after she had like regained consciousness and was recovering. And how he when he walked in, and she was just kind of like staring off vacantly. And he was like, Oh, what happened to you? And he says that she replied, I tried to kill myself. And apparently that was like shocking testimony that like the court there was gasps throughout the courtroom. Yeah. Um, Harvard endocrinologist named George Cahill testified for the prosecution saying that he believed to Sonny's brain damage and coma was a result of insulin that she had been injected with. And the needle, as I mentioned, was shown to have insulin on it. But that will become relevant in a little bit. So we'll come back to that. So after all of this evidence was presented by the prosecution and the defense, the jury came back and Klaus was convicted on both counts of murder and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Sorry, attempted murder. In the article by Andrea Reynolds, who I said mentioned at the very beginning, she was the one when Sonny was hit by the champagne bottle, right. She ended up being one of Klauss mistresses. And she says that she kind of watched Klaus his first trial, and thought that Klaus, his lawyer in that trial was incompetent. And so when he was convicted, she demanded from clouds that he gives her all of Sonny's medical files and all of the medical evidence presented in the trial. And then she independently took that to an endocrinologist who said that he believed based on all of the medical evidence that Klaus was innocent. And this was also taken to a Nobel Prize winning professor named Rosalind yellow, who had developed the test that was used to convict Klaus the one that like showed her levels of insulin or whatever. But she stated to Andrea Reynolds that quote, the insulin count of Sonny von Bulow, his blood test was completely erroneous. So she said that based on all the medical evidence, and she her test was used to convict Klaus, she was like, this is not valid. Wow. But Andrea Reynolds would say to you know, Professor yellow like, why you knew this and why didn't you testify to this? And reportedly Professor yellow said, I didn't want to sell you my Nobel Prize with the von Bulow circus. Yeah. So, in her article, Reynolds said, quote, lastly, and most importantly, Professor Dershowitz and I sent out a questionnaire to ER doctors all over the country. In it we described to them Sonny's condition without naming her when she was initially brought into the hospital in her coma. We asked them to respond describing what they would have done to save her life had they been there that night. The procedures they described sounded nothing like the ones performed by Sonny's physicians in Rhode Island. So, Andre and Reynolds Klauss misters had kind of gathered all this evidence that Klaus his conviction was shaky, shaky, yeah, really shaky essentially. So as you can imagine, Klauss lawyers filed an appeal pretty pretty immediately, and he has aired this time for his appeal. Law Professor Alan Dershowitz, who was the one that was working with Andrea Reynolds to kind of pull all that ER doctors. Okay, so Dershowitz was a really well known lawyer, and he is known for winning some really big cases, the names really familiar. Well, so it's funny because I probably mentioned him about Two episodes ago because he represented Mike Tyson in his rape case, which is one of the few that he actually lost. Okay. So he was supported by a law student at the time, named Jim Kramer, who, despite the fact that he was assisting for the defense on the appeal, would later say publicly that he thought Klaus was supremely guilty. So his lawyers appealed Dershowitz. His appeal was based on the grounds that the information used by the prosecution to convict Klaus that some of it had not been made available to the defense like during one year, and that there had been no search warrant when Sonny's medication had been sent in for testing. So remember that little black bag that was not gained through a police search warrant. Also, in the first trial, the motive was listed as financial. And it was implied that Sonny had wanted his life support ended. And one of the sticking points for Klaus was that he had talked to the family attorney, and people said that he had talked to the family attorney about wanting her life support removed. But because of attorney client privilege, somehow the prosecution in his first trial was able to get that conversation excluded, so they couldn't provide the proof of him having not talked about and make her life support. Strange. So again, that the first case was based on the assertion that he wanted, you know, to murder her for her fortune and her life support. So the medication that was used as evidence against Klaus as I mentioned, was illegally obtained by members of Sonny's family who had hired a private investigator who hired a locksmith to get entry to the home and to have him unlock a cabinet where the black bag was found with medication. So very likely episode where family hired a PII and went to recover evidence. So based on this appeal, Dershowitz was able to get Klauss conviction overturned, and Klaus was then retried for the attempted murder murder of Sonny von Bulow. Again, this case was broadcast on television. More than 70 hours of trial were shown on CNN. And in the second trial, the defense again presented evidence of Sonny's drug abuse, including testimony from Truman Capote author of Breakfast at Tiffany's who I think they were basing that guy that weird episode with or weird scene with Kincaid and that writer, I think that was supposed to be like a Truman Capote want to be kind of guy. Gotcha. Um, the lawyer for his second trial was named Thomas Puccio, and he was successful in having some of the original witness testimony excluded, deeming it hearsay. And they also the defense this time brought in additional expert testimonials from world renowned progress. University professors in fields such as neurology, toxicology, medicine, forensic pathology and Clinical Biochemistry, all of whom refuted the claims that the syringe had traces of insulin, and that it could be used as evidence against Klaus because remember, I said there was insulin on the needle, not in the needle. And so what that would mean is that the needle had been, like, placed into insulin. And if it had been injected, it would have been wiped the needle would have been wiped clean. So the fact that it was on the needle and not in the needle was really crucial evidence for his defense, right.
Matt Molinaro:I had a feeling that's what it was gonna be. Yeah. GEORGE
Enn Burke:Cahill, the Harvard endocrinologist who had testified in the first trial ended up recounting his testimony, and saying that neither he nor anyone else could ever be 100%, certain of the cause for the comas. And so his testimony from the first trial about it being due to insulin was recanted. Klaus this defense team ended up being successful and Klaus was subsequently subsequently acquitted of all charges Dershowitz Klauss appeal lawyer would later tell Good Morning America that quote, this was a great medical tragedy that became a legal mystery. Fortunately, we were able to prove conclusively through the use of forensic forensics and medical evidence that this was a cell have induced coma and there was no crime. Despite the acquittal Sonny's two older children from her previous marriage to Prince Alfie remains pretty convinced that Klaus had had some nefarious part in Sonny's coma. And this again kind of like put them at odds with their younger half sister Cosima, and it actually caused such a rift in the family that Cosima was grandparents who were shared with the older children, the older half siblings. They ended up disinheriting Cosima from the family estate. Wow. Only 10 days after Sonny's sorry after Klauss acquittal. The siblings, the older siblings sued Klaus in a civil suit for$56 million. This civil suit dragged on for more than 10 years but was eventually settled out of court on the condition that Klaus agreed to a divorce from sunny give up all claims to her fortune, not just discuss the case publicly or profit from the story through like books or other things and to leave the country. And Klaus agreed to this on the condition that Cosima be reinstated to her grandparents at state, which they all agreed to. So Klaus ended up moving to and residing in London until his death in May of 2019. And at the time that he was like leaving, he told reporters, quote, I want to be forgotten. Sonny's two elder children would end up fat founding the Sonny von Bulow national Victim Advocacy Center, which is now the National Center for Victims of Crime in Washington DC, as well as the Sonny Vaughn Beulah coma and head trauma Research Foundation in New York. So, doctors at the nursing home where Sonny remained in a coma stated that she never showed any signs of brain activity. And after all of this had happened, Sonny remained in her coma for 27 years, 11 months and 15 days before she passed away on December 6 of 2008 at the age of 76 years old. Wow. And several of the articles talk about how the room that she was in was, didn't feel like a hospital room like there were paintings from her home brought into the walls and like cush pillows, and there were fresh flowers all the time. So it was like a bedroom. Yeah, so when she died, her service was held at the same prosperous Korean church where she and Klaus had gotten married. And a spokeswoman for the family provided a statement on behalf of all three of Sonny's children, which sad but they were blessed to have an extraordinarily loving and caring mother. In a weird glitch in the matrix type moment. Prince Alfie's Prince Alfie, her first husband died after going into an irreversible coma in 1983. Wow, isn't that strange? Yeah. He died nine years after going into a coma which was caused due to an automobile accident, but just very strange coincidence. Yeah, for real. Alan Dershowitz, the lawyer who had handled classes appeal, ended up writing a book about the case called Reversal of Fortune. And this book was made into a film in 1990 of the same name. And it starred Jeremy Irons who won Best Best Actor for the film. And Glenn Close who played Sonny. Wow. And that is the story of Sonny von Bulow. Oh my gosh, wow. All right.
Matt Molinaro:Had you heard about that before?
Enn Burke:I knew the name Sonny von Bulow. And I knew about the coma, but I didn't know much else beyond that. Because it was happening when I was like, five. Yeah, or seven.
Unknown:Did you see the movie?
Enn Burke:I never did know, either. Wow. Well, great. So yeah, thank you. It I'm still honestly not sure what to think based on all the articles that I read. I do not think Klaus attempted to kill her. i It doesn't really sounds like an accident to me.
Matt Molinaro:Yeah. I mean, maybe he was a little negligent and making her like a scotch and soda and stuff knowing her issues. Yeah, exactly. You know, I sounds like they were all a little negligent. It sounds like they kind of played fast and loose with their lives. A little bit. Yeah. So I prefer butterscotch to caramel every time. Oh,
Enn Burke:I can't think of the last time I've had syrup on ice cream. That wasn't chocolate syrup. I think I'm caramel all the
Matt Molinaro:way. No butterscotch. Oh, yeah.
Enn Burke:Although I do love I think butterscotch pudding is so good.
Matt Molinaro:Oh, yes. 100%
Enn Burke:All right. Carry butterscotch pudding would be a really cute drag name actually.
Unknown:Oh, come
Enn Burke:on. Right, how would you rate the episode?
Matt Molinaro:I actually pretty, I enjoyed this one. It was entertaining, and I didn't think it was really inappropriate in any major way. So I'm gonna give it like a solid B plus B plus.
Enn Burke:Yeah, I think I was actually I was actually gonna go for a B plus as well. It was definitely one of the more entertaining episodes we've seen.
Matt Molinaro:Yeah. And the acting was good. It was it was kind of it took me places.
Enn Burke:Places it took me there. So, for how it dealt with the themes, I feel like I would give it a a b plus as well. Like it didn't. I don't think it did anything super, like problematic with the kind of facts of the sunny von Bulow case, it feels like a lot of it was pretty closely inspired by
Matt Molinaro:Yeah, I'd give it an A minus even up the ante give the old A minus I think there was really, as you were telling the story, I was like, Oh, just like the episode. Oh, just next episode.
Enn Burke:Exactly. Yeah, it was, it was pretty amazing. Wow.
Matt Molinaro:Well ripped from the headlines as an indie podcast. And if you enjoy listening to us and think other folks might to the best thing that you can do is to rate and review our podcasts on whatever platform you're listening to our episodes on, because that's what really helps other people find us.
Enn Burke:Definitely. And you're probably really popular and have a lot of friends. And I'm sure they would love to, to listen to our podcast too. So you should tell them about it.
Matt Molinaro:And our favorite thing to do is to connect with our listeners. So feel free to send us an email to ripped headlines pod@gmail.com. And you can find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook at ripped headlines.
Enn Burke:Yes. And you should go to our website ripped headlines pod.com You will find the link to our Patreon there, which is really fun. So you should definitely check that out. And you get to support one of your favorite podcasts.
Matt Molinaro:Also, a percentage of our Patreon proceeds gets donated to the Equal Justice Initiative. So by supporting us, you're also supporting positive change in the world.
Enn Burke:Yes, and if you want you can buy us a coffee at buy me a coffee.com/and and Matt,
Matt Molinaro:thank you so much for listening to rip from the headlines where you get the facts and some fiction.
Enn Burke:We'll see you next week and until then stay out of the headlines. Bye