This story initially aired on Could 18, 2024.
On Nov. 13, 2016, Dr. Eric “Scott” Sills, a famend California fertility physician, known as 911 and reported discovering his spouse and enterprise companion Susann Sills unresponsive on the backside of the steps. An preliminary investigation revealed some proof that was according to an unintended fall. However as “48 Hours” correspondent Tracy Smith studies, different proof pointed to one thing extra sinister.
A PUZZLING SCENE
On that Sunday morning, Orange County Sheriff’s Murder Detectives Eric Hatch and Dave Holloway had extra questions than clues.
Tracy Smith: At that time limit that morning November thirteenth, was Scott Sills a sufferer or a suspect?
Det. Dave Holloway: To us … he was a sufferer. … We have been going to a home the place two children and a husband simply misplaced their spouse and mom.
Tracy Smith: Is it a steep stairway?
Det. Eric Hatch: Yeah, it is fairly excessive. I consider it was 13-and-a-half toes from the ground to the highest of the steps.
Tracy Smith: Did it appear believable {that a} 45-year-old lady, in fairly fine condition, would’ve fallen down the steps to her dying?
Det. Eric Hatch: On the time, it sounded plausible.
Det. Dave Holloway: Susann had accidents to just about her complete physique. … Her face … was all bruised up. Her … again was bruised up. … Each legs and arms have been — had bruising and abrasions.
And round her physique was an odd assortment of things — a stainless-steel soup pot, a handbag and an empty treatment bottle. A shawl was discovered off to the aspect.
Det. Eric Hatch: They undoubtedly stood out … particularly that metal pot. … It virtually seemed prefer it was positioned there. It wasn’t the wrong way up or leaning towards something.
Det. Dave Holloway: We needed to … work out why these issues have been there.
The detectives say Scott Sills did not appear nervous {that a} murder group was in his residence asking questions.
Det. Eric Hatch: He was simply sort of going with the movement.
Tracy Smith: How cooperative was he?
Det. Dave Holloway: Oh, very. … The whole lot we requested of him … he, he gave us.
Det. Eric Hatch: He signed a consent type, that … gave us the permission to look his home.
And once they interviewed the Sills’ kids, 12-year-old twins Mary-Katherine and Eric, every informed the same story to their dad — that Susann Sills had not been feeling properly that night time.
Det. Dave Holloway: Susann … had a historical past of migraines. … They have been usually debilitating … requiring … a darkish room, quiet … and mattress relaxation. And she or he had been affected by a migraine that weekend.
“We might see the opposite issues laying round like this stainless-steel soup pot … a handbag … an empty treatment bottle,” mentioned Det. Dave Holloway.
Orange County Superior Court docket
The migraine appeared to elucidate that enormous pot.
Det. Dave Holloway: Typically she carried round a bowl … to be able to have it close to her bedside in case she threw up in the course of the night time.
And the empty tablet bottle was for a ache treatment Scott Sills mentioned his spouse took to deal with her migraines.
Tracy Smith: So, did that make it sound extra doable that she might’ve fallen down the steps as a result of she was affected by a migraine?
Det. Eric Hatch: Perhaps.
And there appeared to be nothing within the {couples}’ relationship to counsel one more reason.
Tracy Smith: What did you be taught in regards to the Sills’ marriage?
Det. Eric Hatch: In response to Scott, every little thing was positive. That they had a, you recognize, a very good relationship.
Each kids attested that their dad and mom liked one another — and mentioned they not often argued and have been by no means violent. Detectives began piecing collectively a timeline of the weekend.
Det. Dave Holloway: Saturday night time … she … was on the sofa. … Eric got here all the way down to see her, test on her, be sure she was OK.
It was round midnight when Eric Sills and his mother went again upstairs, after Eric mentioned she put the canines away of their crate. Mary-Katherine had gone to mattress in her dad and mom’ bed room. Susann Sills was going to spend the night time in Mary-Katherine’s room, which was the quietest.
Det. Dave Holloway: It was … Mary-Katherine’s concept for Susann to spend the night time in that room. It was clear … in keeping with Mary-Katherine … and carried out up … like a little bit resort suite … for Susann to convalesce in there.
Mary-Katherine had left a word on her door with what could be her final phrases to her Mother. “I do know you’re drained,” she wrote, “however it is advisable know that I really like you …”
Dr. Eric Scott Sill and Susann Sills
Sandi Roberts
Round 4 a.m., Eric Sills mentioned he woke to the sound of his dad and mom arguing within the subsequent room.
Det. Dave Holloway (pointing up at home windows exterior Sills residence): The 2 home windows, that is … Eric’s room.
Tracy Smith: So Eric is true subsequent (to) Mary-Katherine’s room … the place his mother was.
Det. Dave Holloway: Yeah.
Tracy Smith: And what did he inform you he heard?
Det. Dave Holloway: Nicely, he heard loud voices arguing, however … he did not describe listening to any bodily confrontation.
Eric Sills informed detectives that after about 5 minutes he determined to fall asleep in the principle bed room along with his sister. In response to Mary-Katherine’s assertion, she thought he’d are available round 3:40 a.m. and informed her their dad and mom have been arguing a few work e mail.
DETECTIVE: How are you aware she — she bought an e mail?
MARY-KATHERINE SILLS: As a result of Eric mentioned they have been speaking about that.
DETECTIVE: Oh, OK. So Eric informed you that she bought an e mail and that she was, it was about one thing …
MARY-KATHERINE SILLS: One thing about work.
Scott Sills informed detectives he had argued along with his spouse as a result of he discovered her working late on her laptop computer, which made her migraines worse.
Tracy Smith: Once you heard that they’d an argument shortly earlier than she was discovered on the backside of the steps useless, what was going by means of your thoughts?
Det. Dave Holloway: Nicely, once more that is … another piece of knowledge that we’re gonna gather. … It doesn’t suggest come what may that it was a homicide. However that is undoubtedly an avenue that we must pursue.
Neither Eric nor Mary-Katherine heard their dad return to the bed room.
MARY-KATHERINE SILLS: I wakened and my dad was identical to on the covers simply laying there like there wasn’t sufficient room to get in I assume. So, he was simply laying there.
DETECTIVE: On prime of it?
MARY-KATHERINE SILLS: Yeah.
It was round 6:30 a.m. the subsequent morning when Scott Sills and the twins wakened. He requested them in the event that they needed to go to the pool and get some doughnuts. Mary-Katherine mentioned when she left the bed room and seemed over the banister, she noticed her mother’s physique on the backside of the steps — that lengthy purple and white scarf round her neck.
Det. Dave Holloway: That was … Mary-Katherine’s scarf … It was present in the identical room as … Susann’s physique.
Tracy Smith: However the scarf wasn’t on her physique?
Det. Dave Holloway: After we arrived, it was not. … Mary-Katherine informed us that she needed to take away the headscarf. And she or he did that … to not impede mother’s respiratory.
Mary-Katherine Sills mentioned when she noticed her mother’s physique on the backside of the steps — a purple and white scarf was round her neck. She informed police she eliminated it.
Orange County Superior Court docket
Including to the thriller have been the accidents to Susann Sills’ neck the deputy coroner had seen throughout a preliminary examination of the physique earlier that morning.
Det. Eric Hatch: Particularly with the ligature mark throughout her neck … it simply did not make sense.
Tracy Smith: Is it doable that she might have fallen down the steps after which by some means the headscarf strangled her?
Det. Dave Holloway: Might have caught on a banister … positive I suppose so, however we did not have any proof of that.
As detectives continued their investigation, the questions mounted.
Tracy Smith: Did anyone in the home hear a fall down the steps?
Det. Dave Holloway: No. No one described listening to a fall down the steps. Or, if Susann had been carrying that … chrome steel pot, nobody heard that bounce down the steps or land on the tile flooring.
Det. Dave Holloway: There was no proof on the steps of somebody happening, uh, like damaged baluster or something like that.
And one thing else the detectives thought was unusual.
Det. Eric Hatch: It was a heat day despite the fact that it was November. However once we spoke with Scott, and through the entire time we have been … in the home doing our investigation, he was sporting a beanie over his head. … And he mentioned that he slept with it ‘trigger it was chilly.
Tracy Smith: Did you ask him to take away the beanie?
Det. Eric Hatch: Sure.
Because it turned out, Susann wasn’t the one one with accidents that morning.
BLOOD FOUND IN A BEDROOM
Det. Dave Holloway: We found that Scott had some accidents … He had … a … minimize up right here on his brow. … and on his arm, he had … a bruise.
Scott Sills mentioned there was a easy rationalization for the accidents. He had damage himself whereas engaged on his automotive within the storage along with his son, Eric. There was only one drawback.
Det. Dave Holloway: Eric informed us dad did not damage himself.
Tracy Smith: Did he say to you, I left the storage so possibly he damage himself whereas I used to be gone?
Det. Dave Holloway: No. He informed us they got here in the home collectively.
And investigators mentioned they discovered one thing Scott Sills could not clarify on that day.
Tracy Smith: You discovered blood?
Det. Eric Hatch: Sure.
Blood might be seen on curtains in Mary-Katherine’s bed room the place her mother had been sleeping. Blood was additionally discovered on the wall and nightstand.
Orange County Superior Court docket
Blood in Mary-Katherine’s room — the place Susann Sills had been staying — on the curtains, the wall, and the nightstand.
Tracy Smith: So, that morning once you requested Scott in regards to the blood, what did he say?
Det. Eric Hatch: He did not know the place it got here from. … He was unaware of it.
Mary-Katherine informed investigators the room was “excellent” when she left it. She additionally mentioned she’d turned down the mattress, however now it was made.
Det. Eric Hatch: It did not actually make sense. … Why would Susann … take the time to make the mattress in the course of the night time?
Tracy Smith: So for those who discovered blood in Mary-Katherine’s bed room, you recognize that there are ligature marks on Susann … why not take him all the way down to the station at this level and query him?
Det. Dave Holloway: When you arrest anyone … that begins processes that … you possibly can’t cease. … Moreover the blood within the bed room … we did not actually have … sufficient proof of a struggle occurring. … So, on the finish of the day, there wasn’t sufficient possible trigger legally to arrest him.
Susann Sills’ post-mortem 4 days later did not present any definitive solutions.
The forensic pathologist famous that Susann Sills had accidents throughout her physique that would have resulted from a fall, together with a fractured C3 vertebra close to the bottom of her neck, which might be deadly. Then there was that ligature mark throughout her neck and hemorrhaging of the blood vessels in her eyes, which pointed to strangulation. It might take months to make an official ruling.
Det. Dave Holloway: It is … not one thing they wanna rush into. It is not one thing they wanna make a rash judgment on. … The physician … needed to look at the entire case extra clearly.
Within the meantime, detectives requested DNA testing on proof collected from the Sills residence, and forensic evaluation on Susann Sills’ cellphone and laptop computer. In addition they dug deeper into who the Sills have been.
Det. Dave Holloway: None of their speedy neighbors knew something in regards to the household. …
Finally… we … contacted whoever we might out of their contact listing to attempt to discover out extra.
Sandi Roberts: In highschool I believed this have to be what genius means … his humor, his fast wit.
Sandi Roberts and Jamie Aikens have recognized Scott Sills since their highschool days in Harriman, Tennessee.
Sandi Roberts: He was one thing we had by no means seen earlier than. In a small city in Tennessee at that age … He was very particular.
Jamie Aikens: He was hilarious … How many individuals come to class in a three-piece swimsuit … and it isn’t dress-up day.
Sandi Roberts: He is flamboyant. He is greater than life. … He was very, very sort.
Jamie Aikens: I grew up, uh, fairly poor, I did not have a automotive in highschool or something like that and lots of occasions no lunch cash. … And he all the time pulled out his pockets and paid for it. It simply wasn’t a query.
His future appeared limitless. He was accepted to each regulation college and medical college.
Sandi Roberts: We have been sort of all … on the sting of our seat, questioning what he was going to resolve to do.
Dr. Eric Scott Sills was a beloved infertilty physician.
Scott Sills/Fb
And it was no shock when the hometown boy turned a famend IVF specialist – a career that may lead him to Susann.
Chris Solimine: Susann was going by means of fertility therapy, making an attempt to get pregnant together with her first husband.
Chris Solimine met Susann Arsuaga in enterprise college, the place she earned an MBA. She had confided in him about her struggles to get pregnant.
Chris Solimine: Having children was every little thing to Susann. … She’d cry about it. I imply, it was so essential to her. … And … Eric Scott Sills was her fertility physician.
However quickly, Solimine says, they have been a pair.
Chris Solimine: She began speaking about Dr. Sills after she had informed me she was getting divorced … and that she was now courting him. … I simply bear in mind her saying … he is a … sensible physician.
Scott Sills, who was additionally popping out of a earlier marriage, appeared to have met his match.
Chris Solimine: Susanne was … sensible, witty, sarcastic, however not in a imply approach, you recognize, simply sufficient to – to dig at you. … extremely pushed, a loyal buddy.
Sandi Roberts: She … was so … stylish, so lovely … very participating.
Jamie Aikens: Appeared wish to me he discovered one which — it was a very good match.
Susann Arsuaga match proper in at Scott’s twentieth highschool reunion.
Sandi Roberts: She danced the entire time. … They have been beautiful collectively. … He simply appeared actually … joyful.
Scott and Susann Sills with twins Eric and Mary-Katherine and canines Annabelle and Buddy.
Susann Sills/Patrick.internet
The couple married and welcomed twins by means of IVF, including to Dr. Sills’ two older children. And finally, Susann Sills’ enterprise acumen would cause them to begin their very own IVF observe in April 2015.
Chris Solimine: She began the enterprise … She constructed it. … Susann just about ran every little thing excluding really doing the procedures.
The observe quickly took off. And Dr. Sills was typically featured on the TV program “The Medical doctors,” which was distributed by CBS.
Dr. Julio Novoa: He was in lots of eyes, a saint. … He was liked by his sufferers.
Dr. Julio Novoa is an OB/GYN who co-authored a guide with Dr. Sills.
Dr. Julio Novoa: Dr. Sills … was a fantastic physician … And Susann was a — a fantastic advocate for ladies as properly. … They have been a group not simply married, however a group and dealing properly collectively.
However a few month earlier than her dying, Rick Leeds, one other of Susann Sills’ buddies, says she left him a troubling message.
Rick Leeds: She gave the impression of she was whispering … It was so completely different from the joyful, jovial, excited voicemails I bought earlier than. This one was undoubtedly … issues weren’t good.
Once they spoke, Leeds says it gave the impression of there was stress over a photograph.
Rick Leeds: She mentioned it was a topless photograph of her that had appeared on a … weblog. … this was some dialogue she did not wanna have.
IN SEARCH OF A MOTIVE
When information of Susann Sills’ dying reached her buddies, they have been shocked.
Rick Leeds: It was devastating.
Chris Solimine: I could not consider it. … It did not appear believable to me that she simply fell down the steps with a migraine headache.
It did not sound like the colourful Susann they knew. Scott Sills’ buddies say they have been equally perplexed.
Sandi Roberts: Scott wouldn’t focus on something with us.
Jamie Aikens: He rapidly modified the topic. … We by no means spoke once more. … you do not know how tragedies have an effect on folks.
Tracy Smith: What have been your impressions of Scott Sills all through the investigation?
Det. Dave Holloway: I might describe him as impassive. … He by no means … acted as if Susann was even his spouse … He talked about what a very good supervisor she was and the way she saved … their enterprise flowing. … However he by no means as soon as talked about that she was a very good mom or that he liked her …
Tracy Smith: All very businesslike?
Det. Dave Holloway: Yeah.
Actually, the day after Susann Sills’ dying, the physician had gone to work.
Joanie Rickers: I used to be shocked. … Who goes to the workplace the subsequent morning when your spouse died.
Joanie Rickers’ daughter was a nurse on the Sills’ IVF clinic and had known as her in a panic.
Joanie Rickers: She mentioned her sufferers are in cycle and so they need to be handled.
Rickers volunteered to assist handle the workplace — one thing Susann Sills did — and ended up working there for 2 years.
Tracy Smith: Did Dr. Sills speak about his spouse?
Joanie Rickers: Oh, by no means.
Tracy Smith: Did not ever say how she died?
Joanie Rickers: Oh, we — it was by no means mentioned.
Fairly quickly, she says the physician began altering his look.
Joanie Rickers: He began to decorate like a film star. … I imply, he was quite simple earlier than.
And she or he says the once-balding physician now had a full head of hair.
Sandi Roberts: We undoubtedly seen, um, new hair.
Scott Sills’ altering habits and new look raised purple flags.
Scott Sills/Fb
In addition they seen Dr. Sills’ flashier on-line persona.
Sandi Roberts: I mentioned to considered one of my buddies, now could be Sills a health care provider or a mannequin? … I personally do not know any docs on social media… which are takin’ selfies within the health club … of their — blazers and their sun shades and of their Porsches … I imply, it was a little bit a lot.
Rick Leeds: Abruptly, there began to be one other lady in photographs, and he was out on dates and so they have been going round city.
The habits raised eyebrows, but it surely was hardly proof. Then, in November 2017, a 12 months after Susann Sills’ dying, there was lastly information from the coroner’s workplace: Susann’s reason behind dying was cited as ligature strangulation and the style a murder.
Dr. Sills was now the prime suspect. DNA outcomes on the blood in Mary-Katherine’s room confirmed a combination of his and Susann’s DNA.
Det. Dave Holloway: They have been each there.
Tracy Smith: There was a struggle.
Det. Dave Holloway: There is a struggle. And he killed his spouse.
On Aug. 8, 2018, almost two years after Susann Sills’ dying, Detectives Holloway and Hatch made a shock home name on the physician’s residence.
Tracy Smith: Did you ask Dr. Sills at this level, simply flat out, did you kill your spouse?
Det. Eric Hatch: Sure. … He … began stressing — began sweating. … He turned extra defensive.
They are saying the physician denied killing his spouse. And he now supplied an evidence for his blood in Mary-Katherine’s room: he mentioned he had injured himself changing a window display.
Tracy Smith: Would not Mary-Katherine have seen the blood that he left from changing the display?
Det. Eric Hatch: For positive.
Tracy Smith: And she or he did not point out it?
Det. Eric Hatch: Nope.
Regardless of the dying being dominated a murder, detectives mentioned they nonetheless had extra investigating to do, like discovering a motive. A search of Susann Sills’ cellphone supplied some clues. Textual content messages hinted at issues within the marriage.
Det. Dave Holloway: There was one particularly the place she … had some fairly sturdy phrases in the direction of Scott.
In texts despatched in late August, lower than three months earlier than her dying, Susann Sills wrote, “I’m trapped”… “You’re killing me”… “I simply need out” and “We simply aren’t proper for one another.
And a few month earlier than her dying, Susann had confided in Rick Leeds.
Rick Leeds: She and Scott have been in a extremely rocky place and he or she was enthusiastic about leaving him.
Susann Sills
Susann Sills/Patrick.internet
He mentioned Susann Sills was additionally upset a few photograph she had posted on-line.
Rick Leeds: No matter was happening between her and Scott … and this image … was simply … a pivotal level for her.
Susann Sills had posted a topless photograph after betting in a political chatroom known as Patrick.internet.
Det. Dave Holloway: Susann apparently was one of many few girls who was concerned on this discussion board. … She … sort of threw out … that … if Donald Trump received the presidential nomination, that she would publish an image of her naked breasts.
And on the day of her dying, detectives had discovered a printout in Dr. Sills’ residence workplace of an alternate between Susann and one other Patrick.internet member from Aug. 30, 2016, discussing the photograph. The person, who glided by “tenpoundbass” wrote: “All I’ve bought to say is you will need to have an excellent cool husband.”
Susann Sills aka “turtledove” replied, “He is exhausted, really. It is not straightforward being married to a girl who’s partially bare and posing alluringly, on a regular basis …”
Dr. Sills denied that he had printed that chat. However when investigators later searched his cellphone, they discovered a photograph of the identical alternate.
Tracy Smith: Does this sound like this might result in motive?
Det. Dave Holloway: Sure, … if it is … one thing that is build up in him, some sort of anger … or jealousy about … what his spouse’s doing on-line with out him …
Tracy Smith: Sufficient to kill her?
Det. Dave Holloway: Mm-hmm.
Detectives additionally realized that Dr. Sills had tried to gather on a $250,000 life insurance coverage coverage on Susann, however he claimed the insurance coverage firm had known as him.
Det. Eric Hatch: He wasn’t in a position to gather as a result of … ‘trigger that dying certificates was dominated as a murder.
Tracy Smith: Do you suppose Scott Sills thought he’d gotten away with it?
Det. Eric Hatch: I feel so.
Det. Dave Holloway: Day by day that glided by, he felt a little bit bit extra comfy, I feel.
On April 25, 2019, almost two-and-a-half years after Susann’ Sills’ dying, Dr. Sills was arrested for her alleged homicide on his method to surgical procedure. He rapidly posted 1,000,000 greenback bond. However investigators have been about to get an surprising tip from a girl who mentioned she had met Dr. Sills whereas Susann was nonetheless alive.
Det. Eric Hatch: They met by means of Fb … He was infatuated together with her.
She shared an e mail Scott Sills had despatched her about two weeks after Susann Sills’ dying.
Tracy Smith (studying e mail): “Pour ma chère Marie.”
Det. Eric Hatch: Sure.
Tracy Smith: So it is … in French: “That is in all probability a very powerful manuscript I’ve ever written….I’m asking you to significantly rethink our suspended, however as soon as intense relationship.”
Tracy Smith: Once you first learn that e mail … what was your response?
Det. Eric Hatch: I believed … I used to be shocked … This can be a motive.
Tracy Smith: So might Dr. Sills have killed his spouse to get her out of the way in which?
Jack Earley: Oh, I simply do not see that in any respect.
Dr. Sills’ protection lawyer Jack Earley denies that there was a romantic relationship. And he says that e mail was merely a devastated father’s determined try to discover a new mom for his kids.
Tracy Smith: Did you’re feeling in your intestine that you may win this case?
Jack Earley: Oh, sure.
THE DEFENSE OFFERS A UNIQUE THEORY
In November 2023, simply over seven years after Susann Sills’ dying, Scott Sills – now stripped of his medical license — went on trial for her homicide. The Orange County District Lawyer’s Workplace declined our request for an interview, however cameras have been allowed in court docket for parts of the trial the place Senior Deputy D.A. Jennifer Walker laid out her case to the jury.
JENNIFER WALKER (in court docket): November thirteenth of 2016 … this man killed his spouse and hid it.
Walker argued that Scott Sills beat, after which strangled, Susann Sills to dying earlier than staging the scene to make it seem like she had fallen down the steps.
JENNIFER WALKER (in court docket): This can be a homicide, not an accident.
The prosecution’s case relied closely on Susann Sills’ post-mortem. However Scott Sills’ protection lawyer, Jack Earley, got here to court docket armed with a novel principle. He steered that Susann fell — both going up or down — the steps and that one or each of the household canines then tugged on the headscarf that was wrapped round her neck.
Tracy Smith: Do you truthfully suppose that the canines pulled laborious sufficient to strangle her to dying?
Jack Earley: No, no — I did not. That was not the principle principle that the canines really strangled her to dying.
As an alternative, Earley centered on one other harm recognized in Susann Sills’ post-mortem: that fractured C3 vertebra. He says that harm is according to a fall, and that it might have left Susann incapacitated.
Jack Earley: Let’s assume that somebody journeys and falls and fractures their C3 … their respiratory is compromised. In the event that they’re then choked, it would not take a lot to kill ’em.
House video of Susann Sills enjoying tug-of-war with household canines Buddy, left, and Annabelle.
Orange County Superior Court docket
The protection had the headscarf examined for canine DNA and it got here again constructive. And there was testimony that the canines have been recognized to play tug-of-war. as seen on this video. And when Susann and Scott Sills’ now-19-year-old daughter Mary-Katherine took the stand for the prosecution, her testimony supported the protection’s principle. Investigator Dave Holloway was on the trial.
Det. Dave Holloway: Mary-Katherine testified that she … noticed the canines pulling on the scarf round her neck. And none of that got here up throughout—the—the day we interviewed her the primary time.
Tracy Smith: How did that strike you?
Det Dave Holloway: Nicely, (sighs), um, I do know that she was nonetheless shut together with her father …
Tracy Smith: Do you suppose she’s making an attempt to guard her dad?
Det. Dave Holloway: I might say so.
Earley denies that. He says the rationale Mary-Katherine did not inform investigators is easy.
Jack Earley: It wasn’t requested. … Why would she suppose the canines have been essential? She would not even know that … there’s any query of being choked.
He says Scott Sills did inform first-responders. And he argued that Susann Sills’ toxicology exams level to an unintended fall. She had a muscle relaxant and ache treatment in her system. And Earley informed the jury that Susann suffered from a fainting dysfunction and that vertigo would accompany her migraines. However the prosecution mentioned the protection’s principle simply would not make sense.
JENNIFER WALKER (in court docket): Strangulation is a silent killer. You already know what’s not a silent killer? Falling down a number of stairs … You must consider she bounced her head, neck, again, shoulders, within her arms, legs and toes, a number of methods towards roughly six stairs. Like being in a soundproof pinball machine. … Then was strangled by her canines. Not affordable.
And why would Susann Sills have a shawl round her neck that early within the morning to start with? Prosecutors steered that Scott Sills used it to strangle her after which left it round her neck to cowl the marks. However Earley informed the jury it wasn’t uncommon for Susann to put on a shawl, particularly when she wasn’t feeling properly.
Jack Earley: As a result of if she bought sick, that was one thing that she would put on — a shawl to wipe … your mouth with it.
However the prosecution additionally identified that Susann and Scott Sills’ son Eric informed investigators he noticed his mom put the canines away of their crate within the hours earlier than she died.
Tracy Smith: Eric mentioned that his mother put the canines within the crate.
Jack Earley: Sure. … Typically, canines, once they’re crate-trained, once they go to mattress, will go lay within the crate, even with the door open.
A lone shoe on the staircase of the Sills household’s San Clemente, California, residence.
Orange County Superior Court docket
There was additionally no blood on the steps or injury to them.
Tracy Smith: There are all these accidents that you simply say come from the autumn down the steps, throughout her physique, however she leaves no marks on the steps.
Jack Earley: However there isn’t any marks wherever in the home …
However there was that blood in Mary-Katherine’s bed room, and the prosecution argued it was proof {that a} struggle occurred. A forensic scientist testified that the stains on the nightstand and drapes have been according to Scott Sills’ DNA. Earley did acknowledge that his shopper’s blood was within the room, however he informed the jury about Scott’s declare that he damage himself there on an earlier date.
Tracy Smith: From Scott changing a display?
Jack Earley: Yeah. From getting minimize on a nail that was at the back of … the nightstand that was there.
That forensic scientist although testified that one of many stains on the wall was a combination of DNA—and Scott and Susann Sills have been doubtless contributors. Earley says that does not imply it was Susann’s blood and that it might have been her contact DNA that was picked up.
Jack Earley: Susann had touched that space earlier than in some unspecified time in the future in time. And she or he lived there.
However the prosecution identified that there have been additionally clumps of Susann Sills’ hair present in Mary-Katherine’s room, and there have been blood stains on Susann’s clothes that have been discovered to be according to Scott Sills’ DNA, too. Earley had a rebuttal to all of it, beginning with the hair.
Jack Earley: She has hair extensions. And you recognize what hair extensions trigger? Lack of hair. …
And the blood on the garments?
Jack Earley: You do not know how outdated it’s.
The jury was additionally proven photos of these accidents that have been noticed on Scott Sills. Bear in mind how he informed investigators that he damage himself whereas engaged on his automotive along with his son? And the way, in keeping with investigators, Eric Sills mentioned that his father did not get injured? Nicely, when Eric Sills took the stand, his testimony allowed for the likelihood.
Jack Earley: What he testified is, properly, I did not keep there the entire time he fastened the automotive. …
Tracy Smith: Does that appear like a discrepancy to you?
Jack Earley: Nicely … it isn’t a discrepancy. … no one’s asking him that full story at — on the age 12.
Tracy Smith: So he did not essentially say at age 12, dad did not get the harm from the automotive?
Jack Earley: No … he mainly mentioned I wasn’t there when he bought the harm. …
Whereas Eric Sills did testify {that a} loud dialogue between his dad and mom had woken him up shortly earlier than his mom’s dying, the protection informed the jury that there was nothing to it. And people texts between Scott and Susann Sills within the months earlier than Susann’s dying?
Jack Earley: If in case you have 40,000 texts and there is 5 of them with laborious language in it, that is an ideal marriage.
The jury did not hear in regards to the life insurance coverage coverage, that e-mail Scott Sills despatched to a different lady or his social media photographs within the wake of his spouse’s dying, however they have been informed in regards to the Patrick.internet posts. And the prosecution argued that topless photograph that Susann Sills posted on the location enraged Scott Sills.
Jack Earley: It wasn’t an enormous deal.
Tracy Smith: It is not putting to you that he had this photograph in two locations on his cellphone after which on the printer?
Jack Earley: No, to begin with, I do not know actually who printed these things up.
Earley maintains there isn’t any motive for homicide.
Jack Earley: There was by no means any bodily violence. … Their working and marriage relationship … all people checked out it as loving.
Scott Sills selected to not take the stand. The trial spanned three weeks, after which the case went to the jury.
Erin Ellis: My coronary heart was simply pounding.
A JURY DECIDES .. BUT QUESTIONS REMAIN
Jurors Erin Ellis, Jack Van Camp, and Susan Blaho say that when deliberations started, they felt the strain.
Jack Van Camp: It is simply so intimidating that you simply bought somebody’s life on the road …
Tracy Smith: It weighs on you.
Erin Ellis: Oh, yeah. And the ripple impact …
Jack Van Camp: The children, and uh —
Erin Ellis: Yeah.
Tracy Smith: Did you consider that? That these children did not solely lose their mother? That for those who convict him, now they’re shedding their dad.
Erin Ellis: After all.
Jack Van Camp: Yeah.
They are saying additionally they felt a transparent motive was missing.
Erin Ellis: I imply, it is laborious to think about … why one thing like this may occur.
Jack Van Camp: Anyone would do this.
Erin Ellis: Yeah.
After about three hours, they got here to a choice. The clerk learn the decision:
COURT CLERK: We the jury within the above-entitled motion discover the defendant, Eric Scott Sills, not responsible of the crime of first-degree homicide …We the jury within the above-entitled motion discover the defendant, Eric Scott Sills, responsible of the crime of second-degree homicide.
Eric Scott Sills was discovered responsible of second-degree homicide.
Getty Photographs
Responsible of second-degree homicide. Scott Sills, who gave the present of life to so many by means of his IVF observe—now convicted of taking the lifetime of his spouse, the mom of his children.
Erin Ellis: I simply felt unhappy. I imply, I used to be tearing up on the way in which out … This complete household had been by means of a lot, you recognize— now that is the subsequent part of it.
Susan Blaho: It was finality.
Jack Van Camp: However he did that.
The jurors we spoke to say that nobody on the jury purchased the protection’s principle in regards to the canines.
Jack Van Camp: The canines must choke her on the steps. And my canine was as large as hers and my canine can’t get a grip on picket stairs with their nails to do something. They simply slide.
Erin Ellis: The headscarf had no puncture wounds both. … I might’ve anticipated holes.
Jack Van Camp: And the autumn down the steps would not create that state of affairs on her physique.
As an alternative, what they spent probably the most time grappling with was whether or not Scott Sills was responsible of first-degree or second-degree homicide. First-degree homicide requires premeditation and deliberation.
Jack Van Camp: I simply did not suppose he deliberate it.
Erin Ellis: I do not.
Jack Van Camp: If he had deliberate it or carried out any sort of forethought, it would not be a sizzling mess crime scene that it was.
Susan Blaho: It was sort of like a snap.
However investigator Dave Holloway says whereas Scott Sills might not have deliberate his crime, he definitely had the time to consider what he was doing.
Det. Dave Holloway: He had loads of time from when he utilized strain to Susann’s neck, until she died to cease what he was doing. … And he nonetheless did it. … I used to be a little bit dissatisfied that it was a second diploma.
On March 15, 2024, about three months after the decision, court docket reconvened for sentencing. Susann Sills’ mom, Theresa Neubauer, addressed the court docket, and saved the concentrate on her daughter.
Theresa Neubauer: She was a dynamic individual. She had hopes and desires …
Hopes and desires, Neubauer mentioned, that sooner or later Susann would see her daughter, Mary-Katherine, stroll down the steps of the household’s San Clemente residence on her wedding ceremony day.
Theresa Neubauer: It was a really painful, uh, factor for me to be taught of the function the staircase finally performed in actual life.
Mary-Katherine Sills addresses the court docket at her father’s sentencing
CBS Information
Mary-Katherine additionally addressed the court docket and spoke of all of the loss she had endured at such a younger age. She and her brother have been taken in by a household buddy after their father’s arrest and that household buddy died instantly of a well being situation across the finish of the trial. She requested the decide to indicate her father mercy.
MARY-KATHERINE SILLS (in court docket): I would like my father to stroll me down the aisle at my wedding ceremony sometime. When I’ve a household and kids, I would like my father to be there to carry my child. I’ve been left orphaned and I really feel so misplaced with out my dad and mom.
Choose Patrick Donahue sentenced Scott Sills to the obligatory sentence underneath California regulation: 15 years to life in jail. His destiny was determined, however for thus many, questions stay. Precisely what led as much as Susann Sills’ dying?
Tracy Smith: Do you suppose we’ll ever know precisely the way it occurred?
Det. Dave Holloway: I do not suppose so.
Det. Eric Hatch: No.
Scott Sills declined “48 Hours”‘ requests for an interview. However ultimately, no rationalization will suffice — or ease the profound sense of loss that lingers. Sufferers now with out their physician —
Dr. Julio Novoa: Hundreds of ladies felt him to be a saint. … From the saint all the way in which all the way down to the satan, that is the way it ended up being.
— and kids with out their father or their mom.
Susann Sills
Legacy.com
Chris Solimine: Her children have been so essential to her and every little thing she did revolved round her kids. … She was an unbelievable human being. … You already know, I—I miss her (emotional).
Scott Sills might be eligible for parole in 2033, although it may very well be sooner with good habits.
Produced by Gayane Keshishyan Mendez and Stephanie Slifer. Alicia Tejada is the coordinating producer. Chelsea Narvaez is the affiliate producer. Michelle Fanucci, Cindy Cesare and Michelle Sigona are the event producers. Danielle Austen is the event affiliate producer. Gary Winter, Atticus Brady, Michelle Harris, Jason Schmidt and Michael Baluzy are the editors. Lourdes Aguiar is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the manager story editor. Judy Tygard is the manager producer.
Extra from CBS Information
Tracy Smith
