A California physician mentioned his spouse died in an unintended fall. Her accidents instructed a special story.

This story initially aired on Might 18, 2024.

On Nov. 13, 2016, Dr. Eric “Scott” Sills, a famend California fertility physician, referred to 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 in line with an unintended fall. However as “48 Hours” correspondent Tracy Smith reviews, 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 cut-off date 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 imagine 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 good condition, would’ve fallen down the steps to her loss of life?

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 chrome steel soup pot, a handbag and  an empty treatment bottle. A shawl was discovered  off to the facet.

Det. Eric Hatch: They positively stood out … particularly that metal pot. … It virtually seemed prefer it was positioned there. It wasn’t the other 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 staff was in his dwelling asking questions.

Det. Eric Hatch: He was simply type of going with the stream.

Tracy Smith: How cooperative was he?

Det. Dave Holloway: Oh, very. … Every part 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 instructed an identical story to their dad — that Susann Sills had not been feeling nicely that night time.

Det. Dave Holloway: Susann … had a historical past of migraines. … They have been sometimes debilitating … requiring … a darkish room, quiet … and mattress relaxation. And she or he had been affected by a migraine that weekend.

The migraine appeared to clarify that enormous pot.

Det. Dave Holloway: Generally she carried round a bowl … as a way to have it close to her bedside in case she threw up in the midst of the night time.

And the empty capsule 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: Possibly.

And there appeared to be nothing within the {couples}’ relationship to recommend one more reason.

Tracy Smith: What did you be taught in regards to the Sills’ marriage?

Det. Eric Hatch: In accordance with Scott, every thing was high-quality. They’d a, you already know, a great relationship.

Each kids attested that their mother and father cherished 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 certain that she was OK.

It was round midnight when Eric Sills and his mother went again upstairs, after Eric mentioned she put the canine away of their crate. Mary-Katherine had gone to mattress in her mother and father’ 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 thought 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 can be her final phrases to her Mother. “I do know you’re drained,” she wrote, “however it’s worthwhile to know that I really like you …” 

Round 4 a.m., Eric Sills mentioned he woke to the sound of his mother and father arguing within the subsequent room.

Det. Dave Holloway (pointing up at home windows exterior Sills dwelling): The 2 home windows, that is … Eric’s room.

Tracy Smith: So Eric is correct subsequent (to) Mary-Katherine’s room … the place his mother was.

Det. Dave Holloway: Yeah.

Tracy Smith: And what did he let you know he heard?

Det. Dave Holloway: Properly, he heard loud voices arguing, however … he did not describe listening to any bodily confrontation.

Eric Sills instructed detectives that after about 5 minutes he determined to fall asleep in the primary bed room together with his sister. In accordance with Mary-Katherine’s assertion, she thought he’d are available round 3:40 a.m. and instructed her their mother and father have been arguing a few work e mail.

DETECTIVE: How are you aware she — she acquired an e mail?

MARY-KATHERINE SILLS: As a result of Eric mentioned they have been speaking about that.

DETECTIVE: Oh, OK. So Eric instructed you that she acquired an e mail and that she was, it was about one thing …

MARY-KATHERINE SILLS: One thing about work.

Scott Sills instructed detectives he had argued together with his spouse as a result of he discovered her working late on her laptop computer, which made her migraines worse.

Tracy Smith: While you heard that that they had an argument shortly earlier than she was discovered on the backside of the steps lifeless, what was going by your thoughts?

Det. Dave Holloway: Properly, once more that is … yet another piece of knowledge that we’re gonna accumulate. … It doesn’t suggest by hook or by crook that it was a homicide. However that is positively 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 similar 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 crimson 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 instructed us that she needed to take away the headscarf. And she or he did that … to not impede mother’s respiratory.

Including to the thriller have been the accidents to Susann Sills’ neck the deputy coroner had observed 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 one way or the other 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 person 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 taking place, 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 although it was November. However after we spoke with Scott, and through the entire time we have been … in the home doing our investigation, he was carrying 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 … lower 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 automobile within the storage together with his son, Eric. There was only one downside.

Det. Dave Holloway: Eric instructed us dad did not damage himself.

Tracy Smith: Did he say to you, I left the storage so perhaps he damage himself whereas I used to be gone?

Det. Dave Holloway: No. He instructed 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 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 instructed 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 midst of the night time?

Tracy Smith: So when you discovered blood in Mary-Katherine’s bed room, you already know 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 any person … that begins processes that … you’ll be able to’t cease. … In addition to the blood within the bed room … we did not actually have … sufficient proof of a combat 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 may 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 could take months to make an official ruling.

Det. Dave Holloway: It is … not one thing they wanna rush into. It isn’t 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 dwelling, 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 instant neighbors knew something in regards to the household. …

Finally… we … contacted whoever we might out of their contact checklist to try 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 is not dress-up day.

Sandi Roberts: He is flamboyant. He is larger than life. … He was very, very variety.

Jamie Aikens: I grew up, uh, fairly poor, I did not have a automobile in highschool or something like that and numerous occasions no lunch cash. … And he at all times pulled out his pockets and paid for it. It simply wasn’t a query.

His future appeared limitless. He was accepted to each legislation faculty and medical faculty.

Sandi Roberts: We have been type of all … on the sting of our seat, questioning what he was going to determine to do.

And it was no shock when the hometown boy turned a famend IVF specialist – a career that will lead him to Susann.

Chris Solimine: Susann was going by fertility remedy, attempting to get pregnant along with her first husband.

Chris Solimine met Susann Arsuaga in enterprise faculty, the place she earned an MBA. She had confided in him about her struggles to get pregnant.

Chris Solimine: Having children was every 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 instructed me she was getting divorced … and that she was now relationship him. … I simply keep in mind her saying … he is a … good physician.

Scott Sills, who was additionally popping out of a earlier marriage, appeared to have met his match.

Chris Solimine: Susanne was … good, witty, sarcastic, however not in a imply means, you already know, simply sufficient to – to dig at you. … extremely pushed, a loyal good friend.

Sandi Roberts: She … was so … elegant, so stunning … very participating.

Jamie Aikens: Appeared prefer to me he discovered one which — it was a great 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 … completely satisfied.

The couple married and welcomed twins by IVF, including to Dr. Sills’ two older children. And ultimately, 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 thing aside from really doing the procedures. 

The observe quickly took off. And Dr. Sills was typically featured on the TV program “The Docs,” which was distributed by CBS.

Dr. Julio Novoa: He was in lots of eyes, a saint. … He was cherished by his sufferers.

Dr. Julio Novoa is an OB/GYN who co-authored a guide with Dr. Sills.

Dr. Julio Novoa: Dr. Sills … was an amazing physician … And Susann was a — an amazing advocate for girls as nicely. … They have been a staff not simply married, however a staff and dealing nicely collectively.

However a few month earlier than her loss of life, Rick Leeds, one other of Susann Sills’ associates, says she left him a troubling message.

Rick Leeds: She seemed like she was whispering … It was so completely different from the completely satisfied, jovial, excited voicemails I acquired earlier than. This one was positively … issues weren’t good.

Once they spoke, Leeds says it seemed like 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’ loss of life reached her associates, they have been shocked.

Rick Leeds: It was devastating.

Chris Solimine: I could not imagine 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’ associates 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 great supervisor she was and the way she stored  … their enterprise flowing. … However he by no means as soon as talked about that she was a great mom or that he cherished her …

Tracy Smith: All very businesslike?

Det. Dave Holloway: Yeah.

Actually, the day after Susann Sills’ loss of life, 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 referred to 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 discuss 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 positively observed, um, new hair.

In addition they observed Dr. Sills’ flashier on-line persona.

Sandi Roberts: I mentioned to one among my associates, now could be Sills a health care provider or a mannequin? … I personally do not know any medical doctors on social media…  which can be 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: Swiftly, there began to be one other lady in images, and he was out on dates and so they have been going round city.

The conduct raised eyebrows, nevertheless it was hardly proof. Then, in November 2017, a 12 months after Susann Sills’ loss of life, there was lastly information from the coroner’s workplace: Susann’s reason behind loss of life 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 mix of his and Susann’s DNA.

Det. Dave Holloway: They have been each there.

Tracy Smith: There was a combat.

Det. Dave Holloway: There is a combat. And he killed his spouse.

On Aug. 8, 2018, almost two years after Susann Sills’ loss of life, Detectives Holloway and Hatch made a shock home name on the physician’s dwelling.

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 loss of life 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 robust phrases in direction of Scott.

In texts despatched in late August, lower than three months earlier than her loss of life, Susann Sills wrote, “I’m trapped”… “You might be killing me”… “I simply need out” and “We simply aren’t proper for one another.

And a few month earlier than her loss of life, Susann had confided in Rick Leeds.

Rick Leeds: She and Scott have been in a very rocky place and she or he was desirous about leaving him. 

He mentioned Susann Sills was additionally upset a few photograph she had posted on-line.

Rick Leeds: No matter was occurring between her and Scott … and this image … was simply … a pivotal level for her.

Susann Sills  had posted a topless photograph after having a bet in a political chatroom referred to as Patrick.internet.

Det. Dave Holloway: Susann apparently was one of many few girls who was concerned on this discussion board. … She … type of threw out … that … if Donald Trump gained the presidential nomination, that she would publish an image of her naked breasts.

And on the day of her loss of life, detectives had discovered a printout in Dr. Sills’ dwelling workplace of an trade 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 acquired to say is you have to have an excellent cool husband.”

Susann Sills aka “turtledove” replied, “He is exhausted, really. It is not simple 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 trade.

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 type 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 referred to as him.

Det. Eric Hatch: He wasn’t in a position to accumulate as a result of … ‘trigger that loss of life certificates was dominated as a murder.

Tracy Smith: Do you assume Scott Sills thought he’d gotten away with it?

Det. Eric Hatch: I feel so.

Det. Dave Holloway: Daily that glided by, he felt a little bit bit extra relaxed, I feel.

On April 25, 2019, almost two-and-a-half years after Susann’ Sills’ loss of life, Dr. Sills was arrested for her alleged homicide on his option 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 Fb … He was infatuated along with her.

She shared an e mail Scott Sills had despatched her about two weeks after Susann Sills’ loss of life.

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: While you first learn that e mail … what was your response?

Det. Eric Hatch: I believed … I used to be shocked … It is 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 legal professional 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 are feeling in your intestine that you can win this case?

Jack Earley: Oh, sure.

THE DEFENSE OFFERS A UNIQUE THEORY 

In November 2023, simply over seven years after Susann Sills’ loss of life, Scott Sills – now stripped of his medical license — went on trial for her homicide. The Orange County District Legal professional’s Workplace declined our request for an interview, however cameras have been allowed in courtroom for parts of the trial the place Senior Deputy D.A. Jennifer Walker laid out her case to the jury.

JENNIFER WALKER (in courtroom): November thirteenth of 2016 … this man killed his spouse and hid it.

Walker argued that Scott Sills beat, after which strangled, Susann Sills to loss of life earlier than staging the scene to make it seem like she had fallen down the steps.

JENNIFER WALKER (in courtroom): It is a homicide, not an accident.

The prosecution’s case relied closely on Susann Sills’ post-mortem. However Scott Sills’ protection legal professional, Jack Earley, got here to courtroom armed with a novel principle. He advised that Susann fell — both going up or down — the steps and that one or each of the household canine then tugged on the headscarf that was wrapped round her neck.

Tracy Smith: Do you truthfully assume that the canine pulled laborious sufficient to strangle her to loss of life?

Jack Earley: No, no — I did not. That was not the primary principle that the canine really strangled her to loss of life.

As a substitute, Earley centered on one other damage recognized in Susann Sills’ post-mortem: that fractured C3 vertebra. He says that damage is in line with 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.

The protection had the headscarf examined for canine DNA and it got here again constructive. And there was testimony that the canine 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 canine 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: Properly, (sighs), um, I do know that she was nonetheless shut along with her father …

Tracy Smith: Do you assume she’s attempting 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 assume the canine 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 assessments level to an unintended fall. She had a muscle relaxant and ache treatment in her system. And Earley instructed 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 courtroom): Strangulation is a silent killer. You recognize what’s not a silent killer? Falling down a number of stairs … It’s a must to imagine she bounced her head, neck, again, shoulders, inside 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 canine. Not cheap.

And why would Susann Sills have a shawl round her neck that early within the morning to start with? Prosecutors advised that Scott Sills used it to strangle her after which left it round her neck to cowl the marks. However Earley instructed the jury it wasn’t uncommon for Susann to put on a shawl, particularly when she wasn’t feeling nicely.

Jack Earley: As a result of if she acquired 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 instructed investigators he noticed his         mom put the canine away of their crate within the hours earlier than she died.

Tracy Smith: Eric mentioned that his mother put the canine within the crate.

Jack Earley: Sure. … Generally, canine, once they’re crate-trained, once they go to mattress, will go lay within the crate, even with the door open. 

There was additionally no blood on the steps or harm to them.

Tracy Smith: There are all these accidents that you just say come from the autumn down the steps, throughout her physique, however she leaves no marks on the steps.

Jack Earley: However there is no 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} combat occurred. A forensic scientist testified that the stains on the nightstand and drapes have been in line with Scott Sills’ DNA. Earley did acknowledge that his shopper’s blood was within the room, however he instructed 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 lower 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 mix of DNA—and Scott and Susann Sills have been seemingly 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 in line with Scott Sills’ DNA, too. Earley had a rebuttal to all of it, beginning with the hair.

Jack Earley: She has hair extensions. And you already know what hair extensions trigger? Lack of hair. …

And the blood on the garments?

Jack Earley: You do not know how previous it’s.

The jury was additionally proven photos of these accidents that have been noticed on Scott Sills. Bear in mind how he instructed investigators that he damage himself whereas engaged on his automobile together with his son? And the way, in keeping with investigators, Eric Sills mentioned that his father did not get injured? Properly, when Eric Sills took the stand, his testimony allowed for the chance.

Jack Earley: What he testified is, nicely, I did not keep there the entire time he mounted the automobile. …

Tracy Smith: Does that appear like a discrepancy to you?

Jack Earley: Properly … it is not 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 damage from the automobile?

Jack Earley: No … he principally mentioned I wasn’t there when he acquired the damage. …

Whereas Eric Sills did testify {that a} loud dialogue between his mother and father had woken him up shortly earlier than his mom’s loss of life, the protection instructed the jury that there was nothing to it. And people texts between Scott and Susann Sills within the months earlier than Susann’s loss of life?

Jack Earley: When you’ve got 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 images within the wake of his spouse’s loss of life, however they have been instructed in regards to the Patrick.internet posts. And the prosecution argued that topless photograph that Susann Sills posted on the positioning enraged Scott Sills.

Jack Earley: It wasn’t a giant deal.

Tracy Smith: It isn’t putting to you that he had this photograph in two locations on his cellphone after which on the printer?

Jack Earley: No, initially, 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 just acquired 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 when you convict him, now they’re dropping their dad.

Erin Ellis: In fact.

Jack Van Camp: Yeah.

They are saying in addition they felt a transparent motive was missing.

Erin Ellis: I imply, it is laborious to think about … why one thing like this is able to occur.

Jack Van Camp: Someone would try 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. 

Responsible of second-degree homicide. Scott Sills, who gave the present of life to so many by 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 a lot, you already know— now that is the subsequent section 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 canine.

Jack Van Camp: The canine must choke her on the steps. And my canine was as huge as hers and my canine can not get a grip on wood 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 a substitute, 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 assume he deliberate it.

Erin Ellis: I do not.

Jack Van Camp: If he had deliberate it or carried out any type of forethought, it would not be a sizzling mess crime scene that it was.

Susan Blaho: It was type of like a snap.

However investigator Dave Holloway says whereas Scott Sills could not have deliberate his crime, he actually 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, courtroom reconvened for sentencing. Susann Sills’ mom, Theresa Neubauer, addressed the courtroom, and stored the concentrate on her daughter.

Theresa Neubauer: She was a dynamic individual. She had hopes and desires …

Hopes and desires, Neubauer mentioned, that in the future Susann would see her daughter, Mary-Katherine, stroll down the steps of the household’s San Clemente dwelling on her wedding ceremony day.

Theresa Neubauer: It was a really painful, uh, factor for me to be taught of the function the staircase ultimately performed in actual life. 

Mary-Katherine additionally addressed the courtroom 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 good friend after their father’s arrest and that household good friend died instantly of a well being situation across the finish of the trial. She requested the choose to indicate her father mercy.

MARY-KATHERINE SILLS (in courtroom): 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 mother and father.

Choose Patrick Donahue sentenced Scott Sills to the obligatory sentence beneath California legislation: 15 years to life in jail. His destiny was determined, however for therefore many, questions stay. Precisely what led as much as Susann Sills’ loss of life?

Tracy Smith: Do you assume we’ll ever know precisely the way it occurred?

Det. Dave Holloway: I do not assume 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: 1000’s 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.

Chris Solimine: Her children have been so essential to her and every thing she did revolved round her kids. … She was an unimaginable human being. … You recognize, I—I miss her (emotional).

Scott Sills shall be eligible for parole in 2033, although it could possibly be sooner with good conduct.

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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.