This story beforehand aired on Nov. 21, 2020. It was up to date on Sept. 6, 2025.
A Michigan lady is convicted of homicide and arson after authorities say she set the household residence on hearth to kill her husband after which ran him over with a van when he escaped the flames. Linda Stermer was sentenced to life in jail, however she satisfied a choose she did not get a good trial and was launched. Then, the Van Buren County Prosecutor’s Workplace refiled homicide prices towards Stermer. Did she do it? Or was the dying of Todd Stermer it a tragic accident?
“It’s essential to know, Linda, that it’s totally troublesome for individuals to imagine that your husband is burned in a hearth, he escapes, he is nonetheless alive, badly burned and then you definitely hit him with a automobile,” “48 Hours” correspondent Erin Moriarty asks Linda Stermer, who’s talking out for the primary time. “What, you simply occurred to have that form of unhealthy luck?”
“Unhealthy luck would not even describe it,” Stermer says.
UP IN FLAMES
On Jan, 7, 2007, the day her home went up in flames, Linda Stermer says she was doing laundry within the basement round 3 p.m., when she heard her husband Todd set free a scream. She ran upstairs to search out their front room engulfed in flames.
Linda Stermer: I couldn’t have gotten over to Todd as a result of there was hearth between the 2 of us.
She panicked, says Linda, and escaped by way of the entrance door, with no sneakers or mobile phone. When Todd did not observe, she jumped into the household’s van to get assist, understanding the keys had been inside. However simply as she was about to depart, Linda says she instantly noticed Todd by way of the motive force’s facet window.
Linda Stermer: I am screaming at him, “get within the van, get within the van.” … And he will not get within the van.
She says she jumped out of the van to attempt to assist him.
Linda Stermer: And I am … yelling at him to … to put down, to do something. I can not contact him. … And so I get again within the van. … And I overpassed him. I do not know the place he went to, but it surely was so muddy … The tires had been simply spinning … so I could not get any traction … So, I simply put it in gear and I am making an attempt to let it creep till it will get some buy.
The van’s tires had been worn, says Linda, and the driveway too muddy. So, she drove round to the facet of the home, the place there was a sandy space, considering that will give her traction.
Linda Stermer says she had a tough time driving as a result of the bottom was so muddy. As she was pulling out of the driveway, she says she noticed that Todd had made it out and was close to the entrance of the home, badly burned. She says she tried to assist him, however he would not get within the van. Then she says she overpassed him and drove across the facet of the home towards a sandy space the place she might get traction.
Michigan State Police
Linda Stermer: I noticed the neighbors … I noticed them developing the driveway in some unspecified time in the future.
Neighbors Mike Matheny and Connie Calhoun had seen the fireplace and rushed over to assist.
Linda Stermer: Mike … he’s yelling at me. “The place’s the youngsters? The place’s Todd?” And I am screaming at him. He mentioned I used to be incoherent, could not perceive me as a result of I am hysterical. And I am making an attempt to inform him the youngsters aren’t right here. Todd’s up there.
Linda says they regarded for Todd on the entrance of the home — the place she had final seen him — however he was gone.
Linda Stermer: [Looking at diagram of her property with Erin Moriarty]: We discovered Todd laying proper right here nearer to the home.
One way or the other, Todd ended up on the facet of the home, not removed from the place she stopped the van.
Erin Moriarty [pointing at diagram]: He went from over right here to right here.
Linda Stermer: Sure. And he was laying on his again along with his head closest to the home.
Todd Stermer dying: Contained in the investigation
20 photographs
Linda says she has no thought how he obtained there however investigators later discovered Todd’s blood on the van’s entrance bumper and undercarriage.
Todd was barely clothed once they discovered him, so Mike Matheny grabbed a few of his personal clothes from the backseat of his automobile and coated Todd with it.
Linda Stermer: He was so badly burnt … And he was alive. He was taking a look at me, however he could not speak. And I laid there simply begging him to not depart me.
When emergency medical technicians arrived, they tried to save lots of Todd.
Linda Stermer: And so they mentioned they could not hook up a defibrillator to him, ‘trigger he was too badly burned. … Once they stopped engaged on him, I used to be so, so indignant at them. … Why did not they get him within the ambulance? Why did they waste a lot time making an attempt there? [crying] Can we take a break please?
Trevor Stermer: Anytime we might ask any particulars on the case or what occurred that day … she would begin crying and search for sympathy from you and play the sufferer.
The couple’s sons, Trevor and Trenton Stermer, started to suspect there was extra to the story, when their mom appeared reluctant to share sure particulars.
Trevor Stermer: I requested her concerning the van and if she had run him over. And he or she mentioned she did not need to discuss it … And that I ought to simply imagine her, however her story simply wasn’t including up.
Trenton Stermer: It did not make sense that our father, who was in nice form … it did not make sense that he would die in a home hearth and she or he would not.
Linda and Todd Stermer
Linda Stermer/Sandra Stermer
They are saying their guardian’s marriage had been rocky for a while and all of it appeared to return to a head on the eve of the fireplace — when Todd and Linda obtained right into a shouting match.
Erin Moriarty: Was that the worst battle you’d ever seen your dad and mom in?
Trevor Stermer Yeah. … this was completely the worst. … All of us knew that this was gonna be the one which ended their marriage.
The battle, they are saying, was a well-recognized one: over funds and infidelity.
Trenton Stermer: It looks like he discovered that she was having an affair, basically and had a separate life.
Erin Moriarty: Have been you ever untrue to Todd?
Linda Stermer: No.
Linda Stermer: Todd was an especially jealous and possessive particular person.
Linda says she and Todd fought about cash, as a result of they had been close to monetary destroy she says, due to Todd.
Linda Stermer: Todd owned his personal enterprise. He bought gloves and infrequently bought looking fits … However he did not wish to work typically. And I discovered about him borrowing cash from his mom. … And I mentioned, “why would you try this? Why aren’t you simply going to work?” I used to be working in a dialysis facility. I needed to be to work at 5:00 a.m.
Erin Moriarty: How a lot in debt was he?ibi
Linda Stermer: On the time of his dying, $75,000. … He hadn’t paid our mortgage in a number of months. … And he simply blew cash, simply blew cash.
However Trenton and Trevor say the actual drain on the household’s funds was Linda’s obsession with horses. They declare their dad was upset to study that Linda had a line of credit score for $25,00, to help the 31 horses she had on their property.
Trenton Stermer: The horses had been at all times a subject of dialogue between them of it was working us dry.
Linda Stermer: I do not know the place they’d have gotten that concept from.
Linda Stermer: The horses had been self-sufficient. … Todd at all times advised me that if I did not make sufficient cash with the horses that I could not have the horses.
No matter they had been arguing about, 24 hours later Todd was useless, and investigators had been suspicious. They began taking an extended exhausting have a look at Linda’s actions on the day of the fireplace. For example, she had gone to a fuel station early that morning, and a clerk would later say it regarded like Linda was pumping gas not into her automobile — however right into a fuel can. And actually, a can was discovered by investigators within the Stermer’s entrance yard.
TROUBLE AT HOME
Linda Stermer says her early morning journey to the fuel station the day that the home hearth killed her husband Todd was completely harmless.
Linda Stermer: We had been out of milk.
She says she purchased some groceries and topped off the fuel in her SUV — and that is all she did. a receipt would later present she spent simply over $11 on the pump.
Erin Moriarty: You did not refill the tank.
Linda Stermer: It did not want an entire lot.
She claims she wished to verify there was loads of fuel for her sons, as a result of when she obtained residence, she woke them and advised them to depart in her automobile.
Linda Stermer: I … advised them that they may go to the films with their pal. … I did not need them listening to Todd and I argue.
Linda and Todd had been combating since the day prior to this. She says their marriage was coming to an finish, that she was on the point of depart Todd that day and wished the boys out of the way in which.
Linda Stermer: I simply felt like being in the home with us watching me transfer out, was gonna be an excessive amount of for them.
After 13 years of marriage, it was a choice that had been a very long time within the making.
When Linda first met Todd in 1989, she says there was an instantaneous attraction.
Linda Stermer: He was so lovely, so charismatic. You can simply see the sunshine in his eyes.
They had been each 25 once they began courting. Linda was separated on the time, with two younger daughters: 3-year-old Ashley and 2-year-old Brittany. It was clear Todd wished the entire package deal.
Linda Stermer: I mentioned, “I am in the midst of a divorce,” and I mentioned, “I’ve two little ladies.” And he says, “Effectively, that is good. I will solely make boys.” [laughs] Like, what?
Linda and Todd Stermer on their marriage ceremony day.
Linda Stermer
By the point they obtained married in August of 1993, Linda had given beginning to their two sons, Trevor and Trenton.
Linda Stermer: He didn’t should marry me. … We simply wished to be a household. … Todd was the epitome of household.
Trenton Stermer: He was an awesome man, nice father. Coached all of us by way of as many sports activities as he might … and undoubtedly a household man.
He was such a loyal household man, says Linda, he even supplied to soak up her nephew, Cory, to save lots of him from a damaged residence.
Linda Stermer: Todd sat me down one evening and he mentioned, “Would you like him to return and reside right here with us? Possibly that will be good for him.”
Cory Pierce was 2 years previous once they took him in.
Erin Moriarty: You miss your dad?
Cory Pierce: Yeah. … He cherished to play sports activities with us and hang around with us, he’d exit within the yard to play with us and he was actually athletic.
Erin Moriarty: Did he ever deal with any of those children in another way?
Linda Stermer: Oh, no. Anyone who he had ever, ever launched his household to — “these are my sons, these are my daughters.”
Erin Moriarty: It sounds at that time your relationship was fairly best.
Linda Stermer: Superb. It was superb.
However that happiness, says Linda, did not final very lengthy. It seems Todd had a mood.
Ashley Gibson | Daughter: The primary incident I simply bear in mind my stepdad, like, throwing a garments basket of laundry … at my mother. I bear in mind him going out with mates at evening and my mother having to load all of us children up within the automobile to go choose him up at a pal’s home the place he was drunk and simply belligerent and screaming at her and …
Brittany Gibson | Daughter: It obtained like so unhealthy. It scared us. We had been younger then.
Ashley Gibson says that when she was about 11 years previous and began talking up, she turned a goal of that anger.
Erin Moriarty: What would he say to you Ashley?
Ashley Gibson: “You are a two-legged canine identical to your mother. You are gonna be a whore identical to she is.”
Erin Moriarty: Would he hit you?
Ashley Gibson: Oh, yeah.
Erin Moriarty: With what?
Ashley Gibson: His hand, belts. … Horse reigns. … A telephone in the midst of the brow [cries].
Linda says Todd additionally hit her.
Linda Stermer: It wasn’t an everyday factor. … He would get extraordinarily fired up and very annoyed. And he hit me one time and left a bruise on my cheek. … However he despatched me flowers. … He advised me how sorry he was. … And then you definitely imagine that it is by no means going to occur once more, till it does.
However Trenton, Trevor and Cory say they by no means really noticed their father hit their sister, Ashley, or their mom.
Erin Moriarty: Did you see your dad ever be abusive to your mother?
Cory Pierce: No. I by no means seen him bodily hurt her.
Trenton Stermer: … we by no means noticed a black eye or bruises.
Trevor Stermer: Our father undoubtedly had a mood. And maybe he grabbed her and squeezed her arm possibly a bit too exhausting … However by no means any hitting.
Erin Moriarty: Have been you actually apprehensive he may harm Linda?
Marti Bakhuyzen: Sure, I used to be.
Linda says not lengthy earlier than the fireplace, she was able to name it quits, and began speaking to a divorce lawyer.
Linda Stermer’s daughters Brittany, left, and Ashley Gibson, imagine their mom is harmless.
CBS Information
Brittany Gibson: She advised me that she had deliberate on leaving … it was getting, you already know, to be an excessive amount of.
On Jan. 6, 2007, the evening earlier than the fireplace, then-20-year-old Ashley says she known as the Stermer residence to talk to her mom.
Ashley Gibson: I’ve by no means gotten to speak to anyone about this, so it is actually exhausting for me …
Todd answered the telephone.
Ashley Gibson: He mentioned, “Your mother’s not right here.” And he is, like, “however I had a dialog with God. … I am not determined but, however one in every of us is leaving in a physique bag. And it is both me or your mother.”
THE CASE AGAINST LINDA STERMER
After Todd Stermer’s dying, Van Buren County Sheriff’s detectives spent two years investigating — specializing in the troubled Stermer marriage, and the truth that Todd’s spouse Linda ran him over when he escaped the fireplace.
Then, on June 5, 2009, the prosecutor’s workplace felt it had sufficient proof to arrest Linda Stermer on prices of arson and homicide.
Van Buren County Sheriff’s detectives took two years to place collectively their case. In 2009, Linda Stermer was charged with homicide and arson.
Van Buren County Sheriff’s Workplace
Trevor Stermer | Son: For thus lengthy we had all held the notion in our head that it was attainable that she killed our father. … However when all the main points and the proof got here out, it was simply overwhelming.
On Jan. 5, 2010, Linda went on trial. The proof was primarily circumstantial, specializing in Linda’s actions earlier than and after the fireplace. Her sons testified she pushed them to go to the films that Sunday morning.
Trevor Stermer: Saying, “It is advisable stand up. … It is advisable go. It is advisable depart the home proper now.”
Trenton Stermer: I went to go say goodbye to our father —
Trevor Stermer: —she bodily stopped us. She mentioned, “No he is sleeping. Do not go over there.”
They now imagine their dad had been sedated.
Trevor Stermer: I imagine that he was drugged simply because he was clearly incapacitated in the lounge.
Linda and Todd’s sons, from left, Cory Pierce, Trevor and Trenton Stermer. They imagine their mom is responsible.
CBS Information
Bolstering that principle was Kate Fox, a former pal and coworker of Linda’s. Fox testified that Linda confided in her, saying she was afraid investigators would discover a espresso cup she used to attempt to drug Todd.
However Linda’s trial lawyer, Jeffrey Getting says, there was no proof that Todd was drugged.
Jeff Getting: The proof launched on the trial was … contained within the post-mortem report, which did not discover any important proof of sedatives …
However Kate Fox additionally testified that Linda had mentioned methods of eliminating her husband, together with working him over with a automobile.
Erin Moriarty: Did you?
Linda Stermer: No. … Kate actually hated me at that time.
Linda says that by trial their friendship had ended, and that Fox lied on the witness stand as a result of, amongst different issues, she was indignant at Linda for altering her shift at work.
Linda Stermer: My lawyer requested her why she was so indignant at me … And he or she says, “she lied to me. She lied to me. She modified shifts with out me.”
However Kate Fox additionally offered a motive for homicide, telling jurors that, on the time of the fireplace, Linda was having an affair with a coworker named Chris Williams. That testimony was backed up by Williams himself, who claimed that he and Linda had a “romantic relationship” whereas she was “a married lady.”
Erin Moriarty: Have been you having an affair with Chris Williams?
Linda Stermer: I began seeing Chris Williams romantically, but it surely wasn’t till after I misplaced my husband.
Erin Moriarty: Why would a person you went out with flip round and lie at trial?
Linda Stermer: Except he was manipulated by somebody, I do not know.
Linda says that Kate Fox was so indignant, she satisfied Williams to lie about when the connection started. The protection offered proof that Fox had a historical past of psychological sickness and her personal brother took the stand and mentioned her tales could not be trusted.
Stephen Berry | Kate Fox’s brother: I do know my sister she will be able to manipulate the — the reality to no matter she desires it to be. … And yeah, she’s going to lie if it is — if it is to her profit.
However it could have been Linda’s early morning journey to the fuel station that was most damaging to her case. Bear in mind, she says she went out to purchase milk and prime off the fuel tank in her automobile. However a fuel station clerk testified she thought she noticed Linda in the back of her automobile, seemingly pumping fuel not into her automobile, however right into a fuel can, just like the one discovered on the scene. It is one thing Linda denies.
Linda Stermer: It was frigid. And I had winter gloves and a hotter coat again there. … So I obtained my gloves out to pump fuel.
As for the fuel can discovered on the home, Linda says they lived on a farm, and there have been fuel cans in all places.
Todd Stermer died on the scene from smoke inhalation and thermal accidents.
Sandra Stermer
The prosecutor argued that Linda began the fireplace by dousing Todd with gasoline — and his sweatpants, underwear and socks did take a look at constructive. However protection lawyer Getting by no means known as his personal hearth professional to refute any of that.
Linda Stermer: I begged him quite a few instances for an professional and he says, “We do not want an professional, Linda. We’ll use their professional for our profit,”
Getting says his plan was to agree the fireplace was arson, however to persuade jurors that it was Todd who began it.
Jeff Getting: Todd is in the midst of the fireplace. … One of the best protection on this case is Todd set the fireplace and was by accident killed within the hearth that he set.
In truth, Todd Stermer had twice been suspected by police of arson prior to now. Two different properties he owned mysteriously burned to the bottom. Each instances, Todd was reportedly in debt and wanted cash. However Todd was by no means charged, and in his closing argument, the prosecutor known as the declare nonsense and reminded the jury that when Todd escaped the burning home, Linda ran him over. He additionally mentioned Linda owned two mobile phone and will have been in a position to name 911.
Linda Stermer: And he pointed his finger in my face simply inches away from my face. And he says, “She’s a liar, a manipulator, a diabolical assassin.”
Which will have crossed a line however Getting by no means objected. Simply hours after the case went to the jury, the choose learn their verdict:
JUDGE: Rely one, responsible as charged. Rely two, responsible as charged.
Linda’s sons say the jury obtained it proper.
Trenton Stermer: We knew it in our hearts that she was responsible. … And it felt like we might lastly breathe once more.
Linda’s daughter, Ashley, has barely spoken to her brothers since that day.
Ashley Gibson: I misplaced my brothers, my grandparents, my aunts and uncles. … as a result of I believed in my mother.
Linda was sentenced to life with out parole, however she was decided to battle her conviction and reunite her household:
LINDA STERMER (in courtroom): I’m decided and hopeful that I’ll get again to my youngsters sometime.
Decided to free her mom, Linda’s daughter, Brittany, begged well-respected hearth investigator Robert Trenkle to reexamine her mom’s case.
Brittany Gibson: He mentioned, “If there’s any doubt in your thoughts in any respect by any means that your mother did this, do not rent me. … as a result of if she did it, I’ll discover out.”
LINDA PETITIONS THE COURT
Erin Moriarty: While you went to jail, did you assume, “that is it?”
Linda Stermer: No. My lawyer advised me, he says … “Linda we is not going to hand over. … We will battle this.”
Over the subsequent 5 years, Linda Stermer filed attraction after attraction in state courtroom, all the way in which to Michigan’s Supreme Court docket; all of them denied.
Linda Stermer: It was devastating. It was actually devastating.
Then she turned to the federal courtroom and took benefit of a jail useful resource: the legislation library.
Linda Stermer: I used to be in that legislation library nearly each single day of the week. And I discovered as a lot as I might.
Linda wrote her personal petition to the federal courtroom. Partly, she blamed her conviction on her personal protection lawyer, who had chosen to not rent a hearth professional. An professional, like veteran hearth investigator Robert Trenkle, who would have testified there wasn’t sufficient proof to show the fireplace that killed Todd Stermer was intentionally set.
Erin Moriarty: How would you describe the investigation that was made into this case? Satisfactory?
Robert Trenkle: No, completely not ample. Insufficient. Simply the alternative.
For instance, Trenkle says, investigators did not sift by way of the stays of the home and took only a few samples of particles.
The stays of the Stermer residence following the Jan. 7, 2007, hearth.
Michigan State Police
Robert Trenkle: If you happen to assume the fireplace began the lounge, it began within the heart of that front room … you are going to should take that ground and transfer it out to the surface. Take a look at what sort of burn patterns are on that ground to provide you that cause to have the ability to imagine that … after which take a pattern and see when you have one thing.
Trenkle says the proof would not help the state’s principle that Linda doused Todd with gasoline after which set him on hearth.
Robert Trenkle: I’ve requested in all probability 30 or 40 people who find themselves firefighters, investigators … And so they all laughed after I advised them about someone getting out of a constructing after they … had gasoline poured throughout them.
And when requested concerning the gasoline discovered on Todd’s clothes? Effectively, Trenkle says it was possible a case of cross-contamination. Keep in mind that neighbor who got here to the rescue that day? He recycled auto components for a dwelling, and a shirt he used to cowl Todd additionally examined constructive for fuel.
After which there’s the truth that no gasoline was discovered on Linda’s clothes.
Robert Trenkle: If you happen to get one little speck in your finger, you attempt to wash it off and wash it off to scrub it off, it is nonetheless there. So, it ought to’ve been smelled on Ms. Stermer. And it ought to definitely have been on one thing that she was sporting.
Trenkle says there merely is not sufficient proof to show arson, however even when there was, the extra possible suspect was Todd Stermer himself.
Erin Moriarty: And why do you imagine that?
Robert Trenkle: Due to his burn accidents … It definitely exhibits that Mr. Stermer was within the space of the fireplace.
In 2016, an lawyer filed Linda’s amended petition, which included Trenkle’s findings. Two years later, a choose responded — granting her one other day in courtroom.
In October 2018, Federal Choose Arthur J. Tarnow held an evidentiary listening to in Linda’s case.
Linda Stermer: I knew that the science was the important thing. … There isn’t a proof to help a principle of arson.
Erin Moriarty: What do you imagine began that fireside then?
Linda Stermer: I imagine that one thing got here out of that hearth – a coal or a log or one thing fell out, popped out, and began that ground on hearth.
The state’s hearth professional testified that he adopted correct investigative procedures and did not take samples of the stays as a result of he noticed no evidentiary worth in them.
When Jeff Getting took the stand to defend his work, the choose was fairly stern with him.
Jeff Getting: He was crucial of me … He was crucial of everything of — of this trial.
However Getting says he nonetheless believes he offered the one case he might have—that Todd Stermer began the fireplace that ended his life.
Jeff Getting: This protection to the case was the one which I felt, my consumer felt, we collectively felt gave us the very best chance of success.
Two months later, simply earlier than Christmas 2018, Choose Tarnow issued his ruling.
He discovered the prosecutor was improper telling jurors that Linda had two cell telephones when there was no proof of that and he additionally discovered fault with the protection, saying Getting failed his consumer by not calling a hearth professional. The choose additionally identified that though Kate Fox’s trial testimony was incriminating, she did endure from psychological well being issues, and that her brother testified she was recognized to be untruthful. The choose additionally agreed that if there was an arson, “important proof pointed the finger of suspicion at Mr. Stermer.”
In December 2018, almost 12 years after the fireplace and after spending nearly 9 years in jail, Linda Stermer’s conviction was overturned and Choose Tarnow set her free.
In 2018, almost 12 years after the fireplace, a federal choose determined Linda Stermer did not get a good trial. He vacated her conviction, Linda was launched from jail.
WWMT
Linda Stermer: It was a tremendous, superb day.
Erin Moriarty: However is it over?
Linda Stermer: No, it’s not.
A FAMILY DIVIDED
Erin Moriarty: I discover that you simply name her Linda. You do not name her mother.
Trevor Stermer: She’s not our mom now. She’s not mother anymore.
For almost 9 years, Trevor Stermer and his brothers went on with their lives, believing their father’s killer was behind bars. After which, in December 2018, a federal choose set their mom free.
Erin Moriarty: The truth that a choose took a have a look at the proof, and did not really feel she had a good trial, thought she may be harmless, that does not change the way in which you are feeling?
Cory Pierce: No. I do know that she did what she did.
However Linda’s daughters, who believed in her innocence, had been afraid they may lose her once more.
Ashley Gibson: I’ve no religion within the justice system proper now, to be sincere with you.
Erin Moriarty: What is the worst factor that would occur?
Brittany Gibson: They’re going to ship her again to jail.
A yr later, Michigan’s lawyer normal tried to just do that, by submitting an attraction asking to have Linda’s conviction reinstated.
Erin Moriarty: Are you scared?
Linda Stermer: I’m. I would be ignorant to not. … I do know what’s at stake now. … I do know what the jail system is like.
On Dec. 3, 2019, Linda Stermer, her daughters, and her mom had been in Cincinnati, Ohio, to attend a Federal Court docket of Appeals listening to, the place a panel of three judges would hear the case.
Linda’s lawyer, Wolfgang Mueller, argued that there isn’t a bodily proof proving that his consumer deliberately set her home on hearth. And with out an professional to clarify that to the jury, Mueller mentioned Linda didn’t have a good trial.
Wolf Mueller: I am a former auto engineer. I am a science man and I’m offended by the shortage of science and what handed for science on this case.
Mueller received. The courtroom denied the state’s attraction, but it surely wasn’t over for Linda. The Van Buren County Prosecutor’s Workplace might retry her and that is precisely what occurred. The costs towards Linda Stermer for the first-degree homicide of her husband had been reinstated.
Wolf Mueller: These penalties are life in jail with out the potential for parole.
Nonetheless, by way of the subsequent almost 5 years of pretrial hearings and delays, Linda remained a free lady. After which, on March 27, 2025, Linda was again in courtroom for opening statements, with a authorized staff that now included legal protection lawyer Ronald Kelly and her personal hearth professional, Robert Trenkle. The state offered an extended listing of witnesses, many who repeated what they’d mentioned within the first trial.
Linda Stermer throughout her March 2025 retral for the homicide of her husband Todd Stermer.
Pool
Todd Stermer’s mom, Sandra testified that, within the aftermath of the fireplace, her daughter-in-law saved altering her story.
SANDRA STERMER (in courtroom): There was three completely different tales that I heard inside two days, about how she obtained out of the home.
Linda and Todd’s son Cory mentioned the identical.
CORY PIERCE (in courtroom): The story modified just a few completely different instances.
Cody additionally testified that Linda pressured him and his brothers to mislead the insurance coverage firm, concerning the state of her marriage to Todd Stermer.
CORY PIERCE (in courtroom): You may want to inform them that there weren’t any points that you have ever seen. That the wedding good and that they had been completely satisfied collectively.
Linda’s former co-worker Chris Williams advised the jury about his affair with Linda — and mentioned they had been collectively simply two days earlier than the fireplace.
PROSECUTOR (in courtroom) Your relationship ended the Friday earlier than the fireplace?
CHRIS WILLIAMS: No, no, it did not finish. She was at my home the Friday.
And there was Linda’s former pal Kate Fox, who testified that Linda had talked about eager to kill Todd.
KATE FOX (in courtroom): She talked about capturing him. she talked about working over him together with her automobile.
Former hearth investigator, Scott LeRoy testified concerning the fuel can that was discovered on the Stermer’s entrance garden. He additionally mentioned he smelled gasoline on Todd Stermer’s clothes, and that based mostly on the scale and pace of the fireplace, he felt that an accelerant, like gasoline, had been used to begin the fireplace.
SCOTT LEROY (in courtroom): That may in — incl — lead me to imagine that that is an deliberately set hearth.
However in cross examination, LeRoy admitted that he had not been in a position to take a look at for proof of gasoline within the Stermer front room.
WOLF MUELLER (in courtroom): There was no gasoline discovered, aside from Todd Stermer’s sweatpants, within the space of origin, is that right?
SCOTT LEROY: I used to be unable to find any gasoline in the lounge, as a result of heavy destruction of the lounge.
On day seven, the prosecution rested, and the protection staff started calling their witnesses, together with a detailed pal who mentioned she had been to the Stermer residence and recalled seeing holes within the ceilings, with wires hanging down and no smoke detectors.
CASANDRA GRIGG (in courtroom) Nothing was completed in the home. … you might see a few of the instulation (sic) across the home windows. … the hearth upstairs did not have any drywall on it, or something, it was all board.
Then, Linda’s personal hearth professional took the stand. Robert Trenkle advised the jury that, in his opinion, there isn’t a approach to know the way the fireplace began, as a result of the state investigator, Scott LeRoy, did not correctly excavate and look at the ruins, and didn’t take correct pictures.
ROBERT TRENKLE (in courtroom): If you happen to do not gather information, you’ll be able to’t analyze it.
Trenkle additionally wished to clarify why he believes that gasoline had not been used to set Todd Stermer on hearth. To show his principle, Mueller performed two movies of an experiment carried out by Trenkle.
First Trenkle makes an attempt to ignite a clear part of fabric from a pair of polyester sweatpants like those Todd Stermer was sporting the day of the fireplace. Trenkle holds a match to it for fairly some time and, finally, a small patch does catch hearth after which rapidly burns out.
A second clip exhibits the identical piece of cloth, splashed with two ounces of gasoline, after which set on hearth. This time we see big flames, and the fabric rapidly melts. However that is not what occurred to Todd Stermer.
Wolf Mueller: His sweatpants weren’t burned.
Wolf Mueller: The entire case hinges on, was there an arson? Was there deliberately set hearth? … If the jury does what they’re speculated to do and follows the legislation … then they’re going to give attention to the arson. No arson, no crime.
However Mueller additionally needed to clarify why, when Todd Stermer did lastly escape the burning home, his spouse hit him with their van?
Wolf Mueller: Bear in mind, it is a 5,000-pound Ford Econoline van. If she’d wished … to kill him … he would’ve in all probability had accidents, organ harm. He had none of that. He had lacerations.
After a day-and-a-half of testimony, the protection rested. The following morning, the case went to the jury.
It took seven-and-a-half hours of deliberation, for the jury of six males and 6 ladies to achieve a verdict. As Linda Stermer ready to listen to her destiny, her sons and Todd’s mom sat nervously behind the prosecution staff.
We the jury discover the defendant responsible of first-degree premeditated homicide.
Responsible. Linda Stermer was visibly shaken. Trevor, Trenton and Cory, appeared to battle again tears. Their mom, as soon as once more convicted of killing their father, would return to jail.
Trevor Stermer, as he advised “48 Hours” in 2019, won’t ever recover from the lack of his father, Todd Stermer.
Erin Moriarty: How a lot do you miss your dad?
Trevor Stermer: Day by day. Each single day. It kills me that he cannot be part of my youngsters’s life anymore, that they — they do not have that privilege of getting a grandfather like him. It is devastating.
Linda’s daughters nonetheless imagine their mom is harmless and hope that she is as soon as once more launched on attraction.
Extra from CBS Information
Erin Moriarty